April26
121:Birthdate of Marcus Aurelius the Roman Emperor who described the Jews as being“stinking and tumultuous.”
1198:Frederick I, Duke of Austria who employed a Jew named Schlom as his master ofthe mint, passed away today.
1478:The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and killed his brother Giuliano during HighMass in the Duomo of Florence. The Pazzi were rivals of the Medici family.Lorenzo’s death was a setback for the Jewish community of Florence. The Pazzi’s big claim to fame was theirparticipation in the First Crusade. On the other hand Lorenzo de’ Medici haddefended the Jewish community from expulsions and from the aftermath of theanti-Semitic sermons given by Bernardino da Feltre in which he whipped up themasses into a violent frenzy by demonizing the Jews as the Christ Killers.
1575:Francesco I de’Medici, the 2nd grand duke of Tuscany who “invitedJewish merchants to settle in Livorno, granting them free residence, unlimitedaccess to trade and extensive self-government in this new Medicean free-port onthe Mediterranean” and Johanna Erzherzogin von Osterriech gave birth to Mariede’Medici, queen consort of Henry IV ofFrance and the mother of King Louis XIII who “signed letters patent renewingthe expulsion order "against not only Jews but also those who profess andpractice Judaism."
1624:Birthdate of Johannes Leusden, the native of Utrecht and a Professor Hebrew whoauthored numerous text on the Hebrew language and “in 1660, together with the Amsterdam rabbiand book printer Joseph Athias, published his Biblia Hebraica, the firstedition of the Hebrew Bible with numbered verses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Leusden#/media/File:LEUSDEN_JOHANN_1688_Sefer_Tehilim_Liber_Psalmorum_p5_A2_JEHOVA.png
1654:The Jewswere expelled from Brazil.The city of Recife hadbeentaken from the Dutch by the Portuguese. As a Dutch city, Recifehad been hospitable to the Jews.But Portugal meant the Inquisition,forced conversion or exile. It was the Jewsfleeing from Recife whoended up in New Amsterdam later in 1654 and thus began what would become theAmerican JewishCommunity.Professor Arnold Witzner, author of“Jews In Colonial Brazil” the Jews could have remained in Brazil if they hadconverted. They chose not to which meantthat “all openly professing Jews left Brazil” prior to this date. “A total of16 ships transported the Jewish and Dutch colonists from Recife. Some claim asmany as 5,000 Jews left Recife at this time. Most of these Jews returned toHolland; some relocated to colonies in the Caribbean. Twenty-three of the Jewsaboard one of these ships eventually arrived in New Amsterdam (NewNetherland/New York) on September 7, 1654. There are at least two versions ofthe story of how these Jews came to settle in New Amsterdam. One version isthat the original ship was captured by pirates at one point. The Jews were subsequentlytaken aboard the French ship the St. Charles, and this ship brought them to NewAmsterdam. According to Wiznitzer, there was no capture by pirates. Instead,the Jews were driven by adverse winds to Spanish-held Jamaica. From there theyboarded the small French frigate, Sainte Catherine, which took them to NewAmsterdam.”
1655:Today, “is charactered as ‘a most glorious one in the annals of Israel,’ for onthat day came a reply from Holland that after many consultations it had beenresolved and determined that the petitioners be granted leave to remain, upon condition,however, that they provide for the poor among them, and that such unfortunates,if any, be not a burden or charge upon others.”
https://www.rijha.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/RIJH-Notes-Volume-13.2-157-332.pdf
1655: The directors of the Dutch West India Co.refused to grant permission to Governor Peter Stuyvesant to exclude Jews fromNew Amsterdam. This put an end to official efforts to bar Jews from NorthAmerica. The Dutch West India Co. also specified that no restriction of tradebe imposed upon the Jewish settlers. Thus it guaranteed not only the physicalinviolability of the Jews but also their orderly economic development andprogress. The only condition contained in the directive provided that "thepoor among them shall be supported by their own nation." This gave furtherimpetus to the growth of Jewish philanthropy in the New World.
1695:Isaac Levy, the husband of Bella Levy with whom he had three children passedaway today.
1706:In Barbados, Abraham Burrows wrote his will today.
1721:A massive earthquake devastates Tabriz. There are records of a Jewish communityin Tabriz dating back to the 12th century. The community must havebeen large and culturally diverse since it included bath Rabbanites andKaraites. In 1830, the Jews of Tabriz were massacred during a rise of Islamicfervor that also included the forced conversions of the Jews in Shiraz andMashhad.
1737:Without any warning, the King of Prussia ordered that the decree limiting thenumber of Jewish families allowed to live in Berlin be enforced. According to adocument entitled “General privilege and regulations to be observed concerningthe Jews in his Majesty's dominions,” issued in 1730, the King had granted theJews the right to settle 120 families in the capital city. By 1737, the numberof Jewish families had risen to 180 and the king wanted these additional sixtyfamilies to depart even if it meant a loss of tax revenue.
1742:Today, Charlotte Farieres “was naturalized in New York City.”
1743:In London, Sarah Nunes Navaro and Aaron Nunez Cardozo who were married in 1739,gave birth to Rachel Nunez Cardozo
1753(22ndof Nisan, 5513): Eighth Day of Pesach
1753:As Jew munched on their matzah Justice of the Peace Thomas Winslow presidedover the marriage ceremony of Mayflower descendants Benjamin Small and BridgetEldredge.
1758(18thof Nisan, 5518): Fourth Day of Pesach
1774(15thof Iyar, 5534): Moses Lindo passed away. Born in England he moved to SouthCarolina where he became a leading planter and merchant. “He did more than anyother individual to encourage and advance the indigo industry of the colony,among the most important industries in South Carolina in prerevolutionarytimes. His transactions were enormous, and in 1762 he was appointed"Surveyor and Inspector-General of Indigo, Drugs, and Dyes," anoffice he resigned in 1772.
1776:In Norwalk, Ct. Joyce and Myer Myers who were married in 1767 gave birth toRebecca Mears-Myers, the wife of Philadelphia native Jacob Mordecai whom shemarried in 1798 and with whom she had seven children.
1788:Birthdate of future Ohio resident. Solomon Stix, the husband of Deborah CohanStix and the father of Charles, Herman, Henry, Caroline, Aaron and Louis Stix.
1791(22ndof Nisan,5551): Eighth Day of Pesach including Yizko.
1792(14thof Iyar, 5724: Joseph ben Meir Teomim, the native of Galicia who served as arabbi in Lemberg and Frankfurt an der Order and whose works include “Pri Megadim (פרי מגדים), asupercommentary on some of the major commentators on the Shulkhan Aruch passedaway today.”
1795:In Savannah, GA, Shankey Hart and Abraham Jacobs gave birth to Maria Jacobs.
1796:The Jews of Fossano escaped from a massacre which they commemorated bycelebrating the Purim of the Bomb
1808:Birthdate of Jonathan-Raphaël Bischoffsheim, the native of Mainz, who was partof the Bischoffsheim family and co-founder of the bank of Bischoffsheim &Goldschmidt which played an important role in the financial world during “theearly years of Belgian independence.”
1810(22ndof Nisan, 5570): Eighth Day of Pesach, Yizkor is recited on the day beforeBeethoven competed composing “Fur Elise” a piece that Judy Levin Rosensteinmastered in her youthful piano player years.
1812(14thof Iyar, 5572): Pesach Sheni
1812:“The ten members of the Committee of Separation signed a handwritten document.It would be immediately designated simply as the “Act of Separation.”
https://jewish-history-online.net/source/jgo:source-30
1815:Birthdate of Fredericia, Denmark native Henriette Nathansen, thehusband of Meyer Hartvig Meyer.
1817:Joseph Freiherr von Sonnenfels the son of Perlin Lipman “who was baptized inhis early youth” and went on to become a leading “Austrian and German juristand novelist.”
1826(19thof Nisan): Chaim (Hermann) Bloch, author of “Mavo ha-Talmud” passed away today
1826:Birthdate of Edel Nathansen, the wife of Joel Isaac Cohn.
1826:Birthdate of Civil War Veteran and early homesteader Daniel Freeman. Freeman was not Jewish. He was the successful plaintiff in one of thefirst landmark cases that declared Bible reading and praying in public schoolswere unconstitutional. Most of thelandmark cases involving separation of church and state were brought bynon-Jews.
1827:One day after he had passed away “Tanhum bar Jacob Abraham” Was buried today atthe Canterbury Jewish Cemetery.”
1829:French jurist and parliamentarian Pierre-Stanislas Bédard who opposed EzekielHart taking his seat in Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada because he did notthink Jew should sit in the legislature, passed away today.
1829:Birthdate of Prussian-born Austrian surgeon Christian Albert Theodor Billrothwho in 1876 trigger a storm with his “criticism of what he considered thedisproportionately large share of Jewish medical students from Hungary andGalicia. Billroth questioned the success of assimilation, arguing "thatthe Jews are a sharply defined nation, and that no Jew, just like no Iranian,Frenchman, or New Zealander, or an African can ever become a German; what theycall Jewish-Germans are simply nothing but Jews who happen to speak German andhappened to receive their education in Germany, even if they write literatureand think in the German language more beautifully and better than many agenuine Germanic native. "Therefore [we should] neither expect nor wantthe Jews ever to become true Germans in the sense that during national battlesthey feel the way we Germans do."
1837(21stof Nissan, 5597): Seventh Day of Pesach
1837(21stof Nissan, 5597): Thirty-seven-year-old Kitty Etting the daughter of RachelGratz and Solomon Etting, the wife of Benjamin I. Cohen with whom she had 11children passed away today.
1839(12thof Iyar, 5599): Alexander Schönfeld, the husband of Esther Schoenfeld with whomhe had three children – Lisette, Moses and Betty – passed away today in LowerSaxony.
1843:One day after he had passed away “Itzhak bar Meir” was buried today at the“Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1843:Philip Marcus Leuw married Hannah Van Gelder today in Holland.
1845(19th of Nisan, 5605): Fifth Day of Pesachand Shabbat observed for the first time during the Presidency of James K. Polk.
1846(30th of Nisan, 5606): RoshChodesh Iyar celebrated as the United States clashes with Mexican forces inwhat was the prelude to the Mexican American War.
1850(14thof Iyar, 5610): Pesach Sheni
1850(14thof Iyar, 5610): Sixty-nine-year-old, Leo Wolf, who was one of the founders ofthe “Temple’ (reform) in Hamburg passed away today.
1853:Following a recent vote by the First Prussian Chamber to exclude Jews frompublic employment, today, thousands of Prussian citizens including AlexanderVon Humboldt, presented petitions to the Second Chamber urging it to reject theaction of the First Chamber and adopt legislation allowing Jews to hold “civiloffices” and allowing everybody full freedom of religious opinion.
1854:Albert E. Hertz and Maria S. Solana, daughter of Mathew Solana were marriedtoday in St. Augustine, FL.
1856:In Mannheim, Germany, Lazarus and Babette Morgenthau gave birth to HenryMorgenthau, Sr. the American lawyer and businessman who was best known asAmerica’s Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambassador_Morgenthau%27s_Story
1856:In Philadelphia, sixteen German boys have been charged with savagely beating aboy named Bernadotte Glischman. Afterattacking him a barroom, they took the boy to his room where they stuck himwith pins and covered his face with a pillow so he could not cry out. According to the boy, he was attacked becausehe was Jewish and the other boys were Catholics who wanted to punish himbecause the Jews crucified Christ. Theboys were being held with bail being set at $250 for 15 of them and $800 forthe remaining defendant.
1857:“The original Broadway Tabernacle” which was replaced by a new buildingdesigned by Leopold Eidlitz “was opened for the last time for “Divine Service”today.
1857:Birthdate of Dayton, Ohio native Louis D. Beaumont who with “his two brothersjoined with David May, their brother-in-law, in the 1880s to form the May Shoeand Clothing Company, which became the predecessor to May Department Stores.”
1859:Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill, a British diplomat serving inItaly, wrote to Sir Moses Montefiore describing the progress he has made inattempt to present a petition to the Pope concerning the kidnapping of EdgaroMartoro
1860:Seventy-year-old Friedrich Wilhelm Carl Umbreit the “Protestant theologian andHebrew Bible scholar” whose works included translations and commentaries on Joband Proverbs and “a four-volume exegetical work on the prophets of the OldTestament” passed away.
1860:The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada (originally named 2nd Battalion, VolunteerMilitia Rifles of Canada) whose most famous Jewish member may have Benjamin“Ben” Dunkelman who led them ashore at Normandy and later turned down theopportunity to command the unit, was formed today.
1860:As of 6 o’clock this evening the body of the unknown man, who was supposed tohave committed suicide by shooting himself at Weehawken, NJ, had not beenidentified. For reasons that have not been disclosed, authorities believe himto be a German Jew from New York.
1861: TheJewish Messenger publishes the following editorial entitled “Stand by theFlag” which demonstrates the patriotic, pro-Union beliefs held by a majority ofJews living in the United States.
“It is almost a work ofsupererogation for us to call upon our readers to be loyal to the Union, whichprotects them. It is needless for us to say anything to induce them to proclaimtheir devotion to the land in which they live. But we desire our voice, too, tobe heard at this time, joining in the hearty and spontaneous shout ascendingfrom the whole American people, to stand by the stars and stripes!
“Already we hear ofmany of our young friends taking up arms in defense of their country, pledgingthemselves to assist in maintaining inviolate its integrity, and ready torespond, if need be, with their lives, to the call of the constitutedauthorities, in the cause of law and order.
The time is past forforbearance and temporizing. We are now to act, and sure we are, that thosewhom these words may reach, will not be backward in realizing the duty that isincumbent upon them—to rally as one man for the Union and the Constitution. TheUnion—which binds together, by so many sacred ties, millions of free men—whichextends its hearty invitation to the oppressed of all nations, to come and besheltered beneath its protecting wings—shall it be severed, destroyed, or evenimpaired? Shall those, whom we once called our brethren, be permitted tooverthrow the fabric reared by the noble patriots of the revolution, andcemented with their blood?
And theConstitution—guaranteeing to all, the free exercise of their religiousopinions—extending to all, liberty, justice, and equality—the pride ofAmericans, the admiration of the world—shall that Constitution be subverted,and anarchy usurp the place of a sound, safe and stable government, derivingits authority from the consent of the American People?
“The voice of millionsyet unborn, cried out, 'Forbid it, Heaven!' The voice of the American peopledeclares in tones not to be misunderstood: `It shall not be!'
“Then stand by theFlag! What death can be as glorious as that of the patriot, surrendering hislife in defense of his country—pouring forth his blood on the battlefield—tolive forever in the hearts of a grateful people. Whether native or foreignborn, Gentile or Israelite, stand by it, and you are doing your duty, andacting well your part on the side of liberty and justice!
“We know full well thatour young men, who have left their homes to respond to the call of theircountry, will, on their return, render a good account of themselves. We have nofears for their bravery and patriotism. Our prayers are with them. G-d speed themon the work which they have volunteered to perform!
“And if they fall—if,fighting in defense of that flag, they meet a glorious and honorable death,their last moments will be cheered by the consciousness that they have donetheir duty, and grateful America will not forget her sons, who have yielded uptheir spirit in her behalf.
And as for us, who donot accompany them on their noble journey, our duty too, is plain. We are topray to Heaven that He may restore them soon again to our midst, after havingassisted in vindicating the honor and integrity of the flag they have sworn todefend; and we are to pledge ourselves to assume for them, should they fall intheir country's cause, the obligation of supporting those whom their departureleaves unprotected. Such is our duty. Let them, and all of us, renew our solemnoath that, whatever may betide, we will be true to the Union and theConstitution, and STAND BY THEFLAG.”
1862: Colonel George Henry Grey and Harriet Jane Pearson gave birthto the long serving Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sir Edward Grey who in 1914 when askedby MP Herbert Samuel “about a homeland for the Jewish people” replied “that theidea had always had a strong sentimental appeal to him and he would be preparedto work for if the opportunity arose”
1864(20th ofNisan, 5624): Sixth Day of Pesach
1864: As the Jews munchedon their matzah today Admiral David Porter’s fleet which had been trapped by inthe low level of the river” was badly damaged by Confederate guns after it hadrescued the forces of the incompetent General Banks during the ill-fated RedRiver Campaign.
1865(30th ofNisan, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1865: Seventeen-year-oldHenry Schneeberger, a student at Columbia was invited to deliver his firstsermon at Rodeph Shalom in New York. Hisdiscourse provoked a resounding round of approval from the congregants. (Thismay be an incorrect date since a source claims that this sermon was deliveredon the second day of Pesach which fell on April 12)
1865:Reuters, the news service created by Paul Julius Reuter, brought news ofPresident Abraham Lincoln's assassination in the United States to the Europeanpublic, making it the first news service to provide the information to those onthe eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean.
1865:Edward Storm, a resident of Greenville, MS, was discharged from the ConfederateArmy having served in Company D of the 28th Mississippi Cavalry.
1868:Today’s European Affairs column reported that“Thirty-one radical members of the Rumanian House have proposed the mostDraconic laws against theJews, which, if put into effect, would result in anabsolute expulsion of the unfortunate Hebrews.England, Prussia and other Governments havemade the most energeticprotests agains such foolish measures, and the cry of indignation thoughoutEurope has already had so much effect as to cause of the signers of the bill towithdraw their signatures from it.”
1869:Public school teachers and “scholars” living in and around New York City havereportedly been swindled by “an individual calling himself a converted Jew” and“a long-time resident of Palestine. He promises to take their photographs, asksthat he be paid in advance and promises to return with the pictures “in a dayor two” Needless to say, he has not beenreturning with the pictures
1867(21stof Nisan, 5627) Seventh Day of Pesach
1867:As Jews munched on their Matzah, visitors continue to attend the second World’sFair which had opened on the first of the month.
1871:It was reported today that Jacob Cohen is the publisher of a new Jewishnewspaper, The Hebrew News. Thepaper will be published weekly in Hebrew and English.
1874:Birthdate of New York City native and author Nathan L. Ottinger, a director ofthe Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1875(21stof Nisan, 5635) Seventh Day of Pesach
1875(21stof Nisan, 5635): Seventy-two-year-old Jamaica native Asher Isaacs, the fifthborn son of Solomon Isaacs and husband Marylebone, England native CharlotteJane Thornthwaite
Passedaway today in England.
1876:Judge McAdams officiated at the wedding of Marion W. Dibble and Eliza EmmaOttolengui both of whom live in Charleston, SC.
1878(23rdof Nisan): Orthodox Rabbi David Duetsch of Budapest, author of “Goren David”passed away today.
1879:Isaac Samuel Isaacs, the New York born son of Jane Symmons and Rabbi Samuel MeyerIsaacs and his wife Estelle Isaacs gave birth to Isabelle Estelle Levy, thewife of Edgar A. Levy and the other of Julien Sampson Levy; Edgar I. Levy andElizabeth Ann Woolf,
1880:Birthdate of Vinnytsia native and composer Oscar Potoker who after coming tothe United States created several movie scores and became a close friend offellow composer Josiah Zuro with whom he was riding when the latter died in afatal automobile accident.
1880:A letter from St. Petersburg that was first published in the London Times takesissue with the contention that the Jews dominate the Nihilist and revolutionarymovements in Russia.
1881:Pogroms spreading across the Ukraine, reached Kiev.
1882:Rabbi David Levy officiated at the wedding of Louis L. Cohen of Atlanta, GA andHortense Solomons which took place at the residence of her father, S.S.Solomons.
1882:It was reported that the “poorer Jews” in Odessa, Russia, are marrying at therate of 150 couples per day. There is abelief that if they are married, they will be given free land in either theUnited States or Palestine.
1883(19thof Nisan, 5643): Sixty-year-old author and philosopher Samuel Alexander Bykpassed away today in Leipzig.
1883:The Brooklyn Eagle reported today that after two previous failures BaithIsrael, Beth Elohim, and Temple Israel, Brooklyn's three leading synagogues,tried to merge for a third time.
1883(19thof Nisan, 5643): Rabbi Solomon Reimann was crushed to death tonight when heattempted to jump from a ferry on to the dock.The distance was only three feet, but no reason was given as to why heattempted the jump in the first place. He leaves behind a widow and four adult children.
1884(1stof Iyar, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1884:A motion to grant convicted killer Edward Brice was denied today in Washington,DC. The motion was based on the grounds“that one of the jurors” who was Jewish took the oath on a Christian Bibleinstead of on the Five Books of Moses.The judge said that the objection should have been raised at the time ofthe swearing in and refused to consider it.
1885:Phoenix, AZ suffers one of its worst fires during Emil Ganz’s first term as thecity’s mayor. Among the buildings burntwas the Bank Exchange Hotel which was owned by native of Germany who come toPhoenix by way of Georgia.
1885:The new facility of the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum “which had cost about$20,000 was occupied and in operation when the seventh annual meeting tookplace” today where it was reported the facility was not caring for 29 boys and17 girls.
1885:”Archaeological Frauds In Palestine,” published today recounts the various salesof an inscription written in Greek that had supposedly been found in “an oldArab house near the Mosque of Omar.” Theinscription that read “Let no foreigner pass within the precincts of thetemple. Anyone found so doing will beguilty of his own death.” Those who soldthe relic claimed that it was a sign posted in the precincts of Herod’s Temple.
1886(21stof Nisan, 5646): Seventh Day of Pesach
1887:“Eliot and Beatrice de Pass of Kensington, London,” gave birth to FrankAlexander de Pass who as “a Lieutenant in the 34th Prince Albert Victor's OwnPoona Horse” became the first Jew and the first officer of the Indian Army toreceive the Victoria Cross which was awarded posthumously for his bravery inthe trenches in France on November 24, 1914.
1887:Birthdate of Russian born American clothing merchant Samuel Krasnick and husband of Jennie PaykelKrasnick who in 1906 moved to Sheboygan, WI where he was the organizer of aB’nai B’rith chapter and a Federation of Jewish Charities.
1888:In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, five Jews from two different synagogues faced apreliminary hearing on charges that they were leading a boycott of a Jewishbutcher named Jacob Weisfeld. Weisfeldclaimed that the two congregations were boycotting his business because herefused to pay a tax of one half a cent per pound of meat sold to the rabbis.Weisfeld claimed that his refusal led to a whispering campaign that claimed hismeat was not kosher. The defense tried to prove that Weisfeld was in fact,guilty of not slaughtering his meat in a kosher fashion.
1889:Birthdate of Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, an Austrian born professor ofphilosophy at Cambridge University.Wittgenstein was not Jewish, but his family was up until the beginningof the 19th Century when the road to wealth and social acceptabilitywas opened to those who would trade the Magen David for the Sign of the Cross.
1889:The Coroner’s Inquest that is trying to determine the cause of death a youngJewish boy named Tobias Hipper entered into its second day. Dr. Stern and Deputy Coroner Jenkins havealready testified as to the manner of death and two other witnesses haveidentified a couple of neighborhood boys as the culprits.
1890:Henry Rice, President of the United Hebrew Charities, testified before thesub-committee of the Joint Congressional Committee on Immigration.
1891:In NYC, “David and Netta (Donner) Bloch” gave birth to Maurice Bloch the NYUtrained attorney and New York State Assemblyman who voted against ousting theSocialist members who had been elected in 1920, served as a trustee of ParkAvenue Synagogue and who was the husband of the former Madeline Neuberger.
1891:“Sir Pertinax Macpsycophant” published today provides a review of CharlesMacklin by Edward Abbott Parry, a biography of the 18th centuryactor whose signature role was his portrayal of Shylock done in such aunique manner that when “King George IIsaw the production” he “was so moved he could not fall asleep that night.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Macklin
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F20714FA3D5E10738DDDAF0A94DC405B8185F0D3
1892:Manchester native Nellie Joel and London native Solomon Barnatro Joel gavebirth to Lt. Woolf Joel.
1893:Abraham E. Pumpiansky, the rabbi at Riga, passed away today.
1893:Birthdate of New York native Hyman Kaplan “executive director, Federation ofJewish Charities, San Francisco” who in May of 1934 attended “the 13thannual conference of the California Committee of Personal…at Temple BethIsrael.
1893:It was reported today the Prussian Supreme Court has declared “that to excludeJews, qua Jews, from a Freemasons’ Lodge would be a violation of the PrussianConstitution. The case stemmed from the decision of a newly formed lodge ofFreemasons to admit Jews which had been objected to other lodges that did notadmit Jews because the “anti-Semitic members” did not want “to fraternize withJews.”
1893:Birthdate of economist and author Abraham David Hannath Kaplan, the holder ofPh.D. from Johns Hopkins who was a department head at the University of Denverbefore joining the Brookings Institutewhile raising two children – Stephen and Nancy – with his wife Bella.
1894(20thof Nisan, 5654): Sixth Day of Pesach
1894:In Russia, “Nicholas and Fannie (Silver) Ehrlich” gave birth to Columbiaeducated physician David Ernest Ehrlich, the roentgenologist who raised hisdaughter Frances with his wife “Emma Grace Smith.”
1894:Rockford, Illinois native and Sears, Roebuck executive Albert Henry Loebmarried Anna Bohnen today
1895:Mayor Strong held hearings on the Hebrew Benevolent Home Bill which has alreadybeen passed by both branches of the Legislature.
1895:In Hungary, “Kaufmanny Joseph Lengyel and his wife, the former Johanna Adam”gave birth to Hungarian-American journalist, author and college professor EmilLengyel, who, in the 1930’s was one of the first to trace Hitler’s rise topower and to write the Civil War in Siberia while a raising a son Peter withhis wife, “the former Livia Delej.”
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_4078360/
1896:In South Bend, Indiana, “Louis Stein, a dry goods store owner, and Rosa Cohen(née Kahanaski) gave birth to Jules Stein, an ophthalmologist by training whowas alsothe founder of MCA which became the leading talent agency in theUnited States. Steinjoined forceswith another Jew name LouWasserman to create the Universal entertainment empire. Stein used hisfortunefor humanitarian purposes primarily in the field of research andtreatment related to the eye. He passed away in 1981 leaving behind suchlegacies as the National Eye Institute and the Jules Stein Eye Institute atUCLA.
1896:It was reported today that Great Britain has “a national concern” as a resultof the death of Baron de Hirsch’s death. The Baron had large investments inEngland and the death duties owed on these properties would “yield enoughrevenue to build three or four new” battleships which would help the UK in itsnaval race with Germany. However, theBaron is an Austrian and the will will be probated in Vienna. The fear is thatthis will make it difficult if not impossible for the British to collect anytaxes on the estate.
1896:A betrothal reception for Lucien L. Bonheur and Amelia Simon was held today atthe home of Miss Simon’s parents on East 56th Street.
1896:David Wolffsohn visited Herzl and offers his cooperation. Wolffsohn had been asupporter of groups seeking to establish a Jewish homeland in EretzIsrael. Wolfffsohn provided Herzl withan entree into the German Hovevei Zion, Lover’s of Zion, organizations.
1896:In the report of the Committee on the Hebrew Technical Institute which waspresented at the meeting of Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society thenecessity of creating a fund to provide assistance for the boys who weregraduating but who had not started working was called to the trustees’attention.
1897:According to a report by Superintendent Herman Baar published today, the HebrewBenevolent and Orphan Asylum is caring for 823 children. Of these, 350 children attended GrammarSchool No. 43 while the balance attended classes at the asylum.
1898:In Romania, Sara and Israel Freedman gave birth to radio gag writer DavidFreedman and author whose bestselling biography of Eddie Cantor was nominatedfor a Pulitzer Prize.
1898:Richmond, VA native and West Point graduate Otho B. Rosenbaum was promoted fromthe rank of 2nd Lt. in the Seventh Infantry to the rank of 1stLt.
1898:Max Nordeau delivered a speech on "DieGegner des Zionismus" in Berlin today.
1899:In New York City, Philip and Kate (Weiss) Fuchs gave birth to violinist JosefFuchs, who served as “concertmaster of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra andlead of the Cleveland String Quartet.”
1899:The list of the Board of Directors for the Society of Aid of Jewish Prisonerspublished today included “Jacob H. Schiff, William N. Cohen, Jacob A. Cantor,Samuel B. Hamburger, Dr. Joseph Wiener, A.S. Solomons, E. W. Bloomingdale andthe Reverends Davidson and Harris.
1900:“Charles Frohman’s London comedians” continued their engagement at the LyceumTheatre in New York.
1901:The Boston Globe reported today that Massachusetts State Legislature hadrejected Samuel Hyman Borfosky bill exempting “persons observing the seventhday of the week as the Sabbath from any penalty for keeping shops open or forperforming secular business and labor on the first day of the week” which inthe days of Sunday Closing Laws would have meant that Jews could close on theirShabbat and not lose a day’s business since they would be open on Sunday.
1901:In Richmond, VA, Jacob Levy Ezekiel and Rachel Brill Ezekiel gave birth to Americanphytopathologist, mycologist and microbiologist Dr. Walter Naphtali Ezekiel,the husband of Sarah Ritzen Ezekiel and father of Herbert Mordecai Ezekiel.
1902:Birthdate of painter Isaac Soyer, the native of New York whose older twinbrothers Moses and Raphael Soyer were also painters.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/16/obituaries/isaac-soyer-a-painter-of-the-american-scene.html
1903:Herzl has a meeting with representatives of the I.A.C. in Paris who had readthe report about the expedition to the Sinai Peninsula. The I.A.C. is theJewish Colonization Association which was funded by Baron de Hirsch. The I.A.C.was established to set up agricultural settlements in places like Argentina,Brazil, Canada and the United States.The settlements were supposed to provide places of refuge for Romanianand Russian Jews. Herzl sought enlist I.A.C. support for the establishment ofa*gricultural colonies in the Sinai which would be a stepping stone to a Jewishhome in Eretz Israel.
1903:The building of the Jewish Theological Seminary at West 123rd Streetwhich had been funded by Jacob Schiff “was erected” today.
1903:According to an article in today’s edition of the New York Daily Tribune, “the gang that would become the EastmanGang (named for Monk Eastman, the turn-of the-century gangster who was itsleader) “first came on the scene in the early 1890s. They started out in thenotorious Corlear's Hook section of the lower east side on Rivington Street inthe vicinity of Mangin and Goerck streets. Another gang of the era, theShort-Tail Gang, had its headquarters in this same area, making it entirelypossible that the Eastmans grew out of the Short-Tails. Originally composed ofgentiles from the local slums, the gang quickly became almost exclusivelyJewish with the influx of Jewish immigrants into lower Manhattan and nearbyBrooklyn. When Monk Eastman himself entered the gang is unknown, but the factthat several newspaper articles refer to him as hailing from Corlear's Hookindicates that it was probably during this early era”.
1904:Birthdate of Marion Elkus Kohlman who would be buried at the Springhill AvenueTemple Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama when she passed away at the age of fifty.
1904:Solomon Barnato Joel and his wife the former Ellen “Nellie” Ridle gave birth toConservative Party MP and horse racing aficionado Dudley Jack Barnato Joel, thehusband of Esme Oldham who “was killed in action 1941” while serving as amember of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve aboard the steam merchant shipRegistan.
1904:In Little Rock, AR, “Ephraim and Sadie Cohn Eichenbaum” gave birth toWashington University trained architect, the partner of Frank Erhart andhusband of Helen Marion Levin who was a member of Congregation B’nai Israel,the Little Rock Reform congregation that traces its origins to the years beforethe Civil War.
http://www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=7030
1905(21stof Nisan, 5665): Seventh of Pesach
1905:Birthdate of Charles Kenneth Gould who gained fame as talent agent and producerCharles K. Feldman.
1906(1stof Iyar, 5666): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1906:Mayer Sulzberger, Oscar S. Straus, Cyrus L. Sulzberger, Adolphus SolomonsHerman Rosenthal, Dr. Herbert Friedenwald, Rabbi Goodman Lipkind and Bernard G.Richards attended a meeting tonight that launched “The Jewish Territorialistmovement for the establishment of an autonomous Jewish settlement under a freegovernment’ either in Palestine or some other location, in the United Statesthat supports the work of English Zionist, Israel Zangwill.
1906:Birthdate of Dashev, Russia born American laborleader Israel Broslow who in the early 1930’s came to the United States where hewas an active member of the ILGWU and the Workmen’s Circle.
1907:The funeral for Bavarian born, New York Businessman Nathan Necarsulmer who for“twenty years was a Trustee of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and was a member of theSchool Committee of Temple Beth El is scheduled to take place this morning.
1907:Birthdate of New York native and decorated NYPD Davis Wahl, the winner of theMedal of Valor and father of two daughters – Patricia and Sandra – whom heraised with his wife Kathryn.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1969/01/10/77317204.pdf
1907:Klauber, Horn and Company, of which Samuel David Klauber was partner wasdissolved today.
1908:“400 Boys Drill Like Veterans” published today described how “four hundred boysbetween the ages of 10 and 13 from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum proved themselvesable to compete with regular soldiers in parade maneuvers…at the SeventhRegiment Armory” thanks to the efforts of Lionel J. Simmons, the AssistantSuperintendent at the orphanage who had served as their drillmaster.
1908:Tonight’s concert for the benefit of the United Hebrew Charities held at theMetropolitan Opera
Houseactually produced a deficit of $1,400 despite the appearance of several“prominent artists.
1909:Prominent Chicago Jews have endorsed the stand taken by Senator Guggenheim ofColorado who demands that the Immigration Commission cease to classify Jews asa race” because as Lessing Rosenthal said, “The Jew is a native of the countryin which he is born” and “each has the well-known characteristics of thecountry from which hails” which “are so different that there not anything leftwhich might be called a Jewish race.”
1909:“Million No Forfeit Yet” reported that the one million dollars which LouisHeinsheimer, a member of Kuhn, Loeb had “left to certain Herbrw charities oncondition that they should federate had reverted to his brother AlfredHeinsheimer, in consequence of the failure of these societies to reach anagreement.
1910:It was reported today that with the building of the Lexington Avenue Subwayline congregants will have “easy access” to several houses of worship includingTemple Beth El and Congregation Rodolph Sholom.
1911:Birthdate of New York native Leonard Pines creator of Hebrew National, thebrand that changed the face of cold cuts for American Jewry.
1912:Anglo-Jewish boxer Mathew “Matt” Wells lost a bout to Packey McFarland atMadison Square Garden.
1912:In New Zealand, Arthur Myers received “the portfolios of Finance, Defense andRailways.”
1913(19thof Nisan, 5673): Fifth Day of Pesach; Shabbat
1913(19thof Nisan, 5673): Eighty-one-year-old Rabbi Moses Trager passed away in London.
1913:It was reported today that “Benjamin Alexander has been elected Secretary ofthe Jewish Publication Society of America succeeding the late Dr. Lewis W.Steinbach who held this office for many years.
1913:Mary Phagan comes to the pencil factory where she is given her pay for the weekby Leo Frank. According to the testimonyin the trial, Leo Frank was the last person to see Mary Phagan alive.
1913:It was reported today that in Cleveland the Hebrew Orthodox Hospital Alliancenow has 2,000 members and has already raised $10,000 which will be used tobuild a “strictly Jewish hospital in the only diet will be kosher.”
1914:“Liberal Judaism here and abroad is gaining ground, according to Dr. Maurice H.Harris, President of the Eastern Council of Reformed Rabbis, which opened itsFifth Assembly tonight at Temple Emanu-El, Fifth Avenue and Forty-Third Street.He said that an international propaganda for Liberal Judaism had been startedand that a conference on the plan and scope of the movement probably would bearranged in Europe in 1916.”
1914:Rabbi Samuel L. Levinson officiated at the dedication of the new synagogue ofTemple Beth Emeth, the second such building to be built in Brooklyn. Dr. Stephen Wise, the rabbi of the FreeSynagogue addressed the crowd who had come to the building which cost $40,000.
1914:Birthdate of Lillian Rolfe, a courageous member of the Marquis who was murderedby the Nazis at Ravensburck concentration camp.
1914:Today, “Dr. Samuel Buchler, the rabbi of the New People’s Synagogue of theHebrew Education Alliance urged Jews to war” if the United States should becomea participant in the World War.
1914: Birthdate of author and Pulitzer Prizewinner, Bernard Malamud. While many think of him as a Jewish writer, oneof his biggest hits, which Robert Redford later turned into a hit movie was TheNatural - a book about baseball that has no Jewish characters.Malamud passed away in 1986.
1915:The Zion Mule Corps prepared for it landing at Cape Helles which was scheduledto being tomoow.
1915: As a corporal in the 1st Battalion, TheManchester Regiment, Issy Smith was engaged in the Second Battle of Ypres.Today, Smith, on his own initiative, recovered wounded soldiers while exposedto sustained fire and attended to them "with the greatest devotion to dutyregardless of personal risk". InAugust, 1915, Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for his brave behavior.
1916:The annual convention of the Order of B’nai Zion is scheduled to meet for thesecond and final day of its annual convention in Baltimore, MD.
1916(23rdof Nisan, 5676): On the day after Pesach, seventy year old Elchanan (Henry)Harkavy, the Russian born “son of R'Yosef-Moshe Moses Harkavy and Tzirl Epshtein who married Dvora Vishnevski afterhis first wife Feiga Yalonsky had passed away died today in New York Cityhttps://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1916/04/29/100205509.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1916:On behalf of the “Kehillah of New York City” Dr. J.L Magnes wrote to Dr.Nachman Heller expressing regarded that “there is no position for him in theBureau of Education” but that he was still enclosing “a check for $5 as acontribution toward the printing fund of your new book.”
1916:Dr. Stephen Wise of the Free Synagogue wrote to Rabbi Nachman Heller expressinghis regret that he could not grant him a loan “from our Social ServiceDepartment” towards the printing of his brook for which he was enclosing acheck for five dollars as personal loan to help with the project
1917:It was reported that as of today “no Jew has had the right to officer’s rank”but that “in June over 2,000 Jews will be promoted to Lieutenants.”
1917:The text of a telegram from Louis Marshall, Henry Morgenthau, Jacob H. Schiff,Oscar Straus and Julius Rosenwald of the American Jewish Committee to the newRussian government which was “made public by the State Department todayexpresses the alarm felt by American Jews over reports that Russia might make aseparate peace.”
1917:Dr. Schmarya Levin, formerly a member of the Russian Duma, told “anenthusiastic gathering of Zionists” tonight at Cooper Union who were meetingunder the auspices of the Poale-Zion that “a Jewish homeland in Palestine wasinevitable in view of recent world developments.”
1917:At this afternoon’s meeting “of the Women’s Proclamation Committee, thenational Jewish women’s organization for war relief” Rabbi Stephen S. Wise“told of the sufferings of Jews on the eastern front” and Mrs. Samuel Elkeles,the Chairman of the Committee said that in the last year the group “hadcontributed $10,000 to the Joint Distribution Committee.
1917:In response to “President Wilson’s reported intention to aid the aid projectfor a Jewish republic in Palestine” in Berlin the Zeitung am Mittag that while“this scheme is intended to impress pious American Jews” “it only proves thatthat certain insidious imperialistic British purposes are to covered withWilson’s noble ideals of the independence of nations.”
1917(4thof Iyar, 5677): Thirty-nine-year Herman Shaw, the Camden Town born son ofMichel and Fredericka Schwabacher of German, a Lieutenant in the RoyalEngineers “die of his wounds in France” today, eight months and two days shortof his 40th birthday.
1917:“Dispatches from Petrograd received” today “by the Jewish Daily Forward” in NewYork City “tell of the proposal of the new Russian government to bring to trialMinister of Justice Shtcheglovitoff whowas instrumental in prosecuting Mendel Bellis, the shoemaker of Kiev, whosetrial on the charge that he participated in a ritual murder horrified theworld.”
1917:As thousands of Jews fight for the Kaiser, “The Deutschvölkische Blätter,official publication of the anti-Semitic Deutschvölkische Partei (DVP),announced that it's time to declare war on Jews openly because of the Jewishopposition to World War I. Ferdinand Werner, chairman of the DeutschvölkischePartei spoke to the Reichstag and demanded that the government pass laws"against the Jewish race, which agitates for strikes and raises the priceof food." (Yes, this 26 years before Hitler came to power)
1918:Three Jews were elected as members of the fifty-two-member
StateCouncil in Warsaw.
1918:Leone Ravenna was appointed grand officer of the Crown of Italy.
1918:It was reported today that the London Jewish Chronicle has learned “that theUnion of Polish Rabbis has decided to send three delegates to the conference ofthe Agudath Yisrael branch at Frankfort” where they will make a case forcomplete emancipation of the Jews in Poland.
1918:Birthdate of Miriam Shinezon, the native of Vitebsk, Russia who gained fame as“Miriam Ben-Porat, the first woman to serve as aJustice on Israel’s Supreme Court…” (As reported by Isabel Kershner)
1918: In Sofia, Bulgaria the premiere praised “the patriotismof Jews and pledged his government as an ally of the Jewish cause in thenegotiations with Roumania.”
1919: It was reported today that “the Jewish Welfar Board hasreceived a letter from Action Secretary of the Naty Franklin D. Rooseveltexpsssing the government’s thanks for welfar servce rendered to soldiers duringthe war.”
1920: Birthdate of Oga Zatorsky, the thrid and last wife ofJoseoph H. Hirshorn with whom she played a roled as a patron of the arts andart museums.
1920: The San Remo Conference, where delegates had reaffirmedthe Balfour Declaration and incorporated it in to the terms of the Mandate overPalestine and where Arabs and Zionists held cordial meetins came to an endtoday.
1920: Julus J. Dukac, the Acting Chariman of the CentralCommittee sent a letter to the Directors of the Central Committee for theRelief of Jews Suffering Through the War asking them to attend a dinnermeeeting at the Broadway Central Hotel, where among other things, they will areport from Rabbi Ephraim on the conditions of the Jews in Poland.
1921(18th of Pesach, 5681): Fourth Day of Pesach
1921: “With the announcement by Israel Sachs, President ofthe Beth David Hospital, that the building fund of $179,000 was lacking nearly$140,000, an urgent appeal for funds was made at the eighth annual meeting ofthe instituintion in the McAlpin tonight.”
1921: “Just Married” staring Anton Ascher as the “taxi drive”opened on Broadway toay at the Comedy Theatre.
1922(28th of Nisan, 5682): John Simon Guggenheimthe son Olga Hirsch Guggenheim and Simon Guggenheim the U.S. Senator fromColorado and president of the American Smelting Refining Company passed away todayafter which he parents established The John Simon Guggenheim MemorialFoundation which “awards Guggenheim Fellowships to professionals who havedemonstrated exceptional ability by publishing a significant body of work inthe fields of natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and the creativearts, excluding the performing arts.”
1922: In Hartford, CT, Russian Jewish immigrants Sophia andSamuel Kellin gave birth to Myron Kellin who gained fame as actor Mike Kellinwho “made his Broadway debut in 1949 in ‘At War with the Army.’”
1922: Di Tsayt, a Yiddish language daily founded in 1920 that was the “house paper” for the “LaborZioinist Paole Zion” movement which employed David Pinski as editor “was closeddown today” signaling a loss of power and prestige for its parent organization.
1923: It was reported today that rabbi Schneersohn, RabbiBarishansky and other prominent Jewish clegrymen in the town of Gomel…are to beplaced on trial for assuming “the prerogativees of State courts” in advisingJewish litigants to have recourse in Jewish ritual courts o law, according toannuouncement made by Chief Justice Druginsky.
1924(22nd of Nisan, 5684): Eighth Day of Pesachand Shabbat
1924(22nd of Nisan, 5684): Eighty-one year oldMoritz Walter the native of Bavaria who was the son of Nathan and Rosa Walterpassed away in San Francisco.
1925:The New York Times featured a review of “My Portion: An Autobiography” byRebekah Kohut with an Introduction written by Henrietta Szold. According to thereview, the book describes “Kohut's Life Story of Social Service” and shouldappeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike.
1925:The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Edna Ferber for So Big. This Jewish author became famous for hersweeping novels that portrayed American history. Showboat and Giantare two of her literary hits that went on to become cinematic successes.
1926:In New York, Esther Garfunkel and Benjamin Gottesman gave birth to businessmanand billionaire David Sanford “Sandy” Gottesman, the brother of Milton andAlice Gottesman and the nephew of Samuel Gottesman who has been married to hiswife for over sixty years.
http://www.forbes.com/lists/2010/10/billionaires-2010_David-Gottesman_YFTR.html
http://www.forbes.com/profile/david-gottesman/
1926:In Bulgaria , Shabbat and Leah gave birth to Aharoni Yaakov the Lehi soliderknown as Yoram and husband of Rina “Sarah” Blustein with whom had two sons –Dov and Yofer – who was captured and imprisoned by the British when made Aliyain 1941 aboard the “Dorian” and duringthe War for Independence IDF, joined the 8th Battalion’s 89th Brigade, asfirst lieutenant and went on to fight in the Sinai Campaign the Six Days Warand the Yom Kippur where he reached the rank of major.
https://lehi.org.il/en/aharoni-yaacov/
1927:Birthdate of Avi Livney, the New York native and WW II U.S. Navy veteran whoserved aboard the President Warfield, which sailed under the name of the Exoduscarrying Jewish refugees to Palestine.
http://www.machal.org.il/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=292&Itemid=398&lang=en
1928:“Present Arms” a Rodgers and Hart musical opened at the Mansfield Theatre.
1928:“A concession which is expected to aid the Soviet trade balance has beengranted to an American business man, Montifiore Kahn, acting for aGerman-American group.
1929(16thof Nisan, 5689): Second Day of Pesach
1929:“The Passover is not merely a festival of freedom, but a symbol of survival,declared Rabbi Jacob Kohn at Temple Ansche Chesed, West End Avenue and 100thStreet, this morning on the second day of the Passover.
1929:In Jerusalem, there was a cornerstone laying ceremony to mark the constructionof the building designed to house the Jewish National Fund. The building was part of a constructionproject designed to provide space for several national institutions.
1930(28thof Nisan, 5690): Parashat Shmini
1930:As of today, Joseph Mizrachi Urphali “is the only Jew under sentence of deathfor his alleged participation” in the Arab riots that took place in August of1929.
1931:In Manhattan Moe and Tillie Brillstein gave birth to Bernard Jules Brillstein,the nephew of vaudeville performer Jack Pearl who gained fame as producer andhigh-powered talent agent Bernie Brillstein.
1931(9thof Iyar, 5691): Eighty-seven year old Vienna born “inventor and chemist IsidoreKitsee “who is credited with more than2,000 inventions” including “a wireless set using a tube” the patent rights forwhich he sold to Marconi” and who claimed to be a descendant of MosesMaimonides passed away today in Philadelphia,
1931:More than 1,000 people, including Gustave Hartman, the President of the IsraelOrphan Asylum, attended a testimonial dinner for Herbert D. Perlman, the grandmaster of the Independent Order of B’rith Abraham, who will be retiring thisyear
1931:Eighty-five-year-old Dr. Otis Glazebrook the American Consul in Jerusalemduring World War One who was honored by Jewish leaders for the effective way he“distributed relief funds in Jerusalem passed away while aboard the SSBelgenland.
1932(20thNisan, 5692): Sixth Day of Pesachh
1932:Birthdate of Anthony Ray Gubbay, “the former Chief Justice of the Supreme courtof Zimbabwe.
1933:In Munich Justine and Karl Penzias gave birth to Arno Allan Penzias, a “Kindertransportkid” who won the Nobel Prize for Physics.
http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Arno_Allan_Penzias
1933:Hermann Göringestablished the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei; Secret State Police).
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-gestapo
1933: Hitler met with Bishop Wilhelm Berning ofOsnabrück and Monsignor Steinmann, prelates representing the Roman CatholicChurch in Germany. Hitler claimed that he is only doing to the Jews what theCatholic Church has already done to them for 1600 years. He reminded theprelates that the Church has regarded the Jews as dangerous and pushed theminto ghettos. Hitler suggested that his anti-Jewish actions are "doingChristianity a great service." Bishop Berning and Monsignor Steinmannlater described the talks as "cordial and to the point."
1933:Jewish students were barred from schools in Germany
1934:U.S. premiere of “We’re Not Dressing” a musical comedy directed by NormanTaurog with a story co-authored by Benjamin Glazer who also produced the filmand co-starring George Burns as “George Martin.”
1934(11thof Iyar, 5694): Seventy-one-year old Rabbi Francis Lyon Cohen the English bornson merchant Woolf Henry Cohen and the former Harriet Phillips who “was thefirst and, for most of his ministry, the only spiritual leader in Sydney, Australiawith rabbinical qualifications” passed away today.
Biography - FrancisLyon Cohen - Australian Dictionary of Biography (anu.edu.au)
1934: Birthdate of actor Alan Arkin.
1934:The third biennial Levant Fair opens in Tel Aviv. According to Israel B. Brodie, “the fair isdesigned to attract trade to Palestine and also to draw attention to theimportance of Palestine in reaching many of the Near Eastern markets.”
1935:“Mark of the Vampire” co-authored by Guy Endore (born Samuel Goldstein) wasreleased in the United States today.
1936:“As sporadic acts of violence by Arabs continued…a young Jew walking near theDamascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem was severly beaten by an Arab whoescaped. Buses in Jewish districts arestone by Arabs and attempts by Arabs to set fire to Jewish owned fields havebeen thwarted.
1936:In France, the first of two rounds of elections take place that will bring aPopular Front Government to power with Leon Blum serving as “the firstauthentically Socialist prime minister in French history.”
1936:In Purchase, NY a celebration was held marking the 80th anniversaryof the birth of Henry Morgenthau, Sr.
1936:“A few hours after Chaim Wiezmann…had sent a cable telling of the recentoutbreak of violence in Palestine and asking for a special $150,000 fund tomeet urgent needs” a meeting was held tonight at the Hotel Astor that includedrepresentatives from the ZOA, World Zionist Organization of America, the WorldZionist Executive, the Jewish National Fund, the Labor Zionists, Mizrachi, theOrder of the Sons of Zion and Hadassah.
1937:Banker Felix M. Warburg and his wife returned today from Europe today where “hehad attended executive committee meetings of various Jewish charities” and“said the hope for alleviation of Jewish distress in Europe lay in a possiblechange of attitude by certain governments, not for ‘love of human’ but foreconomic reasons.” (Editor’s note – whencriticizing the American response to the treatment of the Jews in Europe, oneshould look to the words of leading Jews who provided input for the general society.)
1937:It was reported today, that according to Dr. Samuel Buchler, the Jewish Courtof Arbitration which he founded “said that the court had reconciliated 3,600families, helped 2,300 age parents to gain support from their sons and daughter,and settled disputes for 425 synagogues , lodges and fraternities. “
1938: Austrian Jews were required to register property above 5,000Reichsmarks. This came as part of the Nazification of Austria after theGermans annexedHitler's homeland. After the war, the Austrianssought to portray themselves as the first victims ofNaziaggression. The cheering throngs that greeted Hitlertold a differentstory.
1938:Nazi Germany adopted a statute requiring government authorization for the saleor rental of a company.
1938:“Austrian composer and cabaret star” Hermann Leopoldi was kept from making hisplanned trip to the United States today when he was arrested and transported toDachau.
1939:“The decision to unify” Kibbutz BaMa’ale and Kibbutz BaMifne in Karkur “wasmade in the secretariat of Hashomer Hatzair” today.
1939: Twodays after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held thisafternoon at Temple Rodelph Sholom for 77 year old Isaac Goldberg, the head of“trucking business” that had been founded by his father Jacob Goldberg andDemocratic political leader who raised two sons – Bertram and Edwin – with hiswife “the former Mae E. Perlberg.”
1940(18thof Nisan, 5700): Fourth Day of Pesach
1940:It was announced today that Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, the secretary of theAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution has been appointed vice chairman of thecharity’s European Council and that Moses Leavitt will succeed Dr. Schwartz assecretary.
1940:“Turks and Anzacs Joined on Gallipoli Anniversary” published today describedthe events held throughout the Middle East marking the 25thanniversary of the Anzacs storming ashore on that Ottoman peninsula includingthe new generation of Aussie and Kiwis who are serving in Palestine.
1941:The “Rats of Tobruk” continue their battle with Afrika Corps marking the firsttime that the Germans had actually been stopped dead in their tracks which hadto be a bit of moral boost since the Yugoslavians had just surrendered to theGermans giving them a free hand in the Balkans, and unbeknownst to anybodyclearing the way for the invasion of the Soviet Union which would bedevastating for the Jews of Eastern Europe
1942:Leopold Müller and his wife Irene were marched on a roundabout route from aGestapo gathering point in a small park in Würzburg through the city's streetsto a train depot. There they left their luggage on the platform and boarded atrain to the East and to their deaths.
1943(21stof Nisan, 5703): Seventh Day of Pesach
1943:Day seven of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
1944:Release date for “The Hitler Gang,” “a pseudo-documentary…which traces thepolitical rise” of the German dictator.
1944:In Cleveland, OH Sylvian Bogart and Charles Redlick, the owner of a “carpet andfloor covering stores gave University ofChicago trained attorney Linda Diane Redlick, the hold doer BA from Cornell andPh.D from the University of Illinois, Chicago who gained fame as Linda DianeRedlick Hirshman “a lawyer and cultural historian and the author of Victory:The Triumphant Gay Revolution and many other books who married David Forkoshafter divorcing Harold Hirsman and whose NYT obituary, like so many others, failedto mention the fact that she was Jewish. (As reported by Penelope Green)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/09/us/linda-r-hirshman-dead.html
https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/linda-hirshman
1945:Prisoner Karl Riemer fled the Dachau concentration camp to get help fromAmerican troops
1945:“As the Americans approached Dachau about 7,000 prisoners, most of them Jews,were sent on a death march to Tegernsee.”
1946:U.S. premiere of “The Glass Alibi” directed and produced by W. Lee Wilder withmusic by Alexander Laszlo.
1946:“Thousands of British paratroopers made a house by house search through northTel Aviv today rounding up and question 1,200 suspected terrorists” followingthe attack on a British police station.Tel Aviv is placed under a strict curfew.
1947:IN Russia, Bluma and Yechezkel Yadlovker gave birth to David Ben-ShalomYadlovker who made Aliyah 1960 and passed away when the INS Dakar sank in 1968.
1948(17thof Nisan, 5708): Third Day of Pesach is observed as Arab armies besiegeJerusalem seeking to strangle the Jewish state before it is even born.
1948:“Air communication with Palestine was cut yesterday when the British evacuatedthe Lydda Airport, today forces of the Arab Legion illegally gained control ofthe facility.
1949:“While hundreds of ex-servicemen and newly arrived immigrants demonstratedagainst unemployment outside, the Knesset heard plans today for a comprehensivebuilding program over the next four years coupled with an austerity campaignthat will make the Israelis tighten their belts in British style.”
1949:Following the occupation of east Jerusalem and territory on the west bank ofthe Joran River, “foreign correspondents in Amman, “have been informedofficially ha Transjordan is incorrect as he name of this country and thereforewill not be passed by the censors” and that the name of the country is the“Hashemite Jordan Kingdom.”
1949:As of today, the prospects of getting 2,000 thousand Jews out Hungary, who hadbeen promised safe passage by the new regime “are not bright and right now theonly Jews arriving in Vienna appeared to be “younger men who had made their wayacross the border without the consent of the Hungarian government.
1950:Seventy-nine-year-old Irish archaeologist Robert Alexander Stewart Macalisterwho “was responsible for the excavations at Gezer” from 1902 to 1909 where the“Gezer calendar” was found passed away today.
1951(20thof Nisan, 5711): Sixth Day of Pesach; 5th day of the Omer
1951:Day of the Fight” a documentary directed, produced, filmed and written byStanley Kubrick and with music by Gerald Fried was released in the UnitedStates today.
1951:Birthdate of Erin Stoff, the native of Romania who gained fame as the Americanfilm producer who formed 3 Arts Entertainment, Inc.
1951:“Joseph Goldman, 76 Missouri Ex-Editor” published today described the lifeSpanish American War veteran and Jefferson City, MO native Joseph Goldman thejournalist who had the courage to faced down the Ku Klux Klan at a time whenthey were busy lynching and burning out Negroes, Jews and anybody whochallenged them
1953:“Printer's Measure” an episode of the TV anthology series The Philco-GoodyearTelevision Playhouse written by Paddy Chayefsky aired for the first timetonight.
1954:Field trials of the Polio Vaccine developed by Jonas Salk began today “at theFranklin Sherman Elementary School in McLean, VA, a suburb of Washington, DC.
1954:For the first time, NBC broadcast “The Tony Martin Show” which showcased thetalent of the San Francisco born singer who was the son of Eastern EuropeanJews.
http://ctva.biz/US/MusicVariety/TonyMartinShow.htm
1955(4thof Iyar, 5715): Yom HaZikaron
1956:In Syracuse, NY, Malvina Jacob, “an English teacher,” and factory worker PaulSherman gave birth to Columbia and JTS graduate Philip Lloyd Sherman “whosewebsite (as well as his vanity license plate) was emoil.com, claimed to haveperformed some 26,000 ritual circumcisions, mostly in the New York metropolitanarea, during his 45-year career. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1958(6thof Iyar, 5718): Parashat Tazria-Metzora
1958(6thof Iyar, 5718): Seventy-seven-year-old “stage producer, director, playwrightand screen writer Philip Moeller, the Manhattan born son of Frederick andRachel Phillips Moeller and Columbia graduate who was a co-founder of theTheatre Guild.
1959(18thof Nisan, 5719): Fourth Day of Pesach and Shabbat
1959:In “Ambassador at Large for a Nation in the Making” published today WalterLaquer reviewed Chaim Wiezman by Isaiah Berlin.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/29/specials/berlin-weizman.html
1959:“The Other Books of the Week” list published today included The Zionist Idea: AHistorical Analysis and Reader edited by Arthur Hertzberg was listed
1960:West German release date for “ I Married a Woman” directed by Hal Kanter with ascript by Goodman Ace.
1964(14thof Iyar, 5724) Pesach Sheni
1964(14thof Iyar, 5724): Seventy-three-year-old Polish born New York realtor AlexanderS. Haberman the husband of Esther Lebowitz Haberman and the father of Simon V.and Rabbi Jacob Haberman who “was president of the Beth Israel Center and presidentof the Belzer Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem passed away today.
1965:The World Zionist Congress tonight closed a two-day debate on Israel's securitycrisis after having heard new attacks on United States and Soviet policies
1965:Composer Aaron Avshalomov passed away. Born into a Jewish family inNikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, then Russian Empire) in 1894, “he was oneof highly qualified Jewish musicians (i.e., Alfred Wittenberg, Walter Joachim,Arrigo Foa, etc.), who fled pogroms and revolutions in Russia in the beginningof the 20th century, went to China (first arrived in Harbin, later moved toShanghai). They entered the world of Shanghai's academia and trained a numberof young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leadingmusicians in contemporary China. Aaron fled China in when the Japanese invadedin 1931 and moved to live in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was the father ofcomposer Jacob Avshalomov, conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony (now calledthe Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra) from 1953-1994.
1966:Funeral services are scheduled to be held for Leonard Drucker, the husband ofAnnette Bloom Drucker in Stamford, CT followed by interment at the Beth DavidCemetery in Elmont, L.I.
1966: Arnold "Red" Auerbach retired asBoston Celtic's coach
1967(16thof Nisan, 5727): Second Day of Pesach
1967: In what would turn out to be partof a diplomatic offensive leading to the Six Day War, the Soviet Ambassador toIsrael protested to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol that Israel was planning onstarting a war with Syria. Ehskol deniedthe claim and offered to take the Soviet diplomat to the border so that hecould see that troops were not being massed for attack. The Russian declined to go, but the Syriansbelieved the Russian report increasing tension in the area.
1967:Hallelujah, Baby! a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Adolph Greenand Betty Comden, opened on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre
1968(28thof Nisan, 5728): Seventy-eight-year-old Silesian born and decorated member ofAustria’s World War I Army, Benno Landsberger, a leading Assyriologist who likeso many of his generation had his career “interrupted by the rise of the Nazispassed away today.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvcm4fww
1969:In Canada, the Bulletin published a list of the demands and goals made by agroup of students at Shaar Hashomayim that were designed to show their respectfor the synagogue while at the same time calling for “practices necessary for arenaissance in Canadian Jewish life.”
1969:"Suzanne," “a song written byCanadian poet and musician Leonard Cohen”“entered the Dutch Top 40 List today at number 39.”
1969:After 161 performances, the curtain came down “Jimmy Shine” written by MurraySchisgal at the Atkinson Theatre.
1969:After 433 performances the curtain came down on the first Broadway productionof “George M!” a musical with a book by Michael Stewart and Francine Pascal,produced by Emanuel Azenberg and starring Joel Grey.
1970(20thof Nisan, 5730) Sixth Day of Pesach
1970(20thof Nisan, 5730): As part of a campaign to gain rights for Russian Jews, tens ofthousands of Jews shared in a Passover “Exodus March” that began at the Sovietmission to the United Nations
1970(20thof Nisan, 5730): Stripper Gypsy RoseLee, born Louise Hovick passed away at the age of 56.
1973:A West End production of “Two Gentlemen of Verona” a rock musical based onShakespeare’s play of the same with a book by Mel Shapiro opened at the PhoenixTheatre with Shapiro as the director.
1974:“Jewish cameraman Mikhail Suslov and scriptwriter Felix Kamov-Kandel had theirnames removed from film credits.”
1976:For a second time, Pierre Goldman went on trial for his role in a robbery inwhich two pharmacists were killed. Thistime he was acquitted.
1976(26thof Nisan, 5736): Sixty-two-year-old South African born British actor Sid Jamessuffered a fatal heart attack “while performing on stage at the SunderlandEmpire Theatre.
http://www.family-announcements.co.uk/localworld/view/3344731/sid-james
1976(26thof Nisan, 5736): Seventy-two-year-old Sydney Franklin the first successfulAmerican matador who was named Sidney Frumkin when he was born in Brooklyn toOrthodox Jewish parents passed away today.
https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/the-life-of-gay-jewish-bullfighter-sidney-franklin-591515
1977:Samuel Lewis was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
1978: In a New York Times profile LillianVernon was described as "the first lady of mail order catalogues," adesignation she had earned through more than two decades of entrepreneurshipand steady growth of her eponymous business. Born Lilly Menasche inLeipzig, Germany, in 1927, Lillian Vernon fled with her family first toAmsterdam and then to New York to escape Hitler. In the U.S., her fathermanufactured leather goods, which would become the base of Vernon's first forayinto mail-order. Married and pregnant, Vernon began the business thatwould become Lillian Vernon, Inc., in 1951. She took $495 of her wedding giftmoney to place an advertisem*nt for personalized belts and handbags in Seventeen.Her father's company manufactured the belts and bags, and Vernon embossed,packaged, and shipped them. The ad brought in over $32,000 worth of sales, andVernon's company was born. She mailed her first catalogue two years later. Takingmonogramming as its trademark, and catering mainly to women, Lillian Vernon mail-ordergrew rapidly, generating $200,000 in sales in 1956, the year Vernon opened herfirst manufacturing plant. By 1990, sales had risen to $238 million, and themailing list had grown to 17 million names. After pioneering hersuccessful mail-order business, Vernon continued to keep the company at theforefront of commercial changes. She began opening retail outlets in 1985, andwent online a decade later. Hers was also the first woman-owned business to belisted on the American Stock Exchange. The company continues to introduce newcatalogs regularly, and now produces special lines of items for children,teens, and gardening, as well as its traditional products for the home. Vernonhas used her wealth to support over 500 charities, and has been recognized by,among others, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, which awarded her its National HeroAward. She has also received the NAACP Medal of Honor, and has been inductedinto the Direct Marketing Association Hall of Fame and the National Women'sHall of Fame. In 1997, she was named one of 50 leading women entrepreneurs bythe National Foundation for Women Business Owners. Though she no longerembossed items herself, Vernon was active as the CEO of her company and as itsmain spokesperson until 2006.
1981(22ndof Nisan, 5741): Eighth Day of Pesach marks the close of the celebration forthe first time during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.
1985(5thof Iyar, 5745): Seventy-six year old American screenwriter Albert Maltz amember of the Hollywood Ten who were jailed for their refusal to testify beforeCongress passed away today. (As reported by C. Gerald Fraser and Jerry Belcher)
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-04-28/news/mn-21334_1_albert-maltz
1987: At Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York MargaretHowell Hudesman, an interior designer, was married to Gabriel Levinson, anarchitect with Nadler, Philopena & Associates in Mount Kisco, N.Y. RabbiGunter Hirschberg performed the ceremony.
1987(27thof Nisan, 5747): Yom Hashoah,
1987:Israeli radio quoted sources in Prime Minister Shamir's office as saying Mr.Moshe Arens had succeeded in persuading Secretary of State Shultz to give upthe idea of an international conference, a report that was promptly denied byForeign Minister Shimon Peres's office. Foreign Minister Peres favors such aconference. Shamir opposes it.
1989:NBC broadcast the last episode of “Tattingers” a comedy-drama created by BrucePaltrow and starring Jerry Stiller and Rob Morrow and with them music composedby Jonathan Tunick.
1990:Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud bloc, waschosen to form a new government after Labor Party leader Shimon Peres failed inhis attempt to form a coalition.
1990(1stof Iyar, 5750): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1990(1stof Iyar, 5750): Ninety-five-year-old Irma (Seeman) Goldberg, the widow of RubeGoldberg passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/27/obituaries/irma-seeman-goldberg-hospital-volunteer-95.html
1991:“Oscar,” a comedy directed by John Landis and with music by Elmer Bernstein wasreleased in the United States today.
1991(12thof Iyar, 5751): Eighty-one year old Henry Lipson who served as Professor ofPhysics at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technologyfrom 1954 to 1977 and then became Professor Emeritus passed away today.
1992(27thof Nisan, 5747): Yom Hashoah
1992:Appearing before 5,000 men, women and children gathered to mourn the Jewskilled by the Nazis, Vice President Dan Quayle pledged the commitment of theBush Administration to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and toIsrael, which he said "was built upon the ashes of the Holocaust."
1992:“Lou Bernstein: Five Decades of Photographs” an exhibition that includes“images of life the 1940s to the 1960s” came to an end today.
https://www.icp.org/exhibitions/lou-bernstein-five-decades-of-photographs
1993(5thof Iyar, 5753): Yom HaAtzma’ut
1994:Seventy-one-year-old Rostam Bastuni, a journalist and politician who was thefirst Arab citizen to represent a Zionist Party (Mapam) in the Knesset.
1995(26thof Nisan, 5755): Ninety-year-old Dutch born cellist Frieda Belinfante a memberof the Portuguese -Sephardic Belinfante family that settled in Holland in the17th century passed away today.
http://articles.latimes.com/1995-03-07/local/me-39790_1_orange-county-philharmonic-society
1996:According to a report published in the Bulletin,two days before Passover, the leaders of Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal found outthe nature of the upcoming student demonstration that would confront thecongregation.
1997:In “Adding a Contemporary Ring to an Ancient Story,” Gustav Neibuhr described aSeder the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism hosted for the Dalai Lama.
1998(30thof Nisan, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1998(30thof Nisan, 5758): Two days before her 80th birthday, MatildaMeltsner, the daughter of Morris Meltsner, whose older brother Joseph Meltsnerhad been killed during the battle for Iwo Jima, passed away today in ValleyStream, NY.
1998: The NewYork Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interestto Jewish readers including Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in NaziGermany byMarion A. Kaplan, Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination ofMartin Luther King, Jr. by Gerald Posner and Heading South, LookingNorth: A Bilingual Journey by Ariel Dorfman.
1998:An exhibit styled “An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine”opened at the Jewish Museum in New York City. “\
1999:Israel charged Avisahi Raviv, “a former undercover agent and right-wing radicaltoday with failing to prevent the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabinby a Jewish hard-liner.”
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/04/26/world/ex-undercover-agent-charged-as-a-link-in-rabin-killing.html
2000(21stof Nisan, 5760) Seventh Day of Pesach
2000:In what is a growing trend Fred and Ruth Goldschmidt and “their children andgrandchildren have joined a growing number of observant Jews who leave theirhomes to make the Passover exodus to resort hotels for the holiday,”includingthe Wyndham Resort and Spa” where Lasko Family Kosher Tours is responsible forthe KP getaway.
2001(3rdof Iyar, 5761): Yom HaAtzma’ut
2002:“About a Boy” a comedy directed by Christ Weitz and Paul Weitz who also wrotethe screenplay and co-starring Rachel Weisz was released today.
2003:Thirteen people were injured during a bombing at the Kfar Saba train stationfor which the PFLP and Al-Aqsa claimed joint responsibility.
2003(24thof Nisan, 5763): Seventy-three-year-old Peter Stone who scripts includedeverything from lighthearted comedy like Father Goose to the Broadway hit“1776” who won the trifecta – Emmy, Tony and Oscar – passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/28/movies/peter-stone-award-winning-writer-of-1776-dies-at-73.html
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2003/may/19/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries
2004(5thof Iyar, 5764): Yom HaZikaron
2004:Two Palestinians were killed when suicide bomber coming from Gaza detonatedhimself “on the way to carry out an attack in Israel.”
2005(17thof Nisan, 5765): Third Day of Pesach
2005(17thof Nisan, 5765): Eighty-six-year-old Mason Adams who may be best remembered asthe voice of Smuckers – “With a name like Smucker’s, it has to be good” – passedaway today.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/star-gazette/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=3480066
2005:Dr. Raul Hilberg, author of the three-volume, 1,273-page The Destruction ofthe European Jews regarded as the seminal study of the Nazi Final Solutionwas elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2005:‘One of Isaac Lazarus Israëls Donkey riding on the Beach series realised€482,400 at Christie's, Amsterdam.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Isaac_Israels_-_Donkeyride.jpg
2006(28thof Nisan, 5766): Yuval Ne’eman, founderof Israel’s space program and a key figure in Israel’s nuclear program passedaway.
2006:The family of real estate magnate and book lover Sami Rohr has created the SamiRohr Prize for Jewish Literature, an annual $100,000 prize for an"emerging writer whose work has demonstrated a fresh vision and evidenceof future potential."
2006: Haaretzreviewed Betabat Hahenek or In a Stranglehold by Uri Ben-Ari
2006(28thof Nisan, 5766): Yuval Ne’eman founder of Israel’s space program and a keyfigure in Israel’s nuclear program passed away.
2006:While delivering the James Fox Memorial Lecture today, Robert S. Mueller, III,the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation described a terrorist plotwhich included plans to blow up a synagogue in Los Angeles on Yom Kippur in2005. When the would-be terrorists were caught, they also had lists of theaddresses of the Jewish houses of worship in Los Angeles and the address of theIsraeli consulate in Los Angeles
2006:“The Hebrew Manuscripts of the Cairo Genizah” published today.
http://h2g2.com/edited_entry/A10358868
2007:Harman International Industries announced today that It entered an agreement tobe acquired by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts (KKR) and Goldman Sachs.
2007: Today, the building that had been home to Temple B’naiAbraham while it was located in Elizabeth New Jersey and was designed by theNathan Meyers was placed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
2008(21st of Nisan, 5768): Seventh Day of Pesach – Reform Jewsrecite Yizkor
2008(21st of Nisan, 5768): Yossi Harel, who commanded four shipsbringing Jews to Israel illegally, died at the age of 90 in Tel Aviv.Harelassisted 24,000 Jews in reaching Israel aboard four ships, including the famedSS Exodus, between 1945 and 1948. Great Britain, which controlled the region atthe time, banned Jewish immigration due to Arab pressure. The other three shipswere called Knesset Yisrael (Gathering of Israel), Atzma'ut (Independence) andKibbutz Galuyot (Ingathering of the Exiles).The Exodus was made famous by afilm of the same name. Born in 1919, Harel was the sixth generation in hisfamily born in Jerusalem. At the age of 15 he joined the pre-state Haganahdefense force. By the age of 28 he oversaw the clandestine immigrationoperations bringing Jews, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, to the HolyLand. Later on, Harel oversaw the IDF’s Unit 131, an intelligence unit that rana spy ring in Egypt until the so-called Lavon Affair of 1954.Harel will beburied at the Caesarea-area kibbutz, Sdot Yam.
2009: Final performance of “The Accomplices” at the Center StageTheatre in Jerusalem.
2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books byJewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including VincenteMinnelli: Hollywood’s Dark Dreamer by Emanuel Levy and the recentlyreleased paperback edition of The Mayor’s Tongue a novel written byNathaniel Rich.
2009: First annual Mitzvah Day in Iowa City sponsored by AgudasAchim
2009: Authorities fear a case of swine flu may have made it toIsrael after a 26-year-old Israeli who just returned from a trip to Mexicotoday checked himself into the hospital reporting flu-like symptoms.
2009: Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids hosts its annual Big Dinner,one of the congregations oldest and most important fund raisers.
2009(2nd of Iyar, 5769): Eighty-two-year-old MeirBenayahu, the son of Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim and the brother of Moshe Nissim,whose areas of research including the Sephardi Diaspora, Kabbalah andSabbataism passed away today.
2009(2nd of Iyar, 5769): Eighty-two-year-old awardwinning historian Emanuel Tov whose disitinguished career included cofoundingthe “Institute for Research on Israeli Communities in the Middle East.”2009(2ndof Iyar, 5769): Eighty-sixty ear old Salamo Arouch, a Greek-born Jewish boxerwho survived the Auschwitz death camp in World War II by winning fight afterfight against fellow prisoners, to the delight of Nazi guards who had placedtheir bets on him, died in Israel today.
2010: “The Wedding Song,” film about a Jewish girl and a Moslemgirl, living in war torn Tunisia, is scheduled to be shown at the 2010 NoVAInternational Jewish Film Festival
2010: “Iron Man 2” a superhero movie directed by Jon Favreau wasreleased today in the United States.
2010:Professor Gil Troy is scheduled to deliver a lectureentitled "The 1975 Zionism is Racism Resolution: American Anger andBritish Appeasem*nt" in Jerusalem sponsored by the Israel Branch of TheJewish Historical Society of England.
2010: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest toJewish readers including “Get Capone:The Secret Plot That Captured America’sMost Wanted Gangster” by Jonathan Eig and “Ill Fares the Land” by Tony Judt.
2010: The Los Angeles Times included a review of “Three Chords ForBeauty’s Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw by Tom Nolan that traces thetransformation of Avraham Ben-Yitzhak Arshawsky from the son of immigrant Jewsto one of the main players in the world of Swing and the Big Band sound.
2011:“The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death ofTrust” by Diana B. Henriques, a book that “analyzes Mr. Madoff’s rise and fall”is scheduled to be published today.
2011(22nd of Nisan, 5771): Eighth day of Pesach –Yizkor
2011: The New York Times published a review of “A Book ofRecipes Gathered From Holocaust Survivors” by June Feiss Hersh.
2011: Peter Shumlin appeared on The Rachel Maddow Show viatelephone where he discussed health care reform in his state, his belief inhealth care for all and that "health care is a right, not aprivilege".
2012: “Lea and Darija” about the “Croatian ShirleyTemple,” Lea Deutsch ,the Jewish star of a Zagreb song-and-dance troupe, andher gentile dancing partner Darija Gasteiger is scheduled to be shown at theWestchester Jewish Film Festival
2012:Defense Minister Ehud Barak, said today that the chances “appear low” that theIranian government would bow to international pressure and halt its nuclearprogram.
2012: “In Darkness,” afilm set in Nazi occupied Lvov, is scheduled to be shown for the final time aspart of the Yom HaShoah commemoration in Iowa City, Iowa.
2012(4thof Iyar, 5772): Yom Ha’Atzmaut – IsraelIndependence Day
2013:“Family, ‘Not Willing to Forget,’ Pursues Art It Lost to Nazis” published todaydescribed the fight of
3generations of the Rosenberg family to recover art stolen during WW II.
2013: “NoPlace Earth” is scheduled to open in several cities across the United Statesincluding Beverly
Hills,Philadelphia and Washington, DC
2013:In New Orleans, Touro Synagogue is scheduled to host its 22nd annualJazz Fest Shabbat
2013:One hundredth anniversary of the start of events that would become known as“The Leo Frank Case,” the worst single outbreak of anti-Semitism in the UnitedStates.
2013:Today, Bulgarian investigators staged a re-enactment of the bus bombing thatkilled five Israeli tourists, the bus driver and the alleged perpetrator at theBurgas airport in July. The Europol-sponsored experiment, aimed to provide moredetails about the attack, was done at a police compound near the city ofIhtiman, 40 kilometers (25 miles) east of Sofia. Officials said the resultsconfirmed the facts they had previously established. (As reported by AP &Times of Israel)
2013:Lebanese media outlets reported this afternoon that the Israeli Air Force wasconducting mock raids over southern parts of the country, one day after anunmanned aerial vehicle was shot down by the IAF off the coast of Haifa
http://www.timesofisrael.com/lebanese-media-report-israeli-mock-raids-over-south/
2014:“The Zig Zag Kid” is scheduled to be shown at the JCC Rockland InternationalFilm Festival.
2014:Dominican priest Giuseppe Girotti “an opponent of Benito Mussolini and aprotector of Jews from the Nazi Holocaust who died at Dachau Concentration Campwhich earned him the designation of declared Righteous Among the Nations by YadVashem” was beatified today by Cardinal Angelo Amato on behalf of Pope Francis
2014:“Haunted Screen” an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art thatdescribed the role of German Jews in the film industry when the Nazis came topower and the changes that came afterwards came to a close today.
2015:“Watchers of the Sky” a documentary that includes a look at “the forgotten lifeof Raphael Lemkin, the man who created the world genocide” is scheduled to beshown at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center
2015:Music scholar Walter Frisch and Jewish historian Jonathan Karp are scheduled todiscuss the life and legacy of Harold Arlen in a program entitled That OldJewish Magic? Harold Arlen and American Popular Song presented by AmericanSociety for Jewish Music
2015:“Dior and I” and “While We’re Young” are scheduled to be shown at theWestchester Jewish Film Festival.
2015:“The Republican Jewish Coalition leadership conference is scheduled to come toan end in Las Vegas, Nevada.
2015:4th Annual ReelAbilities: Greater DC Disabilities Film Festival is scheduled toopen today.
2015:Israeli choreographer and his company are scheduled to perform “Dabke” at theJCC Manhattan.
2015:“‘Martyrs Street,’ Misha Shulman’s new play about the Israel-Palestinianconflict that explores the power and seduction of extremism” is scheduled tocomplete its run “at New York’s off-off-Broadway Theatre for the New City”today. (As reported by Cathryn J. Prince)
2015:The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at Beth Shalom Congregation inColumbia, MD.
2015:The New York Times featured reviewsof books written by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readersincluding The Do-Over: Poems by Kathleen Ossip, Infamy: The ShockingStory of the Japanese American Internment in World War II by Richard Reevesand The Train To Crystal City: FDR’s Secret Prisoner Exchange Program andAmerica’s Only Family Internment Camp During World War II by Jan JarboeRussell
2016:In the United Kingdom, the Oxford Jewish Chaplains are scheduled to provide “aKosher for Passover version of their popular Radcam Picnics.
2016:Publication date for Disraeli: The Novel Politician by David Desarani andBarbara Streisand: Redefining Beauty, Femininity and Power by Neal Gabler.
2017:“Bribe Cases, a Jared Kushner Partner and Potential Conflicts” published todaydescribed the interaction between the President’s son-in-law and Israel’sSteinmetz family.
2017: In Vienna, Im Kinksy is scheduled toauction Portrait of a Man, a painting by a 17th century Dutch Masterthat had been part of a collection amassed by Adolphe Schloss which was lootedby the Nazis in 1943 and which is heirs are attempting to get back to therightful owners.
2017:Dr. Norman Cohen is scheduled to lecture on “Abraham’s Journey from Ur toMoriah” at the Streicker Center in NYC.
2017:Rod Rosenstein completed almost twelve years of service as the United StatesAttorney for the District of Maryland began serving as the 37thUnited States Deputy Attorney General today.
2017:Lynn Downey is scheduled to speak to the Nevada Historical Society about herbook Levi Strauss” The Man Who Gave Blue Jeans to the World.
2017:The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to host the launch of “thethird edition of Remember the Women Institute’s Women, Theatre, and theHolocaust Resource Handbook.”
2018:In Atlanta, the Bremen is scheduled to host am evening “Oud Musician andTeacher James Schneider” as he serenades the audience while sharing “thehistory of the Oud and Iraqi and Middle Eastern music amid tables filled with“delectable Iraqi desserts.”
2018:The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present Ruth Wisse speaking “abouthow her scholarship on the complex relationship between Jews and power inhistory informs contemporary debates.”
2018:The American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to host “the book talk and launchof Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles, and hear fromauthor Fran Leadon about the extraordinary ways in which American Jewscontributed to making Broadway the iconic street that it is today.”
2018:The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Educational Center is scheduled to host “Meetthe Author: Fritz Bauer 1903-1968: The Man Who Found Eichmann and Put Auschwitzon Trial.”
2018:The President withdrew the nomination of Ronny Jackson who had been named toreplace David Jonathan Shulkin as the United States Secretary of VeteransAffairs, the first member of the Jewish member of the Trump administration tospeak out against the white supremacists in Charlottesville.
2019:The Arizona Cardinals traded their startingquarterback Josh Rosen to the Miami Dolphins.
2019:As Jews celebrated the Seventh Day of Pesach, hopefully they will pause andrealize that seventy-six years ago today, the fighters of the Warsaw Ghettowere marking the day not with light of candles but with the burning wicks ofMolotov co*cktails. (Due to a calendar coincidence, the secular and Jewishcalendars of 1943 and 2019 are in perfect sync)
2019(21stof Nissan, 5779): Seventh Day of Pesach; Sixth Day of the Omer
2019:It was reported today that “The deputy attorney general, Rod J. Rosenstein,attacked the Obama administration, former law enforcement officials, the pressand his own critics in a fiery last night that he used to defend his handlingof the Russia investigation.”
2020:Congregation Mishkan Tefil is scheduled to host the second annual Mussar andMindful Living Conference, with sessions by Alan Morinis, author of “EverydayHoliness” and founder of The Mussar Institute and Dr. Ronit Zev-Kreger,Momentum, Director of Education and Leadership Development, a virtual event facilitatedby Rabbi Marcia Plumb
2020:As part of its Virtual Program Series, the American Jewish Historical Societyis scheduled to host “Soapbox Yoga.”
2020:Health Minister Ya'acov Litzman will reportedly leave his post for a newcabinet position following weeks of criticism of his handling of thecoronavirus crisis.”
2020:“Growing Up with Ruth and Marty” scheduled for today has been canceled by theIllinois Holocaust Museum in accordance with the recommendations of GovernorPritzker.
2020(2ndof Iyar, 5780): Based on figures already released Israelis begin the weekmourning the loss of 199 of their countrymen to the coronavirus.
2020:In Atlanta, “In the House of Cohen” part of the 2020 Molly Blank Concertscheduled for today has been postponed because of concern for “health andwell-being” during the Pandemic.
2020:As part of the “remote Concert Series” the Jewish Children’s Regional Serviceis scheduled to present a concert by violinist Basil Alter.
https://www.basilalter.com/about
2021:Dayan Ofer Livnat is scheduled to address some of the dilemmas dayanim arefaced with, and in particular how they relate to issues of Jewish identity,conversions and monetary disputes.
2021:Exhibition Launch and Artist Talk with Prof. Dana Arieli and Dr. Rotem Rozentalduring which attendees are scheduled to meet the artist curator behind “TheZionist Phantom,” a virtual art exhibition.
2021:The Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center’s collaboration with the Orchestra of St.Luke’s is scheduled to continue with a celebration of both mainstays of thechamber repertoire and significant works by living composers, with a focus onthose championed in OSL’s Music in Color programming initiative.
2021(14thof Iyar, 5781): Pesach Sheni
2021(14thof Iyar, 5781): Ninety-seven-year-old Arthur Wilbur Staats, the Greenburgh, NYborn son of Frank and Jennifer (Yollis) Staats the behavioral psychologist whopopularized the concept of the “time out” while raising two children – Jenniferand Peter – with his wife Carolyn Kaiden passed away today. (As reported by SamRoberts)
2021:The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host a conversation with MichaelShnayerson, the author of Bugsy Siegel: The Dark Side of the American Dream.
2022:The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to co-sponsor an on-site and onlinea Yom Hashoah Commemorative Concert ‘WE ARE HERE: Songs from the Holocuast.”
2022:The JDC Archives and the Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History alecture by Dr. Jonathan Sarna on Re-Evaluating the Role of American JewryDuring the Shoah.”
https://theweitzman.org/events/american-jewry-during-the-shoah/
2022:In New Orleans, Congregation Gats of Prayer and the Jewish Community Day Schoolare each scheduled to hold their board meetings this evening
2022:The Eden-Tamir Center is scheduled to host “a Special Concert in cooperationwith the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.
2022:Based on previously published reports, Israelis today face twin threats theirheath one of which comes from Elite chocolate which may be contaminated withsalmonella and the other of which comes from a BA.4 a new variant of Omicroncoronavirus three cases of which were detected among travelers arrived at BenGurion Airport.
https://www.ynetnews.com/business/article/hyefcfvh9
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/rkr4ksnb9
2022:Ambassador Stuart Eizenstat and Holocaust survivors Irene Weiss and MarcelDrimer are scheduled to speak at the “2022 Days of Remembrance Commemoration.
2022:Emma Kaufman Rose, the author of Saving Six Million: A Holocaust Memoir is scheduled to be the guest speaker at the Akron-SummitHolocaust Commemoration and Award Ceremony in honor of Yom Hashoah, HolocaustRemembrance Day, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. today in the main auditorium of the Akron-SummitCounty Public Library at 60 S. High St.
2023:“The Israeli Air Force is scheduled to hold its annual Independence Day flyovertoday, with various aircraft zipping over cities and towns throughout thecountry over the course of the morning and early afternoon.” (As reported byEmanuel Fabian)
2023:In Metairie, LA, Congregation Beth Israel is scheduled to celebrate Israel’s 75thIndependence Day with an that will include kid-friendly Israeli food from DvashCatering, crafts, games and more.
2023:UK Jewish Film is scheduled to open a Yom HaAtzma’ut screening of “Karaoke.”
2023:The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines is scheduled to host a YomHa’atzmaut Concert followed by a community dinner.
2023:The Weitzman is scheduled to host the Philadelphia Jewish Film and Media’sscreening of Upheaval.
2023:Centro Primo Levi New York and the American Sephardi Federation are scheduledto present “From Istanbul to Rio de Janeiro,” an evening with MoniqueSochaczewski Goldfeld (Brazilian Institute for Development, Education andResearch) and Louis Fishman (Brooklyn College) in conversation on the politicaland cultural relations between Brazil and the countries of the former OttomanEmpire.”
2023:JNF is scheduled to host a Yom Ha’atzmaut Celebration in Be’er Sheva that willinclude a signature concert, music festival, BBQ lunch and more.
2023(5thof Iyar, 5783): Yom HaAtzma'ut; Israel’s Independence Day
2024:The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host “All-of-a-Kind Family,” awalking tour of the Lower East Side that will “”ollow in the footsteps of Ella,Henny, Sarah, Charlotte, and Gertie, the beloved sisters depicted in SydneyTaylor’s children’s classic All-of-a-Kind Family.”
2024:“For its second annual sold-out gala, “Elevate: Lifting Stories of Hope,” TheCity Mission is scheduled to honor Dr. Fred and Jackie Rothstein, today at thedowntown Marriott in Cleveland in Key Tower.
2024:Bravin Lee Programs is scheduled to present The Golden Thread: A Fiber ArtExhibition that includes the work of Naomi Ben-Shahar.
2024:As April 26th begins in Israel, the Hamas heldhostages begin day 203 in captivity.(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so weare just providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time.)
2024(17th of Nisan, 5784): Fourth Dayof Pesach; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
