This Day, August 23, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
August 23
634:
Umar began his reign as the second Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. Umar
overturned the ban on Jews worshipping in Jerusalem. Not only did he clean the
Temple Mount of Filth, he encouraged the formation of Sanhedrin when he invited
“70 Jewish families to live on the southern end of the Temple Mount”.
686: Birthdate of Charles Martel, hero of the
Battle of Tours and grandfather of Charlemagne.
The Battle of Tours took place in 732.
Martel led the Christian forces against invading Moslem forces coming up
from Spain. This victory ended the
Moslem threat to Western Europe and led to the demarcation of Christian and
Moslem Europe at the Pyrenees. The life
of the Jewish people varied depending upon which side of the mountains they
lived. Charlemagne, Martel’s grandson,
would prove to be a benign ruler where his Jewish subjects were concerned.
1179:
The Battle of Jacob’s Ford opened with the arrival of Saladin at the river
crossing. Jacob’s Ford was a key Jordan River crossing on the road that ran
between Damascus and Acre on the Mediterranean. The area would become hotly
contested in the 20th century in combat including WW I, the War for
Independence and the Six Day War.
1217:
During the Fifth Crusade, another futile attempt by Christians to re-take
Jerusalem that brought misery to the Jews, King Andrew II of Hungary boarded
Venetian ships at Spalato on their first leg of their journey to “the Holy
Land.”
1305:
Fifteen years after ordering the expulsion of the Jews from England, King
Edward executed William Wallace in the cruel manner reserved for rebels as
punishment for the Scots trying to keep their kingdom separate from Edward’s
rule. The Scots never expelled the Jews
the way Edward had, and it is probable that some English Jews found refuge in
“lowland or the highlands.” Whatever else, the Jews and the Scots shared the
enmity of this avaricious monarch.
1349:
Start of pogrom in Cologne known as the “Slaughter of the Jews” when “an
enraged mob entered the Jewish quarter” and began killing the Jews in response
to the fears over the Black Death.
1542:
Joseph Caro completed his commentary on the Tur.
1555: Calvinists are granted rights in the
Netherlands. John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism was seen at least from a
comparative point of view as being a philo-Semite. Some Jews felt that there
was some sort of bond between them and the Calvinists because both groups were
intense attack from the Catholic Church.
The willingness of the Dutch to allow the Calvinists to settle in the
Netherlands was an example of their religious toleration which is what made the
“land of windmills and tulips” a hospitable place for the Jews of
Europe.
1567:
The Polish king, Sigismund II Augustus, issued an edict, granting the Jews
permission to open a yeshiva at Lublin. “As a result of the efforts of our
advisors and in keeping with the request of the Jews of Lublin we do hereby
grant permission to erect a yeshiva and to outfit said yeshiva with all that is
required to advance learning. All the learned men and rabbis of Lublin shall
come together for among their number they shall choose one to serve as the head
of the yeshiva. Let their choice be a man who will magnify Torah and bring it
glory.”(Edict dated August 21, 1567)
1572:
In Paris, Catholics slaughter Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew’s Day
Massacre. There were no Jews living in
France at the time but for more about these French Protestants and the Jews
see: The Huguenots, the Jews and Me by Armand Laferee, http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/791/features/the-huguenot-connection/ and
http://www.ppkaltenbach.org/news/the-huguenots-the-jews-and-me
1614:
Today, a day after Vincent Fettmilch of Frankfurt, a former pastry cook and
leader of the Guilds, calling himself the “new Haman of the
Jews” had attacked the synagogue
while the community was at prayer, “1,380 Jews, glad to have saved even their
lives, left the city and went to Offenbach, Hanau, and Höchst” after which the synagogue
as well as the Torah-scrolls was destroyed, and the cemetery was desecrated.
1675(1st
of Elul, 5435): Issachar Bärmann, the son of the Talmudic scholar Isaac Cohen
of Borkum and father of Leffmann Behrends, the “German financial agent” whose
“daughter Genendel became the wife of the chief rabbi of Prague, David
Oppenheim” passed away today.
1686:
Birthdate of Groningen native and University of Leiden trained Dutch
Orientalist and theologian Albert Shulten “who has been called the father of
modern Hebrew grammar” whose chief works of interest to Hebrew students were
editions of Job and Proverbs.”
1698:
Carpenter Jacobus Isaacs “became a freeman in New York City” today.
1723:
Eighty-four-year-old Increase Mather a member of a famous family of Puritan
ministers and leaders that included his father Richard Mather and his son
Cotton Mather passed away. Unlike their
European counterparts, the Mathers did not see themselves as anti-Semites who
believed in forced conversion. Increase Mather thought the future conversion of
the Jews to be both possible and not far distant in time. He opposed John Lightfoot’s argument that a general
conversion of the Jews was impossible, and he also attacked Baxter’s thesis
that the Jews were converted once and for all after Christ, and that those who
did not convert at the time were condemned to remain in the Jewish faith for
all time. According to Mather, the “national conversion” of the Jews was a
“glorious truth.” (From The John Carter Brown Library)
1754:
At the Palace of Versailles, the future Louis XV and Maia Josepha of Saxony
gave birth to Louis-Auguste who as Louis XVI included among his ministers
“Turgot, Choiseul, and Malesherbes , who were favorably inclined toward the
Jews” and who took “the first important step toward improvement of the status
of the Jews was the abolition of the body tax in 1784” but whose real impact on
the Jews of France were the excesses of his regime which brought on the French
Revolution.
1765(23rd
of Elul, 5525): Elkaleh Cohen Myers, the daughter of Rachel Michaels Cohen and
Samuel Myers, the wife of Myer Myers with whom she had five children – Solomon,
Samuel, Joseph Rachel and Judy – passed away today in New York.
1773:
Birthdate of German philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries, whose philosophy
included ant-Semitism as can be seen by his 1816 work On the Danger Posed by
the Jews to German Well-Being and Character in which he advocated distinct
dress for Jews and “encouragement” for Jews to emigrate while calling “for
Judaism to extirpated root and branch from German Society.”
1775:
In Curacao, Joshua Cohen Peixotto, the “son of Daniel Cohen Cohen Peixotto and
Gracia Peixotto” gave birth to Gracia Cohen Peixotto, the “wife of Mordechay de
David de Mordechai Abinun de Lima and mother of Clara Abinun de Lima; David
Cohen Peixotto; Jeosuah Abinun de Lima and Rachel Abinun de Lima.”
1787:
One day after she had passed away, Sarah Barrow, the wife of Lazarus Barrow and
mother of “Aaron and Benjamin Barrow” was buried today at the “Alderney Road
(Globe Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1792(5th
of Elul, 5552): Twenty-eight-month-old
Moses Leib ben Eisak Fuerth passed away today and was buried at the
“Alderney Road (Globe Rd) Jewish Cemetery.”
1799: Napoleon left Egypt for France en route to
seize power. Bonaparte’s position in the Middle East had become untenable
because Lord Nelson had destroyed the French fleet. Napoleon’s departure put an
end to the promises he had made about establishing a Jewish home in Palestine
when he was fighting at Gaza and Acre.
1799:
Mrs. Philip Hartvig Ree, the widow of Philip Hartvig Ree and the mother of
Hartvig Phillip Ree obtained special permission from the king “to remain in
joint possession” of her husband’s business.
1805:
Birthdate of Austrian political leader and anti-Semite Anton von Schmerling who
“urged the necessity of instruction in German in schools in order to overcome
the advantageous position of the Jewish soldiers in the regiments of Galicia,
who, owing to their knowledge of the German language, had better chances of
promotion to the position of non-commissioned officers” adding the view
“Personally, I am not in sympathy with the Jews
1806:
Napoleon “proposes” that the Assembly of Notables be superseded by a Great
Sanhedrin patterned after the ancient Jewish tribunal.
1815:
Abraham Joseph Elias Montefiore, the London born Son of Joseph Elias Montefiore
and Rachel Abraham Lumbrozo de Mattos (Mocatta) Montefiore married Henritte
Rothschild Montefiore.
1819:
In Nagy-Kanizsa, Hungary, Rabbi Meïr Szanto and his wife gave birth to
journalist Simon Szanto.
1824(29th
of Av, 5584) Thirty-six-year-old Abraham
Joseph Elias Montefiore passed away on his 9th wedding anniversary.
1824:
In London, Emanuel Aguilar and Sarah (nee Dias Fernandes) Aguilar gave birth to
composer Emanuel Abraham Aguilar the brother of Grace Aguilar.
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php?topic=4174.0
1829:
In Savannah, GA, Rebecca Benjamin Sheftall and Isaac Cohen who were married in
1816 gave birth to Frances Sheftall Cohen, the wife of Edwin Eger Hertz and the
mother of Isaac, Rebecca, Edwina, Harriet and Jessie Hertz.
1829:
Birthdate of German born historian and mathematician, Moritz Cantor whose works
included Mathematical Contributions to the Cultural Life of the People
and the multi-volume Lectures on the History of Mathematics.
1835:
In Amsterdam, Hester “Esther” Goudsmit, the daughter of Levie Emanuel Goudsmit
and Magdalena Hartog Goudsmit and her husband Salomon Abraham van Raalte gave birth to future
London resident Lion van Raatle, the husband of Santje van Ralte.
1837:
Alsey Harris and Abraham Ellis gave Sarah Ellis, the wife of Israel Levy.
1837:
Samuel Cohen and Rachel Nathan were married today in Sydney, Australia.
1838:
Joseph and Nanny Rosenheim gave birth to Adelheid Rosenheim
1840:
Two days after she had passed away, 82 year old Sarah Casper, the wife of Angel
Casper (Asher b Yehuda) with whom she had eight children was buried today at
the “Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1840:
Birthdate of Hungarian native Leopold Schenk, “the Austrian Embryologist.”
http://www.biusante.parisdescartes.fr/ishm/vesalius/VESx2004x10x01x037x037.pdf
1845:
The Gardener’s Chronicle and Horticultural Gazette reported that “a fearful
malady has broken out among the potato crop” which would lead to the Great
Famine known in Ireland as the Potato Famine which the Jews would help to raise
funds to aid the victims.
1853(19th
of Av, 5613): Fifty-three-year-old Rachel Levi, the daughter of “Leah and Jacob
Baiz” and the wife Joseph Levi passed away today in her native St. Thomas
1854:
Birthdate of Moritz Moszkowski,
Polish born Jewish composer, pianist and teacher.
1855:
A child of Mr. Louis Levinson of Providence was circumcised today.
1855: Birthdate of Cincinnati native Jacob Ottenheimer
who served on the board of Hebrew Union College and was an active member of
B’nai B’rith.
1856: Today twenty-eight-year-old Prussian born Baltimore
clothing store owner Samuel Rosenwald married Augusta Hamamerslough after which he operated clothing stores in Talledega,
AL, Peoria, IL and Evansville, IN before final setting in Springfield, IL “where
he ran one of the largest nd most complete clothing houses in that city.
1858:
Four days after she had passed away, Rose Wolfe was buried at the
“Wolverhampton Old Jewish Burial Ground.”
1862:”Escape
of Mr. W.H. Hurlbert from Richmond” published today described the Yankee
journalist’s visit to Richmond and Charleston.
Hulbert made the trip at the request of Judah P. Benjamin. Both men shared
roots in South Carolina, but after talking matters over, he “soon found that he
disagreed with that eminent Jew.”
1863(8th
of Elul, 5623): Sixty-two-year-old historian Joseph Levin Hall, the first Jew
to earn a doctorate in philosophy from the Albertus University of Konigsberg
passed away today.
1863:
In Richmond, VA, Rebecca Levy and Naphtali Judah Ezekiel gave birth to
journalist Herbert Tobias Ezekiel, the husband of Rachel Ezekiel.
1865(1st of Elul, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Elul observed for
the first time during the Presidency of Andrew Johnson and for the first time
since the end of the Civil War.
1866: The Treaty of Prague ends the Austro-Prussian
War. In approximately seven weeks, Prussia had defeated Austria. This little-known
war between the two leading Germanic states changed the course of victory. With Prussia the victor, Austria was removed
from Germanic affairs. The other
Germanic states would be forced to ally themselves with Prussia with King of
Prussia as the Emperor of a united Germany.
This German Empire would emerge as the strongest nation in Europe. This burgeoning strength would lead to World
War I, World War II and the Holocaust.
1867:
In New York City, Levi T Spiegelberg, the German born “son of Jacob Spiegelberg
and Betty Spiegelberg and his wife Bertha Spiegelberg” gave birth to Rosetta Spiegelberg
who passed away in New York at the age of 75.
1867:
In London, Phoebe Joseph and Abraham Van Nierop gave birth to Fanny Van Nierop,
the wife of Solomon Sassoon Benjamin and the mother of Claude Benjamin.
1868:
In Dover, England, “Rabbi Isidore Barnstein” and Eve Mendelson gave birth to
Jew’s College educated Henry Barnstein, who received his “Rabbinical Diploma
from Chaham Moses Gaster of London” after which he became the leader of
Congregation Beth Israel in Houston, TX while serving as the “Jewish Chautauqua
lecturer at Tulane University” and L.S.U.
1869: Birthdate of Lucie Hadamard, future wife of
Alfred Dreyfus.
1872(19th
of Av, 5632): A German Jew named Isaac Shwagar died in as a result of
sunstroke at Butler’s Pottery Yard in
New Brunswick, NJ.
1872:
Birthdate of Elsa Neumann “the first woman to receive a PhD in physics from the
University of Berlin.”http://jwa.org/thisweek/jul/23/1902/this-week-in-history-death-of-elsa-neumann-first-female-doctoral-graduate-of
1873:
In Chicago, Henry B. Franklin and the former Hannah Mayer, both of whom were
immigrants from Germany gave birth to Jennie Franklin, the wife of Moses L.
Purvin, who as Jennie Franklin Purvin was a leader in her native city’s civic
and Jewish communities.
http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/purvin-jennie-franklin
1874:
In Treves, Germany, “Solomon and Johanna (Blatt) Levy gave birth to Chicago
produce merchant and Republican Party member David Levy, the husband of Blanche
Greenfelder and father of Robert Charles Levy.
1876:
Victor Benjamin Hart married Clara Simmons today at the Great Synagogue.
1876:
In New York’s Supreme Court, Judge Donohue heard a motion by the Corporation
Counsel in a case brought by the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society
and other charitable institutions to have assessments removed from their
property.
1877:
Birthdate of Samuel Armin Schlesinger, who gained fame as “Hungarian social
scientist, librarian and anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary, Ervin Szabó.”
1877:
It was reported today that the Department of State has received a report from
the U.S. Minister to Turkey on the conditions of the Jews living in the Ottoman
Empire. There are 500,000 Jews living
under the rule of the Ottomans and in fairness to the Turks, “the Israelites
have been better treated by the Ottoman than by many of the Western powers…They
are recognized as an independent religious community” led by their own Chief
Rabbi or Chacham. The only case of “maltreatment of the Israelites which has
been brought to the notice of the United States Legation at Constantinople
during the tenure of Horace Maynard, the current U.S. Minister to the Ottoman
Empire involved an American Jew who was attacked by his co-religionist while
visiting Tiberias. In the meantime, the U.S. Minister at Constantinople has
requested that consular offices of the U.S. government serving in the various
part of the empire pay close attention to the condition of the Jews and report
any mistreatment.
1878:
The Jews of Petersburg, VA, telegraphed $50 to New Orleans to help relieve the
suffering of those impacted by the Yellow Fever Epidemic.
1878:
A dispatch from Bucharest published today reported that Mihail Kogălniceanu
(Cogalniceano) the Foreign Affairs Minister of Romania is seeking a
modification of those portions of the Treaty of Berlin that deal with the
treatment of the Jews. The terms of the
treaty would require the calling of a Constituent Assembly to amend the constitution,
and the Foreign Minister is afraid that the changes would be rejected. This
would be followed by a period of persecution of the Jews. The Romanian government believes that a
gradual granting of civil and political rights to the Jews would be less of a
problem because the people find the Jews to be so “obnoxious.”
1879:
It was reported today that Emma Lazarus and W.C. Bonaparte Wyse have published
sonnets on the death of the ex-Prince Imperial of France. The efforts of the
Jewish Lazarus were deemed to be the better of the efforts.
1879:
Birthdate of Ukraine native Samuel Wolf Kapitanoff, the husband of Minnie
Balaban Kapitanoff and father of Arthur Wolf Kapitanoff.
1880:
Birthdate of Josefine Bernfelld who was murdered during the Holocaust in 1942.
1881:
The Athletic Society of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem is
scheduled to sponsor an excursion today.
1881(28th
of Av, 5641): Babetta Scheild the 55-year-old widow of Julius Schield was found
dead in her New York apartment. Her throat had been cut. Notes written in Hebrew were given to her
children who had discovered the body.
While authorities assume that this was a suicide, the children would not
reveal the contents of the notes.
1882:
“The founding meeting for the Reform congregation, later to be known as Temple
Emanuel, was held” today “in Lindsay Hall, St. Catherine Street West” Quebec.
1883:
“The Jews In Russia” published today said the prohibition against Jews living
in St. Petersburg and Moscow is based more on economics than on religion. There are thousands of Jews living in the two
Russian Jews but that is because they are belong to “the privileged class” or
are “skillfully” evading “compliance with the law.”
1883:
In London, Jacob Nunes Nabarro and Hannah Israel Ricardo gave birth to Joseph
Nunes Nabarro.
1883:
As the controversy continues to swirl around the attempt of Moses Shapira to
sell a copy of the Deuteronomy scroll, “Shapira wrote a desperate letter to”
Christian David Ginsburg who had said it was forgery saying “you have made a
fool of me by publishing and exhibiting the fragments that you believe to be
false. I do not think that I will be
able to survive this shame.
1883:
In Piemonte, Italy, Vittorio Della Torre and his wife Emilia Lattes Torre gave
birth to Leila Orsola, the wife of Ernesto Ettore Foa and the mother of
Vittorio and Joseph Foa.
1883:
“A Swindler Captured in Chicago” published today described the arrest of F.
Simon Hahn a middle-aged Jew from the East Coast at the Sherman House who had
falsely claimed to represent Lieberman & Co of Philadelphia and who had
forged at least one check for $100.00
1885:
A review of Mrs. Keith’s Crime by Lucy Clifford published today contends
that the Jews are the “novel characters” in this work of fiction. They include quick witted, generous Fred
Cohen and Mr. Josephs, the Jewish MP.” (Like the reviewer, I am at a loss to
explain the authoress’ “familiarity with Jews.”)
1886:
“A Man With Six Wives” published today relied on information that originally
appeared in the London Daily New to describe
the exploits of a Polish Jew named Feinstein who has been arrested and tried on
charges of having six wives. His criminal behavior began in Russia in 1870
where he married and then deserted his first wife (and their four children)
before moving on to Paris, where he acquired and swindled several other wives
before taking his last spouse in Nancy. This “Lothario” who was described as
“small, ill-made and ugly” was sentenced to six years in prison for his crimes.
1887:
It was reported today that the among the bequests in the will of Levi
Rosenfeld, the Chicago millionaire were two thousand dollars to the United
Hebrew Relief Association of Chicago and five hundred dollars for the Hebrew
Union College. The bulk of the estate
went to his widow who was wealthy in her own right having received one and half
million dollars from the estate of Michael Reese.
1887:
Congregation Or Zion of Peru, Indiana made a dues payment of $21.00 to the
Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1887:
Congregation Keneseth Israel of Zanesville, Ohio made a dues payment of $7.00
to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1888:
In Darjeeling, India, Michael Krisch, the “head of the Indian Postal Service”
and his wife gave birth to Frederick Herman Kisch, the Sandhurst graduate who
served in WW I, reached the rank of Briagdeir during WW which made him “the
highest ranking Jew to serve in the British Army
1888:
Seventy-eight-year-old English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse the author of The
History of the Jews from the Christian Era to the Dawn of the Reformation
passed away today.
1889:
In Hampstead, Ida and Michel Schwabcher gave birth to Gertrude Doris
Schwabacher, the husband of George B. Veit.
1889:
The Marion County Patriot reported on the recent death of Lewis Arnheim who
represented rural Dougherty County in the Georgia State Legislature. Arnehim, who came to Georgia from Germany is
in 1868 was the son-in-law of David Mayer of Atlanta, GA.
1890:
In West End, NJ, Florence Shloss and Daniel Guggenheim gave birth to Cambridge (UK) graduate and WW
I naval aviator Harry F. Guggenheim the copper mining member of Guggenheim
brothers and husband of Caroline Morton.
1890:
“Mr. Mackay Maligned” published today described “annoyance caused to the
friends of John W. Mackay” by reports that he “dislikes Englishmen and despises
Jews.” Mackay was an Irish born American industrialist who made his fortune out
of the Comstock Lode. As proof of his feelings for Jews, his friends pointed
out that he sold his bank to “a Jewish syndicate” while retaining a large
enough interest that he continues to have regular contact with those who
bought. Also, Jews are among the biggest
users of his three cable companies which respectively span the Atlantic, the
United States and the Pacific.
1891:
The Times of London and The New
York Times described the two positive results of Mr. Arnold White’s recent
mission to Russia on behalf of Baron Hirsch. The trip was designed to improve
the conditions of the suffering Russian Jewish population. First, the Czar’s
government agreed to the practical abolition of the expensive passport system
which has kept Jews, especially the large number of poor Jews, from leaving the
country. Second, “is the authority given
for the formation of emigration committees throughout Russia and for the
promotion of emigration schemes in connection with the Central Berlin
Committee.” Up until this point, the
work had to be conducted in secret, hindering the process of Jews leaving a country
dripping with anti-Semitism. The report
ended with a cautionary note, that large increases of Jewish immigrants to
England might result in restrictive legislation similar to that which was being
adopted in the United States.
1892(30th
of Av, 5652): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1893:
Moses William Shapira, the Jerusalemite who deals in antiquities and ancient
manuscripts wrote his last letter to David Ginsburg the Christian biblical and
Masoretic scholar saying that he would be leaving London for Berlin in a day or
two.
1893:
At today’s session of the Fourth Annual Convention of the Central Conference of
American Rabbis, the Ritual Committee delivered its report which included the
plan “to arrange the second part of the Union Prayer-book containing services
for Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur according to the same principles used” to
arrange the first part of the prayer-book submitted at the Third Annual
Convention
1893:
“Tried To Capture A Meeting” published today described an attempt by anarchist
to take over a meeting of the United Hebrew Trades which was thwarted by the
police.
1894:
During his arraignment, Joseph Goldwasser, a Jewish carpenter, “did not deny
that he had beaten” his son Benjamin.
But he did not do it because his son was deaf and a mute, but because he
“had stolen and he was trying to him” to behave better.
1894:
Charles Wilfred Mowbray, the English anarchist who had worked with Jewish
tailors in London during their strike and who had addressed a mass meeting
praising Emma Goldman left the United States for his home country aboard the
White Star steamship Teutonic today.
1895:
“Hebrew Boys at Coney Island” published today described the generosity of the
businessman at the local resort showed towards the students from the Hebrew
Technical Institute which enabled them
to enjoy such amusements as the toboggan slides and carrousels.
1896:
“Henry Klein married Mamie [Matilda] Norton, the daughter of Simon F. Norton,
the son of a Polish Jewish immigrant merchant who had settled in Newark, Essex
County, New Jersey, where she was born in October 1870.”
1896:
Herzl meets with Johann Kremenetzky in Baden. Yona (Johann)
Kremenetzky’ was an industrialist and electrical engineer. In 1901, Krementzky would become the first
chairman of the newly created Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – the Jewish National
Fund which many know today simply as the JNF.
Krementzky created a wide variety of tools to educate the Jewish people
about Eretz Israel and to raise funds for the purchase and reclamation of the
land. He created the first Golden Book
of Contributors and began the Zion Stamp series. But his most famous innovation was the “Blue
Box” which has survived to this day.
1897:
In Bohemia, “an order has been issued forbidding public meetings of any” and a
7 p.m. curfew following yesterday’s outbreak of anti-Semitic violence at
Pilsen.
1898(5th
of Elul, 5658): Thirty-five-year-old Herman Rosenthal kissed his four-year-old
daughter Rachel and said good-bye to his wife before going to his room where he
hung himself.
1898:
In Washington, D.C. Mr. Roginksey and Mr. Levy expressed their displeasure with
Adas Israel having a Rabbi and with the hiring of Morris Mandel to fill the
post. “Mr. Lewis wished to know what functions Mr. Mandel was to perform,
whether Rabbi or Teacher? The President answered that he was Rabbi and teacher
both. Mr. M. Roginsky and Mr. Isaac Levy . . . objected to having a rabbi.”
1899:
Private Nathan Levy who had taken part in the Battle of Manila, completed his
service with Company F of the 18th Infantry.
1899:
During today’s session of the court-martial of Alfred Dreyfus Major General
Charles-Arthur Gonse, who had served as Deputy Chief of Staff, took the stand
“with a quick step and apparently light heart.” By the time Dreyfus’ lawyers
had finished examining him “his defiant bearing had changed into the abashed
air of a schoolboy caught telling a lie.”
1900:
Birthdate of Houston native and Rice graduate Louis Ehrenfeld, the chemist who
was the author of The Story of Common Things.
1901:
In Somerset, KY, John Sherman and Helen Gertrude (Tartar) Cooper
gave birth to John Sherman Cooper who as U.S. Senator from Kentucky took part
in the annual memorial services honoring Jewish American War Veterans which
were held at Adas Israel on May 24, 1957.
https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt6/pdf/GPO-CRECB-1957-pt6-12-2.pdf
1902(20th
of Ave, 5662): Parashat Eikev
1903:
The Sixth Zionist Congress convenes in Basel. It is the site of confrontations
between Herzl and his supporters and the Zionists of Zion, who reject the plan
for settlement in Uganda out of hand. Herzl brings the Uganda scheme is a
temporary measure, emphasizing that Palestine remains Zionism’s final object.
Herzl is supported by Max Nordau who terms the Uganda scheme a
“Nachtasyl” (refuge for the night), and is opposed by Russian
Zionists. “The English Jews are deeply interested in the announcement made by
Dr. Theodore Herzl, President of the sixth Zionist Congress, at its opening
yesterday at Basel, that Great Britain, in view of the collapse of the project
to establish Jews on the Sinai Peninsula, had offered the Zionists a large
tract of territory in East Africa for colonization by the Jews, who would have
autonomous government under British suzerainty.”
1903:
In Denver, Colorado, Dr. A.M. Radin of New York delivered a speech during
“Congress Day” sponsored by the B’nai Zion Association.
1903:
In Elmira, NY, H.M. Lasker of Troy, NY and S.E. Solomons of Syracuse, NY
addressed the mass meeting held by the Sons of Zion.
1903:
Birthdate of Manhattan native and jeweler Henry Lewis Lambert, the head of
Lambert Brothers Jewelers which had been “founded by his father and uncle in
1877,” and co-creator of the Lambert Trophy who was President of the New York
Board of Trade and the husband of “the former Marrion Lissberger with whom he
had two son – Henry and Benjamin.”
1904:
In Readville, MA, the Grand Circuit meeting where Nathan Straus was racing his
horses continued for a second day.
1905:
St. Louis native, twenty-six-year-old Victor Hugo Gottschalk married twenty-four-year-old
Rolla, MO native Katherine Cox.
1905:
Founding of Beth Israel congregation in Malden, MA.
1905:
The New York Times publishes a letter from Ralph Jonas praising “the
Sanitarium for Hebrew ‘children of the City of New York” which “has been doing
excellent work…” So far this summer 13,400 mothers and children have enjoyed
the benefit of the Sanitarium’s boat excursions and with another seven trips
scheduled for the rest of the summer, more than 20,000 people will enjoy the
benefits of free medical help and nutritious meals.
1906(2nd
of Elul, 5666): “Seven Jews and one Christian” were killed by Russian troops
who attacked the Jewish quarter at Seidlce under the “pretense” that they were
“suppressing revolutionary activity” which was their excuse for arresting an
additional 33 Jews.
1907:
Funeral services are scheduled to take place at Temple Emanu-El in New York for
Arthur A. Housman, the son of Sigmund Housman, the husband of the former “Mrs.
A.C. Hamilton and the head of the highly influential brokerage firm of A.A.
Houseman and Company whose senior partners included Sailing Baruch, the
brother of Bernard Baruch.
1907: In a letter to President Solomon Schechter of
the Jewish Theological Seminary, published to-day in The American Hebrew,
“Jacob H. Schiff, the Jewish banker and philanthropist, who does not believe
that a Jew can be a true American and a good Zionist at the same time”
“outlines his views of Zionism.”
1908:
Today author and educator Elijah Avin, the Divinsk
born son of Isaac and Deborah Avin who moved to Minnesota in 1911 where
“he developed the Talmud Torah of Minneapolis” married Chayah Missulowin
1908:
Birthdate of Emil Berger who was living in Prague before he was taken to
Majdanek where he was murdered in 1942.
1908:
In Glasgow, Scotland optical instrument maker Charles Frank and his wife Miriam
gave birth to artist and sculptor Hannah Frank.
http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/about_hannah.htm
1909:
As the strike at Mckees Rocks continues, the United States District Attorney
refused to arrest Samuel Cohen, a labor organizer for the Pressed Steel Car
Company on charges of peonage “under the provisions of the Federal laws.
1910:
In his 42nd birthday, Rabbi Henry Barnston, the Dover, England born
of Isadore and Eve (Mendelson) Barnston, who became the Rabbi at Congregation
Beth Israel in Houston Texas and a lecturer at Tulane University married Ethel
Kennard who passed away in 1917.
1911:
“Savage Anti-Jewish Rioting In Wales,” published today describes outbreaks of
violence in New South Wales, Great Britain, which were so severe that the Riot
Act had to be read and troops used to stop the mobs. Even more troubling was the mounting evidence
that the attacks were premeditated.
1912(10th
of Elul, 5672): Sixty-seven-year-old philanthropist Nathan Hermann passed away
today in New York City.
1913(20th
of Av, 5673): Parashat Ekev
1913:
Gunzburg Stores Company, Inc of Buffalo a clothing firm belonging to Herbert
Gunzberg, George Amaram and Herman Levi was incorporated today in the state of
New York.
1913:
The U.S. Shoe Polishing Manufacturing Company of Brooklyn which was owned by Adolph Lipschitz, Leon
Lipschitz and Robert H. Archbald was incorporated in the state of New York
today.
1914:
On the same that Japan declared war on Germany (a move that Americans would
come to feel during WW II) Austria-Hungary invaded Galicia, the home to a large
Jewish population that would suffer for the next four years.
1914: In
column published in the Boston Globe,
dietician Frances Stern connected nutrition to social welfare. She opened the
column with a lament that “There is meager knowledge of the comparative
nutritive value of various kinds of food The column went on to explain the
importance of protein in the diet, and to compare the nutritional value of
various foods, along with their cost. Stern particularly emphasized the
importance of education in nutrition as a way of helping poor women make the
most of their food budgets. A social worker, nutritionist, educator, and
pioneering dietician, Stern was a leading exponent of the idea that adequate
nutrition was crucial to social welfare.
1915(13th
of Elul, 5675): Emanuel Saul, a successful attorney in Essen and Duisburg
(Germany) passed away today.
1915:
After having found been found guilty of bribery, San Francisco political boss
Abe Ruef was released today after having served four and a half years of the
original 14-year sentence.
1915(13th
of Elul, 5675): Seventy-year-old merchant David Eiseman passed away in St.
Louis, MO.
1915:
It was reported today that according to Dr. Bertram Post of Robert College in
Constantinople, “Henry Morgenthau, the United States Ambassador” to Turkey who
is Jewish “has made himself very popular by his daily visits to the hospital”
in the Turkish capital “and his willingness to aid all those in trouble
irrespective of nationality or religion.”
1915:
“It was reported today that “a French warship bombarded the petroleum plant” at
Beirut causing so much trouble that the medical college was closed and all the
Jews in Syria were ordered to leave including Victor Jacobsen who left aboard
the cruiser Des Moines which took him to Rhodes.
1916:
“Oscar S. Straus received a letter from the French Ambassador to the United
States” today, in which he “informed Mr. Straus that the French Government
would permit an $18,000 shipment of drugs and medical supplies to reach Jewish
hospitals in Jaffa and Jerusalem.”
1916:
“Alexis Aladin, one of the best-known members of the Duma who is now in London
said today that not only was the present report” that a departmental order
permitting Jews to live outside of the Pale would be acted upon favorably by
the Duma and that the Minister of Education was planning to abolish the rules
limiting the number of Jews entering Russian secondary schools true and that
“two very prominent members of the Russian Government visiting London” said the
Duma would act speedily to enact legislation “giving the Jews equal advantages
with all Russians.”
1916:
It was reported today that “after Count Witte’s visit to America where he
acquainted himself with what the Russian Jewish immigrants have accomplished”
in the United States “upon terms of equality the only way of solving the Jewish
question” in his country “was by granting them equal rights with the people of
Russia.”
1916:
In New York, Netti Kinsbruner, the daughter of Shmuel and Rachel Stettner and
David Kinsbruner gave birth to William Kinsbrunner
1916:
Birthdate of Newark, NJ native Samuel Adelman the Newport News, VA and Denver
rabbi whose death was mourned by “clergymen and laymen” of all faiths.
https://history.denverlibrary.org/sites/history/files/adelman.pdf
1917:
In New York, Louis and Henrietta Peck gave birth to long-time New York Times editor Seymour Peck whose
conviction for failing to answer questions of a Congressional committee about
associates who were accused of being Communist was overturned.
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/02/arts/seymour-peck-times-editor-for-32-years-killed-in-crash.html
1917:
The Jewish Legion of the British Army was established. It was long championed
by Zev Jabotinsky, and was based on the Zion Mule Corps. The 38th Battalion was
commanded by Colonel Henry Patterson. A second battalion commanded by Colonel
Eleazar Margolin was also formed. Although initially against the idea, most of
the leadership of the Yishuv including Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi joined after the
Balfour Declaration. Over 2,700 men volunteered for the Legion. Many of them
saw action in Transjordan in the fall of 1918. The group was officially known
as the Royal Fusilier. Officially, the
units were not designated as Jewish fighting units and were not supposed to
wear Jewish insignias. Recruits came
from the United States as well as England and Palestine. One of the most famous
non-recruits was Golda Meir. When
recruiters came to Milwaukee she wanted enlist.
She was disappointed to find out that it was for men only.
1918:
It was reported today that the Secretaries of War and Navy have issued orders
allowing soldiers and sailors to take furloughs “for the observance of the high
holidays.”
1918:
It was reported today that Temple B’nai Israel, which is “affiliated with the
Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Washington Heights, has made arrangements to
conduct” High Holy Day services at the Y.M.H.A. building which is a sign of the
growth of Jewish community in Washington Heights.
1918(15th
of Elul, 5678): Twenty-year-old rifleman Joseph Cohen, the London born son of
Milly Diamond and Michael Cohn died of his would today in France while serving
with the 13th Battalion of the Rifle Brigade after which he was
buried in the Bagneux British Cemetery,
1918(15th
of Elul, 5678): During WW I, Lt Frederick Adolphus Aron, South Lancashire
Regiment who had been at Shrewsbury passed away today.
1919: Birthdate of Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin one of the leading
mathematicians of the USSR.
1920(9th
of Elul, 5680): Bethold Bendheim the brother of Betty Bendheim of Hamburg,
Germany and Clark Bendheim of St. Louis passed away today leaving bequests to
numerous “Jewish and non-Jewish Institutions” incuding The Hebrew Orphan
Asylum, Mount Sinai Hospital and Tuskegee Institute.
1920:
In Paris, The Committee of Jewish Delegations, “which represents the Jews of
nearly every country in the world” announced today “that it will wage a
campaign to obtain a seat in the League of Nations for representatives of the
Jewish people/”
1921:
Faisal I bin Hussein bin Ali al-Hashimi, who in 1919 had “signed the
Faisal-Weizmann Agreement for Arab-Jewish Cooperation” became King of the newly
created nation of Iraq following being thrown off his Syrian throne by the
French.
1921:
In New York City, the former Lilian Greenberg and Harry Arrow both of whom were
Jewish immigrants from Romania gave birth “Kenneth Joseph ‘Ken’ Arrow, the
joint winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.”
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economics/1972/arrow/auto-biography/
1922:
It was reported today that in Silesia “crowds have looted food shops owned by
Jews are beating them in the street because they believe “reports that the Jews
were responsible for the high price of food.”
1923:
In New York City Gilbert Seldes and Alice “Amanda” Wadhams gave birth to Miriam
Hall Seldes an actress whose career spanned six decades and earned her entrance
in the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
Her mother was a WASP; her father was the son of Russian Jewish
immigrants.
1923:
Birthdate of the Roman Catholic native of Cracow Zofia Posmysz, “who endured
three years of imprisonment in concentration camps for associating with the
Polish resistance to Nazi occupation in World War II, then gained acclaim for
her works on the Holocaust as a journalist, novelist, playwright and
screenwriter…” (As reported by Richard Goldstein)
1924:
In Brooklyn Hannah Sarney and Milton Solow gave birth to economist Robert Solow
who has been “awarded the John Bates Clark Medal (in 1961), Nobel Memorial
Prize in Economic Sciences (in 1987) and the 2014 Presidential Medal of
Freedom.”
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/1987/solow-bio.html
1924:
Birthdate of Ephraim Kishon, Israeli satirist, dramatist, screenwriter and film
director. Born in Budapest, as Ferenc Hoffmann, he studied sculpture and
painting, and then began publishing humourous essays and writing for the stage.
After 1945 he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont. He immigrated to
Israel in 1949, where an immigration officer gave him the name Ephraim Kishon.
Starting in 1952, he wrote a column of political and social satire call “Had
Gadya” for the daily newspaper Ma’ariv. Several of his works have been translated into
English including two books on the Six Day War – So Sorry We Won and Woe
To the Victors.
1925:
Thirty-eight-year-old Louis Brave the son of Isaac Hannah (Rocker) Brav who
attended Columbia, JTS and HUC and who served as the Rabbi at Temple Sinai in
Lake Charles, LA married Viola Gernsbacher today in Weatherford, TX.
1926:
In Boston, MA, Maurice and Lallie (Rothenberg) Troobnick gave birth to American
actor, Eugene Troobnick.
1927(25th
of Av, 5687): In Jersey (UK), Sarah Cohen passed away as the result of an
accident.
1927:
Birthdate of Atlantic City, NJ native and Columbia and NYU educated “performance
artist Allan Kaprow.
1927: The
execution of Sacco and Vanzetti ignites protests around the world. The case against the two Italian immigrants
was one of the great causes of the political left during the 1920’s. Numerous Jews were associated with their
cause including the writer Dorothy Parker and Felix Frankfurter.
1928(7th of Elul, 5688): Ninety-two-year-old
Theobald Epstein “a professor at the Philanthropin Secondary School, the
largest and longest-existing Jewish school in Germany, and an astronomer and
Head of the Frankfurt Observatory” passed away today.
1928: In Manhattan, socialite Alice Wadhams Hall and
Gilbert Seldes, “a descendant of Jewish immigrants from Russia” gave birth to
Marian Hall Seldes the Broadway actress who was the niece of journalist George
Seldes.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/08/theater/marian-seldes-regal-presence-of-broadway-dies-at-86.html
1929: Today,
which is Friday, thousands of Arab villagers streamed into Jerusalem from the
surrounding countryside to pray on the Temple Mount, many armed with sticks and
knives. Harry Luke, the acting High Commissioner of Palestine requested
reinforcements from Amman. Previously, Luke had ignored warnings from Jewish
leaders about the potential for violence Towards 9:30 am Jewish storekeepers
began closing shop, and at 11:00 20-30 gunshots were heard on the Temple Mount,
apparently to work up the crowd. Luke telephoned the Mufti to come and calm a
mob that had gathered under his window near the Damascus Gate, but the
commissioner’s impression was that the religious leader’s presence was having
the opposite effect. Inflamed by rumors that two Arabs had been killed by Jews,
Arabs started an attack on Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City. The violence quickly
spread to other parts of Palestine. British authorities had fewer than 100
soldiers, six armored cars, and five or six aircraft in country; Palestine
Police had 1,500 men, but the majority was Arab, with a small number of Jews
and 175 British officers. While awaiting reinforcements, many untrained
administration officials were required to attach themselves to the police,
though the Jews among them were sent back to their offices. Several English
theology students visiting from the University of Oxford were deputized. While
a number of Jews were being killed at the Jaffa Gate, British policemen did not
open fire. They reasoned that if they had shot into the Arab crowd, the crowd
would have turned their anger on the police. Yemin Moshe was one of the few Jewish neighborhoods to return fire, but
most of Jerusalem’s Jews did not defend themselves. At the outbreak of the
violence and again in the following days, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanded that weapons
be handed to the Jews, but was both times refused
1929:
After the Mufti of Jerusalem made slanderous and enraging attacks against the
Jews, what eyewitnesses described as “severe riots” broke out. The Arabs were
told by the Mufti, “Remember that the Jew is your strong enemy, and the
enemy of your ancestors since olden times…for it is he who tortured Christ…and
poisoned Mohammed….” Rioting and death broke out in towns throughout
Palestine with a total of 130 Jews being murdered by the Muslims.
1929:
An Arab rioter pointed his rifle at a Jewish policeman named Schneryson, who
was on traffic duty, with the apparent intention of shooting him. Just before
he pulled the trigger, an Arab policeman appeared on the scene and the two
police officers apprehended the would-be killer. He was part of a group of hundreds of Arabs
who were attacking the Jews of Mea Shearim who in turn were being protected by
the Jewish Self-defense force as they awaited British reinforcements.
1929:
Birthdate of El Paso, TX native Jaqueline Augusta Krtazthor, the UTEP alum who
gained “fame” as Jackie Maisel, the wife of Albuquerque, NM businessman Seymour
L. “Bud” Maisel.
1929:
In the evening, “a band of Arabs armed with rifles attacked the Jewish garden
suburb of Talpiot. The Jewish defenders
gathered in one of the houses and, armed with a single rifle and a few pistols
drove off the attackers.
1929:
The British appointed Deputy District Commissioner of the Jerusalem Division
issued a three part order intended to halt the Arab rioting. The order had no immediate effect as the Arab
attacks persisted.
1929:
First day of the two-day event known as the Hebron Massacre. While the numbers vary, according to one
report 67 Jews were killed and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked;
nineteen local Arab families saved 435 Jews by hiding them in their houses even
under their own life risk.
1930:
“The duty of American Jews is to oppose uncompromisingly and with all their
might the philosophy of Jewish nationalism and the Zionistic ideal, Rabbi
Samuel Schulman declared this morning in his sermon at temple Emanu-El.”
1931:
“Although the police authorities report ‘all quiet’ throughout the country
today on the occasion of the Arab general strike against the government’s
granting of sealed armories to outlying Jewish colonies, six Arabs were
seriously wound…when the police fired on a crowd of more than 1,000
demonstrators at Nablus late this afternoon.”
1932(21st
of Av, 5692): Seventy-five-year-old Lithuanian born department store owner
Morris Lurie, the founder and President
of M. Lurie & Company and a benefactor of the Jewish Theological Seminary
who had five children with his wife
passed away tonight.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1932/08/25/100844723.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1933:
Despite the stormy protests of the Revisionist faction, the World Zionist
Congress elected Professor Leo Motzkin of Paris president of the eighteenth
annual meeting today.
1933:
The Palestine Bureau of the German Zionist Federation officially announces that
an agreement has been reached between the Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Reich
Minister of Economics under which German-Jewish immigrants to Palestine will be
permitted to place their capital in a special account in the Anglo-Palestine
Bank, to aggregate not more than three million marks, against which German
goods to that value will be shipped to Palestine.
1934In
Paris, Pierre Leon Dreyfus, the son of the famous Alfred Dreyfus and Lucie
Egenie Hadmard and his wife Marie Apollonie Dreyfus gave birth to Aline Dreyfus
1935:
“Going Highbrow” a musical comedy produced by Samuel Bischoff was released in
the United States today by Warner Brothers.
1935:
Catcher Bill Starr made is major league debut with the Washington Senators.
1935:
Barnett Janner, a member of the British House of Commons, told the World
Zionist Congress today that “Palestine stands as a complete vindication of
the Jewish race.”
1936:
The Palestine Government revealed tonight it had deported fifteen Jewish
Communists and one Armenian and was prepared to send a second group from the
country next Wednesday in an effort to end disorders now in their nineteenth
week. The government did not explain how
deporting Jews would end violence which the government itself admitted was
started by the Arabs
1936(5th
of Elul, 5696): Seventeen year old Shoshana Laznicki succumbed to wounds she
had suffered at the hands of Arab gunman who had shot at her and a group of
friends riding in a car near Tel Aviv on the previous Friday. She was the 76th victim of the
latest Arab wave of violence.
1936:
Today, thirty-five-year-old Romanian born American bootlegger Isadore “Kid
Cann” Blumenfeld married Lillian Lee.
1937:
“The Mandates Commission of the League of Nations in its report on Palestine
approves in principle attempting to solve the problem by partition, but insists
that the Jewish and Arab States should continue under mandate until ripe for
statehood, according to the official summary of the report issued today.”
1938:
Funeral services are scheduled to be held this afternoon in Manhattan for Jacob
Adelman, the husband of Estella Adelman
1938: Anti-Jewish riots began today in Bransk, Poland.
1938:
Premier of “You Can’t Take It With You,” the screen adaptation of the Pulitzer
Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, two of
the Jewish giants of Broadway with a screenplay by Robert Riskin and music by
Dimitri Tiomkin.
1939:
“A resolution challenging the moral and legal validity of Britain’s new
Palestine policy and rejecting it as a violation of Jewish rights was drafted
today by the political commission of the 21st biennial world
Congress”
1939:
Germany and the Soviet signed a Union Non-Aggression pact. If Germany were to
invade Poland, then the Soviet Union would not interfere. The pact would lead
to the Soviets and Germany dividing Poland. Britain reacted with a call for the
mobilization of its civil and military forces. This agreement gave Hitler his
“green light” for the invasion of Poland, which marked the start of World War
II and the end of European Jewry as we knew it.
1940:
Junior Hadassah, the young women’s Zionist organization, established at its
annual convention today a war emergency fund for youth needs in Palestine
1940:
“From Nurse to Worse” a comedy starring The Three Stooges – Moe Howard, Larry
Fine & Curly Howard – and featuring Ned Glass and Cy Schindell was released
today in the United States.
1941(30th
of Av, 5701) Parashat Re’eh: Rosh Chodesh Elul
1941:
German troops move to complete the encirclement of Kiev, the Ukrainian city
with a large and storied Jewish community
1941:
In Berlin, Himmler, gave notice of a new Nazi policy. Henceforth, Jews would no longer be permitted
to leave German occupied Europe.
1942:
Birthdate of Lawrence Ira Brezner, the Brooklyn born movie producer who “made”
the movie career of Robin Williams and Billy Crystal.
1942:
The USS Blue, a destroyer that had survived Pearl Harbor thanks to Ensigns
Nathan Asher and Milton Moldane was scuttled today in “Iron Bottom Sound” after
having been “damaged beyond repair” yesterday in fighting off the coast of
Guadalcanal.
1942: Birthdate of
Bronx native Larry Brezner the producer who played a
major role in the successful careers of Robin Williams and Billy Crystal passed
away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1942:
Cardinal Jules Saliège of Toulouse issued a pastoral letter today condemning
the persecution of the Jews.
1942:
Fifty-eight-year-old Grete (Seligmann) Adelsheimer was transported from
Stuttgart to Terezin today after which she would be sent to Auschwitz where she
was murdered in 1944.
1942:
The O.S.E. (a Jewish humanitarian organization formed in 1912) and the
Eclaireurs Israélites de France joined forces with other groups to begin to
work on saving Jews who have been arrested in and around Lyons.
1943:
Birthdate of Rhodesian native Norman Geras, the Oxford educated “political
theorist,” University of Manchester Professor and author of works about Karl
Marx.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/oct/20/norman-geras
1944:
In Queens, New York, the cornerstone was laid for the Joseph Bulova School of
Watchmaking which was designed to train disabled war veterans and provide them
with a useful trade. Stanley Simon
Bulova’s industrial relations director shepherded the school into being. Long
before the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 made such amenities
familiar, he oversaw the construction of a building specifically tailored to
the needs of disabled people. (As reported, in part by Margalit Fox)
1944: Rumania surrenders to the Allies – in this
case to the advancing Soviet Army. Hope
of survival comes to the Jews of this Axis nation where half of the pre-war
population survived thanks to King Michael’s decision to capitulate.
1945:
“All of the Jewish children found in German concentration camps by the British
and American Armies already have been removed to France, Sweden, Switzerland
and England, Arthur D. Greenleigh, assistant executive head of the Joint
Distribution Committee in Europe, disclosed here day.”
1946:
“The Big Sleep” co-starring Lauren Bacall, with music by Max Steiner and
featuring Ben Welden was released today in the United States by Warner
Brothers.
1947(7th
of Elul, 5707) Parashat Shoftim
1947:
Leon D. Fiser, the director the activities of HIAS in Italy, stated to that
“since January 1 of this year HIAS has sent 1,803 Jewish displaced persons out
of Italy and resettled them in 38 countries throughout the world.”
1948:
Birthdate of Atlanta, GA native Ronald Mark Blomberg, the American League first
baseman and designated hitter nicknamed “Boomer” who went to be a minor league
manager and a manager in the Israel Baseball League.
1949:
“Sirens will wail throughout Jerusalem” today “to herald the blast of the three
tons of explosives that will be detonated near the Old City wall where they had
been placed by the Israelis last year to stem any Arab advance” but which are
no longer now needed.
1950(10th
of Elul, 5710): Seventy-two-year-old former New York State Senator and City
Judge Henry G. Schackno passed away today in the Bronx.
1951:
In Brooklyn pianist Ruth Katz and Seymour Solomon, a co-founder of Vanguard
Records gave birth to Rutgers trained attorney Susan Lynn Solomon, “a
co-founder of the New York Stell Foundation” who married architect Paul
Goldberger after divorcing her first husband drummer Gary Hirsh.
1952:
Formation of the Arab League. The
League’s charter did not call for the destruction of the state of Israel. It did not have to since the organizing
members had invaded the Jewish state in 1948 with just that intent. The league did expel Egypt when Sadat signed
the treaty with Begin. Years later Egypt
was readmitted, but not forgiven. In the
early part of the decade, the league did agree to consider “normalizing
relations with Israel” after she withdrew to the pre-1967 borders including the
surrender of Jerusalem.
1953(12th
of Elul, 5713): Seventy-nine-year-old Louis M. Cahn, a native of Ashland, Ohio,
graduate of Harvard Law School and the Secretary of the Maxwell Street
Settlement House in Chicago passed away
today.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9B01E0D6173DE23BBC4C51DFBE668388649EDE
1955:
Mr. and Mrs. Justin Simon announced the engagement of their daughter Miss
Elizabeth Simon, the niece of State Supreme Court Justice Goodman Sarachan to
Yale Law School graduate Richard B. Dannenberg.
1957(26th
of Av, 5717): “Two guards of the Israeli Mekorot water company were killed near
Kibbutz Beit Govrin.”
1957(26th
of Av, 5717): Seventy-six-year-old Parisian Eugene Paul Louis Schueller, the
founder of the cosmetic and beauty company L’Oreal and employer of Efrayim
Khahneman, whom he rescued from the Nazis which meant that Efrayim and his wife
Rachel could give birth to Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman passed away
today.
1958(7th
of Elul, 5718): Parashat Shoftim
1958(7th
of Elul, 5718): Seventy-one-year-old Russian born Marine Corps General Moses
Joseph Gould who had been “awarded the Navy Cross for conduct in action against
bandit forces in Nicaragua in 1927, passed away today.
https://billiongraves.com/grave/Moses-Joseph-Gould/10479494
https://prabook.com/web/moses_joseph.gould/1093438
1959:
Birthdate of Eitan Cabal, the native of Rosh HaAyin who served in the Knesset
as a member of the Labor Party.
1959:
In “Landowska: Romantic Scholar” published today Harold C. Schonberg provides a
biography of harpsichordist Wanda Landowska who had recently passed away.
1959:
In Philadelphia, Mary Louise (née Beatty) and John Herbert Adler gave birth to
future New Jersey Congressman John Herbert Adler.
1960(30th of Av, 5720): Sixty-five-year-old
Oscar Hammerstein II Broadway librettist passed away. The Jewish team of Rogers
and Hammerstein almost singled handedly defined that uniquely American
entertainment medium – the Broadway Musical.
Two of their seminal works were “Oklahoma” and “Carousel.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60C1FFE345A1A7A93C1AB1783D85F448685F9
1960(30th of Av, 5720): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1961: Premiere of “The Young Doctors” co-starring
George Segal in his first movie and Ina Ballin as “Cathy Hunt” with music by
Elmer Bernstein and filmed by cinematographer Arthur J. Ornitz.
1961: “The Honeymoon Machine” a computer comedy
produced by Lawrence Weingarten, featuring Marcel Hillaire was released in the
United States today by MGM.
1962(23rd of Av, 5722): While serving as Minister of
Housing and Construction, 50-year-old Dr Giora Yoseftal passed away. Born in Germany in 1912, he made Aliyah in
1938, fought with the British Army in WW II before working in the Jewish
Agency’s Aliyah Department.
http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=190
1963:
Israel’s permanent representative, Michael Comay, is scheduled to deliver an
address to the U.N. Security Council in he will include a list of 98 separate
aggression by Syria against Israel in the last nine months. (JTA)
1964(15th
of Elul, 5724): Sixty-year-old Louis Pollock, the native of Liverpool who gave
up a career in advertising to become a Hollywood screenwriter passed away
today.
http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8f76fxq/entire_text/
1965(25th
of Av, 5725): Sixty-nine-year-old “graphic artist Asa Cheffetz” the husband of
Alice Cheffets and who “in 1944 designed
and engraved the official bookplate for the Library of Congress” passed away
today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1965/08/25/101564508.pdf
http://rogallery.com/Cheffetz_Asa/cheffetz-biography.html
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.3742.html
1965:
Birthdate of Tabriz, Iran native Anna Monahemi, who as Anna Kaplan received her
J.D. from Cardozo Law School and was elected to the New York State Senate,
making her the first Iranian-American to serve in the New York State
Legislature and the first “former political refugee to serve in the New York
State Senate.
1965: Prime Minister
Levi Eshkol opened the Maccabiah Grames at Ramat Gan Stadium in Tel Aviv.
1966: Today Goldsmith’s
a department store founded in Memphis by Jacob and Isaac Goldsmith “continued
to branch out with the construction of its 130,000 sq ft (12,000 m2) Southland
Mall location, which opened” today.
1966: Three days after
he had passed away funeral services are scheduled to be held today for eighty-two-year-old
New York native and graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of
Columbia University Dr. David John Kaliski, the husband of Kate Mountjoy
Kaliski
1968:
It was reported today that The American Jewish Theater at the 92d Street Y will
open its new season of five plays on Sept. 19 with a revival of Heinar
Kipphardt’s ”In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” directed by Robert
Brink.
1969:
Two Jordanian students try to blow up the Israeli Commercial Fair at Izmir,
Turkey.
1971(2nd
of Elul, 5731): Ninety-two-year-old Rabbi Charles Eliezer Hillel Kauvar, the
Lithuanian born son of Solomon (Zolkin) Salkind Kauvar and Rose de Waltoff, the
JTS graduate who served Beth HaMedrosh Hagadol Congregation in Denver, CO for a
total of 69 years passed away today after which he was buried in Jerusalem.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/kauvar-charles-eliezer-hillel
1972:
Final broadcast of “The Super” a comedy series created by Rob Reiner, Phil
Mishkin and Garry Isenberg.
1973:
Oral History Interview with business executive, philanthropist and Zionist
Abraham Feinberg.
https://www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/oral-histories/feinberg
1973(25th
of Av, 5733): Sixty-eight-year-old forensic psychiatrist and author Dr. Henry
A. Davidson, the Newark, NJ born son of physician and husband of “the former
Adelaide Heyman with whom he had two children – Laurence and Ellen – passed
away today.
1973: In response to threats from Moshe Dayan that
he either be made head of the government or he would bolt the Labor party,
Israel Galili, at the behest of Prime Minister Meir, circulated a document
intended to create a compromise between the competing forces within the Labor
Party. Dayan led those who sought to
aggressively expand Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. He was opposed by Abba Eban and Pinchas
Sapir. The compromise called for the
creation of 30 new West Bank settlements over the next four years. The
settlements were not to be built in areas with a high density of Arab
population. But at Dayan’s insistence
all these 30 additional settlements along with 46 that had already been built
would be within the borders of Israel at the end of any future peace
negotiations with the Arabs.
1975(16th
of Elul, 5735): Seventy-three-year-old screenwriter Sidney Robert Buchman, the
native of Duluth, Minnesota and Columbia University graduate who served as
President of the Screen Writers Guild of America who ended up on the infamous
Hollywood Blacklist passed away today.
http://zenithcity.com/thisday/august-23-1975-death-of-duluth-screenwriter-sidney-buchman/
https://dplreference.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/sidney-buchman-1902-1975-film-producer-writer/
1977(9th
of Elul, 5737): Seventy-year-old “grain dealer” Fritz Richard Rosenwald, the
Bunde, Germany born son of Emma and Bendix Rosenwald and the husband of
Gertrude and Eva Rosenwald passed away today in Chicago.
1980(11th
of Elul, 5740): Parashat Ki Teitzei
1980:
The curtain came down today on a Broadway revival of Lerner and Loewe’s
Camelot, which had opened in July
1980:
The original Australian production of “They’re Playing Our Song,” “a musical
with a book by Neil Simon, lyrics by Carole Bayer Sager, and music by Marvin
Hamlisch” opened today at the Royal Theatre in Sydney.
1980:
Jewish dissident Iosif Begun went on trial today as the Soviet Union pursued
its “anti-Zionist campaign.”
1981:
It was reported today that “The American Jewish Theater at the 92d Street Y
will open its new season of five plays on Sept. 19 with a revival of Heinar
Kipphardt’s ”In the Matter of J. Robert Oppenheimer,” directed by Robert
Brink.”
1981(23rd
of Av, 5741): Seventy-six-year-old Elias Picheny, the native of Fostov,
Ukraine, the American social worker and
husband of Ukrainian born Dora Wortham Pichney with whom he had two children –
Jacob and Joel.
https://www.jta.org/1981/09/01/archive/elias-picheny-dead-at-76
1981:
It was reported today that “Nathan Teitel’s ”The Keymaker,” described as the
story of a Jewish Paul Bunyan in New York City in 1910, will have its premiere
March 6.”
1982(4th
of Elul, 5742): Sixty-six-year-old Alfred S. Bloomingdale, the son of Hiram
Bloomingdale and the heir to fortune connected with the department store chain
that bears his family’s name passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/24/obituaries/alfred-bloomingdale-diners-club-developer-dies.html
http://www.jta.org/1981/09/01/archive/elias-picheny-dead-at-76
1984(25th
of Av, 5744): Eighty-six-year-old Henry Robert Samstag, the New York City born
son of Belle and Henry Frederick Samstag and the husband of “Renee Wilcox
Samstag” passed away today in his hometown.
1985:
A month after opening in Hong Kong, “The Protector” directed and written by
James Glickenhaus was released today in the United States.
1985:
In Santa Monica, CA, “Michael D. Miller, a real
estate investor, and Miriam (Glosser) Miller” to Stephen Miller, the Duke
University graduate who began serving “as Senior Advisor to the President for
Policy” in the Trump administration on January 20, 2017.
1990(2nd
of Elul, 5750): David Rose, British born American songwriter, composer and
conductor passed away. The four- time
Emmy winner is known for his work such television hits as Bonanza as well as musical creations including The Stripper and Calypso
Melody.
1991:
After two days of riots in Crown Heights, the police shifted tactics, and the
violence began to subside.
1992(24th
of Av, 5752): Eighty-seven-year-old defense lawyer Abraham Brodsky passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/08/27/obituaries/abraham-brodsky-87-defense-lawyer-dies.html
1993(6th
of Elul, 5753): Sixty-nine-year-old Boston bakery store owner Victor (Avigdor )
Karmer, the twice married son Ukrainian born son of Anna Kramer passed away
today after having been “run over by an automobile.” (He is not to be confused
with Philadelphia born Israeli scholar Avigdor (Victor) Hurowitz.
https://www.sbl-site.org/assets/pdfs/VictorHurowitz-English.pdf
1995:
“Drunks” a film set at an AA meeting co-starring Richard Lewis premiered at the
Boston Film Festival.
1995(27th
of Av, 5755): Ninety-six-year-old Alfred Eisenstaedt, one of the greatest photojournalists
of all time passed away. You may not
know his name, but you know his work.
For once, a picture is indeed worth a thousand words so here are several
places to look. (Editor’s Note – For all of us put film in a camera, people
like Eisenstaedt were like the gods on Olympus, or in my case Canon)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1206.html
http://www.cctvcamerapros.com/Alfred-Eisenstaedt-Camera-Photography-s/392.htm
http://art-now-and-then.blogspot.com/2013/10/alfred-eisenstaedt.html
http://losarciniegas.blogspot.com/2014/06/sophia-loren-by-alfred-eisenstaedt.html
http://www.taringa.net/post/imagenes/17149175/Alfred-Eisenstaedt-Fotografia.html
http://www.all-about-photo.com/photographer.php?name=alfred-eisenstaedt&id=497
1996:
“Foxfire” a film co-produced by Jeffrey Lurie the Boston born Jewish of Nancy Smith
and Morris John Lurie and the grandson of Philip Smith, “the founder of the
General Cinema movie theatre chain.”
1998:
The New York Times book section
featured reviews of the memoir of an alcoholic who grew up in an
observant Jewish household in an affluent New Jersey suburb and who changed her
life after a car crash involving her parent entitled Slow Motion: A True Story by Dani Shapiro and Living
the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American in which Jewish historian, writer and civil
libertarian Nat Hentoff offers “profiles of Americans who, Hentoff believes,
embody the constitutional ideals expressed in the Bill of Rights.”
1998(1st
of Elul, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1998:
Broadcast of the first episode of “That ‘70’s Show” a sit-com co-starring Mila
Kunis.
1999(11th
of Elul, 5759): Hollywood screenwriter Norman Wexler whose works included
“Saturday Night Fever”, and “Mandingo” passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/25/arts/norman-wexler-73-writer-of-saturday-night-fever.html
2000(22nd of Av, 5760): Seventy-eight-year-old
Herman Clurman, the son of Lena Shimshak and Morris J. Clurman and the husband
of Gloria A. (Glick) Clurman passed away today and was buried at the Montefiore
Cemetery in Queens.
2000: “The Art of War” co-starring Maury Chaykin as “Frank
Capella” was released in the United States today by Warner Brothers.
2002(15th
of Elul, 5762): Ninety-four-year-old Louise Rosenfield Noun “a Grinnell College
graduate for whom the college’s program in women’s studies is named, died
today, at the Iowa Jewish Senior Life Center in Des Moines.
http://iagenweb.org/boards/poweshiek/obituaries/index.cgi?read=412744
2003(25th
of Av, 5763): Seventy-three-year-old Fruma Rahel Wiezt of Jerusalem died today
from the wounds she suffered during the Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing on August 19.
2003(25th
of Av, 5763): Seventy-nine-year-old “Yiddish speaking actor” Hy Anzell passed
away today.
http://goldenthroats.wikia.com/wiki/Hy_Anzell
2005: Haaretz
reported that Dalia Rabikovitch had passed away at the age of 69. Rabikovitch
was born in Ramat Gan in 1936. Her name
and her works may not be known to many in America. But in Israel she was described as“one of the
main pillars of Hebrew poetry.” She also wrote poetry for children and
translated American and English poetic works into Hebrew. She had won both the
Bialik Prize and the Israel Prize. Ms. Rabikovitch was a vociferous critic of
Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
2006:
Peter “Falk’s memoir Just One More Thing was published by Carroll &
Graf” today.
2006:
The Wall Street Journal announced
that Rite Aid which was founded by Alex Grass “would be buying the Eckerd
Pharmacy and Brooks Pharmacy chains.”
2006:
The Jerusalem Post reported that
Israel has bought two new submarines from Germany. The new submarines – called
the U212
– will be fitted with a new German technology in which the propulsion system
combines a conventional diesel lead-acid battery system and an air-independent
propulsion system used for slow, silent cruising, with a fuel cell equipped
with oxygen and hydrogen storage. Yes the Jewish state is litterally getting “U-boats”
the name given to Nazi Scourge of the North Atlantic in World War II.
2006(29th
of Av, 5766): St.-Sgt. Alex Assaf, 21, from Karmiel, was killed and three
others were injured when a company of soldiers of the Givati Brigade
accidentally walked into a minefield in southern Lebanon near Mount Dov, also
known as the Shaba Farms. A platoon commander was listed in serious condition,
the battalion commander Lt.-Col. Bassam sustained moderate wounds, and another
soldier was lightly wounded. The Jerusalem Post published the following link listing all who
had lost their lives before the cease fire. In
Memoriam – JPost.com special project
2007:
Representatives of the Kabbalah Center confirmed that pop star Madonna, actress
Demi Moore, actor Ashton Kutcher and fashion designer Donna Karan are among the
famous faces scheduled to arrive as part of a Kabbalah Center tour being
organized for the High Holidays.
2008:
An exhibition entitled “From Distant Places to Dubuque’s Shores: 175 Years
of Jewish Life” opens at the National Mississippi River Museum &
Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. Alexander Levi blazed many trails in Dubuque.
According to an article in the Telegraph-Herald,
Dubuque’s first Jewish settler, Levi became the state’s first naturalized
citizen, spent 50 years as a Mason and served as Dubuque Justice of the Peace.
A successful miner and mine provisioner, Levi’s dry-goods establishment became
one of the largest and best-known retail stores of its time. Now, Levi’s story
and Dubuque’s Jewish history are featured in the latest exhibit at the National
Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. “From Distant Places to Dubuque’s
Shores: 175 Years of Jewish Life” premieres at the museum Saturday, Aug.
23, and runs through the end of the year. “We are so thrilled,” said
Karin Pritikin, a lead exhibit organizer with the Alexander Levi Heritage
Project, a volunteer initiative of Dubuque’s Temple Beth El. Project organizers
used a $5,000 competitive award from the city of Dubuque and a $3,000
“mini grant” from Humanities Iowa/The National Endowment for the
Humanities to create a multimedia exhibit. “This is a unique exploration
of Jewish history that is long overdue,” said Jerry Enzler, the river
museum’s executive director. “It shows how diverse Dubuque was in its very
founding.” Levi emigrated from France in 1833 and was followed by other
French Jews. By the end of the 19th century, most of Dubuque’s Jewish
population came from Russia or Poland. Over the decades, as their numbers ebbed
and swelled, Dubuque’s Jewish community founded several congregations, a Jewish
cemetery, a political club, a ladies aid society and Hebrew schools. “Levi
founded Dubuque’s first Jewish congregation,” Pritikin said. One of the
exhibit’s recurring themes is Dubuque’s historic climate of religious
tolerance:
*
Levi was an early donor to Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, as the pioneering
clergyman built Dubuque’s first Catholic Church, St. Raphael’s.
*
Jews and non-Jews entered into successful and enduring business partnerships
beginning in the early 19th century.
*
Jewish citizens were elected and appointed to government posts at the local and
state level.
*
The dedication of Temple Beth El in 1939 was presided over by a Catholic judge,
attended by Dubuque residents of many faiths and included an ecumenical service
with participation from Methodist clergy.”
2008: Police discovered that Vandals had painted 11
swastikas on some of the 2,700 gray slabs of Berlin’s Holocaust memorial today.
A police statement said the red and black Nazi symbols were discovered by a
guard at the monument and were immediately wiped off the seven slabs affected.
2008:
Two wooden boats carrying dozens of human rights activists reached the Gaza
Strip on this afternoon after the Israeli navy decided not to hinder the
challenge to Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
2008:
Galit Chait “a former Israeli competitive ice dancer” “married former Italian
military policeman Francesco Moracci in New Jersey” today.
2009:
In New York City the Le Poisson Rouge Art Gallery’s third exhibition of the
works of Itamar Jobani, the renowned Israeli installation artist, comes to an
end.
2009:
The Washington Post features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Wrestling with Moses: How Jane
Jacobs Took On New York’s Master Builder and Transformed the American City
by Anthony Flint.
2009:
The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Why This World: A Biography of
Clarice Lispector by Benjamin Moser.
2009(3rd
of Elul, 5769): Ninety-year old Stanley Kaplan, a pathfinder in the fields of
test preparation and for-profit education passed away today. (As reported by
Karen W. Arneson)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/25/education/25kaplan.html?pagewanted=print
2010:
As part of its Hints of Elul series, Beit Avi Chai is scheduled to present
“Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God; and Renew a Right Spirit within Me. (Psalm
51:12)”
2010:
Norway’s Ministry of Finance announced that the Norway Oil Fund divested from
Africa-Israel Investments and Danya Cebus Ltd. Today. The reason given is the
companies’ construction in the West Bank.
2010:
The monumental chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding
from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain today. The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted
through the trunk, snapped about 3 feet (1 meter) above ground and crashed
across several gardens. It damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby
buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one
was injured, a museum spokeswoman said.
2010:
The 14 Israeli police officers who will leave for earthquake ravaged Haiti as
part of the U.N. multinational force, attended a ceremony at the Western Wall
today ahead of their scheduled departure on early next week. The delegation constitutes the first-ever
Israeli group to serve in active duty under the command of the United Nations.
The police officers will remain in Haiti for an extended period of time
2010(13th
of Elul, 5770): Seventy-two-year-old Vienna, Austria native and “noted civil
right and criminal defense lawyer Tom Adler, the grandson of Guido Adler, who
worked “to recover family assets stolen by the Nazis” passed away today.
2010(13th
of Elul, 5770): Eighty-nine-year-old song writer George David Weiss passed away
(As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/arts/music/24weiss.html?pagewanted=print
2011:
The Board of Trustees of Tifereth Israel Dinner and Meeting is scheduled to
take place this evening Columbus, Ohio.
2011:
Open Mic Night is scheduled tonight at the Off The Wall Comedy Empire in
Jerusalem.
2011:
Roni Ish-Ran, a musician and payytan from Nahla’ot and the Beit Abba band are
scheduled to perform this evening in Jerusalem.
2011:
The Israeli intelligence community is in disagreement regarding Hamas’s
involvement in the recent round of violence between Israel and terrorist
organizations in the Gaza Strip.
2011:
Officially, Hamas has claimed it was not involved in the attacks near Eilat on
August 18, which Israel attributed to the Popular Resistance Committees, or in
the firing of more than 150 rockets and mortars into Israel, which came to a
tentative end on yesterday with the institution of a tense ceasefire.
2011:
Australia today joined the growing ranks of Western nations that have decided
to boycott the so-called Durban III conference set to take place at the United
Nations headquarters next month.Canberra announced it would not take part in
the tenth anniversary commemoration of the Durban World Conference on Racism
citing concern it would be exploited by Israel’s foes and focus unfairly on the
Jewish State.
2011:
“Jewish centers and synagogues were evacuated by the earthquake that was
felt up and down the east coast. Staffers at synagogues in Washington D.C. and
Richmond, Va., the city closest to the epicenter, tried to calm one another’s
jangled nerves as they checked their buildings for structural damage. At Adas
Israel, the largest Conservative synagogue in Washington, Executive Director
Glenn Easton ordered the building evacuated after the quake ended. A lunch for
seniors was stopped midway, and 100 people filed out of the building.” (As
reported by Naomi Zeveloff)
2012:
Dr. Peggy Pearlstein, the head of the Hebraic Section at the Library of
Congress is scheduled to lead a noontime discussion of People of the Book
by Geraldine Brooks.
2012:
President Shimon Peres called on German President Joachim Gauck today to
resolve the German legal issues around circumcision, Army Radio reported.
“Circumcision has constituted a central aspect of our nation’s Jewish
identity over thousands of years. The value of religious freedom for the Jewish
community must be preserved,” Peres wrote Gacuk in a letter. Peres hosted
Gauck at the Presidential Residence in May.
2012:
Hezbollah should be placed on the European Union’s terror list, Philipp
Missfelder, Bundestag foreign policy spokesman for German Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s party, wrote The Jerusalem Post today.
2012: A man in Melbourne accused of taunting
his neighbors with anti-Semitic abuse was evicted from his apartment. Adam
Schipkie, 28, was ordered by a government tribunal from his local council flat
today after residents, including some Holocaust survivors, complained.
2012:
Temple Shalom of Auburn, ME is scheduled to sponsor a field trip to the Maine
Jewish Museum at Congregation Etz Chaim in Portland, Maine.
2012:
Publication of “The Forgotten Refugees” a film about the one million Jews
driven from their homes in Arab and Moslem countries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8RL2XRr48
2013:
In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Temple Judah is scheduled to host a Musical Shabbat
followed by the installation of new congregational officers.
2013:
“Fill the Void” is scheduled to be shown at several theatres in New England
include the Roxy in Burlington, VT, the Colonial in Keene, NH and the Strand in
Rockland, ME
2013:
San Diego mayor Bob Filner is expected to resign today.
2013:
Israeli fighter jets bombed targets south of Beirut early this morning in what
the IDF spokesperson said was retaliation for rocket attacks against northern
Israel the day before. . (As reported by Ilan Ben Zion)
2013:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the rocket fire from Lebanon that
landed in northern Israel yesterday
2013(17th
of Elul, 5773): Eighty-eight year old psychiatrist and author William Glasser
passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
http://www.hannahfrank.org.uk/pages/about_hannah.htm
2014: At the Chabad House in Iowa City. Moishie
Blesofsky, the son of Rabbi Avremel and Chaya Blesofsky is scheduled to be
called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah.
2014(27th of Av, 5774): Eighty-year-old
Philippine de Rothschild passed away today.(As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/world/philippine-de-rothschild-wine-nobility-dies-at-80.html
2014(27th of Av, 5774): Seventy-five-year-old
historian Michael Katz passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
2014: In Tel Aviv, The Titanic Exhibition that
includes “hundreds of artifacts” from the unsinkable ship is scheduled to come
to an end.
2014: The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center is
scheduled to host a “Tribute to Ofra
Haza” as part of its August
Concert Series.
2014: Over 100 rockets were fired on Israel
from Gaza today with one hitting the dining hall at the kibbutz where a four
year had been killed the day before and another injuring two people in
parkinglot in Beersheva.
2014:
Two children were injured by shrapnel when five rockets were fired from Syria
at the northern Golan Heights tonight, after a rocket fired from Lebanon hit an
empty house in the Western Galilee earlier.
2014:
“A long list of Hollywood heavyweights” including Mayim Bialik, Minnie Driver,
Kelsey Grammer, Seth Rogen, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sarah Silverman, and
Sylvester Stallone have put their names to a letter slamming Hamas over the
“devastating loss of life endured by Israelis and Palestinians in Gaza” and
condemning the “ideologies of hatred and genocide which are reflected in Hamas’
charter, Article 7 of which reads, ‘There is a Jew hiding behind me, come on
and kill him!’”
2015: The New
York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish writers and/or of special
interest to Jewish readers including The Two-State Delusion: Israel and
Palestine – A Tale of Two Narratives by Padraig O’Malley, The Prize:
Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools? by Dale Russakoff, Machines of
Love Grace: The Quest for Common Ground Between Humans and Robots by John
Markoff and Faith ED. – Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance by
Linda K. Wertheimer.
2015:
In London, The UK Jewish Film which “is dedicated to developing an environment
in which Jewish film entertains, educates and enlightens diverse audiences in
the UK and internationally is scheduled to host a showing of “The Cobbler”
starring Adam Sandler.
2015:
In Atlanta, the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum is scheduled to the
“Girls Lead Theatre Workshop.”
2015:
In Baltimore, Dr. Greg Metcalf is scheduled to lecture on “From the Jazz Singer
to Alvy Singer: The Depiction of Jews in Hollywood Film from Al Jolson to Woody
Allen.”
2015:
The Jewish Museum of Maryland is scheduled to host a screening of “Gentlemen’s
Agreement.”
2015:
Bob Geminder, a native of Wroclaw, Poland who survived the Shoah is scheduled
to speak at the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust.
2015:
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to
host “Bagel On!” “a Jewishly Fun Fair.”
2015:
Shai Tsabari, the Jaffa born Yemenite singer-song writer, and the Middle East
Groove Stars are scheduled to open at Joe’s Pub
2016(19th
of Av, 5776): Eighty-five-year-old Nobel Prize winner Reinhard Selten, “who was
expelled from school in Germany because he was half Jewish” passed away today.
2016(19th
of Av, 5776): Ninety-four-year-old actor Steven Hill passed away today.
2016:
“Better Late Than Never” co-starring William Shatner and Henry Winkler is
scheduled to premiere on NBC.
2017(1st of, 5777): Rosh Chodesh Elul – Begin
sounding the shofar.
2017: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Russian
President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Sochi, Russia, today that
“Iran is increasing its efforts to establish its military foothold in
Syria which is dangerous for Israel, the Middle East and the whole world.”
2017: Today “US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman
appeared to critique US President Donald Trump’s response to the racially
motivated violence in Charlottesville earlier this month.” (As reported by
Raoul Wootliff)
2017: Four female students from the Hebrew Union
College-Jewish Institute of Religion, including two Americans, who were among a
group of 15 rabbinical, cantorial and Jewish education students from North
America and Australia who joined about 200 men and women in an egalitarian
service held this morning on the plaza behind the men’s and women’s sections
were asked to lift their shirts and skirts for security before being allowed to
enter the Western Wall plaza.
2017: The Israel Foreign Ministry said today that “six
tons of food aid were distributed to residents of a village in a
drought-stricken area of South Sudan.”
2017:
Bat Yam is scheduled to open “its streets and boardwalk for a theatre festival”
that lasts three days.
2017:
The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to host “Hidden in Plain Sight:
Forgotten Jewish Architects and their Famous Creations” that will explore
Jewish architectural efforts including the “first grand, modern market in the
heart of Cairo NS a majestic and storied hotel in Isfahan.”
2017:
UK Jewish Film is scheduled to host a screening of “Natasha,” a coming-of age
film about Jewish-Russian Immigrants in Glasgow, Scotland.
2017:
Gary Cohn, President Trump’s director of the National Economic Council
“complained loudly about Trump while dining with friends at a Long Island
restaurant”…saying “in a loud voice overheard by others how he had to be
careful not to give Trump too much lead time about some new ideas because the
president could disclose the information prematurely and upend the planning
process.”
2018:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host two screening of “Vitch,” a bopic about
Eddie Vitch, the Polish born “mime and cartoonist” who survived the Holocaust.
2018:
As part of its Summer Festival, the Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts is
scheduled to host its Swing Dancing Class.
2018:
Based on statements made in the last thirty-six hours Israelis and their
supporters are left to ponder if President Trump’s remarks this week that
Israel will have to make a major concession because he moved the U.S. embassy
to Jerusalem were tied to Ambassador Bolton’s later comments indicating that
the U.S. government has not changed (and apparently would not change) its
position on recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights
2019:
The McGill/Klezkanada Academic Seminar is scheduled to being the day with
“Yiddish Art Music” followed by “The Contemporary Revitalization of Yiddish
Music.”
2019:
Klezkanada is scheduled to host the launch of Zach Mayer’s album, “Modeh Ani,”
followed by a full evening of Shabbat activities including services, and “The
Singing Table.”
2019:
In San Francisco, the Contemporary Jewish Museum is scheduled to host Jack
Hirshman as talking about “Kabbalah Poetry.”
2019:
In Los Gatos, CA, the Addison-Peenzack is scheduled to offer a pre-Shabbat
lunch followed by a screening of the Emmy Award winning documentary “A Yiddish
World Remembered.”
2019:
In Brooklyn, the exhibition “The Weight of the Temporary” is scheduled to come
to a close.
https://aicf.org/event/the-weight-of-the-temporary-2/
2020:
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrived in Israel today and met with Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu.
2021:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum is scheduled to host a tour of “Mandela: Struggle
for Freedom,” an exhibition that traces the history of the fight against
apartheid in South Africa, with Nelson Mandela as one of its central figures
2021:
Exhibitions at the Center for Jewish History are scheduled to be open to the
public starting today.
2021:
The National Library of Israel is scheduled to host Aviya Kushner the author of
Wolf Lamb Bomb (Orison Books) and The Grammar of God as she lectures on “Isaiah
in Poetry: Comfort O Comfort.”
2021:
Licensed tour guide and food researcher Joel Haber is scheduled to lead a
virtual tour of Jerusalem’s Shuk.
2021:
Based on reports published yesterday, Israeli’s may be confronted with yet
another government crisis since Ra’am chief Mansour Abbas is supposedly
threatening to “resign from Bennett’s government if tensions between Israel and
Gaza continue to escalate” and “Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked has warned that
her Yamina party will quit the government if coalition co-leader Yair Lapid
works toward the establishment of a Palestinian state.”
2022:
The Streicker Center is scheduled to host a screening of “Wonder Woman”
starring Israeli Gal Gadot.
2022:
The Alliance for Jewish Theatre is scheduled to host a talk on “Spotlighting
Innovators in Jewish Theatre.
2022:
Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney are scheduled to face off in rare incumbent
versus incumbent Democratic Party primary in New York today.
2022:
The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines is scheduled to host a screening of
“Born in Jerusalem.”
2022:
The Hunt by Faye Kellerman is scheduled to go on sale.
2022:
The Museum of Jewish Heritage is scheduled to host the book launch of Saving
Freud by Andrew Nagorski.
https://mjhnyc.org/events/saving-freud-book-launch/
2023:
The Sisterhood Summer Social at Temple Judea is scheduled to feature a bagel
brunch with Rabbi Rose Durbin speaking about “David’s Divas: Analyzing the
significant political influence of King David’s named wives: Michal, Bathsheba,
and Abigail.”
2023:
In Palo Alto, the Oshman JCC is scheduled to host
“The
Art of Repentance: A Journey into the Hebrew Month of Elul” during which Israeli
community leader Mor Shimonie will discuss various Selichot (forgiveness
prayers) traditions and explores themes of repentance. With vegetarian,
kosher-style lunch.
2023:
the Jewish Federation of New Orleans is scheduled to host a “Golda Movie Event”
at the AMC Elmwood in Harahan, LA.
2023:
Today, based on yesterday’s unveiling of drone yesterday by Iran that can reach
Israel and this past weekend’s terror attacks which the Prime Minister said
were financed by Iran, the threat to Israel from Iran would seem to have
heightened.
2024:
In honor of the 111th anniversary of the birth of Menachem Begin, today
Tikvah offers the podcast “Menachem Begin: His Life, Legacy, & Uniquely
Jewish Statesmanship.”
2024:
In Washington, DC, the Sixth and I Synagogue is scheduled to host a pre-Labor
Day Shabbat service “that weaves together labor issues, social justice, and
Judaism.”
2024:
In Louisiana, Shir Chadash is schedule to a Kabbalat Shabbat service and a
special Shabbat Dinner featuring traditional Jewish-Italian dishes, followed by
an engaging lecture on the fascinating history of Jews in Italy and their
impact in local cuisine by the author of Jewish Flavors of Italy,
Silvia Nacamulli.
2024:
In Palm Beach Gardens, FL Temple Judea is scheduled to host an 11:00 a.m. Shabbat
Worship and Lunch for those over the age of 85 and above and a 5:30 p.m.
Shabatt service led by Rabbi Yaron and Cantor Abbie Strauss.
2024:
The Friday Family Shabbat is scheduled to take place at the JCC New Albany followed
by a dinner in Northeast Columbus, OH.
2024:
“Between the Temples,” a film by Nathan Silver is scheduled to open in theatres
today.
2024:
In London, the exhibition “Creating Connections: Make Your Own Museum Display”
is scheduled to come to an end at the Jewish Museum.
2024:
As August 23rd begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism that
has included Hamas supporters calling for Zionist passengers on a New York
subway to raise their hands, sweeps the United States and the Hamas held
hostages begin day 322 in captivity.
(Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we
are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time)
Leave a Reply