This Day, December 3, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
December 3
311: Sixty-sixty-year-old Emperor Diocletian passed away.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0005_0_05240.html
1368: Birthdate of Charles VI, the French king who would order the
expulsion of the Jews from his realm in 1394. Unlike the orders of expulsion
issued by some of his predecessors this one remained in force with Jews not
returning to France until the 17th century.
1447: Birthdate of Bayezid II the Sultan who in 1492, issued a formal
invitation to the Jews expelled from Spain and Portugal and sent out ships to
safely bring Jews to his empire.
1490: Lodovico Maria Sforza expelled all Jews from the duchy of Milan
today.
1656: First entry in the diary of Thomas Burton which recorded the
activities of Parliament during the era of Oliver Cromwell and provided a
written record of “the assurance of the right of Jews to remain in England.
“The Jews, those able and general intelligencers whose intercourse with the
Continent Cromwell had before turned to profitable account, he now conciliated
by a seasonable benefaction to their principal agent [Carvajal] resident in
England.”
1659(28th of Kislev, 5420): Diarist Samuel Pepys wrote to
Edward Montague that that he was in the “Jewish Synagogue in London” where he
“heard many lamentations by Portugal Jews” for merchant Anthony Fernandez
Carvajal who passed away on November 12.
http://www.cemeteryscribes.com/getperson.php?personID=I17762&tree=Cemeteries
1685: King Charles XI of Sweden ordered the governor-general of the
capital to see that no Jews were permitted to settle in Stockholm, or in any
other part of the country, “on account of the danger of the eventual
influence of the Jewish religion on the pure evangelical faith.”
1670: Thomas Lynch, who as Governor Barbados opposed the expulsion of the
Jews and “paid a striking tribute to the Jews of the
colony” was knighted today at Whitehall Palace.
1747:
Sir Alexander Schomberg, the son of Meyer Löw Schomberg a German-Jewish doctor
who settled in England, and who was able to pursue a naval career only after
converting so he could comply with The Test Act passed his examination for lieutenant today.
1754: In Philadelphia, Tabitha Mears and Mathias Bush gave birth to
Samuel Bush.
1771(26th of Kislev, 5532): Second of Chanukah
1771: In a letter written today, Moses Mendelssohn described Johann Jacob
Rabe, as a patient, “strong Talmudist” who “has translated into German the
first three parts of the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmud” which are “ready for
the printer” but for which no publisher can be found.
1779(24th of Kislev, 5540): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1779: Native New Yorker Zipporah Levy and Benjamin Mendes Seixas, a
native of Newport, RI, gave birth to Abigail Seixas.
1788: Birthdate of the infant son of Marks Lazarus who would only live
for nine days.
1790(26th of Kislev, 5551): Second Day of Chanukah
1791: Based on account that appeared in the Newcastle Courant, today “a
marriage was celebrated at Sunderland according to the rites and ceremonies of
the Jews between Lyon Hermann, dentist, of Edinburgh and Mrs. H. Pollock, widow
of the late Mr. Pollock, a merchant in London.”
1792: One day after she had passed away, “Miriam bat Joseph” was buried
today at the “Alderney Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1798(25th of Kislev, 5559): First Day of Chanukah observed on
the same day that Federalist Robert Wain began serving as a member of the House
of Representatives.
1800: Birthdate of Émile Péreire who along with his brother Isaac were
leading French financiers who, among other things created the Crédit Mobilier
bank and were considered the Sephardi equivalents of the Rothschilds.
1802: Last will and testament of Emanuel Abrahams, a “Jewish resident of
Charleston, SC.”
1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of
Hyam Moise to Cecilia Woolf, the daughter of the late Solomon Woolf.
1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of
Aaron Moise to Sarah Cohen the daughter of the late Gershon Cohen.
1807: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacob Suares officiated at the wedding of
Nathan Hart to the eldest daughter of Daniel Hart.
1809(25th of Kislev, 5570): First Day of Chanukah
1809(25th of Kislev, 5570):
Birthdate Samuel
Adler “a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author” passed
away. He was also the father of Felix Adler, the well-known founder of the
Society for Ethical Culture.” Born at Worms in 1809, he came to the United
States to serve as Rabbi at Temple Emanu-El in New York; a position he held for
seventeen years before accepting the position as Rabbi Emeritus. He was an
outspoken opponent of slavery and a staunch supporter of Abraham Lincoln.
One of the happiest moments of his life came when saw Major Anderson, the Union
officer who had defended Fort Sumter, in his congregation. After service
“he laid his hands on the soldier’s head and pronounced…the anciently priestly
blessing…”
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0A1EFD3C5E10738DDDA80994DE405B8185F0D3
1811: In Berlin, Fanny Eleonore Bendemann née
von Halle, a daughter of the Jewish banker Joel Samuel von Halle and banker
Anton Heinrich Bendemann gave birth to painter Eduard Julius Friedrich
Bendemann
1818: Isaac Gompertz married Charlotte Florence Wattier today.
1818: Illinois becomes the 21st state admitted to the Union.
“John Hays was the first Jewish pioneer in Illinois. He served as county sheriff and collector of
internal revenue before the territory became a state. German Jews built the
first synagogue in 1851 in Chicago calling it the Congregation of the Men of
the West. By the end of the decade Polish Jews had started their own
congregation and a group of Reform Jews had split away from “the Men of the
West” to form their own synagogue called Sinai Congregation. The Jewish population of Illinois was large
enough to provide over 1,100 volunteers to fight in the Union Army.
1819: Birthdate of Daniel Abramovich Chwolson, the native of Vilna who
became a distinguished Orientalist and defender of the Jews from the rampant
anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.
1821: Birthdate of Stryria, Austria native and medical doctor Ernest
Krackowizer who came to United States in 1857 after taking part in the failed
Revolutions of 1848, helped to found what is now Lenox Hill Hospital and was a
supporter of Lincoln and the Union during the Civil War.
1827: Moritz Gottlieb Saphir “founded the Tunnel über der Spree literary society.”
1828(27th of Kislev, 5589): Third Day of Chanukah observed as
Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire,
New York, and Virginia have their elections and choose their Presidential
Electors in the closely contested presidential race between John Q. Adams and
Andrew Jackson.
1830: Today, “the Alsatian Deputy Pierre Andre stated that before the
Revolution, Jews had not been allowed to open vocational schools” which was
contradicted by others “at the same time who said “that before the Revolution
the Alsatian leader Cerberr of Medelsheim and Berr-Isaac Berr of Nancy found
agricultural colonies in order to mitigate the charge that Jews were not
productive.”
1830: Two days after he had passed away, 72-year-old Lyon Phillips, the
husband of Elizabeth Phillips and the father of Joseph Phillips was buried
today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1831(28th of Kislev, 5592): Shabbat Shel Chanukah; Parashat
Miketz
1831(28th of Kislev, 5592): Forty-eight-year-old Morocco
native Solomon Ben Masud Ben Abraham Sebag, the husband of Sarah Goldsmid and
“the father of Sir Joseph Sebag-Montefiore and Jemima Sebag-Montefiore passed
away today in London
1831: Birthdate of German humor writer Julius Sttenheim.
1831: Birthdate of James Graham Fair, the Irish born American mining
engineer who made a fortune in Nevada silver mines and served as United States
and then left a $25,000 bequest “to the Hebrew asylums” in San Francisco.
1832: While serving in the South Carolina legislature, attorney and War
of 1812 veteran Chapman Levy wrote to President Andrew Jackson.
https://www.loc.gov/item/maj012963/
1833: In Canterbury, Kent, Elizabeth Benjamin and Zvi ben Aharon gave
birth to “Henry Jones.”
1836: In Vienna, Ignatz Lieben and his wife gave birth to Austrian
Chemist Adolf Lieben.
1839: Phillip Fama married Charlotte Lambert at the Great Synagogue
today.
1839: In Charleston, SC, Marx E. Cohen and Armida Harby Cohen gave birth
to Max E. Cohen, Jr who “died on the battlefield at Bentonsville, NC” during
the Civil War.
1840: In West Derby, Edward Little who was a partner of shipping magnate
Gustave Schwabe, the German born Jew whose family was converted to Lutheranism,
passed away today.
1842(30th of Kislev, 5603): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; 6th
day of Chanukah
1842: Birthdate of Susan Joshua the wife of Edward Ferdinand Sichel.
1842(30th of Kislev, 5603): Seventy-four-year-old Samuel Levin
Egers, who was appointed the Rabbi of Brunswick in 1809 and who did not “relax
his labors” after losing his sight in 1836, passed away today.
1844(22nd of Kislev, 5605):
Fifty-six year old Hamburg native Georg Hartog Gerson, the third generation
of German-Jewish doctors and a member of
the 5th Line Battalion, King’s German Legion who saw action in the
Peninsula, in Southern France, the Lowlands and at the Battle of Waterloo”
passed away today.
http://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/the-mild-agressor-the-unsung-jewish-hero-of-waterloo/
1845: Samuel Samuel married Elizabeth Mordecai today.
1846: Two days after she had passed away, “Sarah Kate Jacob (nee Simons)”
the daughter of Samuel Simons and Rose Moses and the wife of Jacob Jacob wth
whom she had had four children, was buried today at the “Falmouth Jewish
Cemetery.”
1847(25th of Kislev, 5608): Chanukah on the same that Frederick
Douglass and Martin Delany launched the abolitionist The North Star newspaper.
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/north-star-newspaper-launched/
1847: In Kovno, Rachel and Bernard Mark gave birth to Bessie Mark, one of
the “first Jewish citizens to settle in St. Paul, MN and founder of the Jeiwsh
Home for the Aged of the Northwest and the Jewish Shelter Home of St. Paul who
laid the cornerstone for Temple Aaron which was named for her deceased husband
Aaron Mark.
1850(28th of Kislev, 5611): Fourth day of Chanukah
1850: In Padua, Samuel David Luzzatto and his wife gave birth to
Beniamino Luzzatto, the Italian physician who became chief of the propaedeutic
clinic of Padua University.
1852: The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Benjamin Disraeli, delivered a
major address today in the House of Commons on the subject of taxation. The speech, which was well received,
contained proposals to change the Tea Duties and the Income Tax.
1854(12th of Kislev, 5615: A German-born Jew, Edward (Teddy)
Thonen was killed today when troops stormed the stockade during the goldfields
uprising at Ballarat, Australia.
1857: Birthdate of Dr. Carl
Koller, a Czech-born American ophthalmic surgeon whose introduction of cocaine
as a surface anesthetic in eye surgery (1884) inaugurated the modern era of
local anesthesia. He was a colleague of Sigmund Freud, who in 1884 was
interested in the use of cocaine to cure morphine addiction. Koller noticed
cocaine had a numbing effect on the tongue and, after experimenting with
animals, introduced it as a local anesthetic in ophthalmology. It was also
quickly adopted for nose and throat surgery and for dentistry. He died in 1944.
Koller was one of the so-called Vienna Trio made up of three Jewish doctors –
Carl Koller (1857-1944), Sigmund Lustgarten (1857-1911) and Sigmund Freud
(1856-1939). All three are characterized by several interesting similarities.
In their early achievements in medical research they were pathfinders of the
first successful local anesthetic: cocaine. All three became later victims of
anti-Semitism.
1857: In Neustadt, Prussia, Josef Pinkus and Auguste Fränke gave birth to
Max Pinkus, the husband of Hedwig Pinkus.
1858: After purchasing “a considerable number of Arabic and Hebrew
manuscripts on behalf of the Bibliothèque Nationale” and being “elected
secretary of the Consistoire Central des Israélites de France” today Salomon
Munk “was elected a member of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres”
after which “he was appointed professor of Hebrew at the Collège de France.”
1859:
At the Green-street
Synagogue in NYC, Rabbi S.M. Isaacs “delivered a stirring appeal to his
congregation on behalf of the Jews who have fled from Morocco and taken refuge
at Gibraltar. Their suffering co-religionist were forced to take flight because
of the fighting between the natives and Spain. Issacs acknowledged the help
rendered by the British who had provided the refugees with tents and food. He also expressed thanks for support from the
local Christian population. But he still
urged his congregants and the rest of the Jewish community to come to the aid
of the some 29,000 Jews who had been living along the Barbary Coast.
1860: Abraham Jonas “an Illinois businessman and politician” who had
first me Lincoln “around 1843” wrote a letter to him today warning of an
assassination plot.
1861(30th of Kislev, 5622): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1861: In Iowa, Jacob Jacobson, who would be wounded at the Battle of
Shiloh, enlisted today in Company B of the Sixteen Regiment.
1862: Michael Hahn, a Unionist Democrat began serving as a member of the
U.S. House of Representative from Louisiana’s 2nd congressional
district.
1862: First Lieutenant Herman Hamburger, who would see action at the
Battle of Gettysburg while serving as Assistant-Adjutant General of the First
Brigade, of the Third Division began his service today with the 18th
Cavalry today.
1863(22nd of Kislev, 5624): Thirty-four-year-old Walter
Samuel, the Liverpool, England, born of Harriet and Moses Samuel, the husband
of Harriet Samuel and the father of Evelyn, Arthur, Florence, Samuel and
Lucille Samuel passed away today in his hometown.
1863: In Cincinnati, OH, Moses and Sarah Waldheim gave birth to Aaron
Waldheim, the manager of St. Louis “outlet of May-Stern, a retail furniture
store he started with David May and Harry Stern that was so successful it
enabled him to become one of the city’s leading philanthropists.
1866(25th of Kislev, 5672): Channukah observed on the same day
that President Andrew Johnson delivered his second annual message to Congress
1869: Birthdate of “Russian-born American Yiddish publisher and author
Jacob Marinoff who “was one of the founders of New York satirical weekly Der Groyser
Kundes and the sister actress of Fania Marinoff.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/marinoff-jacob
1870(9th of Kislev, 5631): Parashat Vayetzei
1870(9th of Kislev, 5631): Seventy-seven-year-old War of 1812
veteran Levi Charles Meyers Harby, who served in the “Texas Navy” during its
war for independence and in the Confederate Navy during the Civil War while
finding time to marry “Leonora Rebecca De Lyon, a member of the prominent
Jewish family from Savanah with whom he had three children passed away today.
1871: In Martinsburg, W. VA, Newton Diehl Baker Sr. and Mary Ann
(Dukehart) Baker gave birth to Newton D. Baker, Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of
War who supported the nomination of Felix Frankfurter to the Supreme Court and
was the 1930 recipient of the American Hebrew Medal for the Promotion of Better
Understanding Between Christian and Jew in America.
1871: The annual meeting of the B’nai Jeshurun Ladies’ Benevolent Society
and Home for Aged Hebrews took place today the 34th Street
Synagogue. Following the reading of the
annual report the following officers were elected: Mrs. Henry Leo, President;
Mrs. H. B. Hertz, Vice President; Mrs. Zion Bernstein, Treasurer; Judge P.J.
Joachimsen, Honorary Counsel; Dr. Simeon U. Leo, Physician
1871(20th of Kislev, 5632): Sixty-four year old Jonas Königswarter who
“in recognition of his public services, was decorated with the Order of the
Iron Crown of the third class, and elevated to the knighthood; and in 1870
received the decoration of the second class of the same order, and was raised
to the baronetage” passed away today.
1871: Charles Hart was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish
Cemetery.”
1872: Prime Minister William Gladstone was among those who heard George
Smith read “his translation of the Chaldean account of the Great Flood” at
today’s meeting of the Society of Biblical
Archaeology. Known as the Epic of Gilgamesh, this is another version of
Noah’s Flood.
1873: The Oratorio Society, a choral music society founded by Leopold
Damrosch gave its first concert today.
1873: Birthdate of Hungarian native Charles Gelman who in 1892 came to
the United States where he settled in Glens Falls, NY where owned and operated
“the dry goods firm of Merkel and Gelman” while raising his two daughters Elsa
and Babette.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1941/04/20/85306832.pdf
http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-blessed-bernhard-lichtenberg.html
1873: In Lithuania Isaac Margolis and Hinde Margolis, the daughter of
David Aryeh Leib Zirilstein and Kaila Bernstein gave birth to Bertha Barnett
1874: Birthdate of Vienna native Jacob Leon Wolff who gained fame as
“pianist and composer Erich Jaques Wolff.”
1875: Birthdate of Father Bernhard Lichtenberg German
clergyman, anti-fascist and outspoken defender of the Jews of Germany. For
example, after Kristallnacht while the German churches kept their
silence in face of the vicious attack upon the Jews, Lichtenberg was the only
Church man to raise his voice publicly and fearlessly against Nazi brutality.
“We know what happened yesterday, we do not know what lies in store for us
tomorrow. But we have experienced what has happened today: Outside burns the
temple. This is also a place of worship.” From that evening until his
arrest in 1941, Lichtenberg continued to pray daily from his pulpit in the St
Hedwig Cathedral for both the Jews and Jewish Christians as well as other
victims of the regime. Following his two-year imprisonment, Lichtenberg
turned the Gestapo’s offer to leave him alone if he would stop speaking out
against the regime. Lichtenberg asked to
be allowed to accompany the Jews and Jewish Christians being sent to the Ghetto
at Lodz, Poland. The Church refused his
request because of his failing health. Instead, the Gestapo ordered him to be
sent to Dachau. The sixty-seven-year-old priest died on
to the concentration camp.
http://victimsfamiliesforthedeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2014/11/the-blessed-bernhard-lichtenberg.html
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/righteous/stories/lichtenberg.asp
1876: It
was reported today that the “Czar has written a private letter to” Queen
Victoria “in which he does not disguise his resentment at the treatment which
he has received at the hands of her Prime Minister” Lord Beaconsfield better
known as Benjamin D’Israeli. (One cannot
but wonder if part of the ruler of the anti-Semitic realm greatest resentment
comes from having to deal with the son of London Jew.)
1876:
“Touching the Jew” published today described a visit by an American journalist
to the home of “a strict family of the chosen people” (Orthodox Jews) where
they discussed the novel Daniel Deronda of which the Jews said the title
character was “a weak visionary” and the character “Mordecai was a common
madman.” “And as for that wild notion
which so many of you Christians entertain about Jerusalem, one of the Jews said
let us “disabuse your mind of it. The
Jews don’t want to go Jerusalem; they wouldn’t if they could.” “The very idea” of “being compelled to live
in Jerusalem…is enough to make one shudder.”
1878: Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah in what Israel is now. Petach Tikvah is Hebrew for Gateway of Hope.
The land was purchased by Jews living in Jerusalem from a Greek landowner after
the Sultan of Turkey had thwarted their efforts to buy land near Jericho. The village they built was in an area prone
to malaria outbreaks. In 1882, the
settlers gave up the village, due in part to poor harvest. At the time only 66 people were living in ten
houses.
1880: The
Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society “purchase the Devlin property at 10th
Avenue, the Boulevard and 136th to 138th Streets for
$138,000” with the intention of constructing a facility at this location.
1880: At
Gottingen University, a group of students is preparing a statement for the
Rector protesting the distribution of Court Chaplain Adolph Stocker’s “petition
against the Jews.
1881: “Some
Minor Foreign Facts” published today include estimates of the Jewish population
that “have been prepared in Rome showing that there are 6,568,000 Jews in the
world, 5,500,000 of whom live in Europe, 240,000 in Asia, 500,000 in Africa and
308,000 in America.
1881: After
having been closed for Shabbat, the fair sponsored by Temple Israel in Brooklyn
reopened tonight.
1882:
“Notes On Art” published today described the discovery of a“grotesque wall painting” called ‘The
Judgment of Solomon,’ a veritable caricature of the famous Biblical story” in a house at Pompeii that had been
built by merchants from ancient Alexandria, a city “well acquainted with Jewish
lore” which would have accounted for the artistic creation.
1884: On
the day before he committed suicide in the New York Park near the Farragut
Monument, Jacob Asch, a Jewish native of Prussia who had operated a millinery
story in Chicago where he had left his wife and family, met with Adolph Schwab
and gave back to him the lace goods which Schwab had given to him sell on
commission.
1885(25th
of Kislev, 5646): Chanukah
1885:
Birthdate of German born American Chess champion Edward Lasker who had been
trained as an engineer and was a close friend of fellow chess champion and
distant relative Emanuel Lasker passed away today in New York.
1885:
“Lighting A Candle Each Day” published today described the celebration of
Chanukah, a “festival that last eight days” where “at the beginning of each day
the orthodox Hebrew family lights a candle until they eight candles burning.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/08/27/83546040.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1886:
Twenty-three-year-old Leon Harrison was installed as the new rabbi at Temple
Israel in Brooklyn “which claims to be the only unorthodox synagogue in the
city.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1886/12/04/103651154.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1886: A
wealthy Jew named Altmayer who was serving time for embezzlement has escaped
from the Mazas Prison using a “forged letter of release.”
1887: In
New York, Judge Barrett has displayed Solomon in deciding “that the child about
whose ownership the mulattoes William and Jennie Lee and the Russian Jews
Bertha and Harris Brodsky have each been contesting is Nellie Lee and not Yetta
Brodsky and has order the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children to
deliver her to the Lees. The unanswered
question is, what has become of the missing Yetta Brodsky
1888(29th
of Kislev, 5649): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1888:
Supporters of Boulanger rallied in Paris today shouting for an end to the
Republic and chanting “Down with the Jews!”
(French anti-Semitism was a subset of right-wing hostility towards the
Third Republic)
1888: In
Łomża, Poland, the son of Liba Miriam (Cyrowicz) and Joel Leib Herzog gave
birth to Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog who was the first Chief Rabbi of Ireland,
serving from 1921 to 1936 and then began servings as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
of the British Mandate of Palestine and of Israel until his death in 1959
1889: “In
Wandsbek, which was then a town in the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein
(now a district of the city of Hamburg), Julius and Henriette (née Hirsch) Levy
gave birth to Paul Levy who gained fame as American screenwriter, director and
producer who was an assistant to his fellow co-religionist and movie maker
Irving Thalberg.
http://www.moviemoviesite.com/articles/events/only_a_comedy.htm
1889: A
party of fifty Jews from several cities including Ogden, Utah and Chicago,
Illinois, passed through Pittsburgh, PA today on their way to Jerusalem.
1890(21st
of Kislev, 5651): Leonard Arnheim, the four year old son of Ida and Lewis
Arnheim, passed away. Lewis Arnheim
served in the Georgia State Legislature as a representative from rural
Dougherty County and was the son-in-law of David Mayer of Atlanta. A native of
Germany, he made a career in the law before taking an active role in state
politics.
1891: The
residence of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews are scheduled to enjoy a free
evening of musical entertainment.
1891(2nd
of Kislev, 5652): Ninety-year-old Abraham Alexander Wolff, the German born
Rabbi who spent most of his life leading the congregation in Copenhagen and as
“the father of Danish homiletics” delivered approximately 5,000 sermons during
his “career of 65 years” passed away today.
1892: The
Moscow Chamber Commerce resolved “to exclude all Jews from the list of city
merchants unless they” convert and become Greek Orthodox.
1892: In
Chattanooga, TN, Harry Clay Adler and Ada Ochs gave birth to Julius Ochs Adler,
the publisher of The Chattanooga Times
and general manager of The New York Times
who had a distinguished military career in both World Wars.
https://nmajmh.org/education/individual-profiles/julius-adler/
1892:
Judith Solis-Cohen began a ten year stint as the editor for “the weekly
‘Womanknd’ column in the Jewish Exponent.”
(As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archives)
1893(24th
of Kislev, 5654): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1893: “A
Practical Charity” published today described the work of the East Side Relief
Committee whose members included Mr. Spectorsky of the Hebrew Institute and is
an example of what can happen when “Catholic, Protestant and Hebrew religious
societies” work together.
1893:
“Professor Felix Adler spoke” to “the usual large audience” “in Carnegie Music
Hall this morning on the idea of God and the futurity as taught in the Old
Testament.”
1893:
“Jewish President of Each Board” published today described the lack of
anti-Semitism in Lexington, KY a city of 30,000 that includes about one hundred
Jews where a Jew was chosen to service as the President of the Boards of
Alderman and the Boards of Councilmen.
1893: Much
to the consternation of French
anti-Semites, David Raynal began serving as Minister of the Interior.
1894: In
Hamburg, Bernhard Bästlein, Sr. of Thuringia and Cornelia Bästlein,
née Kock, of East Friesland Bernhard Bästlein a leader of the anti-Nazi
resistance who was executed “at Brandenburg-Görden Prison. (He was not
Jewish. But we do have an obligation to
“Remember” those who stood against the Evil of the Darkest Night.”
1894: In
Baltimore, MD, Jacob and Hilda (Kaplan) Sobeloff gave birth to Simon Sobeloff
who served as Solicitor General of the United States and Chief Judge of the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District.
1894: Glass
dealer Benjamin Rosenthal was assaulted by a gang of boys hollering “Sheeny,
sheeny” at 34th Street and 5th Avenue in Manhattan.
1894: “A
Philosophy And Not A Creed” published today described the views of Rabbi Joseph
Silverman on Judaism stating that it “is not a system of creeds but a
philosophy” Unlike other religions, “Judaism has no symbol” but maybe it should
adopt the question mark as one since “Judaism is an everlasting searcher after
truth.”
1895:
Birthdate of Anna Freud, Austrian-born English psychoanalyst and daughter of
Sigmund Freud.
She was the founder of child psychoanalysis and one
of its foremost practitioners. She also made fundamental contributions to
understanding how the ego, or consciousness, functions in averting painful
ideas, impulses, and feelings. She diverged from her father in emphasizing the
role of the ego (as opposed to id forces) in psychological functioning. Her
book The ego and mechanisms of defense (1936) laid the groundwork for
ego psychology. She was one of the first psychoanalysts to work primarily with
children. She passed away1982.
1895:”
Vienna’s Anti-Semitic Mobs” published today described the response of the
ant-Semites to the Emperor’s rejection of Dr. Luger as Burgomaster of Vienna
which included “insulting and threatening passers-by and other persons in the
cafes and shops whom they regarded as being Hebrews.”
1895:
Birthday of Roxbury, Massachusetts native Fanny Baron Cohen who settled in
Brooklyn and served as the “alternate delegate to the nongovernment
organizations of UNESCO.”
1895:
Birthdate of Jaujard Jacques, “the man who save Mona Lisa.”
http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-frenchman-who-saved-the-mona-lisa/
1896:
Birthdate of Mihály Maurice Bergsmann, the son of a practicing physician in
Budapest who converted to Unitarian Christianity and gained fame as
psychoanalyst Michael Balint.
1896:
Birthday of Nashville, TN native Rose Horwitz, the first wife of English born
and Stanford University trained attorney Maurice E. Blumenthal who lived in
Douglas, AZ where he combined the practice of law with the life of an amateur
musician.
1897:
Starting today and for the next ten years Judith Solis-Cohen “edited the weekly
“Womankind” column in the Jewish Exponent. In these columns, which covered such
topics as “What Women Can Earn,” “Coeducation,” “Women Zionists,” “The Woman
Suffrage Movement,” and “The Council of Jewish Women.” (As reported by the
Jewish Women’s Archives)
1897: On
the Lower East Side, Harry and Jenny Gropper “impoverished Jewish immigrants”
gave birth to “William Gropper, a widely known radical cartoonist and leading
artist of the American “social realist” school who “was elected into the
National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician.”
1898: In
“Zhyomyr, Haim Bardinstein and Miryam Bardinstein gave birth to Shlomo H.
Bardin the husband of Roth Bardin, with whom he had two sons – David and Hillel
– “who studied at the University of Berlin, University College and Columbia
University after which “he founded the Haifa Technical High School and Haifa
Nautical School.
https://www.geni.com/people/Shlomo-Bardin/6000000008490121434
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/17/archives/dr-shlomo-bardin-77-dies-founded-brandeis-institute.html
1900: In Great Britain, The Court of Appeal has rendered a decision upholding that
of a Divisional Court in the suit of the Attorney General vs. the Jewish
Colonization Association. The Crown claimed estate and succession duty upon the
death of Baron Maurice de Hirsch. This victory means the Crown gains upwards of
1,250,000 English pounds.
1901: It
was reported today that J.H. Cohen, C.L. Sulzberger and Otto Horowtiz were
among the creditors appointed to serve on a committee of creditors of “The
Metropolitan” the bankrupt Binghamton, NY department store.
1902(3rd
of Kislev, 5663): of Solomon Hirsch, “one of the early leaders of Portland, Oregon’s
Jewish Community who “with Jacob Mayer and Louis Fleischner, Hirsch was one of
the founders of Fleischner, Mayer and Co., the largest wholesale dry goods
company on the West Coast” and the “Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary to the Ottoman Empire from 1889–1892” passed away today,
1902: The
Convention of the National Council of Jewish Women is scheduled to continue for
a second day in Baltimore, MD at the Eutaw Place Synagogue.
1902:
Birthdate of American artist Louis Leon Ribak, the husband of artist Beatrice
Mandelman, who passed away at Taos, NM in 1979
http://www.mandelman-ribak.org/
1903(14th
of Kislev, 5664): In Vilna, Deborah Romm who “took an active interest in the
affairs” of the Romm Publishing House after her husband David died in 1860,
passed away today.
1903: Birthdate of mathematician John von
Neumann. Born in Hungary, von Neumann
brilliant career included work on the project to build the hydrogen bomb as
well and development of logical design.
This work was critical in the development of the modern computer. He won the Medal of Freedom in 1956 a year
before his death.
1903:
Birthdate of Abe Pollin, future owner of the National Basketball Association’s
(NBA) Washington Wizards, the National Hockey League’s (NHL) Washington
Capitals and Women’s National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Washington
Mystics. Pollin would use his own money to build a home for the Wizards that
would revitalize a large section of downtown Washington, D.C. He would also support a number of civic and
charitable efforts that would do everything from rewarding public school
teachers to feeding starving children in Africa. If the first question asked of
a soul by the heavenly court is “How did you conduct yourself when doing
business?” Pollin will pass with flying colors.
1904(25th
of Kislev, 5665): Chanukah
1904: In
St. Louis, MO, Charles and Rose Ellman Weissman gave birth to Ben Weisman, the
husband of “Esther Polinsky Weisman” with whom he had two children – Harry and
Sandra.
1904 (25th
of Kislev, 5665):
Rabbi Chaim Chizkiah Medini, the author of the
Halachic encyclopedia Sdei Chemed passed away.
1905: In Minsk,
“a hooligan disguised as a Jew is” supposed “to fire on a holy image in a
religious procession” which is then to be followed by the killing of Jews; an
act that will be made easier because the houses of the Jews “are to be marked
with white crosses.”
1906:
Following the reports given by Isidor Straus and Mrs. Morris Loeb, the
President of the Women’s Auxillary at tonight’s annual meeting of the
Educational Alliance and Women’s Auxiliary Samuel B. Hamburger, Adolf Lewisohn,
Marcus Marks, Julius M. Mayer, William C. Popper, Solomon Schechter, Solomon
Sulzberger, Felix M. Warburg, Louis Wiley and August Goldsmith were re-elected
as directors serving a new three-year term.
1906:
William Greenstan of the Hebrew Harlem Butchers’ Association told meeting of
500 women attending a meeting protest against the high price of meat that “the
butchers are not to blame” but instead blamed it on “the turst” which is
forcing them to pay ten cents a pound “for the chuck steak” the butch are
selling to their customers.
1907(27th
of Kislev, 5668): Third Day of Chanukah
1907:
Professor Franklin Giddings of Columbia who was lecturing on “The Jews in
America” at the People’s Institute at Cooper Union was asked “whether the
recent movement by the Jews to keep Christian ceremonies out of the schools was
justified.
1908: “The
Jewish Morning Journal announced” tonight “that it had received a cable
dispatch from Russia by way of London announcing that the Council of the
Government of Ekaternoslva, a province in Russia, had confiscated all the land
of the Jewish agriculture colonists who had left for the Argentine Republic.”
1909: In
Russia, Mary Sacks and Zangwell Mednick gave birth to Israel Mednick.
1909(20th
of Kislev, 5670): Fifty-two-year-old Troy, NY and Williams College and
Gottingen University educated historian Dr. Charles Gross, the Harvard
professor who has “been regarded as one of the leading authorities on the
history of early English institutions and constitutional history” passed away
today at the Stillman infirmary.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/12/04/106123140.pdf?
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43057858?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
1910(2nd
of Kislev, 5671): Parashat Tolodot
1910(2nd
of Kislev, 5671): Forty-seven-year-old Ida Dolce Foa Ghiron, the daughter of
Giuseppe and Annetta Foa and the wife of Pacifico Ghiron passed away today
after which she was buried next to her father in Piemonte, Italy.
1911: In
Calgary, Canada, those attending a meeting at Tabor Hall there was a “protest
against religious education in public schools.”
1912: Mrs.
Mark A. Cohen performed a vocal solo accompanied by pianist Mrs. Justin Levin
at “the third regular meeting of the Ladies’ Society of B’nai Sholom Temple
Israel which took place this afternoon in Chicago.
1913: In
New York City, Dr. Alexander Marx, the German born son of Georg and Gertrude
Marx, and his wife Hannah Marx gave birth to Jakob (Jack) Marx.
1914: In Boston, George and Charlotte S. Friedman
Fine gave birth to composer Irving Gifford Fine.
https://www.irvingfinesoc.org/
https://www.loc.gov/collections/irving-fine/about-this-collection/
1914: The American
Jewish Committee appropriates $2,500 for an orphan asylum in Sophia, Bulgaria
due to orphans of the Balkan War. This was at the request of the Chief
Rabbi, Dr. M. Ehrenpreis.
1914: “Solomon
Rabinowitz Here” published today described the arrival in New York of the 54
year old author from Kiev called the “Jewish Mark Twain” who like Twain writes
under a pen name which in this case is Sholom Aleichem
1914: It was reported
today that Solomon Rabinowitz, who writes under the pseudonym “Shalom Aleichem”
“was at a health resort near Berlin when Germany declared war on Russia”
following which he was arrested and sent to Berlin under guard along with the Russian
Minister of Education” and then 24 hours later was put on a train for Denmark.”
(This is event has all of the irony of a Shalom Aleichem tale since the Germans
did not see any irony in treat the Jewish author as a Russian – a view of his
persona not shared by the Czar who ruled over him,)
1914: Among those
listed today as contributor to the American Jewish Relief Committee were the
Central Jewish Council of Denver, CO; Congregations Sons of Jacob, Galesburg,
Il; Committee of Orthodox Jews, Lafayette, IN; Jewish Conference of Minneapolis
MN; Jewish War Veterans Committee of Omaha Nebraska; Temple Mount Sinai, El
Paso, TX and Alexander Joske, San Antonio, TX who may have been related to
Julius Joske who founded Joske’s the San Antonio based department store chain.
1915: Seventy-year-old
Theodor Kohn, the seventh Archbishop of Olomouc whose grandfather was Jewish
making him the first person of Jewish origins to hold the post passed away
today.
1915: “Ford Has A
Rival” published today described the plan of Representative Meyer London for
mediating a peace in Europe which he will have presented to Congress before
Henry Ford’s peace ship can reach Europe.”
(Did this loss of face tied to a Jewish legislator help to fuel Ford’s
anti-Semitism?)
1915: In describing the
hardships and challenges facing Russia’s war effort, Ernest P. Horrwitz wrote
today that “it is not feasible to replace coal” with “timber which is abundant
in the Russian forests because the timber trade is almost exclusively in the
hands of the Jews and they have been decimated by the most cruel pogroms or
expelled from the west and northwest which is the great forest land of Russia.”
1916: “The campaign to
raise the final half million of the two million dollars need for the work of
the Federation for the Support of Jewish Philanthropic Societies began” tonight
“with a rally at the Thirty-ninth Street Theatre” where Dr. Moses Hyamson delivered
the opening prayer, music was provided by the Russian Trio of Eugene, Michael
and Arthur Bernstein and hundreds of the attendees responded positively “to the
appeal of Leo Arnstein who asked for 2,000 volunteer workers to enlist 20,000
more subscribers in the course of this week.”
1916: Following three
years of fundraising, the new annex on St. Mark’s Place of the National Orphan
House opened today with a dedication ceremony that included remarks by Judge
Gustave Hartman, President of the Israel Orphan Asylum who said that while Jews
appreciated the efforts of Christians to care for Jewish orphans “it was
incumbent upon the Jews to care for their own people and bring them up in the
Jewish faith.”
1916: General Joffre,
the commander-in-chief of the French army, who had “raised to the rank of corps
commander, two Jewish generals, Cohen and Hyman” and conferred upon General
Cohen, who had been wounded 27 times since the start of the war, the order of
the Legion of Honor was replaced today by General Robert Nivelle.
1917(18th of
Kislev, 5678): In Pine Bluff, AR, eighty-two-year-old Gabe Meyer who had served
on the City Council and the School Board passed away today.
1917(18th of
Kislev, 5678): Fifty-five-year-old Justine Dreyfus Levy passed away today after
which he was buried in the Jewish Cemetery at Natchitoches, LA.
1917: In Austria,
Rudolf and Helena Brasse gave birth to Wihlelm Brasse, the unwilling creator of
the part of the photographic record of the Holocaust. (As reported by Dennis
Hevesi)
1917: At Temple
Emanu-El, Dr. Joseph Silverman, assisted by Rabbi Simon Shlager and Dr. H.G.
Enelow officiated at the funeral of “Dr. Henry M. Leipziger, “the founder of
the public school lecture courses” in New York City” during which Daniel P.
Hayes delivered the eulogy followed by an internment in Bayside Cemetery.
1917: Contrary to some
reports the Ottomans had not abandoned their positions outside of Jerusalem as
could be seen when the British suffered 300 casualties and were forced to
withdraw from the Wadi Zeit because the Turks held the high ground.
1917: “The members of
the forty-six teams of men and women who are working to obtain five million
dollars before the end of next week for Jewish war relief in Europe and welfare
work in the army and navy met at tea” this “afternoon in the Berkeley Arcade”
on West 44th Street to review the two days of effort which has
raised $1,120,418.50.
1918: Felix Warbrug,
the chairman of the Campaign Committee of the Joint Distribution Committee of
the American Fund for Jewish War Sufferers announced tonight that the “official
information gathered in Europe by the Food Administration is to be turned over
to the Jewish War Relief for use in apportioning the fund of five million
dollars now being” raised in New York City.
1919: Pierre-Auguste
Renoir, the French artist who painted “Alice and Elisabeth Cahen d’Anvers”
(most commonly referred to as Pink and Blue) passed away. The painting portrayed the 2 daughters of the
banker Louis Raphael Cahen d’Anvers, the blonde, Elisabeth, born in December
1874, and the younger, Alice, in February 1876, when they were respectively six
and five years old. The artist produced many portraits for the families of the
Parisian Jewish community at the time. Renoir was commissioned to paint many
portraits for this family, which he had met through the collector Charles
Ephrussi, proprietor of the “Gazette des Beaux-Arts.”
1920: Sir Mathew
Nathan, the second son of Jonah and Miriam Nathan began serving as the 13th
Governor of Queensland (Australia)
1920: Premiere of “Anna
Boleyn” German historical film directed by Ernst Lubitsch starring Henny Porten
who would refuse to divorce her Jewish husband when the Nazis came to power, as
Anne Boleyn
1921(2nd of
Kislev, 5682): Parashat Toldot
1921: Samuel Greenbaum,
a Justice of the Supreme Court was among the speakers at a banquet tonight
marking a continuation of the Temple Israel’s celebration of its golden jubilee
held at the Hotel Astor where an additional $400,000 was raised for the congregation’s
building fund.
1922:
Birthdate of Henry Anatole Grunwald, an Austrian-born Jewish-American
journalist and diplomat perhaps best known for his position as managing editor
of TIME magazine and editor in chief of Time, Inc.
1922: Birthdate of Len
Lesser, a veteran character actor best known for his recurring role in the
1990s as Uncle Leo on the hit NBC-TV comedy “Seinfeld.”
1922: Ethel Jacobs is
scheduled to present a paper on Upstream by Ludwig Lewinsohn followed by
Aileen Paradise’s piano solo at the meeting of the Young Peoples Congregation
of Temple Mizpah’s Studay circle this afternoon.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015005382380;view=1up;seq=3
1922: Silent movie, Hungry Hearts produced by the
Goldwyn Company and based on a book of the same name written by Anzia Yezierska opened in Los Angeles.
In her short stories and novels, author Anzia Yezierska focused on the
challenges faced by young Jewish women trying to navigate between their
immigrant families and their desire to become part of America. After a long
period of struggling to attain a public voice, Yezierska published Hungry Hearts, a book of short
stories, in 1920. Once the book found public attention, it attracted interest
from Hollywood. The Goldwyn Company paid $10,000 for the film rights and
brought Yezierska to Los Angeles as a $200 per week screen writer. This was the
first financial security Yezierska had ever experienced. Despite the excitement
of finally being rewarded for her work as a writer, Yezierska was overwhelmed
by her portrayal in the popular press as a “sweatshop Cinderella.” She also
felt unable to draw upon authentic immigrant experience while ensconced in
Hollywood luxury. She returned to New York after a few months. The film Hungry
Hearts is notable for its attempts to portray the struggle of immigrant
life and for its street scenes that were actually filmed on the Lower East
Side. Still many reviewers and Yezierska, herself, objected to the
sentimentality of the final script and to a tacked-on happy ending (described
by the New York Times as “incredible and mushy”). In Hungry Hearts and her later
stories and novels (e.g. Breadgivers,
1925), Yezierska was the first author to present the struggles of immigrant
women to a broader American audience. Persea Books began publishing reprints of
Yezierska’s work in 1975.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/dec/03/1922/anzia-yezierska
1923:
In Pittsburgh, PA, Rabbi Wolf Leiter and his wife gave birth to photographer
Saul Leiter.
http://www.gallery51.com/index.php?navigatieid=9&fotograafid=15
1923(25th of
Kislev, 5684): Chanukah
1923(25th of
Kislev, 5684): Seventy-five-year-old French historian and academic Gustave
Blochwho was a professor of Roman history at the Faculté des
lettres in Paris” and the father of historian Marc Bloch passed away today.
1923: Today President Calvin Coolidge “remitted the sentence of Controller
Charles L. Craig who had been sentenced to “imprisonment for sixty days in jail
for contempt of court by Judge Julius M. Mayer” whose ruling was upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court.
1923: In New Jersey, the next entrance examination for the State Normal
Schools is scheduled to take place today, which is a Monday, instead of the
previously scheduled Saturday because the Jews throughout the state had
objected to exams being given on a day which was their Sabbath.
1924: Today, “the United States and Great Britain entered into a convention
with respect to Palestine” that “provided that no modification should be made
in the League of Nation Mandate unless such modification had been assented to
by the United State” and that “the mandate recited ‘the solemn pledge…to
facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine.
1925: George Gershwin’s
“Piano Concerto in F” is premiered at
Carnegie Hall.
1925(16th of
Kislev, 5686): Rabbi Kyman Friedman who worked as a Hebrew Teacher and Shochet
passed away today.
1926(27th of
Kislev, 5687): Third Day of Chanukah
1926(27th of
Kislev, 5687): Forty-five-year-old “German writer and theatre critic Siegfried
Jacobsohn passed away today.
192: It was reported
today that “Rabbi Zirelson who represented the Bessarabian Jewish community in
the Rumanian Senate by virtue of his officed resigned from the Senate following
his remarkable address in which he attacked the leaders of the Rumanian anti-Semitic
movement.”
1927: Birthdate of
“Canadian novelist, humorist and lawyer” whose works include The Outside
Chance of Maximilian Glick and who is the father of actress of Sarah
Torgov.
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/morley-torgov/
1927: Flyweight Pinky
Silverberg lost a ten round unanimous decision in a non-title bout at the State
Armory, in Bridgeport, CT shortly after which the NBA stripped of his Flyweight
Championship making it “the only time that in boxing history that a champion
was short of a legitimately won championship do to a poor performance in a
non-title bout.”
1928: In Atlantic City,
it was Jew versus Jew as featherweight Harry Blitman scored a victory over
Wilbur Cohen.’
1928: It was reported
today that the Schuberts are the producers for “Make Boom Boom” a musical
comedy that will begin its pre-Broadway tryouts in Wilmington, Delaware.
1929: In London, Moe
Mizler fought his 35th bout which he won by KO’ing his opponent.
1930: Rodgers and Hart’s musical “Evergreen” premiered in
London.
1930: Dr.
Nathan Krass officiated at the wedding of “Barbara Wechsler Schiff, daughter of
Mrs. Gustave Henry Schiff of New York and the late Mr. Schiff to Frederick
Mason Mack.
1931: The
list of “Who’s Who” selected by The American Hebrew made public today included
“several members of other religious denominations including Dr. Henry Sloane
Coffin of the Union Theological Seminary, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., attorney
George Gordon Battle, columnist Heywood Broun, Columbia University Professor
Carlton J. H. Hayes and George Britt.
1931(23rd
of Kislev, 5692): Seventy-eight-year-old Abraham Erlanger the Berman born son
of Simon and Rosine Reele Erlanger and the husband of Berth Bela Erlanger
passed away today in Lucerne after which he was buried in Maurenu, Switzerland.
1932(4th
of Kislev, 5693): Parashat Tolodot
1932(4th
of Kislev, 5693): Eighty-three-year-old Max (Gitelman) Silverman, the Russian
born son of William and Feiga Rubenstein Gitelman and the husband of Sarah
Rifka Skolvsky Silverman who he married in 1904 after the death of his first
wife Sima Rivka Plotka Silverman passed away today in Providence, RI after
which he was buried in the Lincoln Park Cemetery.
1932: In
Lwow, Poland, following a series of anti-Semitic outbreaks, Colleges in the
city were reopened today, “but Jewish students did not attend classes.”
1932:
Thirty-four students were arrested in Lwow today following “the smashing
windowpanes in several newspaper offices and Jewish shops.”
1933(15th
of Kislev, 5694): Seventy-four-year-old Lublin native Emile Meyerson the
“author of a philosophical explanation of the Einstein theory of relativity”
who had come to Paris in 1882 to work in industrial chemistry before “becoming
associated with the Agence Havas French news agency in 1888 passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/12/04/105825119.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1933:
Today, Dr. Walther Darre, Reich Minister of Agriculture told a huge gathering
of peasants at Hamm, Westphalia that “Jews and Free Masons are arch enemies of
the Germany peasantry.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1933/12/04/105825007.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1934(26th
of Kislev, 5695) Second Day of Chanukah
1934: In
what is said to be the first clinical conference in medical history devoted to
chronic diseases opened this morning at the Montefiore Hospital for Chronic
Diseases, Gun Hill Road, the Bronx, and will continue through the week. The
conference is the chief scientific feature of the observance of the hospital’s
fiftieth anniversary. The hospital was
named in honor of the great British born Jewish philanthropist and the original
funding was largely raised by the Jewish community.
1935: Four days after his 68th birthday
Horace “Harry” Harris Loeb, the Philadelphia born son of Henrietta and Marx
Loeb was buried today.
1935: “Two
more ‘German-blooded’ men – to use the new Nazi term for ‘Aryan’” – were
sentenced to prison today “for intimate relations with Jewish women.”
1936:
“Thomas Mann, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1929…was deprived of
his citizenship tonight by Dr. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of Interior because “he
has repeatedly cooperated in demonstrations of international, generally
Jewish-influence, societies whose attitude of enmity to Germany is well known…”
1936: In
Atlanta, GA, social worker Arlene (Fox) Uhry and “furniture designer and
artist” Ralph K. Uhry gave birth to Brown University alum Alfred Fox Uhry, who
“received an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for
dramatic writing for Driving Miss Daisy.”
1937: Birthdate of British attorney and businessman Stephen Rubin. The
founder of Pentland, he struck it rich with Reebok and Adidas.
1937:
The Palestine Post reported that a
large police unit accompanied by a detachment of Transjordanian Frontier Force,
scoured Galilee in pursuit of Arab terrorists that had murdered two Arab
policemen and apparently sought to escape to Syria. In London, Major C.S.
Jarvis, the former British governor of Sinai, said that after he had seen what
the Jewish settlers had done in various arid areas of Palestine, he would
strongly recommend a large Jewish settlement of the entire Negev, which ought
to be included in the Jewish state in any partition negotiations.
1937:
The Palestine Post reported that the
total official population of Palestine was given at the end of September 1937
as 811,347 Moslems, 389,504 Jews, 108,433 Christians and 11,588 others.
1938: The
German government decrees that all Jewish industries, shops, and businesses
must be forcibly “Aryanized.”
1938: At
the Ambassador Theatre, the curtain came down on “You Can’t Take It with You” a
comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart that won the 1937
Pulitzer Prize for Drama after 838 performances.
1939: In
Brooklyn, “Jack and Sylvia Israel” gave birth to Leonore Carol Israel who
gained fame as forger Lee Israel.
http://time.com/5391193/can-you-ever-forgive-me-true-story/
1939: Among
the patents issued this week was one issued to Rudoph Feige of Tel Aviv for “a
tropical hat with a crown separated from the brim to provide and air
circulating slot around the hat…”
1940: Heads
of educational institutions and other prominent persons were among the 3,000
attending a funeral service for Rabbi Bernard
(Dov) Revel, one of the founders of Yeshiva College which became Yeshiva
University.
1940: Debut of Bugs Bunny with the voice supplied
by Mel Blanc. Bugs Bunny was not Jewish but Mel was.
1941:
Amidst the misery of the Lodz Ghetto, a newly arrived Viennese Pianist, Leopold
Birkenfeld held a concert for his fellow Jews. He played Shubert, Liszt and
Beethoven brilliantly.
1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah
candle.
1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): The Nazis shot three young girls
who had escaped from Poznan labor camp
1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): One thousand Jews from Plonsk,
Poland, are killed at Auschwitz.
1942(24th of Kislev, 5703): Salomon Malkes, an official of the
Lódz Ghetto, commits suicide after becoming despondent over the deportation of
his mother.
1942:
Herbert Henry Lehman completed his service as the 45th Governor of
New York.
1942: An
unknown photographer took a picture of Jews in the Drancy assembly and
detention camp which was the departure point for sending French Jews to
Auschwitz. The picture is part of the
Yad Vashem Photo Archives.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/december/07.asp
1942: In
Chatham, NJ, Eleanor and Guy Emery K. Shipler gave birth to Dartmouth graduate
David K. Shipler “an American author who won the Pulitzer Prize for General
Non-fiction in 1987 for Arab and Jew: Wounded Spirits in a Promised Land who
is the husband of Deborah I. Shipler with whom he had three children.
1943: At a
meeting with the German ambassador Francisco Franco said, “’Thank God a clear appreciation
of dangers caused by Jews led our catholic Kings to insure ‘we have for
centuries been relieved of that nauseating burden.’” Oddly enough, Franco
actually protected that ‘nauseating burden’ from the clutches of the Final
Solution.
1943:
Popular American singer Dinah Shore (Frances Rose Shore) the graduate of
Vanderbilt University where she was a member of AEPhi, the Jewish sorority,
married her first husband today.
1944: Hungarian death march of Jews ends
1944:
Beginning of the Greek Civil War in which pro-Soviet Communist forces attempt
to destroy the pro-Western government.
1945: Abdul Azzam Bey, Arab League secretary general, announces
that member states will boycott all Jewish-produced goods from Palestine
beginning January 1, 1946.
1946: Today
“The Joint Committee of Jewish Organizations, whose membership includes
representatives of nine groups, praised the adoption of clauses by the Council
of Foreign Ministers insuring restoration of rights and restitution of property
to Jews in Hungary and Rumania in the proposed peace treaties.”
1947(20th
of Kislev, 5708): While Jewish workers were evacuating undamaged goods from the
Centre a group of Arabs attacked them, killing Yitzhak Penzo,
1947:
Broadway Premiere of “A Streetcar Named Desire” which would be revived in
London in 1974 with Claire Bloom playing “Blanche DuBois” – a portrayal that
led the play’s author to state “I declare myself absolutely wild about Claire
Bloom.”
1947: Arab
violence continues with an attack on a synagogue in the Old City. Following
threats by Arab gangs to burn their dwellings, “Eight Jews living in a house in
the Musrara Quarter outside the Damascus Gate were forced to leave their
homes.”
1947: The
Motion Picture Association of America issued The Waldorf Statement, a response
to the contempt of Congress charges against the so-called “Hollywood
Ten” drafters of which included Louis B. Mayer, Harry Cohn, Nicholas M.
Schenck, Barney Balaban, Samuel Goldwyn, Albert Warner, William Goetz, Dore
Schary and Mendel Silbergberg.
1948: Mission of the UN Mediator on the Palestine
Disaster Relief Project meets with volunteer agencies. Dr. Pierre Descooeudres,
chief of mission, reports that refugees in camps do not have good living
conditions. More supplies are needed as well as a better system of transporting
them. Refugees tend to feel frustrated and isolated, although the goal of the
camps is to build a sense of social consciousness.
1949(12th of Kislev, 5710): Parashat
Vayetzei
1949(12th of Kislev, 5710): “Yiddish
actor, director and producer” Misha Fishzon, who was associated with “Maurice
Schwartz’s Yiddish Art Theatre” passed away today in New York
1950(24th of Kislev, 5711): In the
evening, Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1950: Bessarabian born Opera singer Isa Kremer
who included Yiddish songs in her repertoire appeared for the last time at
Carnegie Hall today before retiring to Argentina to be with her husband, Buenos
Aires psychiatrist Dr. Gregorio Bermann.
1951(4th of Kislev, 5712): Sixty-four-year-old
Kovno born and JTS trained rabbi, C. David Matt, “the former president of the
Philadelphia Board of Rabbis” and “former associate editor of The American Jewish World” who was the
husband of Lena Matt and the father of J. Leonard, Joseph, Hershel, Zelda and
Beulah Matt passed away today.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1951/12/04/89473281.pdf
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/matt-c-david
1952: At Rutgers University, “the Special Faculty
Committee issued a reported stating that there should be no charges” brought
against Moses Finley who had invoked the Fifth Amendment when called to testify
before the House Un-American Activity Committee (HUAC) “and that the university
should take no further action.”
1952(15th
of Kislev, 5713): Rudolph Slansky, former secretary-general of the Czech
Communist Party, Rudolf Margolius and 9 of their co-defendants were hanged
after a show trial aimed at purging alleged Zionist conspirators.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported the Israeli
denial that its troops crossed the armistice lines in the vicinity of Jerusalem
and tried to lay mines in Jordanian-occupied territory. The Israeli spokesman
complained, however, that Jordan failed to control the scores of infiltrators
who crossed the armistice lines every night in order to rob and murder. Only a
week earlier, infiltrators killed two Israeli watchmen in the Jerusalem
‘corridor’ and escaped over the lines to Jordan. At the UN Mexico urged Arab states
to consider seriously the recent Israeli peace offer. The Mexican delegate, Dr.
Luis Quintamilla, pointedly asked why the Arabs always ‘see evil’ and
automatically reject any Israeli proposal in which there might be at least some
good for all concerned.
1953(26th of
Kislev, 5713) Second Day of Chanukah
1953(26th of
Kislev, 5713): Seventy-two-year-old Charleston native and U. of West Virginia
graduate and the Naval Academy Commander Hugo Frankenberger who was a classmate
of Admiral Chester Nimitz and a veteran of both World Wars passed away today.
1954: Birthdate of
Bronx native and New York State Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz
1956: As part of the
end of the Suez Crisis England and France pull troops out of Egypt. Israeli forces remain in the Sinai.
1956(29th of
Kislev, 5717): Fifth day of Chanukah
1956(29th of
Kislev, 5717): Sixty-five-year-old “painter, sculptor, designer and
photographer” Alexander Rodchenko passed away today.
http://www.all-art.org/art_20th_century/rodchenko1.html
1956(29th of
Kislev, 5717): Seventy-eight-year-old German Jewish mathematician Felix
Bernstein who went to the United States during the Hitler period passed away
today in Zurich.
1957: A recording
of “Catch a Falling Start” written by
Lee Pockriss was released today
1957: “The Naked Truth”
a British comedy co-starring Peter Sellers with music by Stanley Black was
released in the United Kingdom today by J. Arthur Rank Film Distributors.
1958: Rabbi Ya’akov
Moshe Toledano was appointed Minister of Religions.
1958(21st of
Kislev, 5719): Terrorist killed one and injured thirty-one others in an attack
on Gonen, a kibbutz in northern Israel in the Upper Galilee.
1959: “I Married A
Woman” an American comedy directed by Hal Katner with a script by Goodman Ace
was shown for the first time in Sweden.
1960: Lerner and
Loewe’s musical hit Camelot opens for
the first of 873 performances at the Majestic Theatre in New York City
1961(25th of
Kislev, 5722): Chanukah for the first time during the Presidency of JFK.
1961: The Beetles meet
their future agent Brian Epstein.
1962: “25,000 Mourners
At Kotler’s Rites” published today described the funeral for Rabbi Aaron
Kotler.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9402E4DF123DE63BBC4B53DFB4678389679EDE
1964:
Three days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held
this morning for ninety-four-year-old pediatrician Sidney Valentine Haas, the
Columbia trained doctor who made great strides in the treatment of celiac
disease.
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/12/01/dr-sidney-valentine-haas-dies.html
1966(20th of
Kislev, 5727): Parashat Vayeshev
1966(20th of
Kislev, 5727): Eighty-six-year-old Morton David Cahn, the son of Joseph and
Miriam Cahn and the husband of Julia Elizabeth Cahn passed away today in his
native Chicago.
1967:
Surgeons in Cape Town, South Africa, led by Dr. Christian Barnard, performed
the first human heart transplant. Louis Washkansky lived 18 days with the new
heart. Washkansky was a Jew who had been
born in Lithuania.
1967(1st
of Kislev, 5728): Seventy-eight-year-old Julius Bernstein, the Leeds born son
of Leah Harris and Aaron George Bernstein, the husband of Nellie Levi and
brother of Felix, Joseph and Roland Bernstein who reached the rank of Warrant
Officer 2nd Class while serving with the Royal Fusiliers passed away
today
1968:
Hunter Hawker Jets of the Royal Jordanian Air Force attack IAF craft as they
bomb PLO terror camps in Jordan.
1969(23rd
of Kislev, 5730): Vilna born researcher and journalist “Mortkhe (Mordecai)
Kosover passed away today in New York.
http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2019/02/mortkhe-mordecai-kosover.html
1970: The
world of detectives took on Jewish look when The Private Life of Sherlock
Holmes, written by I.A.L. Diamond and directed and produced by Billy Wilder
appeared in theatres in the United Kingdom for the first time.
1970(5th
of Kislev, 5731): Seventy-eight-year-old Myrtle Gernsbacher Brav, the New
Orleans born daughter of Helena and A.H. Gernsbacher and wife of Louis Brav,
who was the Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Lake Charles, LA and a Professor of
Romance Languages at Lawrence College in Appleton, Wisconsin passed away today
after which she was buried at the Adath Jeshurun Cemetery in Philadelphia.
1972(27th
of Kislev, 5733): Third Day of Chanukah
1972: Today
Miss Florence Phillis Beechler married Dr. Louis Jerome Steinfelder, the son of
Dr. Jacob Steinfelder who had served “as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Medical
Reserve Corps and was the “inspiration for the book Family Doctor.”
1974(19th
of Kislev, 5735): Rosh Hashanah of
Chassidism
1974(19th
of Kislev, 5735): Netherlands native Cecile J. Seiberling, the daughter of
Jacobus and Alice Berlage and the wife of Maurice Wertheim passed away today.
1974: As to
the Soviet crackdown on all dissidents including refusniks, Alexander
Solzhenitsyn was deported from the U.S.S.R. and stripped of his citizenship.
1974:
Birthdate of “French journalist and television personality” Marie Drucker the
daughter of television executive Jean Drucker and the niece of television
journalist Michel Drucker.
1975(29th
of Kislev, 5736): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1975(29th
of Kislev, 5736): Ninety-two-year-old Solon De Leon, the son of labor leader
Daniel De Leon, whose “most lasting contribution was The American Labor
Who’s Who which is a registry or directory of people involved in the
American Labor Movement” passed away today in Ellenville, NY.
http://dlib.nyu.edu/findingaids/html/tamwag/tam_092/
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=De%20Leon%2C%20Solon%2C%201883-
1976: After
premiering in New York in November, “Rocky” the boxing movie produced by Irwin
Winkler and Robert Chartoff was released in the United States today.
1977: Six
people were injured when terrorists set off a bomb in a Jerusalem market.
1978: In
Yonkers, the Greystone Actors Studio is scheduled to perform “Light Up the
Sky,” a comed by Moss Hart.
1977:
President Tito of Yugoslavia began a two day tour of Romania during which he
said “Israel exists for many years as a genuine fact, is recognized by the
UN and is a member of it; any other view would be unrealistic. Thus, all the
Arab states must recognize Israel as a state.”
1979(13th
of Kislev, 5740): Seventy-three-year-old of Minnesota trained physician and WW
II veteran Stewart Theodore Ginsberg, the St. Paul born son of Jacob and Mollie
(Balkind) Ginsberg who was the “Clinical professor of psychiatry at Emory
University and husband of Ada Leach Leach with whom he raised three children –
Barbara, Janet and Mark – passed away today.
1981:
Birthdate of Plainfield, NJ native and Brown University graduate Stephen Levin,
a distant relative of Michigan political leaders Carl and Sander Levin who
began serving as a New York City Councilman in 2010.
1983(9th of
Kislev, 5745):
Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin one of the leading Soviet
mathematicians, working in the fields of topology, geometry and ergodic theory
passed away.
1984(9th
of Kislev, 5745): Sixty-five-year-old Soviet mathematician Vladimir Abramovich
Rokhlin passed away today
1985:
Michael Dekel and Weizman Shiry began serving as Deputy Ministers of Defense.
1985: Jack
Anderson described the work of Zwi Kanar, a mime who survived 6 concentration
camps.
http://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/03/arts/mime-zwi-kanar.html?pagewanted=print
1985(20th
of Kislev, 5746): Eighty-four year old Rabbi Phillip S. Bernstein who worked to
settle displaced Jews after WW II, passed away today.
1988: Five
Soviet hijackers seized a bus full of schoolchildren, exchanged their hostages
for a cargo plane and more than $3 million in ransom, then flew here today and
surrendered to Israeli authorities. No one was hurt in the episode, either in
the Soviet Union or in Israel.
1989: Billy
Bathgate by E. L. Doctorow, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French
Revolution by Simon Schama, From Beirut to Jerusalem by Thomas L.
Friedman, A Peace to End All Peace: Creating
the Modern Middle East 1914-1922 by David Fromkin and The Shawl by
Cynthia Ozick are among the thirteen books chosen by the New York Times Book Review as the best books published in the
country during the preceding year
1990(16th
of Kislev, 5751): One Israeli was killed and five were wounded today in a
stabbing attack aboard a bus in Israel, officials said. The police said three
West Bank Palestinians climbed aboard the bus just outside Tel Aviv this
morning, rode a few stops sitting in the back, then got up screaming
“Allah Akhbar,” or God is great, as they drew knives and stabbed four
Jewish passengers. One of the Israelis, a 24-year-old student at a religious
school, died in a hospital a short time later. Witness accounts said that as
the Arabs were slashing him and other passengers, the bus driver opened the
doors so the Jews could flee. Then the driver pulled a gun, holding the
attackers at bay until the police arrived. One of the Arabs then slashed a
policeman, who shot and killed him, the accounts said. The other two were taken
outside, where they were beaten by passersby and then taken to a hospital. The
stabbings were the latest of more than a dozen similar incidents over the last
six weeks. In the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, an Arab walked into a hospital and
stabbed a volunteer nurse from Sweden, wounding her seriously, then ran off. In
Jerusalem on Saturday, police officers shot an Arab woman to death, reportedly
after she tried to stab them. At Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s office this
afternoon, Avi Pazner, a senior aide, said all of the incidents were a result
of the Persian Gulf crisis. “What happened this morning is another result
of the violent incitement among the Arabs toward fundamentalism and extremism,”
Mr. Pazner said. “This has been going on since the beginning of the crisis
in the gulf, and Israel continues to face wave after wave of terrorist
attacks.” Twelve Israelis were killed by border raiders from Lebanon,
Jordan and Egypt during November — a record number for such deaths in recent
times. Although neither Mr. Pazner nor anyone else tied this morning’s attack
to the new American diplomatic initiative toward Iraq, it is clear that many
Israeli officials are uneasy about President Bush’s latest move and the effect
it may have on Israel. Officials here are keenly aware that President Saddam
Hussein of Iraq has said he would insist on tying any discussion of Iraqi
withdrawal from Kuwait to Israeli withdrawal from its occupied territories.
While many Israeli officials expressed misgivings over the American plans and
anger that the United States had not told Israel of them in advance, only
Science Minister Yuval Neeman, one of the most hardline members of the Cabinet,
offered his views in public. Asked if he felt reassured that Vice President
Quayle had promised that American terms for talks with Iraq had not changed,
Mr. Neeman said: “I think Vice President Quayle has in general extremely
strong positions, and I hope he is right. But what I am afraid of is that the
starting point is the only thing he was indicating. But once Secretary of State
Baker talks to Saddam Hussein and once the Iraqi Ambassador talks to the
President, it will be hard to stop the dynamics of that kind of
situation.” Foreign Minister David Levy quarreled with Dr. Neeman and
asked other ministers to keep their views to themselves. Mr. Neeman’s opinions
“do not represent the Government’s position,” Mr. Levy said. He said
he had received a message from Secretary of State James A. Baker 3d “in
which he makes clear that the Administration has not changed its policy and
continues along the same principles. “We must not start making
prophecies,” he added, “and we must not appear like those pushing the
U.S.A. toward war.” Later, however, Mr. Levy warned that if a negotiated
settlement is reached with Iraq allowing Mr. Hussein to keep his weapons, Iraq
would “still pose a threat to the lives of millions of people in
Israel” and in other nations.
1990:
Birthdate of Canadian professional tennis player Sharon Fichman.
1992: The
SEC filed a complaint against Salomon Brothers trader Paul Mozer “for filling
false bids.”
1993: “A
Dangerous Woman” a film version of the novel of the same name with a screenplay
by Naomi Foner, co-starring Debra Winger and Barbara Hershey and featuring
Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jake Gyllenhaal was released in the United States today.
1994(30th
of Kislev, 5755): Rosh Chodesh Tevet and Shabbat Chanukah – three Torah scrolls
1994(30th
of Kislev, 5755): Seventy-three-year-old German born Anglo-Jewish historian Sir
Geoffrey Elton who specialized in the Tudors passed away today.
http://www.ucc.ie/chronicon/elton.htm
1995(10th
of Kislev, 5756): Matityahu Shmuelevitz, a close aide to the late Prime
Minister Menachem Begin, passed away today at the age of 75. Yehiel Kadishai, a longtime Begin spokesman,
said that doctors at Tel Aviv’s Tel Hashomer Hospital, where Mr. Shmuelevitz
was taken after he collapsed on Saturday, reported that the cause of death was
a blood clot. From 1980 to 1983, Mr. Shmuelevitz served as chief of the Prime
Minister’s office under Mr. Begin. The Polish-born Mr. Shmuelevitz immigrated
to Palestine, then ruled by Britain, in 1938 and joined the Lehi, a right-wing
Jewish underground group that was also known as the Stern gang. He was
imprisoned by the British in 1940, escaped in 1943 and was wounded and
recaptured in 1944. He was sentenced to death for firing at a British officer
and carrying illegal arms. His sentence was commuted to life, but he escaped
from jail in February 1948. He was a businessman for many years afterward.
1995: Zola: A Life by
Frederick Brown, Sabbath’s Theatre by Philip Roth Overcoming
Law by Richard A. Posner are among the twelve
books chosen by the New York Times
Book Review to the best books published in the country during the preceding
year.
1995(10th
of Kislev, 5756): Seventy-year-old Max Posin, the owner of Posin’s
Delicatessen, a Washington, DC landmark whose bagels, bialys and fresh bake
onion rolls were an integral part of the author of this blog’s childhood passed
away today.
http://jewishfoodexperience.com/posins-legen-dairy-dc/
1997(4th of Kislev, 5758):
Eighty-eight-year-old CCNY all-star basketball player Louis “Lou” Spindell who
went onto play professionally in the American Basketball League in the 1930’s
passed away today.
1997(4th
of Kislev, 5758): Eighty-eight-year-old Russian-born American “social activist”
Abraham Bluestein, who finally married his longtime “companion” Selma Cohen,
passed away today. (As reported by Robert McG. Thomas, Jr.)
https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/14/nyregion/abraham-bluestein-88-dies-an-advocate-of-anarchism.html
1997: Michael Abraham Levy, Baron Levy made his maiden speech in
the House of Lords.
1998: U.S.
premiere of “Shakespeare in Love” co-produced by Harvey Weinstein and Edward
Zwick and co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow.
1999(24th
of Kislev, 5760): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1999: “The
End of the Affair” a cinematic version of the novel by the same name featuring
Jason Isaacs with music by Michael Nyman was released today in the United
States.
1999(24th
of Kislev, 5760): Kindle the first Chanukah candle.
1999(24th
of Kislev, 5760): Actress and comedian Madeline Kahn passed away.
http://jwa.org/discover/infocus/comedy/kahn.html
1999(24th
of Kislev, 5760): Sixty seven “Lebanese Brazilian Jewish banker” Edmond J.
Safra passed away in Monaco.
2000: The New York Times list of the Best
Books of 2000 contains the following works about Jewish related subjects or by
Jewish authors including The Human Stain by Phillip Roth and One Palestine Complete: Jews and Arabs
Under the British Mandate by Tom Segev.
2001(18th
of Kislev, 5762): Ninety-year-old Gerhart Moritz
Riegner the
“World Jewish Congress official who was
the first to warn an incredulous world that Nazi Germany had formally decided
at the highest levels to annihilate Europe’s Jews” passed away in Geneva today.
(As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/05/obituaries/05RIEG.html
2001: After
having received information about an impending government raid on the Holy Land
Foundation, Judith Miller telephone the organization for a comment following
which the New York Times published an article about it in the late edition.
2001: In
the wake of bombings that killed 26 Israelis, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
declared war on terror.
2002(28th
of Kislev, 5763): Fourth Day of Chanukah
2002:
Following predictions by Israeli officials of a new tide of violence
“coinciding with the end of Ramadan” today Israeli troops killed a terrorist
who was wearing an Israeli Army uniform” and “carrying
an automatic rifle and grenades.”
2002:
Graveside services are scheduled to be held day at Beth Israel Cemetery in
Woodbridge, NJ for Robert M. Wolfe, the husband of Rita Winokur Wolf.
2003: A
party was held in honor of Abe Pollin’s 80th birthday at the Verizon Center. A
slideshow was presented about the history of Abe’s career as owner of the
Bullets/Wizards. Tony Bennett also performed there as the guest entertainer.
2004: “The
Merchant of Venice” a cinematic version of the famous play directed by Michael
Radford was released today in the United Kingdom.
2004(20th
of Kislev, 5765): Chaim Madar the chief rabbi of Tunisia’s Jewish community,
passed away today in Jerusalem. His
funeral services were held at the Beit Mordekhai Synagogue in La Goulette,
Tunis, and the El Ghriba synagogue on the island of Djerba where he lived for
most of his life. Among those extending their condolences was Tunisian
President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. According to some, the Jewish community
dates back to the time of the destruction of the First Temple.
2005:
Sharon Fichman was the runner-up in today’s tennis tournament at Rama HaSharon,
“home to the Israel Tennis Center.
2005:
Today, Israel reiterated threats made last week to block Palestinians from
access to the Karni and Erez crossings if the flow of terrorists into Gaza
continues.
2006:
(12 Kislev): Yahrzeit for Rabbi Solomon Shechter. Schechter’s life is too
richly textured to do more than just hit the highlights in this short
blurb. He was born in 1847 and died at
the age of 68 in 1915 in New York City.
He gained fame in 1896 because of his work with the opening of the
Genizah attached to the ancient Egyptian Ben Ezra Synagogue. In 1902 he moved
to the US to head the new Jewish Theological Seminary in New York, which became
the home of Conservative Judaism. He turned the struggle Rabbinic school into a
first rate academic institution. In
1913, he founded the United Synagogue of America, the umbrella organization of
the Conservative Movement. By the time he died in New York in 1915, he had changed
the face of American Judaism in attempting to find a middle road between Reform
and Orthodox while raising the educational and cultural level for all Jews
regardless of their level of observance or involvement.
2006: The Washington
Post’s selections for best non-fiction in 2006 include: Sweet and Low: A Family Story, by
Rich Cohen, The Accidental Empire: Israel and the Birth of the Settlements,
1967-1977, by Gershom Gorenberg, The Lemon Tree: An Arab, a Jew, and the
Heart of the Middle East, by Sandy Tolan, Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew
Across the Middle East Divide, by Jeffrey Goldberg,The Lost: A Search
for Six of Six Million, by Daniel Mendelsohn; Fear: Anti-Semitism in
Poland After the Holocaust, by Jan T. Gross, My Father Is a Book: A
Memoir of Bernard Malamud, by Janna Malamud Smith.
2006: The Israel Cancer Research Funds’ “Celebration
of Life-Tower of Hope Ball” is held at the Pierre Hotel.
2007: An exhibition styled “The Art
of Rabbi Shnoi Labowitz” presented by The Jewish Museum of Florida comes to an end.
2007:
“The Farnsworth Invention” a play by Aaron Sorkin about how David Sarnoff stole
the original invention that made possible the transmission of television
signals opened on Broadway at the Music Box Theatre with Hank Azaria in the
role of Sarnoff.
2007: Sixty-one years after he was buried at a
cemetery in southeast Washington, the exhumed remains of Stephen Theodore
Norman, the only grandchild of Theodor Herzl will be flown to Israel following
services at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C.
2008:
Nicholas F. Tabman completed his service as the United States Ambassador to
Romania.
2008:
At Princeton. N.J., The Woodrow
Wilson School of Public and International Affairs presents “Israel and Palestine at a Crossroad” – A
panel discussion with Sari Nusseibeh, president of Al-Quds University; former
US ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer of Princeton University; and Itamar
Rabinovitch, former Israeli ambassador to the US.
2008:
In New York, The American Sephardi Federation presents a showing of Jews
of Lebanon (Le Petite Histoire des Juifs du Liban) a film that recounts the demise of the
Lebanese Jewish community over the last four decades when it went from a
community of 8,000 in the 1960’s to a mere 60 at the start of the of the 21st
century with most of its members now in “exile to many countries.”
2008:
Rabbi Emanuel Rackman, a leading Orthodox thinker and
an early champion of women’s rights, who passed away on Monday at the age of 98
was buried in Jerusalem.
2009:
Activist Greg Mortenson, author (with David Oliver
Relin) of “Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace . . . One
School at a Time,” reads from and discusses his new book, “Stones
into Schools: Promoting Peace with Books, Not Bombs, in Afghanistan and
Pakistan,” at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
2009: The Israel-America Chamber of Commerce presents “US &
Israel: Confronting Challenges,” a daylong “symposium” that will identify
current challenges in order to secure our economic future.”
2009: The Israel-America Award is presented to Kenneth J. Bialkin,
Chairman, America-Israel Friendship League, for his continuous support of the
State of Israel and his outstanding contribution to the economic growth between
the US and Israel.
2009: Opening of the 20th Washington Jewish Film
Festival.
2009: Alan Gross was taken into custody by Cuban authorities. Although not formally charged, the Cubans
reportedly are claiming that he is linked to espionage activities involving the
Cuban Jewish community.
2010: As part of the 21st Washington Jewish Film
Festival British filmmaker Rex Bloomstein is scheduled to present a program
entitled “Humor, Identity and the Holocaust.”
2010: At the 92nd Street Y
Light the menorah and Shabbat candles, eat latkes and challah, and celebrate
Hanukkah and Shabbat at the same time!
2010: “Is Greed Godly?” published today, David E.Y. Sarna examines
the relationship between white-collar crime and Jewish law.
http://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/is-greed-godly/
2010: As Alan Gross prepares to mark the first anniversary of
captivity at the hand of Cuban authorities, the leaders of Cuba’s two
main Jewish groups both denied having worked with a jailed American contractor
whose family says he was on the island to hand out communication equipment to
Jewish organizations.
2010:
The Carmel fire was spreading late tonight from the direction of Haifa
University towards the neighborhood of Denya in the city
2010(26th
of Kislev, 5771): Eighty-one year old “Elaine Kaufman, who became something of
a symbol of New York as the salty den mother of Elaine’s, one of the city’s
best-known restaurants and a second home for almost half a century to writers,
actors, athletes and other celebrities” passed away today (As reported by Enid
Nemy)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/04/nyregion/04kaufman.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
2010:
A Princeton student referendum on whether to ask the university’s dining
services to provide an alternative brand of hummus to Sabra was defeated. Some
1,014 students voted against the referendum and 699 students were in favor
during the three days of voting last week, according to results announced
today. The Princeton Committee on Palestine initiated the referendum seeking
other brands in university stores besides Sabra. The campaign reportedly was
the brainchild of Philly BDS, which calls for boycott, divestment and sanctions
against companies that support the Israel Defense Forces. Sabra is half-owned
by The Strauss Group, which has publicly supported the IDF and provides care
packages and sports equipment to Israeli soldiers.
2010:
After having served 43 months of six-year sentence for “mail fraud, conspiracy
to bribe public officials and tax evasion,” Jack Abramoff was released from
prison today after which “he wrote the autobiographical book Capitol
Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most
Notorious Lobbyist which was published in November 2011.
2011:
The first weekend of this year’s Hamshoushalayim is scheduled to come to an
end.
2011:
“Kaddish for a Friend” is one of four movies scheduled to be shown tonight at
the 22nd Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2011:
The JNF is scheduled to present “Modifying Afforestation Practices in
Adaptation to Climate Change,” a program that demonstrates the techniques of
JNF and Israel use to keep forests healthy in semi-arid regions, particularly
when the regions encounter disasters such as last year’s Carmel fire.
2011:
The traditional minyan at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA is to celebrate
“Jewish Book Month Shabbat” with special honor to Living Jewish Literary
Legends – Sir Martin Gilbert and Herman Wouk.
2011:
Israel Police and the Knesset Guard assigned Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On a
bodyguard today, following threats on her life.
2011:
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said on today that Iran is getting closer
to developing a nuclear bomb, and that new and more crippling sanctions should
be imposed on the Islamic Republic.
2012:
The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation is scheduled to sponsor a speech by
Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post columnist and Professor of Public Affairs
and International Relations at George Mason University entitled “ The Voters
Have Spoken: What Is Our Economic Policy Now?”
2012(19th
of Kislev, 5773): Yud-Tet-Kislev sometimes referred to as the Rosh Hashanah of
Chassidism” celebrating the release Rabbi Schneur Zalman Liadi, the found of
Chabad Chassidism from the prison of the Czar
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/335659/jewish/19-Kislev-The-New-Year-of-Chassidism.htm
2012(19th
of Kislev): Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Dov Ber ben Avraham, the Maggid of Mezeritch who
followed the Baal Shem Tov as the leader of the Chassidim.
2012:
Bob Filner begins serving as the 35th Mayor of San Diego, CA.
2012:
The Broadway cast of Stephen Sondheim’s “Assassins” “reunited for a special
benefit performance.
2012:
Australia’s largest natural gas and oil company, Woodside Petroleum, has taken
a 30 percent stake in Israel’s Leviathan off-shore gas drilling operation, it
was announced today. Located in the Mediterranean 130 km. west of Haifa,
Leviathan is estimated to contain up to 17 trillion cubic feet of usable
natural gas, making it one of the largest fields in the world
2012:
Israeli security forces continue to foil Arab road terror attempts, including
an attempted axe-murderer and a briefcase bomb under a bridge.
2012:
Collaboration in Gaza Leads to Grisly Fate
2013(30th of Kislev, 5774): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
2013:
“New Israeli ambassador to America Ron Dermer presented his credentials this
afternoon to US President Barack Obama, officially taking over the role as the
Jewish state’s top US envoy.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)
2013:
A letter was written today to Ontario MPP Peter Shuman admonishing him “for
claiming mileage from his Niagara-on-the-Lake home to Toronto as an expense,
something specifically cleared by the Legislative Finance Department.”
2013:
Rabbi Yonah Grossman of the Chabad Jewish Center of North Dakota shows that he
takes the appellation “lamplighter” literally at Grand Forks where he is
scheduled to lead the community in the lighting of a Menorah in the Lincoln
Drive Park Warming House.
2013:
“Life of the Jews in Palestine: 1913,” documentary about First and Second
Aliyah, is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013:
French forensic tests have concluded that former Palestinian leader Yasser
Arafat did not die of poisoning, as had been suggested by an earlier report, a
source who saw the conclusions of the report said today.
2013(30th of Kislev, 5774): Sixty-six-year-old actor
and comedian Sefi Rivlin passed away today.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/174778#.Up5uaJuA2po
2014: Dr.
Brian Horowitz, the chairman of the Tulane University Jewish Studies Department
is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “Jabotinsky: The Final Years” tonight in
New Orleans.
2014(11th
of Kislev, 5775): Eighty-four year old psychotherapist Nathaniel Branden who
was a partner of Ayn Rand’s in more ways than one passed away today.
2014: The
Museum of the City of New York is scheduled to host Jeffrey Shandler speaking
on “Coming of Age in Poland: Jewish Life Stories from the 1930’s.”
2014:
“Palestinian teen stabbed two people and was shot by an off-duty security guard
at a West Bank supermarket this afternoon in what Israeli police said was an
apparent terror attack.” (As reported by Lazar Berman)
2014:
“Knesset members voted overwhelmingly in favor of dissolving the current
Knesset in a preliminary vote today.”
2014:
“Congress was poised to give its final approval this afternoon to a bill that
supporters say will create a unique status for Israel and serve as a framework
for increased partnership in a number of key sectors, particularly energy and
defense
2014:
The bris and baby naming ceremony for the son of Arik and Samarya Shalom is
scheduled to take place at the Chabad Jewish Center in Little Rock under the
leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment.
2015:
Toronto Blue Jays President and CEO Mark Shapiro selected the sixth person to
serve as the team’s general manager.
2015:
Sixty-year-old Monte Hanson a Jewish Montana man who had pleaded guilty to
shoot a bartender and killing his dog because he was served a non-kosher drink
(a beverage containing clam juice) was sentenced to 20 years in state prison
today. (JTA)
2015:
A trio consisting of “pianist Evgeny Kissin, violinist Itzhak Perlman, and
cellist Mischa Maisky” is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall in Manhattan.
2015:
The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to host “Chronicling a Dead City:
The Fate of the Dubovo Shtetl in 1919” in which” Elissa Bemporad (Queens
College, CUNY) examines the fate of the Ukrainian shtetl of Dubovo during the
Russian Civil War in a micro study of one shtetl that sheds light on future
conditions for Soviet Jewry, and the Holocaust in Ukraine.
2015:
In New York, the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion is scheduled
to host a lecture by Dr. Jehuda Reinharz on “Statesman Without a State: The
Case of Chaim Weizmann.”
2015:
In New Orleans, LA, the Jewish Children’s Regional Service, one of the most
worthwhile agency of its kind in the United States, is scheduled to host
“Latkes With a Twist” featuring the cooking of Chef Daniel Esses and the
singing of Israeli Eleanor Tallie.
2016(3rd
of Kislev, 5777): Shabbat Toldot;
2016(3rd
of Kislev, 5777): Eighty-eight-year-old U.S. Federal Judge Leonard B. Sand
passed away today in Sleepy Hollow, NY.
2016:
In Atlanta, GA, The William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum is scheduled to
celebrate its 20th anniversary with a gala dinner honoring Jarvin
Levison “whose work with Elinor and Bill Breman was instrumental in the
founding of the Breman Museum.”
2016:
The 10th Annual Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to host a
panel discussion on “The Power of Film at the JCC Manhattan followed by a
screening of “The Writer.”
2016:
The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to
host “an Educator Workshop on Elie Wiesel’s Night from the
internationally-renowned Holocaust education curriculum, Echoes and
Reflections.”
2017:
The New York Times features reviews
of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including Leonardo Da Vinci by Walter Isaacson, Annie Leibovitz:
Portraits 2006-2016 by Annie Leibovitz, Ali by Jonathan Eig, Sense
of Occasion by Harold Prince, Bad Rabbi And Other Strange but True
Stories from the Yiddish Press by Eddy Portnoy and Jewish Comedy: A
Serious History by Jeremy Dauber.
2017: In Coralville, IA, Dr. Robert Cargill is scheduled
to lecture on “The Wisdom of Ben Sira:
Ethnical Reflections in Early Judaism” as part of the
series examining “ancient books dropped from the Tanakh ‘in peer review.’”
2017: Fiona Murphy, the director of “Remember Baghdad”
and Edwin Shuker a member “of Baghdad’s once flourishing Jewish community are
scheduled to participate in “a Q and A at the Phoenix Cinema in East Finchley.
2017: The Jewish Genealogical Society of Georgia is
scheduled to meet at the Breman Museum,
2017: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to
present The Jew of Malta, by Christopher Marlowe, “performed in a
staged-reading version, adapted by and starring David Serero as Barabas and
featuring Sephardi songs sung by the baritone opera star.”
2017:
Jewish Book Month, an annual event that provides us with a chance to
contemplate Jewish books and the lives of authors such as Frederic Raphael
whose works included A Jew Among Romans: The Life and Legacy of Flavius
Josephus continues today.
2018(25th
of Kislev, 5779): First Day of Chanukah
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/recipes-for-chanukah-orange-dreidel-biscuits/
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/recipes-for-chanukah-crispy-avocado-wedges/
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/recipes-for-chanukah-mini-cheese-arancini-balls/
2018:
According to a “poll conducted by the Jewish People Policy Institute,” “73% of
Israeli” Jews will be lighting their Chanukah menorahs.
2018:
The Center Jewish History, the Jewish Studies Program of Cornell University and
YIVO are scheduled to present a musical adaptation of I.L. Peretz’s “Monish”
with “a score created by Sanford Margolis.
2018:
In Chevy Chase, MD, Ohr Kodesh is scheduled to host the first session of “Well
Red-Hebrew Poetry and Wine” where attendees “will discuss poems by Agi Mis’hol
and Yehuda Amichai,”
2019:
The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a “Dine and Discuss
led by the Chaplains” who will lead a discussion on “Tikkun Olam.”
2019:
In Metairie, LA, the Chabad Jewish Center is scheduled to offer the class
“Worrier to Warrior: Jewish Secrets to Feeling Good However You Feel.”
2019:
In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Marriage Story” directed by
Noah Baumbach.
2020:
The Illinois Holocaust Museum in partnership with Pritzker Military Museum and
Library is scheduled to host a virtual lunch and learn on “Pearl Harbor – The
Surprise Military Strike That Led The US To War.”
2020:
Tradition Kitchens and The Breman Museum are scheduled to present Carol Nemo as
she teaches us how to make her delicious Toffee Matzah Crunch (Yum!) — a
winter holiday treat inspired by tradition!
2020:
In Palm Beach Gardens, FL, Temple Judea is scheduled to host the “Minyan with
Cantorial Soloist Abbie Strauss.
2020:
Co-founder Evan Bloom is scheduled to show how to make kimchi latkes and shares
ideas for Hanukkah-oriented toppings in a video chat with S.F. Chronicle’s
Janelle Bitker
2020:
Live on Zoom, the Ackman and Ziff Geology Insitute and Yad Vashem are scheduled
to host “Family History Today: What’s New on Yad Vashem’s Shoah Names
Database.”
2020:
The New England Conservatory is scheduled to present an online concert,
“Forbidden Songs: Jewish Voices Uncensored.”
2020:
The first virtual event in the Library of Congress Behind the Book series is
scheduled to begin with a focus on Great American Editors featuring legendary
editor Robert Gottlieb in conversation with one of his best-known writers,
Robert A. Caro, author of the critically acclaimed biographies of Robert Moses
and Lyndon Johnson.
2020:
Via Zoom Tiffany Harris, the Chief Program officer of the Moishe House is
scheduled to present “The Colors of Jews: Being a Minority in a Minority.”
2020:
NFTY is scheduled to present “NFTY East Area Open Space Youth Professionals.”
2020:
The Other Israel Film Festival is scheduled to begin today online.
2020:
It would appear today that Israel is teetering on the brink of another
political crisis following yesterday’s approval by the Knesset of “a bill to
dissolve itself” which could lead to the fourth parliamentary election in less
than two years.
2021:
As part of the Young Artists in Concert series, the Eden Tamir Center is
scheduled to host Singers of the “Meitar” Opera Studio of the Israel Opera
which will include an “operatic journey from Rossini to Puccini with a
Neapolitan desert.
2021:
Following services, The Chabad of the Tri-Valley is scheduled “a Greek Shabbat
Hanukkah Dinner,” that includes fish a la spetsiota, avgolemeno, moussaka,
baklava, halvah, sufganiyot, wine and more.
2021:
The Jewish Arts Collaborative is scheduled to present online “artists Emily
Bhargava and Tova Speter, the creators behind “Brighter Revealed,” part of the
JArts Hanukkah 2021 celebration” who share the process of working with students
across the Greater Boston area in creating this project.
2021:
Lockdown University is scheduled to host a webinar on the Parsha of the Week
with Rabbi Shippel.
2021:
Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to host “a special Festival of Lights Shabbat
service that will feature a performance of Chanukah songs, as well as “Sabbath
Prayer” and “Sunrise, Sunset,” by Steven Skybell, who played Tevye in the
recent National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene production of Fiddler on the Roof,
Jennifer Babiak, who portrayed Golde and Lauren Jeanne Thomas, der fidler.”
2021(29th
of Kislev, 5782): Fifth Day of Chanukah
2022:
Tulane University, the home of the Tulane Jewish Studies Department, is
scheduled to play for the championship of the American Athletic Conference on
ABC which could lead to a bowl bid.
2022:
The Eden-Tamir Center is scheduled to present a chamber music concert featuring
“The Three B’s” – Beethoven, Brahms and Bach.
2022:
In New Orleans, PJ Library kids and the adults who love them are scheduled to
attend a Pajama Havdalah Concert by renowned musical entertainer Rabbi Cantor
Judy Caplan Ginsburg
2022(9th
of Kislev, 5783): Parashat Va-yaytzay (lit “left”)
2023:
The New York Times features reviews of books and audiobooks by Jewish
authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Jezebel
by Megan Barnard.
2023:
The Museum at Eldridge Street is scheduled to host the opening an exhibition
“On the Lower East Side: Twenty-Eight Remarkable Women….and One Scoundrel”
featuring the works of artist of Adrienne Ottenberg.
2023:
The exhibition “Notorious RBG: The Life and Times of Ruth Bader Ginsburg” is
scheduled to come to an end at the Lillian and Albert Small Capital Jewish
Museum in Washington, DC.
2023:
The Jewish National Fund-USA planned Global Conference for Israel which has
turned into a weekend of solidarity is scheduled to come to an end.
2023:
The JWI Leadership Conference is scheduled to take place today.
2023:
The New York Times “Eight New Books to Read List” includes Everywhere
An Oink Oink: An Embittered, Dyspeptic, and Accurate Report of Forty Years in
Hollywood by David Mametn.
2023:
The New York Times list of “ten best books of 2023” included The Best
Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
by Johnathan Rosen.
2023:
The New York Times list of “ten best books of 2023” included The Best
Minds: A Story of Friendship, Madness, and the Tragedy of Good Intentions
by Johnathan Rosen.
2023:
As December 3 begins in Israel, based on yesterday’s attacks, Israeli civilians
prepare to deal with more rocket attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah, stories concerning
the barbaric conditions under which the hostages were held that include “the
branding of children” are made public while the rest
of the Hamas held hostages begin day 58 in captivity. (Editor’s note: this situation is too fluid for
this blog to cover so we are just providing a snapshot as of the posting at
midnight Israeli time)
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