This Day, December 21, In Jewish History Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
December 21
69: The
Senate acknowledged Vespasian as emperor. This marked the end of the so-called
The Year of the Four Emperors during which four individuals – Galba, Otho,
Vitellius and Vespasian – held the position of imperial leadership. This
period of apparent anarchy was very unsettling for the Romans and part of
Vespasian’s acceptance as emperor stemmed from the fact that he would be able
to provide an imperial heir and stability for the emperor. In Rome
and Jerusalem: The Clash of Ancient Civilizations, Martin
Goodman ties the destruction of the Temple to the unsettling events of the Year
of the Four Emperors and Vespasian’s determination to prove that he could bring
order to the Empire.
640: As the
forces of Islam sweep across North Africa in a wave that will end with the
conquest of Spain seventy years later, Muslims capture the Babylon Fortress in
the Nile Delta after a seven month siege
1140:
Conrad III of Germany besieged Weinsberg. Seven years later, Conrad would be
one of the leaders of the Second Crusade during which the Jews of Mainz,
Cologne and Worms were all attacked.
1361: As
Christian forces continued their attempt to drive the Moslem from Iberia,
forces from the Kingdom of Castile (Catholic) defeated forces from the Emirate
of Granada ((Islam at the Battle of Linuesa, part of the Reconquista that when
concluded would result in the expulsion of the Jews from Spain more than a
century later
1375:
Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio passed away. Boccaccio was not Jewish, but Jews play an important part in his literary life. Boccaccio wrote
about the “corruption and decadence” that were part of the Church in the 14th and
15th centuries. “In his classic work, Decameron, a
Jew by the name of Abraham is convinced by a Christian friend to visit Rome in
the hope that he will be so impressed that he will convert to Christianity.
Abraham returns disgusted and reports: ‘I say this for that, if I was able to
observe aright, no piety, no devoutness, no good work or example of life or
other what did I see there in any who was Churchman: nay lust, covetise,
gluttony and the like and worse … And as far as I judge, meseemeth your chief
pastor and consequently all others endeavor with all diligence and all their
wit and every art to bring to naught and to banish from the world the [values
of the] Christian religion …’” Boccaccio and others like him help lay the
groundwork for the Protestant Reformation of the 16th century.
1693(3rd of
Tevet, 5454, OS): “R’Abraham Oppenheim, Zur Kanne,” the Worms bron son of Eidel
and Simon Wolf Oppenheim who was the husband of Rechlin and Blume Oppenheimer
passed away today in Frankfurt.
1710: Meyer
Low Schomberg, the Fetzberg, Germany born English physician “obtained his
medical degree from the University of Giessen” today after which he practiced
in Metz before moving to England where he was licensed by the Royal College of
Physicians in 1721.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13297-schomberg-meyer-low
1733:
Despite the efforts of some Englishmen to overcome Oglethorpe’s decision to
allow Jews to settle in his Georgia colony Jews from the Suasso, Salvador and
Da Costa families were among those who received conveyance of town lots, garden
and farms that were executed today.
1749: Rose
Bunn and Joseph Simon gave birth to Miriam Simon, the resident of Philadelphia
who married Michael Gratz in 1768 and with whom she had 12 children.
1753(25th of
Kislev, 5514): Chanukah
1761(25th of
Kislev, 5522): Chanukah is observed for the first time during the reign of King
George III of the United Kingdom.
1764(27th of
Kislev, 5525): Third Day of Chanukah
1767(30th of
Kislev, 5528): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1771: In
London, Haham Moses Cohen d’Azevedo and Sara de Haham Moses Cohen D’Azevedo
gave birth to Esther Benjamin, the wife of David de Eliezer Benjamin.
1771: In
London, Haham Moses Cohen d’Azevedo and Sara de Abraham Cohen D’Azevedo gave
birth to Rachel Cohen d’Azevedo, who became Rachel Cohen Delgado when she
married Manasseh de Isaac Delgado.
1772(25th of
Kislev, 5533): Chanukah is celebrated for the first time following the first
partition of Poland.
1777: Jacob
and Abigail Pinto gave birth to Isaac Pinto, the husband of Maria Pinto.
1775(28th of
Kislev, 5536): Fourth Day of Chanukah celebrated on the same day as the
Committee on Correspondence wrote to Benjamin Franklin during the American
Revolution.
1778(2nd of
Tevet, 5539): Eighth Day of Channukah.
1778: In
Poland, Isaac Philipson and his wife gave birth to St. Louis resident Jacob
Philipson, the husband of Elizabeth Block Philipson.
1781:
Birthdate of West Indies native Leach Rachel De Leon, the wife of Abraham
Quixano Henriques with whom she had had nine children
1782: In
the United Kingdom, circumcision of Solomon Jones aka, Reuben ben Jonathon
HaCohen
1783(26th
of Kislev, 5544): Second Day of Chanukah observed as George Washington was in
Annapolis, preparing to resign his commission to the members of the of
Continental Congress.
1786: Judith
I Solomon and Israel I. Cohen, the parents of Richmond, VA native Benjamin
Cohen and the in-laws of Kitty Etting were married today in Bristol England.
1791(25th of
Kislev, 5552): Chanukah
1794(29th
of Kislev, 5555): Fifth Day of Chanukah observed on the same day that John Q.
Adams, the American minister to Holland wrote to his father John Adams, the
Vice President of the United Stated.
1795:
Birthdate of German historian Leopold von Ranke, author of Universal History:
The Oldest Historical Group of Nations and the Greeks in which speaks highly of
Moses’ presentation of The Decalogue which makes “no distinction …between
religion, moral laws and civil institutions” which means that “under the
immediate protection of God individual life enjoys those rights and immunities
which are the foundation of all civil order.”
1804: In
Bloomsbury, Lodon “Isaac D’Israeli, a literary critic and historian, and Maria
(Miriam), née Basevi” gave birth to Benjamin Disreali the most famous
Non-Jewish Jew whose baptism resulted from a dispute that the father had had
with the local Jewish community. The change in religion opened the
doors to a political career for Disraeli that resulted in him serving two terms
as Prime Minister. Disraeli was the victim of anti-Semitic remarks
and was also quite proud of his Jewish heritage. He passed away in
1881.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/benjamin-disraeli
1808:
“According to a report made to Napoleon I by the Minister of the Interior,”
today, “Alsatian Jews employed Christian workers in their cloth factories.”
1810(24th of
Kislev, 5571): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1813:
Birthdate of Babette Mandelbaum Singer, the native of Bavaria who settled in
New York where she raised seven sons and three daughters with her husband Eli
Sanger, one of the Sangers who founded Sanger Brothers, the department store in
Waco, TX.,
1816(2nd of
Tevet, 5577): Parashat Miketz; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1816: In
Germany, Breunla and Aron Dreifuss gave birth to Emanuel Dreifuss and husband
of Friederika Dreifuss and Karolina Dreifuss.
1816:
Today, as Jews prepared to kindle the eighth Chanukah candle, James Monroe,
Bushrod Washington, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, and Daniel Webster met
at the Davis hotel in Washington D.C. to begin the formation of the American
Colonization Society whose goal was to free the slaves in America and provide
them with the wherewithal to return to Africa
1818: The
day after she had passed away, 43-year-old Sarah Solomon, the wife of Barnet
Solomon whom she had married at the New Synagogue in 1796 was buried today in
the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1820: One
day after she had passed away, 43-year-old Sarah Solomon, the husband of Barnet
Solomon, was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1820:
Birthdate of Heungseon Daewongun, the Regent of Korea whom German Jewish
businessman Ernst Jakob Oppert attempted to blackmail into removing “Korean
trading barriers.”
1821(27th
of Kislev, 5582): Third Day of Chanukah
1828:
Birthdate of Albert Cardozo, the Philadelphia native who became a prominent New
York State jurist and was the father of Benjamin Cardozo, the second Jew to
serve on the U.S Supreme Court.
1827(3rd of
Tevet, 5588) Eighth and final day of Chanukah
1829(25th of
Kislev, 5590): Chanukah
1831(17th of
Tevet, 5592): Sixty-seven-year-old Rachel Gratz, the daughter of Richea
Myers-Cohen and Barnard Gratz, the wife of Solomon Etting with whom she had
eight children passed away today.
1831: One
day after he had passed away, 86-year-old “Eliezer bar Yitzhak” was buried
today at the “Ipswich Old Jewish Cemetery” on Salthouse Street.
1832;
“Louis Samuel a watchmaker of Liverpool and his wife Henrietta Israel, daughter
of Israel Israel of Bury Street, St. Mary Axe, London” gave birth to Montagu
Samuel who changed his name to Samuel Montague a British banker who founded the
bank of Samuel Montagu & Co and eventually became the first Baron
Swaythling.
1834:
Birthdate of Adolf von Sonnenthal, the Budapest born actor who was well known
for playing “Nathan” in Lessing’s “Nathan der Weise”
1836: Isaac
Maurice Bloom married Rebeca Jacobs at the Great Synagogue today.
1841:
Samuel Strauss, a merchant and Rosalia Drucker gave birth to Heinrich Alphons
Strauss, the brother of MP Arthur Isidor Strauss and Sigmund Ferdinand Strauss.
1843(28th
of Kislev, 5604): Fourth Day of Chanukah observed on the same days as the
occurrence of a “total solar eclipse.”
https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEsearch/SEsearchmap.php?Ecl=18431221
1846(2nd of
Tevet, 5607): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1846:
Birthdate of infamous German “Jew baiter” Hermann Ahlwardt, the co-founder of
the Anti-Semitic People’s Party.
1848: In
Poland, Israel Guranowsky and Gitel Zloto gave birth Abraham Guranowsky who in
1878 began serving as the rabbi of Congregation Emunath Israel in New York
City.
1849(6th of
Tevet, 5610): Jewelry dealer Mordecai Myers, the husband of Sarah Elizbeth,
with whom he had five children – John, Jane, Esther, Marry Ann and Daniel –
passed away today after which he was buried at the Brady Street Jewish
Cemetery.
1849: In
London, Samuel (Isaac) Henry Glucksteinand and Hannah Coenraad Gluckstein gave
birth to Bertha “Betsy” Koppenhagen, the wife of Julius Ferdinand
Koppenhagen
1851:
Birthdate of weightlifter Edward Lawrence Levy, the native of London, the
winner of the First British Amateur Weightlifting Championship and the first
World Weightlifting Championship and who was “a member of the International
Weightlifting Jury at the “first modern Olympics” held at Athens in 1896.
http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/EdwardLawrenceLevy.htm
1852(10th of
Tevet, 5613): Asara B’Tevet
1852(10th of
Tevet, 5613): Eighty-one-year-old France (Fanny) Gratz, the Philadelphia born
daughter of Miriam Simon and Michael Gratz and the wife of Reuben Etting whom
she had married in 1794 and with whom she had 9 children passed away today on
what was the 103rd anniversary of the birth of her mother.
1853: In
Budapest, Moritz Jellinek and his wife gave birth to Heinrich Jellinek de
Haraszt who “succeeded his father as president of the Budapest Tramway Company”
where “he introduced electric traction, and extended the system to the environs
of Budapest, establishing the branches Budapest-Szent-Endre and
Budapest-Haraszti.”
1854(30th
of Kislev, 5615): Sixth Day of Chanukah; Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1854: In
Lafayette, IN, Henrietta Auerbach and Jacob Frank gave birth to Harvard and
Northwestern University alum Henry Frank, the husband of Alice Roberta Field
Frank who began his career at a professor at Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, IA
and who is identified as being Jewish by the American Jewish archives but is
described as Methodist minister by another source.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/115919527/henry-frank
1858: Three
days after she had passed away Jane (Arrobus) Nordon, the wife of Mark Jacob
Nordon and the mother of Joseph Nordon was buried today at the “Brompton
(Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1856(24th
of Kislev, 5617): First Chanukah Candle kindled for the last time during the
Presidency of Franklin Pierce.
1859(25th of
Kislev, 5620): First Day of Channukah
1859:
Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, the future Anglican Bishop of China whose
parents had expected him to be a rabbi before he converted “arrived in Shanghai
aboard the SS Golden Rule.
1859: Birthdate
of Gustave Kahn, the French Symbolist poet who wrote works on a variety of
topics including Zionism. This theme was the inspiration for “Terre
d’Israël” published in 1933. He passed away in 1936.
1860(8th
of Tevet, 5621) (NS): Chaya Mushka Schneersohn, the daughter of Rabbi Dovber Schneuri,
the second Rebbe of the Chabad Hasidic movement, and the wife of Rabbi Menachem
Mendel Schneersohn the third Rebbe passed away today.
1860:
Birthdate of Henrietta Szold, American Jewish leader; founded
Hadassah. Among other things she was responsible for the Youth
Aliyah that brought European Jews to Palestine before the war and saved them
from the final solution. She passed away in 1945, three years before
her dream of Jewish state came true.
1861:
Birthdate of Behrendt Pick, the native of Posen who earned a Ph.D. from the
University of Berlin in 1884 and was appointed a lecturer on numismatics at the
University of Jena but whose distinguished career did not protect him the
consequences of the Nazis rise to power which drove him to suicide in 1940.
1861: The
Congressional Medal of Honor was created at the start of the Civil
War. Six Jews were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Civil War.
1862(29th of
Kislev, 5623): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1862:
Today, as Jews in Vicksburg, the “Gibraltar of the West” prepare to kindle the
sixth light of Chanukah, Confederate President Jeff Davis visited the city
which is the key to controlling the Mississippi River.
1863:
Birthdate of Jakob Bernfeld who died at Theresienstadt in 1942.
1863: Simon
P. Jacob began serving with Battery E. of the 152nd Regiment of
the Third Artillery today.
1863:
Mendez Nathan, the son of Seixas Nathan, was one of the signatories of the
agreement to form a public stock exchange, to be known as the “Open Board
of Stock-Brokers” which was made public today.
1864: The
Mayor of Savannah presented the key to the city to the General commanding the
leading column of the Union forces marking the successful conclusion of
“Sherman’s March to the Sea” in which Company C of the 82nd Illinois
Volunteer Infantry Regiment, an all-Jewish Unit from Chicago participated.
1866: In
Tongham, Captain Thomas Gonne and Edith Firth Gonne gave birth to Maude Gonne
who as Maud Gonne MacBride, the Irish fire-brand who “frequently aired her
anti-Semitic views.”
1867: The
Austrian constitution abolished discrimination based on religious
differences. This did not mean the end of anti-Semitism in
Austria.
1867:
Passage in Austria of the Land Ownership law today which “brought the Jews the
desired equality with the Christian residents including the removing on
property ownership and freedom of movement” which led to a “large increase in
the Jewish population” as can be seen by the fact that in 1880 14,449 Jews
living Czernowitz and that by 1940 there were 50,000 Jews in the city which
made them half of the population.
1870(27th
of Kislev, 5631): Third Day of Chanukah
1870: The
Hebrew Charity Fair came to a close tonight marking the end of the three week
long successful fund raising event. The fair raised almost $155,000
which will divided between Mount Sinai Hospital and the Hebrew Orphan
Asylum. The hospital will get 75% of the money and the orphanage
will get 25%. The funds will enable Mount Sinai to complete its new hospital
and the orphanage to build a new industrial school.
1871(9th of
Tevet, 5632): Fifty-five-year-old Count Salomon Henry d’Avigdor, Duke
d’Acquaviva, the Nice born son of Count Isaac Samuel d’Avigdor and Gabrielle
Pauline Henriette Avigdor, the husband of Countess Rachel d’Avigdor amd the
father of Elim Henry d’Avigdor; Mariam Isabelle Olga Lucas; Sergius Henry
d’Avigdor and Boleslas Henry d’Avigdor passed away today in Paris.
1872: In
New York, “impresario and composer” Oscar Hammerstein I and his first wife Rosa
(Rose) Blau gave birth to bricklayer turned theatre manager and composer Arthur
Hammerstein, the brother of Willie Hammerstein, the husband of Dorothy Dalton
and the father of actress Elaine Hammerstein.
1872: It
was reported today that the human remains found on the shore of Oneida Lake in
New York were not those of a farmer named Blodgett but were probably those of
Jewish peddler who was known to carry large amount of money when he travelled
through this area. It is thought that the peddler was attacked by a local gang
and killed during the robbery.
1872: Birthdate of Carlisle, NY native Albany
Medical College trained physician Charles Bernstein, the superintendent of the
State Custodial Asylum in Rome, NY and the husband of Lillian Stebbins.
1873: Fanny
Ottenheimer and Elias Marx gave birth to Simon Marx.
1874: The
Two Orphans, with Rose Eytinge in the role of “Marianne” opened today at Union
Square Theatre.
1876: Prior
to this date Albert Lavergne, alias Abraham Levy, who “confessed to having
absconded with $30,000 worth of diamonds from France” “was employed as a
salesman by the firm of Les Fils de C Oulman, diamond doing business at No. 2
Rud Drouot, Paris” which also employed his brother-in-law George Oulman.
1876:
Birthdate of Anna Wiesen, the native of Manasse who was shipped from to Berlin
to Terezin and then to Treblinka in 1942 where she was murdered.
1876:
Albert Lavergne, alias Abraham Levy, who had stolen $30,000 worth of diamonds
from his employer Les Fils de C Oulman, diamond brokers at No. 2 Rud Durot,
left Paris for London from which he planned to board the Anchor Line steamer
bound for New York.
1876: The
Hebrew Charity Ball took place tonight at the Academy of Music. The
ball is a fundraiser for the United Hebrew Charities, an organization devoted
to taking care of the poor Jews of New York that has been so successful it is a
model for similar non-Jewish organizations. Last year the ball
raised more than $13,000.
1877: In
Lithuania, “Yehiel Michel and Hinda (Cohen) Goeld gave birth Charles Goell who
in 1891 came to the United States where he formed a construction and staring
building houses and apartments in Brooklyn and married Ida Armour.
1878(25th of
Kislev, 5639): First day of Chanukah
1878:
Giacomo Paolo Giovanni Battista della Chiesa who as Pope Benedict XV denounced
anti-Semitism in response to a petition by American Jews and who gave Nahum
Sokolov an extended audience where he presented the case for a Jewish state in
Palestine to the Pontiff was ordained today.
1879: Birthdate
of Joseph Stalin. As head of the Communist Party and Prime Minister
of the Soviet Union Stalin gave vent to his anti-Semitic beliefs on more than
one occasion. At the same time he was the head of the Soviet nation
that fought the Nazis and whose forces liberated several concentration
camps. His decision to recognize the state of Israel at the moment
of its birth may be seen as one of the facts that prodded the U.S. to take the
lead in the recognition race. Also, Stalin’s support of Israel at
its moment of birth, made it possible for Israel to acquire much needed arms in
Communist dominated Eastern Europe, including the first combat aircraft of the
IDF. This may be one an example of the Rabbinic admonition that
Yetzer Ha-Rah (the evil inclination) can produce a positive result.
1880:
Birthdate of Anna Shulman who passed away at the age of 72 and was buried in
the Agudas Achim Cemetery in Iowa City, IA.
1880: “The
Hebrew Fair for the benefit of the Forty-fourth Street Synagogues and the
Ladies Lying-in Relief Society’ which is taking place at the Metropolitan
Concert Hall is scheduled to come to an end today.
1880: In
New York, The Thalia Theatre Company will give a benefit performance at the
Terrace Garden as a fundraiser for the Hebrew Ladies’ Benevolent Society of
Yorkville.
1881(29th
of Kislev, 5642): Fifth Day of Chanukah observed four days before the outbreak
of a Pogrom in Warsaw.
1882(10th of
Tevet, 5643): Asar B’Tevet
1883(22nd of
Kislev, 5644): Isidor Goldsmidt, a native of Bavaria who came to New York where
he developed “a prosperous millinery business” passed away today.
1883: The
first Permanent Force cavalry and infantry regiments of the Canadian Army were
formed. According to the Jewish Canadian Military Museum “members of the Jewish
community have participated in every significant conflict that has involved
Canada” since 1759 when Jews fought in the forces of General James Wolfe. These
conflicts have included the Boer War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War
and various “peacekeeping activities” since 1953.
1884: Count
Tolstoi, the Minister of the Interior has struck “a blow against the Jews” with
his announcement that effective with New Year’s 1885, the Russian Imperial
Government “will monopolize the business of pawn-broking” an enterprise, at
least in the popular mind, dominated by Jews who charge unreasonable rates of
interest.
1885: Isaac
Sekel Bamberger the son of Rav Yitzchak Dov Halevi Bamberger, The Würzburger
Rav and Kela Bamberger and Julie Judith Bamberger gave birth to Selka Ochseman
1885: The
Ladies’ Fair, a fund raiser for the Hebrew Free School Association will come to
an end tonight with an auction followed by a ball.
1886(24th of
Kislev, 5647): Kindle the first Chanukah Candle
1886: Three
days after she had passed away, Sara Drucquer, the daughter of Jacob and
Adelaide De Meza and the husband of Jonas Drucquer with whom she had had eight
children was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1886:
“Leah: The Forsaken” a five act play by German-Jewish playwright Salomon
Hermann Mosenthal opened at the Union Square Theatre in New York City. The play
deals with issues of confronting 17th century Jews living in
Germany and intermarriage.
1886: One
day after she had passed away, 63 year old “Rosine Lion,” the daughter Joseph
Bing-Jacob and Colette Brunswick and the wife of “Lion Lion” with whom she had
had ten children was buried today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery” on
Buckingham Road.
1887: In
Worcester, MA, Abraham I. and Mary (Edeleman) Asher gave birth Columbia
University trained attorney Jacob Asher, a partner in the firm of Goldstein and
Asher, the holder of a lifetime appointment as a special Justice of the Central
District Court and the director “of all local campaigns for Jewish War Relief
who was the husband of Dorothy Virginia Rogin.
1888: In
Buffalo, NY, Marya Nehuma Cohen and Samuel Brumberg gave birth to Columbia
University trained dermatologist and the husband of Sabina Grace Medias with
whom he had two children.
1889(28th of
Kislev, 5650): Parashat Miketz; Fourth Day of Chanukah
1889: In
Germany, Samuel and Maichen Weil gave birth to Holocaust victim Ferdinand Weil,
the husband of Sitti Weil.
1889: After
two weeks the Hebrew Educational Fair, a joint fundraising effort by several
NYC Jewish organizations, came to an end
1890: In
New York City, Joseph Muller who was Catholic and Frances Lyons who was Jewish
gave birth to Hermann Joseph Muller whose method for recognizing spontaneous
gene mutation led to his discovery of a technique for artificially inducing
mutations by means of X rays that has since had broad theoretical and practical
application. For this discovery he was awarded the 1946 Nobel Prize in
Physiology or Medicine.
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1946/
1891:”Aid
For Jewish Refugees” published today described the first ever appeal by the
Jewish residents of the United States “to the American people, irrespective of
creed or religion for assistance in a work of charity” i.e. funds to help with
resettlement of Russian Jews in New York City to other places in the United
States, a project already funded by Baron de Hirsch.
1891: “Ten
thousand copies of the appeal” for funds being raised for the purpose of taking
those” Russian-Jewish refugees who come to the United States “to places where
they can earn a living instead of allowing to congest the labor markets of the
cities” was printed in today’s papers “have been mailed to citizens of means
and influence” in the hope that it will result in an increase of contributions
that will enable immigrants to work in cities and farms away from the eastern
seaboard,
1891: The
will of Deacon Josiah W. Cook of Cambridge filed for probate today including a
bequest to the Hebrew Academy.
1891(20th of
Kislev, 5652): Sixty-four-year-old Jacob Hecht, one of the leading Jewish
citizens in Baltimore, MD, passed away leaving behind seven sons and two
daughters.
1892(2nd of
Tevet, 5653): Eighth Day of Chanukah
1892: Two
fresh outbreaks of Cholera in Hamburg today have given rise to fears that this
“will strengthen the movement in America to shut out immigrants” especially
among Russian Jews are thought to be carriers of the disease.
1893(12th of
Tevet, 5654): Seventy-four-year-old Charles Dyte, the son of David Moses Dyte
and Hannah Lazarus and the husband of Evelina Nathan passed in Ligar St,
Bllarat, Victoria, Australia.
1894:
Birthdate of David T. Wilentz, the native of Dvinsk who as Attorney General of
New Jersey “successfully prosecuted Bruno Hauptmann in the Lindbergh kidnapping
trial” and father of Robert Wilentz, Chief Justice of the New Jersey Supreme
Court and Norma Hess.
1894: In
Hungary Jennie Richtzeit and Bernard Roth gave birth NYU educated and JTS
ordain rabbi, Dr. Joseph Moses Roth, the husband of Millie Kohn who began
serving as the spiritual leader of Congregation B’nai Zion in El Paso, TX in
1923 while serving as the Director of the El Paso Jewish Relief Society and
Secretary of the El Paso Zionist Organization.
1894: The
Dreyfus Court Martial held its penultimate session.
1894: Three
days after he had passed away, 44-year-old John Chetham, the husband of Maria
Benjamin with he had had three children was buried today at the “Balls Pond
Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1895: An
article tracing the use of saffron published today points out that to this day,
the cooking of “the Jews of Spanish descent” derives some of its unique
character, from the “use of saffron in their dishes.”
1895: The
charity fair sponsored by the Jewish community for the benefit of the
Educational Alliance and the Hebrew Technical Institute came to an end today
with an auction of all of the previously unsold items just before midnight.
1896: A
laparotomy was performed today on Morris Goodheart, President of the Hebrew
Mutual Benefit Society and the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society “for the
removal of an abscess in the peritoneal cavity.
1896:
“Santa Maria” an operetta composed by Oscar Hammerstein I opened at the Alvin
Theatre in Pittsburgh, PA.
1897(26th of
Kislev, 5658): Second Day of Chanukah
1897: In
Bedford, England, Benjamin Tisinbom and the former Esther Cohen gave birth to a
daughter today.
1898: “Rev.
Dr. Baar to Resign” published today described the decision of Dr. Herman Baar,
who has been serving as the Superintendent of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan
Asylum Society of the City of New York for the past 22 years to retire next
Spring.
1900(29th of
Kislev, 5661): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1900:
“Lecture at Harvard by Oscar S. Straus” published today described a speech
given by “Oscar S. Straus, ex-United States Minister to Turkey, to students of
Harvard University in Sanders Theatre on “The United States Doctrine of
Citizenship and Expatriation” in which he called for a change in laws
pertaining to naturalization of immigrants wishing to become citizens of the
United States.
1901(11th of
Tevet, 5662): Parashat Vayigash
1901: It
was reported today that Oscar Straus had delivered a talk at the last meeting
of the Author’s Club in which said “there is no society, club or organization
in the land that has made a larger contribution certainly not in proportion to
its membership to the patriotic public service than the Author’s Club” and in
which he paid “a fine and sympathetic tribute to the late George Waring who was
a member of the Author’s Club.”
1902(21st of
Kislev, 5663): Forty-six-year-old Russian painter Isaac Lvovich Asknazi whose
award-winning works included “Abraham Expelling Hagar with Her Son
Ishmael” and “The Publican and the Pharisee” passed away today.
1903(2nd of
Tevet, 5664): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1903: In
Los Angeles, Tobias and Fannie Yuster gave birth to Samuel Terrill Yuster, the
husband of Rose Yuster, the father of Louis and France Yuster and the chairman
of the Petroleum Engineering Department at Penn St. before becoming the
Professor of Engineering at UCLA.
1904: In
“Benjamin Disraeli,” published today, it was noted that this date is the exact
centenary of the birth of the English statesman and that despite the fact that
he had been named Earl of Beaconsfield, he will always be known to posterity by
his given name or by the nickname of “Dizzy.”
1905: Today
“a dispatch from Sam Remo announced the death there of Henry Harland” the
author who began his career “by writing clever stories of Jewish life” under
the name of “Sidney Luska” which led readers and critics to assume that he was
Jewish.
1906: It
was reported today that Dr. Schmarja Levin, a former member of the Duma which
has been dissolved by the Czar, had denounced a recent bill promulgated by the
Russian Council of Ministers while visiting the New York home of Dr. J. Leon
Manges, the Secretary of the Federation of American Zionists. Levin said that
the bill did not give the Jews living in the Pale of Settlement any new rights
and actually discriminated against Jews living in or trying to do business in
other parts of Russia.
1906: In
San Franciso, Florence and Sidney Meyer Ehrman gave birth to Esther Helmann
Lazard, the wife of Claude Lazard.
1907: Klara
Hitler who had been diagnosed with breast cancer and was treat by Dr. Eduard
Bloch, the Jewish physician whose patients included her young son Adolf, passed
away today.
1908:
Today, world premiere of Arnold Schönberg’s Second String Quarter, op.10.
1909(9th of
Tevet, 5670): Israel Abbe Schneider passed away today.
1910:
Secretary of Commerce and Labor Charles Nagel “ruled that thirteen of the
twenty Russian Jewish immigrants being held at Galveston, TX” because they were
“likely to become public charge maybe admitted” to enter the United States.
1911(30th of
Kislev, 5672): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1911: Szabadsag a
paper founded in Cleveland by “Theodore Kundtz, a Catholic and Joseph Black, “a
Jewish leader in Cleveland published a “lavish issue of the paper” today that
“had sixteen full pages on the religious history of the Hungarian churches, but
not a word on Hungarian synagogues” even though there were “forty-five Jewish
congregations in existence at that time.”
1911(9th of
Tevet, 5762): Parashat Vayigash
1911(30th of
Kislev, 5672): Seventy-seven-year-old CSA veteran Benjamin F. Jonas, the
Kentucky born son of Abraham Jonas and the former Louisa Block whom Lincoln
named as the successor to the role of Postmaster after her husband’s death and
who was the second Jew to serve as U.S. Senator from Louisiana passed away
today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/benjamin-franklin-jonas
1912: U.K.
premiere of “The Miracle” a British silent film based on a play by Max
Reinhardt.
1912: In
Warsaw, Rabbi Nathan Mileikowsky and his wife gave birth to Israeli
mathematician Elisha Netanyahu who was the brother of historian Benzion
Netanyahu and the uncle of Benjamin Netanyahu
1913: It
was reported today that the Sisterhood of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue
will holding their annual Chanukah Ball at the Astor.
1913:
“Nathan Straus Plans Big Work for Holy Land” published today described future
programs that the retiring head of R.H. Macey & Co. will be working on for
the those living in Palestine regardless of their religion including
1914: “A
conference held today” in Chicago resulted in the issuance of a call for “men
of all creeds and races to join in the movement” “to save Leo Frank from death”
by attending a mass meeting as part of the efforts on behalf of this talented
and much wronged young man.”
1914: The
first feature-length silent film comedy, “Tillie’s Punctured
Romance” was released. Charlie Chaplin was one of the three
stars in this feature film.
1914: “Jews
Starving in Jerusalem” published today warned that “there is grave danger of
pestilence as well as famine” in the city “unless steps are taken at once to
provide a regular supply of food and free medical services” — an
effort for at least $100,000 a month will be need while the present crisis
last.
1914: The
list of contributors to the American Jewish Relief Committee for War Sufferers
published today included The Hebrew Ladies’ Relief Society of Harrison, First
Galician Society, Jews of Wilmington, N.C. Jews of Nacogdoches, Texas, the Wide
Awake Circle, the society of Peru, Indiana and the First Konstantiner
Benevolent Society.
1915: The
Board of Directors of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York has named Dr.
Cyrus Adler who is currently President of Dropsie College, as acting President
of JTS following the death of Dr. Solomon Schechter.
1915: The
American Jewish Relief Committee launched its campaign to raise funds in 1916
for the relief of war sufferers in Europe at a mass meeting tonight at Carnegie
Hall which will be chaired by Louis Marshall which “persons in the audience
spontaneously contributed more than $700,000 in money, jewelry and pledges
deposited in baskets and thrown upon the stage in one of the greatest responses
to an appeal every recorded.”
1915: The
second round of talks between the French and the British concerning the
dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire after the World War opened today with Sir
Mark Sykes representing the British and Francois-Georges Picot representing the
French. The final product would be known as the Sykes-Picot
Agreement.
1916(26th of
Kislev, 5677): Sixty-one-year-old Harry Hananel Marks, the founder of the
Financial News and a leader of the Anglo-Jewish community passed away today.
1916:
Twenty-eight-year-old CCNY graduate and NY Stock Exchange member Edwin Weisl,
the son of Jacob and Fredericka (Block) Weisl married Edna Kraus
1916: Jacob
H. Schiff presided at a meeting this evening at Carnegie Hall which launched
the campaign to raise ten million dollars “for the relief of Jewish war
sufferers” and which featured speeches by Louis Marshall, the funds temporary
chairman, Rabbi Judah Magnes and New York Mayor Mitchell.
1917: In
what has become a daily occurrence, another fifty to seventy-five Jews were to
the Jewish hospital today in Warsaw “on the verge of death” as a result of
“starvation.”
1917: In
Petrograd (formerly St. Petersburg): “Jewish communal elections were postponed
on account of the chaotic state of affairs.”
1917: As
British forces sought to secure a supply line from Jaffa, they completed their
crossing of the Auju River and were able to hold “a line from Hadrah to Tel el
Rekkeit 2 miles north of the river and construct bridges that allowed the
artillery to cross the river and join the cavalry and infantry.”
1918: In a
cable message made public today. “President Thomas G. Masaryk of the
Czechoslovak Republic informed the Zionist Organization of America that he had
directed the cancellation of the recently promulgated order regarding the
deportation of Jews” and had assigned them place in “domiciles for refugees.
1918: In
Warsaw, fifty to seventy-five Jews, on the verge of death, were brought to the
Jewish Hospital” suffering from the effects of starvations.
1918: A
cablegram was received in New York today from Lithuania saying that
arrangements had been made for Jews to participate in the new Lithuanian
Government and that Jews held the positions of “Under Secretary for Foreign
Affairs, Under Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and State Minister for
the Department of Jewish Affairs.”
1919(29th of
Kislev, 5680): Fifth Day of Chanukah
1919: In
New York, “a tri-city-get-together” proposed by Louis H. Levin is scheduled to
meet for a second day in Baltimore where plans will be discussed of the
upcoming meeting of the National Conference of Jewish Social Service.
1919: Emma
Goldman, along with 248 other radical “aliens,” was deported to the
Soviet Union on the S.S. Buford under the 1918 Alien Act, which allowed for the
expulsion of any alien found to be an anarchist. Emma Goldman, born in Kovno,
Lithuania (then Russia) in 1869, came to the United States in 1885 at age 16.
By the time of her deportation, she had made a name for herself as a leading
anarchist, public speaker, and crusader for free speech, birth control, and
workers’ rights. Goldman first became interested in radical politics in Russia,
where she came into contact with populists and political organizers. In the
U.S., she was disappointed to learn that instead of streets paved in gold,
workers were subject to gross economic inequality and inhuman working
conditions. The defining moment for Goldman came in 1886, when eight anarchist
radicals were convicted, on flimsy evidence, of setting off a bomb at Chicago’s
Haymarket rally causing a riot in which several police officers were killed.
Convinced of the defendants’ innocence, Goldman resolved to learn all she could
about anarchism, and soon became active in the anarchist movement.
Unfortunately for Goldman, the decades of the late 19th and early 20th
centuries were difficult ones in which to be an anarchist in America. Federal
anti-anarchist laws restricted Goldman’s ability to give public speeches and
subjected her to frequent harassment and arrests. Still, she had a profound
influence on American political activism. Mother Earth, the journal
she founded in 1906 and ran until 1917, provided an outlet for the writings of
radical thinkers. Roger Baldwin, who heard Goldman speak on free speech in
1908, went on to found the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Margaret
Sanger, a prominent birth control activist, looked on Goldman as her mentor.
Although Goldman was not a pacifist, she believed that governments had no right
to wage war, and actively opposed U.S. involvement in World War I. She argued
that the war was an imperialist venture that aided capitalists at the expense
of workers. When the U.S. entered the war in 1917, her anti-conscription
activism was considered a threat to national security, and she spent 18 months
in federal prison. On her release, she was immediately re-arrested and
sentenced to deportation under the 1918 Alien Act, which authorized the
deportation of any alien found to be an anarchist. At first excited by the
chance to see the workers’ republic of Soviet Russia, Goldman was soon
disillusioned by the Bolshevik regime. Barred from returning to the U.S., she
spent the last two decades of her life wandering through Europe and Canada,
giving speeches on radical politics. When she died in Toronto in May 1940, her
body was returned to Chicago, where Goldman was buried near the Haymarket anarchists
who had first inspired her.
https://jwa.org/thisweek/dec/21/1919/emma-goldman
1919(29th of
Kislev, 5680: Fifth Day of Chanukah
1919:
Twenty-nine-year-old Columbia University educated engineer Max Steinberg, the
son of Joseph and Martha Steinberg, who rose to the rank of First Lt. in the
Coast Artillery during World War and who began serving as “an civil engineer in
the War Department in 1919” married Rose Dicker today in Brooklyn.
1920:
“Sally” a Jerome Kern musical opened on Broadway today at the New Amsterdam
Theatre
1920(10th
of Tevet, 5681): Asara B’ Tevet
1921: In
Milwaukee “Esther (née Ottenstein) Lubotsky who was a childhood friend of
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, and Meyer Lubotsky, a retail tire business
owner” gave birth to Miriam Lubotsky the older sister of Charlotte Rae Lubotsky
who was better known as actress Charlotte Rae,
1921: “The
Senate Committee on Immigration met today take up the proposed temporary
exclusion act” which most Jews opposed because it was seen as another attempt
to limit, if not completely end, the immigration of Jews to the United States.
1922: In
New York City, Solomon Wilchinsky, a tailor and the former Clara Fuchs gave
birth to Paul Wilchinsky who gained fame as Paul Winchell, an accomplished
ventriloquist who, during the 1950’s starred on television with his two “wooden
friends” – Jerry Mahoney and Knucklehead Smith.
1922(2nd of
Tevet, 5683): Seventh Day of Chanukah
1922(2nd of
Tevet, 5683): The former Winifred Lichtenauer, the daughter of banker Joseph
Lichtenauer who had married Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler in 1906 passed away today.
1922: In
the Soviet Union, the first edition of Bezbozhnik an
anti-religious newspaper that “alleged that some rabbis in the tsarist
government’s pay had helped organize anti-Jewish pogroms,” and “criticized the
Jewish holiday of Passover as encouraging excessive drinking, because of the
requirement of drinking four glasses of wine, while Prophet Elijah was accused
of being an alcoholic who got “drunk as a swine” was published today.
1923: In
Montgomery, AL, Merton Nachman and “the former Maxine Mayer, were proprietors
of Nachman & Mertief, a prominent department store” gave birth to Merton
Roland Nachman, Jr. the Harvard trained attorney and WW II veteran “who opposed
The New York Times in a libel case that resulted in a landmark Supreme Court
decision establishing greater leeway for newspapers and individuals to
criticize government officials and other public figures…” (As reported by Bruce
Weber)
1923:
In Baltimore, MD, Fannie Hirsch Flom and Itak Flom gave birth to Joseph Harold
Flom, pioneering corporate lawyer who helped build Skadden, Arps, Slate,
Meagher & Flom into one of the nation’s leading law firms. (As reported by
Jonathan D. Glater)
1924: “More
than 250 delegates, representing virtually every section of the country,
including many of the leading Jews of America, attended the second biennial
convention of the Jewish Welfare Board today in the new Young Men’s and Young
Women’s Hebrew Association Building.”
1924: “The
advice offered recently to Jews, “Be loyal, be not assimilated,” by
Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President-emeritus of Harvard University, was discussed today
by Rabbi Samuel Schulman in Temple Beth-El, Fifth Avenue and Seventy-sixth
Street, and Rabbi Stephen S. Wise before the Central and Free Synagogues in
Carnegie Hall.”
1924: It
was reported today that Lord Balfour, the British leader who produced the
Balfour Declaration, is experimenting with mental telepathy.
1925:
Today, the United States Senate confirmed the appointment of Hot Springs, AR
native and NYU Law School graduate Grover M. Moscowitz to serve as Judge of
the United States District Court for the Eastern District Court of New York.
1925: In
Newark, NJ, Sara Lasser and Martin Kurtz gave birth to Paul Winter Kurtz “a philosopher whose advocacy of reason ahead of faith
helped define contemporary secular humanism.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/24/nyregion/paul-kurtz-humanist-and-philosopher-dead-at-86.html?hpw
1925:
Premiere of Eisenstein’s movie “Potemkin” in Moscow.
1925:
Twenty-five-year-old Hebrew Union College trained Rabbi, Samuel Henry Gordon,
the Vilna born son of Reuben and Sarah (Fisher) Gordon married Iren Olive
Phillipe in Saginaw, Michigan in the same year that he began serving Temple
B’nai Israel in Salt Lake City, Utah.
1925: “The
Girl With a Patron,” a silent comedy directed by Max Mack was released today in
Germany.
1926:
Birthdate of Arnost Lustig, an acclaimed Jewish Czech author who drew on his
own harrowing experiences as a teenager in World War II to produce novels and
short stories laced with tales of young people who survive the Holocaust. (As
reported by Dennis Hevesi)
1927: Nine
Hungarian students went on trial today for their role in riots where “several
Jews were beaten and large property damage was to synagogues throughout
Transylvania.”
1928: The
New York Philharmonic Symphony performs Gershwin’s “An American in Paris” and
Bloch’s “America.”
1929(19th of
Kislev, 5690): Parashat Vayishlach
1929:
Today, Bernard S. Deutsch, president of the American Jewish Congress announced
the appointment of a commission to investigate the suppression of Judaism in
Russia which will be chaired by Carl Sherman.
1930(1st of
Tevet, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1930: “The
Princess and the Plumber” a comedy directed by Alexander Korda was released in
the United States today by Fox Film Corporation.
1931:
Birthdate of Ysrael Abraham Seinuk, the native of Havana, Cuba, “a structural
engineer who made it possible for many of New York City’s tallest new buildings
to withstand wind, gravity and even earthquakes.”
1932:
Birthdate of New Yorker and Harvard alum Edward Hoagland who in a 1968 essay
“On Not Being a Jew” complained that he was “being told in print and
occasionally in person that I and my heritage lacked vitality because I could
field no ancestry who had hawked copper pots in a Polish shtetl.”
https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/on-not-being-a-jew/
1933: It
was reported today that “all Jews, with the possible exception of front-line
war veterans, and all “Marxists” without exception will be barred
from editorial or illustrative work for any German newspaper or magazine,
beginning Jan. 1, according to the rules of procedure” that were announced for
the recently decreed press law.
1933(3rd
of Tevet, 5694): Sixty-eight-year-old Dr. Alexis Victor Moschwotitz, the son of
Morris and Rosa Rezi Moschowitz and the husband of Amalia “Milly” Moschwotiz
who served as Lt. Col. in the Medical Corps of the U.S. Army and was a
professor of clinical surgery at Columbia passed away today in New York.
1934:
Churchill wrote the High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, expressing his
support for the practice of collective punishment – in the form of fines –
aimed at terrorists who burned groves of fruit trees “in a thirsty land.” The
fruit trees had been planted by Jewish pioneers; those burning them were Arabs
taking part in the armed revolt organized by the Grand Mufti.
1935(25th of
Kislev, 5696): Chanukah
1935(25th of
Kislev, 5696): Forty-five-year-old journalist, author and WW I veteran of the
German Army Kurt Tucholsky passed away today in Sweden.
http://www.dw.com/en/kurt-tucholsky-enigmatic-author-and-satirist/a-16179470
1935: The
75th birthday of the pioneering Zionist Henrietta Szold was celebrated with a
radio address broadcast across the United States. It included addresses by the
President of Hadassah, Rose Jacobs and by the President of the World Zionist
Organization, Chaim Weizmann. Hadassah chapters hosted local celebrations and
numerous Shabbat sermons across the United States were reportedly devoted to
Szold’s life story and achievements.
1935: The
British High Commissioner announces to Arabs and Jews the British intention of
setting up a Legislative Council in Palestine.
1935: Sir
Grenfell Wauchope, High Commissioner of Palestine, summoned Arab leaders today
and presented to them a memorandum outlining the features of the proposed
Legislative Council of Palestine. The preface to the memorandum states that in
view of the fact that municipalities are now functioning smoothly the time is
ripe for the establishment of the Council.
1936: Helmut
Hirsch, the German Jew who actively worked to carry out a plan to murder Hitler
was arrested by Gestapo agents in Stuttgart.
1936: “Well
informed Italian circles expressed rather naïve surprise this evening at what
they term the ‘unnecessary fuss made by the world’s Jewish press’ over the
flogging of two Jews in Tripoli and the imprisonment of another for three
months for refusing to keep their open Saturdays” which in reality was part of
a plan to force the Jews of that city to leave the new city and return to the
older, less commercially attractive old part of the city.
1936: Dr.
Charles M. Sheldon, a Congressional minister from Topeka, Kansas and author of
In His Steps tonight proposed “a merger of all Protestant, Catholic and Jewish
churches” as a way of averting war.
1936: Rabbi
J.Z. Dushinsky, representing Audath Israel, told the Peel Commission, “The
holy Torah has promised the Holy Land to the people of Israel, but is by the
very Torah that we are commanded not to occupy the country by force…but we
are confident that to the extent that the returning exiles to Zion will fulfill
the will of god, as revealed in the torah, and will make the national home the
abode of the torah in all branches of economic and cultural endeavor…
Sir Horace
Rumbold questioned him:
Q. There
should be a proportion of members of Audath Israel employed in the posts and in
the railways, but you also object to their working on Saturdays?
A. Yes
Q. do you
not see what that leads to?…The railways certainly are an important element
in the economic life of the country…do you not thinking that is going to make
it rather difficult?
A. They
will be run by Arabs on Saturday, by non-Jews. On Saturdays the work
can be done by non-Jews
1936:
“Vicious Circle” published today provided a review of Some of My Best
Friends Are Jews by Robert Gessner.
1937: In a
debate over the visit of Lord Halifax, the British Foreign Secretary, to
Berlin, Churchill spoke out against the Nazi treatment of the
Jews. “It is a horrible thing that a race of people should be
attempted to be blotted out of the society in which they have been born.” He
further expressed his fear that the British were negotiating from a point of
weakness and that the Halifax meeting would result in German acquiring the
Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia.
1937:
Birthdate of New York native, Cornell University wrestler and Columbia Law
School graduate Stephen Friedman, the partner in Goldman Sachs, husband of
Barbara Benioff, the father-in-law of actress Amanda Peet and the father of
David Friedman a/k/a David Benioff who is a Republican and has held
several appointed positions including Chair of the President’s Intelligence
Advisory Board.
1937: Walt
Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” which animator David Hilberman
helped to create premiered at the Carthay Circle Theatre.
1938: As
British, Zionist and Arab leaders prepared to meet at a conference in London
designed to bring the 2 year long Arab uprising end, Lord Halifax, the British
Foreign Secretary, stress “that the forthcoming conference…must be co conducted
to ensure that the Arab States would be friendly to us.” In other
words, the British government was poised to turn its back on the promises of
the Balfour Declaration and close Palestine to the Jews.
1939: Hitler
named Adolf Eichmann leader of “Referat IV B”
1939:
Premiere of “Tevye” a Yiddish language film based on the Sholem Aleichem
character, directed, produced and starring Maurice Schwartz, who also wrote the
script.
1940:
Birthdate of Frank Zappa, composer of the controversial, satirical song “Jewish
American Princess.”
1940:
Birthdate of Baghdad native and “Israeli yachting world champion” Zaphania
Carmel who “drowned during training in 1980.”
1941(1st of
Tevet, 5702): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1941(1st of
Tevet, 5702): Fifty-three-year former Postmaster and secretary of the
Bloomfield Chamber of Commerce Harvey E Harris, the Bloomfield born son of Mr.
and Mrs. Eli Harris and brother of Jerome Irving Harris and Mrs. Hazel L.
Steinhart, passed away.
1941: Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to deliver a sermon on “Jews View Christmas,
Christians Vie Hanukkah” at the “Free Synagogue Congregation worshipping in
Carnegie Hall.”
1941: “Dr.
Shlomo Bardin of the American Zionist Youth Commission” is scheduled to deliver
an address on “American Jewish Youth and the War” at Temple B’nai Jeshurun’s
youth service.
1941: Henri
Torres of France, the “defender of Schwartzbard and Grynzpan” is scheduled to
deliver an address on “Petain, Darlan and Laval, Will France Join Germany in
War Against the United State?” today at Rodeph Sholom.
1941: Rabbi
Hyman J. Schachtel is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “A Rabbi’s View of
Jesus” this morning at the West End Synagogue.
1941: Mrs.
Tehilla Lichtenstein is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “What Not to Worry
About These Days” at the Jewish Science Society.
1941: Immediately
after the arrival of the first group of Eretz-Israeli residents who were
trapped in Nazi occupied Europe at the outbreak of WW II and who have been
exchanged for Germans living in Palestine, Haaretz published a story about a
woman who had left Palestine with her daughter before the war to visit her
hometown and family in Poland. “Our little town did not even have a
cemetery in ordinary times,” the unnamed woman was quoted as saying,
“but now the Germans have established one, and it contains hundreds of
graves of local Jews and of others deported there from the big cities.”
1942:
Today, Hitler reversed the sentence of forty-year-old Mildred
Fish-Harnack, the Milwaukee born daughter of William Cooke Fish and wife “German Rockefeller scholar Arid Harnack” who had been
sentenced to six years in prison for her role in the “Red Orchestra” ordered
that she should be re-sentenced.
1942(13th Tevet,
5703): Eighty-four-year-old Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Columbia
University Franz Uri Boas the Minden, Westphalia born son Sophie Meyer Boas and
husband of “the former Marie A.E. Korckowizer” who held a Ph.D. from Kiel
University who is known as the “Father of American Anthropology” passed away
today in New York City.
1943(24th of
Kislev, 5704): In the evening, kindle the first light of Chanukah
1943: Hersz
Kurcweig, a Jew, and Stanislaw Dorosiewicz, a non-Jew, escape from Auschwitz
after killing an SS guard.
1943: U.S.
premiere of “The Song of Bernadette” a cinematic treatment of the life of St.
Bernadette based on a novel by Franz Wefel, produced by William Perlberg and
music by Alfred Newman.
1944(5th of
Tevet, 5705): Eighty-three-year-old Alfred Leopold Delgado, who is buried in
the Falmouth Jewish Cemetery in Jamaica passed away today.
1944:
Bandleader Kay Kyser (who was not Jewish) recorded “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the
Positive” a popular song with music by Harold Arlen.
1944(5th
of Tevet, 5705): Forty-eight-year-old songwriter, author, WW I veteran and
dentist Nathanial Lief was educated at the NYU College of Dentistry, and who
joined ASCAP in 1931 passed away today.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2984012/bio/?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
1945: The
United States and Great Britain announced that the Anglo-American Committee of
Inquiry on Palestine will open hearings January 7, 1946.
1945: The
original Broadway production of “Billion Dollar Baby,” a Betty Comden and
Adolph musical with a score by Morton Gould opened at the Alvin Theatre where
it “ran for 220 performances.”
1946: Arabs
in Palestine refuse to pay taxes if money is used for Jewish immigration.
1946:
Birthdate of Josh Mostel. Mostel followed in the thespian footsteps
of his famous father, Zero Mostel.
1946: Morton
Gould’s “Minstrel Show” premieres in Indianapolis
1946:
Today, The New Yorker published J.D. Salinger’s “Slight Rebellion Off Madison”
featuring “Holden Caulfield” who gained fame in Cather in the Rye
1946: Rabbi
Jonah B. Wise declared at the centennial celebration of Central Synagogue that
“Reform Judaism looks forward to the union of all Jewish religious groups
in a great synthesis with freedom for all.”
1947: Arabs
plan to win full control of Palestine and set up an all-Arab state
1947(8th of
Tevet, 5708): Sixty-five-year-old Simon Lazarus, Sr., the oldest son of Rose
Eichberg and Fred Lazarus and the older brother of Fred Lazarus, J. the founder
of Federated Department Stores, passed away today.
1947:
Estelle Scher, the actress known as Estelle Getty, married Arthur Gettlemen
with whom she had two children – Carl and Barry Gettlemen.
1947(8th of
Tevet, 5708): Forty-four-year-old journalist and producer Mark Hellinger passed
away in Los Angeles.
http://web.sbu.edu/friedsam/archives/jimbishop/Hellinger/Hellinger%20Biography.htm
1948:
Birthdate of Barry Gordon the American performer who served as President of the
Screen Actors Guild from 1988 to 1995 making him “the longest-serving
president.”
1948: “Act
of Violence” a cinema noir directed by Fred Zinnemann was released today in the
United States
1948:
Birthdate of Zev Yaroslavsky a Los Angeles County politician who served on the
Los Angeles City Council from 1975 until 1994, when he was elected to the Los
Angeles County Board of Supervisors. He was preceded in both offices by Edmund
D. Edelman.
1949: New
York premiere of Samson and Delilah, “Biblical Epic” starring Hedy Lamer, with
a screenplay co-authored by Jesse Lasky, Jr. based on a “film treatment” by
Vladimir Jabotinsky, the late Zionist leader.
1950(12th of
Tevet, 5711): Eighty-six-year-old Elgin, Illinois native Harriet Wile, the
daughter of Leopold and Rose Adler and he wife of David Jacob Wile passed away
today in Chicago.
1950: In
New York, stockbroker Walter Katzenberg and his wife Anne, an artist, gave
birth to Walt Disney Studios Chairman and Democratic party kingmaker Jeffrey
Katzenberg, the husband of the former Marilyn Siegel with whom he had twins –
Laura and David.
1951: Larry
Blyden played Hector and Howard Da Silva played Dupont-Dufour Sr. in “Thieves’
Carnival” this week’s offering on “The Play of the Week.”
1951:
“Tonight, while the rain continued to pelt down and metrological services
predicted more rain and possibly snow in the hills and in the north during the
night and tomorrow, the Israeli Army announced that all branches of service had
been placed in a state of readiness and that all leaves had been canceled so
that soldiers could be fully devoted to evacuating immigrants from flood camps
to synagogues, communal halls, public institutions and army camps.”
1951:
Yitzhak Gormezano Goren, aged ten and accompanied by his parents, left his home
on Rue Delta in Alexandria to rejoin his two brothers who had already moved to
Israel.
http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/190825/aciman-alexandrian-summer
1951:
“Decision Before Dawn” a WW II espionage movie directed and produced by Anatole
Litvak with music by Franz Waxman released in the United States today by 20th Century
Fox.
1952: Paul
Celan married graphic artist Gisèle Lestrange over the opposition of her
parents.
1952(3rd of
Tevet, 5713): Eliyahu Hacarmeli an early Zionist leader, who served in the
first Knesset, passed away.
1952:
Shlomo Hillel entered the Knesset today as a replacement for the deceased
Eliyahu Hacarmeli.
1952: Near
tragedy struck the Sephardic Jewish Brotherhood of America when fire destroyed
the headquarters at 1380 Jerome Avenue, Bronx, New York. Fortunately, complete
tragedy was averted because of the diligence of some members of the brotherhood
residing in the area and who were nearby at the time of the fire. They
prevailed upon the firefighters to saturate the office area with water, thus
averting any major destruction of the records.
1952:
Thirty-one-year-old Rabbi Randall Falk, the Little Rock born son of Randall
Morris Falk and the former Lucile Kronberg and holder of a DD from Vanderbilt
in Nashville, where he led “Congregation Ohab ai Sholom” married the former
Edna Unger with whom he raised Heidi, Randall and Jonathan Falk.
1953:
Birthdate of András Schiff, the native of Budapest and the child of two
Holocaust survivors who gained fame as a “British classical pianist and
conductor.
1953: As
claims resurfaced that Dr. Robert Oppenheimer was a Communist, Lewis Strauss
told “Oppie” that “his security clearance had been suspended.” Oppenheimer refused Strauss’ suggestion that he resign
and demanded a hearing on the charges.
1954:
Composer Morton Gould and his wife gave birth to this fourth and youngest
child, Deborah, today.
1954:
Congregation B’nai Jeshurun marked it 130th anniversary as the second oldest
Jewish congregation in New York by staging a Chanukah celebration in its
Community Center on West 88th Street. B’nai Jeshurun is the
oldest Conservative Congregation in the United States. Rabbi Israel
Goldstein opened the festivities by lighting the “torch of freedom” which had
been flown to New York from Israel last week.
1956, the
Metropolitan Opera premiered a new version of La Périchole an
opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach with a libretto co-authored by
Ludovic Halévy that included interpolations from other scores and turned the
speaking role of the Old Prisoner into a singing role for a comic tenor.
1957(28th
of Kislev, 5718): Shabbat Shel Chanukah; Parashat Miketz
1957(28th
of Kislev, 5718): Cologne native Elisabeth Moses, the author of Jewish Cult and
Art Monuments in the Rhinelands passed away today in San Francisco.
1957: A
terrorist attack to place in a field near Kibbutz Gadot.
1958(10th
of Tevet, 5719): Asara B’Tevet
1958(10th
of Tevet, 5719): Seventy-four-year-old German born American author Lion
Feuchtwanger, passed away while living in his Los Angeles. Born in 1884, and
writing under the pseudonym, J.L. Wetcheek, Feuchtwanger’s life reads like
something out of suspense thriller as he fled Nazi Germany, took refuge in the
Soviet Union and France before escaping to the United States under a secret
program run by Varian Fry. Of course, he was a significant author in
his own right to boot. At the same time, there is something
depressingly repetitive about his life – one more European Jew forced to take
it on the lamb before finding a final refuge in the United States, England or
Israel where he or she then enriches the culture, science or business
communities of their place of refuge.
http://www.josephus.org/Feuchtwanger.htm
1959:
Shimon Peres, a member of Mapai, began serving as Deputy Defense Minister.
1961: “Take
Her, She’s Mine” a “Broadway comedy written by Henry Ephron and Phoebe Ephron
opened at the Biltmore Theatre.
1961: In
Patterson, NJ, Isaac Weiner and his wife gave birth to Michael Weiner, the
executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. (As
reported by Richard Goldstein)
1961: In
New York City, Elain Terner Cooper and Robert E. Mnuchin “a partner at Goldman
Sachs in charge of equity trading, a member of the management committee and the
founder of the Mnuchin Art Gallery gave birth to Steven Terner Mnuchin, the
Yale University graduate, former Goldman Sachs partner and hedge fund investor
who has been named by President-elect Trump to serve as Secretary of the
Treasury.
1962: U.S.
premiere of “In Search of the Castaways” with songs by Richard and Robert
Sherman – The Sherman Brothers.
1962: “The
Trial,” a movie version of the novel by Franz Kafka was released today in the
United States.
1963(5th
of Tevet, 5724): Parashat Vayigash
1963: In
New York at Congregation B’nai Jershurun, which bills itself as the “oldest
Conservative Synagogue in America,” guess speaking Rabbi Philip R. Alstat is
scheduled to preach on “Reflections Between Hannukah and Christmas.
1963(5th
of Tevet, 5724): At the Fifth Avenue Synagogue Rabbis Immanuel Jakobovits,
Theodore Stampfer, Mordecai Lewittes and Samuel Schiel and Cantor Max Wohlberg
officed at the wedding Brooklyn College honor graduate Deborah Lewittes and Dr.
Morris Stampfer, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine trained physician.
1964:
Despite supportive testimony from a bevy of performers and authors, Lenny Bruce
was sentenced to four months in jail for using “obscene” language in his
nightclub act.
1965(27th of
Kislev, 5726): Third Day of Chanukah
1965(27th of
Kislev, 5726): Fifty-three-year-old Dr. Bernard Brass, the son of Samuel and
Edith Shinan Brass and the husband of Pearl (Hochman) Brass passed away today
after which he was buried in the Mt. Carmel Section of Sharon Memorial Park in
Sharon, MA.
1965: After
premiering in Tokyo, “Thunderball,” four film in the James Bond series
featuring Leonard Sachs was released today in the United States.
1966:
“Grand Prix,” a movie about international road racing directed by John
Frankenheimer whose father was Jewish but who was raised as a Catholic and
filmed by cinematographer Saul Bass, who used his skill to created unique
racing footage, was released today in the United States by MGM.
1967(19th
of Kislev, 5728): Chabad celebrates
1967: “Half
a Sixpence,” a British musical directed by George Sidney was released today in
the United Kingdom.
1967(19th
of Kislev, 5728): Louis Washkansky, a Lithuanian born Jew and the
first man to undergo a heart transplant, dies in Cape Town, South Africa, after
living for 18 days after the transplant.
1967:
Release date for “The Graduate,” a film classic directed by Mike Nichols,
co-produced by Joseph E. Levine and co-starring Dustin Hoffman in the title
role. (Oh yes, the music is courtesy of Paul Simon)
1968(30th
of Kislev, 5729): Parashat Miketz; Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Sixth Day of Chanukah
1968: “Once
Upon a Time in the West” featuring Lionel Stander was released in Italy today.
1969:
Former Chief of Staff Yitzhak Rabin, who was serving was ambassador to the
United States, was summoned from Washington to Jerusalem to give his views on
an American response to a change in Israeli policy that would include in-depth
bombings of Egyptian positions beyond the Nile in response to Nasser’s policy
of bombarding Israeli positions.
1969: Three
Lebanese nationals were detained when an attempt to hijack a TWA plane was
thwarted at the airport in Athens.
1970: “They
Call Me Trinity,” a spaghetti western produced by Joseph E. Levine was released
in the Italy today.
1970: Six
days after opening in the United States “There’s a Girl in My Soup” a comedy
co-starring Goldie Hawn and Peter Sellers premiered in London today.
1971: UN
Security Council chose Kurt Waldheim as 4th Secretary
General. Naming a former Nazi officer did nothing to engender
Israeli or Jewish confidence in the world organization.
1971: “Such
Good Friends” a comedy by on a novel by Lois Gould, directed and produced by
Otto Preminger, with a screenplay by Esther Dale (pseudonym for Elain May and
starring Diane Cannon (Samille Diane Friesen) was released in the United States
today.
1972: “Up
the Sandbox” the movie version of Anne Roiphe’s novel directed by Irvin
Kershner, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and starring Barbra
Streisand was released today in the United States.
1973(27th of
Kislev, 5734): Parashat Miketz and the Third Day of Chanukah
1973(27th of
Kislev, 5734): Eighty-year-old Golda Bam “Goldie” Richmond Reid, the daughter
of John Marshall Richmond and Clara France Richmond and the wife of Stalie
Cecil Reid passed away today.
1973:
Representatives of Israel, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, US and USSR met in
Geneva.
1975: A
Broadway revival of the Jerome Kern musical “Very Good Eddie” opened at the
Booth Theatre where it ran for 304 performances.
1976: A
scheduled “unofficial symposium on Jewish culture in the USSR was banned by
authorities” today.
1976:
Richard F. Shephard described “the third network raid-on-Entebbe production”
which will be aired on NBC next month following the telecast of the Super Bowl.
1976:
“Voyage of the Damned” a film based on a story “inspired by true events
concerning the fate of the MS St. Louis Ocean Liner carrying Jewish refugees
from Germany to Cuba in 1939” directed by Stuart Rosenberg, with music by Lalo
Schifrin and co-starring Lee Grant was released in the United States today.
1976(28th of
Kislev, 5737): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1976:
“Mikey and Nicky” a gangster film directed and written by Elaine May,
co-starring Peter Falk and featuring Carol Grace, the wife of Walter Matheau,
and Sanford Meisner was released today in the United States.
1976(28th of
Kislev, 5737): Pinchas Kehati, an Israeli bank teller and the author of
Mishnayot Mevuarot (literally “Clarified Mishnayos”), popularly known
as “the Kehati Mishnayot”) which is a commentary and elucidation on
the entire Mishnah which was “written in Modern Hebrew” and translated into
English in 1994, passed away today.
1977: The
Jerusalem Post reported from Cairo that the Israeli and Egyptian peace
negotiating teams were near an agreement on Israel’s continued presence along
the Jordan River.
1977: The
Jerusalem Post reported that 3,700 government employees in the Tel
Aviv area would be transferred to Jerusalem.
1978:
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers” a sci-fi horror film directed by Philip
Kaufman and starring Jeff Goldblum and Leonard Nimoy was released today in the
United States.
1978:
Doctor Judith Lieberman, the Latvian born granddaughter of Rabbi Naftali Zvi
Yehuda Berlin, daughter of Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (leader of the Mizrachi), and
second wife of Jewish religious scholar Saul Lieberman who for 25 years “served
as Hebrew principal and later dean of Hebrew studies of Shulamith School for
Girls in New York City, the first Jewish day school for girls in North America”
passed away today.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lieberman-judith-berlin
1979(1st of
Tevet, 5740): Rosh Chodesh Tevet; Seventh Day of Chanukah
1979(1st
of Tevet, 5740: Seventy-seven-year-old Russian born artist Louis Leon Ribak who
in 1912 came to the United States where he married Beatrice Mandelman and
served as direct of the Taox Valley Art School passed away today in Taos, NM.
1979: It
was reported today that “12 case of latkes – a donation from Empire Kosher
Poultry of Miflin, PA – were delivered earlier this week to Manhattan’s Town
Hall, where audiences were offered the potato pancakes and kosher wine after
matinees this week of ‘”Rebecca – the Rabbi’s Daughter.’ They were
also invited to join in a Chanukah blessing by a leading lady, Mary Soreanu,
who is starring in the production at the concert hall – which leads to another
reason for the celebration at the hall. The production marks the
return to Broadway of Yiddish theatre after a 10-year absence.”
1979: “The
London Connection” featuring David Kossoff and Wolfe Morris was released in the
United States today.
1980(14TH of
Tevet, 5741): Ninety-two-year-old Leon Leo Solomon Hexter, the son of Max and
Sara Hexter and the husband of Rachel Schwartz passed away today in his
hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio.
1980: “The
Tide is Turning in Israel” published today reported that “Israel’s Labor Party has taken a giant step
toward compromise with the West Bank Palestinians and thus challenged the Arab
world to reciprocate with acts of restraint and conciliation.”
1981(25th of
Kislev, 5742): Chanukah observed for the first time during the Presidency of
Ronald Reagan.
1983:
Sixty-four-year-old Paul de Man the “Belgian born literary critic” whose
anti-Semitic views expressed during WW II did not become known until after his
death, passed away today.
1984:
“Protocol” a comedy directed by Herbert Ross with a script by Buck Henry based
pm a story by Nancy Myers and starring Goldie Hawn was released in the United
States today by Warner Bros.
1984:
“Johnny Dangerously” a parody directed by Amy Heckerling was released today in
the United States.
1987(30th
of Kislev, 5748): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1988(13th of
Tevet, 5749): Eighty-two year old British historian, author and WW II veteran
Philip Montefiore Magnus-Allcroft, the son of Laurie and Dora Marian Magnus and
the husband of Jewell Allcroft passed away today.
1988: Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s agreement on a new coalition government with the
Labor Party barely survived a challenge early today from hard-line members of
his own Likud party led by Ariel Sharon.
1988:
“Beaches” co-produced by Bette Midler who co-starred in the film along with
Barbara Hershey and featuring Marc Shaiman was released today in the United
States.
1988:
Sixteen crew members 243 passengers and 11 bystanders on the ground were
murdered today when Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie when a bomb
planted by terrorists exploded. At the time Muammar Gaddafi of Libya was blamed
for the attack although several other terrorist groups claimed credit for the
attack.
1988: An
Israeli court today postponed a lawsuit by the Bankers Trust Company of New
York to break up troubled Koor Industries, Israel’s largest industrial concern,
over a $20 million debt.
1989: In
“Deserted Synagogue of 1919 Sets Off Boston Tug-of-War” published today,
Constance L. Hays described the struggle over the fate of the Hub City’s Vilna
Shul.
1989: A
Congress of Jewish Organizations and Communities in the USSR that had begun on
December 18 met for the last time today in the Moscow Cinema Center having
established the Vaad, “an umbrella organization of Jewish Cultural bodies
chaired by Mikhail Chlenov from Moscow, Yosif Zissels from Chernovtsy and
Shmuel Zilberg from Riga.”
1990:
“Kindergarten Cop” produced and directed by Ivan Reitman, the son of Holocaust
survivors was released today in the United States
1990
“Bonfires of the Vanities,” cinematic treatment of the novel by the same name
featuring Alan King, F. Murray Abraham and Saul Rubinek was released today in
the United States.
1991(14th of
Tevet, 5752): Parashat Vayehi
1991(14th of
Tevet, 5752): Ninety-five-year-old “painter and printmaker” Minna Citron passed
away today. (As reported by Roberta Smith)
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/24/arts/minna-citron-95-artist-whose-work-spanned-2-schools.html
https://www.annexgalleries.com/artists/biography/417/Citron/Minna
1991: El
Sayid Nosair was acquitted of killing Meir Kahane.
1992(26th
of Kislev, 5753): Ukrainian born violinist Nathan Milstein passed away.
1992(26th
of Kislev, 5753): Ninety-two-year-old actress, famed acting teacher and member
of one of the most distinguished families of the Yiddish theatre, Stella Adler,
the New York born daughter of Sara and Jacob P. Adler, sister of Luther and Jay
Adler and half-sister of Charles and Celia Adler passed away today.
1993: A
family tour of Israel that include the opportunity to celebrate a bar or bat
mitzvah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem and at the Zealot’s Synagogue in
Masada sponsored by the American Jewish Congress is scheduled to begin today.
1994:
Federated Department Stores announced the acquisition of R H. Macy & Co the
mercantile establishment made famous by the owners Nathan and Isidor Straus.
1994:
Limited release of “Little Woman” starring Winona Ryder as “Josephine ‘Jo’
March.”
1994: U.S.
premiere of “Mixed Nuts” directed by Nora Ephron who wrote the script along
with her sister Delia featuring Kahn as “Mrs. Blanche Munchnik”, Robert Klein
as “Mr. Lobel”, Rob Reiner as “Dr. Kinsky”, Adam Sandler as “Louis Capshaw”,
Liev Schreiber as “Chris” and Garry Shandling as “Stanley.”
1995(28th of
Kislev, 5756): Fourth Day of Chanukah
1995: Israel
barred entry today to seven American Jews, including a New York rabbi whom the
Government considers to be a security risk in light of the assassination last
month of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The Interior Ministry said Rabbi Abraham
Hecht, 73, of New York, had given a religious justification for the killing of
Mr. Rabin only months before it occurred — though he later apologized in a
letter to Mr. Rabin days before the assassination. The ministry said today that
the six other American Jews had been linked to illegal activities in Israel,
had backed groups outlawed in Israel or had been active in the Jewish Defense
League, which was founded by Rabbi Meir Kahane, an anti-Arab activist who was
assassinated in New York.
1995: The
city of Bethlehem passed from Israeli to Palestinian control as part of the
peace process begun at Oslo. Unfortunately, there was no peace to go
with the process.
1996:
Baltimore native Stephen Glick, the senior executive at “Rose Shanis, the
personal loan business his mother founded in 1932” and his wife celebrated
their 36th wedding anniversary.
1996(11th
of Tevet, 5757): Margaret Rey passed away at Cambridge
http://www.anb.org/articles/16/16-03540.html,
1997(22nd of
Kislev, 5768): Sholom Schwadron, “the Haredi rabbi and orator known as the
‘Maggid Jerusalem’” passed away today.
1997: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including The Bible As It Was by
James L. Kugel and Barney’s Version by Mordecai Richler.
1998: NBC
broadcast the final episode of “Conrad Bloom” a sitcom starring Mark
Feuerstein, Steve Landesberg and Lina Lavin
1998(2nd of
Tevet, 5759) Eighth Day of Chanukah
1998(2nd of
Tevet, 5759): Sixty-three-year-old Hofstra graduate Merwin F. Kaminstein the
former Presiden of Filene’s and Rich’s department stores, the husband of Janet
Kaminstein and father of Susan, Ann, Steve and Greg Kaminstein lost his battle
with cancer today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1998/12/28/business/merwin-f-kaminstein-63-retail-executive.html
1999:
Shortly before the end of his term as Mayor of Philadelphia, Ed Rendell
resigned to take up the chairmanship of the Democratic National Committee (DNC
2000: Four
Israeli soldiers were injured when a Palestinian rammed a truck into a West
Bank checkpoint.
2001(6th of
Tevet, 5762): Sport’s journalist Dick Schaap passed away.
http://www.jewishsports.net/PillarAchievementBios/DickSchaap.htm
2001:
Following a Hollywood premiere a week ago, “A Beautiful Mind” the academy award
winning film co-produced by Brian Grazer, with a screenplay by Akiva Goldsman
and featuring Judd Hirsch was released in the United States
2002(16th of
Tevet, 5763): Parashat Vayechi
2002: In a
statement that “seemed aimed at inoculating the Palestinians from both the
surge of Qaeda attacks around the world and the increasing allegations by
Israel that the terrorist group’s operatives are active in the Gaza strip,”
Yassar Arafat “demanded that Al Qaeda stop using the Palestinian cause to
justify terror attacks.”
2003: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or
about subjects of Jewish interest including There Are Jews In My House by
Lara Vapnyar, Sephard by Antonio Muñoz Molina; translated by
Margaret Sayers Peden, Wise Men and Their Tales: Portraits of
Biblical, Talmudic, and Hasidic Masters by Elie Wiesel and The
Roaring Twenties: A New Historyof the World’s Most Prosperous Decade by
Joseph E. Stiglitz.
2004:
Today, during his visit to Jerusalem, British Prime Minister Tony Blair “said
that it was an opportune moment to restart Mideast peace efforts, but he warned
that the Palestinians needed to act against terrorism.”
2005: It
was reported today that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been released from the
hospital after having suffered a “mild stroke” while saying that he will
immediately return to his job despite the advice of doctors to “cut his
workload.”
2006: The annual report put out by Israel’s intelligence agencies was
presented to the prime minister prior to discussion of it by the security
cabinet.
2006: U.S.
premiere of “The Good Shepherd produced by Jane Rosenthal with a script by Eric
Roth.
2006: In
Boston, JDub records and Heeb magazine cohost a “Jewltide
Hanukkah Bash“ at T.T. the Bear’s. Headliners are the LeeVees,
a duo featuring Adam Gardner (of Guster) and Dave Schneider (of the Zambonis),
whose songs include “How Do You Spell Channukkahh” and “Goyim
Friends,” a tune about gentile pals. The show also features Golem,
SoCalled, and Shtreiml
2007:
Release date for “Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story,” a music comedy written b
Judd Apatow and Jake Kasdan.
2007: U.S.
premiere of “Charlie Wilson’s War” directed by Mike Nichols with a screenplay
by Aaron Sorkin.
2007: It
was reported today that Rite Aid founded by Alex Grass had suffered
record-breaking losses in despite the acquisition of the Brooks and Eckerd
chains
2007: Today,
Shari Ellin Redstone, president of National Amusements, vice-chairman of CBS
Corporation and Viacom, became chairman of Midway Games (a position she would
subsequently relinquish in December 2008 when her father Sumner Redstone sold
all his stock in the company).
2007:
President Shimon Peres apologized for the Kafr Kasim massacre of 1956, in which
Border Police officers killed 48 of the village’s residents
2007: “A
feature film adaption of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Sweeney Todd’ was released today
with Sacha Baron Cohen as ‘Signor Pirelli.’”
2008:
Opening session of the AJS (Association for Jewish Studies) 40th Annual
Conference in Washington, D.C.
2008: Dr.
Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies
will present research at the annual conference of the Association for Jewish
Studies in Washington, demonstrating that while some American Jewish leaders
such as Rabbi Stephen Wise were firmly pro-British and opposed aliya on the eve
of the Holocaust, others including Louis Brandeis recognized the need for
emergency measures to rescue Jews from Europe and were willing to take a more
hard-line position,
2008: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including American Therapy: The Rise
of Psychotherapy in the United States by Jonathan Engel and The
Hanukah Mice by Steven Kroll; Illustrated by Michelle Shapiro.
2008(24th
of Kislev, 5769): In the evening, kindle the first Chanukah Candle
2008(24th of
Kislev, 5769): Ninety-four-year-old Tony Award winning playwright Dale
Wasserman whose works included “One Flew Over the Cukoo’s Nest” and “The Man of
La Mancha” passed away toda.
2008: A
British tourist working in an archaeological dig in Jerusalem today unearthed a
treasure of 264 gold coins from 1,300 years ago.
2008:
“Shaul Ladany: The long walk through horrors of 20th century” published today
2009: Theatre
Company Jerusalem presents “The King and the Magician,” a tale of a
soothsayer king, Balak ben Zippor, and a great magician, Bilam ben Beor. This
is unique adaptation of the Biblical story, for children – story about curses and
their disadvantages and blessings and their advantages.
2009: Habima
Theatre presents “His Whole Life Ahead of Him,” a new adaptation of
Roman Gary’s novel Emil Ajar.
2009: Today
archaeologists unveiled what may have been the home of one of Jesus’ childhood
neighbors. The humble dwelling is the first dating to the era of Jesus to be
discovered in Nazareth, then a hamlet of around 50 impoverished Jewish families
where Jesus spent his boyhood. Archaeologist Stephen Pfann, president of the
University of The Holy Land, noted: “It’s the only witness that we have from
that area that shows us what the walls and floors were like inside Nazareth in
the first century.” Pfann was not involved in the dig.
2009:
Polish police detained five men today for stealing the metal sign that hung
over Auschwitz, the former Nazi death, and said they were common thieves not
neo-Nazis.
2009: In
article published in Sports Illustrated entitled “Welcome the
King of Israel,” Lee Jenkins describes the life of “Sacramento rookie Omri
Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA” who is “a modern extension of the
league’s Jewish roots.”
2010: Rabbi
Yosef Edelstein of MesorahDC is scheduled to lead “Food for Thought: Digesting
Ethics, Mysticism, and Philosophy” at the Historic 6th & I
Synagogue in Washington, DC.
2010: Dulce
Pontes, the famous Fado singer from Portugal, is scheduled to appear in Tel
Aviv.
2010: A
Qassam rocket struck the Ashkelon beach early today exploding in an open field
near a kindergarten and lightly wounded a a teenage girl in a nearby building.
2010: A
high-level priest on the morning show of the largest television station in
Greece blamed world Jewry for Greece’s financial problems on today..
2010(14th of
Tevet, 5771): Seventy-two-year-old “Marcia Lewis, an actress and singer known
for bringing a comic brassiness to Broadway revivals of “Grease” and “Chicago,”
died today in Nashville.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/22/arts/22lewis.html
2010:
Today, the Queen created Fiona Sara Shackleton the daughter of “Jonathan
Charkham, an adviser to The Bank of England and economist, and Moira Elizabeth
Frances Salmon, daughter of Barnett Alfred and Molly Salmona “ “a life peer as
Baroness Shackleton of Belgravia, of Belgravia in the City of Westminster.
2011(25th of
Kislev, 5772): First Day of Chanukah
2011(25th of
Kislev, 5572) :Eighty-five year old WW II veteran and Penn St grad
David N. Pincus, a co-owner of Pincus Bros., the highly successful Philadelphia
clothing manufacturers and husband of Geraldine Pincus with whom he established
one of the major collection of expressionist art work passed away today.
https://www.jewishexponent.com/2013/01/31/remembering-the-flame-of-david-pincus/
2011: The
band Girls in Trouble led by Alicia Jo Rabin is scheduled to perform this
evening at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
2011: Dan
& Aviva and Drory Yehoushua are scheduled to perform at The Spanish
Portuguese Synagogue as part of the Sephardic Music Festival.
2011: Yad
Vashem is scheduled to posthumously honor a Polish man who saved the lives of
Jews during World War II by hiding them in his attic. The Holocaust Museum will
bestow the title of righteous gentile upon Wojciech Wołoszczuk, a farmer who
let Frances Schaff, nee Feiga Bader; her brother, his family and two other Jews
secretly stay in his house to avoid persecution by the Nazis and their allies.
2011:
Today, the Knesset Finance Committee allocated an additional NIS 780 million to
Israel’s defense budget, which came at the expense of other government offices
such as welfare and housing.
2011: The
situation in Syria is unstable and the IDF needs to keep a watchful eye on
daily developments along its northern front, Commander of the Israel Air Force
Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan said today.
2011: The
US Senate approved $211 million for Iron Dome in new $633 billion defense bill
2012: Three
solid days of rainfall across the country has water authority officials calling
the the winter of 2012-13 the wettest since 2004
2012: Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made clear today that he has no intention of losing
any more ground to his right-wing challenger Naftali Bennett, giving a TV
interview in which he slammed the Jewish Home party’s chairman for his apparent
justification of insubordination
2012:
Ensemble Dmama is scheduled to perform at the Eden-Tamir Music Center in
Jerusalem.
2012: “The
Shortest Day” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2012:
Talia’s Steakhouse & Bar, the only full dine-in Glatt Kosher (under OU
Supervision) steakhouse on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, offers a pre-paid
Friday night dinner where diners can enjoy their challah and have wine for
Kiddush.
2013: The
Eden Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host “The Best of Chamber Music – The
Romantic Clarinet.”
2013:
“Dancing in the Rain” (Ples v dezju) is scheduled to be shown at the
Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Today
the Arab League rejected the US proposal, by which IDF soldiers would remain in
the Jordan Valley for a 10-year period as part of peace agreements between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA). (As reported by Ari Yashar)
2013: “IDF
forces foiled a terror attempt from Gaza on Saturday, shooting and wounding a
22 year old terrorist who was trying to place an explosive on the border.” (As
reported by Ari Yashar)
2013(18th of
Tevet, 5774): Eighty-four-year-old Edgar M. Bronfman passed away today. (As
reported by Jonathan Kandell)
2013: On
the 25th anniversary of the Lockerbie Bombing Israeli sources
provided evidence the Ahmed Jibril’s Popular Front for the Liberation of
Palestine-General Command was responsible for downing Pan Am Flight 103. (As
reported by David Horovitz) [Editor’s note: After you read about
enough of these groups you almost feel like these guys are good at two things –
murder and coming up with unbelievable names for their organizations]
2014: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish author/and or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Isabel’s War by Lila
Perl, The Brotherhood of Book Hunters by Raphaël Jerusalmy, The
Norton Anthology of World Religions Volume II: Judaism, Christianity,
Islam edited by Jack Miles, David Biale, Lawrence S. Cunningham and
Jane Dammen McAuliffe, The Wall by H.G. Adler and Living The
Secular Life: New Answers to Old Questions by Phil Zuckerman
2014: “The
Prime Ministers: Soldiers & Peacemakers” and “Felix and Meira” are
scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2014:
Chabad is scheduled to host the “Chanukah Bowl” at Colonial Bowling Lanes.
2014: Final
performance of “On the Other Side of the River” is scheduled to take place
today.
2014:
Shaare Tefila is scheduled to hold its annual Chanukah Party, Dinner and Talent
Show.”
2014: “Four
anti-assimilation activists affiliated with the Lehava organization were
arrested on suspicion of incitement to violence today, and four others were
brought in for questioning.”
2014: “The
Syrian army said today that it shot down an Israeli unmanned aerial vehicle
over Quneitra, media in Syria and Lebanon reported.
2014: “IDF
paratroopers’ hearts went out to two Palestinian children who approached their
post today asking for food.”
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4606213,00.html
2015(9th of
Tevet, 5776): On the Jewish calendar Yahrzeit of Ezra.
http://www.aish.com/dijh/Tevet_9.html
2015:
The Historic 6th and I Synagogue is scheduled to host a fun run
sponsored by the Running Club this evening.
2015:
Israeli and U.S. officials declared a new medium-range missile interceptor
fully operational today, ending years of development and testing for the key
component of Israel’s defense array.
2016:
Prof. Isaiah Gafni, The Sol Rosenbloom Professor Emeritus of Jewish
History, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is scheduled to deliver a special
Chanukah lecture’ “The Hasmonean Episode: From Rebellion to Kingdom” in which
he will examine the two chapters of the holiday story – “The rebellion under
Mattathias and his sons, followed by the emergence of an independent state and
kingdom.”
2016:
“Jewish worshipers in Ukraine were teargassed and the grave of Hasidic Rabbi
Nachman of Bratslav was defiled with fake blood and a pig’s head in an attack
tonight at the popular pilgrimage site visited by tens of thousands of Jews
every year.”
2016:
“Former president and convicted rapist Moshe Katsav was released from
Ma’asiyahu Prison today after the State Prosecution said it would not appeal
Sunday’s parole board decision to free him. He had served five years of a
seven-year jail sentence.”
2016: Rabbi
Berel Lazar was the keynote speaker when approximately 6,000 people arrived at
a government compound in Moscow to celebrate Chanukah, “twenty-five years after
the Kremlin hosted its first-ever Jewish event.”
2016: On
the occasion of his 70th birthday, violinist and champion of Jewish music Yuval
Waldman is scheduled to play a recital-lecture of works by Jewish composers
which he commissioned or gave the premiere performance of including “Thoughts
and Feelings, a never before heard work by Joachim Stutschewsky which
Stutschewsky wrote in 1981 at the age of 90, Variations on “Hatikvah”
by Yehiel Goyzman, Waltz from an Unknown Country by Paul Alan Levi (U.S.
Premiere), the world premiere of a new work by Alex Weiser, and Fantasy on
“Jerusalem of Gold” by Yuval Waldman himself.”
2017: As
part of its Historic Jewish Atlanta Tours, The Breman Museum is scheduled to
host a trip to the Fox Theatre.
2017: A
memorial service was held today in Toronto for philanthropist Barry and Honey
Sherman whose murderer still remains at large.
2017: “The
SEC is suing Robert Shaprio, the former head of the Woodbridge Group of
Companies for allegedly running a $1 billion Ponzi scheme.”
2017: The
Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center is scheduled to host Peter Weintraub
presenting an “Introduction to Judaism.
2017(3rd of
Tevet, 5778): Ninety-three-year-old USAAF veteran Jerome “Jerry” Yellin, the
P-51 Mustang pilot who is credited with flying the last mission in WWII passed
away today.
http://captainjerryyellin.com/
2017:
Today, “The United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution rejecting any recognition
of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel in the wake of the pronouncement by
President Donald Trump two weeks ago.” (Anybody who knows the history of the UN
and Jerusalem knows that the international body abdicated its responsibility
regarding the city 70 years ago when it failed to enforce its own resolution to
make the Jerusalem an international city to be governed by body established by
the UN)
2017(3rd of
Tevet, 5778): On the Jewish calendar, third of Tevet is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi
Chaim Shmulevitz
http://www.aish.com/dijh/Tevet_3.html
2018: In
what some say is a sign that in Jerusalem, public transport is on its way to
experiencing a revolution “Kol Ha’lr reports that today, the Ministry of
Transport is scheduled to issued tenders for the operation of dozens of
municipal service line in the city.”
2018: In
New Orleans, the JCC is scheduled to host “Bring A Friend Friday” at its
Metairie and Uptown Locations.
2018: As
Israeli forces begin “neutralizing” the terror tunnels Hezbollah has
constructed from Syria, Israeli officials begin to prepare for a dealing with a
Syria under the Assad regime, with Russians and Iranians but, according to
President Trump’s latest Tweet, without American forces.
2018:
Israeli born guitarist Gilad Hekselman is scheduled to perform at the Cornelia
Street Cafe
2018: In
response to those asking for activities that “enhance and deepen” services, in
Memphis, Temple Israel is scheduled to host a “Preneg” before Friday evening
services.
2018: In
New Orleans, the JCC Membership Appreciation Week is scheduled to come to an
end today.
2018: The
Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston is scheduled to host Tot
Shabbat.
2019: In
Hingham, MA, Congregation Sha’aray Shalom is scheduled to host the Noah Aronson
Band in a “Pre-Chanukah Concert.”
2019:
“Yiddish New York,” the “largest festival of Yiddish Culture, Arts and
Language” in the United States is scheduled to open at the 14th Street
Y.
2019(23rd of
Kislev, 5780): Parashat Vayayshev;
2019(23rd of
Kislev, 5780): Eighty-eight-year-old Joseph Myron Segel, the Philadelphia born
son of realtor Albert Segal and Fannie Segal and graduate of Wharton, the
entrepreneur who gave us the “Franklin Mint” and QVC Shopping Network passed
away today. (As reported by Katharine Q. Seelye)
2020: The
Lappin Foundation is scheduled to host online “a presentation about Jewish
medical ethics by Dr. Michael Szycher.
2020: Lost
Tribe Esports, “a global, year-round engagement initiative, connecting the next
generation to Jewish life and identity through esports and the community of
gaming” is scheduled to present online a “Valorant Game Night.”
2020: In
Pepper Pike, OH, B’nai Jeshurun Congregation is scheduled to present “What’s
Nu?” a “topical text studay and discussion on the relevant Jewish topics” with
Rabbi Hal Rudin-Luira, followed by a discussion of the weekly Torah portion
“from a liberal point of view led by Professor Doron Kalir.”
2020: The
National Library of Israel is scheduled to host online Dr. Noam Sienna
lecturing “On the Altar of the Press”: Jewish Print Culture in 19th
Century North Africa.”
2020: On
the winter solstice, Aquarian Minyan in Berkeley is scheduled to present a
conference of academics, scholars and mystics discussing topics that include
this year’s extremely rare Jupiter-Saturn conjunction
2020: As
the United States copes with the worst cybersecurity breach in its history,
based on reports published yesterday, Israel may be dealing with an Iranian
“infiltration of servers belonging to the state-owned IAI (Israel Aerospace
Industries)
2021:
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston is scheduled to
present online a conversation between JCRC executive director Jeremy Burton and
Dalit Ballen Horn, the executive director of The Vilna Shul.
2021: The
Emerson Colonial Theatre is scheduled to host a new production of “Fiddler on
the Roof” in Boston.
2021: The
National Library of Israel is scheduled to present via Zoom “From Budapest to
Jerusalem during which Samuel Thropem the Curator of the Islam and Middle East
Collection at the National Library of Israel discusses “Ignaz Goldziher’s
Library and the founding of Islamic Studies in Israel.”
2022(27th
of Kislev, 5783): Third Day of Chanukah https://jeopardylabs.com/play/chanukah10
2022: The 3rd
Annual Hanukkah Lighting Across Iowa is scheduled to take place this evening
via zoom.
2022: Rabbi
Daniel Isaacson, director of JFCS Spiritual Care Services, and chaplain Bruce
Feldstein, director of JFCS Jewish Chaplaincy Services serving Stanford
Medicine, are scheduled to explore Hanukkah themes of hope and healing through
stories, song and ritual.
2022: In
Wayland, MA, Congregation Or Atid is scheduled to present, “Brighter Ignited,
an illuminated and travelling art exhibit designed by artist Tova Speter.
2023:
Following yesterday’s “Opening Reception,” today, the exhibition “Zog mir,
ver bistu? Tell Me, Who are You?” is on view at the Dr. Bernard Heller
Museum.
2023:
Hadassah
Magazine Executive Editor is scheduled to talk online “to author Meryl Frank
about Unearthed: A Lost Actress, a Forbidden Book, and a Search for Life in the
Shadow of the Holocaust, her unflinching memoir about unraveling a World War
II-era family mystery, as well as the importance of Holocaust memory in addressing
antisemitism today.”
2022: In
Arlington, MA, “The center for Jewish Life and the Arlington Station” are
scheduled to host “the Chocolate Gelt Drop” celebration of Chanukah.
2023: The
Israel Law and Liberty Forum and the Institute of Jewish Ethics are scheduled
to co-sponsor a new 2 credit CLE Course “Israel vs. Hamas: Ethics of War.”
2023:
Temple Emanuel of Newton is scheduled to present online “Hanukkah Happens
XXXIII: Hazzan Elias Rosemberg With Zamir Chorale of Boston” which will
celebrated the 75th year of Israel’s independence.
2023:
As December 21 begins in Israel, the Hamas held
hostages begin day 76 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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