This Day, February 20, In Jewish History by Mitchell A and Deb Levin Z"L
February 20
390: Emperors
Valentinian II., Theodosius, and Arcadius issued a decree that thwarted the
attempt of the association of “navicularii”
(ship-and cargo-owners) of Constantinople to force the Jews and the Samaritans
to join them and to share in the burdens of the society. They “decided that the
communities of the Jews and the Samaritans could not legally be forced to join
the navicularii, and that at most their wealthy members only could be taxed
(“Codex Theodosianus,” xiii. 5, 18). This decree was most important
to the Jews, for many of them were ship-owners, and more than one-half of the
shipping in Alexandria was controlled by Jews.” (As reported by the Jewish
Encyclopedia)
1194:
King Tancred of Sicily died effectively ending the Norman Kingdom of Sicily and
bring it under the German Hohenstaufens. This would prove beneficial to the
Jews because 15 years later, Emperor Frederick II would intervene on behalf of
his Sicilian Jewish subjects to temporarily put an end to their persecutions by
the Crusaders.
1422:
Pope Martin V (1417-31) issued a Bull reminding Christians that Christianity
was derived from Judaism and warned the friars not to incite against the Jews.
The Bull was withdrawn the following year amidst allegations that the Jews of
Rome attained the Bull by fraud.
1431: Pope
Martin V, the author of Sicut Judaeis (“and thus to the Jews,”
passed away today.
1495: “The Jew Mekl, son of Jontoffa, gave a
mortgage of 60 schock of Meissen thalers on his Jewish house at number 263, on
the corner of what are today Solní Road and Sedláčková Road in Pilsen, to his
stepmother Lea, giving her the right to live there before gentiles and Jews.
1547:
Edward VI of England crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey. Edward was
the male heir sought by his father Henry VIII. Edward’s reign was short since
he died at the age of 15. Reportedly small numbers of Conversos made
their way to the kingdom during his reign as they had during Henry VIII’s time
and worshipped secretly in London and Bristol.
1662(1st
of Adar, 5422): Shabbatai ben Meir HaKoehn, the Lithuanian-born Moravian rabbi
whose works included Siftei Kohn or the Shakh, a commentary on
the Shulchan Aruch Yoreh De’ah passed away today.
1667(26th
of Shevat, 5427): Rabbi David ben Samuel Halevi passed away. Born in Cracow in
1586, he was known as TA”Z an acronym for his response Turei Zahav – Rows
(or Rock) of Gold. During the Chmelnitsky Uprisings which resulted in the
massacre of thousands of Jews he found refuge in the castle of Prince Radziwill
in a narrow room at the top, near the clock – the symbol of the Polish eagle
that could be seen for miles. A folktale says that when Chmelnitsky and his
hooligans approached the town Olyka, the rabbi and a large number of Olyka Jews
took refuge in the Prince’s castle and prayed to God. They fought alongside the
Prince’s men against the cruel enemy. Two ancient huge cannons that were not
even usable suddenly shot out by themselves and killed off many of the enemy.
In any event, the fear of God befell the hooligans and the quickly retreated
and ran away. In memory of this miracle, Rabbi David composed special
penitential prayers for the 20th of Nisan, the day the miracle
occurred. The descendants of Rabbi Ha-Levi were the Russian rabbinical family
Paltrowitch. This family produced 33 rabbis over several generations. One of
these rabbis, Simcha Paltrowitch (1843-1926) served the Pine street “shul” in
Buffalo from 1890 to 1914. His brother’s descendant is the
producer-director Bruce Paltrow (Hill Street Blues, St. Elsewhere), the father
of the actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
1751: Benedict
XIV issued Elapso proxime Anno, a papal bull dealing with the issue of
what the Church called “Jewish heretics.”
1767: In
Germany, Dreile Schweizer and Philip Moses Faist Rosenheim gave birth to Simon
Faist Rosenheim, the husband of Hannele Isaak and father of Mordochai, Hindle,
Isaac and Abraham Simon.
1768: In
Newport, RI, Solomon Marache and his wife gave birth to Esther Marache, the
future resident of Charleston, SC who married Joseph Mordecai in 1786.
1778: In
Buchau, Helena Neuburger and Heinrich Maendle gave birth to Eleanor Maendle,
the wife of Lazarus Heilbronner with whom she had eight children.
1784: In
London, Levi Barnett Cohen one of founders and first president of the Bread,
Meat and Coal Society that provided relief for the poor Jews of London and
Lydia Barnet-Cohen gave birth to Judith Montefiore, the wife of Moses
Montefiore.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/montefiore-judith
https://blog.nli.org.il/en/judith-montefiore/
1790:
Austrian Emperor Joseph II passed away at the age of 49. Joseph II
actually reigned over the Holy Roman Empire which was “neither holy nor
Roman.” For his time he was a benign despot who sought to reform his
empire. Jews viewed him with mixed feelings. On the one hand he
abolished many of the archaic restrictions on Jewish social and commercial
life. He abolished laws pertaining to wearing the yellow badge and
prohibiting Jews from practicing law and medicine. At the same time, he
called for an end to writing public documents and contracts in Yiddish or
Hebrew and the abolition of certain aspects of self-governance in the Jewish
community. On the one hand even a reformer like Moses Mendelssohn
was concerned about the impact of Joseph’s plans on Jewish identity. On
the other hand, a century and a quarter later, Adolph Hitler expressed his
disdain for this Austrian monarch. I guess you will have to be the judge
after you have had a chance to the history of Jews in Europe during the 18th
and 19th centuries.
1790: At
Strasbourg, The Society of the Friends of the Constitution admitted its first
Jewish member.
1792: “Jews
who lived in the vicinity of Strasbourg were granted permission to enter the
city to take an oath of allegiance.
1793:
Birthdate of David Levy, the Philadelphia born son of Moses Nathan Levy who
should not be confused with the David Levy who “served with Continental Army in
Maryland, or any of the other Levy’s named David born during the late 18th
century.
1793:
Birthdate of German native Baruch Hofheimer, the husband of Ester Nathan and
the father of Jacob Hofheimer.
1793(8th
of Adar, 5553): Prudence Hays, the wife of Baruch Hays and the mother of John
Jacob Hays passed away today in New York City.
1793:
Pennsylvania native Maria and Moses Nathans gave birth to David Nathans, the
husband of Rebecca Russell and father of Moses and Sarah Nathans.
1793: In
Savannah, GA, Shankey Hart and Abraham Jacobs gave birth to Rachel Jacobs, the
wife of Samuel A. Barnett.
1793: In
Savanah, GA, Abraham Jacobs and his wife gave birth to Rachel Jacobs who
married Samuel A. Barnett in 1822.
1796: In
Savannah, GA, Sara De La Motta and Levi Sheftall gave birth to Abigail Minis
Sheftall, the wife of Levy Hart and mother of Levi, Amanda and Eugenia Hart.
1798(4th
of Adar): Following Napoleon’s conquest of Italy, the ghetto at Rome was
abolished. When the Pope regained power, the ghetto was
re-established. It would finally be abolished after the re-unification of
Italy in 1870.
1804:
Birthdate of German native Benedict Kahnweiler, the husband of Rosina Seligmann
Kahnweiler, the father of Firdoline Kahnweiler and the father-in-law of Adam
Gimbel, the founder of Gimbel Brothers Department Store.
1804: At
Hobart, Australia a penal colony was established which included 8 Jews among
its prisoners.
1808: In
Canada, the assembly resolved by a vote of 35 to 5 that “Ezekiel Hart,
Esquire, professing the Jewish religion cannot take a seat, nor sit, nor vote,
in this House.”
1812(7th
of Adar I, 5572): Seventy-two-year-old Rabbi Moses Ben Abraham Frankel, the
father of David Frankel passed away at Dessau.
1816(21st
of Shevat, 5576): Polly Israel (Perla bat Kalonymous) the mother of Henrietta
Israel passed away today.
1817: Abraham
Quixano Henriques married Rebecca Aguillar at Bevis Marks Synagogue in London
today.
1817:
Birthdate of Aix-les-Bains native and University of Paris graduate Gustave
Emanuel Bedarrides, the French magistrate who represented “the Jewish community
of Marseilles in the central consistory of France.
1820: In
Bavaria, Brendel Mayer and Baruch Benedig Bissinger gave birth Samuel Bissinger
the husband of Sarah Ochs who was born exactly one year later and whom he
married in Louisville, KY after which they had five children all of whom were
born in Kentucky.
1821: Asher
ben Israel married Breina bat Uri Feivel at the Western Synagogue today.
1821: In
Bavaria, Nanette Wexler and Leser Lazarus Ochsenhorn gave birth to Sarah Ochs,
the wife of Samuel Bissinger with whom she had five children.
1827: Sir
Moses Montefiore and Lady Judith Montefiore began their first trip to Palestine
(As reported by Jennifer Breger)
1829: In
Florence, Italy, British Major-General Lord George Russell and Elizabeth Rawdon
gave birth to Odo William Leopold Russell, the British diplomat who worked with
Sir Moses Montefiore in an unsuccessful attempt to get the Pope to return
Edgardo Mortara to his Jewish parents.
1830: In Calcutta,
David Joseph Esra and his wife gave birth to one of the richest merchants in India,
Elia Esra “the Indian Rothschild” who “distributed 10,000 francs among the poor
every month,” built the Magen David Synagogue in honor of his father in
Calcutta and wo passed in March 1886.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/5864-esra-elia
1830(27th
of Shevat, 5590): Parashat Mishpatim; Shabbat Shekalim observed for the last
time during the reign of French King Charles X who lost his throne to Louis
Phillipe during the Revolution of 1830.
1832: A
version of Robert le diable (Robert the Devil) an opera in five acts composed
by Giacomo Meyerbeer was presented in London today at the Theatre Royal, Drury
Lane under the title “The Fiend-Finder.
1833: Blumah
Jacobs and Joseph Levy gave birth to Elizabeth Levy.
1838: Ashe
Davis married Frances Wolfe today at the Great Synagogue.
1839: In
Charleston, SC, Rabbi Poznanski officiated at the wedding of Lew Hertz and
Esther Peixotto, the eldest daughter of the late Solomon C. Peixotto.
1844(30th
of Shevat, 5604): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1844(30th
of Shevat, 5604): Rebecca Lopez, the daughter of Aaron Lopez and the wife of
Uriah Hendricks passed away today in New York.
1844:
Birthdate of Hesse native Dr. William Simon the University of Giessen trained
chemist and veteran of the Franco-Prussian War who in 1870 came to the United
States where he served on the faculty of the University of Maryland College of
Pharmacy.
1845(13th
of Adar I, 5606): Seventy-two-year-old Polish born author and poet Shalom Ben
Jacob Cohen who was educated in Berlin and whose works in “Light of David,” an
epic poem about the Israelite king and He Who Calls The Generations, “a
history of the Jews from Maccabean times to the present.”
1845: In
Essen, Germany, Marianne and Simon Hirschland gave birth to Isaac Hirschland, the
husband of Henriette Hirschland and father of Agathe Gruenebaum; Kurt Martin
Hirschland; Dr. jur. Georg Simon Hirschland and Franz Herbert Hirschland.
1848:
Birthdate of an American native Frances Strauss, the wife of Gustave Strauss
and the mother of Florence, Edwin and Lily Strauss.
1849: One day
after he had passed away, 20 year old David Samuel was buried at the “Brady
Street Jewish Cemetery.”
1849: Today,
in Delaware, “the General Assembly appropriated one hundred dollars for a sword
with suitable inscription for Brevet Captain C.P. Evans” who had served in
Mexico with Lt. Jefferson Nones, the son of Capt. Henry B. Nones.
1852(30th of Shevat, 5612): Rosh Chodesh Adar
observed on the same day that The
Springfield Daily Republican
published Emily Dickinson’s “Sic transit gloria mundi” anonymously as “A
Valentine.”
1854: Two days
after he had passed away, “Eliezer b Moshe HaCohen” as buried today at the
“Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.”
1854: In
London, Maurice Chapman gave birth to Jews’ College trained cleric Edward
Maurice Chapman who served as the rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel, in
Hartford, Temple Emanu-El in Dallas and Ansche Chesed in Scranton, PA.
1855: “The
inauguration of the Touro Literary Institute took place this evening, at the
rooms of the Institute at Number 448 Broome-street in New York City.”
Most of those attending the meeting were described as “intelligent” and of
“Hebraic descent.” Benjamin H. Myers, the president of the Association
presided over the meeting. Jonas B. Phillips and Rabbi R.J.M. Raphall
addressed the meeting. In their speeches, the speakers traced the history of
Jewish literature and literary societies from ancient Jerusalem, through Spain
and London to modern times.
1856(14th
of Adar I, 5616): Purim Katan observed as the Republican Party prepares to run
its first candidate in a presidential election
1857: It was
reported today that the boot manufactures of Hopkinton, MA, have discovered,
much to their consternation, that some of their workmen have been selling
some of their footwear to “certain Jew peddlers and others” at a
fraction of their cost. The plan was to purchase the goods in one town
and sell them in another, thus avoiding detection. [Please note, only the Jews
are identified by their religion. This was often in the case in
newspapers and journals of the day including the New York Times.]
1858: Lord
Derby formed a government in which Benjamin Disraeli would play an “outsized”
role because he was a member of the House of Commons while Derby and most of
his other cabinet members sat in the House of Lords.
1858: In
London, Rosetta Pinto, the London born daughter of Daughter of Rabbi David
Aaron de Sola and Rebecca (Rica) de Sola and her husband Henry (Haim) Pinto
gave birth to Victoria Pinto who passed away at the age of 18.
1862:
Philadelphian Jacob Jacobs began serving with Company K of the Eleventh
Regiment
1863: Ha-Levanon, the first Hebrew language
periodical in Palestine, was published today
1863: In
Paris, impressionist painter Camille Pissarro and his wife Julie (née Vellay)
gave birth to landscape painter, printmaker, wood engraver and designer and
printer of fine books Lucien Pissarro who was fortunate to have settled in
London and thus avoided the Holocaust which engulfed his native France.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucien_Pissarro#/media/File:Manson-Lucien-Pissaro-Reading.jpg
1864: Ellen
Terry, the British actress who gained fame for her portrayal of Portia in The
Merchant of Venice marred George F. Watts, the artist who painted her portrait.
1865: Having
reached the rank of Corporal, Jacob Jacobs completed his three-year enlistment
with the Union Army as a member of Company K of the Eleventh Regiment.
1870: Today,
in Brooklyn “the members and ordinary worshippers of full and lawful aged
belonging to” Temple Israel “met at their regular and stated place of worship
at the southeast corner of Gallatin Place and Fulton Avenue, for the purposed
of incorporating themselves as a religious society and for the election of
trustees” who are Samuel Moses, Simon Manne, Samuel Koch, Jacob Ehrick, Adolph
Fleischauer, Sameul Goodstein, Solomon Ascher, Herman Goetz and Mark Sighman.”
1871: Baron
Jozsef Eotvos, Hungarian statesman and who supported the emancipation of the
Jews passed away today while serving as Minister of Religion and Education of
Hungary.
1871(29th
of Shevat, 5631): Selig Newman, the native Posen who became a rabbi in
Plymouth, taught Hebrew at Oxford and founded the Society for the Cultivation
of the Hebrew Language and Literature passed away today in New York where he
had been living and teaching for approximately the last twenty years.
1872:
According to reports published today, a dispute has arisen in New York over the
ritual purity of wine being supplied to the Jewish community. According
to Rabbi Aronson, the wine being supplied to the local synagogues has not been
prepared in accordance with Jewish law. But the wine dealers say that
their wine bears the seal and signature of Rabbi A.J. Ash of the Grand Beth
Hamedrash of New York City proving that the wine is Kosher. Rabbi Isaacs
has also certified the wine as ritually fit.
1873: In
Buffalo, NY, William D. Ellis and Bertha Strass gave birth David A. Ellis the
Phi Beta Graduate of Harvard and Editor of the Harvard Law Review and husband
of Amy Friedman who was a director of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, the
Boston Branch of Alliance Israelite Universelle and several other Jewish and
secular educational and charitable organizations in Boston.
1874:
Birthdate of Samuel Earl “Ike” Samuels the native of Quincy, Illinois who
played third base before the turn of the century.
1874: Benjamin
Disraeli began serving his second and final term as Prime Minister of Great
Britain. Disraeli was a leader of the Conservative Party. But as can be
seen by the reform legislation passed by his government these Conservatives
have more in common with the liberal Democrats of the 21st century
than they do with those on the American right who call themselves
Conseratives. “Disraeli’s government introduced various reforms,
including the Artisan’s and Labourers’ Dwellings Improvement Act 1875, the
Public Health Act 1875, the Sale of Food and Drugs Act (1875), and the
Education Act (1876). His government also introduced a new Factory Act meant to
protect workers, the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875 to allow
peaceful picketing, and the Employers and Workmen Act (1875) to enable workers
to sue employers in the civil courts if they broke legal contracts. As a result
of these social reforms the Liberal-Labour MP Alexander Macdonald told his
constituents in 1879, ‘The Conservative party have done more for the working
classes in five years than the Liberals have in fifty.’” When it came to
foreign policy, Disraeli’s government supported the concept of Empire. He
engineered the first British acquisition of financial interest in the Suez
Canal. He understood the great issue of the time as being the management
of the decline of the Ottoman Empire and showed his mastery of the diplomacy at
the Congress of Berlin.
1875:
Birthdate of Hyman Phillips, the native of Russia who moved to Massachusetts
who served as officer for the Home for Jewish Children in Dorchester and as a
board member of the Federation of Jewish Charities.
1876:
Birthdate of Richard Beuthner who would die in Berlin at the age of 66.
1876: It was
reported today that The Alliance Israélite Universelle, which is headquartered
in Paris, is providing a variety of services to Jews throughout the
world. Among other things, the Alliance is providing care for a large
number of Russian Jewish orphan, supporting an Agricultural School in Jaffa and
operating a normal school for Jewish women from Asia Minor in Paris. The
Alliance is supporting numerous other schools throughout North Africa and
western Asia, including ones at Aleppo, Baghdad and Constantinople.
1878: Leo XIII
is elected Pope. “In reaction to the painful loss of the papacy’s temporal
power…Leo XIII lashed out against modernity.” “The Vatican increasingly
viewed the Jews who were beneficiaries of the demise of the church’s temporal
rule as part of the array of dangerous forced against it. In 1880,
apparently with the approval of Leo XIII, “Civilta Cattolica kicked off
a decades-long campaign against the Jews accusing them of all the old sins and
then many new ones such as being responsible for both capitalism and communism
and of being disloyal to the countries in which they lived.’ (As reported in Antisemitism
by Richard S. Levy)
1879: “The
Jews Oath” was “abrogated” today in Dresden, Germany.
1879: Two days
after he had passed away, Percy Maurice Raphael, the infant son of Charlotte
and George Charles Raphael was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish
Cemetery.”
1880: In
Prescott, AZ, the Pauline Markham troupe that included Josephine Sarah Marcus,
the eccentric Jewess who became the lover and wife of Wyatt Earp completed
their performances of HMS Penifore.
1880: “Oil in
the World,” published today described the conditions of oil fields throughout
Asia, Europe and the United States, the some of the fields in Eastern Galicia
are controlled by Polish Jews. The Jews of Boryslaw are more interested in
gaining the wax found in their fields because it is part of the highly
profitable candle business. Therefore, they have resisted spending the
money necessary to develop the oil production in the area.
1880: In
Raczki, Poland “Sundel and Rebecca (Chasan) Zackheim gave birth to Maurice H.
Zackheim, the husband of Rea E. Kreinson and Detroit College of Medicine
trained pharmacist who served as the President of the Talmud Torah in Detroit
and the Chairman of the Board of Education of the United Hebrew Schools in
Detroit.
1882:
Birthdate of Polish -born “American sculptor, draughtsman and collector” Elie
Nadelman.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Classical_Head_by_Nadelman.jpg
1882: This
morning, Philadelphia’s Mayor King received a telegram from J.M. Brown of
Galveston Texas offering to provide one hundred acres of land in Motely County,
Texas to any of the 50 Jewish families who are on their way to Philadelphia
from Russia who are willing to settle in the Lone Star State. Motely County is
one of those underpopulated expanses in the northwest part of the state.
1882: The
Grand Lodge of the order Kesher Shel Barzel, District No. 1 continued with its
annual convention at the Pythagoras Hall.
1883: In
Schroda, Germany, “Alexander and Clara (Pheibig) Baum gave birth to Felix Baum
the German trained physician specializing in internal medicine, WW I veteran of
the German Army and husband of Lillie Hofheimer who in 1924 came to the United
States where served as the Medical Director of the National Jewish Hospital in
Denver, CO where he developed the “Baum Technik” which is “a serological method
to determine active tuberculosis.”
1884: In Waco,
TX, Samuel and Hannah Heller Sanger gave birth to Carrie Sanger who became
Carrie Sanger Godshaw whenshe married
Alfred Tennyson Godshaw in 1907.
1885:
Birthdate of New York City native Sydney Cohen, the theatre owner who in 1934
re-opened “the 125th Street Apollo Theatre with his partner Morris
Sussman and “changed the format of the shows from burlesque to variety revues
and redirected their marketing attention to the growing African-American
community in Harlem.”
https://sydneyscohen.wordpress.com/2013/01/
https://sydneyscohen.wordpress.com/about/
https://www.apollotheater.org/about/history/
1886:
“Undesirable Immigrants” published today described the condition of 300
Romanian Jews who were expelled from their native land and are now being held
at Castle Garden. While few of them had any money, most of them had
tickets that would take them to American cities where they say that have
friends who will assist them.
1886:
Birthdate of Minnie K. Kooler Lapidus, the wife of Lithuania native and Omaha
businessman Harry Lapidus, the president of the Omaha Fixture Supply Company
and leader of the Jewish community who “was a member of the American Jewish
National Council of Americanization and a member of the executive committee of
the United Palestine Appeal and the mother of Estelle and Earl Lapidus
1886:
Birthdate of Béla Kun head of Hungarian Soviet Republic formed in
1919 in the aftermath of World War I. Neither the Soviet nor Kun survived
for very long.
1888: In
Lithuania, Rebecca Zwik and Hyman Rosenthal gave birth to Maryland Institute
and Rinehart School trained sculptor, the husband of Dorothy Levine who
“executed the Balfour Testimonial for the ZOA and the miniature sculpture group
of the Unknown Soldier for the Greek Embassy” at his studio in Baltimore, MD.
1888: Henry de
Worms, the Lord Pirbright, began serving as Under-Secretary of State for the
Colonies in the government of Marquess of Salisbury.
1888: Rabbi
Joseph Silverman finished his service with Congregation B’nai Israel in
Galveston, Texas, where he had been serving since July, 1885. The Ohio
born rabbi was on his way to a pulpit in New York City.
1890(30th
of Shevat, 5650): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1890: Two days
after he had passed away, 83 year old Edward Naphtali Hart was buried today at
the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1890; It was
reported today that Mrs. Phillip J. Joachimsen is President of the Hebrew
Sheltering Guardian Society of New York and C.W. Meyer is serving as Secretary.
1892: The
Cunard Line Etruria was being held in quarantine because of the need to
take extra precautions because there are Jews from Russia among the steerage
passengers.
1893:
Birthdate of playwright and librettist Russel Crouse whose interaction with
Jews included collaborating with Rodgers and Hammerstein on the “Sound of
Music” and making “a casual remark” which resulted in Arthur Laurents having to
go before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee “to account for
his political views.”
1893: “Some
New Publications” published today includes a review of Studies by a Recluse in
Cloister, Town and Country in which Augustus Jesopp describes the history the
Abbey at Bury St. Eduunds including a period in the Middle Ages during which
Abbott Sampson drove out the Jews who had legitimately acquired much of the
property following a period of gross mismanagement.
1893: The
Hebrew Sheltering Guardian and Orphan Asylum will give a concert at the Lenox
Lyceum this evening under the sponsorship of the Ladies’ Auxiliary Society.
1894: It was
reported today that Jesse Seligman, Nathan Straus and Perry Belmont were among
those who attended the meeting of the Distribution Committee established by the
Citizens’ Relief Committee. The committee had been set up to deal with
the suffering caused by the Depression that began in 1893. Belmont was
the son of August Belmont, Jr. the Jewish born financier. Perry’s mother
was not Jewish.
1895:
Ferdinand Forzinetti, the commandant of the Cherche-Midi military prison, and
one of the first to be convinced of Dreyfus’s innocence was granted his
retirement today while his most famous prisoner sailed to Guyana. Later, Alfred
Dreyfus paid homage to his jailer who had dissuaded him from taking his own
life and “who knew how to combine the strict duty of a soldier with the
highest feelings of humanity.”
1896: It was
reported today that the last year’s charity ball sponsored by the Young Ladies
and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home raised $10,088.12.
1896: It was
reported today that among those who included on the lists as patrons for the
upcoming charity ball sponsored by the Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League of
the Montefiore Home are Governor
1897: In
Leipzig, Marie Edith Fischer, a Lutheran and Rudolf Eisler a Jewish professor
of philosophy gave birth to Gerhart Eisler.
http://spartacus-educational.com/Gerhart_Eisler.htm
1897: Rolla
Hewitt, a woman of questionable sanity who felt it her duty to convert Jews to
Christianity was assumed to be dead after having wandered off twenty-four hours
ago.
1897:
According to some sources, birthdate of boxer Danny Frush, the husband of
Binnie Cohen Frush.
1897: “Insane
on Religion” published today described the disappearance of Mrs. Rolla Hewitt
who “a demented woman” who “wandered away from her home” “several days”
after “a converted Jew preached” at her Church having declared that “she had a
mission to perform and her objective” was to convert every Jew at the Baron
Hirsch settlement in Woodbine, NJ.
1898: As the
Dreyfus Case continued to embroil France a mob of three thousand Parisians
“marched toward the Pantheon yelling ‘Down with Zola!’ and “Death to the
Jews.’”
1898: Ludovic
Trarieux, Emile Duclaux, Edouard Grimaux and Francis de Pressensé are among
those who founded “The Ligue des Droits de l’Homme et du citoyen” [League for
Human and Civic Rights] which was founded to defend Alfred Dreyfus who had been
wrongly convicted of treason Ludovic Trarieux served as its first President,
1898: A mass
meeting was held in New Jersey synagogue tonight to protest the statements by
William J. Corssley, the Prosecutor in Mercer County, who while trying a case against
a peddler, said “The god of the Jew is gold. They are not fit to be
citizens, as they only come here to hoard wealth, that they may go back to
Jerusalem and spend it.
1898: In Port
Huron, MN, founding of the Mount Sinai Society which “maintains a cemetery and
dispenses charity” and whose members included Jacob Jacobi, Jacob Cohn, Leon
Cohen, Benjamin Cohn, Adolph Kanter and Louis Levine.
1899: “Christ
and His Religion” published today provides Rabbi Gustav Gottheil’s views on
Jesus whom he does not believe would be comfortable with the practices and the
preachings of today’s Christian churches.
1900: “The 37th
Convention of District No. 4 of the Independent Order of B’Nai B’rith came to
an end today in San Francisco.
1900: Today
law student turned physician Maurice Gerstein, the son of Israel and Rebecca
(Kaplan) Gerstein, who was a laryngologist, member of the Massachusetts Medical
Society and Temple Israel married Miriam Brodie in Boston.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jps.2600500123
1900: In
Mulhouse, France, Constance Kenendel Lang and Baruch Kahn gave birth to Raphael
Kahn
1901: “In
Pärnu, Estonia, Beila-Rebecka Mendelowitsch and Leib Schmuilowsky gave birth to
Leiser-Itze Schmuilowsky who gained fame as architect Louis Isadore Kahn.
https://www.philadelphiabuildings.org/pab/app/ar_display.cfm/21829
1902: It was
reported today that Oscar Straus was among the leaders from political parties
who supported “the protest against any further delay in granting reciprocity to
Cuba” and the “demand that the efforts of the President and the Secretary of
War to save Cuba from ruin be supported by Congress.”
1902: In
Kodinoff, Russia, Sarah Henes and Abraham Jonah Hinenburg gave birth to Yale
University trained medical doctor Morris Hinenburg, who in 1906 came to the
United States where he married Rose Becker and served as a hospital
administrator and executive director of the Jewish Hospital in Brooklyn.
1903: Bruder Straubinger (Brother
Straubinger), “an operetta in three acts composed by Edmund Eysler premiered in
Vienna today.
1904(4th
of Adar, 5664): Parashat Terumah
1904: “Legends
of Israel” published today provided a review of Professor John Punnett Peters
latest work Early Hebrew Story: A Study of the Origin, the Value and the
Historical Background of the Legends which is part of a series of books by
the archeologist that began with Hebrew Story, From Creation to the Exile
1905: Miss
Annie Russell appeared to-night in the leading role of “Jinny, the
Carrier,” a four-act comedy by Israel Zangwill, which was presented for
the first time before a packed house at the Park Theatre in Boston, MA.
1905: Two days
after he had passed away, seventy-one-year-old Saul Henry Lorie was buried
today at the “West Ham Jewish Cemetery” by the side of his wife Dora with whom
he had had three children – Augusta, Bertha and Rose Lorie.
1906:
According to a summary of the forecast prepared by Broughton Brandenburg, the
President of the National Institute of Immigration “there will be a heavy fall
off in the” immigration of Gallician, Russian and Polish Jews because, among
other things, he believes “that the bloody events in Russia have served to
promote a new solidarity among the Jews and they will remain where they are,
for a time at least, hoping for better things at home or the inauguration of a
movement to found a new Hebrew nation in Palestine or some other land.”
1907:
New York State Supreme Court Justice Samuel Greenbaum is scheduled to hear
arguments on whether or no American Ice Company has to let the New York State
Attorney General or his representatives examine all of the company’s records
because some copies of company records have “mysteriously disappeared from the
office of the Attorney General.”
1907(6th of
Adar, 5667): French Chemist Henri Moissan passed away. Moissan isolated
fluorine and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1906
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/moissan.html
1908: Mrs.
Samuel Greenbaum, the President, of The Jewish Working Girls Vacation Society,
which “held its first opening at the Waldorf-Astoria this afternoon to
celebrate the fifteenth anniversary of the founding of the society and the
first anniversary of the organization of the Junior League, “read the annual
report which showed that the society had provided vacations to 1,300 girls last
year as against 200 in the first year of
the Society’s existence.”
1909(29th
of Shevat, 5669): Parashat Mishpatim; Shabbat Shekalim celebrated on the same
day that Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti’s “Manifesto of Futurism” was
published in French as Manifeste du futurisme (Manifesto of Futurism) in
the newspaper Le Figaro.
1910: In
Seattle, WA, Congregation Bikur Cholom’s Fair and Bazaar, a benefit for the
Temple’s Building Fund is scheduled to begin today.
1910: Today, thirty-one-year-old
NYU Law School trained attorney Jacob Panken, the Kiev born son of Herman and
Fiega Berman Panken who become the first Socialist candidate to be elected as
Judge in New York married fellow Socialist Party member Rachel Pallay who ran
for the New York City Board of Alderman and New the New York State Assembly.
https://academic.oup.com/ajlh/article-abstract/59/1/31/5303704?redirectedFrom=fulltext
1911: “Resolutions
introduced to-day in the Assembly call upon Congress to compel the enforcement
of the Russo-American treaty of 1832 in relation to passports in possession of
Jews. Assemblymen Spielberg and Schlivek of New York presented the resolutions,
which charge that the treaty has been repeatedly violated in such a manner as
to discriminate against Jewish Americans in Russia.”
1912(2nd
of Adar I, 5672): Eighty-three-year-old Jewish communal worker William Cobe
passed away in Boston, MA.
1912: University
of Berlin graduate and Berlin Rabbiner Seminar trained Rabbi, Samuel Price, the
Lithuanian born son of Rebecca Wilensk and Joseph Preiss who in 1907 came to
the United States went from serving as religious director of the Baron de Hirsh
Agricultural School to leading Temple Beth El in Springfield, MA married Fanny
Haliperin today in Newark, NJ.
1913: It was
reported today that “an agent for the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company” has
“testified that Wolf Golden, a fire insurance adjuster who has been charged
with second degree arson, had given him the policy which it is asserted Isidor
Stein obtained at Rubin’s request before he set fire to his place” during a
trial in which Robert Elder, the former District Attorney for Kings County
asked at least one prospective jurors “if he was prejudiced against Jews.”
1914: “The
Burnett-Dillingham immigration bill which, with its provision barring
illiterate immigrants, has passed the House of Representatives, was denounced
as a confessed makeshift and the worst possible makeshift in regulating
immigration, by Louis Marshall in an address before the University Forum of New
York University this evening.”
1915: “Louis
Marshall of New York, counsel for Leo M. Frank, now under sentence of death by
State court in Georgia for the murder of a factory girl in Atlanta in 1913
today filed a brief in the Supreme court of the United States Support their
appeal from the judgment of the Federal District Court for the Northern
District of Georgia denying to Frank a writ of habeas corpus.”
1916(16th
of Adar I, 5676): Eighty-five-year-old Rabbi Simon Bernstein passed away in
Winthrop, Massachusetts.
1916: “A
profile of Theda Bara (born Theodosia Burr Goodman) that appeared in the New
York Times, reported that 500,000 fans followed Bara everywhere she went.
She was said to have received over a thousand marriage proposals from adoring
fans. Others named children after her. One critic called her “a clever
actress with…a marvelously mobile and expressive face.”’
https://jwa.org/thisweek/feb/20/1916/theda-bara
1916: The
first session of the 24th annual meeting of the Jewish Historical
Society was held at Dropsie College today where several papers were presented
including “Some Pedagogical Aspects of American Jewish History” by Mabel Lyon
and “The Question of the Kosher Meat Supply in New York City in 1813.”
1916: Today,
Rabbi Joseph Karuskop, the founder and President of the National Farm School
said “He who does not voluntarily do more than he is obliged to do will in
time do less than he ought, and in the end will find himself unable to do what
he must.”
1916: “Hope
For Jews In Russia” published today includes the prediction of Victor Bash, a
professor at the University of Paris now teaching at Columbia that since
“anti-Semitism was born in Germany and came from Germany to Russia” “a bill of
complete Jewish emancipation, social as well as legal, is possible in Russia,
more possible than in Germany, and more possible today than ever before.”
1917: The
musical “Oh Boy” with the score composed by Jerome Kern, premiered in New York
City.
1917: Eugenio
Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Germany.
This will make him the eyes and ears and representative of the Vatican during
the rise of Hitler.
1917:
Birthdate of Douglas, AZ native Emanuel “Manny” Farber a
painter whose spiky, impassioned film criticism waged war against sacred cows
like Orson Welles and elevated American genre-movie directors like Howard Hawks
and Sam Fuller to the Hollywood pantheon.
https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/19/arts/design/19farber.html
1917: It was
reported today now that the Germans are in control of Warsaw, “There is also a
very strong propaganda in full swing again the Jews and measure of an
outrageously unlawful kind have been put in for again them.” No passes are
granted to the Jews and “no Jew is allowed to build a house and this in spite
of the fact that there 350,000 Jews” among the one million inhabitants of
Warsaw.
1918: In New
York, Clara and Maxwell Cohn gave birth to Lenore Cohn. A niece of movie mogul
Harry Cohn, she gained fame as Lee Annenberg, the wife of Walter Annenberg
1919: Victor
Berger was convicted of having violated the Espionage Act of 1917 and sentenced
to 20 years in federal prison. “The trial was presided over by Judge Kenesaw
Landis, who later became the first commissioner of Major League Baseball. His
conviction was appealed, and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court which
found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the case after the filing
of an affidavit of prejudice.” Berge was Jewish and was the first member of the
Socialist Party elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. In the eyes
of many, these were his real crimes.
1920(1st of
Adar, 5680): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1920(1st of
Adar, 5680): Pauline Einstein, the mother of the physicist Albert Einstein,
passed away. Born in Cannstatt, Württemberg, in 1858, she “had an older sister,
Fanny, and two older brothers, Jacob and Caesar. Her parents were Julius
Doerzbacher, who had accepted the family name Koch in 1842, and Jette
Bernheimer.”
1920:
Birthdate of Tidor Rudas, the Budapest born impresario who spent 6 months in a
concentration camp because his father was Jewish. (As reported by Douglas
Martin)
1921: Rabbi
Stephen S. Wise, Congressman Isaac M. Siegel and Leon Sanders are scheduled to
speak this afternoon at “the twelfth annual meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering
and Immigrant Aid Society of America” in New York City.
1921(12th
of Adar I, 5681): “On his way home after performing a marriage ceremony, Rabbi
Baer Hailperin of the United Hebrew Congregation in Newark,” the husband of
Sarah (Gutkin) Halperin and the father of Herman Hailperin was killed today “in
an automobile accident.”
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1921/02/21/103548458.pdf
1922: Today,
in New York, “five thousand volunteer workers, divided into 50 committees,
started the work of raising $5,000,000 for the relief of Jewish war sufferers.”
1923: In a
letter written today, Ronald Storrs, the former British military governor of
Jerusalem, sought support for The Pro-Jerusalem Society, a non-denominational
organization “which has been founded to preserve the antique beauty and
character of Jerusalem.”
1923(4th
of Adar, 5683): Eighty-year-old Amsterdam Theological Seminary trained rabbi,
Abraham Tobias Boas, the Dutch born son of Eva Salomon Levi (Linse) and Rabbi
Eliesar Boas who began his career by serving a Jewish congregation in
Southampton in 1867 before moving to Australia where he led the congregation at
Adelaide while raising five children with his wife Elizabeth Solomon, passed
away today.
1924(15th
of Adar I, 5684): Shushan Purim Katan
1924:
Birthdate of Mordechai Ofer, the Krakow native who made Aliyah a year later and
served in the Knesset from 1965 until his untimely death in 1971 at the age of
47.
1924:
Birthdate of Columbus, Ohio, native Eugene Borowitz, the Ohio State University
graduate who became one of the leading Rabbis and philosophers in the Reform
movement and the founder of “Sh’ma, a Journal of Jewish Responsibility.”
1924:
Birthdate of Gerson Goldhaber, the German born “American particle physicist and
astrophysicist who was one of the discoverers of the J/ψ meson which confirmed
the existence of the charm quark.”
1925: It was
reported today that the British Colonial Office is asking for “£3, 116,700 for
air use in Palestine” which is money outside of the request made by Air
Secretary for military services.
1926: Chief
Justice Walter I. McCoy in Equity Court ruled today that Mrs. Beta Isenberg, 80
years old, widow of Paul Isenberg, a citizen of Bremen and also of the Hawaiian
Islands, is an American citizen because of the Hawaiian citizenship and is
entitled to the return of $2,500,000 worth of property despite the protest of
Howard Sutherland, Alien Property Custodian
1926: Plans
for an upcoming goodwill dinner sponsored by the Greater New York Federation of
Churches which will be attended by Jews and Christians were announced today
including the fact that the meal be “strictly kosher.”
1926: In
Marshalltown, Iowa, Louis Bucksbaum and the former Ida Gervich gave birth to
Matthew Bucksbaum the co-founder of “a family shopping mall empire that helped
transform the landscape of suburbia and the habits of American consumers.” (As
reported by Bruce Weber)
1927:
Birthdate of Roy Cohn the lawyer, who gained fame or infamy as the council
for the (Joseph) McCarthy Committee. McCarthy and Cohen took
advantage of American fears of Communism to conduct a witch hunt that ruined
reputations and lives without saving us from any Communist spies.
Publicly homophobic, Cohn’s death from AIDs was the subject of an HBO movie.
1927: Arthur
Garfield Hays discussed his “impressions of Russia based on his visit to that
country last year” today at the Students’ Forum hosted by Temple Emanu-El in
New York.
1928: Leon
Danley, the General Agent of the International Sleeping Car Company in the
United States announced” today that “Americans traveling between Cairo and
Jerusalem, can travel eastward in the Pullman cars as far as El Kantara” after
which it will be necessary for them cross the Suez Canal by ferry so that they
can “connected with the sleeping car train bound for Nazareth, Jaffa, Jerusalem
“and other points in Palestine and that this service will continue until April
10 when the hot weather arrives.
1929:
“The Night Belongs to Us” starring Otto Wallburg as “Vater Bang” was released
in Germany today.
1929(10th
of Adar I, 5689): Eighty-seven-year-old Charlotte Solomon, the London born
daughter of Louisa and Maurice Solomon passed away today at Beaconsfield, Buckingham,
England
1930:
Birthdate of New York native Sheldon Sacks, the Northwestern University and
University of Chicago trained professor of English and Linguistics and author
of Fiction and the Shape of Belief
1931: U.S.
premiere of “The Night Belongs to US” a German film co-starring Otto Wahlberg
who would be murdered at Auschwitz in 1944.
1932(13th
of Adar I, 5692): Parashat Tetzveh
1932: Leon Trotsky and all of his family lost their Soviet
citizenship and were forbidden to enter the Soviet Union.
1932: While
delivering a sermon today at Congregation Emanu-El dedicated to honoring George
Washington, Rabbi Samuel Schulman “referred to a statement made in a treaty
between the United States and Tripoli in 1796 and signed by Washington that
stated ‘the Government of the United States in not in any sense founded on the
Christian religion.’”
1932:
“Freaks,” a horror film co-produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg was
released in the United States today.
1932: Plans
were announced today for the upcoming bicentennial exercises to be held at
Albany which including a speech by “Chief Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo of the
Court of Appeals whom President Hoot has nominated for the United States
Supreme Court.
1932: “Tribute
to the memory of George Washington and especially to the first President’s work
in establishing freedom in this country was paid” today “in synagogues
throughout” New York City where “special Washington bicentennial services were
held in addition to the regular” Shabbat services.
1932: In
“Judge Cardozo’s Philosophy of the Law” published today, R. L. Duffus provides
a snapshot of the Supreme Court nominee’s view of the world of jurisprudence.
1932: In the
Bronx, Mae and Nathan Ader gave birth to Doctor Robert Ader, the Tulane
University graduate and experimental psychologist who was among the first
scientists to show how mental processes influence the body’s immune system; a
finding that changed modern medicine. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1933:
Industrialists met at Goering’s Reichstag President’s Palace to show support of
Hitler. Hitler promised to rid the world of Marxists and restore the Wehrmact
(the Germany Army). Hitler and his anti-Semitic policies enjoyed support
from Germany’s business community from the outset.
1934: A
measure was presented to the City Commission of Newark, NY by Mordecai Lipis ,
the President of the Newark Zionist District for its first reading today which
“would prohibit the sale of both kosher and non-kosher meat in the same store
unless signs at least four inches high on the windows proclaim that fact nor
would any proprietor be permitted to display a six pointed star unless he
handles kosher products exclusively.” (Talk about restraint of trade hiding
under religious robes!)
1934:
“Creation of a ‘true-Jewish state in Palestine’ was urged today in an article
in Populo D’Italia, believed to have personally been written by Premier
Mussolini” who owns the paper.
1935: “Jewish
physicians still practicing in the Reich are progressively poisoning the German
people, Julius Streicher, anti-Semitic agitator, charged today in a sensational
article appearing in the medical review German Health from Blood and Soil, of
which he is editor.”
1935: The
Jewish National Fund of America announced today that two free trips to
Palestine had been awarded to M.S. Mark of Cincinnati, OH and Sol Odess of Fall
River, Massachusetts, “Zionist workers active in the drive to establish Kfar
Ussishkin, a colony in Palestine named in honor of Menahem Ussishkin, the
international president of the fund.”
1936: “Things
to Come” a sci-fi film produced by Alexander Korda was released today in the
United Kingdom.
1936: Dr.
Arnold Netter, “a noted physician” was elected President of the Alliance Israelite Universelle succeeding
Professor Sylvain Levy who had passed away on October 31, 1935.
1936: The
Rabbis Association of Poland sent a radiogram to the more important Jewish
religious communities of the world request that they join the Jews in offering
prayers for the preservation of Jewish ritual slaughter which is being outlawed
by the government.
1936:
Bronislaw Huberman, the Polish violinist and founder of the Palestine Symphony
Orchestra, announced today that “the first concert of the newly organized
Palestine Symphony Orchestra will be broadcast to the United States from Tel
Aviv late in October over the facilities of the National Broadcasting
Company.” He also said that “negotiations have been started for regular
visits of the orchestra to Egypt and Greece” as well as a world tour that would
include a visit to the United States.
1937(9th
of Adar, 5697): Parashat Tetzaveh and Shabbat Zachor
1937:
Tiberias, one of the towns of Palestine known for its friendly relations
between Arabs and Jews, was the scene of disorder today. Thirty Jews, thirty
Arabs and two British policemen were slightly injured and two Jews were
seriously hurt before order was restored.
1937: Ten days
after receiving his passport, 24-year-old Edward Isaac Lending sailed for
Europe aboard the Ile de France on his was to fight as a member of the Lincoln
Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.
1937: “Polish
Jews Face Dismal Future published today provides a snapshot of the
anti-Semitism faced by Jews in inter-war Poland. (It is also worth the read to
see how much misinformation the Literary Digest, the magazine that predicted
FDR would lose to Alf Landon could provide about the origins of the Jews of
Europe)
http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/Jews_in_Poland_Before_WW2_pdf
1938: Louis
Lipsky, chairman of the administrative committee of the United Palestine Appeal
presided over a meeting of Jewish leaders held under the auspices of the
Zionist Organization of America at the Hotel Pennsylvania. The Jewish
leaders, including Dr. Bernard Joseph, legal adviser of the Jewish Agency for
Palestine, expressed a desire for a peaceful solution to the problems
separating Jews and Arabs in Palestine.
1938: Hitler
addressed the Reichstag and served notice that the future of Austria and the
Sudeten Germans were in the direct interest of Nazi Germany. The annexation of
Austria and the Sudetenland would be two of the landmarks on the road to World
War II and the Final Solution.
1938: Franz
Josef Rarkowski is consecrated as espiscopus castrensis, bishop of the military
chaplains in the German Army, by Papal Nuncio Cesare Orsenigo.
1938: The
Palestine Post reported that one British officer was shot dead and two
others wounded when their car was shot at in the vicinity of Haifa. British
troops and police cordoned off the whole area and one Arab was shot dead when
he tried to break through. A number of Arab suspects were arrested. There were
many other cases of sniping at traffic and sabotage throughout the country.
1939(1st
of Adar, 5699) Rosh Chodesh Adar
1939(1st
of Adar, 5699): Rabbi Solomon Nathan Lurie, the husband of Rose Shapha and
father of Edward Morris Lurie passed away today in Milwaukee, WI.
1939: Twenty
thousand Nazi supporters gather in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.
While there were only a limited number of such displays, the power of the
isolationists led by Lindbergh and the America First movement provided a
socially acceptable cover for anti-Semites and fascists. FDR’s decisions
about European Jewry were made against this hostile background.
1939: In an
apparent attempt to strengthen the Axis Alliance, Mussolini shifts policy by
banning Jews from his Fascist Party. According to some, as many as 10,000
Jews had been members of the party. Years later, Mussolini’s mistress
would claim that Il Duce had claimed that he always had been an anti-Semite.
1940: “A
concert was given tonight at the Royal Opera House in Cairo by the Palestine
Orchestra” which is “composed entirely of Jewish refugees from Europe” the
proceeds of which will go to “war sufferers and the victims of the Turkish
earthquake.” (Yes, in the era of the
white paper, Jews were helping Muslims)
1941: The
Nazis ordered Polish Jews barred from using public transportation
1941:
Birthdate of New York City novelist Alan Furst whose one work of non-fiction
was a biography of the creator of Mrs. Fields Cookies Company.
1941:
Birthdate of Newark, NJ native Susan Yankowitz whose works included Silent
Witness and “Night Sky,” a 1991 play about the struggles with aphasia.
https://hermitageartistretreat.org/writer-susan-yankowitz-draws-crowds/
1941: The
first transport of Jews from Plotsk, Poland to be sent to a concentration
departed. “We remember so that nobody will forget. We remember lest
anybody try and forget.”
1942: In
France, Jacques Bielinky described the responses of his non-Jewish fellow
citizens to anti-Jewish policies, expressing contempt for their lack of making
any attempt to prevent the dismissal of their Jewish colleague. “They did
not make the move; cowardice has become a civic virtue.”
1942: Under the Vichy government, Leon Blum went on
trial today.
1943(15th
of Adar I, 5703): Parsashat Tetzaveh
1943(15th
of Adar I, 5703): While serving with the Royal Canadian Air Force, Flying
Officer William Kadison Komaiko, one of the two sons of Solomon Baruch (S.B.)
Komaiko, was died today when he was shot down over Europe.
1943:
Birthdate of English movie director Mike Leigh.
1943: “The
Hard Way” a musical drama version of a story by Irwin Shaw, directed by Vincent
Sherman, produced by Jerry Wald and with a screenplay by Daniel Fuchs and Peter
Viertel was released today in the United States.
1943:
Birthdate of Moshe Cotel, the Baltimore native who would become an acclaimed
pianist and composer whose works were often infused with themes emanating from
his deep Jewish roots. Cotel’s “Jewish reconnection” would lead him to the
rabbinate. He would be ordained five years before his death in 2008 while he
was serving as spiritual leader of Temple Beth El of Manhattan Beach in
Brooklyn.
1944:
Birthdate of Lewis “Lew” Michael Soloff, the native of Brooklyn who gained fame
as an American jazz musician.
1945: At
Dovrat, “a kibbutz near Afula,” two refugees from Nazi Germany gave birth to
decorated war hero Amram Mitzna, the MK who served as Mayor of Haifa and
Yerhuam.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/oct/04/israel2
1945:
Birthdate of Queen’s native Andrew Bergman who gained fame as a “screenwriter,
movie director and novelist.”
http://www.hollywood.com/celebrities/andrew-bergman-57284947/
1946: Mrs.
Franklin Roosevelt “spoke before 2,000 people attending a rally at the Waldorf
Astoria Hotel opening the 1946 campaign of the Women’s Division of the UJA of
Greater New York” and told them that based on her recent visit to Europe that
“the whole of Europe is hungry” and that even worse, “the whole of Europe is
without any social structure.”
1946: Arthur
Klein, who after serving in the 77th and 78th Congresses
had opted not to run to serve in the 79th Congressman began serving
in the 79th Congress after have won a special election to fill a
seat left open by of the resignation of Samuel Dickstein.
1946: “The
Mount Carmel radar station of the Royal Air Force, which has been instrumental
in intercepting illegal immigration, was blown up today by a jarring explosion
felt all over Haifa.”
1947:
Birthdate of actor Peter Lawrence Strauss, the native of Croton-on-Hudson who
won an Emmy for The Jericho Mile and was best known for the popular mini-series
“Rich Man, Poor Man.”
1947: A female
member of The Irgun Zvai Leumi telephoned newspapers correspondents stating the
Irgun was responsible for cutting an oil pipeline in two places and attacking a
Royal Air Force installation near Hadera.
1947: The
British government announced that it would withdraw from India. This
decision signaled a change in the U.K.’s foreign policy. Its willingness
to give up the Palestine Mandate would be triggered in part by the realization
that protecting the Suez Canal as the lifeline to an imperial possession was no
longer a critical need.
1948(10th
of Adar I, 5708): “Kibbutz member Naftali Friedlander was killed today when “a
battalion of the Arab Liberation Army led by Muhammed Safa unsuccessfully
attacked Kibbutz Tirat Zvi.
1949: “The
Egyptian and Israeli armistice delegations, in a formal meeting today, approved
the text of the compromise draft of Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, acting United Nations
Mediator for Palestine, which will be submitted to the Egyptian Government
tomorrow.”
1950(14th
of Adar I, 5711): Purim Katan
1950: King
Features Syndicate “launched” the daily version of the comic strip “Big Ben
Bolt” co-created by Elliot Caplin.
1950: United
States insistence that charged of bribery in denazification proceedings be
thoroughly investigated has been hailed by United States representatives in the
German, state and county governments as “just the thing we have been
waiting for.”
1951(14th
of Adar I, 5711): Purim Katan
1951: Rostam
Bastuni, the first Israeli Arab to represent a Zionist party in the Knesset
left Mapam and “set up the Left Faction with Adolf Berman and Moshe Sneh.
1951:
Birthdate of Dr. Robert “Bob” Silber, a fine physician, a devoted husband and
father, an ardent Hawkeye fan, a pillar of the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community
and a real mensch, who is smart enough to have more questions than answers.
1951: In New
York City, Eli Wilentz, the co-owner of the Eighth Street Bookshop and his wife
gave birth Robert Sean Wilentz, “the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor of the
American Revolutionary Era at Princeton University” and author whose works
included “The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln, which
was awarded the Bancroft Prize and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.”
1951: In Los
Angles, Bernice Pearl Wolfe and her husband gave birth to Randy Craig Wolfe who
gained famed as Randy California, one of the original members of “Spirit.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-randy-california-1283572.html
http://randycaliforniaandspirit.com/biography/
1952: The film
The African Queen opened at the Capitol Theatre in New York City. The
African Queen marked the film debut of Theodore Bikel.
1953: The
Jerusalem Post reported that Washington Senator William Langer, a
Republican, introduced a resolution asking Congress to investigate the plight
of Arab refugees, a roadblock to the “stability and security” of the
Middle East. (The Republican Party was not always friendly territory for
supporters of the State of Israel.)
1953: The
Jerusalem Post reported that The Jewish Agency opened a hostel in Tel Aviv
for skilled Western immigrants.
1953:
Birthdate of Philadelphia-born meteorologist Dave Schwartz, an early and
long-time “host” on the Weather Channel.
1954(17th
of Adar I, 5714): Parashat Ki Tisa
1954: David
Montagu, 4th Baron Swaythling and Françoise Christiane Montagu, Baroness Swaythling
gave birth to Charles Edgar Samuel Montagu, 5th Baron Swaythling who was the
husband of the Honorable Angela Rawlinson and the son-in-law of Peter
Rawlinson, Baron Rawlinson of Ewell.
1955: Senator Herbert
Lehman is scheduled to speak at Washington Hebrew Congregation as part of the “celebration
of the Tercentenary Year of the arrival of Jewish settlers in the United States”
and the dedication in 1954 of the dedication of the congregation’s new building
on Massachusetts Avenue in Washington D.C.
1958: A UK
production of “Where’s Charley?” a musical with music and lyrics by Frank
Loesser “opened in the West End at the Palace Theatre where it ran for 404
performances.
1958(30th
of Shevat, 5718): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1958(30th
of Shevat, 5718): Sixty-nine-year-old Al Lichtman, who produced “The Young
Lions” and whose career was such that he earned a “Star” on the Hollywood Walk
of Fame.
http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/al-lichtman/
1958(30th
of Shevat, 5718): Ninety-four-year-old pianist and composer Isidor Philipp pass
away today in Paris.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1958/02/21/83395510.pdf
1958: “Doctor
Crippen Lives” featuring Inge Meyself “who was banned from performing 1935
until 1945 because her father, Julius Meysel, was Jewish” was released in
Germany today.
1959:
Birthdate of Brown University graduate and George Polk Award winner David Corn,
the journalist best known for serving as a Chief of the Washington bureau for Mother Jones which has been his entrée
to several cable news shows.
1959(12th
of Adar I, 5719): Seventy-nine-year-old Herman Feldman, the husband of Olga
Feldman, who “in 1898 with his partner Louis Kahn, founded” the firm of Kahn
and Feldman which went from processing silk yarn to processing synthetic yarns,
passed away today.
1959(12th
of Adar I, 5719): Israeli poet Zalman Shneur, the native of Belarus who wpm the
Bialik Pririze in 1951 and the Israel Prize in 1955 passed away today in New
York City.
1960:
Eighty-year-old “Monuments Man (a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts and
Archives Section of the Allie Armies) Sir Charles Leonard Woolley the
non-Jewish British archaeologist remembered for having excavated Ur of the
Chaldees, and for discovering the ancient Sumerian civilization passed away
today. Yes, these are the actual places
which produced Abraham, Lot and Sarah.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Leonard-Woolley\
1960: In
Bloomington, on Shabbat, the dedication of the new Moses Montefiore Temple
continued.
1962: Birthdate of Galveston, TX native Adam
Schreiber who played Center for the University of Texas before spending 15
years in the National Football League.
1963: Opening
performance of Rolf Hochhuth’s “The Deputy” which provides a controversial view
of Pious XII’s behavior during the Holocaust.
1964(7th
of Adar, 5724): Seventy-five-year-old Leipzig, Germany native NYU graduate
David Geller who had joined the May Company Department Stores as corporate
controller in 1923 passed away today in Cleveland, OH.
1965(18th
of Adar I, 5725): Parashat Ki Tisa
1965: Today,
“This Diamond Ring” made it to “number on the Billboard Hot 100 making Gary
Lewis an instant star.”
1965(18th
of Adar I, 5725): Director and producer Michał Waszyński passed away.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/jewrnalism/item/he_managed_to_fool_the_world_micha_waszyski/
1967(10th
of Adar I, 5727): Sixty-seven-year-old Pottsville, PA native and WW I Army
Signal Corps veteran James E. Gellert, the former executive director of the
Home for Aged Sons and Daughters of Israel and husband of “the former Sara
Wallman” with whom he raised two daughters – Muriel and Judith – passed away
today.
1967: “Oppenheimer,
the ‘Father of the Atomic Bomb,’ Was a Bafflingly Complex Man” published just
days after the death of the man who made the Manhattan Project such a success
provided a lengthy look at his life and times.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1967/02/20/82594008.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0
1968(21st of Shevat, 5728):
Sixty-three-year-old NYU trained attorned Arthur George Klein who served in the
U.S. House of Representatives from New York from 1941 through 1965 passed away
after which he was buried in the Mount Moriah Cemetery.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/arthur-george-klein
1969(2nd
of Adar, 5729): Ninety-five-year-old NYU trained attorney Henry B. Singer
“specializing in corporation banking and bankruptcy law” who was a former
director of the Public National Bank and Trust Company” and an active member of
the American Jewish Committee while raising two children, Joan and Dr. Benjamin
Singer, with his wife Frances Moses Singer who died in 1952 passed away today
at the Surrey Hotel in New York City.
1971(25th
of Shevat, 5731): Parashat Mishpatim; Shabbat Shekalim
1971:
“Follies” a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim began its
pre-Broadway tryout at the Colonial Theatre in Boston.
1972(5th of
Adar, 5732): Walter Winchell passed away at the age of 74. According to
some, Winchell was the creator of the modern newspaper gossip column.
Starting out with the New York Graphic and then the Daily Mirror in the
nineteen twenties, Winchell’s column was eventually syndicated in papers across
the country. At one time he had 30 million readers. The column
coupled with his radio show gave Winchell an amazing amount of power – sort of
cross between Rush Limbaugh and Entertainment Tonight. The right mention
in a Winchell column could make you; the wrong mention or the lack of a mention
could break you. How Jewish were Kun, Cohn and Winchell? Who really is a
Jew in Jewish History?
1972(5th
of Adar, 5732): Seventy-three-year-old Harold W. Carmely, the native of Poland
who came to the United States where he became a Zionist leader, Superintendent
of the Daughters of the Israel Home and the husband of Esther T. Carmely passed
away today.
1973(18th of
Adar I, 5733): Joseph Szigeti Hungarian born US violinist, passed away at the
age of 80.
1973: Seventy-eight-year-old of Dimitar Peshev,
the Bulgarian leader who helped to prevent the deportation of Bulgaria’s 48,000
Jews “for which he was named one of the “Righteous Among the Nations”
passed away today.
1975(9th
of Adar, 5735): Sixty-one-year-old Robert Strauss the actor who created the
memorable character of “Animal” in “Stalag 17” as well as playing “second
banana” to Sgt. Bilko in the Phil Silvers Show.
1976(19th of
Adar I, 5736): French born human rights activist, Renee Cassin, passed
away. Jurist, combat veteran of World War I, member of the Resistance in
WW II and leader of the French Jewish community, Cassin received the Nobel
Prize Winner for Peace,
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1968/cassin-facts.html
1976(19th
of Adar I, 5736): Eighty-one-year-old Russian born and Oxford university
graduate Moses Lutzki the “professor of bibliograph at Yeshiva University…known
for describing and deciphering medieval Hebrew manuscripts” passed away today
in Brooklyn
1978: The
Jerusalem Post reported that in a chaotic gun battle at Larnaca, Cyprus, 38
Egyptian commandoes freed the 11 Egyptian hostages held aboard a Cypriot
Airways DC-8 airliner and apprehended the two Arab terrorists who held them.
1978(13th
of Adar I, 5738): Eighty-five-year-old “Indian civil servant and banker” Sir
Abraham Jeremy Raisman passed away today.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0017_0_16374.html
1981(16th
of Adar I, 5741): Sixty-year-old Carnegie Institute trained architect and WWII U.S.
Army veteran Joseph Tuchman, the Akron, OH born son of Celia Maliowtz and
Samuel Tuchman, the husband of Evelyn R. Siplow passed away today.
https://www.crunchbase.com/person/joseph-tuchman-e260
1981(16th
of Adar I, 5741): Seventy-six-year-old “Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, a former
senior fashion editor at Vogue magazine whose panache and sense of quality
earned him the reputation of one of the fashion industry’s great men of style”
passed away today. (As reported by Sheila Rule)
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/21/obituaries/nicolas-de-gunzburg-76-aformer-editor-of-vogue.html
1985(29th
of Shevat, 5745): Seven-nine-year-old “Isaac Kashdan, an international
grandmaster chess player and chess editor for The Times” passed away
today. (As reported by Michael Seiler)
http://articles.latimes.com/1985-02-22/local/me-614_1_grandmaster-chess-player
http://www.chessgames.com/player/isaac_kashdan.html
1986(11th
of Adar I, 5746): Eighty-eight-year-old Cleveland native Albert “Bert”
Schneider, the Montreal raised boxer who “won the gold med in the welterweight
division” at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp as a member of the Canadian team
passed away today.
1987: “Square
Dance” a movie version of the film by the same name starring Winona Ryder
(Winona Laura Horowtiz) was released in the United States today.
1989: Paula
Abdul’s “Forever Your Girl” was released to the public today.
https://www.instagram.com/beclorch/?hl=en
1992: The
clashes between Israelis and Iranian backed guerrillas in Lebanon culminated
with an Israeli armored push today into the villages of Kafra and Yater, about
a mile north of what Israel calls its security zone in southern Lebanon.
1992:
German premiere of the Israeli film “Cup Final.”
1995(20th
of Adar I, 5755): Eighty-four-year-old Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, the Rosh Yeshiva
of the Kol Torah Yeshiva in Jerusalem passed away today. Over a quarter of a
million people attended his funeral.
1996(30th of
Shevat, 5756): Dr. Solomon Asch, leading Gestalt Psychologist and pioneer
social psychologist passed away.
1997(13th
of Adar I, 5757): Ninety-four-year-old Ida Mae Finger, the daughter of Rose and
Benjamin Agruss, the sister of Washington University and University of Chicago
trained research chemist Myer Agruss and wife of Manuel “Manny” Finger passed
away today.
1998: St.
Peter’s Church, Chapel and Cemetery Complex which was built in 1853 using the
designs of architect Leopold Eidlitz “was add to the National Register of
Historic Places.
1998:
“Dangerous Beauty,” a biopic directed by Marshall Herskovitz was released today
in the United States.
1999(4th of
Adar, 5759): Film critic Gene Siskel passed away. As the article below
indicates, he was not just a successful critic he was also, a committed Jew, a
real `mensch.’
People the
world over have eulogized him as a master movie critic, a dedicated family man
and a modest person whose fame didn’t detract from his friendliness. A lesser-known
but equally important side to Siskel reflected his Jewish upbringing and his
continued dedication to Judaism and his community. Siskel, who died of cancer
at age 53, was an active supporter of Israel and Jewish educational
initiatives. He spent his early childhood in a historically Jewish neighborhood
on Chicago’s North Side. After his parents died when Siskel was very young, he
and his siblings were raised by their mother’s sister and her family in a north Chicago
suburb. His aunt and uncle were founding members of Conservative Synagogue Beth
El, where he celebrated his bar mitzvah and later became a member with his
wife, Marlene. Their daughter celebrated her bat mitzvah at Beth El in January,
the last time he was out in public. More than 1,200 people attended his funeral
there on Monday, among them his film-critic partner and longtime friend Roger
Ebert. Just days before he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Siskel emceed at
Chicago’s community celebration of Israel’s 50th anniversary. At the time he
was suffering from migraine headaches due to his illness. “Gene was a
revolutionary at his craft, known the world over, yet he never forgot where he
came from,” said Steven Nasatirof the Chicago area Jewish
federation.” In an era when public figures often have little to do with
their community, Gene was a mensch, whose Judaism was paramount in his life and
who was a very willing and active member of his community.” Siskel’s
dedication to Israel was strongly influenced by a family trip there two years
ago when his oldest daughter, Kate, was in eighth grade. Siskel’s children
attended Moadon Kol Chadash, a small, family-run Hebrew school whose first
graduating class was taken to Israel. Believing that such a trip should be
offered to a greater number of local Hebrew-school students, Siskel took the
project under his wing. As a result a group of eighth-graders went to Israel
last February, and a second, much larger group, went earlier this month. Siskel
compiled a video chronicling Jewish stereotypes and anti-Semitism in
Hollywood, which he used as an educational tool. Friends say Siskel expressed
Judaism with modesty and little fanfare. “He was very low-key and never
took himself too seriously,” said his longtime friend Howard Caroll, a
retired Illinois state senator, “but he was fervent about his Jewish
beliefs.” Beth El Rabbi Vernon Kurtz said in his eulogy Monday that just
weeks ago, prior to their second daughter’s bat mitzvah, Siskel and his wife
told her that the two most important values in life were family and Judaism.
“Judaism,” Siskel said, “has taught me right from wrong,”
2000: The
New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews,
and Ordinary Germans by Eric A. Johnson and The Arcades Project by
Walter Benjamin; edited by Rolf Tiedemann; translated by Howard Eiland and
Kevin McLaughlin.
2000(14th
of Adar I, 5760): Purim Katan
2000(14th
of Adar I, 5760): Eighty-six-year-old Elliot Caplin the comic strip writer who
“co-created The Heart of Juliet Jones, Big Ben Bolt and Dr. Bobs” and who was
the younger brother of Al Capp, the creator of Li’s Abner, passed away today.
2000: Bruce
Lee Fleisher won the GTE Classic.
2001: The
STS-98 Atlantis with Mark L. Polansky as pilot completed its mission which had
begun on February 9, 2001.
2002: The
Israeli Defense Ministry awarded Elbit Systems, the Haifa based electronics
manufacturer founded in 1967, a ground-breaking tender to purchase new trainers
for the air force
2003(18th of
Adar I, 5763): Daniel Aaron, a refugee from Nazi Germany and an orphan who went
on to become a founder of Comcast, the largest cable company in the country,
died today in Philadelphia, where he lived. He was 77. The cause was
Parkinson’s disease, according to the company. In 1990, speaking at a dinner
for his retirement as vice chairman of Comcast in Philadelphia, Mr. Aaron
described himself as something like the conscience of the operation. He
pictured the young company as a car, with Mr. Roberts, the chairman, behind the
wheel, Julian A. Brodsky, the principal fund-raiser, stepping on the gas, and
Mr. Aaron himself with a foot on the brake. In 1963, Mr. Aaron persuaded Ralph
J. Roberts, a Philadelphia entrepreneur who had recently sold a men’s wear
business, to buy a small cable television system in Tupelo, Miss. As part of
the deal, Mr. Aaron agreed to help run it, and over the next 30 years they
built or acquired dozens of other cable systems around the country. Last fall,
the company they started, Comcast, acquired AT&T Broadband to become
the largest cable television service provider in the country
2004: In a
scorching opinion, Judge Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court said that
Swiss banks had been stonewalling in a landmark case concerning their conduct
during the Nazi era and were perpetrating a ”big lie” by continuing to deny
wrongdoing in their handling of Holocaust victims’ accounts over many decades.”
2004:
According to British Foreign Minister Jack Straw, “Simon Wiesenthal, who spent
much of his life in pursuit of Nazi war criminals, will be awarded an honorary
knighthood at a ceremony in Vienna in the near future.”
2005: “Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon won cabinet approval today for two sweeping plans
intended to reshape Israel’s relations with the Palestinians: the withdrawal of
Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip, and a revamped route for the separation
barrier in the West Bank.”
2005:
“Reliving the Holocaust in a Soldier’s Snapshots” published today
2005: At the
DCJCC, the final performance of Joyce Carol Oates’ The Tattooed Girl.
2005: “The Jew
of Iowa Jima” was published today.
http://www.jewsingreen.com/2005/02/the-jews-of-iwo-jima/
2005: The
New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of
special interest to Jewish readers including Nice Big American Baby by
Judy Budnitzan, the recently released paperback edition of Apprentice to the
Flower Poet Z. by Debra Weinstein and
essay by the recently deceased Susan Sontag entitled “Report on the
Journey.”
2006(22nd
of Shevat, 5766): Sixty-three-year-old Brandeis gradate Eli J. Segal the
attorney and political activist who tasted defeat with George McGovern and
victory with Bill Clinton while married to his college sweetheart Phyllis
passed away today.
2006:
Right-wing British historian David Irving who was convicted in Austria of
denying the Holocaust – a crime in this country once run by the Nazis – and was
sentenced to three years in prison. Irving, 67, who had pleaded guilty
and insisted during his one-day trial that he had a change of heart and now
acknowledged the Nazis’ World War II slaughter of 6 million Jews, had faced up
to 10 years behind bars for the offense. “The court did not consider the
defendant to have genuinely changed his mind,” presiding judge Peter
Liebetreu told the court after pronouncing the sentence. “The regret he
showed was considered to be mere lip service to the law.”
2007: Former
Prime Minister of Israel Ehud Barak speaks at Coe College in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa.
2007(2nd
of Adar I, 5767): Eighty-five-year-old symphony conductor Siegfried
Landau passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C02E7D9123EF932A15751C0A9619C8B63
2007: Jon
Scheyer of the Duke Blue Devils “grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds against
Pittsburgh.”
2007: “The
Farnsworth Invention” a play by Aaron Sorkin that examines David Sarnoff’s
relationship to the “invention of television signal transmission” opened today
at the La Jolla Playhouse.
2008: Jon
Scheyer “scored 27 points at Miami, matching the most points by a player off
the bench in Duke history.”
2008: Chelsea
Football Club announced that Avraham Grant had received anti-Semitic death
threats from unknown sources
2008: At the
Jerusalem Cinematheque a showing of “Le Viel Homme et L’Enfant” ( הזקן
והילד).
Set in WW II France, the story revolves around the relationship between a young
Jewish boy sent to hide with a rural family and the older man who is a WW I
hero, a supporter of Petain and a vocal anti-Semite.
2008: The
Washington Post reported on the results of a cancer study conducted by Itai
Kloog, of the University of Haifa. According to the study, “women who
live in neighborhoods with large amounts of nighttime illumination are more
likely to get breast cancer than those who live in areas where nocturnal
darkness prevails, according to an unusual study that overlaid satellite images
of Earth onto cancer registries.
2008: Israeli
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas
met in Jerusalem in an attempt to further latest round of peace talks which
appear to be faltering. These talks are an outgrowth of the negotiations
held in Annapolis, MD in November of 2007.
2009:
The 24th Annual Jerusalem International Book Fair comes to an end.
2009: A
barrage of 10 mortar shells was fired at Gaza Belt communities, in what
military sources said might have been the first stage of an attempted two-part
combined terrorist attack. The attack, which was preceded by a Grad missile
attack on the Negev town of Netivot, was repulsed by IDF forces
operating near the Kissufim Crossing, who returned fire.
2009: Posin’s
Made Its Name on Its Authentic Kosher, Crunchy Pickles and Sweet Treats
published today described a landmark institution of the Washington, DC Jewish
Community where I spent innumerable hours in my childhood waiting for the best
tasting egg bagels and meat knishes in the world.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/19/AR2009021903131.html
2010: Singer,
actress and playwright Rebecca Joy Fletcher is scheduled to perform her
acclaimed one-woman show “Cities of Light” at Congregation Beth Emeth in
Herndon, VA.
2010: “A
Matter of Size” is scheduled to be shown on the opening night of The 12th
Annual Northern New Jersey Israel Film Festival.
2010:
Birthday celebration of Dr. Bob Silber, a pillar of the Jewish community and a
mensch in the truest sense of the word.
2011(16th
of Adar I, 5771): Jay Landesman, a writer and editor whose journal Neurotica
analyzed the anxieties of postwar America and whose Broadway musical, “The
Nervous Set,” has been called the first (and only) Beat musical passed away
today in London at the age of 91.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/27/arts/27landesman.html
2011: The 21st
Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2011: Amos Oz:
The Nature of Dreams, a documentary based on the memoirs of Amos Oz, that
“delves into the persona of one of Israel’s greatest and most controversial
authors and political commentators” is scheduled to be shown at the Atlanta
Jewish Film Festival.
2011: English
author Ian McEwan is scheduled to be awarded the Jerusalem Prize, Israel’s
highest literary honor for foreign writers at the opening of the Jerusalem
International Book Fair.
2011:
The family and myriad friends of Dr. Bob Silber celebrate the 60th
natal day of this die-hard Hawkeye fan, ardent Zionist and all-around good guy.
2011:
The New York Times featured a profile of author Walter Isaacson who has
been the chairman and chief executive of CNN and the editor of Time
magazine and the recently released paperback edition of Rebecca Newberger
Goldstein’s 36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction, a
“philosophical novel about love, Jewish cultural identity and academic
infighting.”
2011: The Environment Ministry reported that the recent
appearance of an extensive bout of haze has brought the concentration of dust
in central Israel to a level four to 10 times more than the average rate as of
today
2012: US National Security Adviser Tom Donilon’s three-day trip
to Israel brought on by rising tensions over the creation of an Iranian nuclear
capability is scheduled to come to an end today.
2012:
MesorahDC is scheduled to sponsor Café Nite at the Historic 6th&
amp; I Synagogue in Washington, DC.
2012: As the
United States celebrates Presidents’ Day, the Jewish community may
reflect on the unique interaction between it and various Chief Executives
including: Washington’s letter to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island; Franklin
Pierce’s appointment of the first Jew to serve as the U.S. Minister to a
foreign country; Abraham Lincoln’s role in making it possible for Rabbis to
serve as Chaplains in the U.S. Army and revoking Order #11; U.S. Grant’s
attempt to appoint the first Jew to the Cabinet and his attendance at the
dedication of Adas Israel; Teddy Roosevelt’s appointment of the first Jew serve
in the Cabinet; William H. Taft’s at the first seder ever to be graced by a
U.S. President; Woodrow Wilson’s appointment of the first Jew to serve on the
Supreme Court; President Herbert Hoover’s appointment of the second Jew to
serve on the Supreme Court; President Harry Truman’s role in the creation of
the state of Israel; Lyndon Johnson’s role in saving Jews from the Holocaust,
passing legislation that outlawed discrimination based on religion and support
Israel during the 1967 War. (And this is a short list)
2012: If Cairo
unilaterally decides to alter the peace treaty with Jerusalem, Israel will ask
why sign agreements with other neighbors if these accords are not kept,
Intelligence Agencies Minister Dan Meridor said today..
2012: US
President Barack Obama will meet with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on
March 5, the White House said today. Netanyahu will be in Washington to address
the annual policy conference of the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC, which will be held
on March 4-6.
2012:
Ammunition Hill will not close after an emergency meeting this evening with
representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Defense Ministry, and the
Finance Ministry,
2012: “Iran
Raid Seen as a Huge Task for Israeli Jets” published today describes the great
challenge that the IAF would face if it had to destroy Iran’s nuclear
capability.
2013: My
German Children,” which premiered at Jerusalem’s Jewish Film Festival in
December, is scheduled to air for the first time on Israeli TV today as part of
a Yes Doco series on children. (As reported by Renee Ghert-Zand)
2013: Happy
Birthday Dr. Bob
2013: YIVO
Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a ”discussion on the
groundbreaking anthology Choosing Yiddish: New Frontiers of Language and
Culture, “featuring editors Lara Rabinovitch, Shiri Goren, Hannah S.
Pressman, editors, along with Gennady Estraikh (NYU), Eddy Portnoy (Rutgers),
Jennifer Young (NYU/YIVO), and many others.”
2013: Nigerian
security forces this evening arrested three people belonging to an
Iranian-linked terror cell that was reportedly planning to launch an attack
against Israeli and American targets, Army Radio reported.
2013:
Jonathan-Simon Sellem “officially declared his candidacy to become member of
the Assembly of French Citizens Abroad, in the 8th district (including Israel,
Italy, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Malta, San Marino and the Vatican.
2013: It was
reported today that “Supreme Court Deputy-President Rivlin joined the Hebrew
University Faculty of Law.”
http://www.huji.ac.il/cgi-bin/dovrut/dovrut_search_eng.pl?mesge136136371405872560
2013:
“Batwoman Kate Kane, the comic world’s first Jewish lesbian superhero” proposed
marriage to Maggie Sawyer.
2014: Friends
and family of Dr. Bob Silber, pillar of the Jewish committee, President of the
Thaler Holocaust Memorial Committee and diehard Hawkeye celebrate his natal
day.
2014: Hemi
Rudner, “one of the finest musicians in the Israeli rock scent” who is the
leader of “Eifo Hayeled” at CAFÉ WHA?
2014” The
Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present “The Power of the Geniza.
2014:
“Bethlehem.” winner of 6 Ophir Awards, is scheduled to be shown at the DPJCC’s
14th Annual Jewish Film Festival
2014:
“Bulgaria announced today that it has confirmed the existence of a third
suspect in the 2012 bombing that killed five Israeli tourists and their tour
bus driver in the city of Burgas.” (As reported by Spencer Ho)
2014: German
police arrested three Auschwitz guards; names take from a list of thirty that
had been turned over to authorities by the Simon Wiesenthal Center. (As
reported by JTA)
2014: “The
Monuments Men,” a film based loosely on the book of the same title with a
script co-authored by Greg Heslov and co-starring Bob Balaban was released in
the United States today. (Editor’s note:
The book is worth the read and the movie is worth seeing even though it does “white-wash”
the Jews out of the tale)
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/true-story-monuments-men-180949569/
2014: “The
Israeli government and Jerusalem Municipality finalized plans for an initiative
to invest NIS 22 million ($6.25 million) in movies and television series that
film in the capital, Jerusalem City Hall announced today.” (As reported by
Spencer Ho)
2014: “Finance
Minister Yair Lapid praised a Knesset committee’s approval of a bill pushing
for the enlistment of ultra-Orthodox men to the military, saying it was a
resurgence of Zionism that fixed a major flaw in Israeli society.” (As reported
by Israel Hayom and Times of Israel)
2015(1st
of Adar, 5775): Rosh Chodesh Adar
2015: Jewish
filmmaker Aviva Kempner is scheduled to screen a clip of her work in progress
focusing on the Rosenwald schools funded by Julius Rosenwald, Sears-Roebuck
magnate as part of the Visionaries of Black Education program in Washington,
DC.
2015: “Love,
Marilyn” is scheduled to be shown in the last of the Women On Top film series
at the 92nd Street Y.
2016(11th
of Adar I, 5776): Shabbat Tetzaveh
2016: The
University of Iowa Hillel is scheduled to host its annual fundraising concert
this evening.
2016: An
exhibition “WOMEN: New Portraits Annie Leibovitz” is scheduled to continue its
ten city tour with an opening in Tokyo.
2016: The
Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to present “the
winter program of its Jews and Jazz Series” that will include a lecture by
Tamar Barzel, author of New York Noise: Radical Jewish Music and the
Downtown Scene.
2017(24th
of Shevat, 5777): Eighty-six-year-old award winning professor of physics and
electrical engineering Mildred Dresselhuas passed away today.
http://news.mit.edu/2017/institute-professor-emerita-mildred-dresselhaus-dies-86-0221
2017: At least
ten Jewish community centers” including those in Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin; St.
Paul; Houston; Buffalo, New York; Albuquerque, and Birmingham, Alabama “were
targeted with bomb threats today – the fourth time in five weeks that JCCs
across the United States have been targeted.” (JTA)
2017: “A
bas-relief showing a menorah was displayed at a news conference” to where an
announcement was made about “a joint exhibition by the Vatican Museums and
Rome’s Jewish Museum”
2017: Two days
after an Israeli done strike killed five ISIS terrorists who had been preparing
to fire a rocket into Israel, “two rockets were fired into Israel from the
Egyptian controlled Sinai Peninsula” this morning “outside of the city of
Rafiah.”
2017: Ben
Greenberg, the Director of Adult Engagement at Central Synagogue is scheduled
to lecture on “Mourners Kaddish: The Untold Story” at Limmud, NY
2017: JW3, the
Jewish Community Centre in London is scheduled to host a screening of “Aida’s
Secrets.”
2017: Friends
and family of Dr. Bob Silber, the chair of The Thaler Holocaust Memorial which
“was established in 1995 by Dr. David and Joan Thaler to provide support for
education about the Holocaust to residents and students at the local colleges
in Linn County” are scheduled to celebrate his birthday today- just days after
he took part in an amateur musical that raised thousands of dollars to fight
the scourge of colon cancer.
2017: Posting
of “Ten in the Twentieth: Baltimore Jews and Social Just 1940s”
http://jewishmuseummd.org/tag/rose-zetzer/
2017: In the
United States, observance of President’s Day, a federal holiday that celebrates
the lives of President Washington who set the tone of acceptance of Jews in
American as equal citizens and President Lincoln who furthered the cause of
Jews in American as could be seen by his rescission of General Order No.11 in
1862 and his signing legislation that made it possible for Jews to serve as
Chaplains in the Union Army.
2018(5th
of Adar, 5778): Eighty-nine-year-old George Kaufman, the third generation New
York realtor who helped to revive New York as a television and movie production
site passed away today.
2018: “The mushrooming corruption scandal
plaguing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel took a surprising new turn
today, with an allegation that one of his closest advisers had sought to bribe
a judge into dropping a criminal investigation involving the prime minister’s
wife.” (As reported by David M. Halbfinger)
2018: In New York, “The Mineola Historical
Museum and the Wood County Historical Commission are scheduled to celebrate
Black History Month” today by hosting “a showing of an Aviva Kempner film
“RosenWald” the remarkable story of a Jewish partnership with African
American communities.”
2018: In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is
scheduled to hosing a screening of “Bajel: The Hidden Jews of Ethiopia” by
Irene Orleansky,
2018: The Center for Jewish History is
scheduled to host a lecture by Jan Gross on “Europe, the Holocaust, and the
rise of the right.”
2018: In St. Louis, MO, the United Hebrew
Congregation is scheduled to host “An Evening of Song and Spirit” with Abbie
Strauss and Joe Buchanan.
2018: “Rabbi Mordechai Zeller, the Chaplain in
Cambridge and former Rabbi in Maaleh Gilboa Yehisva is scheduled to lead a
discussion on “Sacred Purim Theatre: Reclaiming the myth of Ishtar and Esther”
at Oxford.
2018: Quintessential Hawkeye Hebrew Dr. Bob
Silber is scheduled to celebrate his birthday as a Memphis transplant.
2018:
Friends and family of are scheduled to celebrate the natal day of Lance
Anderson, an avid student and all-around good guy.
2019: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled
to host a screening of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
2019: Jewish citizens, under the leadership of
the JCRC of Greater Washington, are scheduled to meet with their legislators as
part of Maryland Jewish Advocacy Day.
2019: At Adas Israel in Washington, DC, the
Jewish Center is scheduled to host “Echoing the Maccabees: How Jewish soldiers
Restored Synagogue after WWII.”
2019: In Palo Alto, CA, the Oshman Family JCC
is scheduled to host actor Roy Horovitz performing and sings “selected works by
the late Israeli playwright,” Hanoch Levin.
2019: In London, the Jewish Museum is scheduled
to host a “tour led by Assistant Curator Jemima Jarman” during which attendees
can “discover the behind the scenes story of Roman Vishnica and his
extraordinary photographs.”
2019: On a day when the weather service is
calling for yet another snowstorm, friends and families of Lance Anderson and
Dr. Bob Silber bask in the warmth of their natal day celebration.
2019 The JCC of Metro Detroit is scheduled to
host Maya Soifer of Rice University lecturing on “The Vanished Synagogues of
Medieval Seville.”
https://lsa.umich.edu/judaic/news-events/all-events.detail.html/57450-14193522.html
2020: The Illinois Holocaust Museum is
scheduled to host “Chicago Fringe Opera’s premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene
Scheer’s Two Remain, a work based on the lives of Holocaust Survivors Gad Beck
and Krystyna Zywulska and the haunting scar of what it means to be left behind.”
2020: San Francisco State is scheduled to host
CCNY professor Mikhal as she discusses her new book, Tehran Children: A
Holocaust Refugee Odyssey.
2020: In San Francisco, the Red Poppy Art House
is scheduled to host Beyond the Pale during which a Canadian band plays a
concert of acoustic klezmer and Balkan music
2020: In Coralville, IA, “a chavurah of
parents” is scheduled to meet for a Family Friday, which begins with a potluck
vegetarian dinner complete with Mac and Cheese.
2020: The Oxford University Jewish Society is
scheduled to host a Lunch and Learn during which “Martin Goodman, a professor
of Jewish Studies in the Faculty of Oriental Studies and past President of the
Oxford Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies discusses “Why did Titus Destroy
the Temple?”
2020: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to
present “Live in Limbo: Jewish Refugees in Portugal, 1940-1954” during which “Historian
Marion Kaplan explores the experience of refugees from Nazi Germany in
Portugal, the port of last resort once Hitler invaded France.”
2020: The Greater Phoenix Jewish Film Festival
is scheduled to host the final screening of “Abe,” a film about a 12-year-old
New Yorker, navigating “complicated identity isses that arise from having a
Jewish-Israeli mother and a Muslim-Palestinian father.”
2020: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host the
final two screenings of “The Other Story.”
2020: In San Francisco, Congregation Sherith
Israel is scheduled to host “A New Look at 1948” during which “Israeli
historian Benny Morris talks about his new research on the first Arab-Israeli
war.”
2020: In Jerusalem, Nocturno is scheduled to host Black Velvet, “one of the top
Irish music bands” as it launches a new album.
2020: A break in the bleak Iowa winter
coincides with today’s scheduled celebration of the natal days of Dr. Bob
Silber and Lance Anderson.
2020: “The Jewish Book Council, The Jewish
Museum, Tablet Magazine, and Lilith Magazine are scheduled to present
“Unpacking the Book: Confronting Conformity,” with “authors Abby Chava Stein
and Goldie Goldbloom in a conversation with Stephanie Butnick, of Tablet Magazine
2021(8th
of Adar, 7801): Remember it is Shabbat Zachor
2021: On Shabbat
Zachor we remember to celebrate the natal days of Lance Anderson and Dr. Bob
Silber – meaning we read from two Torah scrolls as we celebrate the birth of
two real stand-up guys.
2021: In River
Hills, WI, following the CEEBJ Shabbat Morning Study Minyan,
scholar-in-residence Dr. Gary P. Zola I scheduled to give a formal presentation
on “Fascinating Documents from the American Jewish Archives.”
2021: The Highgate
Synagogue is scheduled to host a pre-Purim Event with Adam Leigh. “What did the
fisherman say to the magician? Pick a
cod, any cod.”
2021: In Florida,
Temple Judea is scheduled to host an online Torah Study with Rabbi Yaron.
2021: Based on
statements made yesterday by “Professor Benjamin Brown of the Hebrew University
of Jerusalem and an expert in Orthodox and Haredi Judaism” as Jews observe
Shabbat “the relationship between Israel’s Haredi population and the rest of
the country’s Jewish citizens is at a breaking point as a result of the
coronavirus.”
2022: HUC-JIR Jewish
Language Project, Iranian American Jewish Federation, Nessah Synagoque, and USC
Caden Institute are scheduled to present the first lecture in the series “Languages
of the Jews of Iran: which is a series of online conversations and performances.
2022: Jewish Women’s
International (JWI) is scheduled to host an afternoon of ice skating at The
Wharf Ice Rink.
2022: The City
Winery is scheduled to host David Broza and friends performing “The Not Exactly
Xmas Schow.
2022: The National
Library of Israel is scheduled to host a lecture by Professor Christine Hayes
on “When the Divine Is in the Details,” the second lecture in “The Talmud’s
View of Divine Law” series.
2022: The Jewish
Heritage Museum of Monmouth County is scheduled to present “Revisionist
Zionism,” the second lecture in the three part series on “The Various Views of
Zionism.”
2022: As Part of Kol
Hadash, Northern California Community for Humanistic Judaism’s Bagel Brunch
series, Paul Golin, executive director of Society for Humanistic Judaism, is
scheduled to discuss the work of Jews for a Secular Democracy, an initiative
concerned about the growing influence of religious fundamentalism on government
policymaking.
2022: The New York Times reviewed books by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the
recently released paperback edition of Gambling With Armageddon: Nuclear
Roulette From Hiroshima to the Cuban Missile Crisis by Martin J. Sherwin.
https://shafr.org/system/files/passport-01-2022-memoriam-sherwin.pdf
2023: The Boston
Workers Circle is scheduled to present online a Yiddish Class on “Yehoyash’s
Yiddish Translation of Tanakh.”
2023: The Weitzman
National Museum of American Jewish History is scheduled to offer special
President’s activities including performances by Spirit Wing Musical Group and
historical interpreter Eva Baen!
2023: Triple Simcha
as we observe President’s Day and celebrate the natal days of Lance Andersen,
all around good guy and mensch and Dr. Bob Silber a great physician and an
exceptional human being.
2023: In Israel the
government is scheduled to advance the first elements of its judicial overhaul
package through the first of three necessary Knesset votes today, after pushing
them through a parliamentary committee earlier in the month. (As reported by
Ash Obel)
2023: The
movement protesting the government’s judicial overhaul package is scheduled
mark today as a day of “national struggle” that will include a large rally
outside the Knesset, as well as demonstrations in various cities and the
shuttering of some businesses.”
2023: President’s Day,
officially the third Monday of February, celebrates all U.S. presidents. For
more about Jews and American Presidents see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/presquote.html and http://www.jewishpost.com/archives/news/united-states-presidents-and-the-jews-from-george-washington-to-george-bush-1.html
2024: Congregation Tifereth Israel is scheduled to host a virtual
Congregational Town Hall where the discussion will include “potential merger
and/or strategic partnership.”
2024: Sid Jacobson JCC’s Randie
Waldbaum Malinsky Center for Israel, Forum Nashim of Long Island, and The
Jewish Agency for Israel are scheduled to present writer journalist and winner
of the Sokolov Prize for Journalism, Itai Anghel who will lead us in exclusive
documentary segments through Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Yemen and
Ukraine in order to understand the array of new forces in our neighborhood.
2024: The Alliance for Jewish Theatre is scheduled to host a Q and A
during which the Executive Director will talk about AJT’s Regranting Program,
one of whose previous recipients was Joshua Hershfield creator of the musical “Rise.”
2024: Friends and family are scheduled to celebrate the natal days of Heimishe
Mensch, Dr. Bob Silver and Lance Anderson, a real stand-up guy.
2024: Tiftereth Israel is scheduled to hold an egalitarian minyan this
evening at the JCC New Albany Library.
2024: In Louisiana, Gates of Prayer, Shir Chadash and Touro Synagogue
are scheduled to hold their board meetings.
2024: Lockdown University is scheduled to host a lecture by Trudy Gold
on “Hollywood: Otto Preminger.”
2024: As February 20th, begins in
Israel, the Hamas held hostages begin day 137 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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