May 16
0942(21stof Iyar, 4702): Saadia Gaon passed away. Born in 882, Saadia Gaon was the headof the Talmudic Academy of Sura (Babylonia). He was a recognized authority onthe Talmud, and a profound student of philosophy and philology. Saadia wasforced to deal with the challenge of assimilation of the upper-class Jews ofBabylonia who were attracted to the Greek philosophers whose works had beentranslated into Arabic.Saadia wrote a philosophic work, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, inmagnificent flowing Arabic. In it, he defended the rational underpinnings ofJudaism and showed logically that every rational Jew could believe in the Torahas well as Aristotle and Plato. He wrote the first Hebrew grammar book whichexplained how the holy language worked. He provided a Hebrew dictionary plus acompendium of rhyming words for Hebrew poets. He was the first to write anArabic translation of the Bible. He included commentaries, explanations, andgrammatical notes as well. His translation continues to be the authoritative Biblefor Jews in Arab lands. He also led a successful fight against the Kararites, asect which rejected Rabbinic commentary as law.
1165: Maimonides and his family arrived at Acre,Palestine. Havingbeen forced to leave Spain because he would not convert to Islam, Maimonidesand his family settled in Fez, Morocco. His work with Jews who had been forcedto convert to Islam attracted attention of the local authorities and the familymoved on to Palestine. Due to the poverty of the land and the uncertainconditions there, Maimonides finally settled in Egypt where he served both as aphysician and leader of the Jewish Community.
1474: Minister Pacheco ofSpain used an attack he organized against "new Christians" as adiversion in order to enable him to capture the citadel of Segovia (and maybethe King). Although the plot was discovered in time, the Marranos were attackedby the organized mob, and men, women and children were murdered.
1477: Abraham dei Tintori produced the firstprinted edition of the book of Job with a commentary by Levi ben Gerson waspublished today in Ferrara, Italy
1487: Joseph Solomon Sonciino produced thefirst printed edition of Seder Tahanunim at Soncino, Italy
1507: Ginevra Sforza, whose father AlessandroSforza ,the patron of “Jewish Italian dancer anddancing master Guglielmo Ebreo da Pesaro” who converted to Roman Catholicism,passed away today.
1527: Florentines drove out the Medici for asecond time and re-established a republic The recreation of the Republic led tothe expulsion of the Jews. This event took place in the Jewish year 5300 (ayear with Jewish mystical connotations), fueling messianic hopes helping tolayer the ground for the rise of Solomon Molcho.
1573: Today Polish nobles elected Henry, as thefirst elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, theLithuanian nobles boycotted this election, and it was the Lithuanian ducalcouncil who confirmed his election. Poland elected Henry, rather than Habsburgcandidates, partly in order to be more agreeable to the Ottoman Empire (atraditional ally of France through the Franco-Ottoman alliance), with which aPolish-Ottoman alliance was also in effect.. He owed his election to SolomonAshkenazi, a “Rabbi” who was an advisor to the Sultan. He was in effect the Sultan’s foreignminister. In an unusually bluntstatement, Ashkenazi wrote Henry “I have rendered you majesty most importantservice in securing your election; I have effected all that was done here.” Thelast statement refers to his behind the scenes work at the Sultans Palace. See Volume 4p 605 0f Graetz
1611: Birthdate of Pope Innocent XI. During hispapacy, “Innocent showed a degree of sensitivity in his dealings with the Jewswithin the Italian States. He compelled the city of Venice to release theJewish prisoners taken by Francesco Morisini in 1685. He also discouragedcompulsory baptisms which accordingly became less frequent under hispontificate; but he could not abolish the old practice altogether. Morecontroversially in 1682 he issued an edict by which all the money-lendingactivities carried out by the Roman Jews were to cease. However ultimatelyconvinced that such a measure would cause much misery in destroyinglivelihoods, the enforcement of the edict was twice delayed.”
1617(11th of Iyar, 5377): Judah LöbSarava, the Rabbi at Venice who is quoted in the ritual work "MashbitMilḥamot," in connection with a question in regard to the ritual bath” and“translated into Hebrew Saadia's commentary onCanticles” passed away today.
1648: During the great Cossack uprising whichbrought death and destruction to hundreds of thousands of Jews, BohdanKhmelnytsky's forces overwhelmed and defeated Commonwealth forces under thecommand of Stefan Potocki at the Battle of Zhovti Vody.
1654: In England, the Council of State ruled infavor of the Jews and Antonio Rodrigues Robles got back the property which hadbeen seized in March.
1667: Sixty-eight year old Samuel Bochart, “aFrench Protestant biblical scholar” whose “two-volume Geographia Sacra seu Phaleg et Canaan exerted a profoundinfluence on seventeenth-century Biblical exegesis” passed away today.
1669: Birthdate of “Dutch Christian HebraistCampegius Vitringa author of a Commentary on Isaiah and De Synagoga Vetere Libri Tres.
https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14719-vitringa-campegius-the-elder
1746(26th of Iyar, 5506): MosheChaim Luzzatto passed away. Born in 1707, this Italian rabbi known by theHebrew acronym RaMChal was noted philosopher and student of kabbalah.
1754: Fire ravaged the Ghetto in Prague.
1756(16th of Iyar, 5516):Fifty-nine-year-old Abigail Franks, the daughter of Moses Levy, and the wife ofJacob Franks with whom she had two children, passed away today.
1761: In Trevellas, Cornwall, England “EdwardOpie, a master carpenter and his wife Mary (néeTonkin) gave birth John Opie the youngest of their five children who painted“The Old Jew,” a “portrait of a Jewish man” that he completed “in the monthsbefore” he moved to London in 1780.
1764(14th of Iyar,5524): Pesach Sheni observed as the smallpox epidemic continues inMassachusetts Bay Colony.
1765(25th of Iyar,5525): One of two dates marking the death of New York resident Bilhal Abigail Levy, the London born daughterof Moses Levy and the husband of Jacob Franks,
1774(6th of Sivan,5534): Shavuot is observed for the last time in Thirteen Colonies loyal to KingGeorge since by the following year the American Revolution would have begun andwith armed militia beginning their siege of Boston.
1775(16th of Iyar, 5535):Veitel-Heine Ephraim who served as “Jeweller to the Prussian Court and MintMast under the Prussian Kings Frederick William I and Frederick the Great forwhom he played a critical role in financing the Seven Years War passed awaytoday.
1783(14th of Iyar, 5543): PesachSheni
1785(7th of Sivan, 5545): Second Dayof Shavuot
1785(7th of Sivan, 5545): Rabbi Chaim Abrahamben Moses Israel of Ancona, author of “Bet Avraham” passed away.
1786(18th of Iyar, 5546): Lag B’Omeris observed on the same day that John Adams, the American ambassador to GreatBritain and future President of the United States wrote to Thomas Jefferson,the American ambassador to France and future President of the United Statesasking him to provide a letter of introduction to an American citizen travelingfrom London to Paris as well as providing him information about domesticpolitics in the very disunited United States of America.
1789: Birthdate of Michael Creizenach, thenative of Mainz who edited the Hebrew periodical “Zion” with I.M. Jost and whowas the father of Theodor Creizenach who followed in his literary footsteps
1790: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Warsaw.
1791: One day after he had passed away, BarnetLevy, the husband of Esther Elias and the father of Betsy and Levi Levy wasbured today at the Falmouth Jewish Cemetery.
1794: Sarah Abrahams, who had changed her nameto Abrahams when she converted, married Moses Nathan today in Philadelphia.
1799: Birthdate of Alexander McCaul the Dublinborn Christian missionary who spent a decade in Poland trying to convert theJews but who was no anti-Semite since he opposed the accusations of the “bloodlibel.” He returned to England where “hebecame professor of Hebrew and rabbinical literature at King’s College.”
1801: Birthdate of William H. Seward who servedas Secretary of State under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson (1861-1869). Shortly after he assumed office, Seward metwith Henry I. Hart, President of the Board of Delegates of American Israelitesand assured him that he would continue the push to end the discriminationpracticed by the Swiss against American Jews. In 1863, Seward instructedAmerican diplomats to do all that they could to stop the attacks on the Jews ofMorocco.
1804(6th of Sivan, 5564): Shavuotcelebrated as Lewis and Clark passed the coal beds of Charbonier Bluff afterwhich they arrived at St. Charles, MO.
1807(8th of Iyar): Joseph Abraham Stelicki, GerZedek of Nikolai passed the son a butcher who had been raised Catholic but whoconverted to Judaism in 1785 passed away today.
1809: Birthdate of Polish native LöbelSchottländer, the husband of Henriette Gorssman Schottlanderand the father ofJulius and Bruno Schottla der
1812(5th of Sivan, 5572): ParashatBamidbar; Erev Shavuot
1815: “The Jewish community of the Aachen,Germany offered an homage in its synagogue to the Prussian king, FriedrichWilhelm the third.”
1816: Seventeen-year-old Rachel N. Cardozo, thePennsylvania born daughter of Sarah Hart and Isaac Nunez Cardozo married herfirst husband, Simon Cauffman
1816: Birthdate of Adam Gimbel, the native ofBavaria who came to the United States in 1834 and parlayed a trading post heopened in Vincennes into the chain of Gimbel’s Department Stores which wouldbecome the fabled rival of Macy’s.
1820(3rd of Sivan, 5580): Nathan Salomon the Rabbiat Hombourg who was one of those attending The Grand Sanhedrin of Napoleon thattook place at the Town Hall of Paris in February 1807 and whose parents wereReitz and Marx Salomon passed away today.
1821(14th of Iyar, 5581): PesachSheni
1821: Economist and MP David Ricardo, the sonof Sephardic Jews Abigail Delvalle and Abraham Israel Ricardo “who converted tothe Unitarian faith when he eloped” voted today in favor of an inquiry into thePeterloo Massacre.
1823(6th of Sivan, 5583): Shavuot
1823: Birthdate of Heymann Steinthal thebrother-in-law of Mortiz Lazarus who taught at The Hochschule für dieWissenschaft des Judentums, or Higher Institute for Jewish Studies.
1824(18th of Iyar, 5584): Lag B’Omeris celebrated for the last time during the Presidency of James Monroe.
1826: Birthdate of Danish banker and Member ofParliament David Baruch Adler.
1828: In Frankfurt, Baron Carl Mayer vonRothschild of Naples and Adelheid Hertz gave birth to Wilhelm Carl vonRothschild, who would become head of the Frankfurt branch of the Rothschildbanking empire.
1828: Birthdate of Marcus Kalisch, the nativeof Pomerania who was “one of the pioneers of the critical study of the OldTestament in England, a secretary to the Chief Rabbi and a tutor in the Rothschild family” whichgave him “the leisure to produce his commentaries and other works.”
1829: Abraham Alexander Wolff “assumed officeas chief rabbi of Denmark” today.
1835: In Dolnośląskie, Poland, Lobel andHenriette Grossmann Schottlander gave birth to Julius Schottlander, the husbandof Galewski Schottlander and the father of Paul Schottlander.
1835: Birthdate of Hesse-Nassau native andUniversity of Paris trained German professor Sigmund Mannheimer who in 1865came to the United States where he “became a professor and librarian at HebrewUnion College while raising two sons who became rabbis and one daughter, JennieMannheimer also known as Jennie Manners, the college professor and dramatistwho was one of the first two women to earn a degree from Hebrew Union College,with his wife Louise Herschman Mannheimer, the Prague born author, teacher andsocial reformer.
1838: In Bavaria, Jacob Rice and AugustaMannstein gave birth to Ignatius Rice, the husband of Cornelia Diana Stern,President of the Home for Aged Infirm, Trustee of the National Hospital forConsumptives at Denver, Colorado who resided at 122 East 79th Streetin New York,
1838: Augusta and Lewis Feuchtwanger gave birthto Rebecca Feuchtwanger
1839: George Moss married Lucy Lippshutz at theGreat Synagogue today.
1842(7th of Sivan, 5602): Second Dayof Shavuot
1845: Birthdate of Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, alsoknown as Eli Metchnikoff. Born in the Ukraine, he was a Russian microbiologistbest remembered for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikovreceived the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, for his work on phagocytosis. Hepassed away in Paris in 1916.
1846: One day after she had passed away, Sarah(Moses) Hart, the wife of Michael Hart was buried today at the Brady StreetJewish Cemetery.
1850: Today, Anshe Chesed Synagogue, also knowsthe Norfolk Street Congregation “ was formally opened and consecrated with NewYork City's mayor and a number of members of the New York City Common Counciland Christian clergy among the invited guests.”
1851(14th of Iyar, 5611): PesachSheni observed for the first time during the Presidency of Millard Fillmore.
1852(27th of Iyar, 5612): HenryHyams, the London born son of Solomon M. Hyams and Rebecca Hyams and the husbandof Judith Hyams passed away today in North Carolina.
1853: The New York Times provided moreinformation about outbreaks of violence that had occurred in Jerusalem duringHoly Week (Palm Sunday thru Easter). A group of English missionaries wereforced to leave the Church of the Holy Sepulcher because “they behaved in anunseemly manner when the Procession of the Host passed on Good Friday.” One of the missionaries delivered a sermonoutside of a synagogue while the Jews were attending services in which he used“invectives” in talking about the Talmud.One of the Jews reportedly threw a dead cat at the missionary and afight broke between the rest of the missionaries and the Jews who sought todefend their religious beliefs.
1853: The New York Times reported thatthe recent defeat of the Jewish Disabilities bill in the House of Lords hadbitterly disappointed supporters of the measure since they had anticipated thatthe Lords would follow their usual path and approve legislation that had beenapproved by the House of Commons. The action of the Lords, according to theTimes, shows the great gulf between the aristocracy and the rest of thecitizenry. Despite the prominence ofsuch families as the Rothschilds, “the Jew in England is no better off than hewas in the days of King John.”
1853: The New York Times reported thatthousands of Prussians including Alexander Von Humboldt have petitioned theSecond Chamber (one of the two houses of their bi-cameral legislature)demanding that Jews be allowed to hold government jobs and allowing for fullfreedom of religious opinion. Thepetitions were in response to vote by the First Chamber to exclude Jews frompublic employment.
1854(18th of Iyyar, 5614): Lag B’Omer
https://www.deutsche-biographie.de/sfz32724.html
1854: According to an article published todaythe American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews reported thatthere are 17 synagogues in New York City that show a membership totaling25,000. The last census shows that there are 46,000 Jews in the entire UnitedStates. The society believes that thecensus figure is a case of underreporting because it only records people asbeing Jewish if they self-report. “It is a well-known fact that one-half ormore of the Jews in this country call themselves Frenchman, German, Poles,Hungarians and Englishman and never make themselves known as Jews ingovernmental connections.”
1856: In slu*tsk, Belorussia, Chaim Maslianskyand his wife gave birth to Zvi Hirsch Masliansky “the popular Yiddish oratorwho was the most eloquent and influential Maggid on the American scene at histime.
http://yleksikon.blogspot.com/2017/07/tsvi-hirsh-maslyanski-zvi-hirsch.html
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/masliansky-zvi-hirsch
1857: In Marshall, TX, Meyer and RosalieDoppelmayer gave birth to James Doppelmayer the husband of Bella DavisDoppelmayer and the father of Marguerite, Walter and Rose Marie Doppelmayer whoworked in the family dry goods store with his brother Moses passed away todayin Marshall where his father Meyer and his Uncle Daniel and his Uncle IsaacWoolf had arrived in the 1850’s which later led to his cousin Joe Weismansettling there.
1859: In Highville, PA, Rudolph H. Kauffman,the Creswell, PA born son of Anna and Isaac Kaufman and his wife Anna Kauffmangave birth to Alfred G. Kauffman
1859: In London, “the first meeting of theBoard of Guardians for the Relief of the Jewish Poor was held at the GreatSynagogue Chambers
1861(7th of Sivan, 5621): Second Dayof Shavuot celebrated on the same day that Kentucky, the home state of Dembitzand Brandies families enacted a resolution of neutrality which would berendered meaningless when Union forces thwarted attempt by the Confederates tooccupy the home state of both Lincoln and Davis in September.
1863(27th of Iyar, 5623): JonasEnnery passed away. Born in 1801 at Nancy he became head of the Jewish schoolat Strasbourg. He served as a Deputy in the French Parliament and compiled a DictionnaireGénéral de Géographie Universelle, He was the brother of Marchand Ennery,the chief rabbi of Paris.
1864: In Vienna, Menachem Mendel Birnbaum, amerchant, from Ropsh*tz, Galicia, andMiriam Birnbaum (née Seelenfreund), who was born in northern Hungary (ina region sometimes called the Carpathian Rus), of a family with illustriousrabbinic lineage gave birth to Nathan Birnbaum the Austrian journalist, Jewishphilosopher and founder of a Jewish nationalist organization"Kadimah." Kadimah was formedten years before Theodor Herzl became the leading spokesman of the Zionistmovement. Birnbaum is credited for coining the term "Zionism". Hedied in 1937.
1864: In New York, the "Open Board ofStock-Brokers" adopted its constitution.Among the signatories was Mendez Nathan, the son of Seixas Nathan.
1864: Birthdate of Julia H. Kohlman who wasburied next to her husband Sigmund Kohlman in Mobile, Alabama when she passed.
1866: In Philadelphia, PA, Werner David Amramand Esther Hammerschlag gave birth to University of Pennsylvania graduate DavidWerner Amram, the husband of Beulah Brylawski and law school professor whowrote The Jewish Law of Divorce According to Bible and Talmud and LeadingCases in the Bible and was active in numerous Jewish organization the“Hebrew Education Society, Jewish Maternity Association and Congregation MickveIsrael.”
https://www.bjpa.org/content/upload/bjpa/davi/David%20Werner%20Amram.pdf
1867(14th of Iyar, 5657): PesachSheni
1868: President Andrew Johnson was acquitted inhis impeachment trial in the United States Senate. According to one source,Johnson made several virulent anti-Semitic statements during his politicalcareer prior to becoming President. Considering the fact that the “TarheelTailor” was illiterate until adulthood, his anti-Semitic statements may be morea case of ignorance than anything else.
1869(6th of Sivan, 5629): Shavuot iscelebrated for the first time during the Presidency of U.S. Grant.
1875: The Board of Trustees of B’nai Jeshurunmet today in New York City and approved a proposal to allow members of theopposite sex to sit together in the same pews during services. This put an end to the separate seating thathad been the rule at the synagogue since its founding. The decision would be contested by Israel J.Solomon a member of the congregation who brought a suit in the Court of CommonPleas to over-turn the decision. His suit would fail.
1876: Ida Kuhn married Eduard Cohen and becameIda Cohen
1877: As the constitutional crisis in Francecame to a head, 363 parliamentary deputies passed a vote of no confidence inthe new government championed by Royalist President Patrice MacMahon. Theleaders of the opposition would be defended by Raphael Basch a liberal FrenchJewish political leader and journalist.Basch was the father of Victor-Guillaume Basch who would be murdered bythe Vichy French in 1944.
1879: In Pittsburgh, PA Jacob and Kate Affeldergave birth to William L Affelder, the brother of Louis, Oscar, Harry and MinnieAffelder, the Penn State Universitytrained mining engineer who was Vice President of the Hillman Coal and co*keCompany in Pittsburgh.
1880(6th of Sivan, 5640): Shavuot
1880: Birthdate of Julius Tannen the New Yorkborn comedian and monologist whose career included vaudeville, Broadway andHollywood where he his most famous performance was in “Singing In the Rain.”
1881: Birthdate of Amy Loveman, a foundingeditor of the Saturday Review.
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/loveman-amy
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/amy-loveman
1881: “A comic melodrama entitled “Sam’l ofPosen, or The Commercial Drummer” premiered at Haverly’s Fourteenth StreetTheatre in New York.
1885: In London, Abigail Davis and EleazarSolomon Pool gave birth David de Sola Pool, whose family roots go back to theSephardim of Medieval Spain, who came to New York City in 1907 to begin a 63-yearcareer as the leader of Congregation Sheaerith Israel, also known as theSpanish and Portuguese Synagogue and whose productive career cannot besummarized in simple blog entry.
https://www.jewishideas.org/article/rabbi-dr-david-de-sola-pool-sephardic-visionary-and-activist
1888(6th of Sivan, 5648): Shavuotcelebrated for the last time during the Presidency of Grover Cleveland.
1889:Birthdate of Chicago native and future resident of Indianapolis Franny RoseTraugott Lurvey, the wife of David Lurvey, the president of Hatfield ElectricCompany with whom she had five children,four of whom were Leonard, Rosalie William and Frances, and who was an active member of theIndianapolis Council of Jewish Women.
https://www.showhouseindy.org/History-of-the-2021-Show-House
1890: It was reported today that formerPresident Grover Cleveland, Oscar Straus and Joseph Blumenthal will be amongthose who have purchased boxes for the upcoming Strawberry Festival, a fundraiser sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1890: Birthdate of Polish native and formerSwiss textile businessman Alexander S. Haberman who in 1941 came to the UnitedStates where he became a successful “a real‐estate investor,developer and builder of apartment houses and single family houses” andpresident of the Beth Israel center and the Blezer Rabbinical Seminary inJerusalem while raising two sons “Simon V. and Rabbi Jacob Haberman with hiswife Esther Lebowitz Haberman.
1891: It was reported today that among thebequests made by the late Nathan Littauer were$1,500 to Mt. Sinai Hospital forthe permanent endowment of a bed in memory of his daughter Louise; $1,000 eachto the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society and the Home for Aged andInfirm Hebrews; $500 to the Board of Relief of the United Hebrew Charities.
1892: Justice George C. Barrett officiated atthe wedding of Albert Kohn and Sophie Kupfer. The nuptials which were one ofthe most fashionable events in the Jewish community, took place at the home ofHenry Kupfer on east 78th Street.
1892: In Kovno, “Chaim Nathan and Base(Gibberman) Burak gave birth to Lithuanian trained rabbi Aaron D. Burack who in1914 came to the United States where he married Esther Inselbuch and ledcongregations “Etz Chaim Velozin” and “Ohel Moshe Cohevrah Thilim” beforebecoming an “instructor in Talmud at the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan TheologicalSeminary.”
1893(1st of Sivan, 5653): RoshChodesh Sivan
1893: In Great Britain, the Board of Guardiansis scheduled to meet today where Sir Julian Goldsmith will talk about theexpulsions of the Jews from Poland – a matter that heretofore has been deniedor kept secret.
1893: George Kennan, the explorer and newspaperman who has become a critic of the Czar and advocate for Russian democracystated his belief that Polish and Russian Jews will be coming to the UnitedStates as a result of the edicts of expulsion issued by the Russian government.
1893: “Myer S. Isaacs, Chairman of the Trusteesof the Baron Hirsh Fund for the aid of Russian Jews” in the United States saidtoday that he and his associates “had not considered the question of an influxof Polish Jews” because they did not except any abnormal increase inimmigration from that region. (Editor’s note – Based on contemporary reportsthere was a great deal of disagreement about Russian edicts of expulsion andthe potential major influx of Jews from Poland and Russia)
1894:Birthdate of NYU trained lawyer Charles Marks, the supporter of the YMHWHA andthe controversial State Supreme Court Justice who presided over the Malcom Xmurder trial and who was the husband of “the former Beatrice Engelhart Rubin”and the father of three children – Howard, Lester and Lucille – from his firstmarriage to the former Paula Unger,
1894: It was reported today that while HermanRosenblatt stood in the smoldering ruins of his crockery store, a local ruffianpointed at the Jew and shouted “There is the man who set the fire” causing amob yelling “Lynch him” to chase after Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt outran the mob and found sanctuaryin the 47th Street Police Station.
1896:In a cable from London, Harold Frederic provided a scoop for the New YorkTimes when he broke the news about Baron Hirsch’s grandchild, who is thedaughter of the Baron’s son Lucienne and a French governess. As confirmed by acopy of the Baron’s will, the child will inherit a large portion of the Hirschmillions.
1896:In Birmingham, England Laura (née Greenberg) and Louis Balcon gave birth toEnglish movie producer Sir Michael Elias Balcon.
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/people/id/447085/index.html
1897:Three days after he had passed away, 60 year old Aron Salomon, the husband of JeanetteSalomon, was buried in London at the “Plashet Jewish Cemtery.”
1898:The Daughters of Jacob are hosting a Strawberry Festival at Terrace Garden forthe benefit of a Home for Aged Hebrews of the down-town east side. They havealready sold 3,000 tickets at fifty cents each and have received presents oflarge quantities of goods that will be sold at the festival.
1898:Joseph J. Corn, the Vice President Temple Culture Society spoke yesterday aboutthe purpose of the society. He said “that in these days of cheap philosophy andwhat has come to be known as ethical culture there is a need for Jewishculture. In an effort to combat thenotion that religious education ended with confirmation, the society is holdingweekly meetings devoted to the study of Jewish history and Jewish philosophy. Among other things, the programs should helpJews answer the question “Why are you Jews in this Christian world and yet notof it?”
1898:During the Spanish American War the 4th Missouri Volunteer Infantrywhose members included Captain Max Mannheim (St. Joseph), Sergeants Lewis F.Stein (Carrollton) and Herman Weil (St. Joseph) and Privates Fred E. Wise,Lloyd F. Houseman and Abraham J. Friedman and Artificer Arthur Newsbaum wasmustered into federal service today.
1899:Second Lieutenant George M. Appel of the 2nd U.S. VolunteerEngineers was mustered out of service today.
1899(7thof Sivan): Eighty-six-year Jacob Ezekiel, the husband of Catherine MyersCastro, author of The Jews of Richmond and Persecutions of the Jewsin 1840 and the secretary of the board of governors of the Hebrew UnionCollege from 1876 to 1896 passed away today.
1900:“In the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice today, JudgesRidley and Darling gave judgment in favor of the Crown in the case of theGovernment versus the Jewish Colonization Association on a claim for successionduty amounting to one million,two-hundred fifty pounds upon property valued at more than eight million poundssettled by the late Baron Hirsch in 1892 upon the Colonization Association.”
1901:Today’s shipment of $2,200,000 in gold to Europe included a shipment of onemillion dollars in gold to Paris by Goldman, Sachs and Co.
1901(27thof Iyar, 5661): Eighty-eight-year-old Jacob Levy Seixas, the New York born sonof Judith and Moses Benjamin Seixas and the husband of Hortensia Seixas passedaway today.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/43057460.pdf
1902:Sixteen-year-old Louis Lefkowitz, the founder of “Louis Lefkowitz and Brothers,manufacturers of leather belts” and other similar items and the husband ofSadie Leah Weiss came to the United States today from his native Hungary.
1903:At a meeting held under the auspices of the English Zionist Federal aresolution was adopted “declaring that the establishment of a home in Palestinewas the only practical solution of the Jewish question.” Israel Zangwill had given an impassionedspeech in support of the motion during which he invoked the bloody images ofthe atrocities committed against the Jews of Romania and Kishineff.
1904: Herzl's diary breaks off with a report toJacob Schiff. Schiff was a successful banker and financer. He was one of theleaders of the Jewish community in the 19th and early 20th century. He activelyintervened on behalf of the Jews suffering in Tsarist Russia. Although he hadreservations about Zionism, he was increasingly drawn to Herzl’s concept of aJewish homeland in Palestine as a practical way of lessening the suffering ofRussia’s Jews.
1905: “The Yiddish Shylock of Jacob P Adler”published today provided a review of the Jewish actor in that role in the dramathat opened last night at the American Theatre.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1905/05/16/issue.htm
1905: In Russia, the Committee of Ministers isreported to indorse the “Jewish reforms” proposed Sergei Witte which cover“military conscription, participation in local government and removal ofresidential disabilities.”
1906: “Pennsylvania Plans Its $50,000,000 Loan”published today described the role of Kuhn Loeb & Co. in the quickplacement of this issue notes which was vital to the growth of one of America’sleading railroads.
1907: A day after pleading guilty to charges ofbribery Abe Ruef “testified before a grand jury incriminating the Mayor of SanFrancisco which led to his conviction and removal from office.
1908(15th of Iyar, 5668): ParashatBehar
1908(15th of Iyar, 5668): AbrahamHart Cardoza, the son of Sarah N. Peixotto and the brother of Rahel andAlgernon Cardozo passed away today after which he was buried in the Mount NebohCemetery in Glendale, NY.
1908: It was reported today that the publishinghouse Messrs. L.C. Page & Co is preparing to issue Race or Mongrel,American or Pan-European which warns “against unrestricted immigration” andcites “the Jews as an example of a race preserved in strength by abstentionfrom foreign marriage.”
1909(25th of Iyar, 5669): Forty-two-year-old “prestidigitator “ Leon Hermann, the Parisborn son of Caroline Hirshmann and Benjamin Herrmann and the husband of MarieVedie who has performed his magic acts before “almost all of the crowned headsof Europe” while giving numerous benefit shows for several Jewish organizationsincluding the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and the National Jewish Hospital forConsumptives at Denver passed away today.
http://geniimagazine.com/wiki/index.php/Leon_Herrmann
1909:Birthdate of Yehiel Feiner whom the world would come to know as Yehiel De-Nuror Dinur, a survivor of Auschwitz who used his experience as the basis forseveral books including “The House of Dolls.”
1910:It was reported today that the commission that was appointed to examine the“question of the expulsion of Jews residing illegally in Kiev and elsewhereoutside of the Pale has finished its works and the 170 families of the 1,500examined will be allowed to remain and not forced to move elsewhere in Russia.
1911(18th of Iyar, 5671): Lag B’Omer
1911: Masliach Effendi of the Turkishgovernment ridiculed the idea that Jews could become a menace to Turkey. Hesuggests appointment of committee to examine the whole question of Zionism.
1911: “President Taft address a large audiencetonight in the Eight Street Jewish in the interest of the movement for erectionof a monument in Washington to Haym Salomon, the Jew who financed theRevolution…”
1912:Birthdate of Rita Kanarek. In her senior year at N.Y.U. she married AlexHillman founder and President of Hillman Periodicals. Mrs. Hillman becamepresident of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation where she pursued her passionsas an art collector and philanthropist. Among the beneficiaries of her largessewas the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing in Manhattan. She passed away atthe age of 95 in November, 2007.
1912: Birthdate of author, historian andbroadcaster, Studs Terkel. “My family was Jewish but not religious. My motherwent through the rituals; my father didn't. He was a freethinker.” He passedaway at the age of 93.
1913(9th of Iyar 5673): Ninety-one-year-oldbanker William Scholle passed away today in New York.
1913: Rabbi Tobias Schaafarber is scheduled todeliver the Friday night sermon at the Chicago Hebrew Institute.
1913: Three years after the death of his firstwife, Max Rabinoff married Helene Gaubert today
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/eresources/archives/rbml/Rabinoff/
1914 20th of Iyar): Isaac Halevy(Rabinowitz) author of “Dorot ha-Rishonim” passed away.
1914: “The preliminary paper of Dr. Harry Plotzof Mount Sinai Hospital in which he tells for the time of his isolation of thegerm of typhus fever and Brill’s disease, appeared in the of The Journal of theAmerican Medical Association published” today.
1915: In Chicago, on Leo M. Frank Day, famousattorney Clarence Darrow will address “a big mass meeting” scheduled to be heldtoday “at which it is expected 100,000 signatures will be obtained on petitionsappealing to Governor J.M. Slation and the Prison Board of Georgia to commuteFrank’s death sentence.
1915: “Prominent speakers will tell of thetrial of Leo Frank and the many injustices to which it is alleged he wassubjected because of the high racial feeling in the South” at a mass meetingscheduled to be held in Minneapolis, MN in an attempt “to ask the Governor ofGeorgia to commute Leo M. Frank’s death sentence to life imprisonment.”
1915: Today “the Kosher Butchers’ Union openedco-operative butcher shops at 149 Orchard Street, 214 East 102ndStreet and 501 Wilkins Avenue in the Bronx” the proceeds from which will beused to finance the plan strike by the Union.
1915: Felix Warburg was presented a silvertrowel today when the cornerstone was laid for the new building of theYorkville Jewish Institute and Talmud Torah at 123 East 85th Streetwhere the attendees heard speeches by several notable including ProfessorMordecai M. Kaplan of JTS and Borough President Marcus M. Marks
1915: Professor Max L. Margolis and HoraceStern are scheduled to speak at the annual meeting of the Jewish PublicationSociety of America which is being held at Dropsie College in Philadelphia, PA.
1916: Birthdate of Ephraim Katzir, formerPresident of Israel. Born Katchalski in Kiev, Katzir came to Palestine in 1925.A biophysicist, Katzir taught at Hebrew University and served as departmenthair at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot. One result of his research was thecreation of a synthetic fiber for internal surgery that can be dissolved bybody enzymes. He served as Israel's fourth President (a largely ceremonialposition) from 1973 to 1978.
1916: As the French and British negotiated thepost-war disposition of Ottoman Empire, British Foreign Secretary Sir EdwardGrey sent a letter to Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador to the Court of St.James ratifying Cambon’s version of the partition plan that would eventually beknown as the Sykes-Picot Agreement.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-sykes-picot-agreement-1916
1916: The will of Shalom Aleichem was publishedin the New York Times and read into the Congressional Record of the UnitedStates.
1917: The Chess Club is scheduled to play anexhibition game at the Sinai Social Center before which Edward Lasker, theleading Chess champion will deliver an introductory speck on “Chess, an Aid inthe Struggle of Life.
1917: The Annual meeting of the Jewish TrainingSchool of Chicago is scheduled to be held this evening at the Standard Club.
1917: Today, President Wilson told Judge AaronJ. Levy of New York that “at present” the government is “unable to do anythingfurther to relieve the situation of the Jews in Palestine” which has beenpictured “as very serious.”
1917: Dr. A. B. Yudelson and Nathan D. Kaplanare scheduled to speak about the issues facing the American Jewish Congress atthis evening’s meeting The South Side Jewish Men’s Club at the JewishEducational Center.
1918(5th of Sivan, 5678): ErevShavuot
1918: Two Jewish French journalists – Landauand Goldsky—expressed their desire to address the court today after having beensentenced to prison on charges of treason yesterday.
1918: Rabbi H.S. Margolies, Rabbi Philip Klein,Rabbi S.E. Jaffe and Rabbi M.L. Preil were among those who signed a letterissued today by the Rabbinical Association “urging the Jews of America tosubscribe generously to the Red Cross fund.”
1919: Sir Harry Lawson Webster Levy-Lawson “wascreated 1st Viscount Burnham of Hall Barn in the County of Buckingham.”
1919: The first Estonian Congress of Jewishcongregations which had been convened on May 11 to discuss the newcirc*mstances Jewish life was confronting came to a close today. This is wherethe ideas of cultural autonomy and a Jewish Gymnasium (secondary school) inTallinn were born. Jewish societies and associations began to grow in numbers.The largest of these new societies was the H. N. Bjalik Literature and DramaSociety in Tallinn founded in 1918. Societies and clubs were established inViljandi, Narva, and elsewhere. In 1920, the Maccabi Sports Society was foundedand became well-known for its endeavors to encourage sports among Jews. Jewsalso took an active part in sporting events in Estonia and abroad. SaraTeitelbaum was a 17-time champion in Estonian athletics and established no lessthan 28 records. In the 1930s there were about 100 Jews studying at theUniversity of Tartu. In 1934, a chair was established in the School ofPhilosophy for the study of Judaica. There were five Jewish student societiesin Tartu Academic Society, the Women’s Student Society Hazfiro, the CorporationLimuvia, the Society Hasmonea and the Endowment for Jewish Students. All ofthese had their own libraries and played important roles in Jewish culture andsocial life. Political organizations such as Hasomer Hazair and Beitar werealso established. Many Jewish youth traveled to Palestine to establish theJewish State. The renowned kibbutzim of Kfar Blum and Ein Gev were set up inpart by Jews from Estonia.
1919:University of Pennsylvania trained Civil Engineer and Chairman of theEngineering Department of the Pennsylvania Railroad System who during WW I“fought overseas with Company B, 103rd Engineers, 28thDivision of the AEF” was honorably discharged today.
1920: The funeral for sixty-year-old Yiddishactor and theatre manager David Kessler was scheduled to be held this morning“under the auspices of the Jewish Actors’ Club.”
1921: “Cheated Love,” a silent film starringCarmel Myers, “the daughter of Isidore Myers, a Russian-Jewish rabbi who wasborn in Russia but raised in Australia, and Anna Jacobson Myers, anAustrian-Jew” was released today in the United States.
1921: “Dr. Chaim Weizmann, leader of theWorld's Zion Organization, in addressing the convention of the IndependentOrder of B'rith Abraham, on the Steel Pier, this afternoon, made a plea that50,000 Jews go to Palestine from America within the next year.”
1922(18th of Iyar, 5682): Lag BaOmer
1923: Birthdate of economist Merton Miller,winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Economics.
1923: Birthdate of Manuel D. Plotkin, thenative of Chita, Russia who was appointed Director of the Census Bureau byPresident Carter in 1977.
1923 In New Canaan, CT, Jewish immigrantsMorris Yudain and Berta Jaffe gave birth to their seventh child, SidneyLawrence Yudain the journalist who created “Roll Call.”
1923:The first aerial display in Palestine took place atRamleh today, a squadron of 14 aeroplanes of the British Royal Air Force participating.The exhibition program included flying, air races, a baloon hunt, mimic airfighting and a bombing demonstration. The aerial derby was over the circuit ofRamleh, Raselain, Jaffa, Ramle... Lieut. Martyn, flying a Vickers Vimy biplane,won the air race covering a distance of twenty-seven miles.
1924: “Having been convicted of conspiracy to carry stolensecurities into the District of Columbia, Nicky Arnstein” the husband of FannyBrice “entered Leavenworth prison, where he remained for three years.”
1924: The Jewish Daily News published “The Old World Ghettos” by art critic and artist Marie Trommer, theUkraine born daughter of Bertha Edlin and Bernard Trommer, a graduate of theWoman’s Art School at the Cooper Institute.
1924: In Manhattan, Herman and Sara Aaronson Mankiewicz gavebirth to Frank Fabian Mankiewicz “a writer and Democratic political strategistwho was Senator Robert F. Kennedy’s press secretary, directed Senator George S.McGovern’s losing 1972 presidential campaign and for six years was thepresident of National Public Radio.”
1924: Birthdate of Joseph Zalman Margolis, thenative of Newark, NJ, who “has held the Laura H. Carnell Chair of Philosophy atTemple University” since 1991.
1925(22nd of Iyar, 5685): ParashatBehar-Bechukotai
1925: “Felix Warburg, Chairman of the JointDistribution Committee announced today that the organization was planninganother nation-wide campaign to certain of its relief activities” includingagricultural colonization by in Russiaand the care of Jewish orphans in the Soviet Union.
1925: “Liberty, democracy and social justiceare the three great ideals which actuated the founders of the AmericanRepublic, declared Dr. Nathan Krass, speaking today at Temple Emanu-El onPresident Coolidge’s eulogy of American Jews.”
1926: In Brooklyn, businessman Harold A LIftonand Ciel (Roth) Lifton gave birth to Dr. Robert Jay LIfton the psychiatristwhose works include Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism; Deathin Life: Survivors of Hiroshima; and The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killingand the Psychology of Genocide
1926: Dr. James Simon is scheduled to presideover today’s celebration marking the 25th anniversary of theestablishment of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, a “German Jewishorganization founded in 1901 to improve social and political conditions of Jewsin Eastern Europe and Orient.”
1927(14th of Iyar, 5687): PesachSheni
1927(14th of Iyar, 5687): Sixty-fouryear old American actor and vaudevillian Sam Bernard, the Birmingham, England,born son of Benjamin and Charlotta Bernard and the husband of Florence Deutschwho began his career at the age of 13 in “the Grand Duke’s Theatre” passed awaytoday while on board the liner Columbus whichwas the first leg on a trip to Carlsbad, Germany where he planned on gettingrelief from his rheumatism.
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=J28tAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-4sFAAAAIBAJ&pg=5728%2C2804723
1927: It was announced today that “gifts of$47,800 to the Yong Men’s Hebrew Association’s $1,500,000 building fund broughtthe total today up to $881,850…”
1927: It was reported today that four thousandsix hundred and twenty-eight persons are now living in 41 settlements inPalestine created by the Keren Hayesod, according to the latest figures givenout by the Department of Agricultural Colonization of the Palestine ZionistExecutive. Sixty-five per cent of this population are workers, and theremainder children. (JTA)
1928: Three Jews, who are reported to be Communists, werescheduled to be deported from Palestine.One of the deportees “was found guilty in Jerusalem of belonging to anillegal organization” while the other two were being deported after havingserved short jail terms for participating in “May Day riots in Tel Aviv.”
1929: InBaltimore, MD, Arnold Rice Rich and Helen Gravely Jones Rich gave birth toAdrienne Rich, a poet of towering reputation and towering rage, whose work —distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathicferocity — brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront ofpoetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century. Her father wasJewish. Her mother was not. (As reportedby Margalit Fox)
1929: The 1st Academy Awards ceremony,presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honoringthe best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place today at a private dinner heldat the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, California. The awards,popularly known as Oscars, were created by Jewish movie mogul Louis B. Mayer,founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation.
1929: Polish born Rabbi Selig Starr who 1921came to the United States “with his widowed mother Guta Tova where he earneddegrees from the University of Chicago and married Pearl Cohen “obtained hisU.S. citizenship today after which “he was elected Rabbi of Am Olam.
1930(18th of Iyar, 5690): Lag BaOmer
1930: “A letter from August Heckscher,supporting the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee's New York campaignfor $1,000,000 to relieve suffering Jews in Eastern Europe, was made public todayby Albert Ottinger, former Attorney, General, local campaign chairman.”
1931(29th of Iyar, 5691): ParashatBamidbar
1931: Birthdate of Manhattan native AlfredWilliam Alberts, a pioneering researcher in the field cholesterol as it relatedto cardio-vascular problems. (As reported by Gina Kolata)
1932: The Nazis are demanding the removal of Bernhard Weiss from his post as the Vice-President of theBerlin Police Force. Their objectionsare two-fold: Weiss is Jewish and he ordered the arrest of four Nazis for theirrole in attacking a former Nazi named Schotz who had left the party.
1932(10th of Iyar,5692): Eighty-year-old Edward Lawrence Levy the London born winner of the firstWorld Weightlifting Competition in 1891 and “member of the InternationalWeightlifting Jury at the first modern Olympics at Athens in 1896 passed awaytoday while working as an agent of the Midland District of the National TradeDefence Association.
1933: “In a radio symposium on"Literary Freedom and Nationalism" tonight, four prominent New Yorkmembers of the American Centre of the P.E.N. Clubs, an Internationalorganization of authors, deplored the nationalistic spirit that recently led tothe banning of some German authors and the burning of their books and the booksof other writers.”
1933: David Lloyd George createda stir today with a fiery speech blaming the former Allies entirely for thepresent condition, of Germany” including the rise of Hitlerism.
1934: Three days after she hadpassed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held today for sixty-year-oldHenrietta Jaskow, “a member of the board of directors of the Foster MothersAssociation of America” and supporter of Mt. Sinai Hospital.
1934: “Benes Calms Fears of JewsOn Nationalism” published today described a meeting that Czech Foreign MinisterEduard Benes had with a delegation of Jews from the City of Uzhorod in which heassured them that the government “would not attempt to force Czechoslovakiannationalism on the Jews” living in that area.
1934: In Brooklyn, NY, RubinDallek (a business-machine dealer) and Esther (Fisher) Dallek. Gave birth toRobert A. Dallek, the Columbia University Ph.D. historian who won the BancroftPrize for his 1979 book Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy,1932–1945
1935: Harry (Aaron ) Bomberg, the Belarus bornson of Leib Bromberg and Rose Bromberg husbandof Rose (Rochel) Bromberg and Marsha “Minnie” Bromberg and father of SylviaKranz; Baby Bromberg; Jeanette Barr; Louis Bromberg and Ruth "Ruthie"Rose was naturalized as a U.S. citizen today.
1935: “A convention of delegates from nationalJewish youth organizations will meet tonight in room 327 of the ChaninBuilding, 122 East Forty-Second Street, to consider the syllabi which will bepresented to the seminars to be held on June 9 at the Metropolitan Conferenceof Jewish Youth Organizations. The meeting, under the auspices of the youthdivision of the American Jewish Congress, will consider such problems asanti-Semitism, boycott of the 1936 Olympics, Zionism, Jewish youth and economicdiscrimination and Jewish education.” (JTA)
1936: Tonight “the Icor, the association forJewish colonization in Soviet Russia, celebrated the second jubilee of theJewish autonomy in Biro-Bidjan, U.S.S.R. where a Jewish Soviet Republic isbeing built, with a concert at Town Hall.”
1936(24th of Iyar, 5696): A bomb thrown byArabs kills three Jews at the Edison cinema in Jerusalem. The Haganah demandspermission to retaliate, but Ben Gurion refuses. The Edison Cinema was not justa movie theatre. It was a “citadel of secular European culture in Jerusalem. Itopened in 1932 with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” sung inHebrew. The Edison was the third largest cinema in the city and popular sportfor British soldiers and officials.
1936: “Steel helmeted police maintained comparativequiet in the Holy Land today following” demonstrations that had broken outyesterday when the Arab campaign of civil disobedience officially began.
1936: At Shabbat morning services Rabbi Louis I.Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon at Rodeph Sholom on “Do ChristiansUnderstand Jews? – A comment on the Christian Century Articles”
1936: At Shabbat morning services Rabbi Nathan A.Perilman is scheduled to deliver a sermon this morning at Temple Emanu-El on“The Pitfalls of Self-righteousness
1937(6th of Sivan, 5697): Shavuot
1937: Birthdate of Dr. Anthony Saidy, the physicianand Internal Master of Chess who was a mentor to Bobby Fisher.
1937: The Polish government launched twoinvestigations into the attacks on Jews that took place last week in Brzesc,which was known as Brest-Litovsk, the site of the peace negotiations betweenthe Germans and the Russians that resulted with the latter surrendering to theformer.
1937: Dr. Bernhard Kahn and David J. Schweitzer, Europeandirector and vice-president, respectively, of the American Jewish JointDistribution Committee issued a report today that described “the role of the cooperative credit system established by the AmericanJewish Joint Reconstruction Foundation in aiding some 500,000 Jews in elevenEuropean countries by facilitating issuance of $28,000,000 in credits in ninemonths
1937: In Romania, “The first motion to exclude Jewsfrom professional associations came today when the Confederation of theAssociations of Professional Intellectuals (Confederația Asociațiilor deProfesioniști Intelectuali din România) voted to exclude all Jewish membersfrom its affiliated bodies, calling for the state to withdraw their licensesand reassess their citizenship.”
1938: The Palestine Post reported on thecontinued fighting between the police and British army units in the AcreDistrict. At least 23 terrorists were killed there, and numerous arrests weremade. Jewish settlements repulsed numerous terrorist attacks but complainedthat they were supplied with insufficient arms and too small a number ofsupernumerary constables for a successful defense. The Iraq Petroleum Co.pipeline was again set on fire.
1938: Today “the British government set out theobjectives of the Women's Voluntary Service for Civil Defence” which had beenfounded by Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, Baroness Swanborough whoserved as chairman of the WVS.
1938: After two and halfweeks of touring the country, Britain’s Palestine Partition Commission beganits first official session. Because ofthe continued Arab violence, the meeting was held “in camera under heavy guard.’ While Arab leaders continued to boycott thecommission, Jewish leaders Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion, Moshe Shertok andDr. Bernard Joseph met with the British to discuss possible implementation ofpartition proposals.
1939: “British troopspatrolled strategic points throughout the Holy Land tonight as part ofextensive precautions to avert threatened disorders over the BritishGovernment's Palestine plan, to be published tomorrow”
1940: This afternoonTreasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr. met with President Roosevelt at theWhite House today.
1940: It was reportedtoday that the 27th annual Palestine Flower Day is scheduled to beheld on May 19, 1940.
1940(8th of Iyar, 5700): Forty-two-year-oldDutch art dealer Jacques Goudstikker died tonight while fleeing from the Nazisin a freak accident when he feel through an open hatch aboard the SS Bodegravenin the English Channel and broke his neck.
1940: In New Canaan, CT,“Asher Margolies, a Macy’s executive, and the former Ethel Polacheck, apainter” gave birth to John Samuel Margolies, Americas “foremost photographerof vernacular architecture.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1941: “Nearly 5,000foreign Jews of Paris, many of them crying hysterically, arrived at aconcentration camp at Orleans today as the government extended its new socialmeasures by withdrawing licenses of hundreds of foreign doctors and druggists.”
1941: Today shortly after Robet Serebrenik , theVienna born on of Peisach Serebrenik and Theresia Reiß, the husband of JuliaHerzog and the Chief Rabbi of Luxembourg was attacked, theNazis began to demolish the Great Synagogue of Luxembourg, piece by piece, inwhat would turn out to be a two year task.
1942(29th ofIyar, 5702): Parashat Bamidbar
1942(29th ofIyar, 5702: Sixty-seven-year-old theatre producer Morris Gest, the husband ofReina Gest and the son-in-law of David Belasco passed away today.
https://norman.hrc.utexas.edu/fasearch/findingAid.cfm?eadid=00740
1942: “Sobibór becamefully operational and began mass gassing operations.
1943: The famous Tolmatsky Synagogue of Warsawwas dynamited by order of General Jurgen Stroop. It marked the last German"major operation" in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
1943: SS-Brigadeführer JürgenStroop reports the final liquidation of the Jewish ghetto at Warsaw, althoughsome Jews remain in hiding. The Germans reportedly lost 300 troops. Amazingly the Jewishresistance had proved fierce, by comparison than that of the French Army in1940. The number of Jewish dead does not matter, since they would have perishedin the showers and ovens any way. Death was not the question; the manner of deathwas the matter of choice. There were a few survivors of the Ghetto, one of thembeing the mother of Marsha Fensin, the formerCantor of Temple Judah.
1943(11th of Iyar 11): Yiddishauthor Chaim Zhitlowsky passed away
1943: Today, inwhat is now neighborhood of Tel Aviv, “the Sarona assembly hall was bombed bythe Irgun, injuring six people.”
1944(23rd of Iyar, 5704): Four yearold Eldad Davidovics who had been transported from Brno to Terezin today wastransported from Terezin to Auschwitz where he was murdered.
1944: The first of more than 180,000Hungarian Jews reached Auschwitz.
1944: Seventy-year-old Berlin native OlgaLehmann who had been deported to Terezin in 1942 was shipped to Auschwitztoday.
1945: Today, the Palestine police accused a“group of lawless Jewish political extremists “which has been inactive sincelast Fall” and which believes their activities “can hasten the emigration toPalestine of surviving European Jews “was responsible for the “sabotage oftelephone communications in the last few days.”
1946: It was reported today that CrownPublishers will Old Country by Sholem Aleichem on June 17.
1946: On the same day that it was reported thatthe “Arabs are in no mood to compromise on the pont of 100,000 Jews beingpermitted to enter Palestine, “twenty armed Jews, including several younggirls, reportedly participated in several robberies today” in Palestine.
1947: Three days after he had passed away,funeral services are scheduled to be held for NYU trained lawyer LouisFabricant, the “attorney-in-chief of the legal aid society and leader in B’naiB’rith who raised three children –Herbert, Helen and Sarel – with his wife.
https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/05/15/88781033.pdf
1947: Birthdate of New York City native andBoston University graduate Andrew Lack who went from acting in commercials and“off-Broadway productions” to a behind the camera career that culminated withhis being named “chairman of the NBCUniversal Worldwide News Group.”
1948: In New York City, the American ZionistEmergency Council sponsored a celebration of the creation of the Jewish stateat Madison Square Garden that was so well attended 75,000 people had to beturned away.
1948: Based on a telegram from David Ben Gurionand Moshe Sharett, Abba Eban and not Mordechai Elisah, is to be Israel’s chiefspokesman at the the United Nations.
1948: Israel issued its first postage stamps.
1948: At the Landsberg DP Camp, survivors ofthe Holocaust held a celebratory parade in honor the creation of the state ofIsrael
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/may/16.asp
1948: Tonight, “after driving away the enemy”“company of the third battalion of the Yiftach Brigade occupied the Tegart fortcalled Metzudat Koach by the Israelis which overlooked the Hula Valley.
1948: Chaim Weizmann was chosen Chairman of theProvisional State Council of Israel which effectively made him the firstpresident of the State of Israel.
1948: The Egyptian army suffered its firstdefeat at Nirim, in the Negev.
1948: The Egyptians entered Gaza. They wouldnot “leave’ until 1967.
1948: At approximately one o’clock in themorning Syrian artillery began shelling Kibbutz Ein Gev. At dawn, Syrian aircraft attacked the Kinarotvalley villages. Later in the day“Syrian aircraft made bombing runs on Masada, Sha'ar HaGolan, Degania Bet andAfikim.” This was the opening round in the Syrian attempt to sweep the Jewsfrom the Galilee. To any one observing events of that day, it would appear thatthe victory would go to the Syrians with their tanks, artillery and combataircraft.
1948: “JEWS IN GRAVE DANGER IN ALL MOSLEMLANDS; Nine Hundred Thousand in Africa and Asia Face Wrath of Their Foes”published today described the precarious position of the 900,000 Jews living“Arab and Moslem countries stretching from Morocco to India.” “There is a tendency” in some Moslem states“such as Syria and Lebanon” “to regard all Jews as Zionist agents and fifthcolumnists. There are indications thatthat the stage is being set for a tragedy of incalculable proportions” whichthe United Nations has done nothing to prevent.These fears are based in part on Arab League announcements that at someunspecified date, “all Jews except citizens of non-Arab states, would beconsidered ‘members of the Jewish minority state of Palestine.’ Their bankaccounts would be frozen and used to finance resistance to ‘Zionist ambitionsin Palestine.’ Jews believed to activeZionists would be interned and their assets confiscated.” In Syria, “virtually all” Jewish civilservants have already been fired and in Iraq Jews are not allowed to leave thecountry without posting a $20,000 bond to guarantee their return. However bad conditions are now, it ispredicted that in the event of an all-out war in Palestine, “the repercussionswill be grave for Jews all the way from Casablanca to Karachi.”
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50A15FB3F59157A93C4A8178ED85F4C8485F9
1949:Milton Berle appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.
1950: Outof a large collection of 120 styles of knit fashions brought to this countryfrom Israel, for merchandising, forty were shown this afternoon at the PlazaHotel to buyers. The presentation, under the auspices of Service for Palestine,Inc., 2 Park Avenue, was its first show to promote Israel-made products in theAmerican market.
1950: “The JackieRobinson” a biopic about the integration of baseball for which Ross Hunterserved as the dialogue coach was released in the United States today.
1952: “New Faces of 1952”a revue that included music by Sheldon Harnick and Arthur Siegel as well as “OfFathers and Sons” a parody of Clifford Odets “Golden Boy” written by Mel Brooksopened on Broadway today at the Royale Theatre.
1952: It was reportedtoday that “Senator Herbert H. Lehman will be awarded the 1952 Gold Medal ofMerit of the Jewish War Veterans of the United States” for his “distinguishedservice to the nation, to Jewry and to his fellow veterans.”
1953(2nd ofSivan, 5713): Parashat Bamidbar
1953(2nd ofSivan, 5713): Ninety-year-old Bavarian born, Iowa raised “philanthropist,Zionist” WW I anti-War activist, Mary Fels,the wife of Joseph Fels passed awaytoday
https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/fels-mary
https://digital.janeaddams.ramapo.edu/items/show/8173
1954: In Elizabeth, NJ,Joseph Kushner, “a construction worker, builder and real estate investor” andRae Kushner, both of whom were Holocaust survivors, gave birth to “real estatedeveloper Charles Kushner”, the founder of Kushner Companies, brother of Murray Kushner and Esther Schulder and fatherof Jared Kushner.
1955: Birthdate of actress Debra Winger, thestar of “Officerand a Gentleman.”
1955: Birthdate of Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO ofSeagram and Warner Music
1956(6th of Sivan, 5716): Shavuot
1956: U.S. premiere of “While the City Sleeps”a film based on The Bloody Spur, a novel by Charles Einstein anddirected by Fritz Lang.
1957: It was reported today that Colonel RobertHenriques, the author of 100 Hours to Suez which described and analyzedIsrael’s victory in the recent Sinai Campaign is scheduled to the principalspeaker at the Israel bond dinner on May 19. (JTA)
1959(8th of Iyar, 5719): Seventy-year-old Hallof Fame Bowler Mort Lindsey passed away today.
http://www.jewishsports.net/BioPages/MortimerLindsey.htm
1960: Theodore Maiman operates the firstoptical laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.
1960: “An abridged version of the Mel Brooksmusical “Shinbone Alley” “was broadcast under the original title archy &mehitabel[ as part of the syndicated TV anthology series Play of the Weekpresented by David Susskind.”
1961: Birthdate of Jean Hanff Korelitz theauthor of Admission which “was adapted for the 2013 film of the samename”
https://www.jeanhanffkorelitz.com/
1962(12th of Iyar, 5722):Fifty-five-year-old Chicago born John Marshall Law School trained divorceattorney Sol R. Friedman, a former state chess champion and the husband ofCatherine Friedman with whom he raised six children – Richard, James, Thomas,Gregory, Paula and Suzanne passed away today in Michael Reese Hospital whilewaiting to undergo heart surgery.
1964(5th of Sivan, 5724): ParashatBamidbar; Erev Shavuot
1964: After having been performed successfullyin the UK, “The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd” directed byAnthony Newley and produced by David Merrick opened today at the ShubertTheatre in New York City.
1965(16th of Iyar, 5725): PesachSheni
1965: Eightieth birthday of Rabbi de Sola Poolwho had retired from the active leadership of Congregation Shearith Israel –the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in 1957 after serving as Rabbi for fiftyyears.
1965: In Canada, Dr. Victor Goldbloom was thefirst guest to appear on “Cross Country Check-up,” a Sunday afternoon radioshow whose hosts have included Moses Znaimer.
1966: Two people were killed today during a“landmine attack between Sea of Galilee and Almagor.”
1967: General Fawzi, the Egyptian chief ofstaff, sent a message to the commander of the UN Emergency Force, GeneralRikhye of the Indian Army requesting the withdrawal of the UNEF from Egypt. TheEgyptian Foreign Minister sent a cable to U Thant, UN Secretary General tellhim that the Egyptian government had decided to immediately terminate thepresence of UNEF in Egypt and the Gaza strip.
1968(18th of Iyar, 5728); Lag B'Omer
1968(18th of Iyar, 5728): Seventy-five-year-oldBen Dalgin, the New York City born son of Mr. and Mrs. Max Dalgin who workedhis way from being a teenage “printer’s apprentice” to serving as “director ofart, photography and reproduction for the NewYork Times” passed away today.
1969(28th of Iyar, 5729): YomYerushalayim
1969: Barbra Streisand appeared at a FriarsClub Tribute
1969: In the Soviet Union, Boris Kochubievesky,a “refusnik” is scheduled to “3 yards hard labor” at the end of sham trialwhere he was accused of slandering the Soviet regime.
1971(21st of Iyar, 5731): Seventy-seven-year-old“Austrian actor, cabaret performer, refugee from the Nazis and the husband ofAnny Han passed away today in his native Vienna.
https://www.discogs.com/artist/706103-Karl-Farkas
https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/karl-farkas-7044
1973: Birthdate of actress Tori Spelling.
1973(14th of Iyar, 5733):Famed Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz passed away. His body was flown toJerusalem for burial.
1974: Birthdate of AdamRichman who earned an undergrad degree from Emory and a Master’s from Yalebefore pursuing a career as an actor and television personality.
1974: Despite a terrorist attack the previousday on a school at Ma’alot, Prime Minister Golda Meir tells Secretary of StateKissinger that talks with the Syrians will continue. After a one-day hiatus,she says, “We had all better get back to peacemaking.
1974: “Dybbuk,” a balletbased on the Ansky’s play created by Jerome Robbins using the music of LeonardBernstein debuted at the New York State Theatre, Lincoln Center.
1975(6th ofSivan, 5735): Shavuot
1975: In “Before the Founders and Sons” publishedtoday Richard F. Shepard provided a review of Amos Elon’s latest work Herzl,a biography of “the man acknowledged as the founder of the Jewish state.”
1975: “Sheila Levine IsDead and Living in New York” the movie version of the novel by Gail Parentstarring Jeannie Berlin and featuring Sam Melton as “Mannie” was released inthe United States today.
1976(16thof Iyar, 5736): Seventy-seven-year-old Shlomo H. Bardin, the son of Hairmand Miryam Bardinstein and the husband of Roth Bardin, with whom he had twosons – David and Hillel – and “who studied at the University of Berlin,University College and Columbia University after which “he founded the HaifaTechnical High School and Haifa Nautical School passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1976/05/17/archives/dr-shlomo-bardin-77-dies-founded-brandeis-institute.html
1977: "BoulevardMontmartre, in the Afternoon Rain," by Camille Pissarro the son ofFrederick Pissarro, a Sephardic Jew, was sold today, at Christie's in New Yorkfor $275,000
1978: TheJerusalem Post reported that in his 28th Annual State Comptroller's ReportDr. Yitzhak Nebenzahl called for a "Ministry of Administration." Hesaid that while there are many links that tie people to its government, inIsrael the administration is the weakest link in this chain. "Agovernment," he explained, "is like an automobile. No matter how finethe car is, it will not ride well unless all four wheels are intact." TheReport claimed a massive maladministration, and was specifically highly criticalof the Treasury.
1980(1st of Sivan, 5740): RoshChodesh Sivan
1980(1st of Sivan, 5740):Ninety-year-old Mabel Unterberg Nathan, the New York born daughter of Israeland Bella Epstein Unterberg and the wife of Edgard Joshua Nathan passed awayafter which she was buried at Beth Olom Cemetery in Ridgewood, NY.
1982: Final broadcast of the 7thseason of “One Day At A Time,” starring Bonnie Franklin.
1984(14th of Iyar, 5744): PesachSheni
1984(14th of Iyar, 5744): Comedian Andy Kaufmanpassed away. Born in 1949, Kaufman is best remembered for his many appearanceson ‘Saturday Night Live’ and for his portrayal of Latka on the television hit “Taxi.”He was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and was 35 at the time of hisdeath.
http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/core.htm
1984(14th of Iyar, 5744): Irwin Shaw passedaway at the age of 71. Born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in 1913 in the Bronx, hisJewish immigrants from Russia changed the family to Shaw and moved to Brooklyn.After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1934, Shaw wrote scripts for radioshows including Dick Tracey. After serving in the Army during World War II,Shaw produced his "great American war novel" The Young Lions,which became the basis for a successful film of the same name. Among other works bythis highly prolific writer was Rich Man, Poor Man which became a hitt.v. mini-series.
1985: American painter, editor, and bookartist, Susan Bee and poet Charles Bernstein gave birth to their first childEmma Bee Bernstein.
1986: David Pleat left Luton Town Football Club to become manager of Tottenham Hotspur“one of the biggest football clubs in England” (Editor’s Note – Football inEngland is what Americans call soccer)
1986(7th of Iyar, 5746): Sixty-five-year-oldYehuda Hellman passed away today. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/18/obituaries/yehuda-hellman-dies-headed-jewish-groups.html?pagewanted=print
1987: For the third and final night LeonardBernstein conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the IPO’s 50thanniversary celebration
1987: Birthdate of Can Bonomo, the Turkish bornJewish singer who “represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 atBaku.
1987: On Long Island, at the North WoodmereJewish Center, Rabbi Morris Pickholz officiated at the wedding of Lisa B.Sherman and Robert M. Cohen
1988: CBS broadcast the final episode of“Cagney and Lacey” produced by Barney Rosenzwieg and Joseph Stern andco-starring Al Waxman as the title characters supervisor “Lt. Bert Samuels.
1990(21st of Iyar, 5750): Multi-talented entertainer Sammy Davis Jr.passed away at the age of 64. Born in Harlem in 1925, began his show businesscareer at the age of four. Davis was the son of a popular vaudevilleentertainer. He learned how to dance from the legendary BoJangles. He began dancing with the WillMastin Trio and moved on to a singing career that included opening for FrankSinatra. Davis was part of the Rat Pack and starred with themin thecult classic “Ocean’s Eleven.” During the 1950's Davis was in an automobileaccident in which he lost his eye. It was during this period of his life thanhe converted to Judaism. Hewill be remembered not just for his talent but for his support of the CivilRights Movement as well. (As reported by Peter Flin)
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1208.html
1991: TheLos Angeles Times featured a review of “Wartime Lies,” the first novelwritten by Louis Begley. "Wartime Lies is the story of a ‘lucky’ littleboy. Lucky goes in quotation marks; the child went through terror anddegradation. On the other hand, no one in his small family of well-to-do PolishJews went to a concentration camp. Only two--his grandfather andgrandmother--were killed; he, his father and his aunt survived and were able toprosper after the war, even before emigrating.”
1993: A third revival of “3 Men on a Horse”featuring Jewish thespians Tony Randall, Jack Klugman, Jerry Stiller and EllenGreen closed today in New York City
1994(6th of Sivan, 5754) First Day of Shavuot
1994(6th of Sivan, 5754): Shaul Ben-Tzvi, thesecond commander of the Israeli Navy passed away today. Born Paul Hamah Schulman in Connecticut in1922 he graduated from the U.S. Navy Academy and served with the U.S. Navy inthe Pacific during WW II. Following hisdischarge he worked to bring Jews to Palestine during the mandate and thenhelped to establish a naval arm for the infant Jewish State.
http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/18/obituaries/paul-shulman-72-headed-israeli-navy.html?pagewanted=1
1995: “Noises, Sounds& Sweet Airs,” Michael Nymans 25th Album was released to by ArgoRecords.
1996: NBC broadcasts thefinal episode of season 7 of ‘Seinfeld.”
1996(27th ofIyar, 5756): Fifty-six-year-old Admiral Jeremy M. Boorda, the Chief of NavalOperations passed away today.
https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/18/us/admiral-in-suicide-note-apologized-to-my-sailors.html
1999: Angela WarnickBuchdahl was invested as the first Asian American cantor. Two years later, shebecame the first Asian American rabbi.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/16/1999/angela-warnick-buchdahl
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authorsand/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Return of DepressionEconomics byPaul Krugman and recently released paperback editions AharonAppelfeld’s “TheIron Tacks,” the “Israseli novel…about a concentrationcamp survivor who wanders through Austria buying sacred books and otherremnants of the Jewish culture that once flourshed there while searing for the Nazi officerwho murdered his parents” and “Bronstein’s Children” by Jurek Becker,“a novelabout the psychic aftershocks of the Holocaust in which an 18 year old German Jew stumbleson hisfather and two other camp survivors as they torture a former Nazi Guard.”
2000: ''YiddishkaytLos Angeles” is scheduled to continue for a third day.
2000: “For the first timein almost four years, Israelis and Palestinian forces exchanged gunfire in theWest Bank today as a wave of violent protest swept through the Palestinianterritories. Despite the fighting, Prime Minister Ehud Barak won hisParliament's approval to cede three villages near Jerusalem to the PalestinianAuthority in an effort to advance the peace talks.” (As reported by DeborahSontag)
2001: Today “behind theclosed doors of a Tel Aviv courtroom, Israeli prosecutors began their trial ofItzhak Yaakov, a 75-year-old retired general accused of divulging classifiedinformation related to Israel's nuclear weapons program.” (As reported by WilliamOrme)
2001: A Palestinian busdriver, 35-year-old Khalil Abu Elba, who plowed his bus into a crowd and killedeight Israelis, including seven soldiers, in February was convicted of murder.”(As reported by Deborah Sontag)
2002(5th of Sivan, 5762):Erev Shavuot
2002: U.S premiere of StarWars Episode II: Attack of the Clones with Natalie Portman as “Senator PadmeAmidala” and Frank Oz doing the voice of “Yoda.”
2002: The “severed headand decomposed body” of Danny Pearl “were found cut into ten pieces, andburied—along with the jacket of a tracksuit Pearl was wearing when photographedby his kidnappers—in a shallow grave at Gadap, about 30 miles (48 km) north ofKarachi.”
2003(14th ofIyar, 5763): Pesach Sheni
2003: “In a sign of theturmoil inside the governing Palestinian Authority, the Palestinians' chiefnegotiator, Saeb Erekat, has submitted his resignation after being cut out ofhigh-level talks between the adversaries that are planned for tomorrow night.”
2003:Dave Kehr provided areview of Oscar award winning documentary filmmaker Aviva Slesin’s newest film“Secret Lives” Hidden children and Their Rescuers During World War II.”
2004(25th ofIyar, 5764): Eight-six-year-old singer and lyricist June Carroll passed awaytoday.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/nyregion/23hurewitz.html?_r=0
2004: TheNew York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or ofspecial interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperbackedition of “Part of Our Time: Some Ruin and Monuments of theThirties” in which Murray Kempton re-evaluate“theradical movements and personalities of the 1930’s focusing on such ‘ruins and monuments’ as Paul Robeson,Whittaker Chambers, Algers Hiss and …Walter Reuther.”
2005: A revival productionof Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s “The Apple Tree” by the Encores came to anend today.
2005: “A History ofViolence” a movie version of the novel by the same name directed by DavidCronenberg premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.
2005: Funeral services forElaine Terner Cooper, the mother of future Secretary of the Treasury StevenMunchin are scheduled to take place at Park East Synagogue followed byinterment at “Beth David Cemetery in Elmont, NY.”
2006(18th ofIyar, 5766): Lag B’Omer
2006: Australia’s Prime Minister John Howardreceived the prestigious B'nai B'rith international Presidential Gold Medal forhis "outstanding" support of Israel and the Jewish people at aceremony in Washington.
2006: A French politician and his sister suedFrance's state-run SNCF railway for transporting their father and threerelatives to a wartime transit camp that sent Jews off to Nazi concentrationcamps. Alain Lipietz, a Greens European Parliament deputy, and his sisterHelene accused the SNCF of organizing the transport of French Jews to theDrancy transit camp near Paris and billing the wartime government for itsservices.
2007: Thomas Cole, Rose Dobrof, Marc Kaminsky,Penninah Schram, Mark Weiss, and Steve Zeitlin present “Stories as Equipmentfor Living: Last Talks and Tales of Barbara Myerhoff” atthe Center for Jewish History in New York City. “Stories As Equipment ForLiving” is a compilation of Barbara Myerhoff's unpublished talks on the meaningof stories, the tales she collected and the searching field notes that documenther struggle to discover and maintain her personal and cultural identity - allthat survive of the work she had undertaken in Los Angeles' orthodox Fairfaxcommunity. It is a true sequel to her groundbreaking best seller Number Our Days.”
2007: (28 Iyar, 5767) Yom Yerushalayim -Jerusalem Reunification Day; Celebrating forty years of the return of Jerusalemto its rightful place as, one, undivided city serving as the capital of theJewish state. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget itscunning. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not setJerusalem above my highest joy.”(Psalms 137:5-6)2007(28thof Iyar, 5767): Rabbi Mordecai Simon, chief administrator of the Chicago Boardof Rabbis for thirty two years and host of the Sunday morning television show“What’s Nu?” passed away in Highland Park, Il, at the age of 81.
2007: Richard J. Pratt was awarded the WoodrowWilson Medal for Corporate Citizenship. This is given to is executives who,“...by their examples and their business practices, have shown a deep concernfor the common good beyond the bottom line. They are at the forefront of theidea that private firms should be good citizens in their own neighborhoods andin the world at large”
2008: At the Channel Inn in Washington, D.C.,as part of the monthly meeting/luncheon of the Association of the OldestInhabitants of the District of Columbia, The Jewish Historical Society ofGreater Washington marks the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel with aseries of book talks by Laura Cohen Apelbaum on Jewish Washington: Scrapbook ofan American Community (the companion to the award-winning exhibit of the samename) co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and the B'nai B'rith KlutznickNational Jewish Museum.
2008(11thof Iyar, 5768): Ninety-three-year Middle East scholarJ. C. Hurewitz, passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/nyregion/23hurewitz.html?_r=0
2008: "Furo" is being performed forthe first time in Israel, in a special temporary pavilion designed by GioraPorter on the Tel Aviv Port boardwalk.
2009: The New York SupremeCourt, Appellate Division struck down alawsuit that sought to prevent the state of New York from using eminent domainto seize the property where Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project is beingbuilt.
2009: Ronald Radosh andhis wife, Allis Radosh, discuss and sign their new book, “A Safe Haven: HarryS. Truman and the Founding of Israel” at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.
2009: Atthe Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum in Bethesda, Md. Rabbi Shefa Gold, aleader in Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and a composer of six albumsof Jewish liturgical music, reads from and discusses her new book, “In theFever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs” (with illustrations byPhillip Ratner) followed by a Havdalah Service.
2009(22nd ofIyar, 5769):Mordechai Limon, the first commander of the Israel Navy, passed away todayat the age of 85. “During World War II, he volunteered for the British MerchantMarine, where he learned the art of naval commanding, and after the war hecommanded ships that brought clandestine immigrants to the Land of Israel indefiance of the British mandatory authorities. Limon is best remembered for hisrole in the Cherbourg Affair, directing the operation that brought fivewarships from France to Israel that French President Charles de Gaulle soughtto prevent Israel from receiving, even though they had been paid for. Limon wassubsequently expelled from France and retired from the Navy, becoming a privatebusinessman.”
2009: An Israelientrepreneur who has started what is believed to be the world's firsttuition-free on-line university said today “he hopes the effort will expandeducation to less fortunate people around the world. Shai Reshef saidUniversity of the People has about 150 students from 35 countries who haveenrolled since the school began two weeks ago (Jerusalem Post)
2009: “A heart inJerusalem, a head in Crumlin” published today described the life and times ofLeopold Bloom.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-heart-in-jerusalem-a-head-in-crumlin-1.765048
2009: “Editorand writer who dedicated his life to promoting Irish literature” publishedtoday describes the life Irish author David Marcus.
2010: HBObroadcast the final episode of the mini-series “The Pacific” featuring thememusic by Hans Zimmer, over-seen by executive producer Steven Spielberg andfeaturing Ashley Zukerman and Jon Bernthal.
2010: LindaLevi, Director of Global Archives for The American Jewish Joint DistributionCommittee is scheduled deliver a talk entitled “The JDC Archives: Resources forGenealogists” in New York City.
2010: The New YorkTimes features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of specialinterest to Jewish readers including Finding Chandra: ATrue Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and SariHorwitz and Innocent by Scott Turow.
2011: “2,000 Years ofJewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey,” a two day symposium focusing on theJews of Morocco, sponsored by The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled tocome to an end.
2011: Rabbi Matthew Kraus, Director of Undergraduate Studies inthe Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Cincinnati is scheduledto deliver a lecture entitled “The Nature of Jewish Life in America” in whichhe explores “the impact of the move to the suburbs on Jewish spirituallife--how Jews pray, how Jews practice, and how Jews relate to the Almighty”
2011: Rabbi Matthew Kraus, Director of UndergraduateStudies in the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Cincinnati isscheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “History of the JQC (Jewish QueenCity)” which traces the history of Cincinnati’s Jewish community “from itshumble origins to the glory days of Plum Street Temple and the ManischewitzBaking Company to the start of the Big Brothers organization at the turn of thecentury and so much more!”
2011: Tonight, the Great White Way of Broadway will light up asstars, including Dudu Fisher and Tovah Feldshuh, perform in “BroadwaySensation,” a benefit celebrating Israel’s future. The event, which will raiseproceeds for the Jewish National Fund, the OR Movement and the America-IsraelCultural Foundation, will be broadcast live in Times Square, and feature over100 performers from popular shows including Wicked, The Scottsboro Boys andNext to Normal.
2011: Rahm Emanuel took the oath of office today tobecome Chicago’s 46th mayor and the first mayor of The Windy City.
2011: “Vidal Sassoon Interview” published today.
http://fashion.telegraph.co.uk/news-features/TMG8480525/Vidal-Sassoon-interview.html
2012: A screening of “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray”is scheduled to be shown at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood,Ohio.
2012: Professor Steven Bowman is scheduled to deliver alecture entitled Italian Hebrew Renaissance of the 10th-11th Centuries at CedarVillage in Mason, Ohio
2012: Movie critic Carrie Rickey is scheduled to delivera lecture entitled Untold Stories:The Films of Aviva Kempner Yoo-Hoo Mrs.Goldberg at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, PA.
2012: Chilean singer-songwriter Yael Meyer is scheduledto perform at the Washington DCJCC.
2012: During an interview today, Moshe Kantor, presidentof the European Jewish Congress said that his organization is urging Europeangovernments to quickly adopt measures to tackle anti-Semitism and the threat ofright-wing extremist.
2012: David Levin beams with joy as Elizabeth Levingraduates from Columbia Medical School after which this accomplished youngwoman will begin a vascular surgery residency at UCLA.
2012:Pierre Moscovici began serving as Minister of Finance in France.
2013:The Weiner Library is scheduled to host Ray Farr’s film “A Different World”which “concentrates on the vibrant lives of Polish Jews before their arrival atthe Third Reich’s killing centers.”
2013:As part of the Books That Shaped America Series, Professor Pamela Nadell, therecipient of the American Jewish Historical Society’s Lee Max Friedman Awardwill lead a discussion of Jacob Riis’ How the Other Lives which amongother thing presented an accurate picture of the Lower East Side, home to tensof thousands of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.
2013:The Poetry Festival at Metulla, Israel’s most northern town is scheduled tocome to an end today.
2013:The annual Indigo Festival, a huge dance fest on the shores of the Sea ofGalilee is scheduled to begin today.
2013(7thof Sivan, 5730): Second Day of Shavuot/ Yizkor
2013:A demonstration staged by the radical Eda Haredit organization turned violenttonight, with haredi protestors throwing rocks, glass bottles and other objectsat police, injuring at least eight officers, two of whom were taken to hospitalin moderate condition.
http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Thousands-of-haredim-protest-IDF-enlistment-legislation-313416
2013:Michelangelo had it right. Most synagogues around the world have it wrong. Thetwo tablets of stone, divinely inscribed with the 10 Commandments and bestowedupon Moses at Mount Sinai, did not have the rounded tops familiar from theirdepictions in most houses of worship and popular art since the Middle Ages. Andthe Chabad (Lubavitch) Hassidic movement is encouraging synagogues to correctthe misrepresentation. Rabbi Menachem Brod, Chabad’s spokesman in Israel, notedtoday that the late Lubavitcher rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, accuratelydepicted the two tablets as perfect squares as early as the 1940s, in writingsfor Chabad youth, and said many Chabad synagogues now feature the accurateartistic representations of the tablets. He said the image of the tablets hadbeen skewed over the centuries in Christian tradition, and it was time for theJews to reclaim the true representation of the two stones.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/michelangelo-was-right-about-the-tablets/
2014:A Shabbat Weekend Retreat in memory of Rabbi Betzalel Jacobson OMB 1stYarhrzeit is scheduled to begin in West Des Moines, Iowa.
2014:In London, the Wiener Library is scheduled a talk by John Izbicki, author of LifeBetween the Lines: A Memoir during whichhe will talk about the horrors of Kristallnacht that he experienced atage 8 and his family’s escape to the U.K. in 1939.
2014:“Israel’s UN mission Friday launched a campaign to get official UN recognitionfor Yom Kippur, the most sacred Jewish holiday, alleging “discrimination.” TheUnited Nations has decreed 10 official holidays, including Christmas and theMuslim holiday Eid al-Fitr, but there is no corresponding Jewish holidayrecognized on the body’s official calendar, said Israel’s UN Ambassador RonProsor in a letter to his colleagues
2014:“Maccabi Electra Tel Aviv won a place tonight in the Euroleague Final after athrilling victory over CSKA Moscow.”
2014:Today, local officials are scheduled to gather at the 113 year old B’NaiYisroel Synagogue in South Bend, Indiana and “dedicate a plaque denoting thatthe building” which “has been renovated and incorporated in the city’s FoundWinds Field minor league baseball complex” as a historic landmark. (As reported by JTA)
2014:“How Four Israeli Fighter Pilots Stopped A Massive Arab Invasion In 1948”published today
http://www.businessinsider.com/four-israeli-aircraft-stopped-a-huge-arab-army-in-1948-2014-5
2015Rocking throwing Palestinians attacked firefighters trying to reach two burningsynagogues in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Pisgat Zeev today which wasShabbat.
2015:Kentucky Derby winner “American Pharaoh” owned by Ahmed Zayat is scheduled torun in the Preakness today in an attempt to win the second jewel of the TripleCrown.
2015:The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host “The best of Chamber MusicCello and Piano” featuring Kirill Mihanovsky on cello and Arnon Erez on piano
2015:Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at the Bergen P.A.C. in Englewood, NJ.
2015:The 17th Docaviv International Film Festival is scheduled to come toan end today at Tel Aviv.
http://www.docaviv.co.il/org-en/
http://www.docaviv.co.il/2015-en/
2016:“Today’s Generational Sea Change” is scheduled to be the opening session at theJCCs of North America Biennial at Baltimore.
2016:In Philadelphia, PA, PlayPenn is scheduled to present a reading of“Schlueterstrasse 27” a play that “follows a woman's search to betterunderstand her family from the initial discovery of her grandfather's diary atthe U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum all the way to Berlin, Germany.”
2016:“Taste of Israel: A Discussion About Israel through Food” an interactivediscussion and cooking demonstration focusing on Israel with a Middle EasternFood Historian from Tel Aviv is scheduled to be held at the Durgin Pavilion onLake Todd as part of fund raiser for Camp Courageous.
2016:“A Tale of Love and Darkness,” a film adaptation of “an autobiographical novelby Amos Oz” that marked the directorial debut of Natalie Portman had its “galafestival screening” at Cannes today.
2016: “In Celebration of Jewish-American HeritageMonth, the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington and The HebraicSection of the African and Middle Eastern Division, The Library of Congress arescheduled present a lecture by Dr. Janette Silverman on “The Blumenthals of theupper-Lower Peninsula of Michigan”
2016:The Center for Jewish History and the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research arescheduled to host “A Forgotten Genocide: The Pogroms in Ukraine, 1918-1919, andtheir Impact on Memory and Politics.”
2017:“The American official who sniped at his Israeli counterparts that the WesternWall, the holiest place for Jews to pray, is not part of Israel and notIsrael’s responsibility was named today in a TV report as David Berns, thepolitical counselor at the US Consulate in Jerusalem.” (As reportedby RaphaelAhren and Eric Cortellessa)
2017:“The US ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, said today that the USembassy should be moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, upholding a campaignpromise of US President Donald Trump, and that the Western Wall in the Old Cityof Jerusalem is part of Israeli territory.”
2017:The Eden Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host an evening of “Pre-War WarsawTangos in Yiddish and Polish” featuring the singing of Olga Avigail.
2017:Oxford University is scheduled to host an “Interfaith Formal” followed by “atalk led by the chaplains of the Abrahamic faiths.”
2017:A fourteen year old boy was arrested “at his home near the Beth HamedrahHagadol synagogue in connection with a fire that seriously damaged the historicsynagogue on Manhattan’s Lower East Side and “injured two firefighters.”
2017:BOOKlynites is scheduled to host Jewish Mindfulness leader and author RabbiSheila Peltz Weinberg who will discuss her recently released book God Lovesthe Stranger.
2017:Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion is scheduled to host itsfourth annual benefit “Honoring Women’s Leadership of the West.”
2017:The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is scheduled to host “NewFrontiers:
Technologyand the Preservation and Presentation of Memory” moderated by Michael HaleyGoldman, Director, Future Projects, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
2017:In Des Moines, IA, at a meeting of educators and clergy, Dr. Stephen Gaies, theDirector of the UNI Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to speak on"Is there a benefit to teaching about the Holocaust and genocideconcurrently? If so, why and how?"
2018:The Center for Jewish History and American Jewish Historical Society isscheduled to present Professor Jonathan Sarna and Forward editor Jane Eisner discussing “Rupture and Renewal inAmerican Jewish History as part of The History Matters series.
2018:The Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host a pub trip as areplacement for the scheduled Whiskey and Wine tasting event.
2018:Today, “it was announced that Aly Raisman and the other survivors of the USAGymnastics sexual abuse scandal would be awarded the Arthur Ashe CourageAward.”
2019:The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to host Marc Leepson’s lecture on“Saving Monticello: The Little—Known Story of the Levy Family’s Stewardship ofThomas Jefferson’s ‘Essay on Architecture’” including the role played by “U.S.Navy Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy and Representative Jefferson Monroe Levy,the Sephardic saviors of Jefferson’s iconic house at Charlottesville,Virginia,.”
2019:In Coralville, IA, Agudas Achim is scheduled to host a Russian guitar concert,“Vikings in Odessa.”
2019:In Boston, Simona Di Nepi,, the Curator of Judaica at the Museum of Fine Arts is scheduled to introducea screening of “From Cairo to the Cloud.”
2019:In New Orleans, the Jewish Family Service is scheduled to host its “annualfundraiser” at The Cannery.
2019:“Contemporary art purchased today by Robert Mnuchin,” the son of Secretary ofthe Treasury Steven Mnuchin, “broke the record price for a work by a livingartist.”
2019:In London, JW3 is scheduled to host the final screenings of “The Keeper” and“The Samuel Project.”
2019:“Jews Schmooze Podcast” featuring writer/director David Schneider, journalistRachel Shabi, barrister Adam Wagner and director of Yachad Hannah Weisfelddiscussing “Jews and Money” is scheduled to broadcast from London this evening.
2019:In Tel Aviv, Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar and Lucy Ayoub are scheduled tohost the second “semi-final” of the Eurovision Song Contest.
2020:This afternoon, in Cedar Rapids, IA, the “Temple Judah family” is scheduled totake part in a drive-by graduation celebration for Gabriella “Gavi” Thalbum whohas earned her BS in micro, cellular, and developmental biology. (Editor’snote; Not totally objective about this item.She was one of my pre-Confirmation students years ago and she sure didliven up those Sunday mornings. When you picture her peers flocking to thebeaches and other venues, you have to give her high marks for maturity andjudgment)
2020:Via Zoom, The Village for Families with Young Children at Temple Israel ofBoston is scheduled to host “TGIS at Home,” a special live service with WaynePotash and a member of the Temple Israel clergy for those between the ages of 6days and 6 years who love to dance, sing, play and pray.
2020:In San Rafael, CA, Congregation Rodef Sholom is scheduled to host via zoom “DafYomi Talmud Study with Rabbi Elana Rosen-Brown
2020:“Via Zoom, “the Oxford University Jewish Society is scheduled to host Havdalahat 9:45.
2020:MusicTalks is scheduled to host a virtual afternoon of cello music with EladKabilio as he “shares the stories behind Bach's Cello Music and its connectionsto American music by Corigliano, Crumb and Philip Glass.”
2020:“Bosnia’s most senior Catholic clergyman” is scheduled to host a memorialservice today for Croatian civilians and soldiers of the Nazi-allied Ustashaforces despite protests from the Israeli government and Jews in Bosnia whoseviews were expressed by “The Jewish Community of Bosnia and Herzegovina, anonprofit representing local Jews, who called the planned Mass a “memorialservice for criminals responsible for the suffering of Sarajevans.” (Asreported by Cnaan Lipshiz)
2020:Thanks to a ruling this week by The Committee on Jewish Laws and Standardsissued earlier this week Conservative congregations can livestream services onShabbat during the coronavirus pandemic
2020(22ndof Iyar, 5780): Parsahat Behar and Bechukotai and Chapter 5 Pirke Avot;
2021:Reboot, Jewish Emergent Network and LABA are scheduled to present “an all-nightShavuot culture and arts festival, featuring 12 hours of musicians, comediansand others, with film, dance, food and teaching across multiple channels in achoose-your-own experiential format.”
2021:The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or ofspecial interest to Jewish readers including The Plot by Hanff Korelitz
2021:In honor of Shavuot, The Breman Museum in Atlanta is scheduled to be closedtoday.
2021:In honor of Shavuot the “JCC East Bay in partnership with numerous Bay Areasynagogues, organizations, and teachers is scheduled to offer dozens of classeson myriad topics over six hours.
2021(5thof Sivan 5781): Erev Shavuot; for more see https://downhomedavartorah.blogspot.com/
2021:KlezCalifornia is scheduled to “present a workshop about “dobridens” (slow,stately klezmer melodies that used to be played at weddings) and how to playthem, led by musician Mike Perlmutter.”
2021:Based on previously published information, as of today during the second weekof May approximately 2,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from terroristsin Gaza, including Hamas, and Lebanon.
2022:Facing History and Ourselves is scheduled to present online “Combating Hate byTeaching the Holocaust and History.”
2022:The ASF Institute of Jewish Experience is scheduled to present Joyce Zonanalecturing on “Arab Jewish Life and Literature.”
2022:The Baltimore Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to present screenings of“Neighbors” and “Love and Mazel Tov.”
2022:The Lappin Foundation is scheduled to present a screening of “Unsafe Spaces:When Being Jewish Means You Don’t Belong.
2023:Lockdown University is scheduled to host via Zoom a lecture by Jeremy Rosen is“Is Judaism Sexist?”
2023:The Streicker Center is scheduled to host Simon Sebag Montefiore discussing hislatest book The World: A Family History of Humanity.
2023:As part of the Women and Resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto series, the JewishWomen’s Archive is scheduled to host a lecture by Zuzanna Hertzberg on“Herstories of Resistance.”
2023:Lockdown University is scheduled to host via Zoom Part 3 of Trudy Gold’slecture on Palestine, the British and the Jews.
2023:The Oshman Family JCC is scheduled to present a short concert divided into three parts:Sephardic-Ladino, Yiddish-klezmer and Mizrachi, all sung in their originallanguage, with stories and anecdotes behind the music performed by trio NoaLevy, Achi Ben-Shalom and Asaf Ophir.
2023:The Streicker Center is scheduled to host the penultimate session of NaomiMiller’s “Beginner’s Yiddish: Shopping, Cooking, Inviting and Eating For theJewish Holidays.”
2023:In Israel, judicial reform negotiations are scheduled to resume today.
2024As part of JAHM participants in the “DinnerPackage” are scheduled to enjoy a three-course dinner “curated from Joan Nathan’s new book My Life in Recipes:Food, Family and Memories preparedby five-time James Beard award-winning Chef Michael Solomonov.”
2024:The West End Synagogue is scheduled to co-host the world premier of Psalms atthe Phoenix Cinema in London preceded by a collection of five short films:Growing Up Misrahi, Ein Keloheinu, The Balance Sheet, Omnam Kein and ShabbosGoy.
2024:The Marlene Mayerson JC is scheduled to host “an unforgettable evening wherethe soulful melodies of Israeli music meet the exquisite flavors of Israelicuisine!’
https://mmjccm.org/programs/hopeful-table-music-culinary-experience-jimbo-jay-mushka
2024:The exhibition Memory and Inheritance: Paintings and Ceremonial Objects by TobiKahn is scheduled to open at the Museum at Eldridge Street,
2024:Leon Saltiel, Director of Diplomacy, UNESCO, Coordinator on CounteringAntisemitism for the World Jewish Congress, and member of the Greek delegationto the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), is scheduled toexplore “through historical accounts, personal narratives, and archivalfootage, the challenges faced by the Greek Jewish population during theHolocaust, and their enduring strength in the face of adversity still today.”
2024:The opening session of “Run Write Read Repeat, a four-day running and writingseminary is scheduled to begin today.
2024:As May 16th begins in Israel, an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism sweeps theUnited States and the Hamas held hostages begin day223 in captivity. (Editor’snote: this situation is too fluid for this blog to cover so we are justproviding a snapshot as of the posting at midnight Israeli time.)
