September 4 In History
476: The German general Odoacer defeated Orestes and deposed the child emperor Romulus Augustus marking the “official end of the Roman Empire.” Actually this was the end of the Empire in the West. The Eastern Empire continued to rule. Although this is the official date, the imperial system had already effectively ended in the West. The anarchy that immediately preceded and followed the so-called Fall of the Roman Empire was not good for any segment of the population. – Jew and gentile alike. But as is so often the case the effects of anarchy and lawlessness fell heavier on the Jews than on their neighbors. The last decades of the Roman Empire were a period of unrest and uncertainty for the Jewish people living in Palestine and Europe. The adoption of Christianity as the religion of the empire led to a variety of discriminatory practices aimed at the Jews. On the other hand, the Jerusalem Talmud was completed in the first half of the fifth century. The real of seat of learning and Jewish culture had moved to Babylonia where scholars and sages would continue to develop traditions and commentaries including the Babylonian Talmud.
1554(27th of Elul, 5314): Cornelio da Montalcino - a Franciscan Friar who converted to Judaism - was burned alive in Rome, Italy.
1609(5th of Elul, 5369): Rabbi Judah Loew Ben Bezalel, the Maharal of Prague, passed away. Born in 1525, he spent most of his life in
Prague
where he gained fame for his philosophic works and his commentaries including one on Rashi's Commentaries. He was an advocate of reforming Jewish education, drawing on the words of Pirke Avot for his inspiration. His fame was not limited to the Jewish community and the Emperor Rudolph was counted among his admirers. For many the Marhal's greatest claim to fame was tied to a fictional creation called the Legend of the Golem. That legend is a medieval version of the story of Frankenstein, according to which the Maharal breathed life into a human-like figure by sticking a slip of paper with the Tetragrammaton to his forehead. This gigantic figure would be called forth to protect the Jews whenever they were in danger. Such was his popularity that there is a statue of him near the old city hall - a singular honor for Jew from the Middle Ages. The term Maharal comes from the first Hebrew letters of the phrase (Moreinu ha-Rav Loew, "Our Teacher and Rabbi Loew"). According to some Orthodox Jews, the Mahral is a descendant of King David. In more recent times, there are those who claim that the family of John Kerry be descended from the Maharal. Now if that is true, and Kerry were to win the election, that would mean that a descendant of King David was living at
Sixteen Hundred Pennsylvania Avenue
.
1758(1st of Elul, 5518): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1781: Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (the City of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of the Little Portion) by 44 Spanish settlers. Los Angeles would become part of Mexico and eventually part of the United States following the Mexican-American War. Given the realities of Spanish life, any Jews who might have settled in the city in its earliest days would have been conversos, Marranos or some other variant of “secret Jew.” One of the first known Jews to have settled in Los Angeles was a tailor named Jacob Frankfort who came to the city in 1841 after fleeing from New Mexico. While the records appear to be a little sketchy, more Jews arrived in 1849 and the Sephardic Community traces its roots back to the 1850’s. To put things in proper perspective the Jewish community was still so small that when the
UAHC
conducted the first national Jewish census between 1876 and 1878 Los Angeles community was so small that it did not appear in the count. It is estimated that there were approximately 400 Jews living in California based on U.S. Census records of 1880. From such humble beginnings has come one of the largest and most vibrant Jewish communities in the United States!
1851: In New York, the first interment to place today at the Salem Fields Cemetery.. By September of 1877, over 7,000 burials had taken place at this Jewish burial ground adjacent to Cypress Hills.
1860: In New York a Jewish man and women were locked in a custody battle. Today an application for the Custody of a Child was made before Justice Ingraham at the Chambers of the Supreme Court. “The application was made to obtain the custody of a female child, five years of age, and claimed to be of illegitimate birth. The complainant “claimed that the father of the child, Louis Ephraim, was an improper person to have the care of it, and that he treated it in a cruel manner. These charges were denied by Ephraim, who averred that the child was born in wedlock. Both of the parties in the case ‘were married some years since, being subsequently divorced, and each again marrying. The Compliant “now claims that the first marriage was solemnized by a person not authorized to perform the ceremony, and that, for that reason, it was void, and the child illegitimate. On the other hand, it was claimed that the divorce was illegally obtained, and that the marriage was lawful and binding.”
1860: An article published today entitled “The Political Horizon; Anti-Slavery Excitement in the South” reported that in Montgomery County, Texas, two German Jew peddlers named Friederman and Rotensburg have been arrested and examined by the Rusk Vigilance Committee. Friederman was released because there was not enough evidence to hold him. Based on evidence provided by “several Negros” Rotenbeurg was accused of “inciting them to insurrection. His case was finally submitted to a jury of fifty men, from various parts of the County, and the accused was allowed counsel. After a patient examination of the evidence, a vote was taken on the question of hanging him, and it stood eighteen for and thirty-two against -- the latter believing him guilty of very improper conduct towards the negroes, but that the evidence did not warrant a death punishment. The jury was unanimous in ordering the accused to leave the County within forty-eight hours and the State in four days. Rotenberg's family resided in New-York.”
1860: An article published today entitled “Jobson Convicted of Libel” described the trial of David Wemyss Jobson in Great Britain. Because of the nature of the case, several prominent Englishmen were called as witnesses including Benjamin Disraeli. When sworn in as a witness, Disraeli identified himself as a “member for Buckinghamshire.” The first question asked by the Defense on cross-examination was “Are you a Jew now or not?” to which Disraeli replied “I am what I always was -- a Christian.” When the Defense tried to ask several other offensive and irrelevant questions of Mr. Disraeli, the presiding official cut him off saying he “would not allow a Court of Justice to be made the medium of insulting any one.” When Mr. Disraeli said that he had always been a Christian, one must wonder if he had forgotten the fact that he was born a Jew, something that was common knowledge at the time.
1861(29th of Elul, 5621): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1862: During the Civil War, August “Belmont wrote President Lincoln to share negative correspondence from Europe and to urge the reinstatement of General George B. McClellan as head of the army: "The people are ready to bring every sacrifice for the restoration of the Union, but right or wrong they have lost confidence in the head of the War department. They have seen the fearful results of the intermeddling of civilians in military affairs & they want to see an experienced soldier at the helm.” Belmont was Jewish; McClellan and Lincoln were not.
1863: During a riot of Confederate soldiers' wives in Mobile, Alabama, a Jewish merchant struck one of the women as they were breaking into local stores. The policemen, who had ignored the rioters who were carrying banners inscribed "Bread or Blood," "Bread or Peace," and other similar inscriptions, arrested the Jew and beat him severely
1869: In Tucson, Arizona, William Zeckendorf, a prominent Jewish merchant, caught burglars in his store and “firing his pistol put them in flight.”
1870: Two months into the Franco-Prussian war, it was reported today that there are over 30,000 Jews serving in the German armies.
1870: The Third Republic was proclaimed in France. The
Third
Republic
is bracketed by French defeats at the hands of the Germans. It came into being after the disastrous Franco – Prussian War. It came to an end in 1941 when the Germans defeated the French in World War II. The French Jewish community started this period at a disadvantage since the French lost control of
Alsace
and
Lorraine
with its large Jewish population to the Germans in 1870. At the same time, the
Third
Republic
never had the total support of the French people. The anti-Republic forces used anti-Semitism to advance its cause as can be seen in the Dreyfus Case. At the same time the French Jews played an active part in a variety of fields. The French House of Rothschild became the financial patron of the early Jewish settlements in
Palestine
. Leon Blum would break new ground by becoming the first Jew to serve as Prime Minister of France. Artists such as Chagall and Modigliani settled in
Paris
, while Camille Pissarro helped to found the movement known as French Impressionism. Of course all the creativity of the
Third
Republic
came to naught as anti-Semitism triumphed in
Vichy
and in the zone of occupation where the French turned on their fellow citizens who happened to be Jewish.
1870: Adolphe Cremieux was chosen to serve as a member of the government of national defense.
1871: Décret Crémieux (named for Adolphe Cremieux) conferred French citizenship on all Jews living in Algeria, which had been a department of France. Arabs and Berbers were not made French citizens which meant that there was a reversal in the centuries old relationship between Moslems and Jews.
1872(1st of Elul, 5632): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1872: At Castle Garden, the Commissioners of Emigration began an investigation of the treatment of passengers aboard the SS Charles H. Marshall. Most of the 11 passengers called to testify as to the crew’s mistreatment were Russian Jews immigrating to the United States. After hearing evidence of physical abuse and the lack of food, the commissioners decided to continue the investigation tomorrow.
1877: It was reported today that a Jew from Eski-Saghra, Bulgaria, had his coat, in which he had hidden his money, stolen by a Circassian in Adrianople.
1880: It was reported today that at the end of its last fiscal year (May 1,1880) the United Hebrew Charities had collected $58,268. 21 and spent $46, 988.06 on everything from almost 1,500 tons of coal to a variety of clothing items including “70 cloaks.” All told, the charities had provided services to almost 28,000 people.
1881: It was reported today that the “Sultan favors the scheme” of a group of “Germans and Englishman interested in the welfare of the Jews.” They are working on a plan to “obtain a grant of land in Syria” from the Ottomans that can be settled by Jews who are seeking to flee from countries “where they are not subject to persecution.
1882: It was reported today that there were 2,525 Jews enrolled in Sunday Schools in New York and 493 Jews enrolled in Sunday Schools in Brooklyn.
1884: “The Commissioners of Emigration received a copy of a dispatch from J.H. Baily, United States Consul at Hamburg” claiming that “28 paupers” who had been returned to Germany on SS Westphalia were going to be sent back to the United States “by a Hebrew benevolent society.
1884: “Love Letters in Court” published today described the divorce proceedings between Carrie and Simon Uhlman which has been going on for the last eight months.
1887: “The Euphrates Railway’ published today described the so-far unsuccessful attempt to gain approval for the construction of railroad from Constantinople to Baghdad including the role played by “Mr. James Alexander, a Caledonian Hebrew” who represented the interested British businessman at the Ottoman capital. (Caledonia is another name for Scotland)
1888: “Anonymous Enemies” published today describes what Telemaqua T. Timaneynis claims was the Jewish reaction to his two anti-Semitic books, The Original M. Jacobs and The American Jew. (The story’s report of Jewish boycotts and threats of violence have been published elsewhere without mentioning the fact that they were Timaneynis’ unsubstantiated claims.)
1889: The court of Common Pleas in New York was the site of dueling legal Jews when the judge was asked to decide Alexander S. Rosenthal’s claim that when S.D. Levy ate breakfast with him in the morning and then served him with papers in the evening, he was guilty of a breach of ethics.
1891(1st of Elul, 5651): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1893: The Jewish Women's Congress opened as part of the World Parliament of Religion at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. Press accounts of the Congress reported that "women elbowed, trod on each other’s toes, and did everything else they could without violating the proprieties" to find a place in the overcrowded hall. Over four days, they heard twenty-five women from all over the
United States
, many of whom had never spoken publicly before, address questions of Jewish women's roles in religion, history, and philanthropy.
1893(23rd of Elul, 5653): Ninety-year old Joseph Barrow Montefiore the London born son of Eliezer Montefiore who moved to Australia where he became a successful banker and leader of the Jewish community. In the latter role he purchased land for the first Jewish cemetery in 1832 and organized a society that would eventually become the Sydney Hebrew Congregation. After retiring, Barrow returned to the city of his birth.
1894: Approximately 12,000 tailors in New York City went on strike to protest the existence of sweatshops. The vast majority of workers in the "needle trades" were Jewish immigrants. This would not be their last strike. Six years later, these workers would launch two unions - The International Ladies Garment Workers Union (women's apparel) and the Amalgamated Clothing Workers Of America (men's apparel). These two Jewish dominated unions would work to improve the working conditions first for those in the garment industry and later for workers regardless of where they toiled. Ironically, some of the owners of the sweatshops were German Jews. Thus the schism between German and eastern European Jews was based on economics as well as religious conditions.
1894: Birthdate of Sholom Secunda a Jewish composer, born in Ukraine and educated in the United States. Along with Abraham Ellstein, Joseph Rumshinsky, and Alexander Olshanetsky, he was one of the "big four" composers of his era in New York City's Second Avenue Yiddish theatre scene. He wrote the melody for the popular song "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" in 1932. Together with Aaron Zeitlin he wrote the famous Yiddish song "Dos kelbl (The Calf)" (also known as "Donna Donna") which was covered by many musicians, including Donovan and Joan Baez. He passed away in 1974 at the age of 79.
1902: During a conference of Russian Zionists, Ahad Ha’Am stressed the links between Zionism as a movement for national revival, and the cultural needs of the Jewish people.
1908: Birthdate of Edward Dmytryk. An American film director and one of the "Hollywood Ten, he passed away in 1999 at the age of 90. Dmytryk was not Jewish but he directed "Crossfire" in 1947, one of the first films to deal with anti-Semitism. He directed "The Young Lions” which is listed by some as one the Top Fifty Jewish Movies of the 20th Century. And he directed "The Cain Mutiny" which was written by Herman Wouk. Because of his foreign sounding name, his association with Communists and these and other films, he is erroneously listed by several anti-Semitic websites as being Jewish or part of the Jewish Conspiracy
1912: Birthdate of film composer David Raksin. The Philadelphia native graduated from Penn and played with Benny Goodman before settling down to writing scores for films Two of his early and famous works were for Hitchcock’s Life Boat and Otto Preminger’s Laura.
1914: Following the outbreak of World War I, L.J. Greenberg’s Jewish Chronicle showed its support for Great Britain and its Russian ally by stating "From the Russian people Jews have never experienced anything but the deepest sympathy, and with the Russian people they have ever felt on mutually agreeable terms." Before the outbreak of hostilities the Jewish Chronicle had been a vocal critic of Russia and its treatment of her Jewish citizens. Once Germany violated Belgium’s neutrality, the event that brought the UK into the war, Greenberg was determined to show his and Jewish support for the country that had proved to be such a hospitable homeland.
1915: Birthdate of pianist Irving Fields nightclub entertainer and practitioner of a Latin/Hebrew hybrid style of music.
1918: During World War I, the Battle of Mont St. Quentin comes to an end. The British commanding general described the spear-head advance of the Australian Corps under Sir John Monash as “the greatest military achievement of the war.” Monash was the Australian born son of two Jewish immigrants from Germany.
1918: The Zionist Organization of America received a cable today stating that the American Zionist medical unit which had left the United States in June had arrived in Eretz Israel. The unit established its main headquarters in Tel Aviv and set up branch offices in Jerusalem and Jaffa.
1919: Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, gathered a congress in Sivas to take decisions of the future of Anatolia and Thrace. Atatürk, the general who played a key role in thwarting the Allies at Gallipoli was the secular leader who created the modern state of Turkey. This congress was one of the steps on the road to that creation. There are unproven reports that he had Jewish ancestors. Regardless of that, he created a state that recognized the rights of Jews. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, Attaturk sought to convince German Jewish scholars that they should move to Turkey. Turkey was neutral during the war, but unlike neutral Switzerland, Turkey followed the example set by the now deceased Attaturk and did what it could to provide a haven for Jews fleeing from Hitler’s Europe.
1919: Birthdate of Howard “Howie” Morris who gained fame as the “third banana” on the 1950’s hit Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” with Carl Reiner as the “second banana.” Morris passed away in 2005.
1926: It was reported today that Sir Austin Chamberlain, British Foreign Secretary, and Aristide Briand, French Foreign Minister have accused the Permanent Mandates Commission of overstepping its authority and threatening to undermine their authority in Palestine and Syria, respectively. (Once again, we are reminded that trouble in the Middle East is not always connected to the Jews or the Zionists. In fact blaming them as the sole cause of unrest in the region has actually made matters worse.)
1937: Eliezer Gerstein was badly wounded by a young Arab while returning from prayers at the Western Wall. For those of you who thought that Arabs only ge=ot mad when Sharon goes to the Western Wall guess again.
1939: Seventy-seven Jewish children ranging in age from 15 through 17, who are refugees from Germany and hold certificates for entrance into Palestine, were put on a board an Italian steam ship at Trieste by representatives of Youth Aliyah. It is unknown if the ship will dock at Haifa or Tel Aviv.
1939: Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay, a Scottish Unionist Member of Parliament and vicious anti-Semite wrote a poem that would “later…be printed and distributed by the Right Club” that began “
Land of dope and Jewry
Land that once was free
All the Jew boys praise thee
Whilst they plunder thee
1939: In air raid by the Luftwaffe on the Polish town of
Sulejow
, over a thousand Jews were listed among the dead. The entire Goldblum family was wiped out. From the outset of the war, the German air force conducted bombing attacks on urban population without regard to civilians. In other words, there was no attempt to limit attacks to military targets. Recent books by revisionist historians have complained about the suffering of the German population at the hands of Allied air men. These writers make little or no mention of attacks like those at Sulejow or even worse ones to follow at
Warsaw
.
1939: Germany occupied Kalisz, Poland which has a Jewish population of 30,000.
1939(20th of Elul, 5699): The invading Nazis shot 180 Jews in the city of Czestochowa. When the Jews refused to burn the Torah, the Germans burned the rabbi, Abraham Mordechai
1940: Eva Schott Berek celebrated her 19thbirthday a week after she and her parents, who had fled the terror of Nazi Germany, arrived Angel Island Immigration Station
1941: Jewish Resistance members based in Dubossary, Ukraine, and led by Yakov Guzanyatskii assassinate a German commander named Kraft. Another group blows up a large store of German arms.
1942: Jews in Macedonia are required to wear the Yellow Star.
1942: Lódz (Poland) Ghetto's Jewish Council leader, Chaim Rumkowski, acquiesces to Nazi demands for deportation of the community's children and adults who are over the age of 65. During the action which will last until September 14, Germans fire randomly into crowds, execute individual Jews, and invade Jewish hospitals. They deport approximately 15,000 people.
1942: Young Jews take on the Gestapo in act of desperate resistance in Lachwa, Poland. One thousand Jews died on this day while 600 escaped into the surrounding woods. Of these an estimated one hundred survived the war
1944: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp. The Jewish population of the city had been reduced from 35,000 to 15,000 as a result of Nazi attacks and those from their Flemish supporters.
.1944: At Lugos, Hungary, hundreds of Jews are massacred by Hungarian Fascists
1945: Ruben Fine won 4 simultaneous rapid chess games blindfolded. Fine is one of a long line of great Jewish chess players. In addition to his chess playing skills, Fine spent part of World War II calculating the probability of German submarines surfacing at certain points in the
Atlantic Ocean
.
1945: Birthdate of David Monsonego who is now known as David Magen an Israeli politician who served as a Minister without Portfolio and Minister of Economics and Planning in the 1990s. “Born in Fes in Morocco, Magen made aliyah to Israel in 1949, where he attended high school in Jerusalem. Between 1976 and 1986 he served as mayor of Kiryat Gat. In 1981 he was elected to the Knesset on the Likud list, and was re-elected in 1984 and 1988, becoming chairman of the party's local authorities elections headquarters in 1989. In March 1990 he was made a Minister without Portfolio by Yitzhak Shamir, becoming Minister of Economics and Planning in June that year. Although he retained his seat in the 1992 elections, Likud lost power and Magen lost his ministerial position. He returned to the cabinet after Binyamin Netanyahu's victory in the 1996 elections, and was reappointed Minister without Portfolio. However, he left the cabinet in May 1997. In February 1999 he was amongst the Likud MKs to break away from the party and establish Israel in the Center (later renamed the Centre Party). Magen lost his seat in the 1999 elections, but returned to the Knesset in March 2001 as a replacement for Amnon Lipkin-Shahak. He lost his seat again in the 2003 elections.”
1946: “A Flag Is Born,”a play promoting the creation of a Jewish State in the ancient land of Israel opened on Broadway on today The cast included Paul Muni, Celia Adler and Marlon Brando. Hollywood’s most successful screenwriter, Ben Hecht was the playwright, it was directed by Luther Adler with music by Kurt Weill. It was produced by the American League for a Free Palestine, an organization headed by Hillel Kook, known in America by the anglicized name Peter Bergson.
1948: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicated for health reasons. In 1939, when the government had proposed building a refugee camp for German Jews fleeing from the Nazi regime, Wilhelmina complained about the planned location because it was “too close” to her summer residence. The camp was finally erected about 10 km from the village of Westerbork. This is the camp from which the Anne Frank would be shipped to Auschwitz.
1950” “A new immigrant village named Kfar Trujman in honor of the American President was established near Lydda Airport. Eighty families from Poland, Rumania and Jungary comprise the first settlers. A scroll lauding President Truman for his assistance to Israel was read at a dedication ceremony attended by fifty American Jewish leaders.”
1951: After meeting with David Ben Gurion, Mr. Warburg, General Chairman of the United Jewish Appeal announced that the UJA would work to rasie 35 million dollars to pay the cost of moving 60,000 Jews from Eastern Europe and Moslem countries to Israel by the end of the year.
1955: Birthdate of David Broza, a multi-platinum Israeli singer-songwriter and guitarist.
1961: Pitcher Joe Holen made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox.
1964: Ken Harrleson “created” the prototype of the modern batting glove when he wore a golf glove to protect his blistered hand in a game between the K.C. Athletics and the N.Y. Yankees. But it would Irving Franklin, working with Phillies’ 3rd baseman to actual make the first true batting glove which was adopted as the official standard by Major League Baseball in the 1980’s. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1964: Birthdate of Anthony Weiner, New York political leader and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives.
1965: Pitcher Ken Holtzman made his major league debut with the Chicago Cubs.
1972: Mark Spitz won a record seventh gold medal by with a victory in the 400-meter relay at the Munich Summer Olympics. Spitz victories would prove to be bitter-sweet. The medal winning triumph would be followed by the slaughter of Israeli athletes by the Arab terrorists. Spitz was spirited out of Munich to make sure that as a Jew he would not meet the same fate.
1977: Moshe Dayan flew to Morocco, where, in a secret meeting with King Hassan, he asked the King to help expedite a meeting between Begin and Sadat.
1978: Talks begin at Camp David between Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat.
1986(30th of Av, 5746): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1986(30th of Av, 5746): Hank Greenberg passed away. Greenberg was a slugger for the Detroit Tigers. He was the first Jew who was a national hero in what was at that time, the national pastime. He endured his share of anti-Semitic catcalls and abuse. He would later provide aide and comfort to another more famous baseball pioneer – Jackie Robinson. One of the great debates that swirled around Greenberg was whether or not to play ball on the Jewish High Holidays.
1987: ''World of Yesterday: Jews in England 1870-1920,'' an exhibition that is part of the Jewish East End Celebration is scheduled to come to an end
1993: Catcher Eric Helfand made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics.
1994(28th of Elul, 5754): Twenty-four year old Sergeant Victor Shichman was gunned down at the Morag junction while on patrol.
1995(9th of Elul, 5755): Attorney and activist William Kunstler passed away at the age of 76.
1997(2nd of Elul, 5757): In Jerusalem three Hamas suicide bombers simultaneously blew themselves up on the pedestrian mall, killing four Israelis.
2005: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including A History of the Jews in the Modern World by Howard M. Sachar.
2005: Haaretz reported that Israel's World Cup qualifying match against Switzerland ended in a 1-1 draw. Unfortunately, the sporting event was marred by pro-Palestinian demonstrators who ran across the field during the match. Hopefully the Palestinian protestors will remain non-violent and not follow the path of the terrorists who murdered Jewish athletes at the Munich Olympics.
2005(30th of Av, 5765): Rosh Chodesh Elul
2005: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina the Israeli government has offered everything from a field hospital, to specially trained disaster forensic teams, to organized prayer in an attempt to help the United States cope with this disaster. In addition to sending words of official condolences, Israeli government officials conceded that this would not be a good time to go to
Washington
asking for additional aid for those who have left
Gaza
.
2006: Jerry Lewis host’s the annual Muscular Dystrophy Telethon. Tikun Olam comes in many forms.
2007: In Jerusalem, the weeklong festival known as Jewish Music Days continues with a second concert at Beit Shmuel, featuring the HaYona Ensemble in its own blend of traditional Jewish "piyut" music with Sufi music.
2007: In New York, Prof. Joanna Tokarska-Bakir is named this year’s recipient of the Jan Karski and Pola Nirenska Prize.
2007: The New York Board of Rabbis unveiled its official Jewish New York History and Heritage Map today at an event attended by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. The illustrated map, poster and guide lists scores of noteworthy sites throughout the city, spanning Jewish history since 1654, when Jewish settlers arrived in New Amsterdam from Recife, Brazil, founding what is now Congregation Sheartih Israel, the Spanish and Portuguese synagogue on Central Park West.
The sites include historic and cultural landmarks, to be sure, but also a hodgepodge of places of interest to those who closely follow popular culture. A sampling, by borough, follows.
Brooklyn
· Baith Israel-Anshei Emeth (Kane Street Synagogue),
236 Kane Street
, where Aaron Copland had his bar mitzvah.
· The
Brooklyn
Heights
homes of Arthur Miller (
31 Grace Court
) and Norman Mailer (142
Columbia Heights
).
· The Midwood homes where Woody Allen spent his teenage years (
1144 East 15th Street
) and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg of the Supreme Court spent her childhood (
1584 East Ninth Street
).
Bronx
· The childhood home (663
Crotona
Park North) of Hank Greenberg, the Jewish baseball star.
· The childhood homes of Ralph Lauren, formerly Lifshitz (
3220 Steuben Avenue
) and Calvin Klein (
3191 Rochambeau Avenue
), who grew up two blocks apart in
Norwood
in the early 1950s but apparently never met.
· The Sholom Aleichem Houses (
Sedgwick Avenue
and
Giles Place
), named after a Yiddish writer, and the childhood home of Bess Myerson, who became the first Jewish Miss
America
.
Queens
·
Queens
College
, the alma mater of the comedian and actor Jerry Seinfeld.
· The childhood homes of Paul Simon (
137-62 70th Road
) and Art Garfunkel (
136-58 72nd Avenue
), the songwriting duo who grew up blocks apart in Kew Gardens Hills.
Manhattan
The Jewish deli which has been a bit of an obsession for some readers (and writers) on this blog, is not a focus of the map, which lists just two
Lower East Side
eateries:
· Guss’ Pickles (
35 Essex Street
), which, as this blog has noted, is the subject of a dispute over who truly has the right to call themselves by that name.
· Kossar’s Bialys (
367 Grand Street
, near
Essex Street
).
Staten Island
Richmond
County
is not known for having a rich Jewish history, but the map includes this site:
·
Baron
Hirsch
Cemetery
(
1126 Richmond Avenue
), in Willowbrook, which opened in 1899 and includes the tomb of what the map calls “
Staten Island
’s most famous Jewish resident,” the publisher Samuel I. Newhouse.
2008: Haaretz reported that leaders in the US Reform Movement said they hope the privately run Aliyah organization Nefesh B'Nefesh will support programs developed with the Jewish Agency to attract liberal Jews who want to split their time between Israel and their existing homes in North America.
2009: As happens every Friday throughout the months of July, August, and September, The Alrov Mamilla Mall outside the Jaffa Gate is transformed into one big street theatre featuring a series of “family friendly” performances that include plays, jugglers, magicians, pantomime, stand-up comedy, circuses, music, acrobatics, and more.
2009:"It took 70 years for this reunion, but when the vintage steam train pulled into London today with a group of elderly Holocaust survivors, the emotions started to flow. Under the sprawling canopy of the Liverpool Street Station, the survivors were reunited today with the man who as a fearless young stockbroker saved every one of them from the Nazis. Nicholas Winton, now at 100 frail and leaning on a stick, greeted some of the hundreds of Jewish children that he worked so hard to evacuate from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. "It's wonderful to see you all after 70 years," he said, shaking hands with former evacuees as they ste