December 27 In History
175
BCE
(Tevet 3585): This day marked the completion of the Septuagint translation of the Bible into the Greek language. According to a letter from Aristeas to Philocrates, 72 sages, (six from each Israelite tribe) were brought to by Ptolemy II Alexandria to translate the Bible into Greek. Based on the legend, each sage was isolated and wrote a separate translation, but when all 72 were compared, they were all identical. The text of the Septuagint and the Tanach are not the same. Some viewed this translation as a positive event because it showed an interest of Greek intellectuals in Jewish thought and philosophy. Others contend that this translation was necessary because the Jews of Alexandria had such limited knowledge of Hebrew that they could no longer read the text in the original.
1350: Birthdate of King Juan I of Aragon. In 1392, Juan granted amnesty to those who had attacked the Jews of Majorca and the Christians who sheltered them in 1391. At least 300 Jews were murdered. Juan granted the amnesty “because they had done it for the welfare of king and state; and he further declared all debts of the Christians to the Jews to be null and void.”
1459: Birthdate of John I Albert the Polish monarch also known as King Jan I Olbracht. In 1495, he transferred the Jews Cracow to the nearby royal city of Kazimierz, which helped to create a major European center for Diaspora Jewry. “With time it turned into a virtually separate and self-governed 34-acre Jewish Town, a model of every East European shtetl, within the limits of the gentile city of Kazimierz. As it developed into a safe haven for European Jewry, its population increased reaching a total of 4,500 Jews by 1630.
1480: In Spain, a second royal decree was issued directing the Mayor and other officials of Seville to assist the inquisitors in their work since they had shown an inclination to protect the converted Jews with to whom they were drawn either because of reasons of kinships or friendship.
1503: Followers of Zechariah of Kiev were burned in
Moscow
, on charges of Judaizing. This term refers to helping non-Jews convert to Judaism
1504: "Proselytizing" Jews in
Moscow
and
Kiev
were expelled after a few high officials converted to Judaism.
1657: Three years after the first Jews arrived in New Amsterdam and dealt with the bigotry of Peter Stuyvesant, a group Englishman living in the Dutch colony submitted a petition to the Governor-General requesting the lifting of the ban on Quaker worship. Known as the Flushing Remonstrance, they were greeted with even greater hostility by “Peg-leg Pete” than he had shown to the Jews.
1812(24th of Tevet, 5573): Shneur Zalman of Liadi founder of Chabad Hasidism passed away (date based on adjusted secular calendar). Born in 1745, Shneur Zalman of Liadi was a descendant of the mystic and philosopher Rabbi Judah Loew (known as the "Maharal of Prague"). He was a prominent disciple of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, the "Great Maggid" who was in turn a major disciple of the founder of Hasidism Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer known as the Baal Shem Tov ("Master [of the] Good Name"). After the death of Rabbi Dovber of Mezeritch, his students dispersed over Europe. Rabbi Shneur Zalman became the leader of Hasidism in Lithuania, and is accepted as one of the great Hasidic leaders. The movement he founded was moved to the town of Lubavitch in present-day Belarus by his son and successor Rabbi Dovber Schneersohn. In 1940 the Chabad Lubavitch movement moved its headquarters to Brooklyn, New York in the United States with branches all over the world staffed by its own Lubavitch-trained, and ordained, rabbis with their wives and children. He involved himself in opposing Napoleon's advance on Russia and supporting the Jewish settlements in the Land of Israel, then under the control of the Ottoman Empire. Due to false charges from his Misnagdim opponents in Vilna, he was imprisoned by the Czar on charges of supporting the Ottoman Empire, since he advocated sending charity to the Ottoman territory of Palestine. The day of his acquittal and release, the 19th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar, is celebrated as the "Hasidic New Year" by Lubavitch Hasidim, who have a festive meal and communal pledges to learn the whole of the Talmud known as "Chalukat Ha'Shas." Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi is well known for his systematic exposition of Hasidic Jewish philosophy, entitled Likkutei Amarim, and more popularly known as the Tanya, first published in 1797. (The fuller and more authoritative version of this work dates from 1814.) Due to the popularity of this book, Hasidic Jews often refer to Shneur Zalman as the Baal HaTanya.He is also well known for his work Shulchan Aruch HaRav, his version of the classic Shulkhan Arukh, an authoritative code of Jewish law and custom. The work states the decided halakha, as well as the underlying reasoning. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav is used by Lubavitch Hasidism. However, citations to this work are sometimes found in non-Lubavitch sources such as the Mishnah Berurah and the Ben Ish Chai. Rabbi Zalman is one of three authorities on whom Shlomo Ganzfried based his Kitzur Shulkhan Arukh.Descendants of Rabbi Shneur Zalman adopted the names Schneersohn or Schneersonto accommodate Napoleonic edicts that required all subjects to take permanent surnames. (Prior to Napoleon's conquests and the winds of Enlightenment he brought in his wake, Jews only had their traditional names such as Shneur ben (son of) Boruch.) The last two Rebbes of Chabad Lubavitch, Rabbi Joseph Isaac Schneersohn (1880-1950) and Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson (1902-1994), adhered strictly to their family surnames.
1854: An article entitled “Coming Events” published today reported on the prominent role that Benjamin Disraeli will be playing in the upcoming session of Parliament as the lead of “the loyal opposition.” Among other things, he is expected to join with Lord Derby in support Parliamentary reform along the lines of the Chartist Movement. This will set him on a collision course with Lord John Russell who talks more about reform than he delivers. “Disraeli will probably propose that every householder shall have the elective franchise and that representation shall be based upon population. If he he goes to this extent Russell will be ‘nowhere’ in the race and Disraeli will become champion of popular rights.” [Did Disraeli’s Jewish roots explain the fact that a leader of the Conservative Party was a leading proponent for this most liberal reform? Is there a connection between social justice and Judaism that a trip to the baptismal font cannot wash away?]
1855: An article published today entitled “Do You Eat Pork?” reported that “physicians have just discovered that the tape worm only troubles those who eat pork” According to The Gazette Medicale “ the Hebrews are never troubled with it” while pork butchers are “peculiarly liable to it and dogs that are fed Pork “are universally so afflicted.”
1861: Rabbi Abraham Fischel wrote a letter to Henry I. Hart describing the conditions of the troops encamped around Washington, DC which he has visited while waiting to hear from Congressional leaders about his efforts to get the law changed so that Jews can serve as Chaplains in the Union Army.
1868: Rumanian Jews were excluded from the medical profession.
1874: It was reported today that Rabbi Moses Dimant who had been jailed for failing to provide the four dollars in court ordered support for his wife Liebe was released today on a writ of habeas corpus. The writ was obtained by the wife who said she no desire to see her husband in jail.
1874(19th of Tevet, 5635): Asher Jacob Covo, Chief Rabbi of Salonica who was born in 1797, passed away.
1878(1stof Tevet, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1879: In New York City, as part of Hospital Saturday, Jewish congregations collected pledges estimated to total more than $20,000. In years gone by, this money would have gone exclusively to Mt. Sinai Hospital. This year the money will go to a city-wide fundraising effort for all participating hospitals. The total raised yesterday does not count contributions by individual Jewish donors or donations made by businesses owned by Jews.
1880: It was reported today that Lawrence Oliphant’s new book, The Land of Gilead, includes a plan for “colonizing on of the rich and unoccupied districts in Turkey with Jews, to whom the Ottoman authorities can have no possible objection on political grounds.”
1884: It was reported today that the Jews living in the western Russian province of Volhynia are refusing to serve in the army.
1885: It was reported today that Rabbi S.M. Morais and Rabbi Henry P. Mendes are among those calling for the establishment of a new seminary in the East to train rabbis. This is a reflection of the dissatisfaction with the changes being advocated by the Reform Movement lead by Rabbi Isaac M. Wise and being taught at Hebrew Union College.
1885: It was reported today that there 2,064 students attending the schools supported by the Hebrew Free School Association in New York City.
1887: The Ladies’ Bikur Cholim Society hosted a fundraiser tonight “for the benefit of the Industrial School for Poor Girls.”
1888: A piano solo and a presentation by Elliot F. Shepard were part of the entertainment at this evening’s program presented by the Young Men’s Association of Temple Beth-El.
1889: Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler of Temple Beth-El is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Valentine Koon. Born at Stuttgart, German in 1810, he came to the United States where he found success in the manufacture of shoes for the army and New York real estate. As an elector in the national election he voted for Abraham Lincoln and was one of the founders of the New York chapter of the Independent Order of B’nai B’rith.
1891: Based on information that first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette it was reported today that “Notes of a Pilgrimage to Jerusalem and the Holy Land” in which F.R. Oliphant describes his visit to Palestine has recently been published in Great Britain. Oliphant recorded the final years of Laurence Oliphant which included a variety of anecdotes involving Germans, Druses and Romanian Jews whom the older Oliphant had rescued from economic distress when he found living on the streets of Haifa.
1893: The American Jewish Historical Society opens its second annual meeting at the Columbia College
Library
Building
in
New York City
.
1896: Birthdate of German writer and playwright Carl Zuckmayer. Zuckmayer did not think of himself as being Jewish until the rise of Hitler. His mother was the daughter of Protestant church councilor who had converted from Judaism. This made him Jewish in the eyes of the Nazis and no doubt accounted for his fleeing to the United States where he spent World War II.
1906: Birthdate of actor Oscar Levant
1907: Emperor Menelik of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), granted letters of protection to Rabbi Haim Nahoum and his team who were sent by the Alliance Israelite Universelle to study the condition of the Falashim (Ethiopian Jews).
1908: Dr. Herbert Friedenwald, Secretary of the American Jewish Committee said today that Russian newspapers he had just received showed that Czarist state had resumed the persecution of its Jewish citizens.
1908: Based on a letter whose contents were made public today in
London
,
Israel
Zangwill has denied reports coming from the
United States
that he is planning on turning his play “The Melting Pot” into a novel which would be dedicated to President Theodore Roosevelt.
1913: The Sisterhood of the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue will hold its annual Chanukah celebration at the Astor Hotel.
1916(2ndof Tevet, 5677): 8th & final day of Chanukah
1916: In New York City, the packing companies which slaughter cattle in accord with the laws of Kashrut met with representatives of the Federation of Retail Kosher Butchers and agreed to sell them kosher meat for 15 cents a pound. Last week, they had been charging 18 cents a pound which led to a boycott by the kosher butchers. The packing companies further promised that before they raised prices again, they would meet with the butchers and explain the reason for the increase.
1917: Colonel Ronald Storrs, the newly appointed British Military Governor of
Jerusalem
, viewed the distant mountains of
Moab
in the glow of the sunset. For the first time since the Crusades, 600 hundred years ago, a Christian power controls
Jerusalem
. From the Jewish point of view, the Christian power was Great Britian which, under the terms of the Balfour Declaration, was committed to the establishment of a Jewish home in
Palestine
.
1919(5th of Tevet, 5680): Sir Charles Solomon Henry passed away. Born in 1860, he “was an Australian merchant and businessman who lived mostly in Britain and sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1906-1918.”
1921: Birthdate of Judith Hannah Saretsky who gained fame as “Judith S. Wallerstein, a psychologist who touched off a national debate about the consequences of divorce by reporting that it hurt children more than previously thought, with the pain continuing well into adulthood…” (As reported by Denise Grady)
1921: In Atlanta, GA, Alan and Edith Gavronski Lipshutz, gave birth to Robert J. Lipshutz, the White House Counsel for President Jimmy Carter “who played an important behind-the-scenes role in negotiations leading to the Camp David peace accords.”
1923: Arthur Hays and Iphigene Ochs Sulzberger to their third child, Judith Peixotto Sulzberger, who gained fame as “Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger, a physician whose philanthropy led to the creation of a center for genome studies in her name at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons..” (As reported by Robert D. McFadden)
1925: Birthdate of Moshe Arens, the native Kaunas who made Aliyah in 1939 and whose career has included service as Minister of Defense, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador to the US.
1926:
Latkin Square
in
Bronx
was named for the first
US
Jewish soldier to die in WWI
1927: At the behest of Joseph Stalin, Leon Trotsky, born Lev Davidovich Bronstein, is expelled from the Communist Party.
1927: Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat" premiered at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York City. If you need more of a Jewish connection than Kern and Hammerstein, this Broadway hit was based on the novel of the same name written by Edna Ferber. When Edna Ferber published Show Boat in 1926, she was already an established writer, with eleven books, two stage plays, and a Pulitzer Prize (for So Big, 1925) to her credit. But when the musical adaptation of the novel opened on Broadway with lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and music by Jerome Kern, it was unlike any earlier production. Combining music and dance with fully formed characters and serious themes, “Show Boat” departed from both operetta and the musical comedy revue, establishing a new style of American musical. Ferber's work in Show Boat and in later novels grew from a keen eye and a gift for observation of the world around her. Raised in often precarious economic circumstances in small towns in
Iowa
and
Wisconsin
, Ferber always identified with the lives of ordinary working people. She believed that they had "a kind of primary American freshness and assertiveness." She tried to communicate those qualities and do justice to the lives of working folks in all of her writing. Ferber's work also drew on the oppression she felt she had experienced as both a woman and a Jew. Subjected to anti-Semitism as a child, she felt she had gained strength from facing her tormentors. Similarly, she believed that women's experience of social limitations led them to develop special strengths. Many of her early works featured strong women overcoming social obstacles to professional success. Show Boat, which tackled the theme of interracial marriage, also addressed the issue of social constraints. After its successful Broadway debut, “Show Boat” ran for 572 performances, and was later made into a film twice. Revival performances continue to entertain audiences across the country.
1929(25th of Kislev, 5690): Jews observe Chanukah, in what will be the first winter of the Great Depression.
1930(7th of Tevet, 5691): Alfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett, son of German born Anglo-Jewish chemist Ludwig Mund and Frieda, née Löwenthal Mund passed away.
1932: Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City. This American cultural landmark was a project produced by three people – multi-millionaire John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and two Jews, Samuel Roxy Rothafel, who previously opened the Roxy Theatre in 1927 and RCA chairman David Sarnoff.
1935: Birthdate of Rabbi Raymond Apple who served as the Senior Rabbi of the Great Synagogue of Sydney between 1972 and 2005]. In this role, he was one of Australia's highest profile rabbis and the leading spokesman for Judaism in Australia
1935: Birthdate of Dr Victor Brailovsky a native of Moscow, a computer scientist and MK who served as Minister of Science and Technology. Bailovsky was a refusnik who spent three years in a Soviet prison because he wanted to make Aliyah. He finally was allowed to leave for Israel in 1987.
1936: Birthdate of Doctor Lee Salk.
1937: The Palestine Post reported two British army casualties: an officer and a private, both of whom fell while searching for arms in Arab villages in
Galilee
. Rafael Yavneh, 26, was shot and badly wounded at km. 16 of the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv road in the fourth Arab attack on Jewish transport within a week. The Arab Defense Party met at the house of Bisharra Debbas, a Christian and the former governor of
Acre
, and appealed to stop terror and to consider a new Arab representative body - an Arab Higher Council - as the alternative to the radical Husseini Arab Higher Committee.
1937: The Haganah decides to establish Field Companies under the command of Itzhak Sadeh.
1938(5th of Tevet, 5699: Poet Osip Mandelstam died in one of the labor camps of Stalin’s Gulag.
1943:The keel of the SS Meyer London, a “liberty ship” was laid today. The ship was named in honor of Meyer London, a Jewish political leader and reformer who was one of only two Socialists to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Ironically, London had voted against the declaration of war that led to American involvement in World War I.
1944:Arrow Cross members came to the shelter run by Sister Sara Salkahazi's. The Hungarian nun was active in hiding Jews from the Arrow Cross and the Nazis. Salkahazi and four Jewish women who did not manage to either hide or flee were taken to the bank of the
Danube
, where the Arrow Cross men stripped them, shot them and threw their bodies into the river. At the site where Salkahazi and those who shared her fate were executed, not far from the tourist mecca of
Budapest
's main market, a modest memorial has been erected. Her name and memory also grace a tree on the Avenue of the Righteous Among the Nations at Yad Vashem in
Jerusalem
. And now, the Catholic Church has also recognized the importance of her deeds.
1945: The World Bank was created with the signing of an agreement by 28 nations. Among Jews associated with the bank were Eugene Meyer, the first president, James Wolfensohn and Paul Wolfowitz, both of whom served as Presidents between 1995 and 2007 and Stanley Fischer, Lawrence Summers and Joseph E. Stiglitz who served as Chief Economist from 1988 to 2000.
1945: The British authorities in Palestine blame the Haganah for bomb blasts and gun battles in Jerusalem, Jaffa and Tel Aviv, including an attack on a Tel Aviv arms depot.
1945: “Terrorists struck tonight in the heart of Jerusalem, blowing up the Civil Investigation Department building in the Russian compound near the main post office. At least three policemen are dead and six injured.” Other attacks were reported on a police station in Jaffa and installation of the Royal Engineers Workshops in Tel Aviv.
1945: “In the greatest mass arrests in the history of Palestine more than 1,500 people were taken into custody tonight” after unidentified people blew up the British police station in the center of Jerusalem.
1947: It was reported today that the British police in policed had revealed that the headmaster of the government school in Ramallah had received a warned that the Irgun would blow up the school.
194714thof Tevet, 5708): A convoy that counted Gold Meir (future Prime Minister of Israel) as one of its passengers came under attack. Seven Jews were killed by the Arab attackers.
1947(14th of Tevet, 5708): Hans Beyth, a central figure in welcoming newly arrived immigrant children to Eretz Israel, was one of seven Jews killed by Arab snipers as they traveled in convey coming from the coast up to Jerusalem. Beyth had just completed arrangements for the care of 20,000 young survivors of the Holocaust and other youngsters from Europe.
1947: Houses belonging to Jews and Arabs were set on fire today in the Jaffa-Tel Aviv region.
1947: As communal strife continued to intensify, troops had to be used to end a six hour between Jews and Arabs near Tulkarm.
1947: A private source in Haifa said tonight that in the last 48 hours the verified deaths included nine Jews, eight Arab and two Britons. Forty-three people were reported to have been wounded during the same period.
1948(25th of Kislev, 5709): Chanukah
1948: Members of the Moslem Brotherhood assassinated Egyptian Prime Minister Fahmy Norashy Pashy because of Egypt’s failure to win the war in Palestine.
1948: Israel bombs Arab forces in Gaza.
1948: Fighting between Israeli and Egyptians in Fallujah.
1948: During Operation Horev, an Israeli armored brigade attack al-Auja. The successful attack led to the surrender of Egyptian forces in the area.
1948: Birthdate of actress Tovah Feldshuh
1950(18th of Tevet, 5711): Max Beckmann German-born painter/graphic artist passed away at the age of 66.
1951: Birthdate of Henryk Halkowski historian, journalist, essayist and translator of Jewish origin, scholar of Hasidism and the history of Krakow's Kazimierz.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel Rokach, mayor of Tel Aviv for the past 17 years, had relinquished his post to Haim Levanon, the Deputy Mayor.
1952: Birthdate of David KnopflerScottish-born guitarist, singer and songwriter. David and his brother Mark were part of Dire Straits.
1953(21st of Tevet, 5714) Poet Julian Tuwim passed away. Born in 1894 in Łódź, “he studied law and philosophy at Warsaw University. In 1919 Tuwim co-founded the Skamander group of experimental poets with Antoni Słonimski and Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. He was a major figure in Polish literature, and was also known for his contribution to children's literature.”
1964: Elinor Bluemnthal married John Muir Gold.
1966: Birthdate of former professional football player and wrestler, Bill Goldberg. In 1998, Goldberg did a Koufax when he refused to wrestle on Rosh Hashanah.
1970: After 2,844 performances at the St. James Theatre, David Merrick’s “Holly Dolly” came to a close.
1970: The Golani Brigade took part in a retaliatory strike came against the village Yatar, a major guerrilla base.
1973: Bora Laskin takes office as the 14th Chief Justice of Canada
1974: The Dear Abby Show ended its run on CBS radio after 11 years. Dear Abby is the pen name for a Jewess from
Iowa
, who along with her sister became the twin queens of advice during the last half of the 20th century.
1976: Malcom Toon left his post as U.S Ambassador to Israel.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported from
Ismailia
that the Begin-Sadat summit meeting made definite progress, despite the apparent Egyptian disappointment over the lack of an anticipated joint declaration of principles. While the
US
proposed a timely Israeli-Egyptian mediation, settlers at Ofra declared war on Begin's possible "occupied territories" concessions.
1981: In this excerpt from his “Travel Advisory,” Robert J. Dunphy describes the “dig” at Bet Shean and provides historic perspective for what is being unearthed in modern day Israel.
The trumpets sound as the gladiator enters the arena. The crowd roars and cries for blood as the man-eating beasts are unleashed and the contest is about to begin. The scene is easy to envision in Bet Shean, Israel, where a Roman amphitheater is being unearthed. Built around 200 A.D., the arena served as the site for gladiatorial combat, circuses and sports contests for more than two centuries. The first-century historian Josephus, whose writings also detailed the dramatic story of Masada, also in present-day Israel, mentioned the existence of several amphitheaters in the area but that in Bet Shean is the only one that has been found to date.The elliptical structure is 120 yards long and 73 yards wide. The arena floor was below ground level, and a high wall protected spectators from the wild animals in the gladiatorial contests. The three front rows of seats were hewn from white limestone and above them were wooden seats. The outer wall was made of black basalt. The dig is situated several hundred yards from a Roman theater, which for years has been one of Israel's most impressive tourist attractions. With the discovery of the amphitheater, the entire area will be converted into a giant antiquities park. Bet Shean, about two hours by car from Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, was the site of a Roman garrison and the principal city in the north of the country.
1985: Abu Nida, the Palestinian terrorist organization, kill eighteen people during attacks inside the airports in Rome and Vienna. According to some, the attack was a fallback. The terrorists had really wanted to hijack El Al planes and destroy them over Tel Aviv (this is 16 years before 9/11).
1987:Three Palestinian guerrillas infiltrated a short distance into Israel from Jordan Friday night and were captured alive by Israeli troops after a shootout, the Israeli Army spokesman announced today. One of the guerrillas was wounded during the clash in a wheat field of an Israeli border settlement, but no Israeli soldiers or civilians were hurt, said the army spokesman, who released the account this afternoon.
1987: ''Furniture Making in East London: 1830 to 1980 '' an exhibition which is part of a celelebration of London’s East End’s Jewish heritage comes to a close at Geffrye Museum
1988: Yossi Ahimeir, an aide to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, said today that the Prime Minister may ask the United States and the Soviet Union to sponsor Middle East peace talks. Mr. Ahimeir said in a telephone interview that Mr. Shamir would make Moscow's renewal of diplomatic relations a condition of his proposal. The Soviet Union broke ties with Israel during the 1967 Middle East war.
1991(20th of Tevet, 5752): Seventy-two year old Eitan Livini, a member of the Irgun, member of the Knesset and father of Tzipi Livini passed away today.
1992(3rdof Tevet, 5753): 8th and final day of Chanukah
1992:The standoff between Lebanon and Israel over the fate of 415 Palestinian deportees trapped in a snow-covered valley in southern Lebanon, continued today as both sides again rejected appeals to allow relief agencies to deliver food or medicine.Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, whose Government has blocked relief assistance from reaching the group since Monday, asked Washington to intervene with Israel to allow aid to reach the Palestinians. But at the same time, his Government turned down a request by the deportees to give the ill and injured treatment in Lebanese hospitals..
1995(4th of Tevet, 5756): Shura Cherkassky passed away. Born in the Ukraine in 1909, his family found refuge in the United States during the Russian Revolution. The brilliant classical pianist performed almost until the end of his life.
1998: The New York Times Book Section includes a review of On Sunset Boulevard: The Life and Times of Billy Wilder by Ed Sikov which tells the story of how a Jew born in a town south of Kracow became one Hollywood’s leading writers and directors.
1999(18th of Tevet, 5760):Leonard Goldstein passed away. Born in 1905, he became President of
ABC
. He orchestrated the merger of his United Paramount Theatres with
ABC
in 1953 and he headed the merged company called American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres. The company was renamed American Broadcasting Companies in 1968. In 1974, Mr. Goldenson received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York." The Leonard H. Goldenson Theater at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences building in North Hollywood, California is named in his honor.
2005: The New York Times featured carried a feature on Siegfried Sassoon, “A Wounded Poet Who Sang the Crucible of a Generation.” Sassoon’s father was part of the wealthy Sephardic Sassoon clan. Siegfried’s mother was a member of the Church of England. After his father deserted the family at the when he was four, Siegfried was raised in the faith of his mother, even acquiring that twinge of genteel anti-Semitism that was part and parcel of the upper reaches of English society.
2005: Under the title “Quantum Trickery: Testing Einstein’s Strangest Theory,” the New York Timesreported on the impact of the paper published seventy years ago by Einstein, Boris Podlosky and Nathan Rosen that provided the cornerstone for the new field of quantum information.
2006: The exhibition of
Jerusalem
painter Maureen Fain at the Artura Studio in
Jaffa
comes to an end.
2006: Heavy snow fell on
Jerusalem
forcing the Egged bus company to shut down its routes “citing dangerous road conditions. Snow began falling on the
Golan Heights
in the early morning hours and by evening reach as far south as Mitzpe Ramon in the
Negev
. Although it was technically too late, many Israelis began humming that old standard “I’m Dreaming of Chanukah Ch-e-vair.” (The last sentence is mean to be funny.)
2006(6thof Tevet, 5767): One hundred two year old “Itche Goldberg, a champion of Yiddish who wrote and edited and taught his beloved language in the face of all those who said keeping Yiddish alive was a lost cause “ passed away today. (As reported by Ari Goldman)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/obituaries/03goldberg.html
2007: In
Anaheim
,
California
, the USY International Convention comes to an end.
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