December 9 In History
1565: Pope Pius IV passed away. Pius issued a bull that improved the conditions of the Jews. It allowed them to stop wearing their yellow cap, buy land up to the value of 1,500 ducats and to trade in things other than old clothes. While they could speak with Christians, they could not have Christian servants. He also allowed the Jews to publish the Talmud as long as they did not use that word in the publication.
1657 (Kislev 5418): Manasseh ben Israel passed away. Manasseh ben Israel was born in 1604 in Holland, A Marrano at birth; he became an outstanding man of letters. He was mystically inclined and believed that Jews should dwell in every country before the Messiah could come. It is from this platform that he approached the religiously-minded Cromwell with a petition for the resettlement of Jews in England. He was assisted by Antonio Carvajal, the first "denizenized" (foreigner granted residence and some other rights) Jew in England under Charles I. Although Manasseh was later offered a job in Brazil, he remained in Amsterdam. Cromwell eventually had his way despite the fact that England and the Dutch states were at odds, and in spite of the opposition of English clergy and merchants.
1666: Nathan of Gaza, one of Shabbtai Zvi's foremost "prophets" was excommunicated by the Rabbinical Council in Constantinople.
1669: Pope Clement IX passed away. The year before his death, the Pope modified the custom of having the Jews run through the streets of Rome as part of the carnival festivities by allowing them to pay heavy fines to avoid the race. This ended two hundred years of humiliation that had been introduced by Pope Paul II in the 15th century.
1738: The Jews were expelled from Breslau Silesia.
1783: After the British were driven from New York and General George Washington entered the city late in 1783, exiled New Yorkers including the Jewish exiles began to return home. Today Myer Myers joined two other leaders of Shearith Israel as a delegation that was to convey the loyal greetings of the Jewish community of New York to Governor Clinton.
1809: Birthdate of Jules Isaac Mires, the son of Sephardic watchmaker from Bordeaux who became a successful banker, Managing Director of the Gas Company of Aries and was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor by Napoleon III in 1860.
1813: Birthdate of John Addison Gurley the Congressman from Cincinnati, Ohio who arranged for Cesar Kaskel to meet with President Lincoln so that Jewish Kentuckian could protest the issuance of General Order 11.
1818: In Montego Bay, Jamaica, Isaac Simon and his wife gave birth to Sir John Simon, the English barrister and member of the Liberal Party.
1831: Birthdate of Maurice de Hirsch who would gain fame as Baron Hirsch one of the greatest philanthropists of his time.
1821: Birthdate of Marcus Goldman, the German-born American businessman and entrepreneur born in Trappstadt, Germany who immigrated to the United States in 1848 and was the founder of Goldman Sachs, which became one of the world's largest global investment banks.
1822(25thof Kislev, 5583): Chanukah
1843: Birthdate of Corporal Isaac Gause who won the Medal of Honor during the U.S. Civil War.
1861: Rabbi Arnold Fischel arrived in Philadelphia and met with Jewish leaders working to make it possible for Jews to serve as chaplains with the Union Army. Fischel was on his way from New York to Washington, D.C.
1861: Today’s edition of the Louisville-Nashville Courier gave the following details concerning the burning of a bridge at Whippoorwill on the Memphis Branch Railroad. A detachment of fifty or sixty federal soldiers “under the under command of a Dutch Jew peddler named Netter” fired “a volley of over one hundred rounds from Sharp’s revolving rifles” at the Confederates who guarding the bridge. Two were killed and the rest surrendered. The Federals then burn the railroad bridge. “Netter” was probably Gabriel Netter, a French-born Jew living in Kentucky who within a year would rise to the rank of Lt. Colonel before being killed in fighting near Owensboro.
1868: Birthdate of German-born Chemist Fritz Haber. Haber synthesized ammonia and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1918.
1870: The Society of Biblical Archaeology was founded in London "for the investigation of the archaeology, history, arts, and chronology of ancient and modern...biblical lands...."
1878: A fair for the benefit of Shaare Rachmim is scheduled to open tonight at Tammany Hall.
1878: Joseph Pulitzer bought the St Louis Dispatch for $2,500.
1879(24th of Kislev): In the evening the first light of Chanukah was kindled.
1879: It was reported today in New Jersey, that Chancellor Runyon has decided not to grant Rachel Blumenthal, young Jewess from Canada, a divorce from Moses Tannenholz an older Jew living in New Jersey. In 1875, when she was only 17 she participated in what she thought was a betrothal ceremony with Tannenholz Much to her amazement she discovered that the ceremony was a marriage ceremony. According to testimony offered during the divorce hearing, Blumenthal’s parents had declined Tannenholz’s offers to end the marriage for a cash payment. The Chancellor sensed that Tannenholz had been perpetrating a fraud in the matter of the marriage. But he declined to grant the divorce because Miss Blumenthal was a minor when she moved to New Jersey from Canada so that she could establish residence (a requirement for filing for divorce) and since she was a minor she could not file for divorce under New Jersey state law
1881: It was reported today that at least one Russian newspaper has taken issue with President Chester A. Arthur’s criticism of the Czarist Empire’s treatment of its Jewish citizens.
1882: It was reported today that the Hebrew Free School Associations is planning on holding its annual meeting this month.
1882: Some Jewish businessmen who had obtained a temporary injunction were able to keep their stores open today. The Jews, who observe the Sabbath on Saturday, have taken the matter to court.
1883: R. Heber Newton delivered a lecture on “The Book of Genesis” during which he said the book “purported to be a Jewish work, giving the traditions of Jewish antecedents in prehistoric times…”
1889: The Hebrew Education Fair opened this evening at the American Institute Building. This two long fund raiser officially began at 8:45 this evening when Eben’s Band began playing the grand march as New York City Mayor Grant and A.W. Lilienthal took their places on the stage.
1897: Birthdate of Hermione Gingold. Born Hermione Ferdinanda Gingold in London, she was the daughter of a high-class Austrian-born Jewish financier. The British actress known for her sharp-tongued, eccentric persona, an image enhanced by her sharp nose and chin, as well as her deepening voice, a result of vocal nodes which her mother encouraged her not to remove. She appeared on stage, on radio, in films, on television, and in recordings. Gingold passed away in 1997.
1898: The Jewish Messengerreported Meyer Dannenberg a member of Or Chaim in New York City passed away. He "...was an Israelite of the olden school...he was truly pious and he leaves to his descendants and friends the priceless legacy of a good name."
1904: In Richmond, VA, members of Congregation Beth Ahavah (House of Love) dedicated their new home what is popularly known as the Franklin Street Synagogue, probably because it is located on West Franklin Street. The congregation is one of the oldest in the United States tracing its origins back to 1789. The building which is still in use is on the National Historic Registry.
1905: The French law on the Separation of the Churches and State (Loi du 9 décembre 1905 concernant la séparation des Églises et de l'État) was passed by the Chamber of Deputies today. From now on, the functionaries of all religions in France - Catholic, Protestant and Jewish - ceased to receive state funding and no longer conducted their affairs under state supervision. France had become a secular nation thanks to the backlash from the Dreyfus Affair.
1911(18th of Kislev, 5672): Rabbi Haim Covo of Salonica passed away at age the age of 68.
1914: Birthdate of Samuel Katz, who was a close adviser to Menachem Begin, Israel’s prime minister in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but who later became a vociferous opponent of Begin’s peace efforts with Egypt and the Palestinians. The son of Alexander and Luba Katz, Katz was born in Johannesburg and moved to Palestine in 1936 He changed his first name to Shmuel and soon joined the Irgun. For several years, he was secretary to Ze’ev Jabotinsky, one of the founders of the Irgun. Mr. Katz and Menachem Begin became comrades in arms in the 1940s when both rose to leadership positions in the Irgun, the right-wing underground militia that battled the British Mandatory government of Palestine and later Arab forces in Israel’s 1948 war for independence. In June 1948, Mr. Katz helped organize the voyage of the cargo ship Altalena, which was carrying weapons and Irgun fighters to Israel when it was sunk off Tel Aviv by the newly formed Israel Defense Forces. In May 1977, Begin, the longtime leader of the Herut Party, was elected prime minister of Israel’s first right-wing government in 29 years; Herut later merged with the Likud bloc. Begin chose Mr. Katz as his adviser for information abroad and sent him to several countries, including to the United States for meetings with President Carter, to counter perceptions that Begin was a wild-eyed terrorist and reactionary. But Mr. Katz had resigned to protest Israeli concessions by the time Mr. Carter brought Begin and Sadat together at Camp David in September 1978; at the White House the next year, they signed a treaty returning Sinai to Egypt and calling for Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. In June 1979, Begin was re-elected to a 13th term as chairman of Herut, by a vote of 1,340 to 8. The 8 votes went to Mr. Katz. In Mr. Katz’s view, peace with the Arabs was illusory; in his view, Judea and Samaria, the biblical names for much of the West Bank, should be annexed as part of the “land of Israel,” and pressure from Washington could be ignored. It was a position Mr. Katz took in many books and opinion articles that he wrote in the years after he left the government. Among Mr. Katz’s books are Jabo, a biography of Mr. Jabotinsky; Battleground: Fact and Fantasy in Palestine, about the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict and what Mr. Katz considered the deep connections between his nation and the biblical land of Israel; and The Aaronsohn Saga, an account of a Jewish spy ring that worked for the British against the Ottoman Turks. He passed away in May of 2008 at the age of 93 in Tel Aviv.
1917(24th of Kislev, 5678): As Jews kindled the first light of Chanukah, nobody could know that this would mark the start of the last Chanukah celebration during WW I.
1917: According to reports published today, “this evening the celebration of Chanukah, the Feast of Dedication, will begin among Jewish people and continue for eight days. Although rated in the traditional calendar as a minor festival, compared with the Biblical festivals and holy days, it is known also as the Feast of Lights, and is of great significance, as it commemorates one of the most heroic struggles and final victory for the Jewish fatherland and faith.”
1917: Just after midnight, Turkish troops began the final evacuation Jerusalem. According to one report, it was fitting that the Turks should be leaving Jerusalem for the last time on the same day that the Seleucids left the city since this day coincided with the celebration of the holiday of Chanukah.
1917: The Turkish mayor of Jerusalem surrenders the city to 2 British soldiers - Sergeants Sedgwick and Hawcombe.
1918: Birthdate of Kirk Douglas. Born Issur Demsky, Douglas has played everything from Doc Holiday in Gunfight at the OK Corral, to deranged Naval officer in In Harm’s Way to Colonel Mickey Marcus in Cast a Giant Shadow.
1918: Victor Berger went on trial today on charges that he had violated the Espionage Act of 1917 by publicly opposing America’s entry into WW I. Berger was a Socialist who opposed all war.
1920: Thirty days after the death of Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport whose pen name was S. Ansky, passed away, “The Dybbuk” was performed at the Elyseum Theatre in Warsaw.
1923(1st of Tevet, 5684): Rosh Chodesh Tevet
1923(1st of Tevet, 5684): Seventh day of Chanukah; in the evening Kindled the 8th candle
1923: Hadoar resumes publication
1923: The Jewish Welfare Board sponsored a special Army and Navy Chanukah Service that was held at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in Manhattan. During his address to the attendees, Rear Admiral Charles P. Plunkett, commander of the Third Naval District and the Brooklyn Navy Yard, said that “There are more kinds of hatreds both religious and social in the world today than ever existed. This country has been open to the world, a haven of safety, but we have no room here for those who cannot be assimilated. They cannot bring their hatreds here..”
1923: In address to the first meeting of the National Council of the Keren Hayesod at the Hotel Astor, Dr. Arthur Ruppin said that “the housing shorate in Palestine has been relieved to a considerable estnet by the establishment of the General Mortgage Bank of Palestine which has invested more than $300,000 in mortgages enabling the construction of 300 house in Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa and Tiberias.
1924: In the presence of in the presence of Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir Ronald Storrs, Governor of the Jaffa district in Jerusalem, and Raghib al-Nashashibi, the Arab mayor of Jerusalem a street in Jerusalem that crosses Ben Yehuda Street and Hillel Street was named King George Street or Rechov HaMelech in dedication ceremonies held today. The street was named in honor of King George V in honor of the seventh anniversary of Lord Allenby’s conquest of Jerusalem during World War I.
1928: A Chanukah celebration is scheduled to be held this afternoon at the Bronx Jewish Center under the supervision of Talmud Torah’s principal, Rabbi J.J. Charlot
1929: During an interview today Ossip Gabrilowitsch, the Jewish son-in-law of Mark Twain, commended the music program started last week at Hebrew University. Based on first-hand knowledge gained by his visit to Palestine last Sring, Maestro Gabrilowitsch spoke highly of tte accomplishments of the Jewish musical community and identified the areas in most need of growth.
1930: Birthdate of Buck Henry. Born Henry Zuckerman, Henry is known as an actor, writer and the satirical wit who helped to make SNL into a hit show.
1931: Jews throughout the world celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Birth of Baron Hirsch
1931: Supporters of the Grand Mufti distributed “fake photographs” to delegates to the World Islamic Conference showing Jews armed with machine guns attacking the Dome of the Rock. This was part of the mufti’s plan to inflame relations between Jews and Arabs while cementing his role as leader of the Arabs in Palestine.
1934: In a response to a request from Churchill, Leonard Montifore, a member of the Central British Fund, sent the British statesman a translaton of the recently promulgated Nuremberg Laws, commentary from The Times on these anti-Jewish laws and a pamphlet describing the conditions in Germany just before the laws were passed.
1935: Walter Liggett, Minnesota newspaper editor and muckraker, is killed in gangland murder. After writing newspaper articles connecting between the mobster Kidd Cann and Minnesota Governor Floyd Olson, Ligett was gunned down, reportedly by Kid Cann. Kid Cann was Isadore Blumenfeld a leading Jewish mobster living in the Twin Cities. He was tried for the murder but “beat the rap.”
1937: The Palestine Postreported that in Jerusalem two bombs were thrown by Arab terrorists at the houses of Arabs known to oppose the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, who was hiding from the authorities in Lebanon.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that in London the Colonial Office refused to accede to Colonel J.C. Wedgwood’s request to circulate the names of 137 officials of the Palestine government and judiciary who, on June 30, 1936, sent a memo critical of the establishments’ activities and policy.
1938: As the level of anti-Semitism in Nazi Germany increases and Hitler pursues a more aggressive foreign policy, Churchill gives a speech reminding his constituents that four years earlier he had called for a four-fold increase in spending for the RAF and that if those who are criticizing him now would have heeded his advice then Britain would not be dealing with the Germans from a position of weakness.
1939: Dr. Henryk Szoskies, vice president of the Jewish community in Warsaw, who escaped last month and is now in Paris has provided first-hand information on the desperate situation of the Jews living in the German-occupied zone of Poland. “Jews all over the German part of Poland live in constant fear of new persecutions and new orders making life even harder.” He reported that the Gestapo had ordered the establishment of a ghetto in the middle of November allowing only three days to transfer an additional 160,000 Jews into the Nalewiki district increasing the population in this small area to 366,000. “Jews all over Poland face an extremely hard winter…since merchants are not allowed to trade and all their property has been confiscated. Dr. Szoskies has “presented a detailed report to Premier Wladislas Sikorski and other members” of the Polish government in exile in Paris.
1940: The British deported illegal Jewish immigrants from Haifa to Mauritius. This was part of the British enforcement of the White Paper that effectively ended Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel. When you consider how strapped the British were for resources in fighting Hitler, it is amazing that the government in London could find the resources to intercept vessels sailing to Palestine.
1940: Jewish immigrants who had entered Eretz Israel illegally protested their deportation by lying nude in their bunks, refusing to dress in an act of spontaneous, and ultimately futile, civil disobedience,
1940: A German soldier leaps from a car in the Warsaw (Poland) Ghetto and strikes a Jewish boy in the head with an iron bar, killing him.
1941(19thof Kislev, 5702): “Rosh Hashanah of Chassidism”
1941(19thof Kislev, 5702): Following two days of killing known as the Rumbula Massacre, an additional 500 Jews were murdered in the “small ghetto” at Riga.
1942: German troops in Tunis, Tunisia, seize 128 Jews and march them to a labor camp. One young Jew who drops from exhaustion is shot and killed.
1942: Christian Century, an American Protestant journal, attacks Rabbi Stephen Wise, claiming he has lied about the Holocaust in his recent press conference. Christian Century further argues that even if what Wise has to say is true, to make the facts of the Holocaust public serves no purpose.
1946: “The Doctors' Trial,” the trial for crimes committed in Nazi human experimentation during World War II, began in Nuremberg, Germany.
1946: Chaim Weizmann calls for a Jewish state in Palestine.
1947: The Security Council tables a debate on partition after Syria reports that Arabs will question legality of such a partition.
1948: Iraq is asked by Britain, U.S., and France to reopen oil pipeline from Iraq to Haifa The promise made that oil refined in Haifa will not be furnished to Israel.
1948: In British ruled Aden eighty-two Jews were killed during a savage attack on the Jewish citizens and their property. Other such riots took place in Beirut, Cairo, Alexandria and Aleppo.
1949: The UN General Assembly voted to put Jerusalem under permanent UN rule. The is a repeat of what was in the resolution adopted on November 29, 1947.
1949: Arab states support the adoption of the motion to put Jerusalem under permanent UN rule because they are suspicious of King of Abdullah of Jordan who has annexed the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem.
1949: Britain opposes the UN plan to put Jerusalem under permanent UN rule.
1949: The United States opposes the UN plant to put Jerusalem under permanent UN rule. It favors a compromise put forward by Sweden and the Netherlands under which only the city’s religious shrines would be under UN Control instead of the whole city
1949: Chile abstained from voting on the UN resolution in favor to the internationalization of Jerusalem
1950: Harry Gold is sentenced to thirty years in jail for stealing United States nuclear weapon secrets for the Soviet Union. Gold’s testimony led to David Greenglass which in turn led to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, who were executed after being convicted of espionage. Gold only served about half of his sentence.
1952: The Jerusalem Postreported that the Knesset elected Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, the 68-year-old Labor Zionist leader, as the second President of Israel. He was elected on the third ballot when he won 62 votes. The other candidates were Rabbi M. Nurock, who received 40 votes, and Mr. Y. Gruenbaum who won five. There were five blanks and eight abstentions.
1957: The first Japanese ambassador to Israel arrived in the Jewish state.
1961: An Israeli court found Adolf Eichmann found guilty of war crimes.
1966: Birthdate of Gideon Moses Serchanski, the Tel Aviv native who gained fame as Gideon Sa'arl, a Likud MK and Minister of Education.
1969: Birthdate of musician Jakob Dylan, son of Bob Dylan.
1971: Dr. Ralph J Bunche passed away. Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize for his successful role in negotiating an end to the fighting between the Israelis and the Arab states in 1949.
1972:Helen Reddy’s "I Am Woman" tops the charts
http://jwa.org/thisweek/dec/09/1972/helen-reddy
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Egypt had returned to Israel the bodies of three unidentified Israeli soldiers who were killed during the Yom Kippur war.
1977: In Cairo tens of thousands of Egyptians demonstrated, carrying placards and chanting slogans of support for President Anwar Sadat's drive for peace. While Egypt severed relations with Arab states, King Hussein of Jordan arrived in Cairo for a visit. Hussein seemed to be ready to agree to the Jordanian participation in the joint Israeli-Arab meeting in Cairo, suggested by Sadat, preparatory to the reconvening of the Geneva Peace Conference.
1980: Birthdate of Simon Maxwell Helberg, American actor and comedian best known for his role as Howard Wolowitz in “The Big Bang.”
1981:“Lady in the Dark” a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart had its premiere UK performance at the Nottingham Palace.
1982(23rd of Kislev, 5743): Polish born Dutch violist Paul Godwin [Goldfein] passes away at the age of 80.
1982(23rd of Kislev, 5743): Activist Norman Mayer threatens to blow up the Washington Monument, before being killed by United States Park Police.
1987: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
1988: Today the major daily newspaper Yediot Ahronot published a survey indicating that 80 percent of Israelis now want President Chaim Herzog to continue urging Labor and Likud to form a new coalition. And 76 percent want that coalition to include no other partners - especially not the religious parties.
1990: In New York, Congregation Ansche Chesed sponsors a concert by folk singer Richie Havens. The concert is a fund raiser for the building fund and is part of the synagogue's 10th annual Hanukkah Arts Festival, which also offers a bazaar of gift items and refreshments.
1993: A revival of Lerner and Loewe’s "My Fair Lady" opens at Virginia Theater New York City for the first of 165 performances
200I: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak announced he would resign and call a special election.
2001: The New York Times book section featured books by Jewish authors and/or about subjects of Jewish interest including Collected Stories by Saul Bellow, Letters To A Young Lawyer by Alan Dershowitz and Still Alive: A Holocaust Girlhood Remembered by Ruth Kluger.
2002: An International Symposium entitled "Jewish identity and anti-Semitism in Central and South Eastern Europe sponsored by the Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities, the "Goldstein-Goren" Hebrew Studies Center, Bucharest University and Bucharest History Museum opened in Bucharest.
2003: For the second night in a row, The Empire State Building offered a special tribute to the 110th anniversary of the National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW), when it was illuminated by the organization’s colors of blue and green. The illumination marked the founding of the Council at the Jewish Women’s Congress held at the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893. The New York section of NCJW took a strong role in its early years sending volunteers to Ellis Island to look after the welfare of single Jewish women who arrived alone in the New World. Today, with 90,000 members, NCJW continues to advance Jewish values by working for social change, acting nationally to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families, and to advance individual rights and freedoms.
2004: The first Broadway revival of “La Cage Aux Folles a musical with a book by Harvey Fierstein and lyrics and music by Jerry Herman opened at the Marquis Theatre.
2005: Sgt. Nir Kahane, 20, the military policeman who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian attacker at the Kalandia checkpoint, was buried in the Kiryat Tivon military cemetery.
2006: Haaretzreported that Germany condemned a planned Iranian conference on the Holocaust. The German Foreign Ministry told a top Iranian official that attempts to question the Nazis' murder of Jews were "shocking and unacceptable." Foreign Ministry spokesman Jens Ploetner said "We condemn all past and future attempts of anyone who gives a platform to those who relativize or question the Holocaust. Ploetner stressed that "the German government finds all statements that question the right of Israel to exist or the Holocaust shocking and unacceptable."
2006: The Chicago Tribunepublished an “edited” version of a “letter to the editors” describing one Jew’s view of the annual office Christmas Party, and if you read between the lines, a whole lot more.
2006: Shuttle Discovery launches on the STS-116 mission at 8:45 P.M. Space Shuttle Discovery Commander Mark Polansky took a replica of "Refugee" with him on the shuttle's mission. Each astronaut is invited to take a few items into space. Polansky took the replica of "Refugee" and an image of a Darfurian child in a refugee camp in Chad taken by Museum staff member Jerry Fowler. “Refugee” is the name of the stuffed bear that comforted Holocaust survivor Sophie Turner-Zaretsky when she is a refugee following World War II.
2007: The Center for Jewish History, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, and the Jewish Theological Seminary of America present “A Legacy for the Future: Celebrating the Life and Teachings of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel on the Centennial of His Birth 1907-2007
2007: The Sunday New York Times book section reviews of books by Jewish authors or on topics related to Judaism or Jewish culture including The Rowing Lesson by the South African Jewish author Ann Landsman, Touch and Go: A Memoir by Studs Terkel and Bernard Malamud: A Writers Life by Philip Davis.
2007: The Washington Post list of Best Books for Young People included Leaves by David Ezra Stein.
2007(29th of Kislev, 5768): In Little Rock, AR, Harvey Luber, a man whose talents, gifts and accomplishments are too numerous to mention is laid to rest. To say he was a pillar of the Jewish community, a teacher, a photographer, a first class raconteur and lifelong learner as well as a proud father and great Zeda does not even begin to capture the essence of the man. To say that he was a friend to all both great and small regardless of rank or status says much about the basic decency of the man. If one were to write more in this vein, it would cause Harvey to laugh all the more. Suffice it to say that God apparently was in need of a great photographer, a memorable laugh and sage if slightly twisted discussion on matters of Judaica and only Harvey could give Him all that and more in one soul. He will me be missed and never forgotten.
2007: “Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience” opens at The Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee is a joint project of the Tennessee State Museum in collaboration with the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Jewish Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga, Knoxville Jewish Alliance, and Memphis Jewish Federation, with the participation of other Jewish communities around the state. The exhibit’s statewide tour is supported in part by a grant from Humanities Tennessee, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
2007: Funeral services for Harvey David Luber, of blessed memory were held in Little Rock, AR this afternoon.
2008: At Adas Israel, a three day conference entitled "Zionism, Israel and Human Rights" with Avram Burg, author and former Speaker of the Knesset and Sari Nusseibeh, President of Al Quds University moderated by Kathleen Peratis, Board Member Emeriti of Human Rights Watch comes to an end.
2008 (12 Kislev): Yahrzeit of Solomon Schechter.
2009: Rabbi Addin Steinsaltz is scheduled to produce tractate Niddah, which deals with the laws that a married woman must adhere to during menstruation.
2009: The 20th Washington Jewish Film Festival includes a screening of “Divided We Fall,” which tells the story of a childless couple living in a small Czech village during World War II who hide their former neighbor, a young Jewish man who has managed to escape from the death camps after losing his entire family. “The couple must suddenly become pregnant in order to prevent a Nazi official from moving into the apartment and discovering their secret boarder…who begins to play an important part in the charade.”
2009: The 24th Annual New York Israeli Film Festival includes a screening of “Legends in the Dunes,” Ya’akov Gross’ new documentary prepared in honor of the 100th anniversary of the founding of Tel Aviv that follows the development of the building of the new city across from the ancient city of Yaffo.
2009(22nd of Kislev, 5770): Gene Barry passed away. Born Eugene Klass in 1919, he enjoyed successful career performing on the stage, in films and on several successful television series. His marriage to Betty Kalb lasted 58 years, making him a success in his personal as well as professional life.
2010: “Tango, A Story With Jews” is scheduled to make its Mid-Atlantic Premiere at the 21st Washington Jewish Film Festival. The film highlights the role played by Russian musicians who fled to Buenos Aires in the 19th century in creating this icon of Argentine culture.
2010: The YIVO is scheduled to present a program entitled "This Theatre is a Battlefield: How Antifascist and Zionist Performance Forged a New Jewish- American Identity, 1939-1948.”
The program is scheduled to “focus on some of the key stage and screen artists who rallied American support for the Jews of Europe and Palestine in the 1940s. Through these struggles, Paul Muni, Edward G. Robinson, John Garfield, Ben Hecht, and Kurt Weill consistently stood at the vanguard of a Jewish-American ‘Cultural Front.’”
2010(2nd of Tevet, 5711): Eighth Day of Chanukah
2010(2nd of Tevet, 5711): Dov Shilansky, Holocaust survivor and former speaker of the Knesset passed away at the age of 86.
2011: “Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg” is one of three films being screened today at the 22nd Washington Jewish Film Festival.
2011: As part of the Scholars in Residence Weekend at Touro Synagogue in New Orleans, Dr. Ethan Bueno de Mesquita, a professor in the Harris School of Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago is scheduled to address the issues of terrorism, counter-terrorism and religion.
2011: Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is scheduled to host one of its ever-popular Musical Shabbats.
2011: Gaza militants launched several rockets toward Israel's south today, hours after an Israeli air strike in central Gaza killed a Palestinian militant planning a terrorist attack on the Egypt border. A Grad-type rocket exploded in an open field near the southern city of Be'er Sheva, with another Qassam landing in an open field in the Sdot Negev Regional Council. No injuries or damages were reported in either incident.
2011: Thousands of Israelis marched in Tel Aviv today to mark International Human Rights Day. Around 500 people participated in a similar event in Haifa. In Tel Aviv, the march proceeded from Habima Square to Rabin Square. The Tel Aviv march was organized by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI). 130 groups particicated in the event, covering the entire political spectrum, including Peace Now, Meretz, Im Tirzu, West Bank settlers, Eritrean refugees and Negev Bedouin. Social protest leader Daphne Leef also took part in the march. Leftist marchers carried signs reading "The right will not silence me", "Bibi, resign" and "We will protect the democratic space". Rightist marchers carried signs reading "Jews in the settlements also have rights".
2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Sasha and Emma: The Anarchist Odyssey of Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman by Paul Avrich and Karen Avrich
2012: Bein Hashmashot (Between the Suns), the official youth choir of Beit Shemesh, is scheduled to perform the JCC of Northern Virginia.
2012: The Sephardic Musical Festival is scheduled to continue tonight with “Sephardic Story Slam” at Lolita Bar in NYC.
2012: Chabad of North Dakota led by Rabbi Yonah Grossman is scheduled to host a public menorah lighting complete with Latkes and Sufganyot (Is there any place where the lamplighters of Lubavitch are not to be found?)
2012: In Cedar Rapids, Brian Cohen, champion Shofar Blower, shows that he is a “man for all festivals” as he leads his latke flipping team in preparing the potato delights for Temple Judah’s annual Chanukah Dinner..
2012: The Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to open tonight in Israel’s capital city.
