February 22 In History
1290
BCE
: The coronation of Ramses II, who, according to some, is the Pharaoh of the Exodus. Since the Bible does not mention the Pharaoh by name, Ramses is not the only candidate. In addition to which, there is some debate among Egyptologist as to when Ramses actually came to power. According to some, his reign began in 1297
BCE
.
1040: On the secular calendar birthdate of Rashi ישר, an acronym for Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac or Shlomo Yitzchaki. Rashi was one of the greatest commentators on the TaNaCh and the Talmud. Rashi was born at Troyes, Champagne, northern France, in 1040 and died there in 1104 or 1105. He was reputedly descended from the Davidic line with lineage to the royal house of King David. He studied at Worms under Yaakov ben Yakar, and at Mainz under Isaac ben Judah. He returned to Troyes at age 25, probably serving as Rabbi and “religious judge.” According to the Dictionary of Jewish Biography, as a judge and a rabbi, “he was unpaid…and he earned his living from the vineyards that he is reported to have owned.” [Editor’s note: Like Maimonides, Rashi followed the admonitions that he who makes a spade of the Torah shall perish and calling upon people to work for a living as well as studying Torah.] About 1070 he founded a Yeshiva which attracted many disciples. According to tradition Rashi earned his living as a vintner and/or as a wine merchant. Although there are many legends about his travels, Rashi likely never went farther than from the Seine to the Rhine - the utmost limit of his travels was the Yeshivot of Lorraine. Rashi had no sons, only three daughters, Yocheved, Miriam and Rachel, all of whom married scholars. Yocheved married Meir ben Samuel, Miriam married Judah ben Nathan (see above), and Rachel married (and divorced) Eliezer ben Shemiah. Yocheved and Meir's four sons were the tosafists Shmuel (Rashbam), Yaakov (Rabbeinu Tam), Yitzchak (Ribbam), and the grammarian Shlomo; one of their daughters, Channah, wrote a responsum explaining the ritual and blessing for the Shabbat lights. Besides minor works, such as an edition of the Siddur (Prayer-Book), Rashi wrote two great commentaries on which his fame rests. These were the commentaries on the whole of the TaNaCh (Hebrew Bible) and on about thirty tractates of the Talmud. Rashi's works are so well respected that he is often cited simply as "the Commentator." His commentaries are of interest to secular scholars because he tended to translate unfamilar words into the spoken French of his day. As such, his commentaries offer an interesting insight into the vocabulary and pronunciation of Old French. The authors of the Dictionary of Jewish Biography and The New Encyclopedia of Judaismagree that “although Troyes (Rashi’s city of residence) was untouched by the First Crusade of 1096…the last years of his life were saddened by the devastation that the Crusaders brought to bear on “defenseless Jewish communities of the Rhineland” in general and “the disasters which had befallen his own colleagues. Rashi's commentary on the TaNaCh is very thorough, and is used to understand both the plain meaning of the TaNaCh and the interpretation of the medieval rabbis. Rashi also wrote the first comprehensive commentary of the Talmud. His commentary attempts to provide a full explanation of the words, and of the logical structure of each Talmudic passage.
Rashi's Talmud commentary is always situated towards the middle of the opened book display; i.e. on the side of the page closest to the binding. On one occasion he told his questioner, ‘I was asked this question before but I realize that my answer then was wrong and I welcome the opportunity to correct my mistake.’” There are places in his commentaries where admits that he does not understand the meaning. “Of this I do not know.”
Rashi in his own words:
“Any plan formulated in a hurry is foolish.”
“Be sure to ask your teacher his reasons and his sources.”
“Teachers learn from their sudent’s discussions.”
“A student of laws who does not understand their meaning or cannot explain their contradictions is just a basket full of books.”
“Do not rebue your fellow man so as to shame him in public.”
“To obey out of love is better than to obey out of fear.”
“”All the 613 commandments are included in the Decalogue.”
1217(6thof Adar, 4977): Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg passed away. Born in 1140 in Speyer, he was also called He-Hasid or 'the Pious' in Hebrew and was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany. “This movement is considered different from kabbalistic mysticism because it emphasizes specific prayer and moral conduct. Judah settled in Regensburg in 1195. He wrote Sefer Hasidim (Book of the Pious) and Sefer Hakavod (Book of Glory). The latter has been lost and is only known by quotations that other authors have made from it. His most prominent students were Elazar Rokeach and Moses ben Jacob of Coucy.
1349: In Zurich, Switzerland, the town council tried to protect the Jews of the town, they were forced to give in to the mob, resulting in the murder of many of the Jewish inhabitants. The Jews were then forced to leave.
1455: Birthdate of Johann Von Reuchlin the German linguist who came to the defense of the Jews when Dominican Friars led by Johann Pfefferkorn sought imperial support to destroy a vast array of Jewish books.
1475: The first known Hebrew book, a copy of the TaNaCh, was printed in Italy.
1495: King Charles VIII of France enters Naples to claim the city's throne. Following the expulsion from Spain, Jews had found refuge in Naples thanks to King Ferdinand of Naples. When Ferdinand died his son Alfonso replaced him on the throne. Charles deposed Alfonso. During his short lived reign over the Italian city, the situation of the Jews worsened. Fortunately, a mixed bag of political and religious leaders drove Charles back to France. Unfortunately, the Jews of Naples would be expelled from their Italian haven in 1510.
1501: On this day and the following day, two tremendous auto-de-fe's took place in Toledo. A woman prophet and over 100 of her followers were burned. The woman envisioned those Jews who had previously died as martyrs were taken to heaven, and the Jewish Messiah was speedily going to return the Jews to the Promised Land.
1520: Birthdate of Moses Isserles, the Ashkenazic rabbi from Cracow best known for writing HaMapah (The Table Cloth) a “gloss” on The Shulchan Aruch (Set Table) of Joseph Karo. Karo relied primarily on Sephardic sources. Isserles used Ashkenazic sources to create a table cloth that would cover the set table thus making Caro’s work viable for the large number of Jews living in Northern and Eastern Europe.
1656: The Jews in New Amsterdam are granted, "A little hook of land situate [sic] outside of this city for a burial place." This cemetery land was located by the Bowery, near
Oliver Street
in what is now lower
Manhattan
. It would be another month before Jews were granted the right to own real estate. Public Jewish worship would not be an accepted matter of fact until the turn of the century. The establishment of a burial society and cemetery is a matter of major importance for any Jewish community. It was sign of permanence and belonging. Following the defeat of the Dutch by the English in 1664, New Amsterdam would become New York.
1732: Birthdate of George Washington. Several Jew’s served with
Washington
during the Revolutionary War. When
Washington
was elected President he sent amicable letters to different Jewish communities assuring them that Jews were welcome in the
United States
. The tone set by Washington helped to make the American experience different for the Jews than anything they had known in their history. As he said in his famous letter written to the Jews of Newport, “May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants--while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
http://www.tourosynagogue.org/index.php/history-learning/gw-letter
1755: Benedict XIV issued Beatus Andreas a Papal Bull that confirmed the blood libel as factual. ”The Bull reviewed the cases of ritual murder by Jews, which it explicitly upholds as a fact, and establishes the beatification but not the canonization of Andreas of Rinn and Simon of Trent”
1775: The Jews were expelled from outskirts of Warsaw, Poland.
1781: During the American Revolution Isaac Ranks, who had been serving as “forage-master” at West Point, was commissioned as an ensign in the 7thMassachusetts Regiment. He served in that capacity until 1782 when he resigned due to health problems.
1788: Birthdate of German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer has nothing to positive to say about human existence. For him, life is harsh and cruel. If this is so obvious, Schopenhauer asks why there are any optimists in the world. Schopenhauer argues that ‘the aggressively optimistic philosophers of the Western World have fallen victim to a vulgar buoyancy which is rooted in the Jewish Tradition!” In his most famous work The World as Will and Idea the philosopher says Jewish traditional optimism reflects "a self-congratulatory human egoism, which is blind to all except our (own) all too frail human goals and aspirations."
1819: The United States of America and Spain signed the Florida Purchase Treaty which gave the United States complete control over what is now the Sunshine State. Within 2 years, records show that 30 to 40 Jews lived in northern Florida including Moses Levy a Moroccan born lumber dealer who built a Jewish colony in an area that is now home to the University of Florida. Abraham Myers, a West Pointer who served during the Seminole Wars was one of the first Jews to live in south Florida.
1820: Birthdate of Elizabeth D. A. Cohen, who would become the first practicing female physician in
Louisiana
, was born in
New York City
. Educated at the Philadelphia College of Medicine, Cohen practiced medicine in
New Orleans
,
LA.
She passed away on
May 28, 19
21
and was buried in the Gates of Prayer Cemetery on
Canal Street
.
1828: In Vilnius, Abraham Bar Lebensohn and his wife gave birth to the Hebrew poet Micah Joseph Lebensohn. His brother-in-law Joshua Steinberg who was an author in his own right and functionary in the Russian government translated some of his Hebrew works into German.
\1840: Birthdate of August Bebel, a German social democrat and founder of the Social Democrat Party of Germany. The non-Jewish Bebel was committed to the concept of the brotherhood of man and one of his famous statements was, "Anti-Semitism is the socialism of fools."
1848: Beginning of the “The Third French Revolution” which replace Citizen King Louis Philippe with the Second Republic.
http://www.ohio.edu/chastain/ip/jewemanc.htm
1850: Birthdate of Isaac L Rice. The German born Rice taught at
Columbia
University
and is the namesake for its Rice Stadium. As a businessman he played a key role in the development of submarines. He was a famous chess player and the inventor of the Rice Gambit.
1853: Founding of Eliot Seminary in St. Louis which would become Washington University. According to recently published figures Wash U has 2,000 Jewish undergraduates who are 33% of the student population. This helps to rank it as number 11 on a list of the 30 private schools Jews choose.
http://reformjudaismmag.org/_kd/Items/actions.cfm?action=Show&item_id=1380&destination=ShowItem
http://www.stlouishillel.org/
1855: The New York Times reported that a concert designed to raise funds for the Hebrew Benevolent Society is scheduled to be held at the Dodsworth Academy.
1855: Pennsylvania State University is founded.
Today
Penn
State
has approximately 4,000 Jewish undergraduate and graduate students out of a total student population of over 40,000. The university offers approximately 45 Jewish Studies courses.
Penn
State
offers both a major and a minor in Jewish studies.
1856: The Republican Party holds its first national meeting in
Pittsburgh
,
Pennsylvania
. Early Jewish Republican supporters included Sabato Morais, Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Mikveh Israel Congregation; Moritz Pinner, a German born editor of an abolitionist paper who would fight in the Union Army during the Civil War; Louis Naphtali Dembitz, a
Louisville
lawyer whose nephew would become the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice. Jews were drawn to the Republican Party because of its anti-Slavery stance. Ironically, another group drawn to the Republican Party were members of the short-lived American Party, also called “The Know-Nothing” Party. The Know-Nothings were natavist who were opposed to the swelling tide of immigration, a belief that included more than just a whiff of anti-Semitism.
1857: Birthdate German born physicist Heinrich Hertz. He was the first one to broadcast and receive radio waves. The unit of measure “hertz” is named for him. Hertz was born into a Jewish family that converted to Christianity. The German Jewish community was devastated two times: first by conversions in the 19thcentury and then by the Final Solution in the 20th century. One wonders how many of those who perished in the latter were from families who had participated in the former.
1860: The New York Times reported that “The community of Kingston, which is composed chiefly of Jews, have been making contributions for the relief of their suffering brethren of Morocco. They have managed to collect large sums in spite of the prevailing poverty.”
1861: Bell & Daly announced the forthcoming publication of The Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, by Isaac Taylor
1861: According to reports sent from Paris today, the arrest of Jules Mires has threatened the stability of the Credit Mobilier. It is expected that when word of his arrest reaches Constantinople, ruinous panic will set in since investors there hold a glut of paper tied to his financial activities.
1865:The Richmond Examinerdescribed the condition of Charleston, SC when it fell to Union forces under the command of General Sherman. According to the Examiner, all that the Yankees found was “the abandoned hull of Charleston” inhabited by “a few Jews” and “some telegraph operators.”
1871:Dr. Henry W. Schneeberger received his formal rabbinical ordination from Dr. Hildesheimer. In the document of ordination Dr. Hildesheimer testified to Henry’s high moral character and to his devotion to Judaism. He also wrote, “He is worthy to be crowned with the crown of Morenu Horav [Our Teacher, the Rabbi].” “Thus equipped with the rabbinic title and with the university degree, he lost no time and hurried home to try out for a rabbinical post. Only three weeks after his ordination in Berlin, he preached at the synagogue where he had delivered his very first sermon, at the Rodeph Shalom Synagogue on Clinton Street in New York City.” Rabbi Dr. Henry W) Schneeberger was the First American Born, University Educated, Orthodox Ordained Rabbi in America (As reported by Dr. Yitzchok Levine).
1872: “Galicia’s Demands” published today described conditions in this portion of Austria that became part of the empire as a result of the partition of Poland. According to the article, the Poles are in the majority. However, the Germans and the Jews, who are in the minority “are far ahead of the Poles” “in money and intelligence.” Due to the electoral system, the Poles are the dominate force and the Germans and the Jews are underrepresented in the Diet.
1876: In New York City, a Polish Jew was arraigned on charges of cruelty to animals. According to the arresting officer, Siwaski roasted a rat after he had caught in a wire cage trap.
1876: Johns Hopkins University was founded in Baltimore, Maryland. Today, the elite school has approximately 750 Jewish students out of a student population of 6,500. The university offers 45 courses in Jewish Studies and a major in Jewish Studies.
1878: It was reported today that Rabbi Maruice Treichenberg, who had served as the spiritual leader for the Greene-Street Synagogue, has passed away in Denver, Colorado.
1880: In New York, a meeting is scheduled to be held this afternoon at the Sons of Israel Synagogue to evaluate charges by Jewish butchers that they are being forced to violate Halachah by the wholesalers who employ them. According to the butchers, the wholesalers are having them keep meat for a period longer than that allowed by law and they are not allowed to warn their customers about this. The wholesalers deny the allegations.
1880: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture today on the subject of “Catholicism and Liberty” in which he took issue with the view of Cardinal Manning. Speaking on behalf of the Church, Manning has taken issue with the concept of the equality of man and the theory that government’s authority is derived from the will of the people
1882: The SS Illinois a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Russia is expected to arrive in Philadelphia, PA today. The 50 Jewish families are escaping the violent attacks now going on the Czar’s domain. A committee of prominent Christians including the Mayor and leading Jews has developed plans to care for the refugees including lodging, food and job placement.
1882: Philadelphia’s May King received an offer today from Calvin Jones of Charlotte, NC, offering 40 acres to each of the 50 Jewish refugee families. The land is located in Alexander and Wlikes counties and is described as well watered and suited for growing wheat, corn and toabacco.
1882: In London, Sir Alexander T. Galt, the Resident Minister in Great Britain of the Dominion of Canada, recommended that Russian Jews immigrate to Manitoba while he was attending a meeting of the Lord Mayor’s Jewish Fund Committee.
1884: Birthdate of boxing Hall of Famer Abraham “Abe” Attell. Known as “The Little Hebrew,” Attell was Featherweight Champion from 1901 until 1912. He gained additional notoriety and ignominy as one of the figures alleged to have fixed the 1919 World Series. Supposedly Attell was the one who actually passed the ten thousand dollars to several White Sox players to guarantee that they would throw the Fall Classic.
1887: The Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society opened a new facility “for infants and boys over six years old” at 11th Avenue between 150th and 151st Street in New York.
1887: Henry M. Stanley who had been designated as the leader of the expedition charged with rescuing the apostate Jew Emin Pasha arrived at Zanzibar.
1890: Tonight’s celebration of Washington’s Birthday sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which will take place at the Hebrew Free School Building will include a speech by Rabbi Rudolph Grossman.
1890: Birthdate of Ukrainian born British pianist Benno Moiseiwitsch.
1890: Menachem Ussishkin one of the originators of BILU, founded the Odessa Committee. The Committee was dedicated to the practical exponent of the Hovevei Zion movement, in establishing agricultural settlements in Eretz-Israel. Ussishkin later served as President of the Jewish National Fund. He was one of the few early Zionist leaders who actually settled in Eretz-Israel.
1891: Birthdate of "Chico" Marx one of the Marx Brothers. A couple of his more famous films included “Animal Crackers” and “A Night at the Opera.”
1892: As New York City dealt with an outbreak of Tyhus that had been traced to recent arriving immigrants thirty-two year old Solomon Zabalzki and forty-two yeard old Rachel Hesselberg were among those who taken to North Brother Island where those thought to be infected were kept under quarantine.
1892: Sixty year old Esther Goodman, Robert Goodman and Sarah Goodman were rescued by firemen when a fire broke out this morning at their apartment in Brooklyn, NY,
1892: It was reported today that “the Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfort and Konigsberg Jewish Relief Committees” will be meeting “to consider the refusal of America to receive Russian Jewish immigrants brought by North German Lloyd steamers.”
1892: Birthdate of David Dubinsky one of a veritable army of American Jews who became leaders in the American labor movement. Born in
Russia
, Dubinsky began working the
United States
in 1911 as a cloak cutter. Two decades later he had risen to the presidency of the International Ladies Garment Union. The ILGU was a force for social and labor progress that helped end sweatshops and improve the lot of American workers. Dubinksy was honored with an American Medal for Freedom. He died in 1982 at the age of 90.
1894: The 14th annual reception sponsored by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society was held at the asylum’s facility on 151st Street.
1895: Captain Dreyfus began the journey that would take him to prison in French Guyana
1897: Amos J. Cummings will deliver a lecture today on “Horace Greeley” as part of the free lecture course offered at the Hebrew Institute.
1897: The Young Ladies and Gentlemen’s League will host a reception today in honor of George Washington’s Birthday at the Montefiore Home.
1897: The Jewish Alliance will host a reception today at Temple Emanu-El on 5thAvenue in honor George Washington’ Birthday.
1897: “Lehman Gift Accepted” published today provided details of the decision of the Board of Trustees of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society to accept the gift of $100,000 from Emanuel Lehmnan that will serve as an endowment for a fund that will benefit those who had been under the care of the society and were now out on their own.
1898: The managers of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society will host their annual reception in honor of George Washington’s Birthday between 3 and 5 this afternoon.
1898: The Young Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s League of the Montefiore Home will host their fourth annual reception this afternoon in honor of George Washington’s Birthday.
1901: Over the next three days, Herzl writes letters to Zionists in
France
,
Italy
,
England
and
America
for parliamentary intervention against immigration restrictions in
Palestine
. He considers transferring the center of his action to
London
but drops the plan because he does not want to separate from his parents.
1902: Herzl travels to
Munich
and meets the banker Reitlinger. Herzl proposes the Turkish suggestion of Jewish immigration to
Asia Minor
and
Mesopotamia
and the exploitation of mines. Reitlinger considers the matter too costly, risky and unsafe.
1903: Boutros Ghali writes the conditions for the Jewish settlement in Sinai.
1907: Birthdate of actor, director and producer Sheldon Leonard.
1910: Birthdate of Sophie Melvin, the native of the Ukraine who gained fame as social activist Sophie Gerson (As reported by Deborah Gerson and Tim Wheeler)
http://jwa.org/weremember/gerson-sophie
1914: Birthdate of Dr. Renato Dulbecco, the Italian born virologist who shared a Nobel Prize in 1975 for his role in drawing a link between genetic mutations and cancer. During World War II, Dulbecco served as a medical officer in the Italian Army. When the train taking him to the Russian front “stopped in Warsaw, he saw railway laborers wearing yellow stars. When he asked about them, he was told that the workers were Jews who would be killed when their work was done. He was horrified.” According to him seeing this was life changing moment which may account for the fact that he deserted from the Italian Army and spent the rest of the war providing medical assistance to the resistance fighters in and around Torino.(As reported by Denise Gellene)
1915: The second day of the 23rd annual meeting of the American Jewish Historical Society will include another series of literary presentations and a business meeting that will include the election of officers.
1917(30th of Shevat, 5677): Rosh Chodesh Adar
1920: The New Orleans Times-Picayunepublished an interview with Elizabeth D.A. Cohen, the first practicing female physician in Louisiana, her 100th birthday.
1922: Birthdate of Sammy Hershkovitz, the Romanian born Jew who made Aliyah at the age of 2 and gained fame as Sammy Ofer, the Israeli international shipping magnate, philanthropist and art collector who headed a family ranked as the richest in Israel. (As reported by Isabel Kershner)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/world/middleeast/05ofer.html?_r=0
http://www.xtholdings.com/
1922 (24th of Shevat, 5682): Aaron David (A.D.) Gordon passed away.Gordon, a Hebrew writer and philosopher of the “religion of Labor,” was considered the ideological pillar of the kibbutz movement. Born in 1856 in
Russia
he only came to Eretz
Israel
at the age of 48. Neither his age nor health impeded his drive to work in agriculture .He helped found Kibbutz Degania in 1909. Gordon's philosophy included a call to a return to “Nature.” He believed that the self-improvement of each individual rather than external changes such as espoused by Marxism was the way to change Jewish destiny.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ad_gordon.html
1925: Birthdate of the American poet Gerald Stern. The Pineys, his first collection was published in 1971. During the 1990’s he published Leaving Another Kingdom, and Odd Mercy.
1933: Birthdate of Gideon Patt, a Sabra who served in the Nahal Brigade, earned a BA from NYU before pursuing a career in politics that included service in the Knesset and several cabinet posts.
1933: Adolf Hitler made his private para-military units, the SS and the SS, part of Germany’s police force.
1934: Bishop Hermann Wilhelm Berning of Osnabrück ordered all churches in his diocese to display the Nazi’s swastika flag on patriotic occasions alongside standard church flags
1936:This morning Arturo Toscanini accepted an invitation to conduct the opening concert of the newly organized Palestine Symphony Orchestra on next October 24 at Tel-Aviv.
1937(11thof Adar, 5697): Sixty-seven year old Astronomer J. Ernest G. Yalden passed away
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/ad_gordon.html
1941: In Paris, Theodore Dannecker, the SS officer in charge of bringing the Final Solution to France reported approvingly that “The French inspectors formed and instructed in collaboration with our section for Jewish affairs today constitute an elite body as well as training cadres for Frenchmen to be drafted in the future to the anti-Jewish police.” The “French inspectors” worked for the agency that “transferred” the over 20,000 Jewish businesses into the hands of Frenchmen sympathetic to the Third Reich. “The anti-Jewish police” referred to the Frenchmen who would round up French Jews and ship them off to the death camps.
1941: The Nazi SS began rounding up Jews of Amsterdam.
1942(5th of Adar, 5702): In Brazil, author Stefan Zwieg and his second wife Lotte (néeCharlotte Elisabeth Altmann) committed suicide together in Petrópolis using the barbiturate Verol. Filled with a sense of despair at the future of Europe and its culture, he wrote, "I think it better to conclude in good time and in erect bearing a life in which intellectual labor meant the purest joy and personal freedom the highest good on earth."
1942: Wanda Landowska performed Bach's Goldberg Variations at New York City's Town Hall. It was the first 20th-century performance of this work on the harpsichord. The Polish born Jewess who sought refuge from the Nazis first in France and then the United States is credited with reviving harpsichord music in the 20th century,
1942: Lord Moyne completed his service as Secretary State for the Colonies. Moyne was a close personal friend of Churchill, who as Deputy Resident Minister of State in Cairo took part in the interrogation of Joel Brand when a response was being crafted to Eichmann’s “Blood for Truck” proposal. Moyne would be murdered by Lehi in 1944.
1943: For the next six days, 10,000 more Jews were deported to Chelmno. All were gassed to death.
1943:
Bulgaria
agreed to allow the Germans to deport 11,000 Jews. Horrible overcrowding conditions existed in the 20 trains that would transport them. Each day the trains stopped to dump the bodies of those who died during the journey.
1943: Italians countermanded German orders to deport French Jews. Three days later Ribbentrop complained to Mussolini that "Italian military circles
. . . lacked a proper understanding of the Jewish question."
1943:“Sophie Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Christoph Probst were found guilty of treason and condemned to death by head judge of the court Roland Freisler. They were beheaded by executioner Johann Reichhart in the Munich-Stadelheim prison only a few hours later at 17:00. The execution was supervised by Dr. Walter Roemer who was the enforcement chief of the Munich district court. Prison officials emphasized the courage with which she walked to her execution.” This trio was part of a small number of genuine anti-Nazi Germans who had worked to bring down the regime.
1943: “Allied military forces marched through the crowded streets of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa today as part of the celebrations of Red Army Day.” [The Red Army referred to is the Soviet Army which was doing the brunt of the fighting against the Germans.]
1944: Dr. Leonardo De Benedetti, Physician and Surgeon and Dr. Primo Levi, Chemist “left the concentration camp at Fossoli di Carpi with a convoy of 650 Jews of both sexes and all ages. They did not know that the trip would end four days later in
Auschwitz
.
1945(9th of Adar, 5705): Osip Maksimovich Brik “a Russian avant garde writer and literary critic, who was one of the most important members of the Russian formalist school, though he also identified himself as one of the Futurists,” passed away.
1946:The British said today that three members of armed Jewish bands had been killed during the series of night attacks on Palestine mobile police camps in which dynamite charges damaged several buildings, vehicles and other facilities last night.February 21
1948 As the conflict over the coming partition of Palestine grew, three car bombs arranged by Arab irregulars exploded on Ben Yehudah Street killing 52 Jewish civilians and leaving 123 injured. This was part of the war waged by the Arabs between the partition vote in November, 1947 and the end of the Mandate in 1948. In the mean time the international community did nothing then or later to enforce its decision to make
Jerusalem
a city to be governed by an international body.
1948: The Golani Brigade, one of Israeli’s most elite infantry brigades was formed.
1958(2nd of Adar, 5718): Movie producer Michael Todd died in plane crash. Born Avron Goldbogen, Todd may be best remembered for an innovation in widescreen film presentation called Todd-A-O. This widescreen format launched such box office hits as
Oklahoma
and Around the World in Eighty Days. . At the time of his death he was married to Elizabeth Taylor. Reportedly,
Taylor
had wanted to convert to Judaism. Todd advised her to take her time and make sure she was doing this for the right reasons.
Taylor
took his advice and did not convert until she married her next husband, Eddie Fisher.
1958:
Egypt
and
Syria
announced that they were joining together in a new nation, The United Arab Republic. The UAR was supposed to be the first step in the creation of giant Pan Arab Nation. The Israelis were concerned because the two enemies now were going to have a one military command which made coordinated military actions against he Jewish state a potentially destructive reality. The UAR would collapse three years later as the Syrians grew disgusted with the Egyptian attempts to dominate the relationship. This would not be the first or last time that charismatic leader would try to form a Super Arab and/or Super Moslem state.
1965(20th of Adar I, 5725): Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice passed away. Born in 1882, Frankfurter was involved in various liberal and unpopular causes including the defense of Sacco and Venzeti. He was a professor at
Harvard
Law
School
. Many of his students went to work in FDR’s new deal and they were known as “Frankfurters” (for their teacher not the hot dog). When FDR appointed him to the bench, Frankfurter was the third Jew to serve on the High Court.
http://www.supremecourthistory.org/history-of-the-court/associate-justices/felix-frankfurter-1939-1962/
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/frankfurter.html
1982: