March 28 In Jewish History
364: Roman Emperor Valentinian I appoints his brother Flavius Valens co-emperor dividing the Roman Empire between two rulers. Valens, The Emperor of the East “was an Arian and had suffered too severely from the powerful Catholic party to be interplant himself. He protected the Jews and bestowed honors and distinction upon them. Valentinian, who was Emperor of the West, also “chose the policy of tolerance in the struggle between Catholics and Arians, and permitted the profession of either religion without political disadvantage…” He extended this level of toleration to his Jewish subjects as well.
1193: On his way back from the Crusades, King Richard I of England becomes the prisoner of Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor. When it came time to pay his ransom, the Jewish community was forced to contribute 5,000 marks to the total. This was more than three times the amount contributed by the entire City of London.
1285: Pope Martin IV passed away. “In 1281, Pope Martin IV” reminded “inquisitors that Jews should not be accused of encouraging converts to return to Judaism if all that was known that the Jews and converts had been engaged in conversations.” (For more see Between Christian and Jew by Paola Tartakoff)
1482: Lucrezia Tornabuoni the wife of Piero di Cosimo de' Medici passed away. She was doubly unusual for a woman of her time. First because she wrote poetry that was published and second because one of the subjects of her sonnets was Jewish – the Biblical figure of Esther.
1487: In Naples, Joseph Günzenhäuser printed “Psalms” with a commentary by Kimhi
1537(16th of Nisan): King Sigismund I of Poland issued a decree granting a monopoly of importation and publication of Hebrew books to the Helitz brothers who had established the first Hebrew printing press in Poland. The Jews resisted the edit since the Helitz brothers had converted to Christianity.
1592: Birthdate of Czech educational reformer John Comenius. Three hundred years later, the imperial government would thwart plans by Czech nationalists to celebrate his birth which would lead to mob violence that would eventually be directed against the Jewish quarter of Prague.
1737: “Joseph Suess Openheimer (Jud Suess), former confidential adviser to Karl Alexander, duke of Wuerttemgerg, was interrogated for the first time by a judicial examiner preparing an indictment on charges of high treason, violation of the constitution, and oppression of religion.” Although the charges were totally bogus, he would be convicted and hung. He died a proud Jew reciting the Shema as he climbed the scaffold to his death. (As reported by Abraham P. Bloch)
1795: As part of the Third Partition of Poland, the Polish Duchy of Courland ceased to exist when it became part of Imperial Russia. From 1772 until 1795 there were three successive partitions of the land that included Poland and Lithuania. The partitioning powers were Prussia, Austria and Hungary. Russia had gone to great lengths to limit its Jewish population. However, when it acquired its portion of Poland, it acquired a large Jewish population that it greeted with increasingly vicious anti-Semitism.
1807: In London, Soloman and Sarah Polack gave birth to Joel Samuel Polack, the first Jew to settle in New Zealand (1830).
1840: Birthdate of Eduard Carl Oscar Theodor Schnitzer the German born Jewish doctor who converted to Islam and gain fame as Mehmed Emin Pasha, a prominent leader of the Ottoman Empire who served as governor of Egypt. During his service, he would be captured by rebels and the international Emin Pasha Relief Expedition led by the famous explorer Henry Morton Stanley would come to his rescue.
1854: Great Britain and France declared war on Russia marking the start of the Crimean War. The Paris Treaty of 1858, concluding the war, granted Jews and Christians the right to settle in Palestine, forced upon the Ottoman Turks by the British for their assistance in the war effort. This decision opened the doors for Jewish immigration to Palestine.
1857: According to reports published today, the Jews Hospital in New York has enough beds to care for 170 patients. Currently, approximately 50 of those beds are in use.
1861: "The Hebrew Son" is scheduled to be performed at the Winter Garden in NYC, “for the special delectation of our Judaic brethren.”
1863: During the U.S. Civil War, two Jews were arrested today on the Thomas A. Morgan while she was sailing from Fortress Monroe to Yorktown, on charges that they had a lot of contraband goods in their possession
1864: In New York, the Assembly adopted a bill “authorizing the conveyance of property to the Hebrew Benevolent Society.”
1867: A meeting was held today in Richmond, VA where the participants expressed their indignation at the decision by the insurance companies “to take no more ‘Jew Risks.’” Those in attendance, many of whom were Jews, adopted resolutions stating that they would not do business with any company that took such action. The Mayor of Richmond, Joseph C. Mayo, told the meeting that he had been in the insurance business for several years and had most of his dealings with Jews whom he described as upright and “honest in their conduct.” While serving as prosecuting attorney, he could only think of three Jews who had been brought before and while sitting with them while serving in the City Council “he had found them trustworthy.”
1869(16th of Nisan, 5629): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer.
1873: After accusations of ritual murder surfaced in Turkey, letters were sent to the Christians leader in Marmara, Gallipoli, Bursa , Salonica, Smyrna, Manisa, Chios, Adrianople, Janina, Silistria and other cities to warn of this behavior. The letters were formulated by the Turkish Jewish leadership in conjunction with the Greek Patriarch.
1875: It was reported today that Rabbi Brettenheim of Baltimore’s Howard Street Congregation recently officiated at the wedding of Rosa Stern, daughter of the later Bernhard Stern and Mr. Solomon Hochschild.
1877(14th of Nisan, 5637): Fast of the First Born
1878: Birthdate of Herbert Lehman, one of the founder of Lehman Brothers who went on to serve as New York Governor and U.S. Senator.
1880(16th of Nisan, 5640): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1880: It was reported today that in Tula, Orel, and Kharkoff , the Russian government has “ruthlessly expelled” the Jews who have established businesses over the last several years.
1880: It was reported today that instead of improving the conditions of his Jewish subjects, the Czar has begun treating them with “increased severity.” The Jews have been forced to claim that they are Protestants to avoid be expelled from St. Petersburg by the police.
1880: It was reported today that an international conference is going to be held at Madrid aimed at adopting measures to protect the Jews of Morocco.
1880: It was reported today that the Jewish Messenger has expressed its gratitude for the influence the United States has exerted on behalf of the Jews of Morocco. The paper views the United States diplomat serving in Morocco as “the best and most powerful friend the Jews of that country have.”
1882: A pogrom begins in the largely Jewish town of Balta, in Podolia, Russia.
1883: Jennie E. Lyman, a young gentile girl from Cleveland, Ohio, married Max Rosenberg while studying in New York City unbeknownst to her parents.
1892: The newly elected officers of the Jewish Theological Seminary Association are Joseph Blumenthal, President; M.I. Asch of Philadelphia, Vice President; Simon Heizig, Vice President; Daniel P. Hays and Jacob Singer of Philadelphia, Secretaries.
1892:L'Osservatore cattolico, reported that a leading German anti-Semite has thanked them and their extensive reporting on the crimes of the Jews "for having furnished him with such good scientific material" to him and his conservative political party.
1895: The Monte Relief Society hosted a grand cakewalk at the Terrace Garden tonight.
1896(14thof Nissan, 5656): Shabbat HaGadol; In the evening, the first Seder
1896: Over 150 poor Jewish immigrants from a variety of European countries took part in a Seder at the Hebrew Sheltering House on Madison Avenue in Manhattan. There was no charge for the Seder. The Hebrew Sheltering House also provided meals throughout the holiday at no charge.
1896: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil conducted Passover services this evening at Temple Emanu-El.
1896: Herzl took part in the Seder of the Zionist student association "Unitas".
1896: “Mll. Marsy’s Testimony” published today described the appearance of one of the key witnesses in the case brought by the state against ten conspirators including Armand Rosenthal to blackmail Max Lebaudy, the son of a wealthy sugar refiner. Before his arrest, Rosenthal used the pen name Jacques Saint Cere in his role as correspondent for Le Figaro and The New York Herald.
1897: M.S. Isaacs, the President of the Board of the Baron de Hirsch Fund presided over a meeting held at Temple Emanu El in New York which was also attended by Emanuel Lehman (Tea surer), Julius Goldman (Secretary), Henry Rich, James Hoffman, William B. Hackenberg and Judge Myer Sulzberger of Philadelphia.
1897: “Mucha’s famous Sarah Bernhardt cartoon” is among the works that will be shown at the poster exhibit sponsored by the Albany Club that is opening today.
1897: “The United Brothers,” a Jewish fraternal organization, celebrated its 50thanniversary “at the Grand Central Palace…with a reception this afternoon and a banquet followed by a ball this evening.” Among the speakers were Marks Fishel, George Hahn, Judge Joseph E. Newburger and Jacob Marks.
1899: “Boys Call On The Mayor” published today described an unscheduled visit six Jewish boys paid on the Mayor of New York. The boys were members of the City History Club of the Educational Alliance and they hold “his honor” that they were studying the history of the city and they thought they “would like to meet its ruler.” The mayor gave them each an autograph and then had a policeman give them an escorted tour of city hall.
1900(29th of Adar II, 5660: Mendel Hirsch, the eldest son of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch passed away. Born in 1833, he Bible teacher and commentator as well as a poet. After receiving his PhD in 1854, he taught at a school founded by his father. Several of his articles were published in the monthly magazine Jeshrun. His daughter Rachel Hirsch was the first woman to appointed as a professor of Medicine in Prussia.
1901: Birthdate of Charles E. Smith, a Russian immigrant who became a successful real estate developer in Rockville, MD where he is philanthropies included the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School
1902: Birthdate of violinist Paul Godwin. Born Pinchas Goldfein in Poland, Godwin first gained fame playing under that name in his native country. He moved to the Netherlands where his career flourished under the name of Godwin. Godwin miraculously survived the Holocaust. A virtuoso in his day, his works are largely unknown to modern audiences.
1903: As part of another meeting with the Commission, Herzl, Goldsmid and Stephens visit Lord Cromer. He states that the Zionists should now demand the concession from the Egyptian government. He recommends that they engage lawyer named Carton de Wiart, to assist in this endeavor.
1903: Birthdate of Rudolf Serkin, Austrian-born American pianist and teacher.
1907: Jews on the Lower East Side sponsored a benefit performance in a Bowery theatre this evening with the funds to go to starving people in China. Local Chinese had raised thousands of dollars to relieve the suffering of Russian Jews and the Jews were responding in kind. The turnout was less than expected because many of the Jews were preparing for Passover which begins tomorrow night and since the performance was in Yiddish, Chinese patrons would not have been able to understand the performance.
1907: As violence bordering on revolution continues in Romania, the peasants in Northern Moldavia are reportedly prepared to renew their plundering and pillaging at the start of Passover, if the government does not fulfill all of its promises. This does not give the government much time to act since Passover begins tomorrow evening, March 29, 1907.
1911: Max Florin’s black and white photo was printed in thumbnail size, along with a one-paragraph story” published today under the headline, “His Friends Think He Was Rescued.”
1915: During World War I, The Holland-America liner Maastendyk arrived in Amsterdam today from New York carrying ten pounds of Matzoth which were to be shipped to Rabbi Bernard Pressen in Berlin. As part of the laws adopted to conserve resources for the war effort, the German government had issued an order banning the use of wheat for making Matzah, so the Rabbi was depending on this shipment from the United States for his Seder. At this point in the war, both the Netherlands and the United States were neutral so no laws were being violated by sending goods to Germany.
1915: The American Jewish Relief Committee issued a special appeal for funds needed to alleviate the suffering of Jews caught in war-torn Europe. With Passover starting tomorrow evening, the committee invoked holiday motifs in its appeal. Responding to the appeal would be a fitting response to the words of the Haggadah, “let all who are hungry come and eat; let all al that are needy come and celebrate the Passover.”
1917: As the British forces advanced in Palestine, the Jews of Tel Aviv and Jaffa were expelled by the Turks. The Turks were sure that the Jews were secret (and not so secret) allies of the British Army. Tel Aviv had been founded by Jews eight years earlier and was truly the only all Jewish city in existence at the time.
1918(15thof Nisan, 5678): The last Pesach of World War I
1919: Birthdate of composer Jacob Avshalomov. Born in Tsingtao China, Avshalomov, was the son of the famous Russian composer Aaron Avshalomov. Avshalomov moved to the United States in 1937 where he pursued his musical career. He also provided a haven in the United States for his more famous father after World War II.
1921(18th of Adar II, 5681): Fifty-two year old Julia Wormser Seligman the former of wife of Jefferson Seligman from whom she had been divorced for several years, passed away today in New York City.
1921: In Hanover, Germany, Sendel and Riva Grynszpan gave birth to Herschel Grynszpan the alleged assassin of Ernst vom Rath whose death was the pretext for Kristallnacht.
1921: Birthdate of Jerzy Bielecki the Polish member of the resistance who was named a righteous gentile by Yad Vashem. (As reported Dennis Hevesi)
1921: In Jerusalem, Churchill met with Abdullah ruler of Transjordan who sought to have an Arab Emir (himself) appointed to rule Palestine saying that this was the best way to avoid violence between Arabs and Jews. Churchill sought to reassure the Abdullah, that his fears were groundless. He told him that if Abdullah would not oppose Jewish settlement west of the Jordan, he would not have to worry about Jewish settlements east of the Jordan in Transjordan.
1928: The Presidium of the General Executive Committee of the USSR passed the decree "On the attaching for Komzet of free territory near the Amur River in the Far East for settlement of the working Jews." The decree meant "a possibility of establishment of a Jewish administrative territorial unit on the territory of the called region.
1930: Birthdate of Jerome Isaac Friedman, the physicist who co- discovered the quark and won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1990.
1932: The first Maccabiah athletic games took place in Tel Aviv with representatives from 14 countries.
1933: The German Reichstag conferred dictatorial powers on Hitler. This was but one of the many steps along the way that was part of Hitler's War Against the Jews and that led to the Final Solution.
1934: Word of “Boycott Day” leaks out causing prices on the Berlin Stock Exchange to drop. Responding to economic reality Hitler decides that Boycott Day will go forward, but will last only for one day instead of serving as the kickoff day for an on-going boycott of Jewish businesses and professionals designed to destroy the economic well-being of Germany’s Jewish population.
1934: Rogers and Effie D. Pinner sold their house at 39 Riggs Place in South Orange, NJ.
1935: Mayor Fiorello La Guardia attended the formal opening of Reuben’s Restaurant and Delicatessen on East 58th Street in New York City.
1937(16th of Nisan, 5697): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1938: Reuben's Restaurant and Delicatessen had a formal opening at 6 East 58th Street which was attended by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia in attendance. It stayed at this location for three more decades until it was sold in the mid 1960s, afterwards moving to a location at 38th Street and Madison Avenue. Arnold Reuben, a German immigrant, had first opened the restaurant in 1908 on Park Avenue Eight years later, the restaurant moved Broadway and in 1918 it moved again, this time Madison Avenue.
1938: Birthdate of businessman Leonard Stern former owner of the Village Voice and head of Hartz Pet Supply
1938: Bronislaw Huberman leaves The Hague as he prepares to move to Tel Aviv where he will conduct the newly formed Palestine Philharmonic Orchestra.
1941: Jacques Masson, a French Mizrahi Sephardic Jew of Bukharian ancestry, and Diana (Dina) Zeiger the product of an Ashkenazi family gave birth to Jeffrey Masson, the author of The Assault on Truth, a controversial book about Freud and psychoanalysis.
1942: The first transport of French Jews to Auschwitz began. This represented one of the first transports of Western Jews to the Death Camps. The Jews were from Paris and were rounded up with the help of the French Police. One of the popular myths of World War II was that the French people were united in the Resistance to the Nazi occupation. In truth, there plenty of collaborators both in Vichy and the German occupied zones. This had tragic consequences for the Jews of France as well as Jews from other parts of Europe who had sought refuge there before the outbreak of the war.
1944(4th of Nisan, 5704): Rabbi Chayyim Most, Maggid of Kovono, was killed by the Nazis. Apparently Rabbi Most was a leader of outstanding character although there is little about him in the official records that I have found so far. He appears to have not been killed with most of the other Jews of Kovno; but met death at the same time that the remaining youngsters of the ghetto were slaughtered.
1944: Anne Frank and her family hear Gerrit Bolkestein, Education Minister of the Dutch Government in exile; deliver a radio message from London urging his war-weary countrymen to collect "vast quantities of simple, everyday material" as part of the historical record of the Nazi occupation. "History cannot be written on the basis of official decisions and documents alone," he said. "If our descendants are to understand fully what we as a nation have had to endure and overcome during these years, then what we really need are ordinary documents -- a diary, letters."
1944: The Irgun issued a statement today claiming credit for the attacks on police stations in Haifa, Jerusalem and Haifa. It also claimed that it had called ahead and left warnings about the impending attacks. The Irgun denied responsibility for shootings in Tel Aviv and blamed those on the Stern Gang.
1945(14th of Nisan): Fast of the first born
1945: Members of the Jewish Infantry Brigade of the British 8th Army celebrated a Seder in Faenza, Italy.
1945: Members of the Jewish Brigade's First Camouflage (PAL) Royal Engineers celebrated Pesach in Libya using” a specially designed haggadah of their very own. The cover page of the soldiers' haggada bears their unit's emblem - a long-tailed wolf, outstretched in the center of a Magen David, the tail protruding between a couple of the star's corners. On either side of the insignia is written the unit's name, in English on one side and in Hebrew on the other, the letters sitting in what looks like fluttering ribbons.” (As reported by Lydia Aisenberg)
1947: As Jerusalem prepared for its 17th night under a twelve-hour curfew, Haim Salomon and Dr. Jacob Thon, representing the Jewish Community Council, met with Brigadier General J.F. Bedford-Roberts in attempt to get him to lift the ban on Jewish movement and commerce.
1947: An explosion and fire rocked the Iraq Oil Pipeline near its terminal in Haifa Bay today. Five youths dressed as Arabs whom authorities believe were really Jews are assumed to be responsible for the attack.
1947: Lt. Gen Sir Alan G. Cunningham, High Commissioner for Palestine and LT. Gen. G.H. Macmillan, commander of the British troops in Palestine, left London for Palestine this morning after having conferred with Prime Minister Atlee on a new “get tough” policy for Palestine.
1947: An announcement was made today that the United States has given its approval for a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to deal with the issue of Palestine. U.N. officials think that the session could take place sometime during the month of May.
1948: On his radio show, Jack Benny hits the laughter jackpot with the immortal “Your money or your life” bit.
1949: James Grover McDonald, the first United States Ambassador to Israel presented his credentials today
1966: Birthdate of James Douglas Bennet, an American journalist whose mother was Jewish and who became editor-in-chief of the Atlantic in 2006.
1969(9th of Nisan, 5729): Rabbi Aryeh Levin passed away. Born in 1895, Reb Aryeh, was an Orthodox rabbi dubbed the "Father of Prisoners" for his visits to members of the Jewish underground imprisoned in the Central Prison of Jerusalem in the Russian Compound during the British Mandate. He was also known as the "Tzadik ("saint") of Jerusalem" for his work on behalf of the poor and the sick.”
1969: President Dwight D Eisenhower died in Washington DC at the age of 78. Eisenhower was President during the Suez Crisis of October, 1956. In a rare of Cold War harmony, Ike sided with the Soviets. He allowed the Russians to threaten the British and the French with atomic attack if they did not withdraw from Suez in effect supporting the Nasser, the Egyptian dictator. After the fighting ended, he threatened the Israelis with economic destruction if they did not withdraw from the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza. Gaza was a base from which Egyptian supported terrorists attacked Israel. The Israelis wanted to trade withdrawal from the Sinai for and to the Egyptians illegally barring Israeli vessels or vessels that stopped at Israeli ports from using the Canal. None of this seemed to matter to Eisenhower. Instead he chose to take actions that bolstered Nasser who repaid Ike’s kindness with an even more virulent anti-Western, pro-Soviet policy. At the same time, it should be noted that Eisenhower was horrified by what American troops found when they liberated the concentration camps during World War II and insisted that all of it be filmed immediately so that nobody could ever denied what had happened.
1969: Birthdate of film director Brett Ratner.
1970(20th of Adar II, 5730): Natan Alterman “an Israeli poet, playwright, journalist, and translator who - though never holding any elected office - was highly influential in Socialist Zionist politics, both before and after the formation of the state of Israel” passed away.
1974(5th of Nisan, 5734): Sixty-eight year old Dorothy Fields “one of the great Broadway lyricists, who wrote popular songs for revues, films and shows for nearly 50 years” passed away today.
http://www.dorothyfields.org/home.htm
1975(16th of Nisan, 5735): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer.
1975(16th of Nisan, 5735): German born political scientist Ernst Frankel passed away.
1980: The Eldridge Street Synagogue was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places
1985: Neil Simon's "Biloxi Blues" premiered in New York. The Jewish author wrote a hit play (and later successful movie) based on the clichéd collision between New York Jews and the U.S. Army during World War II.
1985(6th of Nisan, 5745): Marc Chagall passed away. Born on July 7, 1887 in Vitebsk, Russia (now Belarus), Chagall studied in St. Petersburg and then moved to Paris before World War I. He returned to Russia where he served for a time during the 1920's as art director for the Moscow Jewish Theatre. He left the Soviet Union in 1923 and moved back to France. Distinguished for his surrealistic inventiveness, he is recognized as one of the most significant painters and graphic artists of the 20th century. Many of his paintings draw upon his life as a Jew and use Jewish themes of which the Praying Jew is one of the most famous. His twelve stained glass windows at the Hadassah Hospital-Hebrew University Medical Center are another example of Chagall's open identification with his Jewish heritage. There are numerous cites where you can find out more about him and view his works. I cannot do justice to him in this limited space.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/chagall.html
http://www.artnet.com/artists/marc-chagall/
http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Marc-Chagall-1887-1985-6891
1994(16th of Nisan, 5754): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer.
1994(16th of Nisan, 5754): Russian born Playwright Eugene Ionesco passed away in Paris. Two of his more noted works were the Bald Soprano and The Rhinoceros.
1998: Arab Israeli politician , Haj Yahia entered the Knesset today as a replacement for Moshe Shahal. Upon taking his seat, he resigned his position as mayor of Tayibe.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including recently released paperback editions of "Unfinished Journey: Twenty Years Later" by Yehudi Menuhin and "Barney Polan's Game: A Novel of the 1951 College Basketball Scandals" by Charley Rosen.
2000: The police recommend filing corruption charges against former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara
2001: Canadian born Jazz musician and composer Moe Koffman passed away. He was accomplished on at least three woodwind instruments including flute, saxophone and clarinet.
2001(4th of Nisan, 5761): Itzhak Mr. Yaakov, known as the father of the Israeli technology industry, was quietly taken into custody by a special security division of the Defense Ministry
2002(15thof Nisan, 5762): Pesach
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including "Bobby Fischer Goes To War: How the Soviets Lost the Most Extraordinary Chess Match of All Time" by David Edmonds and "John Eidinow and Hirschfeld’s Harlem with Illustrations" by Al Hirschfeld.
2006: Delta Airlines launched a route from Ben-Gurion International Airport to Atlanta and is also competing on the Tel Aviv-Newark route with El Al and Continental Airlines.
2007: Shai Agassi resigned his position as President of the Products and Technology Group (PTG) at SAP AG. to pursue interests in alternative energy and climate change. In October 2007 would found a company named Project Better Place, focusing on a green transportation infrastructure based on electric cars as an alternative to the current fossil fuel technology
2008: In Jerusalem, The Bible Lands Museum in conjunction with the Rubin Academy of Music present Hot Slavic Winter – The Passion of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff and more, as part of the Opera in the Morning series.
2008: With a theme of “Shake it up on Shabbat with your Shabbat Egg Shakers!” Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa sponsors its second Musical Shabbat. This is a testimony to the vitality of this small but vibrant outpost of the “whole house of Israel.”
2008: Three Kassam rockets were fired at Israel from the northern Gaza Strip, one of them hitting the outer wall of a preschool in one of the kibbutzim in the Sha'ar Hanegev region moments after the children were taken inside by their teacher.
2009: Jews all over the world begin reading the Book of Vayikra (Leviticus)
2009: In Iowa City, the U of I Hillel sponsors “Blintzes, Bubbly & Bingo” an enjoyable evening of food, drink, good company...and fabulous prizes!
2009: The Chicago Tribune reviews “Levittown: Two Families, One Tycoon and the Fight for Civil Rights in America’s Legendary Suburb” by David Kushner
2010: An episode of the “Simpsons” titled "The Greatest Story Ever D'ohed," is scheduled to be shown this evening. The episode includes scenes of Homer and Bart at the Western Wall with their Israeli tour guide, who will be voiced by British comedian Sascha Baron Cohen, of Borat and Bruno fame. In the episode, Homer gets "Jerusalem Syndrome" and believes that he is the Messiah. Also, the tour guide bickers and exchanges political barbs with Marge. In one scene, tour guide Jacob (Baron Cohen) presses the Simpsons for positive marks on a comment card. When Marge accuses him of being “pushy,” he snaps back, “Try living next to Syria for two months and see how laid back you are.”Ned Flanders, the Simpsons’ neighbor who has taken it upon himself to redeem Homer, is the one who invited the Simpsons on a Christian tour of the Holy Land.“[Flanders] feels that when Homer sees the sacred sites that he’ll become a good person,” Jean said in a phone interview. When the family visits the Western Wall, Bart reads some of the notes and responds, “Nope, not gonna happen.” At the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Homer’s behavior gets Flanders banned for life. It is the Israeli hotel’s opulent breakfast buffet that appeals most to Homer. In the end, Producer Al Jean said, “Homer tries to unite the faiths through a message of peace and chicken because everybody eats chicken, no matter what religion they’re in.” “The Simpsons” have delved into Jewish subject matter in the past, including an adult bar mitzvah for Krusty the Clown (nee Herschel Shmoikel Pinchas Yerucham Krustofski) and a 2006 “Treehouse of Horrors” segment titled “You Gotta Know When to Golem.” "This is an episode that people from all three religions will be equally offended by," said Simpsons producer Al Jean.
2010: Kathe Goldstein, “the musical voice” of Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa is scheduled to hold a piano recital for the enjoyment of the senior citizens living at Meth-Wick House who would otherwise be bereft of such cultural pleasure.
2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including "The Sabbath World" by Judith Shulevitz and "The Living Fire: New and Selected Poems, 1975-2010" by Edward Hirsch.
2010: The second and final day of The Legacy of the Shoah Film Festival is scheduled to take place at John Jay College in New York City featuring “Forgotten Transports: Family Stories – Latvia,” “Forgotten Transports: Men’s Stories – Belarus,” “Forgotten Transports: Fighting to Survive - Poland” and “Distant Journeys” by Alfred Radok
2010: Two Israeli soldiers killed in a firefight with Palestinian terrorists in the southern Gaza Strip were buried in separate ceremonies today. Thousands attended the funeral for Maj. Eliraz Peretz, who was on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. He is the father of four young children. His brother was killed in action in 1998. Staff Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky of the Golani Brigade, Staff Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky of the Golani Brigade, was buried later in the day.
2011: “The Simon Wiesenthal Center posthumously awarded Hiram Bingham IV their Medal of Valor in New York City with a film tribute” that showed how US Vice-Consul Bingham saved lives as the Nazis marched across western Europe.
2011: A ruckus broke out in the lobby of the Supreme Court on today when right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel hurled insults at Balad MK Haneen Zoabi as she came out of the courtroom.
2011: Evergreen is scheduled to perform a concert “Enchanted Celtic Music from Israel” sponsored by The Embassy of Israel, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and Sixth & I Historic Synagogue.
2011: “An Article of Hope” is scheduled to be shown at the Hartford Jewish Film Festival.
2011: “Grace Paley: Collected Shorts” and “Eichmann’s End: Love, Betrayal, Death” are scheduled to be shown at The Westchester Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Under legislation approved unanimously today by the Maryland House of Delegates, SNCF must catalog and put online records relating to its transportation of 76,000 Jews and other prisoners from the suburbs of Paris to the German border from 1942 to 1944. (As reported by JTA)
2011: The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation is scheduled to host a lecture by Michael O’Hanlon entitled “The Limits of Foreign Policy: Reconsidering the Future Role of the U.S. In World Affairs
2012: Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, founder and President of The Israel Project, is scheduled to discuss "The Prime Ministers: An Intimate Narrative of Israeli Leadership" with its author, Ambassador Yehuda Avner.
2012: In New York City, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance's An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture is scheduled to present the year's first installment of the Tantshoyz Yiddish Dance Party series, as part of the Sixth Street Community Synagogue's klezmer series.
2012(5thof Nisan, 5772): Eighty-two year old “Irving Louis Horowitz, an eminent sociologist and prolific author who started a leading journal in his field but who came to fear that his discipline risked being captured by left-wing ideologues” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/26/nyregion/irving-louis-horowitz-sociologist-dies-at-82.html?_r=1&hpw
2013: YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present Boris Sandler's Film "Yosef Kerler"
2013: The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series is scheduled to present “Those Angry Days’ Roosevelt, Lindberg, and America’s Fight Over World War II” featuring Lynn Olson and Tom Brokaw.
2013: Artists Ben Schacter and Yona Verwer are scheduled to lead a discussion of “It's a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond´ at the Yeshiva University Museum.