March 6 In HIstory
19 BCE(12th of Adar II, 3741): The Temple “built” by King Herod was dedicated. Technically, Herod had refurbished the Second Temple and not built a ‘third ‘Sanctuary
1239: With the Edict of Valencia, Spanish King James I validated privileges of the Jews of Aragon. The Jewish courts (Bet din) were authorized to try all cases except capital offenses.
1447: The papacy of Nicholas V began today. According to Shlomo Simonsohn he “changed course several times in his policy the Jews just as his predecessors had done.” (For more on Nicholas V and the Jewish people see The Apostolic See and the Jews)
1475: Birthdate of famed Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarroti. Say Michelangelo to most people and they respond, Sistine Chapel ceiling. Say his name to Jews and the response is “Moses.” “Moses” is a marble sculpture which depicts the greater Jewish leader. Originally intended for the tomb of Pope Julius II in St. Peter's Basilica it was placed in the minor church of San Pietro in Vincoli on the Esquiline in Rome after the pope's death. The statue depicts Moses with horns on his head. This is believed to be because of the mistranslation of Exodus 34:29-35 by St Jerome. Moses is actually described as having "rays of light" coming from his head, which Jerome in the Vulgate had translated as "horns." This horned Moses provided further proof that the Jews were, as the Gospel says, “the Devil’s spawn.”
1758: Abraham de Mesquito was one of those witnessing the changes of the will made by Abraham Menedes Seixas also known as Miguel Pancheco Da Silva.
1781: James Wright, the British Colonial Governor ordered the Jews of the Georgia to leave; accusing them of disloyalty to his majesty by supporting the revolution. The order was never carried out. For the most part, Wright had it right. Most Jews did support the American Revolution.
1815: With the defeat of Napoleon, new restrictions were imposed on the Jews all over Europe.
1816: The Jews were expelled from the Free City of Lubeck, Germany at the instance of the local guilds. This was part of the reactionary backlash that followed the defeat of Napoleon a year earlier. Many of these Jews finally found refuge in the German of city of Moisling. After “a period of adjustment” where the citizens of Moisling determined how many Jews would live in their city and under what conditions, the government provided a house for a rabbi and constructed a building that the Jews were allowed to use as a synagogue if they paid “a moderate annual rent.”
1821: Start of the Greek War for independence. According to the Jewish Virtual Library, Jewish populations in the Peloponnese had become in disfavour with the Greeks by apparently supporting the Ottomans, and during the Greek War of Independence thousands of Jews were massacred alongside the Ottoman Turks by the Greek rebels, with the Jewish communities of Mistras, Tripolis, Kalamata and Patras completely destroyed. At the same time, Jews throughout other parts of Europe, including the Rothschilds supported the revolt, which captured the popular imagination with its imagery of Greece the cradle of Democracy versus the Ottoman Sultan.
1825(16th of Adar, 5585): Hungarian Talmudist Shalom Charif Ullman passed away at Lackenbach where he, his son and grandson all served as Rabbis.
1834: In
Canada
,
York
was incorporated as the city of
Toronto
. It was not until the 1840s that small numbers of Jewish immigrants from Western and
Central Europe
began to arrive in
Ontario
and settle in the cities of
Hamilton
,
Kingston
, and
Toronto
. In 1849, Abraham Nordheimer moved from
Kingston
to
Toronto
and purchased a plot of land for a cemetery on behalf of the Toronto Hebrew Congregation. The congregation was originally an Orthodox synagogue, made up of members from
Germany
, including
Bavaria
,
Bohemia
, and
Alsace
,
Great Britain
, the
United States
,
Russia
,
Galicia
, and
Lithuania
. It became known as the Daytshishe Shul because of its modernized services. In 1856, Lewis Samuel of
York
,
England
, immigrated to
Toronto
and helped organize the Sons of Israel Congregation. In 1858, the two congregations combined to form the
Toronto
Hebrew
Congregation-Holy
Blossom
Temple
. Holy Blossom was Orthodox, but in the 1920s joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations and became Reform. It was the only Reform temple in
Toronto
until the 1950s, when it was joined by
Temple
Sinai
and
Temple
Emanu-El.
Today Holy Blossom is the largest Reform Congregation in
Canada
. In the 1880s, the arrival of large numbers of Eastern European Jews escaping the pogroms of czarist
Russia
, led to the creation of three new synagogues. Goel Tzedec and Beth Hamidrash Hagadol Chevra T'Hillim were founded in 1883, and were made up of mostly Russian members. They merged in the early 1950s to form Beth Tzedec, a Conservative congregation. The third synagogue, Shomrei Shabbos, was started in 1889 by Orthodox Galician Jews. Also in 1889, Beth Jacob, known as the Poylishe Shul and Rumanian Synagogue or Adath
Israel
came into existence. By the 1940s,
Toronto
had about 60 synagogues. These were mainly small Landsmannschaften, which were immigrant synagogues that represented the different hometowns of settlers from Russian Poland, the
Ukraine
,
Lithuania
, and
Belorussia
. In the 1950s and 60s, the smaller shtiblekh merged into larger synagogues. Therefore, the number of synagogues decreased, but in their place were larger and more stable congregations. The Jewish population of
Toronto
started out small in the 18th and 19th centuries and grew slowly but steadily into the early 20th century. In 1871, 157 Jews lived in
Toronto
, in 1891, the number rose to 1,425, and, by 1901, the Jewish population had increased to 3,090. The size of the community always depended on waves of immigration from
Europe
, based on pogroms and persecution in various countries. In 1911, the Jewish population of
Toronto
had expanded to 18,237 and, by 1921, had almost doubled to 34,619. In 1931, 45,000 Jewish immigrants, made up of mostly Poles, settled in
Canada
after the
United States
tightened its immigration quota in 1924. Because of restrictions imposed by the Canadian government during the Depression, Immigration preceding and during World War II declined significantly. This was a huge blow to Eastern European Jews trying to escape persecution, and only small groups of Austrian and German Jews fleeing Hitler were able to immigrate to Toronto during this period. In 1941, the number of Jews in
Toronto
had only risen slightly to 49,046, despite the thousands who desperately sought refuge in
Canada
. After World War II, the Canadian government established anti-discrimination laws and eased immigration regulations. The Canadian Jewish Congress and needle traders helped refugees come to
Toronto
from displaced persons camps. In addition, an important development in the
Toronto
community was the growth of the Jewish day school system in the post-World War II era. Previously, the
Montreal
and
Winnipeg
Jewish communities had larger networks of congregational and day schools. The 1950s and 60s saw a tremendous growth of population and community life. In 1951, the Jewish population of greater
Toronto
reached 66,773. It was augmented further after the 1956 Hungarian uprising brought a new influx of Jewish refugees to the city. In the 1960s, the first Sephardic Jews came to
Toronto
from
Morocco
, and established the first Sephardic synagogues and organizations in the city.
Toronto
's economic developments of the 1960s, combined with the rise of
Quebec
's separatist movement in the 1970s, led to a mass migration from
Montreal
to
Toronto
in the late 70s and early 80s. In 1971, the Jewish population stood at 105,000, by 1981, it reached 128,650 and, by 1991, increased to 162,605. When the Parti Quebecois won the provincial election in 1976, 20,000 to 30,000 Jews fled to
Toronto
, fearing an independent
Quebec
would divide and weaken the national Jewish community.
Toronto
assumed
Montreal
's position as the center of Jewish activity. However, the economic recession of the 1990s had a deleterious impact on the Jewish community's finances and its ability to subsidize Jewish day schools. Despite this setback,
Toronto
maintains the largest Jewish population of any Canadian city. In recent years,
Toronto
has received Jewish immigrants from
South Africa
, the former
Soviet Union
, the
United States
, and
Israel
. Today, the Jewish community stands at approximately 150,000 out of
Toronto
's 3.5 million inhabitants. Most Jews living in
Toronto
have only been there for one or two generations. With such close ties to their homelands, Torontonian Jews are typically more traditional than those in the rest of
Canada
and the
United States
. Of the 50 percent or so of the Jewish population that associate themselves with the community, 20 percent are Orthodox, 40 percent Conservative, 35 percent Reform, and the remainder nondenominational.
Toronto
maintains around 50 synagogues, a growing network of Jewish day schools, and a number of Jewish organizations.
1836: The
Alamo
in
San Antonio
,
Texas
, fell to Mexican forces after a 13-day siege. Antony Wolfe, a young Englishman, was reportedly the only Jew who fought and died at the
Alamo
.
1851(2nd of Adar II, 5611): Benjamin Wolf Löw passed away today. Born at Loslau in 1775, this Polish-Hungarian rabbi was the son of Eleazar Low, the father of Eleazar Low and the grandfather of Abraham and Benjamin Singer.
1856: The University of Maryland, College Park is chartered as the Maryland Agricultural College. According to recent figures approximately 5,000 of the school’s 25,000 undergraduate students are Jewish while 1,500 of the 10,000 grad students are Jewish. These figures do not include the other U of Md. Campuses. The school offers 35 Jewish studies courses with a major and minor in Jewish Students. In 1949, Evelyn Levow Greenberg, the wife of the Hillel Rabbi at the University of Maryland published The Little Tractor who Traveled to Israel one of the first children’s books to celebrate the Kibbutz movement and the creation of the state of Israel.
1858: Isadore Untermyer and Therese Laudauer, two Jews from Bavaria, gave birth to Samuel Untermeyer in Lynchburg, VA. Untermeyer would move to New York as a child and become a prominient lawyer, civic leader, successful businessman and pillar of the Jewish Community
1870: Birthdate of Austrian-born composer Oscar Straus whose most famous work is an operetta called “Der tapfere Soldat” or “The Chocolate Soldier.”
1871(13thof Adar, 5631): Fast of Esther
1876: “Ben Israel or Under the Curse” opened at the Grand Opera House in New York City this evening. Described as “a Jewish drama” in five acts, the drama had previously been performed in Troy, New York.
1876: It was reported today that the Purim Association will host a full dress reception at Delmonico’s that will mark the end of five days of festivities celebrated the Jewish people who hold private masquerade parties as is their “usual custom.”
1877(21st of Adar, 5637): Franklin J. Moses, Sr. an attorney, planter, politician and judge in South Carolina who both opposed secession, then supported the Confederacy and then was accused of being a scalawag during Reconstruction, passed away. His maternal grandfather was Jonas Phillips a founder of Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia, PA and the paternal grandfather Commodore Uriah P. Levy, the highest ranking Jewish officer to serve in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Yes, you got it right. These two Jewish grandees were on opposite sides during the Civil War, a fight that pitted brother against brother, father against son and in this case, grandson against grandson. For a contemporary view of Moses, written by a Northern newspaper see
1877: It was reported today that humorist Raphael J. de Cordova is scheduled to deliver a lecture at an upcoming fundraiser to be held at Steinway Hall sponsored by the Hebrew Lodge for those who suffered during the recent fire in Brookl
1879 (11th of Adar, 5639): Fast of Esther observed because the 13th of Adar is Shabbat
1879: The Purim Association is sponsoring this evening’s fancy dress charity ball which is taking placed at the Academy of Music.
1886 Nine thousand members of the Knights of Labor struck Jay Gould’s Southwestern Railroad System. The Knights were one of the earliest attempts at forming a national labor union in the United States. The Cloak and Suit Maker’s Union which was made up largely of “westernized Jews from Austria, Galicia and Germany” was part of the Knights which made it one of the successful joining of Jewish laborers with this umbrella labor organization. Cultural and linguistic differences as well as plain old fashioned anti-Semitism trumped the supposed solidarity of labor.
1890(14thof Adar, 5650) Purim
1890: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Charities have offered to post a bond on behalf of Lazar Anezes, his wife and four children who have been detained by the Commissioners of Emigrations because they are “paupers.”
1890: It was reported today that the next event sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association waill be held at the Vienna Hall on Lexington Avenue at 58thStreet.
1890: Solomon Barnett, a Jewish tailor who had thwarted an attempt to rob him “is lying at his home in a badly demoralized condition” as a result of the injuries he received at the hand of the thieves.
1891: I.S. Isaacs of the United Hebrew Charities was among those who a attended a conference in the office of the President of the Sanitary Aid Soceity where plans were made to promote a municipal lodging house law in New York City.
1891: It was rumored today that United States Collector of Internal Revenue Ernst Nathan had retired.
1891: “They Ask For Palestine” published today described the efforts of William E. Blackstone, Chairman of the Conference of Christians and Jews to present “a memorial to President Harrison concerning the Russian Government’s treatment of the Jews.”
1892: In New Jersey, two Jewish grocers operated their business today for which they would be arrested because they were open on Sunday.
1892: The Superintendent of the orphan asylum operated by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society said that only of the youngsters was suffering from measles and that the twelve other youngsters who had been diagnosed with the disease have been sent to the Willard Parker Hospital.
1892: Henry Pereira Mendes, the rabbi at Shearith Israel is recovering from the gunshot wound he suffered at the hands of Jose Mizrachee who some describe as a “professional beggar”
1892: “To Establish ‘Special Alcoves’” published today described the efforts of the directors of the Aguilar Free Circulating Library to establish special alcoves at the various branches of the library” including the one in the Hebrew Institute at East Broadway and Jefferson Street “for the reception of works on particular lines of reading.”
1893: “The Answers to Correspondence Column” published today included the information that “a ellow badge, round or square, was the mark of degradation a Jew was obliged to wear in certain parts of medieval Europe.”
1895: In Germany, by a vote of 167 to 51, the Reichstag rejected the bill to restrict Jewish emigration.
1896(21stof Adar, 5565): Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor a leading Russian rabbi and Talmudist passed away. Born in 1817, Rav Spektor engaged in a wide variety of activities including visiting St. Petersburg to ameliorate the suffering that followed the Pogroms of 1881, the establishment of yeshivas and involvement with the Hovevei Zion movement. His impact was so great that the Yeshiva University named it theologic seminary after him - Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS), or Yeshivat Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan,
1896: Rabbi M.H. Harris delivered the first in a series of lectures on the Inquisition tonight at Temple Israel in New York City.
1897: In City Court today, Justice McCarthy signed an order for the release of Oscar Altman from the Ludlow Street Jail where he has been held on a charge of “breach of promise of marriage.”
1897: It was reported today that Mrs. Esther Herrmann whose late husband was a partner in H. Herrmann, Sternbach & Co has given $10,000 to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. According Percival Menken, the President of the association, the money will make it possible to improve the facility at 861 Lexington Avenue which Jacob Schiff had donated to YMHA last Januar.
1897: A two day conference begins in Vienna with members of the Zionist circles of Vienna, Berlin, Breslau and Galicia. Herzl's proposal of a general Zionist Congress is adopted with the reservation that the cooperation of the Russian Zionists will be obtained. München is chosen as the city for the congress.
1899:Bayer registers aspirin as a trademark. According to Diarmuid Jeffreys, the author of Aspirin: The Story of a Wonder Drug, a Jew named Arthur Eichengrün, was “the Bayer chemist who first found an aspirin formulation which was tolerable in the human stomach and did not have the unpleasant side effects of nausea and gastric pain. Eichengrün also invented the name aspirin and was the first person to use the new formulation to test its safety and efficacy. However, Eichengrün was excluded from the official version of Bayer's history in 1934 because of his Jewish origin. Instead, it was claimed by Bayer that aspirin was ‘discovered" by an Aryan scientist, Felix Hoffman, to alleviate the sufferings of his rheumatic father.” Fritz ter Meer who “became chairman of Bayer's supervisory board” in 1956 had been “convicted at the Nuremberg trials for his part in carrying out experiments on human subjects at Auschwitz and was imprisoned for five years.”
1900: Birthdate of Avraham Shlonsky, a Russian born Israeli poet.
1903:On this date it is announced that the King has been pleased to give and grant unto the Right Honorable Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, E.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., his Majesty's Royal license and authority that he may accept and wear the Grand Cordon of the Imperial Ottoman Order of the Osmanieh, conferred upon him by his Highness the Khedive of Egypt, authorized by his Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey, in recognition of valuable services rendered by him to his Highness.
1901: Birthdate of Russian born film director Mark Donskoy
1902: Herzl informs the Sultan that on March 15th three million francs will be deposited to his account in banks in
Paris
,
Berlin
and
London
.
1910: Fifteen hundred members of The Hebrew Actor’s Union honor the memory of Morris Horowitz with “an elaborate funeral” that remembered his contributions to the Yiddish Theatre yet belied the impoverished state to which he had fallen in his declining years.
1917: Birthdate of cartoonist Will Eisner. Besides his other accomplishments, Eisner was a mentor for Jules Pfeiffer.
1921: As the lockout aimed of members of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers enters its 14th week, Joseph Schlossberg told a meeting at New York’s Town Hall, that employers were trying to the old sweatshop environment. Schlossberg was a Russian born Jewish was one of the founders the Amalgamated and served as its Secretary General.
1926: Birthdate of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan.
1927: Fritz Lang's silent film epic “Metropolis” is released. Lang’s murky ethnic heritage is typical of many Germans of his era. Lang’s parents were practicing Roman Catholics. But Lang’s mother was born Jewish and she did not convert until Fritz was ten. Sort of makes hash of those easy answers about “who is a Jew” although by Nazi standards Fritz and his brother would have been fodder for the Holocaust.
1928(14thof Adar, 5688): Purim
1928(14thof Adar, 5688): Mrs. Lewis M. Nelson who was a member of the Directors of the Beth El Sisterhood and Hadassah, passed away today in Camden, NJ.
1930: Birthdate of conductor and composer Lorin Maazel
1930: In the Bronx, David and Dora Rubin gave birth to “Ira Rubin, a champion bridge player and an innovative theorist who was nicknamed the Beast because of the emotional intensity of his play…” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1937: And on the other side of the financial ledger, birthdate of Ivan Boesky the stockbroker convicted of insider trading.
1937: “Despite the official statement of regret made by the State Department yesterday for Mayor La Guardia’s attack on Adolf Hitler, the Mayor said he would stand by what he had said.”
1937: In the
Old
City
section of
Jerusalem
, an Arab shot and wounded M. Schneerson as he walked to daven at the Western Wall.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that an armed Arab gang was routed by troops in the Umm el-Fahm area. One British soldier was killed and three wounded in this operation, while numerous Arabs were killed, wounded or arrested. There was also unrest in the
Acre
northern district.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that the new High Commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, had outlined his immediate policy in a radio broadcast. He asked the rival parties in the area to reconcile their claims “upon an amended basis.”
1938: The Palestine Post reported that the first Palestinian “Who’s Who” was published by Masada in Tel Aviv.
1939(15th of Adar, 5699): The last observance of Shushan Purim before the Holocaust explodes across Europe.
1940: The Nazis barred Jewish physicians from treating Aryans and vice-versa.
1940: Vladimir Jabotinsky, president of the New Zionist Organization of the World lectures on "The Fate of, Jewry" at
Manhattan
Center
.
1940: “Three leaders of the Jewish Labor party were sentenced to three months in prison today on charges of organizing recent demonstrations against the British government that took place in Tel Aviv.
1940: Laborite M.P. Philip J. Noel introduced a motion to censure the British government in response to the newly enacted laws restricting the purchase of land in Palestine by Jews. In defending the government’s action, Malcolm MacDonald, the Colonial Secretary, said, in effect, that the restrictions were put in place to placate the Arabs and avoid more Arab-led violence. Baker contended that the enactment of the new laws was in violation of the rules of the League of Nations. Furthermore he said that “if the Jews were not a weak and hunted race today, the British government would have repudiated the moral contract which we made with them while the last great was going on.” Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Liberal leader and Leopold S. Amery, the former Colonial Secretary spoke out against the government’s action, with Mr. Amery reminding the House that Winston Churchill also opposed the new rules. All the of the talk was useless since the Chamberlain government had the votes to thwart any vote of censure.
1942: Adolph Eichmann talked of deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Old Reich. He emphasized the importance of secrecy.
1943: In
Swieciany
,
Ukraine
, 20 youths armed with two revolvers escaped the ghetto and hid in the forest.
1943: The Bulgarian army started to liquidate Jewish property. All confiscated gold and silver was deposited it in sealed packages in the Bulgarian National Bank. Many Bulgarian officials became rich by stealing from the Jews.
1944: An internal memo from the United States Government War Refugee Board states that the United States was negotiating the purchase of a ship for $400,000. The S.S. Necat would be donated to the Turkish Red Crescent after evacuating 5,000 Jewish refugee children from
Romania
to
Palestine
.
1947: Birthdate of actor and director Rob Reiner. Reiner was best known as the son of the talented Carl Reiner and for his role of “Meathead.” Archie Bunker’s son-in-law in the comedy hit “All in the Family.”
1947: In his second visit to Tel Aviv in two days, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, the former President of the Zionist organization and world-class chemist, told a group of civic leaders that he is setting aside his research to do whatever he can to help the people on the coastal plain who are living under strict martial law.
1947: In a demonstration of how successful their campaign has been, British authorities announced today that “25 known terrorists have been captured in Palestine in recent days.” Authorities said that many of them are members of Irgun or the Stern Gang,
1951: Ethel and Julius Rosenberg go on trial charged with espionage for providing secret information concerning the Atomic Bomb to the
Soviet Union
. In this case the defendants, the prosecutor and the Judge will all be Jews. But right wing
America
fixated on the ethnicity of the defendants and used it to equate beings Jewish with being anti-American.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Stalin¹s condition was very grave.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that The World Jewish Conference, scheduled to open in Zurich was postponed.
1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill had promised that the British sales of jet aircraft to Arab States would take care to preserve the balance of power in the area.
1957: United Kingdom colonies Gold Coast and British Togoland become the independent Republic of Ghana.
Israel
and
Ghana
formed several joint ventures including a shipping company. The leaders of
Ghana
and other emerging African countries saw
Israel
as a non-threatening source of Western technology and training. The African leaders were afraid that accepting similar assistance from the major Western powers would lead to re-colonization, something they did fear from the tiny nation of Israel. The Israelis provided aid to
Ghana
and other newly independent countries as a way of breaking out of the diplomatic and economic isolation that the Arabs and their allies were trying to use to destabilize and destroy the Jewish state.
1957: Israel withdrew its troops from the Sinai Peninsula. The withdrawal followed the October, 1956 war with Egypt. The Americans and the Soviets joined forces to make the Israelis leave. They saved President Nasser of Egypt. The Soviets quickly re-armed Nassar. The American action had the effect of giving Nasser a free hand to follow his Pan-Arab dream which included the destruction of the state of Israel.
1959: Birthdate of actor Tom Arnold.
1964: Jewish movie star Liz Taylor divorced Jewish “crooner” Eddie Fisher so that she could marry Richard Burton. Fisher and Taylor were Jewish – he by birth, she by choice.
1969: Yonatan Netanyahu wrote to his parents, "In another week I'll be 23. On me, on us, the young men of Israel, rests the duty of keeping our country safe. This is a heavy responsibility, which matures us early... I do not regret what I have done and what I'm about to do. I'm convinced that what I am doing is right. I believe in myself, in my country and in my future"
1972: Birthdate of Israeli Olympic swimmer Yoav Bruck
1973: Marcel Marceau appears at
Coe
College
in
Cedar Rapids
,
IA.
1976(4th of Adar II, 5736): "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom light-heavyweight box champion from 1932 to 1934 passed away at the age of 71. Rosenbloom boxed during a period when Jews dominated the ring. In 1933, during Maxie's reign as light-heavyweight champion, Jewish boxers were the champions in four out of the eight weight classes.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that Premier Menachem Begin, on the eve of his departure to the US, was adamant that Resolution 242 did not specify the withdrawal of the “territories occupied in the recent conflict” and that the war of 1967 was a war of national self-defense, while the West Bank was never under Jordanian sovereignty. Begin did not rule out any West Bank territorial compromise, but argued that 242 was unspecific, and Israel reserved its position until there was a practical prospect of negotiating the issue.
1981: The Mannes Orchestra performed under the baton of Yakov Kreizberg as part of his graduation ceremony from the Mannes College The New School for Music.
1982(11th of Adar, 5742): Russian born Ayn Rand, author and social commentator, passed away.
1986: Birthdate of American actor Eli Marienthal.
1994: Twenty-six year old Rabbi David Keehn, who is legally blind, is one of 144 rabbis who is honored with formal ordination at the quadrennial Chag HaSemikhah (rabbinic convocation) of
Yeshiva
University
's affiliated Rabbis Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS) in the Nathan Lamport Auditorium, Joseph and
Faye Tanenbaum Hall
,
New York
City.
1998:The Times of London featured a review of The Founding Myths of
Israel
: Nationalism, Socialism and the Making of the Jewish State by Zeev Sternhell; translated by David Maisel.
2000: First showing of ''The Life of the Jews in Palestine'' at the Museum of Modern Art. The classic documentary was produced in 1913 by the Odessa-based Mizrakh Company and presumed to be lost for some 80 years -- has resurfaced in New York. This excellent new print with English inter-titles of Noah Sokolovsky's 78-minute silent film is quite likely the rarest of the rarities featured in the museum's 10-program tribute to France's national film archives, the Centre Nationale de la Cinematographie.
2002(22nd of Adar, 5762): Seventy-four year old “Walter Goodman, a former reporter and critic at The New York Times and the author of a widely read history of the House Committee on Un-American Activities” passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/07/arts/walter-goodman-74-tv-critic-and-reporter-for-the-times.html
2005: After 138 years, Rich's (as Rich's-Macy's) disappeared and became part of Macy’s-Central. Rich’s began as a dry goods store run by Morris Rich in 1876.
2005: The Washington Post book section features a review of Michael Medved’s autobiography, The Faith of a Critic.
2005: The Chicago Tribune reported that despite an anti-Semitic backlash, the renaissance of Jewish culture and religion continued its growth in
Russia
. This “quiet cultural revolution” has been fueled, in part, by Jews who moved to
Israel
during starting in the 1970’s and have returned at the start of the 21st century.
2005: The New York Times reported that Robert K. Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots made his thirtieth visit to
Israel
since 1963. On this most recent visit he took the Lombardi Trophy which was proof of his teams’ Super Bowl Victory and showed it Prime Minister Sharon. While
Sharon
is not known as a football fan, he posed for the obligatory photo with a major Jewish philanthropist.
2005: The New York Times reviewed Ester and Ruzya by Masha Gessen. The title characters are Gessen’s grandmothers. The biography tells how these two women maintained their Jewish identities while living through Stalin, Hitler and the Cold War.
2005: The cover story of The New York Times Magazine was “A Memory Loop” by Joseph Lelyveld featuring an account of life with his father Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld.
2006(6th of Adar, 5766): Ninety-seven year old Ruth F. Weiss, also known as Wèi Lùshī, an Austrian born Chinese “educator, journalist and lecturer” passed away today.
2007: The Colorado Jewish Artist’s Guild of the
Mizel
Museum
hosts a workshop styled “Catapulting Your Visions to Achievements: Do You Want to Be A Working Artist or An Artist Who Works?”
2007: Former White House aide I. Lewis Libby, Jr. was found guilty on four of five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice trial. The one person convicted in the whole Plame Affair was a practicing Reform Jew.
2008: As part of its Israel at 60 celebration, the 92nd Street Y presents “Lee Saar The Company & Netta Yerushalmy: Out of Israel” as two innovate Israeli dance companies join forces to present a compelling evening of duets.
2008: Eight people were killed and nine others were wounded this evening when a terrorist infiltrated a Jerusalem yeshiva and opened fire. Three of the wounded in the attack at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood were serious condition and taken to Hadassah Medical Center in Ein Karem. The other six were lightly hurt and taken to Sha'arei Tzedek Medical Center. One of the wounded is 15 years old. Magen David Adom emergency medical service declared the incident a "multiple casualty event."
2009: Agudas Achim hosts Shabbat Across Iowa City with an early Friday evening service followed by a Shabbat Dinner.
2009: Composer Samuel Adler lights up the marquee at
Temple
Emanuel
’s Synaplex Shabbat service on Friday night. The German-born son of a cantor showcases a sampling of his music, performed by the Los Angeles Zimriyah Chorale. In addition to putting his musical talents on display, Adler also exhibits his strong faith in a musical sermon.
2009: At the
Kirk
Douglas
Theatre
in
Culver City
, Kirk Douglas appears in “Before I Forget” a scripted one-Douglas show all about the 92-year-old
Hollywood
icon. . In this rare theatrical appearance, Douglas shares stories about his life and acting career — the stroke he suffered in 1996 that left him unable to speak, his numerous starring roles and his return to Judaism.
2009: The Foreign Ministry said today it had closed its embassy after the government of Mauritania, an overwhelmingly Muslim West African nation asked the Israeli ambassador and his staff to leave.
2009: In Davis Cup competition, Thomas Johansson put Sweden ahead of Israel with a five-set win over Harel Levy Israel’s Duda Sela even the series with a five-set victory against Andreas Vinciquerra.
2010 (5770): Shabbat Parah
2010: Theater J in association with Jonathan Reinis Productions is scheduled to present the World Premiere of Andy Warhol - Good for the Jews?
2010: In London, UK, Jewish Book Week came to an end.
2010: U.S. President Barack Obama's Middle East envoy, George Mitchell met with Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Tel Aviv today as he began a round of meetings aimed at relaunching peace negotiations.
2011: Veretski Pass is scheduled to perform their new composition “Klezmer Shul” as well as their standard repertoire and some special surprises at the Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley, CA as part of the Jewish Music Festival.
2011: “Down Home,” a multi-media project that “celebrates Jewish contributions to North Carolina social, civic and commercial life” that has been appearing at the North Carolina Museum of History in Raleigh is scheduled to come to a close today. The project also aimed “to capture a nearly vanished way of life for Jews in the state’s mill and market towns, according to Leonard Rogoff, an organizer of the project and historian at the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, which is producing “Down Home.” According to Eli Evans, a speechwriter for Lyndon Johnson whose parents lived in Durham where his mother served Hadassah for 40 years, “The story of the Jews is the untold story of the South.” The Jewish experience in North Carolina was unique in the South, Evans said, because North Carolina was unique in the South. “We didn’t have a strong Klan in our state. We had a commitment to public education, a more moderate political atmosphere, and enlightened political leaders,” he said. “I’m not saying no antisemitism existed. But there was a philo-Semitism that manifested itself in many ways.” While the exhibit’s was partly intended to educate North Carolinians about their own history, it was also intended to provide Jews from