March 7 In History
322
BCE
: Aristotle passed away. “Aristotle was almost universally held in esteem by the Jews; at one time for his intelligence and mental power, at another as a penitent sinner. The following is Maimonides' verdict concerning him: "The words of Plato, Aristotle's teacher, are obscure and figurative: they are superfluous to the man of intelligence, inasmuch as Aristotle supplanted all his predecessors. The thorough understanding of Aristotle is the highest achievement to which man can attain, with the sole exception of the understanding of the Prophets." Shem-Ṭob ben Isaac of Tortosa (1261) styles Aristotle "the master of all philosophers." Elijah b. Eliezer of Candia, who edited the "Logic" about the end of the fourteenth century, calls Aristotle "the divine," because, having been endowed by nature with a sacredly superior intellect, he could understand of himself what others could receive only from the instruction of their teachers.”
161: Roman emperor Antoninus Pius passed away. He was the handpicked successor of Hadrian. Antonious undid the anti-Jewish decrees of his predecessor and when he died the Jewish people lost one of the few friends they ever had sitting on the throne in Rome.
161: Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus are named co-Emperors of the Roman Empire following the death of Antonious Pius. Marcus Aurilius had little understanding or appreciation of the Jewish people. He described them as “stinking and tumultuous” when he traveled through Judea. He reportedly said that he preferred the company of Germanic barbarians to that of Jews.
321: Constantine I, the first Christian Roman Emperor decreed that the dies Solis Invicti (sun-day) is the day of rest in the Empire. Thus would begin the conflict between the Christian Sunday and the Jewish Saturday. Of course the commandment says to hallow the 7th day and Sunday is the first day of the week.
1190(20th of Adar, 4950): During the Lenten Fair, Crusaders filled “with passion for crusade” and jealousy over the supposed wealth of the Jews, slaughtered them at Stamford, England.
1236(21st of Adar, 4996): The Jews of Narbonne began celebrating the Purim of Narbonne after Don Aymeric, the governor, intervened to protect the Jews from marauding Christian who had already carried off the library of Reb Meir ben Isaac as they made their riotous way through the Jewish quarter.
1274: Catholic theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas passed away. While no friend of the Jews, Aquinas’ view of Jews was a little better than the average one held by ecclesiastical and temporal leaders of his time. He opposed conversions at the point of the sword. He opposed the murder of Jews. He felt they should be allowed to live so they could serve as eternal witnesses to “the truth of Christianity.” The views of this influential Catholic theologian are best summed up in a letter to a widow who had inherited a duchy that included what is now
Belgium
and the
Netherlands
. “It is true, as the laws declare, that in consequence of their sin (rejecting Jesus) Jews were destined to perpetual servitude, so that sovereigns of state may treat Jewish goods as their own property, save for the sole proviso that they do not deprive them of that is necessary to sustain life.” In other words, Jews could live, but they could only live a miserable life. Aquinas also made it respectable for Catholic nobles to borrow from Jews and then not repay their debts.
1612(3rd of Adar II, 5372): Mordecai ben Avraham Yoffe passed away at Prague. Born in 1530, he the Rosh Yeshiva in Prague and author of “Levush Malkhut, a ten-volume codification of Jewish law that particularly stressed the customs of the Jews of Eastern Europe.”
1693: Birthdate of Carlo della Torre di Rezzonico, who as Pope Clement XIII would rule that there was no substance to the claim that Jews used blood in the preparation of their unleavened bread. Among other things he intervened with the Polish church and nobles and ordered the protection of Jacob Zelig, the Jewish spokesperson that the Polish Jews had sent to Rome to plead their case.
1789: Birthdate of Michel Martin Drolling the French painter who counted among his student the Alsatian Jew, Benjamin Ulmann whose works include “Sylla and Manus” which hangs in the Luxembourg Palace.
1799: (30th of Adar I, 5559): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1799: As Napoleon Bonaparte fought his way across Palestine, his army defeated “a 12,000-strong mixed force of Al Jazzar and the Mamluks” and captured the port city of Jaffa. In one of the first examples of what would become a recurring theme, westerners used modern technology to defeat a Muslim army. In this case, Napoleon use of bombardments from his heavy artillery was the key to victory. Following the victory, the French commander “set out to try and gain political advantages from his military achievements. Letters and proclamations were directed at the Sultan, the various communities of Palestine and Syria and their leaders, Akhmad Jasar, the pasha of Acre and commander-in-chief (seraskir) of the Ottoman forces at that time. All these aimed at paving the way for the complete occupation of the Holy Land by negotiation or by making alliances and contacts to ease further military conquest. Among these was the contact with the Jewish communities in Palestine and Syria, the first de facto attention to the Jews as a potential factor in international policy in modern times.”
1799: The Royal Institution an organization devoted to scientific education and research is founded in London. The Royal Institution today is led by director Baroness Susan Greenfield, renowned scientist and the daughter of Jewish parents.
1807: On the day before “the Great Sanhedrin presented its responses and formally ended its proceedings, Rabbi Sinzheim delivered a short summary of its conclusions and proclaimed them as nothing less than a ‘social pact’ between ‘the People of God and the People of France.’”
1822(14th of Adar, 5582): Purim
1822: Turkish soldiers killed 60 Jews in
Bucharest
.
1824: Il crociato in Egitto (The Crusade in Egypt), an opera in two acts by Jewish composer Giacomo Meyerbeer, premiered at La Fenice theatre in Venice, Italy.
1825: Birthdate of Alfred Edersheim, English biblical scholar. Edersheim converted to Christianity before the age of 20. He was the author of The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiahwhich is considered by many Christians to be a classic study on this topic.
1839: Birthdate of Dr Ludwig Mond a German-born British chemist and industrialist.
1841(14thof Adar, 5601): Purim
1851: A poll tax levied on Russo-Polish Jews entering Austrian Galicia was discontinued.
1856: A letter from the Hahambashi discusses "reforms" to institute in the Jewish community. The Judeo-Spanish language is discussed, "As the language taught by the Jews of the
Levant
is not, properly speaking, a language, and cannot be useful to the youth, we order the creation of free schools for the poor where Turkish, Greek, French, and Italian will be taught."
1857: Birthdate of Julius Wagner-Jauregg, the Austrian born physician and Nobel Prize Winner. Apparently he saw no conflict between the fact that he had been a student of Salomon Stircker, the Jewish pathologist and his support of the Nazis.
1863: An article published today entitled The Purim Ball. A Jewish Festival – A Great Success reported that “No one of the ancient Hebraic celebrities holds a more absolute sway in the affections of the Jews of this day than Esther, the beautiful and pious spouse of Ahasuerus. In commemoration of the signal service rendered by that estimable lady to her nation, on the occasion of the timely elevation of Haman, the envious enemy of her uncle Mordecai, whose daily place of rest was in the neighborhood of the King's gate, the Jewish people yearly observe the Feast of Purim. In this City, the first grand ball of the Purim Association was given last year, with marked success, and the second was given on Thursday night, at the Academy of Music. The building was very elegantly and tastefully decorated and most brilliantly illuminated, the floor was laid for dancing, and the usual magnificence of the Academy incredibly enhanced.” [Please note, this article which showed a certain comprehension and approval for this minor Jewish holiday appeared in a United States newspaper at a time when Jews comprised approximately 1% of the Jewish population.}
1866(20th of Adar, 5626): Birthdate of Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein who was Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Knesseth Yisrael in Slabodka, Lithuania and is recognized as having been one of the leading Talmudists of the twentieth century.
1869: Birthdate of Ernst Julius Cohen “a Dutch chemist known for his work on the allotropy of metals” who was gassed by the Nazis at Auschwitz.
1871(14th of Adar, 5631): Purim
1871: Receptions celebrating Purim were held at numerous New York Jewish institutions including the Asylum for the Aged and Infirm, the Orphans Home and the Industrial Home on west 17thStreet.
1871: Henry Cardoza and Mary Levi were married this morning by Justice Buckley in Brooklyn’s Second District Police Court. Cardoza opted for a civil ceremony because he could not afford a rabbi.
1872(27th of Adar I, 5632): Jekuthiel Süsskind (Süssel) Rapoport, a leader of the Russian Jewish community passed away today. Born in 1807, he was the son of Rabbi Chaim ha-Koen and the great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim ha-Koen Rapoport. He and his brother Jacob, rabbi of Ostrog, published their father's work "Mayim Ḥayyim"
1875(30th of Adar I, 5635): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1876: Attendance at tonight’s fancy dress ball sponsored by the Purim Association is expected to be greater than at such past events. The Association has increased its membership which should me more revelers will be dining and dancing at Delmonico’s.
1876: “Ben Israel or Under the Curse,” a 4 hour long drama about the travails of a Jewish patriarch named Ben Israel, his granddaughter Rachel and her suitors was described in a review published today as being “destitute of originality, coherence and interest.”
1878: Joseph Seligman was elected as one of the vice presidents of the newly formed American Pig Lead Association at a meeting of the leading lead miners and dealers held at St. Louis, MO.
1878: Reverend George H. Hepworth, a Unitarian Minister will deliver a lecture entitled “Our American Homes” to the Young Men’s Hebrew Association who are meeting at Lyric Hall in New York City.
1879: In New York’s Court of General Session, Judge Henry A. Gildersleeve heard evidence before rendering a decision on the application of the Commissioners of Charities and Correction to force Leopold, Felix and Alfred Salomon to pay six dollars a week in support of their 70 year old widowed mother, Fanny Salomon. The brother’s contested the request saying that she had rejected their offers to live with them and that she had been able to pay for a trip to France which would indicate she was not destitute.
1880: A service was held to this afternoon at Temple Emanu-El to honor the memory of the late Isaac Adophe Creimieux, the Frenchman who had served as President of the Universal Israelite Alliance. When word reached New York that the 84 year old philanthropist and statesman had passed away, the Board of Delegates on Civil and Religious Rights of the Union of American Hebrew congregations recommended a city-wide service. This afternoon’s service was a collaborative effort of 11 congregations under the leadership of Louis May.
1880: Former U.S. Secretary of State Elihu B. Washburne was the featured speaker at today’s memorial service in Chicago held at Temple Sinai to honor the memory of the late Adolphe Cremieux.
1883: Herzl withdraws from the Akademische Burschenschaft Albia. ("Ich sagte den edlen jungen Leuten Lebewohl und fing nun an,
mich
ernstlich an die Arbeit zu setzen." - "I said farewell to my noble young colleagues and sat down seriously to my work.")
1887: North Carolina State University is founded by the North Carolina General Assembly. According to recent figures there are approximately 250 Jewish students among an undergrad population of 20,000. The campus is home to a Hillel Chapter. The North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh contains a Judaic Art Collection that includes an array of historic and contemporary pulpit, life cycle and holiday objects.
1890: Abraham Sudyham, a criminal defense attorney was sentenced to five years in New York State prison after having been convicted of grand larceny when he tried to sell the house belonging to his aunt.
1891: Birthdate of Marcel Barger. Born Meyer Streliskie the famed European cabaret performer died at
Auschwitz
in 1942.
1891: Professor Charles A.L. Totten “the well-known military instructor” at Yale University made a statement today in which he described his approval of the memorial presented to President Harrison by William E. Blackstone advocating a project for “restoring Palestine to the Jews.”
1891: “Collector Nathan To Retire” published today described Ernst Nathan’s repudiation of unfounded reports that he was retiring from his position or that he would seek the office of Mayor of Brooklyn.
1892: It was reported today that the 600 children living at the orphan asylum operated by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society will be returning to school next week. They have been confined to the orphanage since January 1stdue to an outbreak of measles – a medical challenged that has been successfully dealt with. (In an era of vaccinations, we do not appreciate the deadly challenges of childhood illnesses)
1892: The Hebrew Orphan Asylum Bazar, sponsored by the Ladies’ Aid Society is scheduled to take place in Baltimore, MD. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the wife of the President is scheduled to be one of the guests. Mrs. Harrison had told Mrs. Edward Pels and Mrs. J.B. Eiseman that she will be sending a donation of flowers from the White House for the event.
1893: It was reported today that Russian Jews who had formed at a colony in Chesterfield, Connecticut are returning to New York after a suffering through a winter of hardships.
1894: Assemblyman Ainsworth apologized to the Jews for using the term “Jew pawnbrokers” during the debate on a bill to incorporate the “Provident Loan Society.” The bill passed by a vote of 86 to 6 with the Jewish members all voting no.
1895: The last “open meeting” of the Monte Relief, “one of the best known Hebrew charitable organizations in” New York City, “will take the form of a “Cake Walk and Colored Jubilee.”
1896: The New York Times reports on the preparations for the upcoming celebration of the 45th anniversary of Dr. Sabato Morais beginning his service as the Rabbi for Congregation Mikvah
Israel
in
Philadelphia
, PA.
1897: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture “Religion of To-day” at Carnegie Music Hall this morning.
1897: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil spoke on “The Present Bible Controversy” today at Temple Emanu-El.
1897: It was reported today that August Belmont was one of the principal financial backers of plan to unite the manufacturers of bourbon whiskey into a national syndicate.
1897: It was reported that Seymour Mork and Phillip Harrison won the prizes at a debate sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1898: “Tatza Jews Killed by Arabs” published today describe the pillaging of the Moroccan city by Ghiatz Arabs who abducted the women after murdering the men.
1898: Senator Cantor introduced a bill today that would exempt the real estate of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association from taxation, assessment and water rates.
1898: “Congregations to Unite” published today traces the decision of members Temple Beth-Elhoim to consolidate with Temple Israel. Both of the congregations are located in Brooklyn with Beth-Elhoim having 150 members and Temple Israel having 140 members. The enlarged congregation will have to build a new sanctuary as neither of the currently occupied edifices are big enough to accommodate the increase in attendance.
1898: It was reported today that the oldest resident of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews is a 99 year old man “whose only physical ailment is deafness.”
1900: Birthdate of Gerald Burton Windrod, the Kansas native whose virulent anti-Semitic views earned him the title of "the JayHawk Nazi
1909(14th of Adar, 5669): Purim
1912: Hadassah was founded by Henrietta Szold. “At a meeting at
Temple
Emanu-El
in
New York City
, Henrietta Szold, a noted scholar, teacher, journalist, editor, social worker and pioneer Zionist, convinced the Daughters of Zion study circle to expand its purpose and embrace “practical Zionism,” proactive work to help meet the health needs of
Palestine
’s people. Because the meeting was held around the time of Purim, the women called themselves “The Hadassah chapter of the Daughters of Zion,” adopting the Hebrew name of Queen Esther. Hadassah also means “myrtle,” a hardy Levantine plant with agricultural and biblical significance. Henrietta Szold became the first president.
1914: Mrs. Simon Baruch had a surprise party for twenty-one Italian children from the
Bronx
at her home as part of her program to teach patriotism and American values to the children of immigrants newly arrived in the
United States
.
1917: Birthdate of Ruth Dayan, ex-wife of Moshe Dayan.
1917: During World War I, on the Dialah River in Mesopotamia, Private Jack White, a signaler, during an attempt to cross the river, saw the two pontoons ahead of him come under very heavy fire with disastrous results. When his own pontoon had reached mid-stream, with every man except himself either dead or wounded, and not being able, by himself, to control the boat the private tied a telephone wire to the pontoon, jumped overboard and towed it to the shore, thereby saving an officer's life and bringing to land the wounded and also the rifles and equipment of all the men in the boat.
1921: Red Army under Trotsky attacked sailors of Kronstadt in a move to put down “a counter-revolutionary” plot. Soviet leaders were always putting down “counter-revolutionary plots” both real and imagined. Stalin would later brand Trotsky as a counter-revolutionary and drive him from the party and the
Soviet Union
.
1925: Dr. Chaim Weizmann is scheduled to sail for England today aboard the SS Olympic so that he can accompany Lord Blafour to Palestine where they will take part in the dedication of the new Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus.
1928(15th of Adar, 5688): Shushan Purim
1929: Today in Iraq, "Jewish journalist, Anwar Shaul, published an open letter in weekly magazine al-Hasid, addressed to the British High Commissioner and commander-in-chief, Brigadier-General Sir Gilbert Clayton, demanding full independence for Iraq from Britain
1930: Birthdate of Alfred Gottschalk, the native of Germany who “as head of Reform Judaism’s major institution of higher learning ordained the first women as rabbis in the United States and Israel.”
1930: Chief Justice MacDonnell and Justices Baker and Kermak heard the appeal of Simcha Hinkis, a 22-year-old Jewish policeman accused of participating in the murder of an Arab family at Jaffa in the August riots. Hinkis had been “found guilty of premeditated murder and sentenced to death.” “Mordecai Eliash, counsel for the defense, declared the conviction was based on insufficient evidence.” The court is expected to render its judgment next week. [It is ironic that a Jewish policeman is the one who was convicted of murder following the murderous Arab rampage of 1929.]
1930: The blue liveried state luxury saloon carriage of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia, which entered service today would gain an extra measure of fame when it became part of the 2009 Winton Train – “a private passenger train which travelled from the Czech Republic to England in September 2009, in tribute to the wartime efforts of Sir Nicholas Winton, described as the 'British Schindler' for his part in the saving refugee children from Czechoslovakia.”
1936: Hitler violated Treaty of Versailles by sending troops to the
Rhineland
. This was one of the early steps leading to World Word II and the Final Solution. Hitler was running a bluff. He really lacked sufficient military force to have made the remilitarization stick. If
France
and
Great Britain
had acted decisively, Hitler would have been forced to back down and he might even have been forced from power.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that members of the
Russian
Zionist
Center
in Tel Aviv were worried by a new wave of purges and arrests in the
Soviet Union
. They reported that in
Moscow
,
Odessa
and many other Russian towns charges of counter-revolutionary activities were trumped up against Jews and the youth was particularly affected. Although there were hardly any Jews in
Japan
, the
Tokyo
government launched Japan¹s first anti-Semitic campaign announcing a “worldwide Jewish plot.” The Japanese press presented a long list of the country’s Jewish enemies who included, among others, various international peace leagues, socialists and even Rotary International. The charges against Rotary were later withdrawn.
1938: Birthdate of David Baltimore, American biologist, recipient of the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
1940: As Jews continued to protest against the newly enacted British laws limiting purchase of land in Palestine by Jews, the Chief Rabbis and leaders of the Vaad Leumi led a protest demonstration through the streets of Jerusalem while other Jews took part in a work stoppage in Haifa. In reaction to the protest in Jerusalem, the British imposed an over-night curfew on the Jewish quarter of the City of David.
1942: Birthdate of Michael Eisner President of The Walt Disney Company.
1943(30th of Adar I, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1943: “The third American enlisted men’s club in the Middle East” is scheduled to be open in Tel Aviv today. The club has “sleeping quarters for 150 men and lounge, game reading and music rooms. It is 300 yards from the beach.” In addition, hospitality committees of the Jewish Agency arrange sightseeing trips in the Holy Land and the Tel Aviv Hospital committee is operating three clubs for solidiers and nurses of the Allied armies serving in Palestine.
1944: The poet David Vogel was deported from
Drancy
the French concentration camp and sent to Birkenau along with another 1,500 Jews.
1944: At Birkenau, 3,860 Jews who had been living in "family quarters", were sent to the gas chambers. Five days earlier, in their special "family quarters", they were shown off to Red Cross representatives (who were not allowed to see the rest of the camp.) The Jews were told to write postcards to their Czech relatives, but post date them
March 25, 26
, and 27. The Jews would never live to see those days. Of this group, only 37 were spared, including eleven sets of twins. They would be sent to Dr. Mengele for medical experiments.
1945: Brigadier General Ernest Frank Benjamin began serving with the British Eighth Army in the Faenza Area, Italy; a posting that would last until the end of World War II in Europe. Born in 1900, Benjamin “was a British officer from Canada of Jewish birth who commanded the Jewish Infantry Brigade during the Second World War. Benjamin was commissioned into the Royal Engineers and served with that service during 1941-42 before being transferred as a General Staff Officer 1 to the Middle East Command in 1943. He served as Assistant Quartermaster-General there until 1944 when he was appointed Deputy Director of Military Training Middle East Command and in the autumn of the same year as the Commanding Officer, Jewish Brigade Group. yHis last post with the Brigade group was in north-west Europe as part of the VIII Corps of the British Army of the Rhine. He passed away in 1969.
1945: The
US
9th Armored Division seized the bridge at Remagen
Germany
, enabling them to cross the
Rhine
and enter the German heartland. This is an amazing story of luck and unbelievable courage on the part of American soldiers which shortened the war and help end the nightmare for European Jewry.
1946: Birthdate of Ronald Reider, the New Jersey native who settled in Cedar Rapids, after earning his M.D. at the University of Iowa.
1947: Major Beneral R.N. Gale, the British commander of “Operation Elephant” expressed satisfaction with the results of having imposed martial law over a large area of Palestine and that it will be able to “cut out this canker of underground violence.”
1947: As the British continued their efforts to pacify Palestine, 5,000 troops and policemen surrounded Rehoveth, Nathanya and Hadera and began searching the communities for “terrorists” and weapons. The raid netted thirty-two detainees and a small cache of arms. Dr. Chaim Weizmann is a resident of Rehovoth. “After the searches ended” armed masked men attacked the police station at Rishon le Zion. As the British looked for the attackers, they let be known that they were looking for members of the Irgun and the Stern gang and not members of Haganah.
1950(18th of Adar, 5710): Daniel Frisch, the President of the Zionist Organization of America, passed away today at the age of 52 following a surgical procedure that had been performed yesterday. Born in Palestine, Frisch was the son of Rabbi Eliezer and Haia Landau Frisch. His family moved to Roumania when Frisch was one year old. Frisch came to the United States in 1921 and settled in Indianapolis where he operated a successful salvage yard. Frisch who had been active in the Zionist movement since childhood, founded the Indianapolis Zionist District, served as President of the Ohio Valley Zionist Region and was elected to the ZOA Administrative Council in 1934. He retired from business five years ago and moved to New York so he could devote himself to the Zionist cause. Frisch reportedly made at least 14 trips to Israel and worked tirelessly to raise funding for a projects for the infant Jewish state.
1950: In what has to be one of the all time great whoppers of history, the Soviet Union issues a statement denying that Klaus Fuchs served as a Soviet spy days after he had been found guilty by a British court. Fuchs testified that Harry Gold was his courier for getting information to the Soviets. Harry Gold led to David Greenglass that led to the Rosenbergs.
1950: “The Communist newspaper Kol Ha’am charged today that Israel has instituted an anti-Communist campaign and inquirty to similar to those that it said had been launched by President Truman in all countries under American protection.” The paper charged that America was pulling the strings of anti-Communism in Israel just as it was in England. [This charge came at the same time when many right-wing Americans were warning of the Jewish Communist conspiracy.]
1951: Lillian Hellman's "
Autumn
Garden
" premiered in
New York City
.
1951: In one of those incidents that undermine stability in the
Middle East
and thus prove worrisome to
Israel
, the Prime Minister of Iran was shot and killed by an Islamic fundamentalist.
1952: Dr. Alexander Marx, director of libraries and the Jacob H. Schiff Professor at JTS is will leave for Israel today. This is his first trip to the new Jewish state during which he plans to establish closer working relationships between JTS and libraries in Israel.
1953(20th of Adar, 5713): Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas passed away in Tel Aviv. Born in 1883, he was a lawyer, Zionist and a politician in pre-war Poland who courageously escaped from Warsaw and finally settled in Jerusalem.
1965: On Bloody Sunday in Selma, Alabama, group of 600 civil rights marchers are violently prevented from marching to the state capital in Montgomery. Two weeks later a group of marchers would successfully begin the march from Selma to Montgomery. Included among them would be Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel who said he was “voting with his feet.”
1967: Alice B. Tolkas passed away. Born Jewish in 1877, the San Francisco she gained fame as confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer for another famous Jewess, Gertrude Stein. Before her death, Tolkas converted to Roman Catholicism.
1969: The Central committee of the Labor Party voted to nominate Golda Meir as Prime Minister.
1971: Birthdate of
British-born
Academy
Award winning actress Rachel Weisz. Her father was a Hungarian Jewish inventor who fled to
England
to escape the Nazis. Her mother is described as Catholic with Jewish ancestry. Weisz has appeared in films with Keanu Reeves and Hugh Grant.
1971:
Egypt
refused to renew the
Suez
ceasefire during an outbreak violence that presaged the Yom Kippur War of 1973.
1975(24th of Adar, 5735): Canadian born comedian Ben Blue passed away at the age of 73. Blue never achieved the fame of some his contemporaries like George Burns or Milton Berle. But he was good enough to have his own life variety show in the early days of television.
1977: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin met President Carter. Most people remember Rabin as the Prime Minister of Peace from the 1990's. But Rabin was first Prime Minister back in the 1970's. It was at this time that he and the Labor Party were rocked by a scandal dating from Rabin's days as
Israel
's Ambassador to the
United States
. The scandal drove him from power. It resulted in the rise to power of Likud and the election of Menachem Begin as Prime Minister. In other words, Rabin's financial indiscretions ended Labor's control of the Israeli government which dated back to the founding of the state in 1948 and changed the political landscape of
Israel
.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the representatives of the Ministry of Finance and the Histadrut met to discuss the current wave of strikes which for more than seven weeks paralyzed the merchant marine, disrupted El Al flights and TV, radio and other communications.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that In Iran the shah warned that he might impose an oil embargo on Israel to make it more flexible in negotiations with Egypt.
1985(14thof Purim, 5745): Purim
1986: Divers from the USS Preserver locate the crew cabin of Challenger on the ocean floor. The crew included Judith Resnik, the first Jewish American astronaut and the first Jewish woman to go into space.
1986(26th of Adar I, 5746): Former Senator from New York, Jacob K Javits passed away in Palm Beach FL at the age of 81. Javits was a political anomaly for his time. At a time when most Jews were Democrats, he was a Republican. True, he was part of the liberal wing of the Republican Party, but he was a Republican nonetheless. Javits was a champion of Civil Rights and stood against the right wing tide that swept his party in the 1960's. A lot of Jews were critical of Javits for supporting President Eisenhower in 1956. Ike and his Republican Administration sided with
Egypt
during the Suez Crisis and threatened
Israel
with crippling economic sanctions unless she bowed to the will of the Americans.
1987: In his “Jerusalem Journal,’ Francis X. Clines described the newly Ophel Garden which is “a magnificent ascending honeycomb of history at the southern foot of the Temple Mount that allows passing mortals to meander across 3,000 years of history, from the First Temple time of Solomon in the 10th century B.C. to the Ottoman extravagances of the Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, 2,500 years later.”
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/03/07/world/jerusalem-journal-new-garden-cornucopia-of-the-past.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
1997(28th of Adar I, 5757): Rabbi Emanuel H. Bronner passed away. Born in 1908, Emanuel H. Bronnerwas the eccentric maker of Dr. Bronner's castile soap, a concentrated liquid notable for the vast amount of lather produced from a few drops and the vast amount of tiny text on its packaging. Although his parents were killed in the Holocaust, Rabbi Bronner believed in the goodness and unity of humanity. He was born in Heilbronn, Germany to the Heilbronner family of soap makers. He emigrated to the United States in 1929, dropping "Heil" from his name to protest the rise of Hitler. He pleaded with his parents to emigrate with him for fear of the Nazis, but they refused. His last contact with his parents was in the form of a postcard saying, "You were right. —Your loving father." He started his business making products by hand in his home. The product labels were crowded with statements of Bronner's philosophy, which he called "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABCs". Many of Bronner's references came from Jewish and Christian sources, such as the Shema and the Beatitudes; others from poets such as Rudyard Kipling. Sometimes they contained unusual product statements, for example suggesting a contraceptive use for the soap. They became famous for their idiosyncratic style, including hyphens to join long strings of words and the liberal use of exclamation marks. In 1947, while promoting his "Moral
ABC
's" at the University of Chicago, Bronner was arrested and committed to a mental hospital from which he escaped. Eventually his operation grew into a small factory in Escondido, California. At his death in 1997, it produced over a million bottles of soap and other products a year but was still not mechanized. The firm did no advertising but has been the subject of many published articles. It supported many charitable causes. After Bronner's death, his family continued the business. They have said the labels he wrote will not change except when required by government regulations.
1999(19th of Adar, 5759): Sidney Gottlieb passed away. Born in 1918, Sidney Gottlieb was an American chemist probably best-known for his involvement with the Central Intelligence Agency mind control program (MKULTRA). Sidney was born in the Bronx under the name Joseph Schneider. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. Despite the fact that he was a stutterer since childhood, Sidney got a master's degree in speech therapy. He also had a club foot, but this did not stop him from practicing folk dancing, a lifelong passion. In 1951, Sidney Gottlieb joined the Central Intelligence Agency. As a poison expert, he headed the chemical division of the Technical Services Staff (
TSS
). Sidney became known as the "Black Sorcerer" and the "Dirty Trickster". He supervised preparations of lethal poisons and experiments in mind control.
1999(19th of Adar, 5759): Movie director Stanley Kubrick passed away at the age of 70. Some of his more memorable films included “Spartacus,” “2001-A Space Odyssey” and “Dr. Strangelove.”
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Times of My Life: And My Life With The Times by Max Frankel, A Return to Modesty: Discovering the Lost Virtue by Wendy Shalit, Hirschfeld On Line by Al Hirschfeld and P.S.: The Autobiography of Paul Simon by Paul Simon
2000: Second 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.
2001: Shlomo Ben Ami completed his service as Israel’s Foreign Minister.
2001: Binyamin Be-Eliezer replaced Ehud Barak as Defense Minister.
2001: Dalia Rabin-Pelossof replaced Efraim Sneah as Deputy Minister of Defense.
2001: Shimon Peres begins serving as Israel’s Foreign Minister.
2001: Reuven Rivlin replaced Binyamin Ben-Eliezer as Communications Minister.
2001: Asher Ohana replaced Yossi Beilin as Minister of Religion
2001: Avigdor Lieberman replaced Avraham Shochat as the National Infrastructure Minister
2001: Natan Sharansky began serving as Minister of Housing and Construction.
2001: Uzi Landau replaced Shlomo Ben-Ami as Minister of Public Security.
2001: Gideon Ezra began serving as Deputy Minister of Public Security
2001: President Bush met with 25 leaders from the Jewish community in the White House Roosevelt Room.
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including The Prisoner of Vandam Street by Kinky Friedman and the recently released paperback edition of Trains of Thought: From Paris to Omaha Beach: Memories of a Wartime Youth, by Victor Brombert in which the renowned literary scholar recalls his bourgeois Jewish childhood in Europe and his stateless youth: his parents escaped from France to the United States in 1941, and after joining the Army he returned to Europe to fight in the Normandy campaign and the Battle of the Bulge.
2004(14th of Adar, 5764): Purim
2005: After considering Hiram Bingham's deeds during the war years in Marseille for a number years, Israel's memorial Yad Vashem ("Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority") issued the Bingham family a letter of appreciation
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that
Saudi Arabia
has continued to participate in the boycott against Israeli goods in violation of promises the Saudis had made to the
United States
and the international economic community. Despite a promise made to
Washington
last November to drop its economic boycott of
Israel
,
Saudi Arabia
plans to host a major