March 8 In History
1126: Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of Castile and Leon, after the death of his mother Urraca. Under the reign of Alfonso Christian Spain “became a refuge for the persecuted Andalusian Jews. The capital city of Toledo became a new center for Jewish learning. The major reason for this positive turn of fortune for the Jews was the king’s positive relationship with Yehuda Ibn-Ezra. After taking the fortress of Calatrava, the king appointed Ibn-Ezra as its commander as a reward for his bravery. Ibn-Ezra used his influence to create a refuge for the Jews who were fleeing Almohades, a religiously fervent Berber Moslem dynasty that had crossed into Spain after successful conquests in parts of North Africa. Those who equate the Golden Age of Spain with Moslem rule would do well to remember that life for the Jews was much more varied than that.
1688: On this night a large group of secret Jews planned to escape from the island of Majorca by booking passage on an English ship. They were looking for religious freedom. A storm delayed their departure, and their plan was betrayed. All those planning to leave were put in prison. In the spring of 1691 these prisoners were sentenced at an auto-de-fe, where 37 were burned at the stake.
1768: In the Netherlands, synagogues held services of thanks-giving on the day that “King William V entered the legislature on the day of his majority.” “Under the government of William V the country was troubled by internal dissensions; the Jews, however, remained loyal to him” and William did not forget the loyalty of his Jewish subjects.
1799(1st of Adar II, 5559): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1807: In
France
, the Great Sanhedrin presented its conclusions at its final session.
1817: In
New York
, the Stockbrokers Guild formerly incorporates itself and becomes the New York Stock Exchange. Among the founders were several prominent Jewish financiers including Benjamin Seixas, Isaac Gomez, Alexander Zuntz and Ephraim Hart. Ephraim Hart’s son’ Bernhard, became Secretary of the NYSE. Bernhard was also the grandfather of writer Bret Harte.
1817: Joseph Jonas the first Jew to settle in Cincinnati, Ohio arrived in the Queen City today. He was an English-born peddler who had come from Philadelphia, PA. “He became a successful watchmaker and silversmith and lived on Broadway between Fifth Street and Harrison. Jonas, like most early Jews, settled in downtown Cincinnati. Jonas wrote letters describing the opportunities that existed in the Ohio River valley. This convinced other Jews to join him including two younger brothers. In 1821, when Benjamin Lieb was dying, he begged to be buried as a Jew. He was the first Jew to die in Cincinnati. In response to his request, Joseph Jonas and Morris Moses, two of Cincinnati's six Jews, purchased the lot for Cincinnati's first Jewish cemetery from Nicholas Longworth for $75.00, and then buried Lieb there. This cemetery known as the Old Jewish Community or the Chestnut Street Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery west of the Alleghenies. By 1824 there were enough Jewish residents to fulfill the requirement of ten adult males so that regular religious services could be held, and the first Jewish congregation beyond the Allegheny Mountains was established. This congregation became the Rockdale Temple. Most of the early Jews were British.”
1831: Birthdate of French photographer Félix Bonfils who created one of the first modern photographic records of the Middle East including Palestine including the Wall of the Second Temple.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.architechgallery.com/arch_images/architech_images/bonfils_photos/bonfils_temple_1.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.architechgallery.com/arch_info/artists_pages/felix_bonfils.html&h=445&w=600&sz=103&tbnid=IewwNBMIE1UQhM:&tbnh=94&tbnw=127&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfelix%2Bbonfils%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=felix+bonfils&docid=DQ0or5Gfn3EqTM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=RbtWT9fvBMbMtgeGsaSyBA&sqi=2&ved=0CEMQ9QEwAw&dur=2929
1857: Today one of the first real organized actions of women's solidarity took place in New York City when hundreds of women staged a strike against the garment and textile factories in New York City, protesting low wages, long working hours and inhumane working conditions. This strike, which undoubtedly included Jewish workers took place 54 years before the Triangle Shirt Factory Fire.
1857: Reverend Charles Harris, "a Christian Jew" is scheduled to preach twice today at the John Street First M.E. Church in New York City. [The Jews for Jesus concept obviously was not a 20th century phenomenon.]
1871(15thof Adar, 5631): Shushan Purim
1871: The New York Times reviewed “The Recovery of Jerusalem: A Narrative of Exploration in the City and the Holy Land” by two legendary British officers, Captains Wilson and Warren, who, among other accomplishments, conducting the first modern mapping of the ancient Jewish capital.
1874: “The Prince of Printers” published today traces the history of printing in Italy including the rise of the printers of Soncino who were the first to print texts using Hebrew letters. Although they would set up presses at other locations, they always used the name of their home town which they adopted as their family name.
1875(1stof Adar II, 5635): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1875: It was reported that next week’s Hebrew Charity Ball will include music supplied by two bands and a supper catered by Delmonico’s served at the Academy of Music.
1877: The Hebrew Lodge, Number 5 of the International order of B’nai Brit is sponsoring a fundraiser at the Steinway Hall tonight to aid those who suffered loss in the recent fire in Brooklyn. Entertainment will included vocalists and violinists.
1879: Birthdate of Otto Hahn.In 1944, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering the fission of heavy nuclei, which made the atomic bomb possible.
1879: It was reported today that the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem are sponsoring a Purim Calico Ball which will be held on the day that coincides with Shushan Purim.
1879: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Manhattan will host its fourth annual Purim celebration at the Lexington Avenue Opera House.
1890: “The charity ball of the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Long Island City took place tonight at Ahler’s Astoria Assembly Rooms.
1891: “Palestine for the Jews” published today described the plan “advocated by prominent men of the leading cities” including such philo-Semites as Yale Professor Charles Toten “to obtain in a peaceable way” the “old homes in Palestine for Jews through… an international conference.”
1891: “Electric Light In The Holy Land” published today relied on information that first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette to described the introduction of electric light at a new flour mill located near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem.
1891(28th of Adar I, 5651: Seventy year old Benjamin Feuerstein, a clothing cutter, passed away while riding the elevated on his way to a meeting of a Jewish charitable society.
1891: Birthdate of American film and television actor Sam Jaffee. His film career included the role of Gunga Din in the movie of the same name and “Doc”, the criminal mastermind in the film noire classic “The Asphalt Jungle.” His film career came to a halt as a result of the infamous blacklist. He returned to acting as the wise old Dr.Zorba in the television medical melodrama “Ben Casey.”
1892: As public health workers in New York cope with the latest outbreak of typhus, 20 year old Sarah Koslofsky who was living in a tenement occupied by 18 Jewish families was taken to the hospital after she was found to suffering with the fever. Thirteen year old Baruch Stelson who was also found to be suffering from the disease was taken the facility at North Brother Island.
1896: “Rabbi Morais’s Anniversary” published today described plans for the upcoming celebration of Dr. Sabato Morais’s 45thanniversary as the Rabbi of Philadelphia’s Congregation Mikve Israel.
1897(4th of Adar II, 5657):Frederick C. Salomon passed away. A native of Prussia where he trained as a surveyor, Salomon moved to Wisconsin where he worked as a surveyor, registrar of deed and chief engineer on a local railroad. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he joined the Union Army where he served with such distinction that he rose to the rank of Major General (Brevet) by the time he mustered out in 1865. After the war he served as the Surveyor General of Utah Territory and settled in Salt Lake City where he passed away.
1897: Maurico Jacobs, a native of Peru who has been living in Cuba for the last 12 years has applied to the United Hebrew Charities for assistance for himself and his family.
1898(14th of Adar, 5658): Purim
1898(14th of Adar, 5658): Sixty-eight year old Moses Bruckheimer, a pawnbroker living in Brooklyn passed away today. He was active in the Jewish community serving as trustee of Temple Beth Elohim and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum.
1900: Ray Emanuel, the daughter of David and Amelia Emanuel married Joseph Jewell at the Central Synagogue.
1908(5th of Adar II, 5668): Adolph Meyer, a native of Natchez, Mississippi, who served as a member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana, passed away today.
1908: Miss Dora Brachman married Louis Ginsberg in Marietta, Ohio where they will make their home.
1910: Birthdate of Louis “Lulu” Bender, “an all-American basketball player at Columbia whose stellar play during the Depression helped popularize the game and make Madison Square Garden a magnet for college basketball…” (As reported by Vincent M. Mallozzi)
1911: International Women's Day is launched in Copenhagen, Denmark, by Clara Zetkin, leader of the Women's Office for the Social Democratic Party. Born Clara Eissner, she married a Russian Jewish socialist leader named Ossip Zetkin.
1912: The Greek town of
Zante
was devastated by an earthquake. The Jewish quarter was destroyed, and more than 100 Jewish families are homeless
1912: Marco Besso of
Trieste
and Errea Cavalieri of
Ferrara
were both elected as Senators in
Italy
.
1914: Birthdate of Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich who played a key role in the development of nuclear weapons for the Soviet Union
1914: Mrs. Simon Baruch hosted a party at her home today for twenty-one Italian children from the Bronx as part of an attempt to combat anarchist propaganda and to the immigrant a children a sense of American history and patriotism. Mrs. Baruch is the wife of Dr. Simon Baruch. They are the parents of Bernard Baruch.
1918: The first issue of Di varhayt (The Truth), the first Yiddish communist paper in the world, was published today. Di varhayt was published in Petrograd, Russia by the People's Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. It was closed down after a brief existence, as the People's Commissariat was shifted to the new capital Moscow and the lack of Yiddish journalists in Petrograd. The paper was later re-started as Der Emes.
1918: Ukrainian mobs massacred the Jews of Seredino Buda
1918: Jews of Gloucher were massacred by Ukrainians. At this point in Russian history, the empire was in chaos. The Czar had been deposed. Kerensky and his Social Democrats were trying to rule the country. The Bolsheviks under Lenin and Trotsky were plotting to replace the Provisional Government. In the mean time, the Ukrainians continued their tradition of anti-Semitism and killing Jews whenever they had the chance.
1914: Birthdate of Soviet physicist Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich.
1918: The Government of Greece decides to exempt Jewish Ottoman subjects living in
Greece
from regulations prohibiting commercial transactions with subjects of enemy states.
1919: Representative Julius Kahn, Republican congressman from
California
expressed his opposition to Zionism. He said “that the Zionist Congress which was recently held in Philadelphia had asserted that it represented 150,000 out of approximately 3,000,000 American Jews. These figures would seem to indicate that the so-called Zionist number only a small minority” of American Jewry. “The reason I am opposed to a Jewish state is that experience has shown that the Jew becomes a good patriotic citizen of any country giving him full citizenship and civil and religious liberty….I am afraid that many avowed Zionists are also internationalists. I am not. I believe that the we in
America
should stand for this country and its institutions against all the world. In fact, I believe that as nationalist we make of our religion a secondary matter. Our country comes first. Our Judaism is simply our religious faith.”
1920: During a series of Arab protest demonstrations “led to several Arab attacks on Jewish passers-by and shop owners. The British authorities were alarmed at the violent tone of the Arab protests, in which calls to kill the Jews were heard alongside the popular slogan ‘
Palestine
is our land and the Jews are our dogs.’”
1927: Birthdate of Dick Hyman, composer and conductor.
1929: Financier Paul Warburg warned that the wild speculation gripping the stock market could lead to disaster. [Bernard Baruch was another Jewish financier who expressed the same concern.]
1936(14thof Adar, 5696): Purim
1937: The New York Times reported on acts of human kindness and brotherhood during the ongoing wave of terrorism in
Palestine
. “During recent disturbances a Jewish chauffeur took the son of an Arab who was killed to a hospital and an Arab driver resuced on the Jews hurt by stone-throwing.”
1938: The Jewish Theological Seminary of America observed the twenty-fifth anniversary of Dr. Joseph H. Hertz as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Empire in a broadcast from Radio Station WHN. Dr. Hertz was the first graduate of the seminary.
1941: In a prelude to her famous diary, Esther "Etty" Hillesum wrote a letter addressed to Julius Spier in an exercise book. These would provide a picture of life in Amsterdam under Nazi occupation.
1943(1stof Adar, 5703): Rosh Chodesh Adar II
1943: Greek Jews of Salonika were transported to Nazi extermination camps.
1943: The Sokolovo Czech battalion battled the Germans for three days. Of the 1,000 Czech soldiers, 600 are Jews.
1944: In the Warsaw Ghetto 37 Jews are given away in their hiding places. Emanuel Ringelblum, noted historian and author of a detailed chronicle of the plight of the Warsaw Jews is one of the group that is captured. Ringelblum was tortured for three days during which he revealed nothing about his fellow Jews in hiding. A few days later Ringelblum aged 43, his wife, and 13 year old son Uri were executed.
1944: In
France
, "in the morning there is a knock on the door at the apartment of Hélène Berr's family." Her parents Raymond and Antoinette will die later that year in
Auschwitz
. Helene will survive until 1945 when she will die at Bergen Belsen where she was beaten to death five days before the camp was liberated by the British.
1947: The Committee organizing the second International Music Festival to be held in Prague has invited Leonard Bernstein to conduct the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra when it performs in May of this year.
1947: The refugee-filled SS Ben Hecht also called the Abril is intercepted by British ships off the coast of Palestine.
1947: Jewish terrorists defy British Martial law by launching a series of attacks in Tel Aviv tonight that injure 17 people, including 15 Jews, one British constable and one Arab constable.
1948: Birthdate of Yaakov Zvi, the London native we know as Jonathan Henry Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth and one of the most influential Jewish leaders of his time.
1948: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that religious instruction in public schools was unconstitutional.
1949: Following elections, David Ben-Gurion formed the first government of Israel. In what would prove to be the curse of the Israeli political system, it was a coalition government led by Mapai but including two other smaller parties. Ben-Gurion served both as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Future Prime Minister Golda Meir served as the Minister of Labor and Social Security.
1949: "In a Knesset session in Tel Aviv...Eliahu Eliashar, a parliamentary representative of the Sephardi Jews, spoke on behalf of the Jews from Muslim lands."
1950: An overflow crowd of one thousand mourners filled New York’s Park West Memorial Chapel and spilled out into the street at the funeral services for Daniel Frisch, the president of the Zionist Organization of America. Rabbi Bernard Bergman officiated at the service and he was assisted by Cantor Robert Segal. Numerous tributes were paid to Frisch for his support of Jewish causes and Zionism by several famous dignitaries include Eliahu Elath, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Louis Lips, chairman of the American Zionist council and Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the American section of the Jewish Agency for Palestine. Following the service, Mr. Frisch’s body will be taken to Indianapolis for burial.
1950: Judge Morris Rothenberg, National Chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, issued a report today that funds raised by American Jews “had made possible” the establishment” of 3,000 small businesses for the rehabilitation and resettlement of invalid immigrants in Israel at a cost of five million dollars.”
1951: The International Table Tennis Federation banned Egypt for refusing to play Israel. You have to give some points to the ping pong players. They were one of the few international organizations that has not knuckled under to the Arabs and their supporters.
1952: Birthdate of former U.S. Senator George Allen. According to Jewish law, Allen is Jewish since his mother was Jewish. This information surfaced during Allen’s campaign for re-election in 2006. He did not find out that his mother was Jewish until sometime after he became an adult. His mother had lived in
Tunisia
during World War II and seen her father hauled off by the authorities. She did not want her children to know about their Jewish heritage because she saw being Jewish as threat to their physical well-being. If it could happen in
Tunisia
, she reasoned, it could happen again, even in the
United States
,
1955(14th of Adar, 5715): Purim
1957:
Egypt
reopened the
Suez Canal
to minor shipping after the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai Peninsula. This was the last chapter in the Suez Crisis of 1956. Unfortunately the United Nations did not honor its guarantees to
Israel
and the result was the Six Days War of 1967
1959: George Lincoln Rockwell founded the American Nazi Party
1961: Birthdate of actress Camryn Manheim. She has appeared in such movies as “Bonfire of the Vanities” and television programs as “The Practice.” In 1999 she published her autobiography entitled Wake Up, I'm Fat!
1965: The Knesset passed the “Broadcasting Authority Law” which is the basis for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority’s operations. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was formed as an independent corporation responsible for all broadcasts in Israel and to the Diaspora. Until 1965, Kol
Israel
operated under the Office of the Prime Minister.
1969: During “The War of Attrition” a massive artillery barrage marked the start of the Egyptian campaign to destroy the Bar Lev Line. The plan was under the direct supervision of General Abdul Munim Riad, the chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces.
1971: Dorothy Fields was inducted into the Songwriters' Hall of Fame. She was the only woman in the first class of inductees. Two of her songs that are still played today are"I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby" and "On the Sunny Side of the Street." The song "The Way You Look Tonight" an Academy Award for "Best Song" in 1936
1977: First International Women’s Day as proclaimed by the United Nations.
1993(15th of Adar, 5753): Uri Magidish was stabbed to death by two Palestinians while working in a hothouse at Gan Or.
1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Picasso Papers by Rosalind Krauss, Mahler by Jonathan Carr and Conversations With Joseph Brodsky: A Poet's Journey Through the Twentieth Century
by Solomon Volkov.
2006: French born, American-Jewish businessman Roland Arnall begins serving as United States Ambassador to the Netherlands.
2006: Zubin Mehta, conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, is honored as a Dan David Laureate the annual awards ceremony at the Opera Garnier in Paris. The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of US$ 1 million each for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world.
2007: Haaretzreports the 2006 war in
Lebanon
triggered a baby boom. According to health maintenance organization statistics show that the number of women now in their fifth, sixth or seventh month of pregnancy was 35 percent higher than the figure a year ago.
2008: A scaled down London revival Jerry Herman’s and Harvey Fierstein’s “La Cage aux Folles” came to a close at the Menier Chocolate Factory
2008: Rosh Chodesh Adar II, 5768, First Day of Adar II
2008: Shabbat Shekalim, 5768
2008: (1 Adar II 5763) Yahrzeit for the passengers killed on Egged Bus #53 five years ago in Tel Aviv:
· Kmer Abu Khamed, 12, from Daliyat al Karmel
· Yuval Mendelevitch, 13, from Haifa
· Smadar Firstatter, 17, from Haifa
· Avigail Lietel, 14, from Haifa
· Asaf Tzur, 16, from Haifa
· Daniel Harush, 16 , from Safed
· Tom Hershko, 16, from Haifa, and his father-
· Motti Hershko, 41, from Haifa
· Tal Kehrmann, 17, from Haifa
· Elizabeth (Liz) Katzman, 17, from Haifa
· Meital Katav, 20, from Haifa
· Moran Shushan, 20, from Haifa
· Anatoly Biryakov, 20, from Haifa
· Be'eri Ovad, 21 , from Rosh Pina
· Eliyahu Laham, 22, from Haifa
· Miriam Atar, 27, from Haifa
· Mark Takash, 54, from Haifa
2009: In Chicago final performances of two plays by Lillian Hellman – “The Little Foxes” and “Scoundrel Time.”
2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Pictures at an Exhibition by Sara Houghteling, The Kindly Ones by Jonathan Littell, The Believers by Zoe Heller and the recently published paperback edition of The Forger by Cioma Schönhaus.
2009: In its on-line edition The Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Believers by Zoe Heller and Hunting Eichmann: How a Band of Survivors And a Young Spy Agency Chased Down The World's Most Notorious Nazi by Neal Bascomb.
2009: Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said today at the weekly cabinet meeting that "Iran has crossed the technological threshold" in its quest for nuclear arms.
2009: In articled entitled “They Lived in our midst: Area was haven for Nazi-era figures,” published today, Ron Grossman reports on Nazis who moved to Chicago after World War II. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-chicago-nazis-08-mar08,0,758025,print.story
2009: Israel advanced to the Davis Cup quarterfinals for the first time since 1987 after rallying to beat seven-time champion Sweden 3-2 today in a close series overshadowed by political protests. Harel Levy beat Andreas Vinciguerra 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 8-6 to decide the World Group first-round series in a near-empty arena in Malmo.Only about 300 special invitees were allowed to watch the match because city officials said they couldn't guarantee security at the venue. Critics, including the Israeli team, said
Malmo
was caving in to threats of v