April 18 In History
383: The Roman Emperors ended the exemption Jewish religious leaders enjoyed from compulsory public service. "The order which Jewish men flatter themselves with and and which gives them immunity from the compulsory public services of decurions shall be rescinded. Not even the clergy are free to deal with divine service until they have dealt with municipal service.”
1025: The Coronation of Bolesław Chrobry at Gniezno as King of Poland marks the beginning of Poland as an independent country. Boleslaw’s first contact with Jews may have come when he conquered the town of Przemysl in 1018. According to some records, the town was already home to a group of Jewish traders. Jews were welcome to settle in Poland at this because the rulers so them as an economic and cultural asset. Jews would find Poland a welcome refuge from the depredations that began with the Crusades 70 years after coronation of Poland’s first independent monarch.
1165 (4 Iyar, 4925): Maimon ben Maimon and his family leave Fez for Eretz Israel.
1279: Pedro III ordered his bailiffs to take control of the property of Jahuda Cavalleria until "proper heirs can be determined." Though in this case Jahuda's family ended up getting his estate, the Jews essentially owned nothing, and were essentially considered, "simply holding property for the Crown."
1389: A priest of Prague, hit with a few grains of sand by small Jewish boys playing in the street, insists that the Jewish community purposely plotted against him. Thousands were slaughtered, the synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed, and homes were pillaged. King Wenceslaus insisted that the responsibility rested with the Jews for venturing outside during Holy Week.
1521: At the Diet of Worms, German reformer Martin Luther proclaimed that a biblical foundation supported the theological position of his "Ninety-Five Theses." Luther ended his defense with the famous words: 'Here I stand! I can do nothing else! God help me! Amen.' Luther had a profound effect on Western history in general and Jewish history in particular. His inability to convert the Jews led him down the path of virulent anti-Semitism. At the same, his split with the Catholic Church led to centuries of religious warfare and conflict that found the Jews caught in the middle. Luther is not considered infallible by the church that bears his name. His attitude toward the Jews is not official doctrine of the Lutheran Church. In Germany, the Lutheran Church proved to be an early opponent of Hitler.
1590: Birthdate of Sultan Ahmed I of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign Solomon Eskenaz,i Avraham Levi Migas, and Naftali Ben Mansur all served as physicians at the palace. When Solomon Eskenazi passed away, his wife, Buha Eskenazi replaced. When Ahmed contracted small pox, a disease that was often fatal at this time, his regular physicians could not help. So he summoned Buha Eskenzai and she was able to save. The Sultan passed away in 1617.
1772: Birthdate of English economist David Ricardo. Along with Malthus and Adam Smith, Ricardo was one of the Big Three of Classical Economists. He was born and raised as a Sephardic Jew. However, he fell in love with a Unitarian. They eloped and he later converted to her religious beliefs.
1825(3oth of Nisan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1831: The University of Alabama is founded. The Psi chapter of ZBT founded in 1916 was the first Jewish organization on campus. A Hillel chapter was founded in 1934. According to recent figures the schools graduate and undergraduate population of 28,000 students includes 450 undergraduates and 75 grad students.
1848(15th of Nisan, 5608): As Jews observe the first day of Pesach, U.S. Forces under General Winfield Scott defeat the forces of Santa Anna at the Battle of Cerro Gordo during the Mexican-American War.
1857: Birthdate of famed defense attorney Clarence Darrow. One of Darrow’s most famous cases involved the Jewish thrill killers Leopold and Loeb. Anybody who has seen “Inherit the Wind” has a pretty good understanding of Darrow’s view of religion and the Bible. However, Darrow represented the ACLU and those it supported at a time when the cause of civil liberties was quite unpopular. This work with the ACLU gave him a shared interest with many Jewish leaders of his day. He was a foe of anti-Semitism as could be seen by his signing of “The Perils of Racial Prejudice” which denounced “The International Jew” which was funded by Henry Ford.
1866: Today, in Manhattan, Rabbi Adler laid the cornerstone for a new synagogue that will be the home of Adas Jeshurun. The building is located on 39th Street between 7th and 8thAvenues. A tin box was placed in the cornerstone. Among the items in the box were the Charter of the Congregation, a copy of the U.S. Constitution, a list of the congregational officers, copies of several papers including the New York World and the New York Times and photo of Moses Montefiore.
1873(21st of Nisan, 5633): The New York Times reported that “the closing holiday of the feast of the Passover commenced yesterday evening. Today and Saturday will be kept as strict holidays and at sundown tomorrow the festival will terminate.” [Editors Note: Based on the Times story, the Orthodox observance was considered normative since it is describing the 7thand 8th days of the festival.]
1875: The New York Times reported that “To-morrow evening the Israelites throughout the world will commence the celebration of the important festival of "Pesach," or Passover, also known as “Hag Hamatzos," or the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The festival was instituted by divine command to commemorate the miraculous deliverance of the Children of Israel from the captivity which, for hundreds of years, they had endured in the land of Egypt.”
1875: An article entitled “The Feast of Passover: Interesting Religious Ceremonies” describes the celebration of Pesach including the fact that during the Seder “any Jewish servants in the employ of” a Jewish family “have on these occasions the privilege of sitting at the table on a footing of perfect equality with their employers.”
1878(15thof Nisan, 5638): Pesach
1880: It was reported today that the Governor of Morocco has ordered the destruction all houses belong to Jews facing Mosques.
1880: An article published today about the nature of Armenians includes the following quip attributed to Lord Rothschild. “Shut up all the Jews and all the Armenians of the world together in one exchange and within half an hour the total wealth of the former will have passed into the hands of the latter.”
1881: In Indianapolis, Indiana, an unnamed Jewish citizen sent a basket of flowers to the Second Presbyterian Church with a note saying “that it was ‘a token of respect for the liberal sentiments that Reverend William A. Bartlett had expressed in a talk on “the Jewish question
1881: Birthdate of renowned painter Max Weber. Weber was born in Russia and moved to Brooklyn with his family at the age of ten. His early works were described as "fauvist and then cubist inspired." From 1917 on he began introducing Jewish subjects into his work. Starting in the 1920's his work became increasingly abstract and he included contemporary social themes as subjects for his painting. Weber's can be found in leading galleries throughout the United States including the Whitney Museum and the Jewish Museum in New York City. He passed away in 1961.
1884: Theodore Hoffman was hung in New York today after having been convicted of murdering Zife Marks, a Jewish peddler whom he had robbed on the road near Port Chester.
1886: In New York City, over 500 women came to Mrs. Rosendorff’s home on Eldridge Street to receive aid for the upcoming holiday of Passover. Each of the women, many of whom were accompanied by children of all ages, was given a yellow ticket which they could exchange for supplies at local meat market. Mrs. Rosendorf is active in many causes designed to assist the less fortunate including membership in the Downtown Hebrew Ladies’ Benevolent Society and the Passover Relief Society while serving as the Directress of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews.
1886: It was reported today that Lawrence Oliphant has discovered to ruined synagogues on the northeast shores of the Sea of Galilee.
1890: Alfred Dreyfus married Lucie Hadamard.
1892(21st of Nisan, 5652): Seventh day of Pesach
1892(21st of Nisan, 5652): Seventy year old Isaac Hirsch passed away while visiting his daughter Mrs. Selig Meinhold in New York City. A native of Germany, he had lived in Kingston, NY for the last 43 years where he was a successful paper dealer. Hirsch had served in the same army company as famed reformer and political leader Carl Schurz.
1892: The newly dedicated home of Temple Israel in Brooklyn was built in the style of “the famous Church of St. Sophia in Constantinople.” The ground on which the building sits cost $20,000 and the building itself cost $75,000. A.H. Geismar is the rabbi of what is considered to be Brooklyn’s leading reform congregation.
1893 (2nd of Iyar, 5653): Abraham Pereira Mendes, a prominent English Rabbi, author and the father of two other Rabbis, Frederick de Sola Mendes and Henry Pereira Mendes, passed away.
1893: Birthdate of Jessaja Granach, the native of Galicia who became the popular German film actor Alexander Granach during the 1920’s and early 1930’s. Forced to flee with the rise of Hitler he spent the last years of his career playing “German bad guys” in several Hollywood films.
1895: Dr. Maurice H. Harris delivered a lectured on Shylock at a meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1895: As the price of beef continues to rise, it was reported that kosher butchers are charging fourteen cents a pound for chuck steak, a popular cut of meat that had had been selling for five or six cents a pound. This has forced many of those living on the lower east side to turn to fish and eggs which are more plentiful and less expensive.
1896: The late Leonard Friedman made the following bequests: $2,500 each to the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum and Mt. Sinai Hospital; $1,500 to the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids; $1,000 each to the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum and Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1897: Israel Zangwill, author of Children of the Ghetto will deliver a lecture today in Jerusalem
1897(16th of Nisan, 5657): Second day of Pesach
1897(16thof Nisan, 5657): Rabbi Rudolph Grossman will officiate at the funeral of August Seligman who died of pneumonia. Interment will be in Cypress Hills Cemetery
1897: An article “Making Passover Bread” published today reports that three companies in New York “practically monopolize” the manufacture and sale of Matzoth in the United States. While Matzah is baked in other cities, many Jews rely on the trustworthiness of the New York firms to manufacture a ritually acceptable product. The demand has gotten to be so great that the firms start baking right after New Year’s in January and do not start until the start of Pesach.
1898: Approximately 5,000 people attended the opening night of a fair at the Grand Central Palace which is being held “for the benefit of the building fund of Congregation Adath Israel of West Harlem.”
1900: In his quest for governmental support for the creation of Jewish home, Herzl met with Grossherzog Friedrich of Baden receives Herzl. The Germans are reluctant to get involved but there is hope that the Austrians will help him get a an audience with the Sultan.
1900: The first public meeting of the Sabbath Observance Association of New York was held this evening at Shearith Israel in New York. The newly formed group already has at 300 members. It was formed to combat what its leaders view as a growing disregard for the observance of the Sabbath. According to two of the speakers, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Dr. Mark Blumenthal, the observance of the Sabbath “has preserved Judaism though all the centuries of persecution” and has made “the Jewish home and the Jewish woman an emblem of sanctity and purity which has been held up to the admiration of people of every religion.”
1901: Birthdate of lyricist Al Lewis whose most famous work was “Blueberry Hill.” Written in 1940, it gained everlasting fame when it was recorded by Fats Domino in 1956.
1902 :(11th of Nissan, 5662), Birthdate of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, known as “the Rebbe” who was the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe. [Editor’s Note: There is no way that any entry here could even begin to do justice to his gifts and accomplishments but readers are encouraged to the innumerable sources available to examine the life of this indomitable figures as well as to read his writings. His most famous and long lasting impact may be his outreach program. Anybody who has spent time with one of his “Lamplighters” such as Rabbi Pinchas Ciment will understand the meaning of this statement.]
1903: Apparently “the bread of affliction” has taken on a new cache since The New York Times reports that “Matzo, or Passover bread” can be found in small piles in the city’s “bon-bon shops.”
1905: Today is the last day on which the First American Romanian Congregation is scheduled to distribute Matzoth to the poor Jews living on the Lower East Side.
1906: “San Francisco and the entire Bay Area was struck by an epic earthquake, followed by a fire which lasted almost three days and utterly destroyed most of the city. Consumed in the flames were more than 3500 souls and hundreds of millions of dollars in buildings and other property. The Jewish community lost Emanu-El's great Sutter Street synagogue building, which burned to the ground. In addition, much of Adolph Sutro's collection of Hebraica and documents of the Spanish era in California were destroyed. Among the Jewish institutions that responded to the city-wide emergency was Mount Zion Hospital, which was safely located beyond the perimeter of the fire in the Western Addition. Jewish doctors and nurses worked tirelessly in the days after the conflagration to help injured citizens. In Golden Gate Park, where tens of thousands of homeless citizens were temporarily housed in tents for months following the conflagration, a Jewish couple named Victor and Anna Rosenbaum won a city-wide award for having the tidiest domicile. Jewish merchants played a leading role in getting San Francisco back on its feet, setting up a new commercial district along Van Ness Avenue and making Fillmore Street a substitute for Market Street for several years while the Downtown District was rebuilt. The Chicago architect Daniel Burnham had proposed a progressive new street design for San Francisco, modeled after those of Paris and Washington D.C. But Jewish and other merchants were anxious to get back in business and the Burnham Plan was dropped. San Francisco's rabbis were tireless in their relief efforts, and the Jewish community pledged large sums to the city's reconstruction, figuring prominently in its fulfillment. The reconstruction of the San Francisco was also symbolized by the erection in 1912-1915 of a magnificent new Beaux Art neo-Renaissance City Hall, designed by Arthur Brown, who would later design the new Congregation Emanu-El in 1925. The legendary, long-serving Mayor "Sunny Jim" Rolph would attend and speak at the dedications of both buildings.
1907: In San Francisco Jewish businessmen were among those celebrating this morning when the Ferry Building clock which had stopped at 5:12 a.m. a year earlier was started up again
1911: Birthdate of Maurice Goldhaber, a physicist who delved into the intricacies of atoms and headed the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island for more than a decade. (As reported by Kenneth Chang)
1913: “Jacob Furth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Seattle National Bank” was found guilty today of aiding and abetting in a conspiracy to accept deposits from a banker whose bank he knew to be insolvent.
1921(10th of Nisan, 5681): French author and politician Joseph Reinach passed away. Born in Paris in 1856, he had two famous siblings - Salomon and Theodore – who would become well-known in the field of archaeology. After studying at the Lycée Condorcet he was called to the bar in 1887. He attracted the attention of Léon Gambetta by writing articles on Balkan politics for the Revue bleue, and joined the staff of the Republique française. In Gambetta's grand ministère, Reinach was his secretary, and drew up the case for a partial revision of the US Constitution and for the electoral method known as the Scrutin de Liste. In the République française he waged a steady war against General Boulanger which resulted in three duels, one with Edmond Magnier and two with Paul Déroulède. Between 1889 and 1898 he sat for the Chamber of Deputies for Digne. As a member of the army commission, reporter of the budgets of the ministries of the interior and of agriculture he brought forward bills for the better treatment of the insane, for the establishment of a colonial ministry, for the taxation of alcohol, and for the reparation of judicial errors. He advocated complete freedom of the theatre and the press, the abolition of public executions, and denounced political corruption of all kinds. However, he was indirectly implicated in the Panama scandals through his father-in-law, Baron de Reinach; as soon as he learned that he was benefiting by fraud, he made appropriate restitution. Reinach is best known as the champion of Alfred Dreyfus. At the time of the original trial he attempted to secure a public hearing of the case, and in 1897 he allied himself with Scheurer-Kestner to demand its revision. He denounced in the Siècle the Henry forgery, and Esterhazy's complicity. His articles in the Siècle aroused the fury of the anti-Dreyfus party, especially as Reinach was himself a Jew and accused by some of taking up Dreyfus's defence on racial grounds. He lost his seat in the Chamber of Deputies, and, having refused to fight Henri Rochefort, eventually brought an action for libel against him. Finally, when the "Dreyfus affair" was resolved and Dreyfus was pardoned, he wrote a history of the case, completed in 1905. In 1906 Reinach was re-elected for Digne. In that year he became a member of the commission of the national archives, and the following year a member of the council on prisons. Reinach was a prolific writer on political subjects. On Gambetta he published three volumes in 1884, and he also edited his speeches. For the criticisms of the anti-Dreyfusard press see Henri Dutrait-Croyon, Joseph Reinach, historien (Paris, 1905), a violent criticism in detail of Reinach's history of the "affaire."
1931(1stof Iyar, 5691): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1933: The Jerusalem YMCA, directly opposite the King David Hotel, was opened by Field Marshall Lord Allenby.
1934: Reverend Dietrich Bonhoeffer appears to recognize the threat posed by the Nazis when he writes to a friend today that National Socialism has “brought an end to the church in Germany.’
1935: Birthdate of Paul A Rothschild record producer who helped to build the Elektra record label.
1938: Today, Hadassah reported contributions totaling $60000 and pledges amounting to an additional $20000 had been made to the Youth Aliyah Fund
1938: The Palestine Post reported that 16 Arab terrorists, including their leader, Aref Abdul Razzak, had been killed in a battle and scores were wounded. The fighting between the British soldiers and Arab terrorists lasted more than six hours in the notorious "Triangle of Terror" - the hilly region between Nablus, Tulkarm and Jenin. Four Arab prisoners were taken. Only one British soldier was slightly wounded.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that four young Jews, Joseph Rotblatt, 19, Abraham Danielli, 23, David Ben Gaon, 25, and Ze'ev Anav, 24, died in an Arab terrorists ambush attack, while returning in a taxi from Hanita to Nahariya.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that a bomb was thrown into an Arab cafe in Haifa, one person had been killed and eight wounded.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that Eliahu Dawer, 58, was hurt by a bomb thrown at him while leaving the synagogue in Rehov Mea She'arim in Jerusalem.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that the new high commissioner, Sir Harold MacMichael, paid his first official visit to Tel Aviv.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that the public and the press were highly enthusiastic about the visit and the series of festive concerts conducted by Arthuro Toscanini.
1938: Superman, the creation of two Jews from Cleveland – Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster – appeared for the first time in Action Comics No. 1
1939: Anti-Jewish legislation in Slovakia defines Jews by religion.
1939(29th of Nisan, 5699): Seventy-seven year old Sir Matthew Nathan a British soldier and diplomat who “served as the Governor of Sierra Leone, Gold Coast, Hong Kong, Natal and Queensland” passed away in Somerset, UK.
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1940: Birthdate of Joseph Leonard Goldstein, American molecular geneticist. Born in Sumter, South Carolina, Goldstein received his M.D. from University of Texas at Dallas, 1966. He worked as a biomedical researcher at the National Heart Institute and Washington University before returning to the Southwestern Medical School of the University of Texas at Dallas as professor. Goldstein and colleague Michael S. Brown researched cholesterol metabolism and discovered that human cells have low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptors that extract cholesterol from the bloodstream. The lack of sufficient LDL receptors is a major cause of cholesterol-related diseases. In 1985, Goldstein and Brown were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
1941: During World War II, the first British troops from India arrived at Basra. They were part of the military force that would remove the recently installed pro-Nazi government in Iraq. The rise of the pro-Nazi Arab government and the subsequent military action taken by the British would literally have deadly consequences for the ancient Iraqi Jewish community
1942(1st of Iyar, 5702): In the Warsaw Ghetto, 52 people on a wanted list were dragged from their beds and killed. This will become known as "The Night of Blood."
1942: One thousand Jews who left the Theresienstadt Ghetto in Czechoslovakia, by train for a ghetto at Rejowiec, Poland, were diverted to the death camp at Sobibór
1942(1st of Iyar, 5702): The death camp at Sobibor went into operation. To mark the opening 2,500 Jews from Zamosc were transported there and sent to their deaths. Only one was chosen to work and lived.
1942: Pierre Laval became Prime Minister of the French government of Vichy. The Vichy Government was really little more than a German puppet state. Laval like many associated with Vichy was an anti-Semite who was only too willing to turn French Jews over to the Nazis even before they asked for them. Laval was executed at the end of the war.
1943: Word leaked into the Warsaw Ghetto of German plans for the ghetto's destruction. This information enabled the ZOB leadership to marshal their pathetic defense force to meet the oncoming might of the Nazi military machine.
1944: Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins' ballet "Fancy Free" premiered in New York City
1945: General Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces telephoned Winston Churchill to describe the horrific sights that greeted his troops when they entered a concentration camp at Ohrdruf near Gotha.
1945: A list of 801 Jews, that came to be known as “Schindler’s List” was typed today. The people whose names were listed on the 13 page document were spared from a trip to the gas chamber. In 2009, employees at the New South Wales State Library found the list in boxes containing German news clippings and manuscripts by the Australian author Thomas Keneally, who wrote the bestselling novel “Schindler's Ark,” which was the basis of the famous film about Oskar Schindler and his efforts to save Jews during the Holocaust.
1945: Robert Limpert, the leader of the anti-Nazi underground in Ansbach, was hung by the Germans for his attempts to get the garrison to surrender to the advancing Allied armies.
1946: The League of Nations dissolved itself. Its services, mandates, and property were transferred to the newly founded United Nations. Among the mandates transferred was the British Mandate of Palestine. Dealing with the issues of Palestine would become one of the first major tests for the newly formed UN. Within two years, the Mandatory Government of Palestine created by the defunct League of Nations would give way to the State of Israel and Arab zone governed by a variety of nations and groups including Egypt, Jordan and the PA.
1947 (5th of Iyar, 5707): Natan Alterman, Israeli poet, playwright, and future winner of the Biliak and Israel prizes wrote,
“Yes, the death cell soared that night.
At its sight
The heads of a conquering nation
Caught y the light, like a mouse were drawn back into their holes
Like a thief caught in the act.”
1947: Birthdate of Karen Lehmann, who as Kathy Acker gained fame as author before her death in 1997. She was the author of “Blood and Guts In High School”
1947 (5th of Iyar, 5707): Boxer Benny Leonard passed away at the age of 51. Born in 1896, Leonard was the lightweight boxing champion from 1917 to 1925. This was the heyday of Jewish pugilism with as many as seven Jews holding the championship of different weight categories. Leonard lost his fortune in the Stock Market Crash.
1948: Following a failed attempt by the Arab Liberation Army to isolate the Jewish community in the lower quarter of the town of Tiberius, the Haganah went on the offensive and secured the town for the as yet un-born Jewish state. Most of the local Arab population left with the assistance of British troops and crossed into Transjordan. The events in Tiberius are part of a tragedy that has been repeated over the decades in Eretz Israel. Prior to the appearance of the Arab Liberation Army, the local Jewish and Arab populations had worked out a pattern of peaceful co-existence. Today, commentators would say that outside militants sabotaged local efforts to maintain communal harmony
1949(19th of Nisan, 5709): Leonard Bloomfield passed away. Born in 1887, Bloomfield was a graduate of Harvard and the University of Wisconsin. He began his career as Professor of German. But he gained his greatest fame as a linguist, a field populated by a disproportionate number of Jews. His most famous work was “Introduction to Language” which was re-titled “Language” in subsequent editions. For many decades, most linguists considered themselves disciples of Bloomfield even if they had not studied with him.
1953: Birthdate of Actor Rick Moranis, star of Honey I Shrunk the Kids.
1953: A revival of the Rogers and Hart hit musical "Pal Joey" comes to a close.
1954: Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser seized power and became head of the government of Egypt. Nasser had masterminded the coup that overthrown King Farouk. Up until now Nasser had been content to play the role of the “power behind the throne” in the new government created by the military. At this point in time, he was ready to complete his plans and make himself supreme ruler of Egypt. He would never succeed in his ultimate goals of destroying Israel which would be his steppingstone to creating a Pan Arab “nation” that would stretch eastward from Morocco.
1955: Birthdate of banker Amschel Rothschild.
1955(26th of Nisan, 5715): Albert Einstein passed away. Born in Ulm, Germany in 1879, Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 but not for relativity rather for his 1905 work on the photoelectric effect. In 1920 Einstein's lectures in Berlin were disrupted by demonstrations which, although officially denied, were almost certainly anti-Jewish. During 1921 Einstein made his first visit to the United States. His main reason was to raise funds for the planned Hebrew University of Jerusalem. However he received the Barnard Medal during his visit and lectured several times on relativity. During 1923 he visited Palestine for the first time. Einstein had planned to come to Princeton in 1932 as visiting lecturer. With the rise of Hitler, this became a permanent position. Einstein sent his famous letter to Roosevelt in 1939 warning of the impact of the German's developing the Atomic Bomb. The result was the Manhattan Project. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940. In 1952, Einstein was offered the Presidency of the state of Israel, an offer he declined, in part due to his failing health. Einstein left his scientific papers to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a university which he had raised funds for on his first visit to the USA, served as a governor of the university from 1925 to 1928. The week before he died, Einstein wrote to Bertrand Russell joining him in call for all nations to give up nuclear weapons. Einstein saw himself as an advocate for international peace and understanding, not withstanding his support for building the bomb during World War II.
1954(15th of Nisan, 5714): The Levin family observed its first Pesach as residence of Washington, DC
1961: Birthdate of columnist John Podhoretz
1963(24th of Nisan, 5723): Former New York Congressman Meyer Jacobstein passed away.
1964: Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to strike out the side on 9 pitches
1964(6th of Iyar, 5724): Playwright and author Ben Hecht passed away. Born in 1893 in New York to Russian Jewish parents, Hecht moved to Wisconsin where he went to high school. Hecht then moved to Chicago where he worked for several newspapers. His experiences provided the source material for his most famous work, The Front Page which has been made into a movie on three different occasions. Hecht's criticism of British policies in Palestine and support of the Jewish resistance movement caused that his credits were removed from all films shown in England for some years. In his honor an illegal immigrant ship was named "Ben Hecht". A passionate believer in an independent Jewish state, Hecht advocated swift action to attain this. Hecht passed away at the age of 71.
1965(16th of Nisan, 5725): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of Omer
1965: A funeral will be held this morning in New York City for “Mendel Osherowtich, a prolific writer of books in Yiddish and a former city editor of The Jewish Daily Forward.”
1966: A fire was discovered at the Jewish Theological Seminary Library when smoke was seen pouring from one of the small upper windows of the JTS library tower at Broadway and 122nd Street in New York City.
1972: Birthdate of film director Eli Roth.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that in accordance with the Cabinet's decision, the foreign minister, Moshe Dayan, ordered Israeli envoys to explain that Israel regards the UN Security Council's Resolution 242 as a basis of negotiations with all Arab States, including Jordan.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that four soldiers were wounded when an Arab assailant threw a Molotov cocktail into a bus on the northern outskirts of Jerusalem.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that “Holocaust,” NBC's new nine-and-half-hour TV drama series was reported to have captured the imagination of the American public.
1982: “Two Decades of a Russian Giant” featured reviews of “Tolstoi in the Sixties” by Boris Eikenbaum and “Tolstoi in the Seventies” by Boris Eikenbaum.
1983(5th of Iyar, 5743): Yom HaAtzma'ut
1983: Hundreds of Polish policemen, gathering around the spot from which 400,000 Jews were sent to Nazi death camps in World War II, today blocked an unofficial march called to mark the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto uprising. But more than 1,000 people gathered anyway at a nearby monument.
1984(16thof Nisan, 5744): Second day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer’
1984(16thof Nisan, 5744): Seventy-eight year old French Torskyite Pierre Frank passed away.
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