April 26 In History
121: Birthdate of Marcus Aurelius the Roman Emperor who described the Jews as being “stinking and tumultuous.”
1478: The Pazzi attack Lorenzo de' Medici and killed his brother Giuliano during High Mass in the Duomo of Florence. The Pazzi were rivals of the Medici family. Lorenzo’s death was a setback for the Jewish community of Florence. The Pazzi’s big claim to fame was their participation in the First Crusade. On the other hand Lorenzo de’ Medici had defended the Jewish community from expulsions and from the aftermath of the anti-Semitic sermons given by Bernardino da Feltre in which he whipped up the masses into a violent frenzy by demonizing the Jews as the Christ Killers.
1654: The Jews were expelled from Brazil. The city of Recife had been taken from the Dutch by the Portuguese. As a Dutch city, Recife had been hospitable to the Jews. But Portugal meant the Inquisition, forced conversion or exile. It was the Jews fleeing from Recife who ended up in New Amsterdam later in 1654 and thus began what would become the American Jewish Community.
Professor Arnold Witzner, author of “Jews In Colonial Brazil” the Jews could have remained in Brazil if they had converted. They chose not to which meant that “all openly professing Jews left Brazil” prior to this date. “A total of 16 ships transported the Jewish and Dutch colonists from Recife. Some claim as many as 5,000 Jews left Recife at this time. Most of these Jews returned to Holland; some relocated to colonies in the Caribbean. Twenty-three of the Jews aboard one of these ships eventually arrived in New Amsterdam (New Netherland/New York) on September 7, 1654. There are at least two versions of the story of how these Jews came to settle in New Amsterdam. One version is that the original ship was captured by pirates at one point. The Jews were subsequently taken aboard the French ship the St. Charles, and this ship brought them to New Amsterdam. According to Wiznitzer, there was no capture by pirates. Instead, the Jews were driven by adverse winds to Spanish-held Jamaica. From there they boarded the small French frigate, Sainte Catherine, which took them to New Amsterdam.”
1655: The directors of the Dutch West India Co. refused to grant permission to Governor Peter Stuyvesant to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam. This put an end to official efforts to bar Jews from North America. The Dutch West India Co. also specified that no restriction of trade be imposed upon the Jewish settlers. Thus it guaranteed not only the physical inviolability of the Jews but also their orderly economic development and progress. The only condition contained in the directive provided that "the poor among them shall be supported by their own nation." This gave further impetus to the growth of Jewish philanthropy in the New World.
1721: A massive earthquake devastates Tabriz. There are records of a Jewish community in Tabriz dating back to the 12th century. The community must have been large and culturally diverse since it included bath Rabbanites and Karaites. In 1830, the Jews of Tabriz were massacred during a rise of Islamic fervor that also included the forced conversions of the Jews in Shiraz and Mashhad.
1737:Without any warning, the King of Prussia ordered that the decree limiting the number of Jewish families allowed to live in Berlin be enforced. According to a document entitled “General privilege and regulations to be observed concerning the Jews in his Majesty's dominions,” issued in 1730, the King had granted the Jews the right to settle 120 families in the capital city. By 1737, the number of Jewish families had risen to 180 and the king wanted these additional sixty families to depart even if it meant a loss of tax revenue.
1774(15th of Iyar, 5534): Moses Lindo passed away. Born in England he moved to South Carolina where he became a leading planter and merchant. “He did more than any other individual to encourage and advance the indigo industry of the colony, among the most important industries in South Carolina in prerevolutionary times. His transactions were enormous, and in 1762 he was appointed "Surveyor and Inspector-General of Indigo, Drugs, and Dyes," an office he resigned in 1772.
1826: Birthdate of Civil War Veteran and early homesteader Daniel Freeman. Freeman was not Jewish. He was the successful plaintiff in one of the first landmark cases that declared Bible reading and praying in public schools were unconstitutional. Most of the landmark cases involving separation of church and state were brought by non-Jews.
1853: Following a recent vote by the First Prussian Chamber to exclude Jews from public employment, today, thousands of Prussian citizens including Alexander Von Humboldt, presented petitions to the Second Chamber urging it to reject the action of the First Chamber and adopt legislation allowing Jews to hold “civil offices” and allowing everybody full freedom of religious opinion.
1856: In Philadelphia, sixteen German boys have been charged with savagely beating a boy named Bernadotte Glischman. After attacking him a barroom, they took the boy to his room where they stuck him with pins and covered his face with a pillow so he could not cry out. According to the boy, he was attacked because he was Jewish and the other boys were Catholics who wanted to punish him because the Jews crucified Christ. The boys were being held with bail being set at $250 for 15 of them and $800 for the remaing defendant.
1859: Odo William Leopold Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill, a British diplomat serving in Italy, wrote to Sir Moses Montefiore describing the progress he has made in attempt to present a petition to the Pope concerning the kidnapping of Edgaro Martoro
1860: As of 6 o’clock this evening the body of the unknown man, who was supposed to have committed suicide by shooting himself at Weehawken, NJ, had not been identified. For reasons that have not been disclosed, authorities believe him to be a German Jew from New York.
1861: The Jewish Messenger publishes the following editorial entitled “Stand by the Flag” which demonstrates the patriotic, pro-Union beliefs held by a majority of Jews living in the United States.
“It is almost a work of supererogation for us to call upon our readers to be loyal to the Union, which protects them. It is needless for us to say anything to induce them to proclaim their devotion to the land in which they live. But we desire our voice, too, to be heard at this time, joining in the hearty and spontaneous shout ascending from the whole American people, to stand by the stars and stripes!
“Already we hear of many of our young friends taking up arms in defense of their country, pledging themselves to assist in maintaining inviolate its integrity, and ready to respond, if need be, with their lives, to the call of the constituted authorities, in the cause of law and order.
The time is past for forbearance and temporizing. We are now to act, and sure we are, that those whom these words may reach, will not be backward in realizing the duty that is incumbent upon them—to rally as one man for the Union and the Constitution. The Union—which binds together, by so many sacred ties, millions of free men—which extends its hearty invitation to the oppressed of all nations, to come and be sheltered beneath its protecting wings—shall it be severed, destroyed, or even impaired? Shall those, whom we once called our brethren, be permitted to overthrow the fabric reared by the noble patriots of the revolution, and cemented with their blood?
And the Constitution—guaranteeing to all, the free exercise of their religious opinions—extending to all, liberty, justice, and equality—the pride of Americans, the admiration of the world—shall that Constitution be subverted, and anarchy usurp the place of a sound, safe and stable government, deriving its authority from the consent of the American People?
“The voice of millions yet unborn, cried out, 'Forbid it, Heaven!' The voice of the American people declares in tones not to be misunderstood: `It shall not be!'
“Then stand by the Flag! What death can be as glorious as that of the patriot, surrendering his life in defense of his country—pouring forth his blood on the battlefield—to live forever in the hearts of a grateful people. Whether native or foreign born, Gentile or Israelite, stand by it, and you are doing your duty, and acting well your part on the side of liberty and justice!
“We know full well that our young men, who have left their homes to respond to the call of their country, will, on their return, render a good account of themselves. We have no fears for their bravery and patriotism. Our prayers are with them. G-d speed them on the work which they have volunteered to perform!
“And if they fall—if, fighting in defense of that flag, they meet a glorious and honorable death, their last moments will be cheered by the consciousness that they have done their duty, and grateful America will not forget her sons, who have yielded up their spirit in her behalf.
And as for us, who do not accompany them on their noble journey, our duty too, is plain. We are to pray to Heaven that He may restore them soon again to our midst, after having assisted in vindicating the honor and integrity of the flag they have sworn to defend; and we are to pledge ourselves to assume for them, should they fall in their country's cause, the obligation of supporting those whom their departure leaves unprotected. Such is our duty. Let them, and all of us, renew our solemn oath that, whatever may betide, we will be true to the Union and the Constitution, and STAND BY THE FLAG.”
1865: Seventeen year old Henry Schneeberger, a student at Columbia was invited to deliver his first sermon at Rodeph Shalom in New York. His discourse provoked a resounding round of approval from the congregants. (This may be an incorrect date since a source claims that this sermon was delivered on the second day of Pesach which fell on April 12)
1865: Reuters, the news service created by Paul Julius Reuter, brought news of President Abraham Lincoln's assassination in the United States to the European public, making it the first news service to provide the information to those on the eastern side of the Atlantic Ocean.
1865: Edward Storm, a resident of Greenville, MS, was discharged from the Confederate Army having served in Company D of the 28th Mississippi Cavalry.
1868: Today’s European Affairs column reported that “Thirty-one radical members of the Rumanian House have proposed the most Draconic laws against theJews, which, if put into effect, would result in an absolute expulsion of the unfortunate Hebrews. England, Prussia and other Governments havemade the most energetic protests agains such foolish measures, and the cry of indignation thoughout Europe has already had so much effect as to cause of the signers of the bill to withdraw their signatures from it.”
1869: Public school teachers and “scholars” living in and around New York City have reportedly been swindled by “an individual calling himself a converted Jew” and “a long-time resident of Palestine. He promises to take their photographs, asks that he be paid in advance and promises to return with the pictures “in a day or two” Needless to say, he has not been returning with the pictures
1871: It was reported today that Jacob Cohen is the publisher of a new Jewish newspaper, The Hebrew News. The paper will be published weekly in Hebrew and English.
1880: A letter from St. Petersburg that was first published in the London Times takes issue with the contention that the Jews dominate the Nihilist and revolutionary movements in Russia.
1881: Pogroms that have been spreading across the Ukraine, reached Kiev.
1882: It was reported that the “poorer Jews” in Odessa, Russia, are marrying at the rate of 150 couples per day. There is a belief that if they are married, they will be given free land in either the United States or Palestine.
1883(19th of Nisan, 5643): Rabbi Solomon Reimann was crushed to death tonight when he attempted to jump from a ferry on to the dock. The distance was only three feet, but no reason was given as to why he attempted the jump in the first place. He leaves behind a widow and four adult children
1884(1st of Iyar, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Iyar
1884: A motion to grant convicted killer Edward Brice was denied today in Washington, DC. The motion was based on the grounds “that one of the jurors” who was Jewish took the oath on a Christian Bible instead of on the Five Books of Moses. The judge said that the objection should have been raised at the time of the swearing in and refused to consider it.
1885: Phoenix, AZ suffers one of its worst fires during Emil Ganz’s first term as the city’s mayor. Among the buildings burnt was the Bank Exchange Hotel which was owned by native of Germany who come to Phoenix by way of Georgia.
1885:”Archaelogical Frauds In Palestine,” published today recounts the various sales of an inscription written in Greek that had supposedly been found in “an old Arab house near the Mosque of Omar.” The inscription that read “Let no foreigner pass within the precincts of the temple. Anyone found so doing will be guilty of his own death.” Those who sold the relic claimed that it was a sign posted in the precincts of Herod’s Temple.
1888: In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, five Jews from two different synagogues faced a preliminary hearing on charges that they were leading a boycott of a Jewish butcher named Jacob Weisfeld. Weisfeld claimed that the two congregations were boycotting his business because he refused to pay a tax of one half a cent per pound of meat sold to the rabbis. Weisfeld claimed that his refusal led to a whispering campaign that claimed his meat was not kosher. The defense tried to prove that Weisfeld, was in fact, guilty of not slaughtering his meat in a kosher fashion.
1889: Birthdate of Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein, an Austrian born professor of philosophy at Cambridge University. Wittgenstein was not Jewish but his family was up until the beginning of the 19th Century when the road to wealth and social acceptability was opened to those who would trade the Magen David for the Sign of the Cross.
1889: The Coroner’s Inquest that is trying to determine the cause of death a young Jewish boy named Tobias Hipper entered into its second day. Dr. Stern and Deputy Coroner Jenkins have already testified as to the manner of death and two other witnesses have identified a couple of neighborhood boys as the culprits.
1890: Henry Rice, President of the United Hebrew Charities, testified before the sub-committee of the Joint Congressional Committee on Immigration.
1893: It was reported today the Prussian Supreme Court has declared “that to exclude Jews, qua Jews, from a Freemasons’ Lodge would be a violation of the Prussian Constitution. The case stemmed from the decision of a newly formed lodge of Freemasons to admit Jews which had been objected to other lodges that did not admit Jews because the “anti-Semitic members” did not want “to fraternize with Jews.”
1895: Mayor Strong held hearings on the Hebrew Benevolent Home Bill which has already been passed by both branches of the Legislature.
1896: Birthdate of Dr. Jules Stein. Stein was an ophthalmologist by training. But he was also the founder of MCA which became the leading talent agency in the United States. Stein joined forces with another Jew name Lou Wasserman to create the Universal entertainment empire. Stein used his fortune for humanitarian purposes primarily in the field of research and treatment related to the eye. He passed away in 1981 leaving behind such legacies as the National Eye Institute and the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA.
1896: It was reported today that Great Britain has “a national concern” as a result of the death of Baron de Hirsch’s death. The Baron had large investments in England and the death duties owed on these properties would “yield enough revenue to build three or four new” battleships which would help the UK in its naval race with Germany. However, the Baron is an Austrian and the will be probated in Vienna. The fear is that this will make it difficult if not impossible for the British to collect any taxes on the estate.
1896: A betrothal reception for Lucien L. Bonheur and Amelia Simon was held today at the home of Miss Simon’s parents on East 56th Street.
1896: David Wolffsohn visited Herzl and offers his cooperation. Wolffsohn had been a supporter of groups seeking to establish a Jewish homeland in Eretz Israel. Wolfffsohn provided Herzl with an entree into the German Hovevei Zion, Lover’s of Zion, organizations.
1896: In the report of the Committee on the Hebrew Technical Institute which was presented at the meeting of Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society the necessity of creating a fund to provide assistance for the boys who were graduating but who had not started working was called to the trustees attention.
1897: According to a report by Superintendent Herman Baar published today, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum is caring for 823 children. Of these, 350 children attend Grammar School No. 43 while the balance attend classes at the asylum.
1903: Herzl has a meeting with representatives of the I.A.C. in Paris who had read the report about the expedition to the Sinai Peninsula. The I.A.C. is the Jewish Colonization Association which was funded by Baron de Hirsch. The I.A.C. was established to set up agricultural settlements in places like Argentina, Brazil, Canada and the United States. The settlements were supposed to provide places of refuge for Romanian and Russian Jews. Herzl sought enlist I.A.C. support for the establishment of agricultural colonies in the Sinai which would be a stepping stone to a Jewish home in Eretz Israel.
1903: According to an article in today’s edition of the New York Daily Tribune,“the gang that would become the Eastman Gang (named for Monk Eastman, the turn-of the-century gangster who was its leader) “first came on the scene in the early 1890s. They started out in the notorious Corlear's Hook section of the lower east side on Rivington street in the vicinity of Mangin and Goerck streets. Another gang of the era, the Short-Tail Gang, had its headquarters in this same area, making it entirely possible that the Eastmans grew out of the Short-Tails. Originally composed of gentiles from the local slums, the gang quickly became almost exclusively Jewish with the influx of Jewish immigrants into lower Manhattan and nearby Brooklyn. When Monk Eastman himself entered the gang is unknown, but the fact that several newspaper articles refer to him as hailing from Corlear's Hook indicates that it was probably during this early era”.
1913: Mary Phagan comes to the pencil factory where she is given her pay for the week by Leo Frank. According to the testimony in the trial, Leo Frank was the last person to see Mary Phagan alive.
1914:“Liberal Judaism here and abroad is gaining ground, according to Dr. Maurice H. Harris, President of the Eastern Council of Reformed Rabbis, which opened its Fifth Assembly tonight at Temple Emanu-El, Fifth Avenue and Forty-Third Street. He said that an international propaganda for Liberal Judaism had been started and that a conference on the plan and scope of the movement probably would be arranged in Europe in 1916.”
1914: Birthdate of author and Pulitzer Prize winner, Bernard Malamud. While many think of him as a Jewish writer, one of his biggest hits, which Robert Redford later turned into a hit movie was The Natural - a book about baseball that has no Jewish characters. Malamud passed away in 1986.
1915: As a corporal in the 1st Battalion, The Manchester Regiment, Issy Smith was engaged in the Second Battle of Ypres. Today, Smith, on his own initiative, recovered wounded soldiers while exposed to sustained fire and attended to them "with the greatest devotion to duty regardless of personal risk". In August, 1915, Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for his brave behavior.
1917: As thousands of Jews fight for the Kaiser, “The Deutschvölkische Blätter, official publication of the anti-Semitic Deutschvölkische Partei (DVP), announced that it's time to declare war on Jews openly because of the Jewish opposition to World War I. Ferdinand Werner, chairman of the Deutschvölkische Partei spoke to the Reichstag and demanded that the government pass laws "against the Jewish race, which agitates for strikes and raises the price of food." (Yes, this 26 years before Hitler came to power)
1918: Birthdate of Miriam Shinezon, the native of Vitebsk, Russia who gained fame as “Miriam Ben-Porat, the first woman to serve as a Justice on Israel’s Supreme Court…” (As reported by Isabel Kershner)
1925: The New York Times featured a review of “My Portion: An Autobiography” by Rebekah Kohut with an Introduction written by Henrietta Szold. According to the review, the book describes “Kohut's Life Story of Social Service” and should appeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish readers alike.
1925: The Pulitzer Prize was awarded to Edna Ferber for So Big. This Jewish author became famous for her sweeping novels that portrayed American history. Showboat and Giantare two of her literary hits that went on to become cinematic successes.
1929: In Jerusalem, there was a cornerstone laying ceremony to mark the construction of the building designed to house the Jewish National Fund. The building was part of a construction project designed to provide space for several national institutions.
1933: In Munich Justine and Karl Penzias gave birth to Arno Allan Penzias, a “kindertransport kid” who won the Nobel Prize for Physics.
http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Arno_Allan_Penzias
1933: Hermann Göring established the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei; Secret State Police).
1933: Hitler met with Bishop Wilhelm Berning of Osnabrück and Monsignor Steinmann, prelates representing the Roman Catholic Church in Germany. Hitler claimed that he is only doing to the Jews what the Catholic Church has already done to them for 1600 years. He reminded the prelates that the Church has regarded the Jews as dangerous and pushed them into ghettos. Hitler suggested that his anti-Jewish actions are "doing Christianity a great service." Bishop Berning and Monsignor Steinmann later described the talks as "cordial and to the point."
1934: Birthdate of actor Alan Arkin.
1934: The third biennial Levant Fair opens in Tel Aviv. According to Israel B. Brodie, “the fair is designed to attract trade to Palestine and also to draw attention to the importance of Palestine in reaching many of the Near Eastern markets.”
1936: “As sporadic acts of violence by Arabs continued…a young Jew walking near the Damascus Gate in the Old City of Jerusalem was severly beaten by an Arab who escaped. Buses in Jewish districts are stone by Arabs and attempts by Arabs to set fire to Jewish owned fields have been thwarted.
1936: In France, the first of two rounds of elections take place that will bring a Popular Front Government to power with Leon Blum serving as “the first authentically Socialist prime minister in French history.”
1938: Austrian Jews were required to register property above 5,000 Reichsmarks. This came as part of the Nazification of Austria after the Germans annexed Hitler's homeland. After the war, the Austrians sought to portray themselves as the first victims of Nazi aggression. The cheering throngs that greeted Hitler told a different story.
1942: Leopold Müller and his wife Irene were marched on a roundabout route from a Gestapo gathering point in a small park in Würzburg through the city's streets to a train depot. There they left their luggage on the platform and boarded a train to the East and to their deaths.
1946: “Thousands of British paratroopers made a house by house search through north Tel Aviv today rounding up and question 1,200 suspected terrorists” following the attack on a British police station. Tel Aviv is placed under a strict curfew.
1947: IN Russia, Bluma and Yechezkel Yadlovker gave birth to David Ben-Shalom Yadlovker who made Aliyah 1960 and passed away when the INS Dakar sank in 1968.
1965:The World Zionist Congress tonight closed a two-day debate on Israel's security crisis after having heard new attacks on United States and Soviet policies
1965:Composer Aaron Avshalomov passed away. Born into a Jewish family in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk Krai, then Russian Empire) in 1894, “he was one of highly qualified Jewish musicians (i.e., Alfred Wittenberg, Walter Joachim, Arrigo Foa, etc.), who fled pogroms and revolutions in Russia in the beginning of the 20th century, went to China (first arrived in Harbin, later moved to Shanghai). They entered the world of Shanghai's academia and trained a number of young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leading musicians in contemporary China. Aaron fled China in when the Japanese invaded in 1931 and moved to live in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was the father of composer Jacob Avshalomov, conductor of the Portland Junior Symphony (now called the Portland Youth Philharmonic Orchestra) from 1953-1994.
1966: Arnold "Red" Auerbach retired as Boston Celtic's coach
1967: In what would turn out to be part of a diplomatic offensive leading to the Six Day War, the Soviet Ambassador to Israel protested to Prime Minister Levi Eshkol that Israel was planning on starting a war with Syria. Ehskol denied the claim and offered to take the Soviet diplomat to the border so that he could see that troops were not being massed for attack. The Russian declined to go, but the Syrians believed the Russian report increasing tension in the area.
1970(20th of Nisan, 5730): As part of a campaign to gain rights for Russian Jews, tens of thousands of Jews shared in a Passover “Exodus March” that began at the Soviet mission to the United Nations
1970(20th of Nisan, 5730): Stripper Gypsy Rose Lee, born Louise Hovick passed away at the age of 56.
1976: For a second time, Pierre Goldman went on trial for his role in a robbery in which two pharmacists were killed. This time he was acquitted.
1978: In a New York Times profile Holocaust escapee Lillian Vernon was described as "the first lady of mail order catalogues," a designation she had earned through more than two decades of entrepreneurship and steady growth of her eponymous business.
1987: At Congregation Rodeph Sholom in New York Margaret Howell Hudesman, an interior designer, was married to Gabriel Levinson, an architect with Nadler, Philopena & Associates in Mount Kisco, N.Y. Rabbi Gunter Hirschberg performed the ceremony.
1987(27th of Nisan, 5747): Yom Hashoah,
1987: Israeli radio quoted sources in Prime Minister Shamir's office as saying Mr. Moshe Arens had succeeded in persuading Secretary of State Shultz to give up the idea of an international conference, a report that was promptly denied by Foreign Minister Shimon Peres's office. Foreign Minister Peres favors such a conference. Shamir opposes it.
1990: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud bloc, was chosen to form a new government after Labor Party leader Shimon Peres failed in his attempt to form a coalition.
1992(27th of Nisan, 5747): Yom Hashoah
1992:Appearing before 5,000 men, women and children gathered to mourn the Jews killed by the Nazis, Vice President Dan Quayle pledged the commitment of the Bush Administration to the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust and to Israel, which he said "was built upon the ashes of the Holocaust." “‘Never again' is more than the vow of Jewish survivors," he said. "It's the deep, unshakable resolution of the world's sole superpower."
1994: Seventy-one year old Rostam Bastuni, a journalist and politician who was the first Arab citizen to represent a Zionist Party (Mapam) in the Knesset.
1996: According to a report published in the Bulletin, two days before Passover, the leaders of Shaar Hashomayim in Montreal found out the nature of the upcoming student demonstration that would confront the congregation.
1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of interest to Jewish readers including Between Dignity and Despair: Jewish Life in Nazi Germany by Marion A. Kaplan, Killing the Dream: James Earl Ray and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Gerald Posner and Heading South, Looking North: A Bilingual Journey by Ariel Dorfman.
1998: An exhibit styled “An Expressionist in Paris: The Paintings of Chaim Soutine” opened at the Jewish Museum in New York City. “
2001(3rdof Iyar, 5761): Yom HaAtzma’ut
2005: Dr. Raul Hilberg, author of the three-volume, 1,273-page The Destruction of the European Jews regarded as the seminal study of the Nazi Final Solution was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
2006(28thof Nisan, 5766): Yuval Ne’eman, founder of Israel’s space program and a key figure in Israel’s nuclear program passed away.
2006: The family of real estate magnate and book lover Sami Rohr has created the Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature, an annual $100,000 prize for an "emerging writer whose work has demonstrated a fresh vision and evidence of future potential." The Rohr family said that the award hopefully will "encourage, promote, and support outstanding writing of Jewish interest." Fiction and nonfiction books in English (including translations) will be considered in alternate years—the inaugural prize in 2007 will be for fiction. Short story collections are eligible if 75 percent of the text was not previously published in periodicals or other collections. All nonfiction titles must concern Jewish themes and are limited to history, biography, contemporary Jewish life, Jewish scholarship, and current affairs.
2006: While delivering the James Fox Memorial Lecture today Robert S. Mueller, III, the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation described a terrorist plot which included plans to blow up a synagogue in Los Angeles on Yom Kippur in 2005. When the would-be terrorists were caught, they also had lists of the addresses of the Jewish houses of worship in Los Angeles and the address of the Israeli consulate in Los Angeles
2008(21st of Nisan, 5768): Seventh Day of Pesach – Reform Jews recite Yizkor
2008(21st of Nisan, 5768): Yossi Harel, who commanded four ships bringing Jews to Israel illegally, died at the age of 90 in Tel Aviv.
Harel assisted 24,000 Jews in reaching Israel aboard four ships, including the famed SS Exodus, between 1945 and 1948. Great Britain, which controlled the region at the time, banned Jewish immigration due to Arab pressure. The other three ships were called Knesset Yisrael (Gathering of Israel), Atzma'ut (Independence) and Kibbutz Galuyot (Ingathering of the Exiles).The Exodus was made famous by a film of the same name. Born in 1919, Harel was the sixth generation in his family born in Jerusalem. At the age of 15 he joined the pre-state Haganah defense force. By the age of 28 he oversaw the clandestine immigration operations bringing Jews, many of them survivors of the Holocaust, to the Holy Land. Later on, Harel oversaw the IDF’s Unit 131, an intelligence unit that ran a spy ring in Egypt until the so-called Lavon Affair of 1954.Harel will be buried at the Caesarea-area kibbutz, Sdot Yam.
2009: Final performance of “The Accomplices” at the Center Stage Theatre in Jerusalem.
2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood’s Dark Dreamer by Emanuel Levy and the recently released paperback edition of The Mayor’s Tongue a novel written by Nathaniel Rich.
2009: First annual Mitzvah Day in Iowa City sponsored by Agudas Achim
2009: Authorities fear a case of swine flu may have made it to Israel after a 26-year-old Israeli who just returned from a trip to Mexico today checked himself into the hospital reporting flu-like symptoms. Also today, the Foreign Ministry urged Israeli nationals in Mexico and certain parts of the United States to exercise caution after the deadly swine flu strain killed up to 81 people in Mexico.
2009: Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids hosts its annual Big Dinner, one of the congregations oldest and most important fund raiser.
2009(2nd of Iyar, 5769): Eighty-six year old Salamo Arouch, a Greek-born Jewish boxer who survived the Auschwitz death camp in World War II by winning fight after fight against fellow prisoners, to the delight of Nazi guards who had placed their bets on him, died in Israel today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/04/world/europe/04arouch.html
2010: The Wedding Song, film about a Jewish girl and a Moslem girl, living in war torn Tunisia, is scheduled to be shown at the 2010 NoVA International Jewish Film Festival
2010: Professor Gil Troy is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled "The 1975 Zionism is Racism Resolution: American Anger and British Appeasement" in Jerusalem sponsored by the Israel Branch of The Jewish Historical Society of England.
2010: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Get Capone:The Secret Plot That Captured America’s Most Wanted Gangster” by Jonathan Eig and “Ill Fares the Land” by Tony Judt.
2010: The Los Angeles Times included a review of “Three Chords For Beauty’s Sake: The Life of Artie Shaw by Tom Nolan that traces the transformation of Avraham Ben-Yitzhak Arshawsky from the son of immigrant Jews to one of the main players in the world of Swing and the Big Band sound.
2011: “The Wizard of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust” by Diana B. Henriques, a book that “analyzes Mr. Madoff’s rise and fall” is scheduled to be published today.
2011(22nd of Nisan, 5771): Eighth day of Pesach – Yizkor
2011: The New York Times published a review of “A Book of Recipes Gathered From Holocaust Survivors” by June Feiss Hersh. Recipe books based on the memories of Holocaust survivors might seem to trivialize the horror. But Dr. Ruth Westheimer, one of the survivors featured in “Recipes Remembered: A Celebration of Survival,” said that food represents identity for these people who did not have a real homeland. June Feiss Hersh interviewed more than 100 survivors and their relatives for the book, and recorded their stories, food memories and recipes, which she also tested. When the dish called for ketchup or canned tomato soup, that’s what the recipe included. This lavishly illustrated book is divided by geographic areas, including Greece, where there was a Jewish community on the island of Rhodes. Though the recipes from Polish survivors tend to represent traditional Jewish cooking (kugel, gefilte fish), there are plenty of new ideas to explore, including an Italian Sunday sauce, potato soup made with a browned roux, a cabbage pie wrapped in puff pastry and a feather-light chocolate roll of exquisite simplicity. The personal stories recount amazing coincidences and moments of luck that led to survival, often after internment at Auschwitz. The immigrant experiences in places like Cuba as well as the United States are also described, and indeed influence the food. Ms. Hersh added recipes from 26 chefs and professional cooks, but these are unnecessary and often irrelevant. The rich collection from the survivors needed no help, especially when you even have people like George Lang among the bona fide contributors.