April 7 In History
451: Attila the Hun sacked Metz in what is now Germany as he pillaged his across Europe. Based on the Thirteenth Tribe, there are those who contend that a large proportion of Europe’s Jews were descended from the Khazars a warrior people connected to Attila.
529: The Roman Emperor Justinian issued the first draft of the Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian codified the ant-Jewish imperial view of the world that began under Constantine. The code made “anyone who was not connected to the Christian church a non-citizen.” More specifically, the principle of "Servitude of the Jews" (Servitus Judaeorum) was established by the new laws, and determined the status of Jews throughout the Empire for hundreds of years. The Jews were disadvantaged in a number of ways. Jews could not testify against Christians and were disqualified from holding a public office. Jewish civil and religious rights were restricted: ‘they shall enjoy no honors’. The use of the Hebrew language in worship was forbidden. Shema Yisrael sometimes considered the most important prayer in Judaism ("Hear, O Israel, YHWH our God, YHWH is one") was banned, as a denial of the Trinity. A Jew who converted to Christianity was entitled to inherit his or her father's estate, to the exclusion of the still-Jewish brothers and sisters. The Emperor became an arbiter in internal Jewish affairs. Similar laws applied to the Samaritans.”
1348: In the first year of the reign of Charles IV, Charles University is founded in Prague. Charles was an enlightened ruler whose years on the throne were good ones for the Jews of Prague. “The long reign of Emperor Charles IV. (1348-78) brought the Prague Jews new privileges and relative calm even. The king ensured protection and, among others, offered a chance for them to settle inside the walls of the arising New Town. A sign of the status of the Jewish community is a banner that has survived, given to the Jews of Prague by Charles IV in 1375. From that year on the Jews would, over the centuries, come to the gates of the ghetto to welcome the kings of Bohemia in Prague. The banner was a shield and legacy of the favors of the ruler’s predecessor, a symbol of ambition and sign of hope.” Today Charles University is the home base for a Jewish Studies program offered to American college students that examines the history of Central European Jewry
1486: The first prayer book (Siddur) was printed in Italy by Soncino. This was the only time that the Siddur was published during the 15th century. For the most part hand copied manuscripts (of which there were plenty) continued to be used.
1506: In Portugal, a group of New Christians was arrested when they were caught conducting a Seder. Although they were released two Dominican firiars “who paraded through the streets with an uplifited crucifix crying Heresia so inflamed the citizenry that 500 hundred New Christians were murdered on the first day of a multi-day massacre
1645: Michael Cardozo became the 1st Jewish lawyer in Brazil. The Dutch West India Company granted Michael Cardoso the right to practice law in Brazil a privilege no other Jew enjoyed at that time anywhere else. The Dutch would shortly lose control of Brazil to the Portuguese. And in 1654, it would be a group of Jewish refugee from Recife (part of formerly Dutch Brazil) who would land in New Amsterdam to begin the modern American Jewish Community.
1720: At one of the last large auto-de-fe's in Madrid, was burned five suspected Jews who were found to have committed the crime of praying in a "secret synagogue" which had been found after the Spanish war of Succession.
1788: American settlers establish Marietta, Ohio, the first new American settlement in the Northwest Territory. Apparently a thriving Jewish community existed in Marietta during the last part of the 19thcentury and the first part of the 20th century as can be seen by the existence of two Jewish cemeteries, a Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Jewish War Suffers’ Society and a synagogue called B’nai Israel.
1818:In Ḳin'at ha-Emet (Zeal for Truth), a paper written today, and published in the collection “Nogah ha-Ẓedeḳ” (Light of Righteousness), Aron Chorin a Hungarian rabbi and advocated for religious reform, declared himself in favor of reforms, such as German prayers, the use of the organ, and other liturgical modifications. The principal prayers, the Shema', and the eighteen benedictions, however, should be said in Hebrew, he declared, as this language keeps alive the belief in the restoration of Israel. He also pleaded for opening the temple for daily service.
1822(16th of Nisan, 5582): Second Day of Pesach; first day of the Omer
1826: Birthdate of Frederick C. Salomon, the Prussian native came to the United States where he worked as a surveyor and Register of Deeds in Wisconsin before joining the Union Army where he served with distinction and was mustered out as Major General of Volunteers.
1849:The Pennsylvania legislature granted a charter today to the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia that “authorized the establishment of schools for general education, combined with instruction in the Hebrew language and literature; the charter also authorized the establishment of a "superior seminary of learning," with power to grant the usual degrees given by other colleges.”
1851: The first school created under the jurisdiction of the Hebrew Education Society held its first class today in Philadelphia, PA.
1852: This morning at the Herkimer-street Synagogue in Albany a new Sefer Torah was read for the first time and then placed in the Holy Ark. Following the reading Rabbi Raphall gave what was called “an appropriate address.”
1855: Marcus Samuel gave birth to Samuel Samuel founder of Samuel Samuel & Co who served as an MP for almost twenty years. He was the brother of Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount of Bearsted.
1855: At the behest of Samuel K. Labatt, The Los Angeles Star published “the lengthy and effective denunciation” William Stow written by his brilliant lawyer brother, Henry J. Labatt of San Francisco.” Stow is William Stow who had launched an anti-Semitic attack on the Jewish people from the sanctuary of the California State Assembly. Samuel K. Labatt was the first President of the Hebrew Benevolent Society of Los Angeles. He saw part of his role as being the defender of Jews against anti-Semites.
1860: A review of The History of Herodotusby George Rawlinson published today compared the writings of the ancient Greek Historian with information found in the Bible. The reviewer gives credence to the progression of history as presented in the Scripture. “The Hezekiahs, the Isaiahs, the Jacobs, the Zerubbabels, the Maccabees, the Gamaliels,…could never have appeared as the later records describe them, had there been no Samuel, no Joshua, no Moses, no Exodus from Egypt, no law-giving on Sinai, as represented to us in the marvelous yet truthful pictures of the more ancient books.”
1861: Sinai Congregation which was led by Rabbi Felsenthal and President Schoeneman was established in Chicago
1862: The Battle of Shiloh ends with a Union Victory. Among the many Jews serving at the battle was Corporal David Orbansky of the 58th Ohio Volunteer Infantry who won the Medal of Honor for his “gallantry in action against the enemy.”
1863: Birthdate of Henry Cohen, a Jewish Texan rabbi who served Congregation B'nai Israel in Galveston, Texas from 1888 to 1952.
1870(16th of Nisan, 5631): Second Day of Pesach; 1st day of the Omer
1870: Birthdate of German anarchist Gustav Landauer.
1870: According to the review of the Art Academy, on this date, Russian –Jewish sculptor Mark Arntokolski “was granted personal name of honorary citizen ‘for wonderful knowledge of art’”.
1872: Seventy year old, W.L. Mitchell, a Professor at the Georgia State University Law School, has begun to study Hebrew. [Ed. Note – I have not been able to find out anything about Professor Mitchell i.e. whether he was Jewish or a Christian who was following what had become a popular pastime among 18th & 19th century Protestants.]
1880: In Leadville, CO, Jewish businessman Jacob Schloss was elected treasuer of the Turnverin Society
1880: Rabbi H.P. Mendez officiated at the wedding of Frederick Nathan, the son of the late Benjamin Nathan and Maud Nathan, daughter of Robert W. Nathan, which was held at Shearith Israel in New York City.
1883: Birthdate of cartoonist Rube Goldberg
1883: Birthdate of Maksymilian Apolinary Hartglas, the Hungarian born Zionist activist who was one of the main political leaders of Polish Jews during the interwar period, a lawyer, a publicist, and a Sejm deputy from 1919 to 1930.
1891: In Leadville, CO, Lotta Schloss married Moses L Stern who became secretary and treasurer of Schloss Bros.
1891: Birthdate of British born, New Zealand cartoonist, Sir David Low. Low was not Jewish but he was an early and constant critic of Hitler and Mussolini. Throughout the 1930’s his cartoons skewered the fascist dictators with such skill that no a less a personage than Sigmund Freud wrote, “"A Jewish refugee from Vienna, a very old man personally unknown to you, cannot resist the impulse to tell you how much he admires your glorious art and your inexorable, unfailing criticism."
1891: The cornerstone of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society’s new building was laid this afternoon at 3 o’clock.
1891: Twenty-eight year old German Jewish immigrant Siegfried Lewisohn shot himself twice in the left breast today at 29 Sutton Place in New York.
1892: John L. Stoddard delivered an illustrated lecture designed as “an excursion to Jerusalem and the Holy Land.”
1895: It is expected that several liquor dealers who bought “bootleg” Kosher wine from a Russian Jew known as “Gordon” will be arraigned today for failure to pay the appropriate revenue taxes.
1895: “Free Sons of Israel” published today traces the history of Independent Order of Free Sons of Israel” which was founded in 1849 by German Jews and has grown to be one of the leading Jewish organizations of its kind throughout the United States.
1895: It was reported today that during his service as Chairman of the Committee on Endowment for the Free Sons of Israel, William A. Gans has written checks totaling $2,300,000 to provide aid for widows and orphans.
1896: Congressman Amos J. Cummings will deliver an address about Horace Greely, as the last lecture “of the regular season’s course under the auspices of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1896: The Union Veteran Hebrew Association met today in New York City.
1896: Birthdate of Benny Leonard. Born Benjamin Leiner, son of Orthodox Jews, Leonard learned his trade on the streets of New York. Leonard was Light Heavyweight Champion for seven and half years. He was one of several Jewish boxing champs during the early decades of the twentieth century. Leonard was proud of being Jewish and was quoted that Jews were suited by nature to boxing because it was the highest form of self-defense. A hall of famer, Leonard died April 18, 1947.
1896: Hermann Ahlwardt, the German anti-Semitic agitator and his two American sponsors are expected to be arraigned for their part in provoking a riot in Hoboken, NJ during which Ahlwardt reportedly drew a pistol and threatened the mob protesting his appearance.
1897: It was reported today that Oscar S. Straus, Isaac Wallack, Emanuel Lehman, Isaac Eppinger and Samuel M. Schafer were among the dignitaries who had attended the funeral services of the late Julius Ehrmann.
1897: Orthodox Jews through the world celebrated the “festival of the new sun” which “comes once every 28 years on the fourth day of the first week of Nisan.”
1898(15thof Nisan, 5658): Pesach
1897: While most services for The Blessing of the New Sun, Birkat Hachama, were held without any problems in New York City, including one held on the banks of the East River, an observance at Tompkins Park was marred by the arrest of the officiating Rabbis. Rabbi Wechsler and Rabbi Klein had told their congregants to gather at the square. Since the service had to be completed by nine o’clock, a large group had already gathered by eight when local police appeared on the scene. They were concerned about the threat posed to the public safety by such a large gathering. Nobody had thought to get a permit and the two Rabbis were taken away since their English was not effective enough to convey the purpose of the gathering. A magistrate later released them with a warning. In the mean time, the Jews in the square conducted the service without the benefit of clergy.
1897: Birthdate of Walter Winchell. The son of Jewish immigrants, Winchell left school at the age of 13 to go into vaudeville. He appeared with other such Jewish beginners as Eddie Cantor. Winchell's career took a different turn. He entered the world of journalism where he invented the gossip column. Winchell's column appeared in 2,000 papers every day and his 1930's radio show was heard by 50 million listeners. Winchell had his friends and his foes. Both agreed that Winchell outlived himself and he died a much diminished figure in 1972. However, he is another example of a Jew inventing something that was considered to uniquely American.
1899: Herr Adolf Sonnenthal’s recent portrayal of the lead character in “Nathan the Wise” was described as “his greatest success.” The audience burst into spontaneous, uncontrolled applause when uttered the monologue during the third act in which “Nathan commenting on Saladin’s desire for money asks, ‘Who is here the Jew?’”
1903: Second and final day of the First Kishinev Pogrom
1906: The Algeciras Conference, which had been convened to settle the dispute between France and Germany over Morocco, came to an end. During the conference, the United States raised the issue of the mistreatment of the Jews in the North African kingdom. U.S. Ambassador White said, “the American government has always considered it duty…to assure do respect to all religious beliefs…My government has charged me to invoke the cooperation of the Conference…regarding the wishes for the welfare of the Israelites of Morocco.” According to Abraham Bloch, the European powers attending the conference supported the American position. This included Russia whose anti-Semitic policies had forced untold numbers Jews to live in misery or leave the country, France which had been dealing with Dreyfus wave of anti-Semitism and Spain which had expelled it Jews en masse in 1492..
1908: H. H. Asquith of the Liberal Party takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Herbert Henry Asquith served as Prime Minister until 1916 when he was replaced by Lloyd George. In a private letter written before he became Prime Minister, Asquith described the Jews as “a scattered and unattractive tribe.” He did enjoy the friendship of Jews including Edwin Montagu who would become the new P.M.’s private secretary. Montagu and Asquith would have a falling out over the affections of Venetia Stanley a friend of Asquith's daughter. Montagu gained fame as one of the British Jews who opposed the Balfour Declaration. During the 1930’s, Asquith’s daughter befriended Vladimir Jabotinsky. She is the one who introduced him to Winston Churchill. One of Asquith’s sons served with the British Army in Palestine during WW II.
1915: Birthdate of economist Albert Hirschman,”who in his youth helped rescue thousands of artists and intellectuals from Nazi-occupied France and went on to become an influential economist known for his optimism” and was the author of Exit, Voice and Loyalty. (As reported by William Yardley)
1915: New York's Governor Charles S. Whitman signed the Widowed Mothers Pension Act into law. The new statute, which provided state-funded pensions to qualifying women so that they could care for their children at home, was largely the result of the efforts of communal activist and reformer Hannah Bachman Einstein.
1916: Birthdate of Robert V. Tishman, “a real estate developer whose companies — bearing the family name since the 19th century — etched their mark on the skylines of cities around the nation, including construction of the World Trade Center.”
1923: The 1st brain tumor operation under local anesthetic was performed at Beth Israel Hospital in New York City by Dr. K Winfield Ney
1928: Birthdate of producer Alan J. Paluka, who was nominated for an Oscar for his work on the cinema classic “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
1929: The New York Times reports that Warner Brother’s recently released Biblical epic, “Noah’s Ark” was panned by critics in London while proving to be a box-office smash success with English audiences. The criticism seemed to be more an expression of anti-Americanism than related to the quality of the film itself.
1930: Birthdate of German born, British actor Andrew Sachs.
1930: It was reported today that Palestine Mandatory Authority is preparing a plan for dividing Palestine into cantons, like Switzerland which it will then submit to the government in London. “The first experiment with such cantons will be the establishment of special Jewish district comprising Tel Aviv…with 47,000 inhabitants” and 40 nearby settlements including Petach Tikvah, Rishon Lexion and Rehoboth that would form a contiguous entity with 70,000 Jewish inhabitants. The aim is to ultimate create 15 or 16 such cantons, seven of which be Moslem, three would be Christian and five or six which would be Jewish.
1931: Birthdate of Daniel Ellsberg, American history’s most famous whistleblower. He is the man who released the Pentagon Papers.
1932: The first radio station in Palestine was opened today in Tel Aviv under a license from the British Mandatory Government. Mendel Abranovitch operated Radio Tel Aviv.
1933: Hitler approved decrees banning Jews and other non-Aryans from the practice of law and from jobs in the civil service (Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service). Jewish government workers in Germany are ordered to retire. The term Nichtarier ("non-Aryan") became a legal classification in Germany. This made it "legal" to discharge Jews from their position in the universities, hospitals, and legal professions. The law was called the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service. The non-Aryan clause would be extended over the next year to include everything i.e. all professional occupations, athletic competition and military service.
1934: Several thousand Americans attended a pro-Nazi rally in Queens, New York
1934: “The House of Rothschild” a biopic about the famous banking family starring George Arliss, Loretta Young and Boris Karloff was released for public viewing today.
1935: As the 2nd Maccabiah games came to a close before 50,000 spectators the team from the United States had scored 254 giving it a wide lead over second place German (183). The team representing the Jews of Palestine scored 139.5 points edging out Austria, Czechoslovakia and South Africa.
1937: The Palestine Post reported from London that according to British political circles, the Royal (Peel) Commission on Palestine might propose the setting up of two separate Jewish and Arab states, leaving Jerusalem, Bethlehem and other holy places under British Mandate. Haifa was to be a common seaport for all.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Jewish students were attacked and beaten at the Warsaw Polytechnical Institute, which closed for a number of days.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the Polish airline, Lot, initiated a regular three-flights-a-week schedule from Warsaw to Lod Airport.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that ewish laborers complained that they were excluded from various development projects carried out by the government at Lod Airport.
1939: Italy invaded and annexed Albania. Jews were exiled from the coastal port cities and moved to Albania’s interior. Several Austrian and German families took refuge in Tirana and Durazzo in 1939 in hope of making it eventually to the United States or South America. Many Jewish refugees also passed through Albania on their way to Palestine. These refugees were well treated by the Italian forces and by the local population. Jewish refugee families began to scatter throughout Albania and assimilate into society. Jewish children continued to attend school, but under false names and religions. Italians rejected the Final Solution and therefore did not implement anti-Jewish laws. Nevertheless, many Albanians joined the SS Division “Skanderbeg.” Some Jewish refugees were eventually placed in a transit camp in Kavaje, and from there sent to Italy. At one point, nearly 200 Jews were placed in the Kavaje camp. Some Albanian officials tried to rescue these Jews of Kavaje, by issuing identity papers to hide them in the capital Tirana.
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1939: In a prelude to World War II, Mousillini invades Albania as he tries to create a modern day Roman Empire. “Approximately, 600 Jews were living in Albania prior to World War II, 400 of whom were refugees. At the beginning of World War II, hundreds of Jews arrived in Albania seeking refuge from Nazi persecution in other regions of Europe. There was little history of anti-Semitism in Albania between the local Christians, Muslims, and Jews. Most of the Albanian population was not hostile toward the Jews and helped to hide them during the war, especially when Italy and Germany occupied the country. When Italy invaded and annexed Albania. Jews were exiled from the coastal port cities and moved to Albania’s interior. Several Austrian and German families took refuge in Tirana and Durazzo in 1939 in hope of making it eventually to the United States or South America. Many Jewish refugees also passed through Albania on their way to Palestine. These refugees were well treated by the Italian forces and by the local population. Jewish refugee families began to scatter throughout Albania and assimilate into society. Jewish children continued to attend school, but under false names and religions. Italians rejected the Final Solution and therefore did not implement anti-Jewish laws. Nevertheless, many Albanians joined the SS Division “Skanderbeg” and committed atrocities against the Serbian and Jewish populations of Kosovar. Some refugees were eventually placed in a transit camp in Kavaje, and from there sent to Italy. At one point, nearly 200 Jews were placed in the Kavaje camp. Some Albanian officials tried to rescue these Jews of Kavaje, by issuing identity papers to hide them in the capital Tirana.” For more see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/albania.html \
1941: Two separate ghettos were established in Radom, Poland. At Kielce, Poland, 16,000 local Jews and about a thousand Jewish deportees from Vienna are herded into a ghetto area.
1943: The Spanish Ambassador has lunch with Winston Churchill at which time the Prime Minister protested in the strongest possible language to the closure of the border between France and Spain to Jewish refugees trying to escape across the Pyrenees. Churchill’s threatening tone had its effect when a “few days later the Spanish authorities had re-opened the border to Jewish refugees.”
1943: Jewish resistance led by Michael Glanz took place at Skalat, Ukraine.
1943(2nd of Nisan, 5703): During the Holocaust in the western Ukraine, the Germans order 1,100 Jews to undress to their underwear and march through the city of Terebovlia to the nearby village of Plebanivka. They were then shot dead and buried in ditches.
1944: Rudolf Vrba and Alfred Wetzler escaped from Auschwitz with the expressed the intention of telling the world what was going on. With the help of the resistance movement inside the camp, these two made it out and after two weeks found their way to Slovakia. They met with Adre Steiner and Oscar Krasnansky and described in detail what was happening including plans to murder 800,000 Hungarian Jews. Krasnansky turned their report into the thirty-page long "Auschwitz Protocols" which were then sent to contacts in the West. To say the Holocaust happened because nobody knew was not quite the case; more like people did not want to know or knew but did not care.
1944(14th of Nisan, 5704): In the evening, with the world at war, Jews sit down for the first Seder of the year including American service men and woman. The different branches of the United States armed forces have made great effort to make it possible for Jews serving in the military to observe the holiday. “With the cooperation of the Army and Navy, 400,000 boxes Matzah, 7,000 gallons of wine and 190,000 Haggadot have been shipped by the Jewish Welfare Board for distribution” to those serving “in every war sector as well as England, North Africa and Australia.” Holiday supplies have already been parachuted to troops serving in the upper reaches of the Rockies and dogsleds were used to get Passover goodies to those serving in outposts in Alaska. The South African Army provided a special train so Jewish soldiers in Egypt could enjoy home hospitality in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
http://resources.ushmm.org/film/display/detail.php?file_num=4681
1946: Syria's independence from France is officially recognized. The Syrian Jewish community which traced its origins back to the reign of King David and had once been thriving and prosperous had, by now, fallen on hard times. As anti-Jewish sentiment increased in the 20th century, many Syrian Jews moved to New York. In the years just prior to Syrian independence, thousand of Syrian Jews found refuge in Palestine. A year after Syria gained independence, the ancient Jewish community of Aleppo was the victim of a Pogrom. [Reading the works of Haim Sabato, a Syrian Jew whose family moved to Egypt before settling in Israel, will give you some sense of this ancient Jewish Community.]
1949: Rogers & Hammerstein's "South Pacific" opened at Majestic Theater for the first of 1,928 performances
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1950: In one of the ironies of history, a commercial vessel now called the Tsfonit which flew the Swastki when first launched in 1937 will fly Israel’s Blue and White flag complete with the Star of David. The ship has been purchased by the American-Israeli Shipping Company for Zim, Israel’s shipping line, according to reports published in the New York Times. As part of Israel’s growing commitment to maritime commerce, a freighter now named the Akko will leave for Haifa next week to join three other war surplus shipping vessles that are already plying the waters between Israeli and U.S. ports.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported from The Hague that at the reparations talks held there, Israel was waiting for a definite commitment and a specific sum to be offered as compensation, by the authoritative German delegation.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the UN Technical Assistance Department proposed to set up in Israel a center for modern adobe (sun-dried earth) housing development scheme.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that The Jerusalem Municipal Council voted for a new entertainment tax and fixed salaries of town councilors and deputy mayors.
1955(15thof Nisan, 5715): Pesach
1958: Writer Arch Oboler's six-year-old son, Peter, drowned in rainwater collected in excavations at Oboler's Malibu home. The house was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright; the Wright-designed Oboler residential complex is named Eaglefeather. The house is featured in Oboler's film “Five.”
1963: The New York Times published a review of The Femine Mystique by Betty Friedan
1967: Israeli fighters shot down seven Syrian MIG-21s. This episode turned out to be one of the many flashpoints on the road to the war that would be fought in June of 1967. The Syrians were embarrassed and infuriated by the ease with which the Israelis swept their advanced MIG’s from the sky. So they took action to encourage Nasser to follow an aggressive policy towards Israel that would ultimately lead to a clash of arms from which the region still has not recovered at the start of the 21stcentury.
1970: Birthdate of Rabbi Aaron Sherman
1975: Forty-five year old Beverly Sills debuted at the Metropolitan Opera
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that in Washington Egyptian President Anwar Sadat announced that a "normalization" of relations with Israel would be possible only after the signing of a peace agreement at the reconvened Geneva Peace Conference and the establishment of a Palestinian state. A Soviet diplomat called unexpectedly at the Israeli Embassy in Washington to deliver a note from his leader, Leonid Brezhnev.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Taiwan was reported to have purchased Israeli missiles.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Senior Israeli pilots expressed criticism of the current safety measures at Ben-Gurion Airport and warned that unless these were taken care of, an eventual disaster was inevitable.
1990: Michael Milken pleaded innocent to security law violations.
1994(26th of Nisan, 5754): Yishai Gadassi, age 32, of Kvutzat Yavne, was shot and killed at a hitchhiking post at the Ashdod junction by a member of HAMAS. The terrorist was killed by bystanders at the scene. 1994(26th of Nisan, 5754):Based on information it attributed to Israel Radio, The Associated Press in Jerusalem, reported that Palestinian shot and wounded at least two Israelis at a bus stop in the southern Israel port of Ashod early today before he was shot dead by a bystander.
1994(26th of Nisan, 5754): Author Golo Mann, son of Thomas Mann, passed away. Golo was technically Jewish since his mother was Jewish.
1994: For the first time the Vatican acknowledged Holocaust i.e. the Nazi's killing of Jews.
1998: Under the leadership of Sandy Weill, Citicorp and Travelers Group announce plans to merge creating the largest financial-services conglomerate in the world, Citigroup.
2002: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including ''Gershom Scholem: A Life in Letters.''
2002: In a column entitled “A Jewish Avenger, A Timely Legend,” Alisa Solomon reviews the upcoming revival English language production of H. Leivick's Yiddish classic, ''The Golem,''
2002: MEMRI (The Middle East Media Research Institute) Special Dispatch 363 quotes Al-Azhar Mosque’s Sheikh Muhammad Sayed Tantawi as announcing “every martyrdom operation against any Israeli, including children, women, and teenagers are legitimate acts according to religious law, and Islamic commandment until the people of Palestine regain their land and cause the cruel Israeli aggression to retreat.”
2005: The Prince of Wales attended a memorial service for the Hon Dame Miriam Louisa Rothschild held today at the Liberal Jewish Synagogue in London. Rabbi Alexandra Wright, officiated, assisted by Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger. Rabbi Mark Solomon sang and Ms Andrea Hess, cello, played during the service. Attendees included Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, the Hon Emma Rothschild, Professor Sir John Gurdon and Lord Lester of Herne Hill, QC.
2006: David Bromberg appears at the Library of Congress to speak on the historic significance of that ever-under-appreciated musical instrument, the American-made violin. The sixty year-old musical legend owns nearly 250, some dating back more than 100 years. It is the largest such collection, and they are displayed in cabinets from one end of his living room to the other.
2007: The UJA-Federation of New York’s Music for Youth initiative holds a fund raising concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
2007: The three day festival known as Boombamela comes to an end. The festival is described by its organizers as "a place for meeting, experiencing, crossing borders and transcending social limitations through music, creation, and connection with nature." It is held on the sandy beach of Hof Nitzanim, between Ashdod and Ashkelon.
2008: RSA Conference opens in San Francisco. RSA was developed by Ronald Rivest (R), Adi Shamir (S) and Leonard Adelman (A) in 1977.
2008: Following the latest attack targeting Yemen’s few remaining Jews during which rebel Houthi militiamen destroyed several homes that had belonged to the now-absent Jewish community in the northwestern Saada province The JerusalemPost reported on the conditions of Jews living in Yemen.
"The Houthis destroyed part of my house and looted it," Rabbi Yehia Youssuf told Reuters in the capital, San'a. All 67 members of Saada's Jewish community fled following threats from the Houthis, the rabbi says. Some locals say the Jews were threatened because they had been selling wine to Muslims - an accusation the Jews deny, according to Reuters. A local said the Shi'ite rebels attacked the houses of other Jews after looting the rabbi's. Around 400 Jews remain in the majority Sunni state, the remnant of an ancient, close-knit community that, while remaining connected to Jewish intellectual and legal developments outside Yemen, managed to insulate itself culturally until the 20th century. According to Dr. Dov Levitan, a scholar of Yemenite Jewry at Bar-Ilan University and the Academic College of Ashkelon, the Houthi clan targets Jews to embarrass the government internationally. Apparently unrelated intertribal fighting in the province killed at least 15 people in recent days as the Houthi tribe continued its intermittent violence, begun in June 2004, against the central government and its allies. Since the early 1990s, the Yemeni government "has been very conscious of its international image," explains Levitan. "So important is the country's image to its government that the Jews have excellent government protection." When their situation in Saada became precarious about a year ago, "they were flown out in a government plane to San'a. They receive a small stipend and live in a compound protected by state security forces. This kind of concern would have been unimaginable just 15 years ago," he says. The government's concern for its image, together with pressure from American Jewish groups and US legislators, led Yemen in the early 1990s to permit most of the remaining 2,000 Jews to emigrate to Israel and elsewhere, continuing a centuries-long trickle of aliya from the country. At the founding of the Jewish state in 1948, around 35,000 Yemenite Jews lived in Israel. Another 50,000 came in the immediate aftermath of the War of Independence. Most of the 1,600 Jews who left Yemen during the 1990s now live in Rehovot. The question of why Jews remain in Yemen remains. "We have contact with these Jews. They're not the Jews who came 60 years ago," the large wave of poor refugees who fled pogroms in Operation Magic Carpet, Levitan says. "They're more educated, they're better dressed, they wear watches and drive cars. Some of them have traveled overseas. They have property there, and they are connected historically. They don't want to leave a place that has been their natural environment for generations." The Yemenite Jewish community claims to have existed since the time of the First Temple, 2,600 years ago. While this claim has not been verified, "we know with certainty that they were there for at least 1,500 years," says Levitan. Despite its unique customs and liturgy, Yemenite Jewry was never disconnected from the broader Jewish world. "For example, we know that the letters of the [medieval Jewish philosopher and legalist] Maimonides arrived in Yemen. We know from the 14th to the 16th centuries they were connected enough to receive the Shulchan Aruch [halachic codex]. And in the 18th and 19th centuries they received printed Jewish prayer books and Talmuds from abroad when there was no Jewish press in Yemen," he said. Other pressures al