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This Day, May 21, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

10:14 PM Monday, May 20, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 21 In History

383: As the emperor struggles to make Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire he promulgates a law that denies anybody who converts from Christianity to another religion the right to make a will. This law may have had some impact on the Jews but the real target were the Romans who sought to become pagans or Manichaens, followers of the Persian prophet Mani. (Sometimes Jews are just “collateral damage” in other people’s struggles for power)<o:p></o:p>

878: Syracuse is captured by the Muslim sultan of Sicily. This change from Christian to Muslim rulers seems to have had little effect on the Jews of Syracuse. Israelite traders who visited the ancient colony when it was ruled by the Greeks were probably the fist Jews to settle in Syracuse. The Jewish population grew after the destruction of the Second Temple when the Romans brought Jewish slaves to Sicily. Life for the Jews of Syracuse would take a negative turn in 1492 when Sicily came under Spanish domination.<o:p></o:p>

996: Otto III begins his reign as Holy Roman Emperor which included modern day Germany. Records exist that show Jews had been living in Cologne during the reign of Otto’s predecessor, Otto II and the community grew enough so that a synagogue was constructed in the first decade of the 11^th century.<o:p></o:p>

1577: Portuguese Marranos were granted permission to settle in Brazil<o:p></o:p>

1671: Frederick William the Hohenzollern the Margrave of Brandenburg readmitted the Jews to his domain including the capital at Berlin. Although they were permitted to live and trade where they wished they had to pay a protection tax of 8 Thalers, and a gold florin for every wedding and funeral. In addition, Jews were not allowed to sell their houses to other Jews and were only permitted to have prayer rooms but no Synagogues<o:p></o:p>

1674: John Sobieski was elected by the nobility to be the King of Poland. The Jews of the Polish town of Przemysl had suffered economic reverses and had been forced to borrow from nobles prior to John Sobieski’s coming to the throne. In 1678, there was a major fire in the Jewish section of Premysl and the King John granted them special dispensation from their debt re-payment so that they could rebuild their portion of the town. King John would make further extensions for his Jewish subjects because he was concerned that they would leave the kingdom and take their mercantile and managerial skills with them.<o:p></o:p>

1760(6th of Sivan, 5520): As England and France clash during the Seven Years War, British Jews observe the First Day of Shavuot. The Jews had been expelled from France so there was nobody in Paris to observe the festival.<o:p></o:p>

1798(6^th of Sivan, 5558): Two days before the Society of United Irishman, a group including Protestants and Catholics start a rebellion against British rule, Jews observe the First Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1799: French troops under Napoleon retreated from Acre thus ending a two months siege of the Ottoman held city. The retreat marked the end of Napoleon’s dream of an eastern empire which included a promise to the local Jews that Palestine would become their home.<o:p></o:p>

1809(6^th of Sivan): As the Napoleon faces the Austrians on the first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling, Jews observe the first day of Shavuot <o:p></o:p>

1814(2nd of Sivan): Rabbi Aryeh Leib Berlin passed away<o:p></o:p>

1817(6^th of Sivan, 5577): For the first time during the Presidency of the newly inaugurated James Monroe, Jews in the United States observe Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1820 (NS): Birthdate of Nikolaus von Giers, who served as Foreign Minister while Alexander III promulgated the infamous May Laws. <o:p></o:p>

1832: In Charleston, SC, Abraham Moise and Caroline Moses gave birth to Edwin Warren Moise. A Sephardic Jew whose family had made its way from Alsace to the French Caribbean before settling in South Carolina’s major seaport, pursued a career as a lawyer, soldier in the CSA and adjutant general in the post-Civil War Palmetto State. (As reported by Robert N. Rosen)<o:p></o:p>

1847(6^th of Sivan, 5607): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1852: The New York Timesreported that in Germany “the citizens of ‘Luboc’ have referred to a committee a decree of the Senate” that would place Jews on an equal footing with other citizens.”<o:p></o:p>

1853: The New York Timesreported that the Trieste Gazette had published a letter from Jerusalem dated March 27 in which it described the outbreak of violence between English missionaries and a group of Jews on March 24. The missionaries had gathered in front of the Great Synagogue and while the Jews were praying inside they began giving “speeches against the Jews and the Talmud. A Jew threw a cat at one of the missionaries which sparked a fight between the two groups. Eventually, the English retreated and the Chief Rabbi went to the European consular officials to protest the offensive behavior.<o:p></o:p>

1854: The Washington Sentinel printed an editorial entitled “The Jews as Citizens” which said that the “the absence of applications for relief was…not an index of Jewish affluence” but a result of the Jewish community providing for the financial needs of their co-religionist. After noting that Jews were absent from the jails and poorhouses, the editorialist concluded that Jews “are among the best, most orderly well disposed of our citizens.

1866: The New York Timesfeatures a review of “Lectures on the History of the Jewish Church Part II” by Arthur P. Stanley in which the author traces the history of the Jews from Samuel to the Captivity.<o:p></o:p>

1868: Birthdate of Heinrich Brody (German) or Bródy Henrik (Hungarian) “a Hungarian (after 1918 Czechoslovakian) rabbi. He was born in Ungvár, a town historically part of Hungary, now of the Ukraine. He was a descendant of Abraham Broda. Educated in the public schools of his native town and at the rabbinical colleges of Tolcsva and Pressburg, Hungary, Brody also studied at the Hildesheimer Theological Seminary and at the University of Berlin, being an enthusiastic scholar of the Hebrew language and literature. He was for some time secretary of the literary society Mekiẓe Nirdamim, and in 1896 founded the "Zeitschrift für Hebräische Bibliographie", of which he was coeditor with A. Freiman. Brody was the rabbi of the congregation of Náchod, Bohemia and chief rabbi of Prague (both cities then part of Austria-Hungary), before moving to Palestine. In Czechoslovakia, he was the leader of the Mizrachi movement. He passed away in 1942.<o:p></o:p>

1870: Birthdate of Sarah Vasen, the first Jewish woman doctor in Los Angeles and first superintendent and resident physician of Kaspare Cohn Hospital (later Cedars-Sinai Hospital) (As reported by Julie Beardsle
http://home.earthlink.net/~nholdeneditor/Sarah%20Vasen.htm<o:p></o:p>

1871: Reverend Howard Crosby delivered an address to group interested in the exploration of the Holy Land. During his speech he described plans for an upcoming expedition that hoped to find “the actual tombs of the Kings, the ark of the covenant and the tables of stone written on by the fingers of God…”<o:p></o:p>

1872: It was reported today that the U.S. House of Representatives adopted a motion by Mr. Cox, requesting the President to join with the Italian government in its protest against the intolerance and cruelty practiced towards the Jews of Romania.<o:p></o:p>

1872:Mr. Benjamin J. Hart presided over tonight’s annual meeting of the Convention of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites which was held at the Forty-fourth-street Synagogue in New York City. The deteriorating condition of the Jews of Romania dominated most of the evening’s discussion. A letter that Secretary of State Hamilton Fish had sent to the United States Consul at Bucharest instructing him to intercede with Romanian government was read to the convention. The delegates outlined a plan of action to help bring pressure on the Romanians and created a Committee on Immigration to help those who had been forced to flee to the United States due to the persecution in Eastern Europe. The delegates voted to hold the next annual convention in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

1872: The Norwich (Conn.) Bulletin reported that General Henry C. Wayne who had served the Confederacy as the Adjutant-General of Georgia during the Civil War, was supporting Grant over Horace Greely in the upcoming Presidential election. In explaining Southern support for the General who defeated them he wrote, “We cannot stand being carried in the pockets of a foreign Jew banker though Tammany finds it a profitable investment.” [The “foreign Jew banker may have been a reference to August Belmont, who was Chairman of the Democratic Party after the Civil War. He resigned the post following the Presidential election of 1872.]<o:p></o:p>

1872: Charles Netter wrote a letter today describing how pupils from Mikveh Israel who had spent Passover with their parents in Jerusalem “were subject to persecutions and publicly vilified.” According to Netter, the parents were urged to withdraw their children by Rabbis who did not object to Jewish children being sent to schools run by Protestant missionaries. The rabbinic objection to attendance at Mikveh Israel, was based on a fear that they would get less in the way of Halukkah funds. Halukkah refers to funds collected in the galut to support Jews living in Palestine; a collection that dated back to the Middle Ages. Founded in 1870, Mikveh Israel was the first agricultural school operated by the Alliance Israelite Universelle.

1876: According to an article entitled “The Temple At Jerusalem,” more has been written about The Temple in Jerusalem than any other building in history and that most of it has been totally inaccurate. The article included references to modern efforts to map the Temple Mount including Frederick Catherwood’s survey in 1833 and the even more accurate work done by Captain Charles Wilson in 1864 and 1865.<o:p></o:p>

1876: Judge P.J. Joachimsen of New York presided over today’s annual convention of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites in Philadelphia, PA. The report of the executive committee dealt primarily with the conditions of the Jews of Palestine and Roumania. During the afternoon, the delegates visited a Jewish hospital and in the evening elected officers to serve during the coming year. <o:p></o:p>

1878(18th of Iyar, 5638): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1881: The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton. Washington business man Adolphus Simeon Solomons, a member of a prominent Sephardic family, played a key role in the founding of the humanitarian organization. In fact Clara Barton called him her "good vice president and kind counselor."<o:p></o:p>

1885(7^th of Sivan, 5645): 2^ndday of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1886: Construction was begun today for a new Sephardic synagogue to be used by the Moses Montefiore Congregation.<o:p></o:p>

1886(16^th of Iyar): David Gordon passed away. Born in Vilna in 1831 he was a supporter of Hibbat Zion and was an editor for HaMaggid, the first Hebrew newspaper. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/gordon.html<o:p></o:p>

1890: The Board of Estimate and Apportionment authorized the transfer of $30,000 from last year’s balances to be used for the furnishing of the new school to be opened in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Building on 77^th Street near 3^rd Avenue.<o:p></o:p>

1891: The manager of a “‘Shelter,’ an institution established for the reception” of Russian Jews arriving in England disputed claims that a large number destitute refugees are arriving in his country. According to him, on average, only 20 destitute Jews arrive each week and nine-tenths of them move on to the United States “or the English colonies.” The Shelter provides them with enough funds so that they can show they are capable of earning a living once they arrive at their final destinations.<o:p></o:p>

1892: Among the bills that the Governor Flowers of New York allowed to die today was one introduced by Assemblyman Stein that would have provided a tax exemption for the Hebrew Children’s Sanitarium at Rockaway Beach.<o:p></o:p>

1892: Max Cohen has just released by the annual report of the Maimonides Library.<o:p></o:p>

1893(6^th of Sivan, 5653): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1893: There were a number of Polish and Russian Jews among the three hundred steerage passengers aboard the SS Amalfi which had sailed from Hamburg and arrived at Ellis Island today.<o:p></o:p>

1895: It was reported today that a congregation that has been worshipping at 116 Seigel Street in Brookly for several years has been ordered to pay its back rent to the landlord.<o:p></o:p>

1898: The will of Aaron Hershfield, which contained bequests to numerous Jewish charities was executed today naming his son-in-law Daniel P. Hays and his sons Levi N. and Mitchell Hershfield as executors.<o:p></o:p>

1898: Birthdate of businessman Armand Hammer<o:p></o:p>

1899: Dr. Felix Adler is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Julius Hirsch, a native of Germany who was a partner in the tobacco firm of Hirsch, Victorious & Co.<o:p></o:p>

1899: The Hebrew Technical Institute was among the many organizations that endorsed the Women’s Memorial presented to the just completed Peace Conference held in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

1899: The Hebrew Free School Associated hosted the confirmation exercises today for the 118 boys and girls who had completed the six year course of study.<o:p></o:p>

1900: Herzl turns to Prime Minister Ernest von Koerber to intervene for the Rumanian Jews who have no permission to cross the border to Austria.<o:p></o:p>

1901: Herzl dictates the résumé "for the special benefit of the weak understanding of His Imperial Majesty of the Khalifate."<o:p></o:p>

1901: Birthdate of producer and agent Sam Jaffe.<o:p></o:p>

1903: During a conversation on this date, Dr. Cyrus Adler of the Smithsonian Institution, Secretary of the International Jewish Association, and editor of the Jewish Year Book, discussed the massacre of Jews in Russia, including the official utterances on the subject by Count Cassinf, the Russian Ambassador.<o:p></o:p>

1904(7^th of Sivan, 5664): Second day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1904: Herzl returns to Vienna after an unsuccessful therapy in Franzensbad.<o:p></o:p>

1907: The proprietors of the Marlborough-Blenheim Hotel in Atlantic City apologized to Bertha Rayner Frank for her experience with anti-Jewish discrimination at their hotel.<o:p></o:p>

1909: Birthdate of Guy Édouard Alphonse Paul de Rothschild the Parisian who was the son of Baron Édouard de Rothschild, who had headed the bank before Baron Guy, and the great-grandson of James, who founded the French branch of the Rothschild empire in 1812 (As reported by Paul Lewis)<o:p></o:p>

1912: David Defilipov, a chemist who was born in the Ukraine, immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the twentieth century and Sonia née Gerdstein, gave birth to “singer, director, producer and impresario Edis De Philippe, who founded the Israel National Opera Company in 1947 and ran it with an iron hand until her death.” (Jewish Women’s Archives)<o:p></o:p>

1915: Rabbi Leventhal is scheduled to deliver a talk at the semi-annual examinations of the Hebrew Free School in Camden, NJ. <o:p></o:p>

1916: Birthdate of novelist Harold Robbins author of a series of bestsellers including Moneychangers, Carpetbaggersand Betsy. <o:p></o:p>

1917: The Great Atlanta Fire destroyed over 300 acres and 2,000 homes in Georgia and the South’s leading metropolis. The fire was confined primarily to the city’s Fourth Ward, which had a significant Jewish population on its north side. Following the fire Rich’s, the Jewish owned department store “assisted bereaved customers financially, even providing burial clothes for many of the victims” without regard to whom they were.<o:p></o:p>

1921(11^th of Iyar): Author Akiva Fleischman passed away<o:p></o:p>

1921: Birthdate of Harold Lane David, the son of Jewish immigrant who owned a Brooklyn delicatessen owner, later known as Hal David the award winning lyricist who created such musical questions as What’s it all about?,” “What’s new, pussycat?,” “Do you know the way to San Jose?” and “What do you get when you fall in love?,” (As reported by Rob Hoerburger)<o:p></o:p>

1921: Birthdate of Eugene Harold Ehrlich, a self-educated lexicographer who wrote 40 dictionaries, thesauruses and phrase books for the “extraordinarily literate,” not to mention people just hoping to sound that way. (As reported by Douglas Martin)<o:p></o:p>

1923: For the first time (but not the last) Stanley Baldwin becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain following the resignation of Arthur Bonar Law. Baldwin will serve in this capacity, off and one throughout the 1920’s and 1930’s. He is viewed as one of those politicians who turned a blind eye to the rise of Hitler and Mussolini and thus helped to bring on World War II with all that that would mean for the Jewish people. On the other hand, in 1938, a year after he left office, Baldwin “led a major appeal to provide financial assistance for Jewish refugees from Nazi brutality.”<o:p></o:p>

1924: University of Chicago students Richard Loeb and Nathan Leopold, Jr. murder 14-year-old Bobby Franks in a "thrill killing." The two killers and their victim are all Jewish.<o:p></o:p>

1925: Lord Herbert Charles Onslow Plumer is named High Commissioner in Palestine. Born in 1857, Plumer had a long, distinguished career in the British Army. He actually was one of the few competent commanding officers on the Western Front during World War I and was promoted to the rank of Field Marshall after the Armistice. The appointment to Palestine came when he was 68 and lasted until 1928. He proved to be a capable administrator who resisted Arab attempts to undermine the terms of the Mandate. The economic down turn that occurred during his tenure was not of his making. He returned to England where he served in the House of Lords until his death in 1932.<o:p></o:p>

1927: National Jewish Book is scheduled to begin today.<o:p></o:p>

1927: On the day that Charles Lindbergh completed his trans-Atlantic flight, Jewish businessman and airplane enthusiast Charles Levin announced that his airplane would fly farther on a $15,000 transatlantic flight challenge from America to Germany and carry a passenger.” Levine’s plane had been sitting the hanger, grounded because of a court battle, when Lindbergh had taken off for Paris. Levine would accomplish his goal the following when he flew aboard the Columbia, as a passenger while Clarence Chamberlin was at the controls.<o:p></o:p>

1928: A dinner honoring Dr. H. Peretra Mendes was to have been held this evening. The dinner was postponed until October.<o:p></o:p>

1928: The House of Representatives is schedule to consider the Jenkins Bill which is designed to grant enlarged preference within the quota to the wives and children of aliens<o:p></o:p>

1934(7^th of Sivan, 5694): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1934: The New York Council of Mizrachi Youth of America is scheduled to hold a Shavuot celebration tonight at 224 Henry Street with proceeds going toward the Hachshara farm, a Mizrachi training camp for Palestinian pioneers.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Dr. I. Mortimer Bloom is scheduled to deliver a sermons today entitled "Pilgrims of Eternity" at Temple Oheb Sholom on West 93^rd Street.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Milton Steinberg is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Time and Religion" at the Park Avenue Synagogue.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Dr. Samuel Benjamin is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Jews Without Memory;" at Congregation Hope of Israel in the Bronx.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Solomon Reichman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Sinai-a Symbol of Israel" at the Bronx Y. M. and Y. W. H. A.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Robert Gordis is scheduled to officiate at Yizkor services today at Temple Beth-El, Rockaway Park.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Henry Fisher is schedule to deliver a sermon entitled “Belief and Practice” at Congregation Derech Emunoh.<o:p></o:p>

1936: A crowd of Arabs fired from the hilltops on a Jewish-operated bus coming from Tel Aviv seriously wounding a Jewish man and girl. According to officials at Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital, dum-dum bullets had been used by the Arab attackers.<o:p></o:p>

1938: In Poland, the ruling party adopted "13 articles pertaining to Jewish affairs," stating that the Jews are 'an element which hinders the normal development of the forces of the Polish nation and state."<o:p></o:p>

1939: In a column published in Davar the pro-labor Hebrew language newspaper, David Ben Gurion said of the White Paper, “This document is not the final word of the British people. This document meanwhile is only a proposal of their government. The conscience of Britain and the whole world still can be awakened.” [Ed. Note: This time B-G got it wrong]<o:p></o:p>

1939: The British arrest the Irgun leadership, including Commander David Raziel. In February, 1938 the Revisionists under Jabotinsky had held a Zionist Congress in Prague. They rejected the notion that Jews could not settle on either side of the Jordan. More importantly, after two years of Arab violence they decided that the Jewish Agency’s policy of restraint was not working. The Irgun was to respond to each act of Arab violence with force and alacrity. The increased tempo of attacks against the British and Arabs must be viewed against the backdrop of the times: the worsening situation of the Jews in Europe, the issuance of the White Paper that would close Palestine to the Jews and guarantee a permanent Arab majority and the unabated violence of the Arabs. The Irgun and the Revisionists did not reflect the majority view of the Jewish population. Finally, in 1948, Ben Gurion took military action to bring the Irgun under control. Ironically, Menachem Begin, the leader of Irgun, would be the right wing politician who broke the hold of the Labor Zionists on the Israeli government.<o:p></o:p>

1940: Chairman Willem Vogt fired all Jewish employees at AVRO, the Dutch broadcasting company<o:p></o:p>

1941: Dutch Singer and Nazi collaborator Johan Heesters visited Dachau concentration camp.<o:p></o:p>

1941: A collaborationist group, Nederlandse Arbeids Dienst (Dutch Labor Service), is established in Holland.<o:p></o:p>

1942(5th of Sivan, 5702): Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1942(5th of Sivan, 5702): In Koritz, on the eve of Shavuot, 2,200 Jews were taken to the edge of town and shot into pre-dug pits. The dead included the wife and 13 year old daughter of Moshe Gildenman who was soon to become famous as the partisan “Uncle (Dyadya) Misha”. Gildenman succeeded in escaping with his son, Simcha, and a few others with one pistol and five rounds of ammunition. His groups slowly grew in strength and were eventually absorbed into Saburov’s brigade group. They were always known as Uncle Misha’s Jewish groups. During the war, Gildenman received the Order of the Red Star and finished the war with his son in Berlin. After the war, his son returned to Koretz and upon meeting the Ukrainian who killed his mother and sister - shot him. <o:p></o:p>

1943(16th of Iyar, 5703): Three thousand Jews driven from Brody, Ukraine, to a waiting transport train revolt, killing four Ukrainians and a few Germans. Many of the Jews break free after being put on the train, only to be machine-gunned. The remainder is killed upon arrival at the Majdanek death camp.<o:p></o:p>

1943(16th of Iyar, 5703): Members of the Jewish community at Drogobych, Ukraine, are exterminated in the Bronica Forest<o:p></o:p>

1944: The SS President Warfield, a packet steamer built in the 1920’s to carry passengers and cargo between Norfolk and Baltimore (sheltered waters), was returned by the British so she could serve in the U.S. Navy. The Warfield would become famous as the SS Exodus.<o:p></o:p>

1944: The Gestapo imprisons all 260 Jews of Canea, Crete, at Rethymnon, Crete<o:p></o:p>

1945: Today, many liberated survivors continue to live at the Dachau concentration camp two weeks after the end of the war.<o:p></o:p>

1945: German war criminal Heinrich Himmler was captured<o:p></o:p>

1945: Lauren Bacall (born Betty Pinsker) and Humphrey Bogart were married. (She was Jewish; Bogy was not.)<o:p></o:p>

1946: One of several post-war Hungarian pogroms took place today at Kunadaras where peasants murdered two Jews and wounded eighteen others.<o:p></o:p>

1948: For the second time in two days, the 53^rd and 54^th battalions attacked the Egyptian-held fort of Iraq Suwayden which the British had handed over to Muslim Brotherhood as they departed Palestine. The irony is that the British had built the fort in the 1930’s to help quell the infamous Arab Revolt.<o:p></o:p>

1948:Today, “at dawn the Golani staff reported that the enemy was repelled but that they were expecting another attack. The full report read: <o:p></o:p>

‘Our forces repelled yesterday a heavy attack of tanks, armored vehicles and infantry that lasted about 8 hours. The attack was repelled by the brave stand of our men, who used Molotov cocktails and their hands against the tanks. 3" mortars and heavy machinery took their toll on the enemy. Field cannons caused a panicked retreat of the enemy, who yesterday left Tzemah. This morning our forces entered Tzemah and took a large amount of booty of French ammunition and light artillery ammunition. We have captured 2 tanks and an armored vehicle of the enemy. The enemy is amassing large reinforcements. We are expecting a renewal of the attack.’”<o:p></o:p>

1948: Haganah troops returned to Tzemah today “and set up fortifications, the damaged tanks and armored cars were gathered and taken to the rear. The settlers returned that night to identify the bodies of their comrades in the fields and buried them in a common grave in Degania”<o:p></o:p>

1948: Abba Eban names Arthur Louie, Jacob Robinson, Moshe Tov, Michael Comay and Gideon Rafael as his alternates and advisers at the United Nations and names I.L. Kene as the delegation’s spokesman.<o:p></o:p>

1950: As a sign that Israel was taking its place among the family of nations, the government announced that Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett will meet with South African Prime Minister Daniel F. Malan during his upcoming trip to the African state.<o:p></o:p>

1951: Birthdate of comedian turned U.S. Senator, Al Franken <o:p></o:p>

1952(26th of Iyar, 5712): Actor and film star John Garfield passed away at the age of 39. Born Jacob Julius Garfinkle in New York City, he was sent to a school for problem children after the early death of his mother. It was there that he was introduced to boxing and acting. He won a scholarship to an acting school hosted by Maria Ouspenskaya, and made his Broadway debut in 1932. The play Golden Boy that featured a young prize fighter was written for him, but he was passed over for the role. He decided to leave Broadway and try his success in Hollywood. He earned an Academy Award nomination for his role in the 1938 film Four Daughters. He gained further fame as the handyman drifter in the Postman Rings Twice. He appeared in several war movies during WW II, usually playing the part of the wisecracking enlisted man (once as the gunner on a B-17 and once as a seaman aboard a sub) who sees the light and comes to understand why America was in the war. Garfield’s liberal politics brought him to the attention the McCarthyites during the Red Scare of the late 1940’s and 1950’s. He was forced to appear before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee; an appearance which proved detrimental to his career<o:p></o:p>

http://tyforum.bravepages.com/artc/p-2-67.html<o:p></o:p>

1952: During a meeting of HUAC a letter from Lillian Hellman was read that stated "I cannot and will not cute my conscience to fit this year's fashions..."<o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that upon his return to the U.S., Mr. John Foster Dulles, the U.S. Secretary of State, expressed satisfaction from his first, recent visit to Israel, and recommended to his government a sizeable aid for the country's quick development. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that two marauders who shot at an Israeli patrol in Jerusalem's "Corridor" were killed in an exchange of fire.<o:p></o:p>

1953(7th of Sivan, 5713: Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1954(18th of Iyar, 5714): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1963: Birthdate of Richard Appel who tried to follow in the footsteps of his parents, Nina Appel the Dean of Loyola Law School and Alfred Appel who was a professor of literature at Northwestern. Appel graduated from law school before turning to a life of writing and producing comedy.
1969: Israeli planes shot down three Egyptian Mig 21s in the Suez Canal zone during what would become known as the War of Attrition.<o:p></o:p>

1969: A group of about 10 saboteurs was intercepted today near Nahal Argaman in the Jordan Valley. One saboteur was killed in a clash with an Israeli unit. Another was wounded and a third escaped and joined other members of the gang hiding in caves. After the area was surrounded, the saboteurs were ordered to surrender. Six gave themselves up and two who resisted were killed<o:p></o:p>

1969: Robert Kennedy's murderer Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death. At the time, the Jordanian youth said Kennedy had to die because of his support of Israel. <o:p></o:p>

1974: Elizabeth Holtzman, the youngest woman ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, castigated the government for laxness in allowing Nazi war criminals into the U.S.<o:p></o:p>

1977: "Fiddler on the Roof" closed at the Winter Garden Theatre in NYC after 167 performances<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Postreported that Israeli security men and French policemen killed three gunmen who attacked the El Al desk at the Paris Orly airport. One French policeman was killed in this Arab terror attack and three French passengers were wounded. Most El Al passengers were employees of a French insurance company, who later left to tour Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1980(6^th of Sivan, 5740: Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1980: Release date of “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” directed by Irvin Kershner.<o:p></o:p>

1982: In “Housing Surge Alters Borough Park,” Alan Oser described the five year growth in the Brooklyn neighborhood which he attributed to a steady expansion of Borough Park's population of Orthodox Jews, about half of them Hasidim. They require large apartments for large families, and accommodations near synagogues and denominational schools.” The article provides an interesting snapshot of the needs of this unique community
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/05/21/nyregion/housing-surge-alters-borough-park.html<o:p></o:p>

1982: Delia Ephron married Jerome Kass.<o:p></o:p>

1982(28^th of Iyar, 5742): Yom Yerushalayim<o:p></o:p>

1987: James Levine is scheduled to conduct the IPO as part of the orchestra’s 50^th anniversary celebrations.<o:p></o:p>

1988(5th of Sivan, 5748) Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1988: Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is scheduled to address a dinner tonight hosted by a group calling itself "Concerned Citizens for New York," an alliance of black businesspeople. The dinner is being held at Terrace in the Park, a kosher catering facility owned by Allen Sherel and Stanley Lewin. The owners agreed to rent the facility before they found out that Farrakhan was the speaker. The two Jewish owners promised to donate every penny they make from the dinner to Jewish charities.<o:p></o:p>

1994: Israeli commandos captured Shiite guerrilla leader Mustafa Dirani<o:p></o:p>

1998: Jack Lew began serving his as Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Clinton.<o:p></o:p>

1999(6^thof Sivan, 5759): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Advent of the Algorithm: The Idea That Rules the World” by David Berlinski.<o:p></o:p>

2001: Radio broadcast of the annual Alfred Deakin Lecture; this year entitled "My Country – A Personal Journey"in which Robert Mamre describes what it is like for the son of Jewish immigrants to grow up in an Australia that is considered Anglo-Celtic. Author and historian Robert Manne is the Associate Professor of Politics at La Trobe University, a columnist for The Age, The Australian, the Sydney Morning Herald, and a regular commentator on ABC Radio and Television<o:p></o:p>

2001: The Houston Post reports that American JewishCongress v. Bostwould be heard in federal district court. American Jewish Congress v. Bost was an establishment clause lawsuit concerning the separation of church and statebased on events that took place in Brenham, Texas. The case was the first constitutional challenge to a charitable choice contract. In the community of Brenham, Texas, the American Jewish Congress and the Texas Civil Rights Project filed a lawsuit against a social services program that they believed used a tax-funded jobs program to support religious practices that violated the separation of church and state. Other accusations include use of funds to proselytize, purchase bibles, and coerce participants to "accept Jesus." The lawsuit went back and forth between state and federal courts and was twice appealed. In January of 2003, the lawsuit that is believed to be the first constitutional challenge to a "charitable choice" contract, came to a conclusion. The case was finally dismissed "on the ground that there was no live controversy."<o:p></o:p>

2005: In an article entitled “BioHazards,” New York Books reviews “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss. Krauss willingly talks about her second novel but refuses to talk about her husband, the Jewish writer Jonathan Safran Foer.<o:p></o:p>

2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of “Any Place I Hang My Hat” by Susan Isaacs, “The History of Love” by Nicole Krauss and “Indecision” by Benjamin Kunkel.<o:p></o:p>

2006: Haaretz reported that author A.B. Yehoshua predicted that Diaspora Jews would move to China if it were to become a world power. Dr. Avrum Ehrlich, a professor at the Center for Judaic and Inter-Religious Studies at the University of Shandong (China) says that this process is actually already under way. ‘The Jewish community in Hong Kong is thriving,’ he explains, ‘and there are at least 300 Jews now living permanently in Beijing alone.’”<o:p></o:p>

2006: The United Jewish Community/Jewish Federation of Las Vegas hosts its biggest and best Yom Ha’Azma’ut festival at the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino and the Jewish Agency arranged a variety of day-long activities to celebrate Israel Independence Day in downtown Budapest. <o:p></o:p>

2007: The JCC in Manhattan presents a program entitled “Bernstein & Robbins: Dybbuk in Music & Dance.” Jean-Pierre Frohlich, ballet master and former soloist with the New York City, discusses his work with Robbins in staging the ballets and presents several dancers performing excerpts from Dybbuk. Ellen Sorrin, director of The George Balanchine Trust and advisory council member of The Jerome Robbins Trust, serves as moderator.<o:p></o:p>

2007(4 Sivan 5767): Shir-El Friedman is killed when a Hamas rocket struck vehicle near a bakery next to shopping mall in Sderot. The35 year old woman was struck by shrapnel and succumbed to her injuries as she was being rushed to the hospital. <o:p></o:p>

2008:AJHS hosts the 2008 Emma Lazarus Statue of Liberty Award Dinner, commemorating the Jewish Chaplains who led survivors of the Holocaust from DP camps to Israel and the US. Sid Lapidus will be honored for his deep commitment to the American Jewish Historical Society.<o:p></o:p>

2008: In Jaffa, System Ali plays on the roof of Mishkenot Ruth Daniel. Over the past year, System Ali has been performing in different venues throughout Jaffa, Tel Aviv and beyond, drawing impressive crowds whose diversity reflects that of the individuals on stage.”<o:p></o:p>

2008: The 92^nd Street Y presents “The Psychology of the Israeli-Palestinian Crisis.” Moises Salinas explores the way psychological factors impede the peace process. <o:p></o:p>

2008; Jewish Braille International dinner was held at the Harmonie Club. “Founded in 1931 as the Jewish Braille Institute by Leopold Dubov, the blind son of a rabbi, and Rabbi Michael Aaronson, who had been blinded in World War I, today the JBI library serves 35,000 individuals in 30 countries in eight languages — all at no charge.”<o:p></o:p>

2009: Michael Sandel delivered the 2009 Reith Lectures on “A New Citizenship” today at Oxford, UK.<o:p></o:p>

2009: The Center for Jewish History and the Leo Baeck Institute presented “Happy Birthday, Felix: Music of Felix Mendelssohn and His Contemporaries” with Phoenix Chamber Ensemble performing rare arrangements of Felix Mendelssohn's Hebriden, op.26 and Ruy Blas, Op.95 Overtures and Symphony No.1 in C minor for 1 piano-4 hands, violin and cello and Robert Schumann's 12 Four-Hand Piano Pieces for Small and Big Children, Op.85<o:p></o:p>

2009:Writer and essayist Phillip Lopate discusses “Notes On Sontag,” his reflections on the late Susan Sontag and her role as essayist, novelist and playwright, at Politics and Prose Bookstore, in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a speech at Ammunition Hill in memory of soldiers who fell in the Six-Day War in 1967 in which he said, “Jerusalem was always ours, will always be ours, and will never again be divided.” <o:p></o:p>

2009: The four men arrested last night in what the authorities said was a plot to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx and shoot down military planes at an Air National Guard base in Newburgh, N.Y. were petty criminals who appeared to be acting alone, not in concert with any terrorist organization, the New York City police commissioner said today. The four men arrested are all Muslim, a law enforcement official said. According to a police informant James Cromitie, one of the four men who was arrested said that he was upset about the war in Afghanistan and that that he wanted to do “something to America.” and “the best target” — the World Trade Center — “was hit already.” According to the same informant the four men made statements if “Jews were killed in this attack and that would be all right.”<o:p></o:p>

2010: The 92^ndSt Y schedules two events to celebrate Shabbat: in the morning a Shabbat Bakery where participants can bake their own Challah and a Shabbat Rooftop Dinner, an intergenerational family Shabbat dinner experience in a meaningful and welcoming environment.<o:p></o:p>

2010: As part of her Bat Mitzvah weekend at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, Shannon Williams and her family will be participating in Friday night services.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The AJMF Festival is scheduled to host its Closing Night Party at Center Stage.<o:p></o:p>

2011:Korin Alal and Eran Zur are scheduled present a joint concert at the JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, NJ.<o:p></o:p>

2011:Defense Minister Ehud Barak said today that the differences between Israel and the United States on the peace process are smaller than they seem.

2011: In “Harold Bloom: An Uncommon Reader,” Sam Tanenhaus reviewed The Anatomy as a Way of Life, the latest literary effort by 80 year Jewish man of letters Harold Bloom.<o:p></o:p>

2012: In recognition of Jewish American Heritage Month, the DC Public Library is scheduled to present a lecture entitled “Jewish Civil Life at a Time of Civil War: American Jewry in the Mid-19th Century” during which Dr. Lauren Strauss, assistant professor of History and Judaic Studies at the George Washington University, will discuss the Jewish-American experience before 1870, with a focus on the status of the Jewish community in the decades surrounding the Civil War.http://www.dclibrary.org/node/30617<o:p></o:p>

2012: In a great example of “acts of loving kindness”, The Derfner Judaica Museum located at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, Bronx, NY is scheduled to offer private group tours for individuals with dementia and their family members or care partners that will focus on select highlights of this fascinating institution. <o:p></o:p>

2012: Tefillat HaShlah - the Shlah's Prayer should be recited today before sunset. The prayers was composed Isaiah Horowoitz, a noted 17^th century rabbi who moved to Palestine in the 1620’s, living there until his death ten years later. “Rabbi Horwitz wrote that the eve of the first day of the Hebrew month of Sivan is the most auspicious time to pray for the physical and spiritual welfare of one's children and grandchildren, since Sivan was the month that the Torah was given to the Jewish people. He composed a special prayer to be said on this day, known as the Tefillat HaShlah - the Shlah's Prayer”<o:p></o:p>

2012: The Buchmann-Mehta School of Music Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Zeev Dorman is scheduled to perform at Carnegie Hall<o:p></o:p>

2012:Israeli violinist Vadim Gluzman is among those scheduled to perform at the Good Shepherd Church in New York.<o:p></o:p>

2012: The Yellow Ticket with Alicia Svigals is scheduled to be the final performance at the 13^th Annual Washington Jewish Music Festival.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The 7^thindependent conference for the Hannah Arendt Circle sponsored by The Institute of Jewish Studies and the Centre for Philosophy of Culture at the University of Antwerp in Belgium is scheduled to come to an end.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The IPO annual Young Leadership concert is scheduled to take place in Manhattan<o:p></o:p>

2013: Dudu Fisher is scheduled to perform at the State Theatre in New Brunswick, NJ.<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

This Day, May 20, In Jewish History by MItchell A. Levin

09:58 PM Sunday, May 19, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 20 In History<o:p></o:p>

68(3rd of Sivan, 3828): During the Great Revolt, Vespasian captured Jericho and slaughtered the Jewish inhabitants.<o:p></o:p>

325: The First Council of Nicaea, convoked by Emperor Constantine, opens. Among other things, the Council dealt with the issue of setting the date for Easter. Going forward, Easter would never again be celebrated on the same day as the first day of Pesach. <o:p></o:p>

526: An earthquake, with an epicenter in Syria that reportedly killed 300,000 people, is felt throughout much of the Near East including at least two towns now located in the modern state of Israel – Acre and Beit Jann.<o:p></o:p>

1092:During the reign of St. Ladislaus the Synod of Szabolcs decreed that Jews in Hungary should not be permitted to have Christian wives or to keep Christian slaves. This decree had been promulgated in the Christian countries of Europe since the fifth century, and St. Ladislaus merely introduced it into Hungary. <o:p></o:p>

1293: King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá which would become one Spain’s oldest and finest universities. During the 1930’s the school would prove to be haven for Jewish intellectuals fleeing anti-Semitism in other parts of Europe. The school would cease to be a haven when Franco led his coup in 1936 that became the Spanish Civil War and brought facism to the Iberian Peninsula. <o:p></o:p>

1631: The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years' War. For once, there were probably no Jews among the dead. The Jews had been explled from the town in 1493 and would not be readmitted until 1671 during the reign of the great elector, Frederick William.<o:p></o:p>

1648: King Wladislaus IV of Poland passed away. Wladislaus was the king of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth when the Chmielnicki, Uprising began in January of 1648. According to some, the King and his advisors underestimated the size and the strength of the uprising. They suffered to major defeats as the Cossacks moved westward. His death left the Poles leaderless at a crucial time in their history and may have been a contributing factor to the success of the uprising which brought death and destructions to hundreds of thousands of Jews living throughout the area.<o:p></o:p>

1671: Frederick William of Prussia permitted 50 Jewish families who had been expelled from Vienna to settle in his dominion.<o:p></o:p>

1769(13^thof Iyar): Rabbi Nethanel Weil of Prague, author of “Korban Nethanel” passed away.<o:p></o:p>

1806: Birthdate of British philosopher John Stuart Mill<o:p></o:p>

http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs12115-000-1008-z.pdf#page-1<o:p></o:p>

http://www.joshyuter.com/2006/08/10/judaism/jewish-thought-theology-machshava/john-stuart-mill-on-orthodox-judaism/<o:p></o:p>

1819: Rica Meldola, the eldest daughter of Raphael Meldola married David Aaron de Sola, the senior rabbi at Bevis Marks Synagogue in London.<o:p></o:p>

1820(7^thof Sivan, 5580): Second Day of Shavuot; Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1820: Birthdate of Esriel or Azriel Hildesheimer, a German rabbi who was a leader in the formation of Modern Orthodox Judaism.<o:p></o:p>

1822: Birthdate of author Emile Erckmann who along with Alexandre Chatrian co-authored the 1869 play “Le Jeuf Polonais” (The Polish Jew) which was the basis for “The Bells.”<o:p></o:p>

1835: Michael Rose, the Great Synagogue’s first Rabbi, arrived in Sydney, Australia.<o:p></o:p>

1839(7^thof Sivan, 5599): Second Day of Shavuot; Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1842: Arch abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison wrote an article in his newspaper the Liberator, referring to Mordecai Noah, one of the most prominent Jews of the period as "a Jewish unbeliever, the enemy of Christ and Liberty." Garrison felt that Noah had expressed sentiments that were hostile to the abolitionists when, as a Judge, he was delivering a charge to a Grand Jury. Garrison would continue his attacks on Noah describing him as "the miscreant Jew", that lineal descendant of the monsters who nailed Jesus to the Cross" and as a "Shylock" who "will have his pound of flesh at any cost." <o:p></o:p>

1847: Consecration of the New Netherdutch Synagogue took place in New York. The congregation was organized so they could, "have a Synagogue where they can worship according to the Amsterdam Minchag. They number about sixty members. The service was performed by the S. E. C. Noot, the Chazanof the congregation, assisted by several young men."<o:p></o:p>

1851: Birthdate of inventor Emile Berliner. Born in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Berliner came to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>in 1870. His most famous invention was the flat phonograph record which replaced the cylinder that had been invented by Thomas Edison. Berliner made many other contributions through his work at the Bell Labs. He also was an early developer of the helicopter. At the end of his life, he supported the rebuilding of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>and was very active on behalf of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He died in 1929. <o:p></o:p>

1855: Birthdate of Saul Frank. A Dutch Jew, whose parents were Sephardic, he was a successful businessman who settled in California and married Sarah Vasen the Iowa educated physician who became the first Jewish woman doctor in Los Angeles.<o:p></o:p>

1858(7^thof Nisan, 5618): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1867: A fair was held today at the Concordia Opera House in Baltimore, MD. Proceeds from the event are to be used for the building of the Hebrew Hospital which, when completed, will offer services to all indigent citizens without regard to religious affiliation.<o:p></o:p>

1873: Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis, a tailor from Reno, received patent 139,121 which protected their invention of blue jeans with copper rivets in areas of stress including the pocket corners and the button fly.<o:p></o:p>

1874: Levi Strauss marketed blue jeans with copper rivets charging $13.50 per dozen. Strauss arrived in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">San Francisco</st1:place></st1:city>with canvas that he thought he could use for making tents to sell to the miners. But what the miners needed were stout pants, which Strauss gave them using the canvas. He later changed to heavy blue denim called genes in French which became jeans in to the people of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">California</st1:place></st1:state>. The copper rivets were used because the miners put nuggets in their pants pockets and regular stitching would not hold them.<o:p></o:p>

1879:Joseph H. De Meza a young Cuban Jew pleaded guilty to charges that he had tried to steal clothing from Mrs. Charles A. Lillie by swindling her. He was held over because he could not raise $3,000 in bail. During the proceedings, De Meza told the court of various swindles he had taken part since his family left Cuba six years ago. According to De Meza, his family had been forced to flee from their home in Matanzas because they were part of the insurgency aimed at overthrowing the Spanish rulers of Cuba.

1885(6^thof Sivan, 5645): Shavuot <o:p></o:p>

1889(19^thof Iyar): Italian Jewish leader Samuel Altari passed away<o:p></o:p>

1890(1st of Sivan, 5650): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1891: “He Wants to go Home” published today described the plight of Barney Greenman who came to United States with his parents a year ago. The teenager who has received help from the United Hebrew Charities, wants to go back to Rotterdam where he can rejoin his parents who went back because they “did not succeed in make a fortune…”<o:p></o:p>

1891: In London, as the number of destitute Russian Jews seeking refuge in Great Britain, The Evening News “warns authorities that if the Hebrew ‘invasion’ is not checked…an anti-Hebrew movement…will grow up in England.”<o:p></o:p>

1891: Louis Raphael shot his fiancée, Rachel Weinberg this evening and then turned the gun on himself.<o:p></o:p>

1890: It is alleged that two or more unidentified individuals threw the body of Samuel Hutch, a Jewish peddler, down an abandoned mine shaft near Wurtsborough, NY.<o:p></o:p>

1891: Dr. Henry M. Leipziger was unanimously elected Assistant Superintendent of Schools in New York City. <o:p></o:p>

1893: As the condition of Jews in Russia worsened it was reported today those living in the Asiatic part of the empire are to be expelled in the same manner as their co-religionist in the Polish part of the empire.<o:p></o:p>

1893: Birth of Herzl's daughter Margarethe Gertrude (always known as "Trude").<o:p></o:p>

1895: In Brooklyn, a judgment in the amount of twelve dollars was awarded to the landlord who owned the building at 116 Seigel Street to paid by Congregation Havercham which had failed to pay rent for the month of May. <o:p></o:p>

1896: In <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>the laying of the cornerstone took place for the new Synagogue of Congregation Shearith <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>at <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">70th Street</st1:address></st1:street>and Central Park West. At the entrance to the synagogue, there are two millstones that were from <st1:street w:st="on"><st1:address w:st="on">Mill Street</st1:address></st1:street>, the location of the town miller during the early colonial period.<o:p></o:p>

1896: Max Bodenheimer, leader of the Cologne Zionists, invites Herzl to speak. Bodenheimer was a lawyer in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cologne</st1:place></st1:city>and one of the main figures in German Zionism. Close to Theodor Herzl, he was the first president of the Zionist Federation of Germany and one of the founders of the Jewish National Fund. After his flight in 1933 from Nazi Germany, and a short sojourn in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Holland</st1:place></st1:city>, he settled in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>in 1935. He passed away in 1940.<o:p></o:p>

1897(18th of Iyar, 5657): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1897: According to a compilation of the May Laws published today, the right of Jews “to become shareholders in stock companies, or directors, managers, or superintendents of real property belonging to corporations and situated outside of towns or townlets in the Pale” was severely limited. <o:p></o:p>

1898: The Jewish Messenger reported that Congregation Orach Chaim had resolved to purchase its first building at 221 East 51st Street. The edifice was formerly used as a church. Prior to this, the congregants had been worshipping in rented space, reportedly above a beer saloon. During the meeting at which the decision to make the purchase was reached, long-term president Meyer Dannenberg "...arose and surprised members by giving toward the new edifice $5,000 in behalf of his son, Hon. Isaac Dannenberg." <o:p></o:p>

1898(28 of Iyar, 5658): Sixty-two year old Rabbi Herman Phillips, a teacher at the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society for the last six years passed away at his home on 3^rd Avenue. A native of Germany, he served as cantor at the synagogue on west 44^th Street in Manhattan before serving as a rabbi at congregations in Boston and Toronto<o:p></o:p>

1899: “French Cheers for Dreyfus” published today described the reaction in Paris to the acquittal of the notorious Jew baiter, Max Regis on charges of inciting to murder. An angry mob followed him to the train station and the marched to the Officers’ Club where they cheered for Dreyfus and Picquart. When the French officers turned a water hose on the crowd, they were pelted with stones some of which injured the anit-Dreyfus military men.<o:p></o:p>

1899: It was reported today that police arrested fifty rioters who attacked the Jewish quarter in Algiers where they wrecked several houses.<o:p></o:p>

1904(6^thof Sivan, 5664): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1904: Birthdate of Meir Tobianski<o:p></o:p>

http://israelsdocuments.blogspot.com/2013/01/killing-meir-tobianski.html<o:p></o:p>

1906(25th of Iyar, 5666): Raphael Louis Bischoffsheim, a Dutch-born French banker, politician, philanthropist and founder of the Nice Observatory passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

1907: Incorporation of Dropsie College in Philadelphia, PA<o:p></o:p>

1907(7^thof Sivan, 5667): Second day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1912: In New York, Nathan Finkelstein and Anna Katzenellenbogen gave birth to Moses Isaac Finkelstein, who gained fame as Sir Moses I. Finley<o:p></o:p>

1914: In Jerusalem, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shapira gave birth to Avraham Elkanah Shapira who werved as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993.<o:p></o:p>

1915(7^thof Sivan, 5675): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1915: Birthdate of Moshe Dayan. Dayan was born at Deganya, the most famous Kibbutz,. As a teenager he joined the Haganah. He lost an eye in an attack on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region> with an Australian Division. During the War for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Independence</st1:place></st1:city>, Dayan would play a key role in the relief of Deganya. He rose in the ranks of the Israeli army, becoming Minister of Defense in 1967. He resigned after the Yom Kippur War because he was criticized for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s lack of preparedness. In 1977 he joined the Begin government. <o:p></o:p>

1915: The Ottoman government allowed Hebrew to be used once again as a written language for letters, although it will be censored by the military.<o:p></o:p>

1915: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today at the upcoming speech of Rabbi Leventhal at the Hebrew Free School.<o:p></o:p>

1917: The Ottomans allowed the Jews to return to Jaffa and Tel Aviv reversing the order expelling them from their homes.<o:p></o:p>

1920: Henry Ford’s newspaper, the Dearborn Independent, with a circulation of seven hundred thousand, "discussed" the Jewish problem. Ford was an anti-Semite and his paper followed his lead.<o:p></o:p>

1922: “The first Jewish municipal bond issue in history, amount of 80,000 pounds has been authorized by the Palestine Government for the township of Tel-Aviv…The obligations are secured by taxation, the bonds being used at 6 per cent, repayable in twenty years.<o:p></o:p>

1922: Birthdate of Sarah Doron. Born in Lithuania she made Aliyah in 1933 and eventually pursued a political career that including serving as a member of the Knesset and Minister without Portfolio.<o:p></o:p>

1926(7^thof Sivan, 5686): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1928: Birthdate of Alfred Gilbert Aronowitz “an American rock journalist best known for introducing Bob Dylan and The Beatles in 1964.”<o:p></o:p>

1930: Sir John Hope-Simpson arrives in Palestine. “Upon the recommendation of the Shaw Commission the British authorities conducted an investigation into the possibilities for future immigration to and settlement of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>. The investigation was headed by Sir John Hope-Simpson, who spent a relatively short amount of time in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> reviewing the situation. Hope-Simpson's main concern was that there was not sufficient land to support continued immigration. According to his report, Arab farmers were suffering from severe economic difficulties. Many were tenant farmers who owed large amounts of money and lacked the means to ensure successful agricultural endeavors. Others were simply unemployed. The report indicated that the Jewish policy of hiring only Jews was responsible for the deplorable conditions in which the Arabs found themselves. Due to these conditions, Hope-Simpson recommended the cessation of Jewish immigration. Only after new agricultural methods would be introduced in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>, would room be made for an additional number of immigrants. In response, Jewish leaders in the Yishuv argued that Hope-Simpson had ignored the capacity for growth in the industrial sector. Stimulating economic growth through increased demand would most likely benefit the Arab economy as well. Hope-Simpson disagreed, seeing the future of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> in agriculture, not in industry. Jews also claimed that since they had made a principle of using Jewish labor only, the cessation of immigration would in fact have no effect on Arab unemployment. The Hope-Simpson Report was published in October, 1930. At the same time, the Passfield White Paper was issued, clarifying British intentions in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>.”<o:p></o:p>

1930: “The Chief Rabbinate of the Jewish Community of Palestine has joined in the call for a general strike of protest against the suspension of immigration.”<o:p></o:p>

1931: Birthdate of Israeli political leader Kesari Yisrael. Born in Yemen, he made aliyah at the age of two. His service in the military was followed by course work in economics and sociology at Hebrew University and Tel Aviv University. Following an active career with Histadruit, he was elected to the Knesset and served Minister of Transportation from 1992 to 1996.<o:p></o:p>

1932: Birthdate of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, a groundbreaking and wide-ranging scholar of Jewish history whose meditation on the tension between collective memory of a people and the more prosaic factual record of the past would influence a generation of thinkers. (As reported by Joseph Berger)<o:p></o:p>

1934: Jack Benny is among those who will be featured at the “Friars Frolic” which is scheduled to take place tonight at New York’s Forty-fourth Street Theatre.<o:p></o:p>

1934(6th of Sivan, 5694): First Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi William F. Rosenblum is scheduled to lead Confirmation Services at Temple Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Samuel J. Levinson is scheduled to lead Confirmation Services at Temple Beth Emeth of Flatbush (Brooklyn).<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Israel Goldstein is scheduled to lead Confirmation Services at Congregation B'nai Jeshurun on 257 West Eighty-eighth street.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Samuel Buchler is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "The Ten Commandments in Our Generation;" at New People's Synagogue on Clinton Street.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled "Young Israel and the Undying Jew;" at the Free Synagogue meeting at Carnegie Hall.<o:p></o:p>

1934: The 1934 edition of the "Friars Frolic" will be presented at the Forty-fourth Street Theatre this evening. It will be staged under the direction of Lou Holtz, Jack Benny and Nat Burns. The show, which will offer a series of original and intimate sketches and playlets, which have been presented at private "Frolics," will also enlist the services of more than one hundred stars of the stage, screen and radio. With his plain vanilla looks, bland speech pattern and neutral name, Benny was the most “un-Jewish” of Jewish comedians. <o:p></o:p>

1935: Birthdate of Michael Rose, the native of Bedford-Stuyvesant who gained fame as screen writer Mickey Rose<o:p></o:p>

1936: As Arab violence continued, all railways in Palestine were placed under rigid curfew regulations. “Christians joined Jews in evacuating the Old ‘City of Jerusalem.” As of today, only “200 Jewish families out of a former total of 5,000 remained in the Old City.”<o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Post reported that Arab terrorists set on fire a special experimental agricultural farm, set up by the government, for the benefit of Palestinian Arab farmers.<o:p></o:p>

1939: Despite the recent outbreaks of violence in response to the White Paper, as the Sabbath came to an end, Jews peacefully “paraded in their customary fashion on the main streets of Jerusalem.” In an attempt to bridge the gap between Jews and Arabs, the Sephardic community issued a statement that expressed solidarity with the rest of the Jews of Palestine in the struggle to annul the betrayal of the White Paper appealed to the Arabs saying “Brethren in race, our hand is outstretched today as ever for a true peace, for collaboration in an honorable and lasting peace. The mandatory proposals will lead to the ruin of the country and the impoverishment of both Jews and Arabs instead of construction and revival.<o:p></o:p>

1940: A concentration camp begins functioning at Auschwitz in Poland. Because most of <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>'s Jews live in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:place w:st="on">Eastern Europe</st1:place>, the six concentration camps called death camps will be established there: Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno, Belzec, Treblinka, Sobibór, and Majdanek.<o:p></o:p>

1941(23^rdof Iyar, 5701): Thirty year old David Raziel, a founder of Irgun, was killed today. Raziel was serving with the British in Iraq in their fight against the pro-Axis government when a bomb from a German aircraft kill him and the British officer with whom he was serving.<o:p></o:p>

1941(23rd of Iyar, 5701): Dutch physicist Leonard Salomon Ornstein passed away. Born in 1880, he studied theoretical physics with Hendrik Antoon Lorentz at University of Leiden. He subsequently carried out Ph.D. research under the supervision of Lorentz, concerning an application of the statistical mechanics of Gibbs to molecular problems. In 1914 he was appointed professor of physics, as successor of Peter Debye, at University of Utrecht. In 1922 he became director of Physical Laboratory (Fysisch Laboratorium) and extended his research interests to experimental subjects. His measurements concerning intensities of spectral lines brought Physical Laboratory in the international limelight. He is also remembered for the Ornstein-Zernike theory (named after Ornstein and Frederik Zernike) concerning correlation functions. Together with Gilles Holst, director of Philips Research Laboratories (Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium), he was the driving force behind establishing the Dutch Physical Society (Nederlands Natuurkundig Vereniging, NNV) in 1921. From 1939 until November 1940 he was Chairman of this Society. From 1918 until 1922 Ornstein was Chairman of the Dutch Zionist Society (Nederlandse Zionistische Vereniging). Immediately after the involvement of the Netherlands in the World War II (see Battle of the Netherlands), a friend from the United States of America, the astronomer Peter van de Kamp, offered to bring Ornstein and his family to America. However, Ornstein did not accept this offer, since, as he put it, he would not leave his laboratory in Utrecht. Owing to his Jewish heritage, Ornstein was summarily dismissed from University in September 1940; he was even barred from entering his own laboratory. In November 1940, he was officially dismissed from University. On his own initiative, in 1940, Ornstein withdrew his membership of the Dutch Physical Society. During this period he increasingly distanced himself from public life, to the degree that he no longer wished to receive guests at home. Ornstein died six months after being barred from University. One of the five buildings of Department of Physics of University of Utrecht, Ornstein Laboratorium, is named in his honor.<o:p></o:p>

1941: In France, more laws were put into place restricting Jewish movements in all aspects of life. Jews are prohibited from engaging in wholesale and retail trade. They cannot own banks, hotels, or restaurants<o:p></o:p>

1941: Goering commanded that no Jew would be allowed to emigrate from any occupied territory..."in view of the imminent final solution". This was the first official reference of THE FINAL SOLUTION. <o:p></o:p>

1942: Three hundred train cars of clothing taken from those who had been killed Chelmo arrived in Lodz for sorting by Jewish workers. Ironically this meant that the death of Jews gave the Lodz Jews work which meant they got to live. <o:p></o:p>

1944(27th of Iyar, 5704): Reportedly the day on which Salomon Gluck, a French doctor and leader of the French Resistance was assassinated in Kaunaus. He had been shipped from Drancy on convoy 73 along with 878 other men all of whom were murdered.<o:p></o:p>

1944: In Jerusalem, Zev and Esther Vilnay gave birth to Matan Vilnai. Zev had been born in Kishinev and moved with his parents to Haifa at age 6. He worked as a topographer for the Haganah and the IDF. He pursued a career as leading geographer, author and lecturer. Mata joined the IDF where he served with the paratroopers, the Sayeret Matkal and deputy commander of the assault force for the Entebbe Raid. He rose to the rank of Major General and served as Deputy Chief of Staff before retiring to civilian life where he served in the Knesset and as Minister for Home Front Defense. <o:p></o:p>

1945: Between today and May 27, four Polish Jews who return to their hometown of Dzialoszyce are murdered by Poles.<o:p></o:p>

1948: First appearance of the Israeli Air Force. Real combat aircraft bearing the Star of David would not appear until later in the week. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Heavy Syrian shelling of Degania Alef started at about 04:00 this morning from the Tzemah police station, by means of 75 mm cannons, and 60 and 81 mm mortars. The barrage lasted about half an hour. At 04:30 the Syrian army began its advance on the Deganias and the bridge over the Jordan River north of Degania Alef. Unlike the attack on Tzemah, this action saw the participation of nearly all of the Syrian forces stationed at Tel al-Qasr, including infantry, armor and artillery. The Israeli defenders numbered about 70 persons (67 according to Aharon Israeli's head count), most of them not regular fighters, with some Haganah and Palmach members. Their orders were to fight to the death. They had support from three 20 mm guns at Beit Yerah, deployed along the road from Samakh to Degania Alef. They also had a Davidka mortar, which exploded during the battle, and a PIAT with fifteen projectiles. At night, a Syrian expeditionary force attempted to infiltrate Degania Bet, but was caught and warded off, which caused the main Syrian force to attack Degania Alef first. At 06:00, the Syrians started a frontal armored attack, consisting of 5 tanks, a number of armored vehicles and an infantry company.[5] The Syrians pierced the Israeli defense, but their infantry was at some distance behind the tanks. The Israelis knocked out four Syrian tanks and four armored cars with 20 mm cannons, PIATs and Molotov cocktails.[33] Meanwhile, other defenders kept small arms fire on the Syrian infantry, who stopped in citrus groves a few hundred meters from the settlements. The surviving Syrian tanks withdrew back to the Golan.At 07:45, the Syrians halted their assault and dug in, still holding most of the territory between Degania Alef's fence and Samakh's police fort. They left behind a number of lightly damaged or otherwise inoperable tanks that the Israelis managed to repair.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Jewish fighters scored their first victory over the Syrians at Deganya. At <st1:time hour="16" minute="30" w:st="on">4:30</st1:time>in the morning, Syrian troops crossed the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region> and attacked the Kibbutz with tanks and flamethrowers. By <st1:time hour="12" minute="0" w:st="on">noon</st1:time>the tanks were inside the perimeter of Deganya when two 65 mm. howitzers and additional fighters under the command of Moshe Dyan arrived. When they went into action, the Syrians were so startled that they retreated. One of the Syrian tanks that had penetrated the kibbutz and was destroyed remains to this day at Deganya as a memorial to the bravery of the defenders. What seemed like a miracle was the result of a bold gamble by Yigal Yadin, the man who sent the guns in the first place.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The siege of Gesher ended when the two field pieces that had saved Deganya from the Syrians were rushed southwards. The guns opened fire on the Iraqi forces besieging the Jewish fighters. Faced with modern weapons, the Iraqis fled rather than fight.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Foreign Minister Moshe Sharet informed Secretary-General Trygve Lie that Abba Eban was <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s ambassador to the United Nations.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Mordechai "Modi" Alon and the rest of the Jewish pilots who have been training in Czechoslovakia board a DC-54 transport plane and begin their flight back to Israel. Although they have not completed their training, the pilots are anxious to get home since they have heard that the Egyptian Air Force has been attacking the newly created Jewish state.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Operation Balak officially begins with its first flight from a Czech airfield code named ‘Etzion.’ Operation Balak was the name given to secret program for purchasing and shipping arms to the infant Jewish state.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The United Nations named Count Folke Bernadotte to serve as mediator between the Jewish and Arab states.<o:p></o:p>

1950: Hedda Sterne signed a letter to President of The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 20 to protest aesthetically conservative group-exhibition juries. Born into a Jewish home in Bucharest, she was the “only woman in a group of Abstract Expressionists known as "The Irascibles.”<o:p></o:p>

1953(6th of Sivan, 5713) First Day of Shavuot <o:p></o:p>

1954(7th of Iyar, 5714): Selig Brodetsky, “a British Professor of Mathematics, a member of the World Zionist Executive, the president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the second president of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem” passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

1957: Birthdate of Steven Leiber, a San Francisco art dealer and collector who became an expert in artists’ ephemera and built an archive that became an important resource for scholars and curators. (As reported by Roberta Smith)<o:p></o:p>

1960: Birthdate of actor Tony Goldwyn<o:p></o:p>

1966: Birthdate of actress Mindy Cohn, who played Natalie on the sitcom “Facts of Life.”<o:p></o:p>

19720(7^thof Sivan): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1973(18th of Iyar, 5733): Lag B’Omer <o:p></o:p>

1974(28th of Iyar, 5734): Leontine Sagan, Austrian born actress and founder of the National Theatre of Johannesburg passed away at the age of 85.<o:p></o:p>

1974(28th of Iyyar, 5734): Yom Yerushalayim <o:p></o:p>

1977: JTA reported that “The Senate has confirmed President Carter's appointment of Manuel Plotkin, 53, a marketing research expert and executive of Sears Roebuck and Co., to be director of the Census Bureau. He will be the first Jew to hold that office of which Thomas Jefferson was the original incumbent in 1790. Senate approval of the appointment was without dissent. Plotkin, who was born in Irkutsk, Siberia, was taken by his parents to Mexico City at the age of three. The family moved to Chicago in 1929 where they have lived ever since. Plotkin and his wife, the former Dianne Weiss, are members of Temple Sholom in that city. As head of the Census Bureau, which is part of the Department of Commerce, Plotkin will oversee about 8000 employees, more than half in Washington and the rest in various points around the U.S. They comprise the field force for monthly population surveys including employment figures for the Department of Labor. Plotkin had been for two years the price economist for the Bureau of Labor Statistics at its Chicago regional office and a year as survey coordinator in the Bureou's Washington office.”<o:p></o:p>

1978: Three members of the PFLP (Peoples Front for the Liberation of Palestine) a terrorist organization, killed a policeman near El Al airlines at Orly Airport outside of Paris, France.<o:p></o:p>

1981:The Israeli Cabinet reportedly will meet today to discuss proposals made by Philip C. Habib, President Reagan's envoy who has been meeting with the President of Syria over the threat posed by his missiles located in Lebanaon.<o:p></o:p>

1985: Israel exchanges 1150 Palestinian prisoners for 3 Israeli soldiers<o:p></o:p>

1989(15th of Iyyar, 5749): Comedienne Gilda Radner famed for her roles on Saturday Night Live dies of ovarian cancer at 42<o:p></o:p>

1993: The Jerusalem Post reported that in her 43rd State Comptroller's Annual Report, the State Comptroller, Dr. Miriam Porat, warned that pension funds may soon begin defaulting on payments, if urgent steps are not taken to reduce their huge actuarial deficits. The problem, she disclosed, was compounded by the abuses of the Histadrut, whose funds represented 93 per cent of all fund members. The Histadrut, she pointed out, often forces workers to sign up for its funds via collective wage agreements, and then assigns them to these with large actuarial deficits.<o:p></o:p>

1994: Staff Sgt. Moshe Bukra, age 30 and Cpl. Erez Ben-Baruch, age 24 were shot dead by HAMAS terrorists at a roadblock one kilometer south of the Erez checkpoint in the Gaza Strip<o:p></o:p>

2001: The New York Times featured books by Jewish writers and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Tell Me A Story: Fifty Years and 60 Minutes in Television” by Don Hewitt the son of German Jewish and Russian Jewish immigrant who transformed television journalism.<o:p></o:p>

2002(9th of Sivan, 5762):Stephen Jay Gould an American paleontologist, evolutionary biologist and historian of science. He was also one of the most influential and widely read writers of popular science of his generation” passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

2002: Yitzhak Vaknin left the position of Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Welfare.<o:p></o:p>

2007: In New York City, rededication of Kehila Kedosha Janina. Eighty years ago, Kehila Kedosha Janina opened its doors to serve the small Romaniote Jewish community on the <st1:place w:st="on">Lower East Side</st1:place> joining hundreds of other Jewish houses of worship in the neighborhood. By the 1940’s there would be other Romaniote synagogues in the <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> area. Today this is the only Romaniote synagogue in the <st1:place w:st="on">Western Hemisphere</st1:place>and one of only five original Jewish houses of worship on the <st1:place w:st="on">Lower East Side</st1:place> that still functions as an active synagogue. <o:p></o:p>

2007: The Upper Mid West Region of Hadassah presents “Zay Gesunt – You Should Live and Be Well” in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bloomington</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Minnesota</st1:state></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The New York Times features reviews of books written by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Einstein: His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson and Einstein: A Biography by Jürgen Neffep; translated by Shelley Frisch.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The Los Angeles Times and The Sunday Washington Post each feature a review of Shakespeare’s Kitchen by Lore Segal. “The protagonist of Shakespeare's Kitchen is Ilka Weisz, a scrappy, opinionated Jewish refugee who has appeared in slightly different guises in Segal's earlier novels, Her First American and Other People's Houses.<o:p></o:p>

2007: Herzalyia Mayor Yael German presented Eliahu Hacohen with the Herzl Award, “the high priest of research into Israeli songs, who has dedicated his life to strengthening the link with our cultural heritage.” <o:p></o:p>

2007(3rd of Sivan, 5767): Ben Wiesman a classically trained pianist, who helped write nearly 60 songs for Elvis Presley, passed away at the age of 85.<o:p></o:p>

2007(3rd of Sivan, 5767): Barcuh Kimmerling, Professor of Sociology at Hebrew University and author of The Invention and Decline of Israeliness:State, Society and the Military, passed away.<o:p></o:p>

2007: In <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Cleveland</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Ohio</st1:state></st1:place>, <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Case</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Western Reserve</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>confers an honorary Doctor of Humanities on Morton Mandel who served as a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Case</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Western Reserve</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>trustee from 1977 through 1992, and is now an honorary trustee. In addition, he is a recipient of the university's Newton D. Baker Distinguished Alumni Award. Mandel has been involved in numerous national and international activities, the Council of Jewish Federations, the Mandel Leadership Institute, and the World Conference of Jewish Community Centers. <o:p></o:p>

2008: Mashina is an Israeli pop rock band considered by many to be Israel's most important and influential rock band. Their musical style took inspiration from ska and hard rock, among others. Mashina is an Israeli pop rock band considered by many to be Israel's most important and influential rock band. Their musical style took inspiration from ska and hard rock, among others.Mashina, one of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s most influential pop rock bands plays at Webster Hall in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>.<o:p></o:p>

2008: At Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, Michael Levin successfully defends his dissertation. “A Doctor Is Born.”<o:p></o:p>

2009: John Simon Bercow officially announced that he was seeking the Speakership of the House of Commons. Victory would make him the first Jew to serve in this position<o:p></o:p>

2009: Final day for The Tel Aviv Centennial Multimedia Exhibit at Vanderbilt Hall, Grand Central Station, NY<o:p></o:p>

2009: In New York, City Winery celebrates Israel’s 61^st Year of Independence with a tasting featuring wines from over 15 Israeli Wineries paired with Israeli singing sensation David Broza for the post-tasting entertainment. The event would appear to show tjat Jews have gained their independence from the syrupy taste of the Concord grape concoction that was the staple of Jewish homes for decades.<o:p></o:p>

2009: For the last time Lt. Col. Shawn M. Pine mailed a box of scarves to his sister Michelle Lefkowitz. He purchased the scarves on a weekly basis from a little girl in Afghanistan who sold them to support her family.<o:p></o:p>

2009(26^th of Iyar, 5769): Fifty-one year old Army Lt. Colonel Shawn M. Pine was killed today when a vehicle in which he was riding in was struck by an explosive device near Kabul, Afghanistan. A second generation soldier, Pine served six years in the IDF before graduating from Georgetown University and pursuing a career in the U.S. Army. He is buried next to his father at Arlington National Cemetery. (As reported by Maia Efrem)<o:p></o:p>

2009(26^th of Iyar, 5769): Twenty-one year old USAF First Lieutenant Roslyn L. Schulte Pine was killed today when a vehicle in which she was riding in was struck by an explosive device near Kabul, Afghanistan. An intelligence officer, she was the first female USAF Academy graduate to have died in combat. She was killed in the same attack that took the life of Lt. Col. Pine. (As reported by Maia Efrem)<o:p></o:p>

2009: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced today that Iran has successfully test-fired a new advanced missile with a range of about 1,200 miles, far enough to strike Israel and southeastern Europe as well as U.S. bases in the Gulf.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Four men arrested were arrested tonight, shortly after planting a 16.78-kilogram mock explosive device in the trunk of a car outside the Riverdale Temple and two mock bombs in the backseat of a car outside the Riverdale Jewish Center, another synagogue a few blocks away, authorities said. Police blocked their escape with an 18-wheel truck, smashing their tinted Sport Utility Vehicle windows and apprehending the unarmed suspects. Authorities said the men also plotted to shoot down a military plane. James Cromitie, 55; David Williams, 28; Onta Williams, 32; and Laguerre Payen, all of Newburgh, were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction within the United States and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles. An official told The Associated Press that three of the men are converts to Islam. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.<o:p></o:p>

2010(7^th of Sivan, 5770): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2010(7^th of Sivan, 5770): Eighty-two year old Leonard Wolfson (Baron Wolfson) passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/leonard-wolfson-businessman-and-philanthropist-1990944.html<o:p></o:p>

2010: The First Festival of Israeli Jazz NY is scheduled to open at The Stone in the East Village.<o:p></o:p>

2010: The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum reopened parts of its grounds to visitors on today after floodwaters from the nearby Vistula and Sola rivers seemed to peak and begin to recede.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Cedar Village in Mason, Ohio is scheduled to host an event entitled “Memory and Jewish Identity” during which Dr. Adrian Parr, associate professor in the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, and affiliate faculty, Department of Philosophy and Judaic Studies at the University of Cincinnati will use the narrative of her grandmother’s survival of the Holocaust and her own subsequent discovery of her Jewish identity to explore the importance of Jewish cultural memory for keeping Jewish identity alive amidst adversity.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met with President Obama the White House today.

2011: Violin virtuoso Gil Shaham is scheduled to play “Walton’s sublime and rarely performed Violin Concerto, a masterpiece of the violin literature commissioned and debuted by Jascha Heifetz in 1936, with one of the world's greatest ensembles, The Philadelphia Orchestra.”<o:p> </o:p>

2011: In “Perched in Berlin With Hitler Rising,” Janet Maslin reviewed In The Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin by Erik Larson. Just when you thought you knew all you needed to know about the Hitler era, along comes Larson who provides a fascinating, informative snapshot of the pre-war world focusing on the life of William E. Dodd, FDR’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Berlin and his exotic daughter.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Despite political unrest, pilgrims are scheduled to celebrate Lag B’Omer at the El Ghriba synagogue. The normally vibrant celebrations will take a more muted form because of the unstable conditions in Tunisia.<o:p></o:p>

2011(16^th of Iyar, 57771): Just a week before his 96^th birthday, Arieh Handler, on the founders of the Religious Zionist movement and the last living person to have present at when Israel declared her independence passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.thejc.com/news/israel-news/49280/arieh-handler-dies-israel<o:p></o:p>

2012: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the family and friends of Dr. Todd Burstain, a hameshah mensch who has raised four fantastic sons, celebrted his birthday today.

2012: In Flushing, NY, the Free Synagogue is scheduled to host the Second Annual Sacred Sites Open House organized by The New York Landmarks Conservancy<o:p></o:p>

2012: Dr. Hal Lewis, President and CEO of Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies in Chicago, is scheduled to deliver the keynote address as part of Let My People Know, an afternoon of Jewish education at the Mayerson JCC in Cincinnati, Ohio.<o:p></o:p>

2012: A Jerusalem Day family celebration featuring a concert by Peter Himmelman is scheduled to take place at Ohev Shalom in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Schmekel, “Brooklyn's only 100% transgender, 100% Jewish, schtick-rock sensation” is scheduled to appear at Chief Ike’s Mambo Room in Washington, DC<o:p></o:p>

2012: JSSA (Jewish Social Service Agency) is scheduled to hold its largest annual fundraiser, Gala 2012, in Washington, DC. JSSA Gala 2012 – An Evening of Passion and Purpose – will feature performance artist, David Garibaldi.<o:p></o:p>

2012: The NMAJMH and the JSC are scheduled to devote a special afternoon to “Family Stories: Daughters, Mothers and Bubbes.”<o:p></o:p>

2012: In Cleveland Ohio, the Hadassah chapter will host a celebratory Centennial Birthday brunch to honor the accomplishments of the largest Jewish volunteer organization in America and present the Centennial Award to life member, Moreland Hills resident Roz Abraham.<o:p></o:p>

2012: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Cause co-authored by Eric Alterman and Farther Away by Jonathan Franzen<o:p></o:p>

2012: Security forces intercepted a Palestinian squad that attempted to kidnap Israeli citizens in the West Bank, the Shin Bet indicated today, adding that the squad's purpose was to negotiate the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jail.<o:p></o:p>

2012(28^th of Iyar, 5772): Celebration of Yom Yerushalayim – Jerusalem Reunification Day – 45years of Jerusalem being undivided and under control of the rightful owners. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

2013: Dr. Ted Merwin, associate professor and director, Religion and Judaic Studies at Dickinson College will speak on the topic "American Jews in Entertainment" at JFK Airport as part of the US Customs and Border Protection service’s celebration of Jewish American Heritage Month.<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

This Day, May 19, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

10:35 PM Saturday, May 18, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 19 In History<o:p></o:p>

363: For a second day in a row, a series of earthquakes that took place along a fault-line stretching from the Dead Sea to the Gulf of Aqaba shook the region around the Galilee. According to some, this seismic event was part of the reason the Temple in Jerusalem was not rebuilt despite Emperor Julian’s support for the project.<o:p></o:p>

1103 (10 Iyar 4063): Isaac Alfasi passed away. Born in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Fez</st1:place></st1:city> in 1013, he is also known as the "<st1:place w:st="on">RIF</st1:place>". He compiled the first codification of Jewish law, called Sefer Halachot. It still appears today in every volume of the Talmud. Joseph Caro later used it as a basis for his work. Sefer Halachot was the most important codex until Maimonides' Mishna Torah. Alfasi was 25 years old when Hai Gaon died. He was called Gaon by many authorities and his death marked the very end of that (Gaonic) period. His students included Judah Halevi and Josef ibn Migash.<o:p></o:p>

1588: The Spanish Armada set sail from Lisbon. The Armada was the most massive fleet of its day including 130 ships and 30,000 soldiers and sailors. The Armada was designed to take control of the <st1:place w:st="on">English Channel</st1:place>and facilitate the invasion of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region>from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Netherlands</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The English were at a great a disadvantage in terms of ships and manpower. The all important question was when would the Armada begin its trip north? Until the English knew this they would not when or where to make their first move. Dr. Hector Nunes, a secret Jew living in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region> provided the information about the Spanish departure. The Jews may have played a small part in one of the great turning points in history, but it was a small part that made a big difference.

1604: The city of Montreal was founded today. Jews would not start arriving in Montreal until the 18^th century following the British defeat of the French. Today Montreal boasts a vibrant Jewish community number approximately 90,000 which some describe as the “most Orthodox” in North America. However it has lost its position as the leading Jewish community in Canada to Toronto because of the rise of the French separatists and their political party, Parti Quebecois.<o:p></o:p>

1792: The Russian army entered Poland. Ultimately <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> would be partitioned among its three imperial neighbors. Much to the dismay of the Russians, the partition brought them a large mass of Jews, something they found quite upsetting to say the least.<o:p></o:p>

1802: The Légion d'Honneur is founded by Napoleon Bonaparte. Among the Jewish recipients are Rabbi Langer of New York’s Congregation Orach Chaim, Rabbi David Feuerwerker,a veteran of the French Army who served with the Marquis during World War II, David Saul Marshall, political leader in Singapore and Victor Attias and Henry Smadja who were members of the Jewish Resistance in Tunisia during World War II.<o:p></o:p>

1818: Eliza Frances (née Campbell) and Mr. Lionel Prager Goldsmid, an officer in the 19th Dragoons, and a scion of the well-known London family of that name whose maternal grandmother's father was Revolutionary War aide-de-camp David Franks gave birth to Sir John Goldsmid who would rise to the rank of Major General in the British Army<o:p></o:p>

1820(6^thof Sivan, 5599): Jews in the United States celebrate Shavuot in tranquility since the nation has just avoided a potential breakup over the issue of slavery with the adoption of the Missouri Compromise<o:p></o:p>

1839(6^thof Sivan, 5599): As American Jews celebrate Shavuot they are forced to contend with an economic panic that will continue to cause ripples into the next decade.<o:p></o:p>

1858(6^thof Sivan, 5618): Less than a month before Abraham Lincoln delivered his “House Divided Speech” American Jews celebrate Shavuot

1860: The New York Times reviewed The Throne of David by Rev. J.H. Ingraham, which “illustrates the grandeur of the Hebrews at the height of their power and splendor.”<o:p></o:p>

1861: In San Francisco, CA, J. P. Davis, the President of the Hebra Bikur Holim, (Society for Visiting the Sick) presented a new Torah Scroll to Congregation of Sherith Israel

1863(1st of Sivan, 5623): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1863(1st of Sivan, 5623): Jonas Ennery passed away. Born at Nancy, France, in 1801, he worked at the Jewish School of Strasbourg for 26 years. In 1843 he published “Le Sentier d’Israel” and he helped to edit "Prières d'un Cœur Israélite," (Prayers of a Jewish Heart) which was published in 1848. Despite anti-Jewish rioting in Alsace, Ennery was elected representative to the French National Assembly as a representative for the department of the Lower Rhine. After the coup d'état that brought Louis Napoleon to power Ennery was exiled forced into exile. He moved to Brussels, where he lived as a teacher until his death. Ennery's brother, Marchand Ennery, was the chief rabbi of Paris.<o:p></o:p>

1866(5th of Sivan): Solomon Ludwig Steinheim passed away<o:p></o:p>

1867: According to reports published today, The Hebrew Educational Society of Baltimore has adopted the Christian plan of Sabbath school instruction.<o:p></o:p>

1871(28^thof Iyar): Meir Halevi Letteris passed away<o:p></o:p>

1873: An article published today entitled “The New Home for Aged and Infirmed Hebrews” described the opening of this facility in New York City which was first envisioned by Mrs. Henry Leo in 1870. She enlisted the support of the Bnai Jeshurun Benevolent Society to help her make the home a reality. Unfortunately, Mrs. Leon did not live to see the her dream come to fruition.<o:p></o:p>

1878: According to todays “Home and Foreign Events” column “at the suggestion of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites, the Alliance Israelita Universelle will issue invitations for a conference of representatives of the Jew Jewish organizations of Europe and America. The conference will be held in Paris and it will be open to the discussion of all subjects affecting the interests of Judaism.”<o:p></o:p>

1879: An article published today entitled “The Rothschild Family: The Greatest Financiers of the Age,” purports to provide “an authentic history of the Rothschilds in Frankfort, London, Paris and Vienna” including how the founder of the family acquired his wealth and anecdotes about “family peculiarities.<o:p></o:p>

1879: Joseph H. De Meza “a young Cuban Jew” was arrested today for stealing clothing from Mrs. Charles A. Lillie in New York City. De Meza came to Mrs. Lillie’s home and asked for “an outfit of her husband’s clothing” claiming that the husband had fallen into the East River at the Fulton Ferry and that he had sent De Meza to get a dry outfit.<o:p></o:p>

1879: An article published today entitled “Sunday Services for Hebrews” described reaction among various Jewish leaders to the recently announced plans by Temple Emanuel to start holding “Sabbath” services on Sunday.

<o:p> </o:p>

1880: Eighteen year old Matthew Nathan , the son of Jonah Nathan joined the Royal Engineers<o:p></o:p>

1880: It was reported today that Joseph Seligman’s will names his widow, Babet, as executrix of his estate, and his brothers James and Jesse and his son David as executors. The will provides that they may use $25,000 for contributions to the charities of their choice and sets up the terms for the disbursement of his estate so that it will provide for his wife and his children.<o:p></o:p>

1882(1^stof Sivan, 5642): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1882: The Leadville, CO Jewish community suffered a financial loss when a building owned by New Yorkers Caesar J. Kaskel and Jacob Michaels burned. The building was the home to a clothing store managed by Julius W. Kaskel.

1882: As part of a blood libel investigation an entourage of mounted policemen arrived in Tisza-Eszlar, a small Hungarian village. The investigation revolved around the disappearance of a fourteen year old Catholic housemaid named Esther Solymossy. The police directed their attention toward Joszef Sharf, custodian of the local synagogue.

1886: The future Sir Matthew Nathan was promoted to the rank of Captain in the Royal Engineers

1889(18th of Iyar, 5649): Lag B'Omer

1890: Samuel Hutch, a Jewish peddler was seen alive for the last time near Wurtsborough, NY.

1890: “New Publications” published today includes a review of A Visit of Japheth to Shem and Ham<o:p></o:p>

1891: Barney Greenman, a fourteen year old Jewish boy came to the Barge Office in New York and asked the immigration officials to send him back to Rotterdam.<o:p></o:p>

1891: The Czar has issued a new proclamation or “ukase” ordering the expulsion of the Jews from the Asiatic provinces of the Russian Empire.<o:p></o:p>

1894: “Literary Notes” published today described the upcoming publication of Christopher Columbus and the Participation of the Jews in the Spanish and Portuguese Discoveries by Dr. Meyer Kayserling, the German born rabbi and historian.<o:p></o:p>

1895: “Hebrew Home to be Mortgaged” published today described plans by the managers of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York City to build a new facility with funds gained from taking out a mortgage on the property at 106^thStreet and Columbus Avenue.<o:p></o:p>

1895: Most of the 4,000 “uptown people” who had been invited to a tea at the Hebrew Institute attended this event which gave them a chance to observe the various activities of the educational organization.<o:p></o:p>

1895: “In A Wide Labor Field” published today provided a detailed description of the work of the Educational Alliance which was formed in 1892 under the direction of the Hebrew Free School Association, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the Aguillar Free Library Society<o:p></o:p>

1896: The village of Metula was founded with funds supplied by Baron Rothschild. Metula was the northern most town in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> and would become the northern most town in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Metula is close to the border with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1896: Herzl is received by Agliardi, the Papal Nuncio in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vienna</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p>

1897: Oscar Wilde is released from Reading Gaol. In “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” Wilde created a Jewish theatre manager named Isaacs whom he describes as “A hideous Jew, in the most amazing waistcoat I ever beheld in my life, was standing at the entrance, smoking a vile cigar. He had greasy ringlets, and an enormous diamond blazed in the centre of a soiled shirt…He was such a monster.” This does not mean he was an anti-Semite. After all, Ada Leverson, the English Jewess, invited Wilde to her Salon after he had been arrested.<o:p></o:p>

1898: “Gladstone’s Career” published today contained a summary of the late English political leaders life including his rivalry with Disraeli which began with a battle over the budget when Gladstone was made Chancellor of the Exchequer and continued even after Disraeli took his seats in the House of Lords.<o:p></o:p>

1899: The new Hebrew Charities Building that was dedicated yesterday “will provide accommodation for the relief work of the United Hebrew Charities, afford convenient offices and meeting rooms for…various Jewish charitable and philanthropic enterprises” and to provide a meeting place large enough to accommodate gatherings of those supporting various Jewish agencies and institutions. <o:p></o:p>

1901: Herzl sends a letter to the Sultan and asks for a final audience before his departure.<o:p></o:p>

1903: Menachem Ussishkin arrives in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vienna</st1:place></st1:city>to prepare for his visit to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>to make land purchases for the Geulah Committee and to organize the Yishuv.<o:p></o:p>

1906: Birthdate of Gerd Bucerius, the German journalist and lawyer whose Jewish wife took refuge in the United Kingdom when the Nazis came to power. He remained behind and defended numerous Jewish clients facing charges from the German authorities.<o:p></o:p>

1907(6^thof Sivan, 5667): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1908(18th of Iyar, 5668): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1909: Birthdate of composer Shlomo Yoffe or Schlomo Joffe. Born in Warsaw he studied piano theory in Samara, Russia from 1918 until 1921 and, in 1924 in Warsaw joined the Zionist movement Hashomer Hatza'ir, playing the mandolin, tuba, baritone and clarinet in its folk orchestras. He graduated from the Teachers' Seminarium in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poznan</st1:place></st1:city> (<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>) in 1928, and in 1930, following agricultural studies in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Brno</st1:place></st1:city>(<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Czechoslovakia</st1:place></st1:country-region>), moved to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>, helping to establish a kibbutz in 1932. Only after 1940 did he begin to be involved with music again, at first teaching and arranging music at the kibbutz Beit Alpha. After a period of concentrated study (1947-53), with Prof. J. Tal and Prof. O. Partos at the New Jerusalem Academy of Music, and privately with A.A. Boskovich, he devoted himself to composition and teaching at the district conservatory for kibbutzim at Beth-She'an Valley, where he was director until 1973. In the 1950s, under Boskovitch's influence, he used elements of Near Eastern Jewish song, maqam, heterophony and a form of chromatic modality, often in the expression of biblical and Israeli dramas, for example in the cantata "Tales of Mount Gilboa" (953), but also in his Prokofiev-like neo-classical symphonic works. These features remained evident in later works, despite the influence of Schoenbrg in the compositions of the 1960s and the influences that followed a visit to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Darmstadt</st1:place></st1:city>in 1962 and meetings with Lutoslawski and Penderecki. His cantata "Rising Night after Night" (1978), for example, exhibits many contemporary aspects, including extended vocal techniques, clusters and a deformed folk melody, but despite these developments, Joffe always remained, through his teaching, association and biblical roots, a 'kibbutz composer'. <o:p></o:p>

1909: Birthdate of Sir Nicholas George Winton, MBE a Briton who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War in an operation later known as the Czech Kindertransport. Winton found homes for them and arranged for their safe passage to Britain. The UK press has dubbed him the "British Schindler".<o:p></o:p>

1911: The Turkish government instructs its Minister at Teheran to protest the Persian government attacks against lives and property of Ottoman Jews at Kermanshah.<o:p></o:p>

1911: The King of Italy confers Knighthood of Order of Crown on Rabbi Abraham Elbgen, Chief Rabbi of <st1:place w:st="on">Crete</st1:place>.<o:p></o:p>

1911: Jews of <st1:place w:st="on">Constantinople</st1:place> take a prominent part in the celebrations of the anniversary of the Sultan's accession to the throne.<o:p></o:p>

1911: Plans are made in Cairo to form a Federation of Synagogues.<o:p></o:p>

1914: Birthdate of Max Perutz, Austrian-born British molecular biologist who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1962.<o:p></o:p>

1915(6^thof Sivan, 5675): Shavuot observed for the first time during WW I.<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of Louis Sachwald, who was among the brave American soldiers who battled the Japanese during the dark days of WW II at Corregidor and survived a brutal imprisonment to become a successful business man in Maryland<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of Abraham (Bram) Pais a Dutch-born American physicist and science historian.<o:p></o:p>

1919: In Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk moves to Samsun from Istanbul with a few followers, to oppose the Ottoman government, which eventually leads to the Turkish War of Independence and the creation of the modern Turkish state. As part of his reform programs Ataturk made religious faith a matter of individual conscience. He created a truly secular system in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region>, where the vast Moslem majority and the small Christian and Jewish minorities are free to practice their faith. As a result of Atatürk's reforms, <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Turkey</st1:place></st1:country-region> -unlike scores of other countries- has fully secular institutions.<o:p></o:p>

1919:The twenty-sixth biennial council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations begins in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Boston</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p>

1921: The Emergency Quota Act passes the U.S. Congress establishing national quotas on immigration. Because of the convoluted quota system established by this law, immigration from southern and eastern Europe effectively came to an end. This had the effect of closing the American Door for the Jews of Eastern Europe and Russia. The strict enforcement of this law would also mean that European Jews would have no place to go when Hitler came to power.

1926(6th of Sivan, 5686): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1928: Birthdate of NBA great Adolph "Dolph" Schayes.<o:p></o:p>

1930: The world executive of the Mizrachi (Orthodox Zionists) sent a telegram to Dr. Chaim Weizmann today calling for an immediate meeting of Zionist congress that would address the announcement by the British High Commissioner to suspend immigration to Palestine. The appeal stated that “the new immigration ban reveals a new British government tendency to disregard the principles of the mandate.” This “tendency endangers the Zionist work.” Protests against the new British policy are already taking place in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the Emek Valley. The Jewish Agency and the Vaad Leumi are meeting in a joint session to deal with this issue.<o:p></o:p>

1934: In Brooklyn Rabbi Isaac Landman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “Two Sets of Commandments” at Congregation Beth Elohim.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi I. Mortimer Bloom is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “The Reign of Law” at Temple Oheb Shalom.<o:p></o:p>

1934: Rabbi Louis I. Newman is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled, "Goebbels' Speech and the Madison Square Garden Meeting-What Do They Conceal?" at Congregation Rodeph Sholom<o:p></o:p>

1934:Dr. Samuel H. Goldenson is scheduled to deliver a sermon entitled “Who is Who-With Respect to Life's Values" at New York’s Temple Emanu-El.<o:p></o:p>

1934(5th of Sivan, 5694): Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1934:Rabbi Milton Steinberg is scheduled to lead Shavuot Services at Park Avenue Synagogue at 6 p.m. this evening.<o:p></o:p>

1935: T. E. Lawrence, known as Lawrence of Arabia, died from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lawrence</st1:place></st1:city> is connected in the popular mind with his role in providing British support for the Arab Revolt during World War I. But <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lawrence</st1:place></st1:city> was not one of those British Arabists who were, at best, disdainful of the Jewish people. As can be seen from the following, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lawrence</st1:place></st1:city>welcomed the settlement of the Jewish community in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>. “In 1919 <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lawrence</st1:place></st1:city> drafted a letter for Emir Feisal for a meeting with Felix Frankfurter, a leader of American Zionists. In his letter Feisal wished “the Jews a hearty welcome home” and asserted “our two movements complete one another.” “There is room in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region> for both of us” he concluded. The letter was published in the New York Times on <st1:date day="5" month="3" w:st="on" year="1919"><st1:date day="5" ls="trans" month="3" w:st="on" year="19">March 5, 19</st1:date>19</st1:date>. In “The Changing East,” <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lawrence</st1:place></st1:city>wrote of “the Jewish experiment” as a conscious effort, on the part of the least European people in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>, to make head against the drift of the aces, and return once more to the Orient from which they came. The colonists will take back with them to the land which they occupied for some centuries before the Christian era samples of all the knowledge and technique of <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. They propose to settle down amongst the existing Arab-speaking population of the country, a people of kindred origin, but far different social condition. They hope to adjust their mode of life to the climate of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>, and by the exercise of their skill and capital to make it as highly organised as a European state. The success of their scheme will involve inevitably the raising of the present Arab population to their own material level, only a little after themselves in point of time, and the consequences might be of the highest importance for the future of the Arab world. It might well prove a source of technical supply rendering them independent of industrial <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>, and in that case the new confederation might become a formidable element of world power. However, such a contingency will not be for the first or even for the second generation, but it must be borne in mind in any laying out of foundations of empire in Western Asia “

1936(27th of Iyar, 5696): “A 43 year old Jew named, Feivil Schnitzer, was shot and killed early this morning by an Arab in the Armenian quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. It was the twenty- sixth murder of a Jew by Arabs since the present disturbances began, and in every case the assassins are still at large.”

1936: “Tel Aviv celebrated the inauguration of its new port today. Tens of thousands gathered around a provisional jetty to watch the arrival and unloading of two steamers with cargoes of cement.” Tel Aviv’s aged and ailing Mayor, Meir Dizengoff, left his sick bed to watch the Jewish porters unloading bags of cement. “Now that my eyes have sevenths, I am ready to die.”

1938: Simon W. Gerson, an aide to Manhattan Borough President Stanley M. Isaacs spent three hours testifying before the Joint Legislative Committee on Law Administration and Enforcement chaired by state senator John J. McNaboe. The committee spent very little time questioning Gerson about the aleteration of his name on Municipal Court records in the a rent case which was supposed to be the focus of the hearing and a lot of time questioning Gerson about his political views. Gerson, who was Jewish, was a self-described Communist who, along with his wife, has been very critical of the American political and economic system. His boss, Borough President Isaacs was also Jewish but he was a leading member of the Republican Party.

1939: In defiance of the White Paper, 309 “illegal Jewish immigrants” landed on the “shores of Southern Palestine.” Before they were discovered by British troops, the group, including 74 women and 14 children were attacked by an armed mob of Arab villagers.

1940: Today is the last day on which Hans Rey would paint his illustrations on French soil.

1941: Birthdate of Nora Ephron. Born in New York to parents who were dramatists, Ephron attended Wellesley. She has been a novelist, screenwriter and director. Some of her hits include “Sleepless in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Seattle</st1:place></st1:city>,” “Michael” and “Heartburn.” She was married to Carl Bernstein. <o:p></o:p>

1941: The Palmach ("peluggot mahaz" - "assault companies") commando units were established by Yitzhak Sade as a defense from any Axis (Germany and Italy) attack on Eretz Israel. Later they assisted in planning and executing the dropping of Parachutists in occupied <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. At its peak (November 1947) it had approximately 5000 members which were mainly responsible for capturing Safed and Tiberias as well helping to open the road to Jerusalem. <o:p></o:p>

1943: Liberal Judaism, a new illustrated monthly journal of opinion and letters, has been issued by The Union of Hebrew Congregations, it was announced today. The cover of the first, or May, issue, published last Saturday, is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, founder of Reform Judaism in the United States.<o:p></o:p>

1943: Berlin was declared "Judenrein", Jew Free. <o:p></o:p>

1943: In the House of Commons, the courageous Eleanor Rathbone attacked the British government for the defeatist attitudes expressed at the Bermuda Conference and noted that the Allies are responsible for the deaths of any Jews if they refuse to help.<o:p></o:p>

1943: Ben Hecht’s “We Will Never Die” was performed at the Chicago Stadium, with guest stars John Garfield and Burgess Meredith in the lead roles. An estimated 20,000 people attended as the stadium, “scene of many a hectic convention and gaudy circus, was turned into a house of worship,” as the Chicago Daily News put it.[Jewish Virtual Library]<o:p></o:p>

1944(26th of Iyar, 5704): Jews deported from Paris to Kovno, Lithuania, are machine-gunned by guards in a fenced enclosure after some of the prisoners attack SS troops.<o:p></o:p>

1944: The Germans transport Hungarian Jew Joel Brand to Turkey so he could deliver a proposal from Adolf Eichmann that would have required the Western Allies to exchange 10,000 trucks for one million Eastern European Jews. Eichmann called it "blood for trucks." Arrested by the British, Brand was sent to Lord Moyne (resident minister of state in the Middle East), who comments: "What shall I do with those million Jews?"<o:p></o:p>

1944: Mel Mermelstein the man who would defeat the Institute for Historical Review in an American court and had the occurrence of gassings in Auschwitz during the Holocaust declared a legally incontestable fact was deported to Auschwitz along with the rest of the Jewish community of Munkacs, which was part of Czechoslovakia at that time.<o:p></o:p>

1945(7^thof Sivan, 5705): For the first time since VE Day, Yizkor is recited on the 2^ndday of Shavuot.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Israeli forces abandoned Bet ha-Aravah and the potash works on the northern end of the Dead Sea.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The provisional government of Israel declared a state of emergency.<o:p></o:p>

1948: As the undermanned and outgunned Israeli units sought to keep the Syrians and Iraqis from taking the Jordan Valley, a second raid, by a Yiftach company, crossed the Jordan and struck the Syrian camp at the Customs House, near the main Bnot Yaakov Bridge After a short battle, the Syrian defenders (one or two companies) fled. The Palmachniks destroyed the camp and several vehicles, including two armored cars, without losses.”<o:p></o:p>

1948:The Iraqis, who were about to drive west through Nablus toward Tulkarm, “asked the Syrians to make a diversion in the Degania area to protect their right flank. The Syrians complied, their main objective being to seize the bridge across the river north of Degania Alef, thus blocking any Israeli attack from Tiberias against the Iraqi line of communications.”<o:p></o:p>

1948: During the War for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Independence</st1:place></st1:city>two civilian leaders from Kibbutz Deganya arrive at Ben Gurion’s offices begging for help in fighting off the attacking Syrian armored column. Ben Gurion responded candidly “We don’t have enough artillery, enough airplanes. Every front needs reinforcements. The situation is extremely grave in the Negev, in the Jerusalem area and in the Upper Galilee.” And if anything, Ben Gurion was understating the desperate situation. So far the only help he had to send to Deganya was Moshe Dayan who had little more than his eye-patch with which to face the Syrians, Iraqis and Jordanians. Ben Gurion sent the two leaders to Yigal Yadin, his Chief of Staff. Yadin listens to the report and then advises them to let the Syrian tanks breach the kibbutz so that the defenders can disable them with Molotov cocktails. Their angry response shocks Yadin into action. If Daganya is lost the North is lost. With the Egyptians advancing from the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place> and the Arab Legion besieging <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, Yadin’s position seems more like Custer than King David. Yadin meets with Ben Gurion. In a table-pounding dispute, Yadin attempts to convince the Old Man to send four 65 millimeter artillery pieces that had been intended for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city> north to Deganya. This is the sum total of the Israeli artillery reserve and the weapons lack sights (you know, the things you aim the gun with). Ben Gurion agrees to send two of the canon North with Dayan under the condition that they be returned promptly to help with the fighting around <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>. <o:p></o:p>

1948: The provisional government council of Israel proclaimed a state of emergency. <o:p></o:p>

1948: "A tiny force of the Palmach took Mount Zion and broke through to the Jewish Quarter." The unit was forced to withdraw several hours later when reinforcements could not come to their aid.<o:p></o:p>

1949(20th of Iyar, 5709): Mary Antin, author of “The Promised Land,” passed away<o:p></o:p>

1950(3rd of Sivan, 5710): The Aliyah of Iraqi Jews began. The first deportation of Eretz Yisrael Jews to Babylonia took place in 597 B.C.E. The bulk of Eretz Yisrael Jewry followed them to Babylonia 11 years later, in 568 B.C.E. The first return of some Babylonian Jews to Eretz Yisrael took place in 539 B.C.E. The majority, however, remained in Babylonia, where they were destined eventually to make a major contribution to Judaism through the creation of the “Babylonian Talmud” and the “Geonic Responsa.” It was not until 1951, 2,548 years after the arrival of the first Jewish deportees in Babylonia, that this ancient Jewish community began its own liquidation through an Aliyahto Israel. <o:p></o:p>

1951(13th of Iyar, 5711): David Remez passed away. Born David Drabkin in Russia in May of 1886, he made Aliyah in 191. Trained as a lawyer and teacher, he worked as field hand on several agricultural settlements. A founding member of Mapai and a leader of Histadrut, he was a true founding father as one of the signatories to Israel’s Declaration of Independence. He was the first Minister of Transportation and was serving as Minister of Education at the time of his death. <o:p></o:p>

1953(5th of Sivan, 5713): Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1953: A call went to 3,750 Jewish communities throughout the country, to assure the successful financing this summer of the most important agricultural development program to be launched in Israel since the establishment of the state, was issued here today by the United Jewish Appeal on the eve of Shavuos, the Festival of Pentecost, which in the ancient days celebrated the appearance of the first fruits of summer.The appeal was made by Rabbi Jonah B. Wise, a national chairman of the UJA. "There can be no greater observance of this ancient festival commemorating Jewish attachment to the soil than support of the United Jewish Appeals current special effort to help Israel achieve agricultural self-sufficiency and maturity." he said.Rabbi Wise called specific attention to a special emergency drive for $25,000,000 in cash launched by the UJA for a five-week period beginning May 1. The cash fund is being sought for establishment in Israel by the end of June of 36 new agricultural settlements, for the immediate channeling to the new colonies of large, recently-discovered water sources, and for speeding a rise in the productivity both of the soil and those newly placed on it as immigrant farmers.<o:p></o:p>

1954: Nicholas Winton, a Briton who organized the rescue of 669 mostly Jewish children from German-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of the Second World War relinquished his commission of “flying officer” in the RAF while retaining the rank of “flight lieutenant.”<o:p></o:p>

1959: As reported in today’s New York Times, Richard Tucker was among those who appeared at the “Puccini Night” open air concert at Lewisohn Stadium in New York City. The stadium was named in honor of Adolph Lewisohn, the German-Jewish banker who donated the money to pay for its construction.<o:p></o:p>

1966: The emblem for the Israeli town of Arad, a square with a hill and a flame, was adopted today.<o:p></o:p>

1969: Palestinian terrorists from Jordan bombard the Musa Alami School near Jericho.<o:p></o:p>

1972(6^th of Sivan, 5732): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1972: The Bernard M. Baruch College of the City University of New York scheduled final exams today. It was the only college in the system to do so. (The exams would be moved to May 30 after a major protest led by Hillel, the ADL and other major Jewish organizations.)<o:p></o:p>

1974(27th of Iyyar, 5734): Sandy Sasso wasordained as the first female Reconstructionist rabbi by the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College in Philadelphia<o:p></o:p>

1975: The New Yorker published “The New York Review of Gossip” by Marshall Brickman.<o:p></o:p>

1977:A bi-national foundation, designed to promote joint industrial research and development between the United States and Israel was established in Washington today at a formal ceremony between Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for International Affairs C. Fred Bergsten and Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz. The move to establish the Bi-national Industrial Research and Development Foundation, followed President Carter's signing into law Congressional legislation which stipulated that Israel and the U.S. would each contribute $30 million to create an endowment to promote activities of mutual interest and benefit to both countries. An agreement for the project was signed in Jerusalem March 3, 1976. The Joint Israel-American Committee for Investment and Trade, whose objective is to foster economic ties, initiated the project which is expected to provide direct mutual economic gains such as the development and participation in new external markets and increase the flow of materials and services between the two countries. According to a spokesman for the Government of Israel Investment Authority, which is headquartered in New York, the Foundation "is the first of its kind established between the United States and another country." For a project to be supported by the Foundation it must show promise of tangible direct benefits to the national economies of both countries, according to a statement issued by the U.S. Treasury Department. The Foundation will be governed by a board consisting of three officials of each government (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1981: Former Finance Minister Yigal Hurvitz joins Moshe Dayan's Telem party.<o:p></o:p>

1983(7^thof Sivan, 5743): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1985(28^thof Iyar, 5745): Yom Yerushalayim<o:p></o:p>

1985: Two famous Jewish men of letters are joined together in Harold Bloom’s review of Zuckerman Bound by Philip Roth<o:p></o:p>

1988: Shimon Peres is scheduled to address commencement ceremonies at the Jewish Theological Seminary this afternoon.<o:p></o:p>

1989(14th of Iyar, 5749): Dr. Abel J Herzberg passed away. Dr. Abel J. Herzberg was a lawyer in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Amsterdam</st1:place></st1:city> when he was arrested in 1943, along with his wife, and taken to the Dutch transit camp at Westerbork. He was sent to <st1:place w:st="on">Bergen-Belsen</st1:place> in January 1944 and, as a Zionist, he was put on the list of 1300 Jews who were available to be sent to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city> in exchange for German citizens held as prisoners by the Allies. He was on the list of 272 Jews who were selected in April 1944 to go to Palestine, but at the last minute 50 names were crossed off the list and Dr. Herzberg had to go back into the Star Camp with the other Dutch Jews. Dr. Herzberg survived and after the war, he went back to being a lawyer in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Amsterdam</st1:place></st1:city>. He published the diary that he kept in <st1:place w:st="on">Bergen-Belsen</st1:place>. It appeared in English under the title, “Between Two Streams: A Diary From Bergen-Belsen.”<o:p></o:p>

1989: Morton Isaac Abramowitz completed his term as Director of the Bureau of Intelligence and Research which left him free to accept appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.<o:p></o:p>

1996(1st of Sivan, 5756): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1999: Conductor Yakov Kreizberg made his debut appearance with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.<o:p></o:p>

2002: In The Observer Michael Sfard the lawyerrepresenting Israeli conscripts who refuse to serve beyond the 1967 ceasefire lines explains why a growing number of soldiers are disobeying orders, in order to protect the basic values on which Israel was founded.<o:p></o:p>

2004(28th of Iyar, 5764): Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Day - is the anniversary of the liberation and unification of Jerusalem under Jewish sovereignty that occurred during the Six Day War. Yom Yerushalayim is celebrated on the 28th of the month of Iyar(one week before Shavuot). In 2004 Iyar 28 corresponds to May 19 on the secular calendar.<o:p></o:p>

2005(10th of Iyar, 5765): Steven Budeysky, a member of the U.S. Army’s 105th Military Intelligence Battalion was killed today while serving in Iraq. “Budeysky was born in Moldova in the former Soviet Union and went on to learn English as part of a singing group that toured Europe. When Budeysky was 12 years old, he and his family immigrated to the United States, settling in Chicago, where he attended Ida Crown Jewish Academy. He was also known as Baruch or Boris to his friends. A 2001 graduate of Northwestern University with a degree in economics and history, Budeysky was pursuing a graduate degree in political science from Troy University when he enlisted in the Army in 2002.”<o:p></o:p>

2006:The Jewish Chroniclerevealed that the Claims Conference highest-paid official, executive vice-president Gideon Taylor was awarded $437,811 (£240,000) in salary and pension (2004 numbers). An advisor to British survivors in compensation claims in the 1990s, Dr Pinto-Duschinsky, commented: "It is wrong for the executive vice-president to earn annually the same as the compensation for several hundred former slave laborers. The moral authority of the leading Jewish organizations is gravely weakened by excessively high salaries for top officials." <o:p></o:p>

2006: In an article entitled “Long, long ago, when basketball was kosher” Haaretz reported on a gathering of about 125 Yeshiva University (YU) alumni and friends at the school's Jerusalem campus for a nostalgic evening with "The YU Dream Team of the 1950s" - six former basketball players from New York City who later immigrated to Israel. <o:p></o:p>

2006(21st of Iyar, 5766): Yitzhak Ben-Aharon, the last founding giant of Israel’s left wing, died two months short of his 100th birthday. A controversial figure on the Israeli political scene, he was one of the first to call for the return of all territories occupied by Israel in the June 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and reached the peak of his career as secretary-general of the Histadrut, Israel’s trade union federation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PikiWiki_Israel_6052_Members_of_the_kibutz_as_British_Soldiers_.JPG<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

2007:After a two-month tryout at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England, a London revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” opened today at the Savoy Theatre starring Henry Goodman as Tevye, Beverley Klein as Golde, Alexandra Silber as Hodel, Damian Humbley as Perchik and Victor McGuire as Lazar Wolf.

2007: After 13 performances at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, the Felicja Blumental International Music Festival comes to a close.<o:p></o:p>

2008: At the Israel Museum opening of an exhibition entitled “Swords into Plowshares
The Isaiah Scroll and Its Message of Peace.” On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel, the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Israel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Museum</st1:placetype></st1:place> presents the longest, best preserved, and most complete Dead Sea Scroll document ever found, in a special installation in the Shrine of the Book.

2008: At the Stephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephan Wise Free SynagogueStephen Wise Free Synagogue in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>, an evening of Israeli music entitled “The Sharett Sisters in Concert.”<o:p></o:p>

2008 (5768): Pesach Sheini <o:p></o:p>

2009: Time magazine reports on the recent passing of “Jewish boxer Salamo Arouch” at the age of 86. Arouch survived the Holocaust by winning boxing matches staged by the guards at Auschwitz. “He was the subject of the film ‘Triumph of the Spirit’ starring Willem Dafoe.”<o:p></o:p>

2009: At Politics and Prose Bookstore in Washington, D.C., children's author Amy Krouse Rosenthal reads from and discusses her new picture book, “Duck! Rabbit!” <o:p></o:p>

2009: Rivka Galchen discusses her debut novel, “Atmospheric Disturbances,” in conversation with Ron Charles, Book World's deputy editor, as part of the Nextbook series at the D.C. Jewish Community Center. <o:p></o:p>

2009: Today the Edinburgh International Film Festival returned a 300-pound grant from the Israeli embassy, after bowing to pressure from director Ken Loach. The grant was intended to enable Tel Aviv University graduate Tali Shalom Ezer to travel to Scotland for a screening of her film, Surrogate. Ezer's film is a romance set in a sex-therapy clinic, and makes no reference to war or politics. It recently won the award for best film at an international women's film festival in Israel<o:p></o:p>

2009:This evening, Israel Air Force (IAF) jets attacked targets throughout Gaza after a woman was lightly injured from a rocket explosion in Sderot. During the attack, the IAF succeeded in hitting two weapons factories and four smuggling tunnels, used by Hamas terrorists to restock their supply of armaments.

2009(15^th of Iyar, 5769): Shlomo Shamir whose life reads like something out a James Bond novel, passed away. Born Shlomo Rabinowitch in Russia in 1915, he made aliyah ten years later. He was an active member of the Haganah from 1929 until 1940 when he joined the RAF and rose to the rank of major before his discharge in 1946. During the War of Independence he played a key role in the fighting around Latrun and the creation of the Burma Road. After the war, he served as the 3^rd commander of the Israeli Navy and the 3^rd commander of the Israeli Air Force. After leaving the military he graduated from Tel Aviv University and Harvard. He was an entrepreneur who developed several successful businesses.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Ninety year old Sheikh Jabr Muadi, a Druze Israeli politician who served in the Knesset from 1951 to 1981 passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

2010(6^th of Sivan, 5770): First day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2010(6^th of Sivan, 5770):At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, IA, Melanie Abzug, Miriam Maikon and Sam Sarasin are scheduled to Confirmed during Evening Shavuot Services.<o:p></o:p>

2010(6^th of Sivan, 5770): Martin Cohan, 77, who co-created the ABC sitcom "Who's the Boss?" and was a prolific TV writer and producer, died today at his home in Pacific Palisades after a two-year battle with large-cell lymphoma, his family announced. Cohan and his business partner, Blake Hunter, created the sitcom starring Tony Danza and Judith Light, which ran from 1984 to 1992. The two men also served as creative consultants for a British version of the TV show called "The Upper Hand," which debuted in 1990 and ran for seven seasons. Besides his work as executive producer and writer for "Boss," Cohan wrote hundreds of scripts for such popular TV series as "The Bob Newhart Show," "Diff'rent Strokes," " Mary Tyler Moore" and "Silver Spoons." Born July 4, 1932, in San Francisco, Cohan graduated from Stanford University in 1955 after studying theater arts. He found work as a stage manager and assistant director at ABC Television, his family said. He got his break on "Mary Tyler Moore" as an assistant director in 1971 and won a Writers Guild of America award in 1972 for best comedy episode. He went on to write, direct and produce for "The Bob Newhart Show."<o:p></o:p>

2010: The Washington Postreviewed Jules Feiffer's account of his multifaceted career which will delight that generation of readers for whom his whimsical, sardonic and often politically barbed Village Voice cartoons were a cultural touchstone.

2010: “The Frozen Rabbi” by Steve Stern is among the books briefly reviewed in today’s “Newly Released” Column. “When an electrical storm causes a power failure in his parents’ home, 15-year-old Bernie Karp meets the family heirloom stored in the basement freezer: a 19th-century Polish rabbi, now defrosted and ready to savor life in suburbia. In chapters that toggle between past and present, Mr. Stern’s comic novel explains just how Rabbi Eliezer ben Zephyr, the famed “Boibiczer Prodigy,” came to be encased in a block of ice, and follows his chilly journey from a European shtetl to the Lower East Side to the Karp household in Memphis.

2011:The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is scheduled to honor Dennis Berman, The Kramer Family and Esther B. Newman at tonight’s annual fundraising dinner in Potomac, MD.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Ed Goldberg and the Odessa Klezmer Band are scheduled to perform at the Marlboro branch of the Monmouth County (NJ) Library.

2011: The Second Annual Atlanta Jewish Music Festival is scheduled to take place at Eddie’s Attic in Decatur, GA.

2011:“A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-65” a “colorful new exhibition that celebrates the many Jewish composers of the American Songbook and their great contribution to American popular culture including Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein is scheduled to open today at The Bainbridge Library in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The Center for Jewish History and Leo Baeck Institute are scheduled to present “Follow the Fugue” a concert featuring the Phoenix Chamber Ensemble.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Prosecutors announced today that a grand jury had indicted Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn on charges related to the alleged sexual assault of a hotel housekeeper at the Sofitel New York. <o:p></o:p>

2011: A judge granted Dominique Strauss-Kahn bail today, allowing the former managing director of the International Monetary Fund to be freed from Rikers Island to stay in a Manhattan apartment while his sexual assault case is pending. <o:p></o:p>

2011:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said today Israel would object to any withdrawal to "indefensible" borders, adding he expected Washington to allow it to keep major settlement blocs in any peace deal. In a statement after President Barack Obama's speech outlining Middle East strategy, Netanyahu said before heading to Washington that "the viability of a Palestinian state cannot come at the expense of Israel's existence". <o:p></o:p>

2011:Lars von Trier was expelled from the Cannes Film Festival today, a day after joking at a news conference that he was a Nazi and expressing sympathy for Hitler. The Danish director’s film “Melancholia” is in competition at the festival and seen as a contender for the top prize. (As reported by Melena Ryzik)<o:p></o:p>

2011:Swiss producer Arthur Cohn, a six-time Oscar winner, was honored for his body of work by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Cohn’s grandfather the chief rabbi of Basel. He invited Theodor Herzl to hold the first Zionist Congress there after rabbis elsewhere objected.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Mendy Cahan is scheduled to at the Baruch Performing Arts Center in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2012: In Springfield, VA, Congregation Ada Reyim is scheduled to present “A Night of Magic and More.”<o:p></o:p>

2012: As part of the Ahavat Yisrael Weekend, Moshav is schedule to perform at Adas Israel in Washington, DC.<o:p></o:p>

2012: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the family and many friends of Amy Barnum have a chance to celebrate her birthday. An ayshish chayil she has raised three marvelous daughters, provided leadership for Temple Judah and Hadassah and is the glue for the annual traditional High Holiday services. “Her children (and everybody else) call her blessed.” <o:p></o:p>

2012:Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg updated his status to "married" today.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker and the recently released paperback edition of The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform for the Jewish Community Association at Riderwood Village in Silver Spring, MD.

2013: David Senesh, the nephew Hannah Senesh is scheduled to Dr. Louis D. Levine in a talk about the brave young Jewish poet and paratrooper and whose life and work are being honored at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie with an exhibition “Fire In My Heart.”

http://www.mjhnyc.org/hannah/poetry.html<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a walking tour of Downtown Jewish Washington which will give participants a chance to experience the neighborhood along Seventh Street, NW as it was from 1850 to 1950.<o:p></o:p>

2013: In Little Rock, AR, the friends and family of Rabbi PInchus and Estie Ciment are scheduled to gather to celebrate the Bat Mitzvah of their daughter Zissie. The Ciments are the quintessential “lamplighters” who have brought the light of Chabad Lubavtich to the Arkansas Jewish Community. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

This Day, May 18, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

09:10 PM Friday, May 17, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 18 In History<o:p></o:p>

323BCE: Alexander dies at the age of 32. Despite the legend, there is no proof that Alexander ever came to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>. He did pass through <st1:place w:st="on">Judea</st1:place> on his way to conquer <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>and on his way from the victory. He left the Jews in peace to practice their religion and to live in a semi-independent status. This was his standard treatment for all those who did not oppose him. He and his subordinates encouraged Jews to settle in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> and throughout <st1:place w:st="on">Asia Minor</st1:place>. The Jews were allowed to live in their own communities where they were governed by their own councils and courts. Alexander was viewed as an enlightened monarch in much the way that Cyrus the Great had been.<o:p></o:p>

363: The first of a series of earthquakes that would last for two days rocked the Galilee.<o:p></o:p>

576: Over 500 Jews were forcibly baptized in Clermont-Ferrand, France.<o:p></o:p>

1096(4856): Jews of Worms (Germany) were massacred by Crusaders. The survivors hid in the Bishop's palace for one week, after which they were either murdered or forcibly baptized. <o:p></o:p>

1152: Henry II, King of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. This marriage produced two future Kings of England – Richard I (known as the Lionhearted) and King John, the monarch who signed the Magna Charta. For the Jews, Henry’s reign was an improvement over that of his predecessor, King Stephen. While Richard was semi-protective of his Jewish subjects, they suffered at the hands of those who wielded power while he was off crusading or fighting to protect his lands in France. In the first part of his reign, John maintained a positive relationship with his Jewish subjects, but as time went on he turned on them and made unrealistic financial demands on the community. <o:p></o:p>

1268: Following the Battle of Antioch the Principality of Antioch, a crusader state, falls to Baibars I the Mamluk Sultan. During the Mamluk Sultanate, there was an upswing in anti- dhimmī feeling although much of this was really aimed at the Christians who held positions in the government and the Jews were just “tangential beneficiaries” of this attitude. <o:p></o:p>

1291: A year after the Jews were expelled from England, after a two month siege, the fortress at Acre (Israel) falls to the Fatimid Egyptians, thus bringing about the end of the Crusades. Subsequently, the various crusading armies never succeeded in uniting as a cohesive force. The infighting and separate treaties defeated them as well as the Fatimid armies. “The founder of the Fatimid dynasty was Ubeidullah, known as the Mahdi. He was accused of Jewish ancestry by his adversaries the Abbasids, who declared him the grandson of Abdullah ibn Maymun, by a Jewess.”<o:p></o:p>

1418:Representatives from the Jewish communities of central and northern Italy met to discuss raising funds for self-defense as well as instituting sumptuary regulations so as "not to show off in the presence of Gentiles." It is plausible that the issuing of these sumptuary regulations, influenced Pope Martin V to issue a protective Bull the following year<o:p></o:p>

1721: In Madrid, 96 year old Maria Barbara Carillo was burned alive making her the oldest known victim of the Inquisition.<o:p></o:p>

1792(26^thof Iyar): Canadian Jewish leader Levy Solomons passed away<o:p></o:p>

1794: Betty Hart, the first American female convert to Judaism, married Moses Nathans<o:p></o:p>

1825(1st of Sivan, 5585): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1832:Eliakim Carmoly, a French-born Talmudist and author, was named to serve as a rabbi in Brussels.<o:p></o:p>

1847(3^rdof Sivan, 5607): Moses Calmus Lissa passed away<o:p></o:p>

1860: In Chicago, Illinois, the Republican Party nominates Abraham Lincoln for President of the United States. Lewis Naphtali Dembitz, a 28 year old lawyer from Louisville, Kentucky,was one of the three delegates who put Lincoln’s name in nomination. Dembitz was the uncle of Louis Dembitz Brandeis, who would emulate his uncle’s legal career and then excel it as the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice.<o:p></o:p>

1865(22nd of Iyar): David ben Moses Fraenkel, editor of Sulamith, passed away.<o:p></o:p>

1868: As the United States entered into a Presidential election year, The New York Times published excerpts an article from the Jewish Messenger describing the role of “Hebrews” in the political life of Europe and the United States. In the United States, Jews are not “a compact body for political purposes…In the coming campaign, Hebrews will work, and talk, and vote precisely according to their convictions as citizens and in no respect will their political action be dependent upon their religious character as a body. There is no national Hebrew vote.”<o:p></o:p>

1870: A column entitled “Mount Sinai Hospital” published today reported that the New York Times was wrong when it said that Mount Sinai Hospital was maintained by Jews for use by Jews. “The institution is supported by Jewish contribution and its directors” are Jewish “but it has always opened its doors to patients without the slightest regard to creed.” [In fact the hospital had been started before the Civil War to serve the needs of immigrants and indigent Jews. During the Civil War that role definitely changed as it became a treatment cite for thousands of Union wounded beginning with McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign in 1862.] <o:p></o:p>

1872: Birthdate of Lord Bertrand Russell, British mathematician and philosopher. Lord Russell was pro-Palestinian describing them as innocent refugees and describing Israel as occupying land ‘given’ by a foreign power to the Jewish people for the creation of a new state.<o:p></o:p>

1873: An informal reception was held today the recently opened home for aged and infirmed Hebrews at 63^rdstreet and Lexington Avenue. The building, which can accommodate 50 individuals, is currently home to 26 women and 2 men. They range in age from 70 to 95. Mrs. P.J. Joachimsen is President of the Board of Directors.

1876: Wyatt Earp starts work as a lawman in Dodge City, Kansas. When he died, Earp’s ashes were buried in a Jewish cemeteryin Colma, California. No, the famous marshal was not Jewish but his wife Josie was and her family had enough power and influence to wriggle around the laws forbidding such burials.<o:p></o:p>

1876: The New York Times featured a review of “Stray Studies From England and Italy” a collection of essays by John Richard Green. “Mr. Green shows how mistaken the modern conception” is when it comes to understanding the treatment of English Jews during the Middle Ages. “That conception is accurately represented by Scott’s picture of Isaac of York in “Ivanhoe,” timid, silent crouching under oppression. The Jew was really…the favorite ‘chattel’ of the king was protected by the crown not only against the people but against the law. Each Hebrew settlement in England was secured from the common taxation, the common justice, the common obligations of Englishman. The Jewry was a town within a town, with its own language, its peculiar dress, commerce, law and religion. No bailiff could penetrate it; the Church itself was even powerless against the synagogue which it contained. In England, at least, the attitude of the Jew was to the end, one of haughty defiance. His extortion was sheltered from the common law. His bonds were kept under the royal seal. Heavy penalties were enforced against outbreaks of popular violence upon the Jews. Mentioning the story of the Red King’s forbidding the conversion of a Jew, because a valuable property would be lost to him.” [Editor’s note – The Red King may refer to the third son of William the Conqueror, William II who was known as William Rufus. Green was an English clergyman who turned to writing histories when his health forced him to leave the pulpit. His description stands in stark contrast to the exploitation that English Jews suffered and makes no mention of their expulsion.<o:p></o:p>

1879: An article published today "The Family Sentiment in Americans" claims that people in the United States are changing their views about family history and genealogy saying that "next to the Jews, we are becoming the genealogical nation on the face of the earth."<o:p></o:p>

1879: A prominent New York banker who is a member of Temple Emanu-El said today that Lewis May, one of the most outspoken advocates for replacing Saturday morning services with Sunday morning serves has just been re-elected as the congregation’s President. In his acceptance address, Mr. May expressed a personal distaste for the change but said he recognized it as a necessity since many of the younger men belonging to the Temple could not attend services on Saturday for commercial reasons.

1879: An article published today entitled “Some Old Graveyards” describes early burial sites in New York City including one on the east side of the New Bowery below Chatham square known as the Olivers Street Burying Ground which was the original cemetery belonging to Shearith Israel, also known as the Nineteenth Street Congregation. The plot was conveyed to the congregation by Noyes Willey of London who received thirty English Pounds for the land. The Jews had been using the land for burials since the 17^th century since there are tombstones there bearing the dates of 1669 and 1684. The congregation formally stopped using this cemetery in 1820 when a city ordinance banned burials in that part of the city. <o:p></o:p>

1890: Today’s “Amusements” column includes a review of “The Shatchen” which opened at the Star Theatre last week. M.B. Curtis dominates the comedy with his “droll caricature” of the German Jewish businessman.<o:p></o:p>

1890: “For An Educational Fund” published today described the successful Strawberry Festival sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association during which three thousand attendees raising $3,500 that will go to the association’s educational department.<o:p></o:p>

1891: “Oriental Records” published today contains a detailed review of Records of the Past, an English translations of the Ancient Monuments of Egypt and Western Asia, edited by A. H. Sayce<o:p></o:p>

1891(10^th of Iyar): Rabbi Hillel Lichtenstein, leader of Hungarian Jewry, passed away<o:p></o:p>

1893: “Hardships of Russian Jews” published today described the benefits of efforts by the United States to lessen the suffering Jews living under the Czar. Doing so would cut down on the number of immigrants coming to the United States and at the same time would lessen the burden on those Americans trying to find jobs and homes for immigrants from Poland and Russia.<o:p></o:p>

1894: Members of the Board of Trustees of the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society were those who attended the funeral of Sigmund J. Bach as requested by Myer Stern and the Board of Trustees.<o:p></o:p>

1895: Justice Ingram gave the managers of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York City to mortgage its property at 106^thStreet and Columbus Avenue to the Bowery Savings Bank for $75, 000.<o:p></o:p>

1896: The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that “separate but equal” is constitutional. This decision marked the legal nadir in the field of civil rights in general and race relations in particular. It was from this pit that several organizations, many of them funded by Jews and/or with a statistically disproportionate Jewish involvement, had to climb until the High Court would declare in 1954 that separate but equal was inherently unequal.<o:p></o:p>

1896: Based on information supplied by The London Times, the New York Timesreported today that the work of the Jewish Colonization Association will continue despite the recent death of its founder and benefactor, Baron Hirsch. Dr. S.H. Goldschmidt of Paris will now service as President of the Association with assistance from Herbert G. Lousade of the Anglo-Jewish Association of London. Currently, 1,222 families occupy the 225,000 acres in Argentina under the association’s control.<o:p></o:p>

1897: As anti-Semitic riots break out in Algeria.<o:p></o:p>

1899: Randolph Guggenheimer, President of the Municipal Council will the deliver the address at this afternoon’s ceremonies dedicated the new Hebrew Charities Building at 21^st Street and Second Avenue.<o:p></o:p>

1900: In an article entitled “Topical Study” published today in Die Welt Isaac Rulf warned Jews of the danger presented by an increase in anti-Semitism in Germany, including the possibility of murder by the millions. Ruif died a year later but his children did not escape the Holocaust. One son died at Auschwitz and the other committed suicide before he could be shipped to the camps.<o:p></o:p>

1901: Herzl is called to the palace again. He is presented a tie-pin with yellow stones. Herzl hands out the sum of 40.000 francs to Nouri Bey and Crespi for having brought the audience about.<o:p></o:p>

1902: Herzl receives a letter from <st1:place w:st="on">Constantinople</st1:place>that his letter concerning a request for the creation of an <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Israelite</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype></st1:place>in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>was submitted to the Sultan.<o:p></o:p>

1902” “East Side Boycotters Meet and Organize” published in the New York Timesdescribed the formation of The Ladies’ Anti-Beef Trust Association which plans to establish co-operative stores if the price of beef being sold on the Lower East Side is not lowered.<o:p></o:p>

1903: The Times of London published a letter from Vyacheslav von Plehve, the Russian Minister of the Interior to the district’s governor, dated 12 days before the riots known as the Kishinev Pogroms, advising the governor not to act against rioters. “The Russian government asserted that it was a forgery and provided a bogus claim that the pogroms had started when a Jewish carousel owner hit a Christian woman. Christians defended themselves and then the Jews attacked them, killing one gentile.”<o:p></o:p>

1904: Birthdate of Senator Jacob K Javits. Born in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>, Javits graduated from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">NYU</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Law</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place>. He served in the Army during World II. Following the war he became active in Republican politics in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>. Before coming to the Senate, Javits served in the House of Representatives and as Attorney-General for the state of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>. Javits was a leader of the liberal wing of the Republican Party and staunch supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Javits served until January, 1981. Having been defeated he resumed his law practice and lectured at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Columbia</st1:place></st1:city>. He passed away in 1986. <o:p></o:p>

1905: Frederick Kerry arrived in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Now a Roman Catholic, at birth Kerry was a Jew named Fritz Kohn. He and his Jewish wife Ida were baptized in 1901 to avoid the stigma associated with being Jewish in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Austria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Frederick Kerry is the grandfather of Senator John Kerry, the Democratic candidate for President of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. At least two of his relatives perished in the Holocaust.<o:p></o:p>

1910: Turkish Minister of Education advocates adoption of Hebrew as national language of Turkish Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1910: Franz Kafka and a few of his friends gathered to observe Halley’s Comet.<o:p></o:p>

1911: Gustav Mahler died at the age of 50. Born Jewish, Mahler converted to Catholicism, so he could become head of the court opera in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Austria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. His conversion did not spare him the contempt of his enemies. <o:p></o:p>

1912: Birthdate of Richard Brooks. Born Richard Sax, to Russian Jewish immigrants, Brooks gained fame as film writer, director and producer. Brooks was received Oscar nominations for the screenplays for Blackboard Jungle, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, In Cold Blood and The Professionals. He won an Academy Award in 1960 for Elmer Gantry. <o:p></o:p>

1915: In Worcester, MA, Benjamin and Mary Meltzer gave birth to “Milton Meltzer, a historian and prolific author of nonfiction books for young people who helped start a movement away from the arid textbook style of the past.” (As reported by Dennis Heveis)<o:p></o:p>

1918(7^thof Sivan, 5678): Second Day of Shavuot; Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1918: Georg Nicolai writes to Albert Einstein telling him that he should not reproach himself for not taking an even more active role in protests against the war.<o:p></o:p>

1921: Ra'anana, an agricultural settlement is founded in the Sharon region.<o:p></o:p>

1921:The Nation included an essay by Lily Winner entitled "American Emigrés." http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/18/1921/lily-winner<o:p></o:p>

1922(20th of Iyar, 5682):Dorothy Elizabeth Levitt passed away. Born in 1882 or 1883, she was a pioneering feminist who blazed new trails in journalism, automobile racing and speed-boating.

1926: In Chicago, Professor James H. Breasted announced that Julius and William Rosenwald have donated $30,000 to be used in building a library near Luxor, Egypt that will be used by the veritable army of visiting scholars and scientist who come to the area each year. The Rosenwald’s general philanthropy was evident in a variety of secular and Jewish charitable activities. <o:p></o:p>

1927: Mayor Walker and more than 1,000 women welcomed Nathan Straus and Mrs. Straus on their return from a pilgrimage to Palestine at a tea given today at the Hotel Commodore by the Brooklyn Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization. During his address to the group, Mr. Straus officially presented Hadassah with the $250,000 health centre which is being built in Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p>

1928: Today a project for a municipal milk supply in Warsaw was defeated in the City Council by the combined vote of the Polish Nationalist and the Jewish middle-class Alderman. The municipal plan was backed by Pilsudski Party and Jewish Socialists.<o:p></o:p>

1930: Birthdate of Senator Warren B Rudman. Born in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>, Rudman grew up in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Hampshire</st1:place></st1:state>. A Korean War Era Veteran, Rudman practiced law in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Hampshire</st1:place></st1:state> before being elected to the Senate as a Republican in 1980. He served until January 1993, having chosen not to run for re-election. He is best known for the Graham-Rudman-Hollings Act, also referred to as the Balanced Budget and Deficit Control Act.<o:p></o:p>

1930: Birthdate of Barbara Goldsmith, author of “Little Gloria: Happy At Last.”<o:p></o:p>

1933: As part of the New Deal, Franklin Roosevelt signs the law creating the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). David Lilienthal, the son Jewish immigrants from Czechoslovakia, was the Director of TVA responsible for its early success and its ability to participate in the Manhattan Project during World War II. <o:p></o:p>

1934: The Academy Award is called Oscar in print for the first time by Sidney Skolsky. Skolsky was a close friend of Al Jolson and was responsible for the movie biography of the man who made the first “talkie<o:p></o:p>

1934: It was reported today that "Leaping Lena" Levy has been Chicago sportswriter “that King Levinsky, the Windy City Walloper, otherwise known as the Chicago Assassin, the Personality Kid, and as plain Harry Krakow, is reported to be suffering from a nervous breakdown.” Levinsky was one of a veritable army of Jewish pugilists who fought during the 1920’s and 1930’s when the fight game was a Jewish game.<o:p></o:p>

1936: It was announced in the House of Commons that a Royal Commission of Inquiry would be set up to investigate the cause of unrest in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>. The Commission became known as the Peel Commission because its chairman was Lord Peel.<o:p></o:p>

1937: Archbishop George Mundelein speaks out against the Nazi Party and Nazi Germany
http://skepticism.org/timeline/may-history/5952-archbishop-mundelein-chicago-criticizes-nazi-germany-nazi-party.html<o:p></o:p>

1937: In Brooklyn, NY, Dewey and Adeline Weissfeld Albert gave birth to Jerome Lewis Albert “who with his father…created and operated Astroland, the space age-themed amusement park that breathed new life into the Coney Island Boardwalk in the 1960s, a time when it was losing its lure.” As reported by Dennis Hevesi)<o:p></o:p>

1938: As Arab violence continued to escalate,The Palestine Post reported that Arab terrorists killed an Arab constable in Hebron. Arab farmers were robbed by Arab terrorists in villages around Jenin. The Public Works Department property was set on fire in Nablus and Jewish settlers near Hadera found their tractors and other machinery severely damaged.<o:p></o:p>

1939: A gathering of members of the Hashomer Ha’tzair movement took place at Wieliczka, Poland.

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/may/05.asp<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

1939: As Jews throughout Palestine protested against the White Paper with its limit of 75,000 Jews allowed to enter the country each year and the creation of a state that condemn the Jews to permanent minority status in violation of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate, a resolution for Palestine Jewry was read aloud at the three hour long demonstration in Tel Aviv that stated in part: “Palestine Jewry declares the betrayal policy will never materialize…Palestine Jewry does not recognize the arbitrary restriction of immigration. No power in the world can deter the natural right of our people to come home… Palestine Jewry will not consent to leave the land of the country desolate, but undauntedly will continue reviving it.”<o:p></o:p>

1941: Jewish veterans honor their dead <o:p></o:p>

1942: The New York Times carried a report by a United Press International correspondent who had been trapped in Berlin at the outbreak of the war in December of 1941 and who reached Lisbon after being traded as part of a swap for Axis nationals in Allied hands. According to the story 100,000 Jews had been slaughtered by the Nazis in the <st1:place w:st="on">Baltic States</st1:place>, almost that many in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>and twice as many in western <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1942: During a public protest of Nazi anti-Semitism staged in Berlin by Herbert Baum and his followers, portions of "The Soviet Paradise," a government-sponsored anti-Bolshevik exhibition, are set afire. Most members of Baum's group, as well as approximately 500 other Berlin Jews, are arrested.

1942: Another 1,420 Jews arrived in the Lodz ghetto from Brzeziny. Like the Jews who arrived the day before, their children were taken away from them. They were sent to Chelmno to be gassed.<o:p></o:p>

1943: Nearly every resident of the Polish farming village of Szarajowka is shot or burned alive by the SS, Wehrmacht troops, and Gestapo agents. After the massacre, the village is razed.What was the crime for which the villagers were being punished? Sheltering Jews<o:p></o:p>

1944 (25th of Iyar, 5704):Jewish partisan leader Aleksander Skotnicki is killed as his unit battles the armored SS Viking Division near the Parczew Forest in Poland.<o:p></o:p>

1944: Deportations from Theresienstadt, Czechoslovakia, to Auschwitz end with the transport of 2500 Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1944: In Hungary deportations of Jews to Auschwitz would begin today with a total of 437,000 being shipped to the death camp through July 7, 1944. <o:p></o:p>

1945(6^thof Sivan, 5705): First observance of Shavuot after VE Day<o:p></o:p>

1948: Moshe Dayan, who had been born in Degania, was given command of all forces in the area, including the settlements in the Kinarot Valley, after having been charged without creating a commando battalion in the 8th Brigade just a day before. A company of reinforcements from the Gadna program was allocated, along with 3 PIATs (a bazooka-like weapon). Other reinforcements came in the form of a company from the Yiftach Brigade and another company of paramilitaries from villages in the Lower Galilee and the Jezreel Valley. The Palmach counterattack on the police station on the night of May 18 gave the Israeli forces an additional day to prepare defense and attack plans<o:p></o:p>

1948: Syrian aircraft bombed the Israeli village Kinneret and the regional school Beit Yerah, on the southwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee.<o:p></o:p>

1948: After two days of fierce fighting a Syrian brigade including tanks overran Zemach, killing all forty-two of the Jewish defenders. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, and Nicaragua recognized Israel. <o:p></o:p>

1948: The Arab Legion captured the police fort on Mt. <st1:placename w:st="on">Scopus</st1:placename>. The illegal occupation of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mt.</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Scopus</st1:placename></st1:place> would end with the June War in 1967. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Between today and May 20, a unit of the Etzioni Brigade made repeated attempts to fight their way into the Old City at the Jaffa Gate. Despite taking heavy casualties, the Jewish fighters failed in their effort. The brigade was fighting the Arab Legion, the name given to the Jordanian Army which was trained and led by British officers.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Fighting under Egyptian command Saudi Arabia joined the other Arab armies in their invasion of Israel.

1948: "At midnight, Egyptian police" ransacked the home of Levan Zamir in Helwan.<o:p></o:p>

1948: While at school today in Egypt, Levana Zamir's teacher told her that her uncle had been taken to prison allegedly because he was a Zionist. The uncle was freed two years later and placed on a ship bound for France. <o:p></o:p>

1950: As a result of Operation Ezra and Nehemiah, 120,000 Jews fleeing Iraq were brought to Israel over the course of a year's time.<o:p></o:p>

1950: Israel has released the eight crewmen of an RAF flying-boat that had been forced down yesterday by Israeli fighter planes. According to the pilot, the plan was flying from Bahrain to the Suez Canal when it wandered off course due to a navigational error.<o:p></o:p>

1950: Colonel Harry D. Henshel and Charles L. Orenstein announced that the United States will be represented in the third World Maccabiah Games opening in Tel Aviv on September 27. Henshel and Orenstein are co-chairman of the national committee for United States participation and Orenstein will chair the committee that will select the athletes. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Abu Eliahu, 40, and Eliahu Ephraim, 45, two watchmen in the Jerusalem "corridor" were murdered by infiltrators. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that The Government approved the special unemployment relief tax scale and hoped to collect IL15m compulsory advance payment on account of future taxes.<o:p></o:p>

1962: Two off-duty police detectives, Luke J. Fallon and John P. Finnegan, were killed today in a botched robbery of the Boro Park Tobacco Company. Jerry Rosenberg, whose jailhouse nickname was Jerry the Jew and Anthony Portelli would be found guilty of the first double homicide of New York City police officers since 1927 and sentenced to death. Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller would later commute their sentences to life in prison. At the time of his death in 2009, Rosenberg would be the longest serving convict in the New York State prison system.<o:p></o:p>

1965 (16th of Iyar, 5725): Israeli spy Eli Cohen was publicly executed by the Syrians. This execution was aired on national Syrian television. After his execution, a sign with Anti-Zionist messages was placed on his hanging body. His body was left to hang for six hours. Eli was born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Alexandria</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Egypt</st1:country-region></st1:place> on <st1:date day="26" month="12" w:st="on" year="1928"><st1:date day="26" ls="trans" month="12" w:st="on" year="19">December 26, 19</st1:date>28</st1:date>. The son of two Syrian Jews, Eli was raised in a strong Jewish and Zionist educational environment. True to their Zionist ideals, the Cohen family moved to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1949. However, Eli stayed behind to organize Zionist and Jewish activities in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Eventually, Eli moved to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>and began training with the Israeli intelligence organization. His preparation was extensive and exhaustive. From weapons to Arab customs to espionage technology, he was trained to know everything about the craft of being a spy. In 1961, the Chief of Military Intelligence, Chaim Herzog, authorized Eli Cohen to be used as a spy for the State of Israel. Soon after, he was escorted to the airport with a ticket for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>where he would begin to establish his portfolio under his new assumed identity, Kamal Amin Ta'abet. While in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>, he established his cover as a Syrian émigré and began to make inroads within the Syrian community of Buenos Aries. In time, he established himself as a successful businessman and began to establish relationships among the Syrian diplomatic corps in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>. It was during this time that Eli met Col. Amin al-Hafez. Through his extravagant hosting of his diplomatic contacts, he was eventually invited to visit <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>to set up business operations. Late in 1961, Eli returned to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> for a short visit with his wife. It was during this visit that he finalized requirements for his mission in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. There was no question that Eli was already making impressive progress within the Syrian political and social circuits. Staring in 1961, the Syrian Ba'ath Party was beginning its rise to power within the Syrian government. It was important to Eli that he travel to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region> as the party began to gain power and influence. Eli arrived in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Damascus</st1:place></st1:city>in 1962, acting as an Argentinean entrepreneur returning home to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. It was during this time in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>that Eli was very careful to develop his relationships with members of the Ba'ath party. True to his style in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Eli hosted parties and hob-nobbed in the highest social and political circles. As Eli gained the trust of these high officials, they openly discussed matters of military and political importance with him. Between 1962 and 1965, Eli made three secret trips home to be with his wife and children. When the Ba'ath party seized power in 1963, Eli Cohen was well established and entrenched within the social elites of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He became a “trusted friend” of the highest-ranking members of the Ba'ath party, all the while transmitting vital information home to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> via a transmitter that was hidden in his home. His ability to pierce the highest ranks of the government continued the longer he stayed in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He was invited to discussions regarding <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s intentions to divert water from the headwaters of the <st1:place w:st="on">Jordan River</st1:place>. In 1963, Eli transmitted the details regarding the diversion of the waters back to the Israelis. As a result, the IDF Air Force was able to effectively destroy Syrian plans for this project. Cohen exhibited another example of his daring espionage when he visited the Syrian-held <st1:place w:st="on">Golan Heights</st1:place>, bordering <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The Golan was a “strategic asset” for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>, which allowed them the ability to facilitate acts of aggression against the northern Israeli towns. The Golan was considered a top secret area open only to the top members of the Syrian military. Cohen, skilled in his craft, was able to not only get a tour of the area, but able to get a comprehensive military briefing of the Golan and all its positions. It was during this trip that the “famous” eucalyptus trees were planted. As Eli was being briefed as to the Syrian fortifications of the Golan, he suggested that they plant eucalyptus trees to give the Israelis the impression that the locations were not fortified, and also to offer shade for the Syrian soldiers. As the story goes, his ideas were implemented, and as a result, the Israelis knew where every single fortification was located as a result of the eucalyptus trees. His old contact from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Argentina</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Col. Amin al-Hafez had risen in the Ba'ath party and eventually became Prime Minster of Syria. After Col. Hafez came to power, he even considered appointing Cohen the Deputy Minister of Defense for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. In November, 1964, Eli made another visit back to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. During this trip he expressed his desire to end this assignment since changes were taking place in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region> that were not favorable to his cover. After much debate, Eli agreed to return for one more tour of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The intelligence that Eli had provided was too valuable. During his final stay in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Eli was less careful of his espionage transmissions. Alarmed that information was leaking out of the country, the Syrians, with the help of their Soviet advisors, conducted a comprehensive probe to find the intelligence leak. During January 1961, transmissions were pinpointed to Eli's home. Syrian intelligence caught Eli in the act, transmitting information back to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He was apprehended and tortured, but didn't release any information of real value to the Syrians. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>staged a public show and Eli Cohen was found guilty of espionage. Attempts were made to save Eli Cohen. World leaders and prominent businessmen, along with the Israeli government and the Pope attempted to arbitrate a solution for Eli, but with no success. Clearly, Eli's espionage contributions toward the security of the State of Israel were unmatched most. He was so skilled at his craft that he was easily able to assimilate into the day-to-day life within <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Damascus</st1:place></st1:city>. He was able to achieve the unthinkable and befriended the highest echelons of the Syrian government and military. Not only was he able to gain access where others could not, he was in the position to provide input that allowed him to influence government and military decisions. There is no question that the intelligence that he compiled was highly instrumental in allowing <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> to quickly and effectively defeat the Syrians and gain the <st1:place w:st="on">Golan Heights</st1:place>during the Six Day War. For his heroism and skill, Eli Cohen is known as <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>'s greatest spy. But in all actuality, he might be a contender for the greatest secret agent of the 20th century<o:p></o:p>

1973(16th of Iyar, 5733): Israeli poet and editor Avraham Shlonsky passed away. A native of Russia, he was a driving force in the creation of Modern Hebrew literature. Among other accomplishments he won both the Bialk and Israel prizes. <o:p></o:p>

1977: Menachem Begin became Israel's Prime Minister. Begin's election marked a major shift in Israeli politics. Begin was a disciple of Jabotinsky, leader of the Irgun, and the polar opposite of the Labor Zionists who had dominated Israeli politics even before the state had been created. Begin proved to be more of a pragmatist than had been expected. He met with Sadat and signed the Camp David Accords which led to the swapping of the Sinai for a peace treaty with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Despite international furor, Begin bombed an Iraqi reactor, an action that people came to appreciate after the first Gulf War. Begin resigned after the death of his wife and went into a state of semi-seclusion. He passed away in 1992.<o:p></o:p>

1977(1st of Sivan, 5737): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1977: Samuel Lewis, the new U.S. Ambassador to Israel, arrived today to take up his ambassadorial post.<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported the UNIFIL's admission that it had allowed the terrorists to move, together with their arms, into South Lebanon. <o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Government and the Jewish Agency were considering steps how to stop HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrants Aid Society), from helping Russian Jewish emigrants to go to destinations other than Israel. Only 72 out of the 1,086 Jews who left <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>in April, 1978, made their way to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Mifal Hapayis designated IL7m. for education and health in the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place> and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>. <o:p></o:p>

1983(6^thof Sivan, 5743): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1986: Attorney General Yitzhak Zamir “demanded to prosecute Avraham Shalom, head of the GSS” (General Security Service) as part of his investigation into allegations that two terrorists had been murdered by the GSS.

1988:Braving a steady rain, 750 supporters of Shimon Peres attended a rally for the Israeli foreign minister at the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan today.<o:p></o:p>

1991: The Associated Press reported that the B. Manischewitz Company was given a $1 million fine by United States District Judge Harold Ackerman for conspiring to fix the price of Passover matzoth. Manischewitz had pleaded no contest to a criminal indictment last month, saying it could not defend charges it conspired to fix prices from 1981 to at least April 1986. The indictment said Manischewitz, based in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jersey City</st1:place></st1:city>, had conspired to raise the price of $25 million worth of Passover matzoth in cooperation with Horowitz Brothers & Margareten and with Aron Streit Inc., both of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>. Horowitz has since been taken over by Manischewitz. The Government has not said why Horowitz and Aron Striet were not indicted. The merchant banking firm of Kohlberg & Company acquired Manischewitz in January and had nothing to do with the scheme. <o:p></o:p>

1994: Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in what was supposed to have been one step along the road to peace with the Palestinians.<o:p></o:p>

1996(29^thof Iyar, 5756): English businessman and racehorse owner Simon Weinstock passes away at the age of 44<o:p></o:p>

1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Jacob Two-Two’s First Spy Caseby Mordecai Richler.<o:p></o:p>

2002(7^thof Sivan, 5762): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2002(7^thof Sivan, 5762): Zypora Spaisman, Polish born American actress and longtime supporter of the Yiddish theatre, passed away at the age of 86.<o:p></o:p>

2003: The New York Times featured books by Jewish writers and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Heart, You Bully, You Bully, You Punk” byLeah Hager Cohen.<o:p></o:p>

2003: Steve Averbach “was on a bus heading to work when a Palestinian terrorist dressed as a fervently Orthodox Jew got on board. Averbach realized immediately that he was a suicide bomber. As he reached for his handgun, the terrorist blew himself up, killing seven people and seriously injuring 20, including Averbach. Israel’s internal security ministry later wrote Averbach a letter saying, “An investigation of the incident revealed that you were courageous, brave, and selfless in attempting to prevent a mortal attack.” It said the bomber had planned to blow himself up in the crowded center of town or in the bus station, where the death toll would have been far higher.”<o:p></o:p>

2004: The IDF launched Operation Rainbow in response to the deaths of 13 soldiers, the majority of whom were killed after their armored personnel carriers were blown up in the southern Gazan town of Rafah. The goal of the eight-day operation was to uncover weapons-smuggling tunnels along the Philadelphi Corridor, and to prevent the smuggling of Strella shoulder-to-air anti-aircraft missiles from the Sinai into <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gaza</st1:place></st1:city>.

2006: A Sarajevo publisher announced that The Sarajevo Haggadah,a centuries-old Jewish holy book that survived the Spanish inquisition, the Nazi Holocaust and Bosnia's 1992-1995 war has been reprinted in limited editions. “The Sarajevo Haggadah”was made into 613 copies on hand-made paper that recreates the appearance of the 14th century original by 95 percent, the head of the Rabic publishing house, Goran Mikulic, told Agence France Presse. The number of copies was chosen to symbolize the number of commandments, or mitzvoth, that Jews are obliged to observe. "The edition was printed in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Italy</st1:place></st1:country-region> and almost everything was done by hand," Mikulic said. The original handwritten manuscript on bleached calfskin illuminated in copper and gold is the world's oldest Sephardic Haggadah, containing the text recited by Jews on the Passover holiday.<o:p></o:p>

2006: Rabbi Ada Zavidov is declared the new chairwoman of the Reform Movement's Rabbinic Council at the opening of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism's 18th Biennial Convention. About 1,000 rabbis and movement members, including Rabbi Elliott Kleinman, vice president of the <st1:place w:st="on">Union</st1:place>for Reform Judaism in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>attend the conference, which focuses on the Jewish family. Zavidov, granddaughter of Aba Achimeir - one of the founding fathers of the Revisionist Party in pre-state <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>- is the first female Israeli native to chair the rabbinic council. <o:p></o:p>

2007: Rosh Chodesh Sivan, 5767<o:p></o:p>

2007: The fifth season of Kokhav Nolad, the popular Israeli television show, began today.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The five candidates for the leadership of the Labor Party face off in a Labor central committee meeting in Tel Aviv that will decide whether Labor should leave Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's government.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Teramo</st1:placename></st1:place>closed one of its campuses to prevent a planned lecture by Robert Faurisson, a retired French professor who denies gas chambers were used in Nazi concentration camps.<o:p></o:p>

2008: Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon declared today, "Jewish News of Greater Phoenix Day" in honor of the newspaper's "exemplary service to the community and the Jewish people".<o:p></o:p>

2008: Veteran journalist Jane Eisner was appointed to be the first female editor of the Forward.<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington marks the 60th anniversary of the state of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> with a series of book talks by Laura Cohen Apelbaum on Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community (the companion to the award-winning exhibit of the same name) the third of which is held at Barnes & Noble in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Rockville</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Md.</st1:state></st1:place><o:p></o:p>

2008: The New York Times book section featured a review of Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet by Jeffrey D. Sachs.<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Washington Post book section featured a review of Ellen Feldman’s novel entitled Scottsboro which “painstakingly recreates the infamous Scottsboro case, complete with all the twists and turns and society-exposing foibles.” Two Jewish lawyers, Samuel Leibowitz and Joseph Brodsky, saved the lives of the defendants in this infamous case.<o:p></o:p>

2008: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Temple Judah hosts it’s Temple Wide Picnic marking the close of the Religious School year; farewell until Fall.<o:p></o:p>

2008: The appointment of Jane R. Eisner, former editorial page editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer as editor of The Forward is officially approved at today’s meeting of The Forward Association<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Quad City Jewish Federation hosts Israeli Yom Ha’Azma’ut Rally in Bettendorf, Iowa featuring Sasha Grishkov, finalist from the Israeli television series A Star is Born (Israeli version of American Idol) who will perform with her Israeli band.<o:p></o:p>

2008: “Pamela's First Musical,” written with Cy Coleman and David Zippel, based on Wendy Wasserstein's children's book, received its world premiere in a concert staging at Town Hall in New York City today.<o:p></o:p>

2009; New York Times columnist Thomas Friedmanaddress the Class of 2009 at Grinnell<o:p></o:p>

College’s commencement exercises where he receives an honorary degree along with <o:p></o:p>
Jodie Levin-Epstein, deputy director of the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2009:The Arizona Chapter of the American Jewish Committee presented the Greater Phoenix Jewish News with the RosaLee Shluker Community Service Award in honor of its 60th anniversary.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Barak Obama in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2009: In an article about The Tribeca/ESPN Sports film festival, Sports Illustrated singles out “A Matter of Size,” an Israeli film about Herzl Musiker, a middle aged fat Israel waiter, who discovers his salvation in the world of Sumo Wrestling.<o:p></o:p>

2009: In a Lecture on Nazi Propaganda at the Library of Congress, Dr. Gabriel Weimann, a Professor of Communication at Haifa University, Israel and at the American University, Washington, D.C., examines the social and psychological mechanisms activated by the sophisticated and powerful Nazi propaganda. The multi-media presentation includes posters, movies, speeches, public events, books, cartoons and other media used by the Nazis.<o:p></o:p>

2009: In the best tradition of genteel British anti-Semitism, movie director Ken Loach called for people to boycott the Edinburgh Film Festival if festival’s sponsors accept a 300 pound grant from the Israeli embassy that will enable “Tel Aviv University graduate Tali Shalom Ezer to travel to Scotland for a screening of her film, ‘Surrogate.’”<o:p></o:p>

2009:Michael Sandel gave the 2009 Reith Lectures on "A New Citizenship" in London<o:p></o:p>

2010(5th of Sivan, 5770): Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2010:Founding editor of DoubleX Hanna Rosin and Slate editor David Plotz are scheduled to let loose on the Bible while Alyssa Shelasky of Apron Anxiety is scheduled to whip up a dairy dish and Shavuotini for all to taste as part of “The Ten: An Alternative Shavuot Experience” in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2011:The YIVO Institute is scheduled to present a special evening with acclaimed novelist Philip Roth during which Roth will read excerpts from his new novel, “Nemesis” which tells the story of a terrifying polio epidemic raging in Newark, New Jersey in the summer of 1944 and its devastating effect on the closely knit, family-oriented community and its children. <o:p></o:p>

2011: Charlotte Dubin, award-winning writer and editor for many publications, including Michigan Jewish History and the Detroit Jewish News is scheduled to receive the Leonard N. Simons History Award at the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan’s Annual Meeting<o:p></o:p>

2011: Shelomo Alfassá, a writer, author, editor, curator and historian, whose focus has been on Iberian and Ottoman Jewish history, culture and Jewish law, is scheduled to deliver an illustrated lecture that “will give an overview of the history of Sephardic Jews – from Spain and Portugal to New York City” sponsored by the Derfner Judaica Museum at The Hebrew Home at Riverdale, New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2011: David McKenzie is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Jewish Life in Mr. Lincoln's City” sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington<o:p></o:p>

2011:The "Arbeit Macht Frei” sign stolen from Auschwitz and cut into three pieces has been repaired.<o:p></o:p>

2011:Philip Roth, the much-lauded author of "Portnoy's Complaint", won the biennial Man Booker International Prize today, adding to a collection of prizes that includes two National Book Awards.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Facebook, the creation of Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to have it initial public offering (IPO)<o:p></o:p>

2012:Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation’s Capital, Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, Temple Micah, Temple Sinai Nursery School and Washington Hebrew Congregation are scheduled to sponsor ShirLaLa Family Shabbat Service and Dinner featuring Shira Klein.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The 721 general assembly commissioners representing the Church of Scotland are scheduled to vote on “The Inheritance of Abraham,” a report which says scripture” provides no basis for Jewish claims to Israel” (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

2013: The IPO String Trio is scheduled to perform two musicales in the San Francisco Bay area.<o:p></o:p>

2013: In Israel the Indigo Festival on the Sea of Galilee and the Abu Gosh Festival are scheduled to come to an end.<o:p></o:p>

2013: “Bezalel on Tour” will be on view for the first time at G91 Loft in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2013: Cantor Joel Caplan of Agudath Israel in Caldwell, NJ, will lead Shabbat morning service at Agudas Achim, as the Iowa City congregation dedicates its new facility in suburban Coralville. Cantor Caplan is the son of Dick and Ellen Caplan, pillars of the Iowa City Jewish community. Cantor Caplan began his Jewish odyssey at Augdas Achim under the guidance of Rabbi Jeff Portman and began his musical odyssey at West High in Iowa City. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

This Day, May 17, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

11:10 PM Thursday, May 16, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 17 In History <o:p></o:p>

142 BCE: “Simon the Hasmonean captured the citadel of Jerusalem and expelled its Syrian garrison ad the Hellenized Jews” who had fought with them. Simon was the last surviving Hasmonean brother. His victories completed the fight begun by the more famous Judah who had taken possession of Jerusalem in 165 BCE but had not been able to take control of the citadel.<o:p></o:p>

1012: Benedict VIII began his papacy. During his reign, “a number of Roman Jews were executed on Cecil Roth has called the ‘improbable charge of mocking a crucifix.’ The accuracy of this is open to debate since a contemporary chronicler, Ademar of Chabannes, “this occurred after an earthquake accompanied by a severe storm erupted on Good Friday, prompting a Roman Jews to inform the papal palace that some of his coreligionist had mocked a crucifix in their synagogue. After those found guilty were beheaded the earthquake ceased.<o:p></o:p>

1220: Second coronation of King Henry III in Westminster Abbey which was ordered by Pope Honorius III who did not consider that the first had been carried out in accordance with church rites. In 1253, King Henry established The Domus Conversorum (House of Conversion) which was a building and institution in London for Jews who had converted to Christianity. It provided a communal home and low wages.<o:p></o:p>

1338: The Bishop of Strasbourg formed an alliance for the pursuit of the Armleder assassins who were responsible for the massacring of Jews in Alsace.<o:p></o:p>

1594: Today “The Jew of Malta” was entered in the Stationer's Register, a record book maintained by the Stationers' Company of London which a held monopoly over the printing industry in England.<o:p></o:p>

1617(12^thof Iyar, 5377): Rabbi Judah Löb Saraval passed away He translated Saadia’s commentary on “Canitcles” into Hebrew. [Canticles is another name for the Song of Songs.] “He is quoted in the ritual work "Mashbit Milḥamot," in connection with a question in regard to the ritual bath. Although he was reported to have died in Venice, Filosseno Luzzato found his tombstone in Padua. <o:p></o:p>

1727: Catherine I of Russia passed away. The Catherine was the second wife of Peter the Great. She ruled for two years after Peter’s death. In that time she issued an edict expelling the Jews from the Ukraine and the rest of Russia and denying them the right to ever return.<o:p> </o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

1776: During the American revolution the U.S. Congress called on Americans to raise their voices in prayer, and among the verses read by the "anxious" Jews of the Spanish and Portuguese Congregation of New York was, "…And they shall beat their swords into plow-shares."<o:p></o:p>

1786(19^thof Iyar): Moses Eidlitz, author of “Melehet Mah-shevet” passed away.<o:p></o:p>

1792: The New York Stock Exchange is founded when the Buttonwood Agreement was signed by 24 stock brokers outside of 68 Wall Street in New York under a buttonwood tree on Wall Street. Benjamin Seixas, brother of Gershom Seixas, was one of the five Jews included in the list of the twenty-four founders of the New York Stock Exchange<o:p></o:p>

1795: Rabbi Isaiah Berlin led a special service in the synagogue at Breslau in honor of the recently signed Peace of Basel that ended the War of the First Coalition. From a Jewish point of view, the service was unusual because Berlin permitted the use of instrumental music. <o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

1805(18th of Iyar, 5565):Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1814: The Constitution of Norway is signed and the Danish Crown Prince Christian Frederik is elected King of Norway by the Constitutional assembly. The first Jews arrived in what is now Norway in the last decade of the 15th century. They were Sephardim escaping the Inquisition and were referred to as “the Portuguese Jews.” This constitution included in its second paragraph a general ban against Jews and Jesuits entering the country. In principle, Portuguese Jews were exempt from this ban, but it appears that few applied for a letter of free passage. When Norway entered into the personal union of Sweden-Norway, the ban against Jews was upheld, though Sweden at that point had several Jewish communities. In 1844, the Norwegian Ministry of Justice declared: "... it is assumed that the so-called Portuguese Jews are, regardless of the Constitution’s §2, entitled to dwell in this country, which is also, to [our] knowledge, what has hitherto been assumed."After tireless efforts by the poet Henrik Wergeland, the Norwegian parliament lifted the ban against Jews in 1851 and they were awarded religious rights on par with Christian "dissenters." In 1852, the first Jew landed in Norway to settle, but it wasn't until 1892 that there were enough Jews to form a synagogue in Oslo.<o:p></o:p>

1836: Birthdate Wilhelm Steinitz. Born in Prague, which was part of the Austrian Empire, Steinitz was the first official World Champion of Chess holding the title from 1886 to 1894. He suffered from a variety of mental problems after losing his championship. At one point he claimed to have played a game of Chess with God. He passed away in 1900 while living in Brooklyn.<o:p></o:p>

1844: Warder Cresson became the first person commissioned to serve as Consul at Jerusalem by the United States State Department. Cresson would convert to Judaism while serving in Jerusalem and take the name Michael Boaz Israel ben Abraham

1844: Birthdate of Julius Wellhausen, the German biblical scholar who, in his 1878 "History of Israel," first advanced the JEDP Hypothesis, claiming that the Torah was a compilation of four earlier, literary sources.<o:p></o:p>

1849: In St, Louis, The Great Fire occurred when at 10 p.m. a fire broke out on the steamboat "White Cloud". Within 30 minutes, 23 steamboats were engulfed in flames. The fire swept up the levee, destroying tons of freight and 15 blocks of residences, warehouses, and stores. Businesses destroyed that were owned in whole or in part by Jews include: Isaac Jacobs, Abraham Jacobs, Lewis M. Levy, Simon Lewis, Raborg & Shaffner, Helfenstein & Co., Charles Roderman, Weil & Bros., L. Newman, Helfenstein, Gore & Co., Levy & Bros., H. Cohen, and Simon Abeles.<o:p></o:p>

1852: The New York Times reported that the first reading of a bill designed to remove the disabilities imposed upon persons refusing to take the “oaths of abjuration” (known as the Jews Bill) had taken place in the House of Lords. During the debate, Lord Lyndhurst cited the recent case of David Salomons, the Jew who had refused to take the standard oath and sought to be seated in the House of Commons nonetheless. In what was seen as a turn for the better, Lord Derby had not offered any opposition to the measure.<o:p></o:p>

1855: In New York ceremonies were held today marking the official opening first hospital building in the United States devoted solely to alleviate the suffering of poor Jews. The ceremonies featured uniquely Jewish liturgical motifs including a display of Torah Scrolls. In addition to all of the modern conveniences one would expect to find in a new hospital, there is a synagogue on the 2^nd floor. John Hart is president of the board of directors and Benjamin Hart is the vice president.

1855: Over five hundred ladies and gentlemen attended a banquet at Niblo’s Saloon that was intended to raise funds for the newly opened Jew’s Hospital. The Grace before and after dinner were chanted in Hebrew by Rabbi J.J. Lyons and Anthony Leo. <o:p></o:p>

1860: Alliance Israelite Universelle was launched by a group of French Jews under the direction of Adolphe Cremieux. It was designed to defend Jewish rights and to establish world-wide Jewish educational facilities. Charles Netter was one of the six founders of the organization which had been formed in response to anti-Semitic incidents such as the abduction of Edgardo Mortara and the Damascus affair. The Franco-Prussian War diminished its universality and separate organizations were formed in Germany and England.<o:p></o:p>

1866(3rd of Sivan, 5626): Composer Adolf Bernhard Marx passed away at the age of 70.<o:p></o:p>

1872: An article published today titled "The Jews in Roumania" reported that the Italian government has sent a communication to to the government of Prince Charles of Roumania protesting against the persecution and oppression of the Jews in that country.<o:p></o:p>

1874: Birthdate of Bertha Kalich, star of American Yiddish theatre http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/17/1874/bertha-kalich<o:p></o:p>

1876(Iyar 23): Aaron Zevi Friedman, the author of “Tuv Ta’am” passed away

1877: Haemet was published for the first time in Vienna. Aaron Samuel Liebermann was the publisher<o:p></o:p>

1877: An American Jewish couple living in England were parties to litigation surrounding their marriage. Benjamin Levy sued his wife Deborah Isaacs Levy and her alleged lover on grounds that the two were partners in an adulterous relationship. After a few minutes of deliberation, the jury found that they had been guilty of adultery but also found that Levy “had conduced to his wife’s misconduct. Therefore, they declined to assess any damages against either the respondent or the co-respondent.<o:p></o:p>

1879: The third annual meeting of Felix Adler’s Society for Ethical Culture had its final meeting in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

1880(7^thof Sivan, 5640): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1885: In New York City, Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Guggenheim gave birth to Meyer Robert Guggenheim, a member of the famous Guggenheim family who served as U.S. Ambassador to Portugal at the beginning of the Eisenhower Administration

1888(7^thof Sivan, 5648)L Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1890: C.J. Schwab will conduct a 24-piece orchestra today at the 13^thannual Strawberry Festival sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at the Lenox Lyceum. E.B. Levy is in charge of this fundraising event.<o:p></o:p>

1893: A delegation from New York led by Oscar S Straus met with Secretary of State Gresham in Washington, D.C. to discuss the situation of the Jews in Russia. They asked him to intervene on their behalf with Czar with the hope that he would take action mitigating the “severe edicts and penalties” that have been imposed upon them in the last few years.<o:p></o:p>

1893: Explorer, journalist and advocate for democratic reform in Russia, George Kennan and his wife are sailing for England today. Before leaving he expressed his firm belief that an influx of Russian Jews will be coming to the United States; forced to do so because of the Czar’s edicts. In response to a question about aid for these immigrants he said that the Baron de Hirsch Fund has a definite, major role to play in assisting Russian Jewish immigrants.<o:p></o:p>

1893: It was reported today that Myer S. Isaacs, Chairman of the Trustee of the Baron Hirsh Fund expects that the only Jews who will immigrate to the United States from Russia will come of their own volition , will have money to take them to where they desire to settle “or will have friends who can help them.” “They will not be a burden to anybody and…they will make very good citizens. He said that the fund is still experimenting with its trade schools and industrial farm which all the help they can offer for the foreseeable future. (This is neither the first, nor the last time that Jews in America would underestimate the desperation of their European co-religionist)<o:p></o:p>

1893: “A rich Jewish banker, who desired” to remain anonymous “for the present” was reported to have said that if there should be an unusual increase in Jewish immigration from Poland and Russia, he would be interested in meeting with fellow Jews “to devise ways and means of caring for all refugees that might come.

1895: “Rubinstein’s Religion” published today discussed the religious beliefs of the late Anton Rubinstein, the Russian pianist, composer and conductor. Although born a Jew, he “was baptized when a mere infant…and was forced…to follow the prescribed” religious “forms once a year.” “It is worthy of notice and stands greatly to his credit, that in Russia, where it is better to be born a dog than a Jew, Rubinstein, despite his baptism, never sought to deny his Jewish origin. In a certain way he was proud of it, and always boldly acknowledged it.”<o:p></o:p>

1895: “W.W. Wilson Becomes a Convert to Judaism” published today described the decision of Brooklyn lawyer Wayne W. Wilson to join the Jewish faith. The ceremony took place at Temple Israel in Brooklyn. Wilson said that he “joined Temple Israel because the doctrine of the Reformed Jew my views exactly.”<o:p></o:p>

1895: Birthdate of Saul Adler, the Russian born Israeli who helped find a cure for malaria. <o:p></o:p>

1901: Herzl met with the Sultan of Turkey to discuss the establishment of a Jewish state and the obtaining of a charter. He failed in both attempts. However, The Sultan bestows on Herzl the Grand Cordon of the Mejidiye and authorized Hertzl to declare that the ruling Khalif was a friend and protector of the Jewish people. Herzl believed that a Jewish homeland could be created by getting approval of the venture from the political leaders of the day. That is why he sought out the support of the Kaiser. The state of Israel would eventually be a product of changed realities on the ground – the settling of the land by the Zionists – and political support from various political leaders such as Harry Truman in 1948.<o:p></o:p>

1902: “During Shabbat Torah services women interrupted prayers with a call to support the boycott” of kosher butcher shops on the Lower East Side. “Women left their seats in the balcony to persuade men to back their cause and gain communal support.” (As reported by Jewish Women’s Archives)<o:p></o:p>

1908: The Jewish American Historical Society held its 16^th annual meeting today at the Hotel Astor. During the morning session, Leon Huelmer presented a paper on “Jewish Privaterring in the Eighteenth Century.” During the afternoon session Dr. Herbert Friedenwald presented a paper on “Why This Is Not a Christian Country.” At the evening session, the attendees approved a measure championed by Cyrus Adler, the society’s President to amend the constitution allowing the society to study “Jewish history in general instead of limiting it to” the study of American Jewish history.<o:p></o:p>

1908: Charles Towne and Daniel P. Hays were the principle speakers at tonight’s memorial service sponsored by the Hebrew Union Veteran Association and the Hebrew Veterans of the War with Spain to honor the soldiers and sailors who had died in the service of their country. The service was held at New York’s Rodeph Shalom and guest included Rear Admiral Joseph B. Coghlan and Grand Marshal Isidore Isaacs of the Grand Army of the Republic and his staff. The Grand Army of the Republic was large national Civil War veterans association that was a forerunner to the American Legion formed after WW I.<o:p></o:p>

1908(16^thof Iyar, 5668): Percival Menken, who was born at Philadelphia, PA in 1865, passed away today. He was laid to rest at Beth Olom Cemetery in Queens, NY.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=cr&GRid=102101379&CRid=641209&<o:p></o:p>

1915: The last British government formed by the Liberal Party fell from power. The party of reform, the Liberal Party produced the first openly Jewish Member of Parliament. Lionel Nathan de Rothschild was first elected in 1847. However, Rothschild would not take his seat until 1858 since it took 11 years to pass the Jewish Disabilities Bill that made it possible for Jews to swear an oath that was not Christian. After World War I, the Labour Party would supplant the Liberal Party as the chief opposition to the Conservatives.<o:p></o:p>

1915: Birthdate of Joseph Liegbott who was a Tech Sergeant with the 101^stAirborne during WW II. Although he was the Catholic son of Austrian immigrants many of his comrades assumed he was Jewish because of his name, his appearance and his hatred of Germans. (What’s worse than being Jewish – not being Jewish but having people think you are)<o:p></o:p>

1918(6^thof Sivan, 5678): Last Shavuot of World War I<o:p></o:p>

1921: Birthdate of Judith Coplon, the native of Brooklyn and former Justice Department employee who became a sensation in 1949 when she was accused of being a Soviet spy.<o:p></o:p>

1923: The Wiener Morgenzeitung (The Vienna Morning Newspaper) was highly critical of The London house of Rothschild and the Paris representatives of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. ‘for what the paper regards as excessive cordiality shown towards the representatives of the Horthy regime, who are negotiating a loan in European capitals. Heinrich Margulies edited the paper before he moved to Palestine in 1925 where he became a Director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank.<o:p></o:p>

1923:Sir Wyndham Deedes, who has just resigned as the Civil Secretary of the Palestine Administration, addressed a meeting at the Grand Central Hotel called by the English Zionist Federation. Declaring that he favored Zionism because by enabling Jews to return to Palestine the world was righting a wrong committed by Christians 2,000 years ago, Sir Wyndham said only lack of money was hampering Zionist progress in all directions. (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1926: David M Bressler announced that nearly $6,000,000 was raised in New York toward the $25,000,000 United Jewish Campaign at a rally of 1,500 workers. <o:p></o:p>

1926: Leading Jews of the East Side were guests at dinner tonight of Max Bernstein, proprietor of Libby's Hotel, the first modern Jewish hotel on the East Side, which was opened to the public yesterday. The hotel is at Delancey and Chrystie Streets. The hotel will serve kosher food. It was elected at a cost of $3,000,000. (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1930: Today Hadassah announced that a new hospital will be opened in Tiberias on May 25. The hospital will be named in honor of Peter J. Schweitzer and his widow will be going to Palestine to attend the dedication ceremonies<o:p></o:p>

1933: In Norway, Vidkun Quisling establishes the Norwegian Fascist Party as well as the Hirdmen (King's Men), a collaborationist organization that's modeled on the Nazi Sturmabteilung (SA). When the Nazis invade Norway during World War II Quisling will become the head of the Norwegian government. Quisling was such a notorious traitor that his name has now become a word in the English language that means “traitor.”<o:p></o:p>

1933: A petition is submitted to the League of Nations by representatives of the Comite des Delegations Juives protesting Germany’s anti-Jewish legislation, called the Bernheim Petition, named for imprisoned Silesian Jew Franz Bernheim.<o:p></o:p>

1934: At New York's Madison Square Garden, thousands attend a pro-Nazi rally sponsored by the German-American Bund. Critics of Roosevelt’s policy towards Jewish refugees often overlook the reality of anti-Semitism in the United States. The Bund rally was merely the most public venue for this reality of the pre-war American landscape.<o:p></o:p>

1936(25^thof Iyar): Seventy-seven year old Zionist leader Nachum Sokolow passed away<o:p></o:p>

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Sokolow.html<o:p></o:p>

<o:p></o:p>

1936: A curfew order, forbidding residents of Jerusalem to leave their homes at night, was issued today by Sir Arthur Grenfell Wauchope, the High Commissioner of Palestine, following the killing of three Jews last night at a motion-picture theatre.<o:p></o:p>

1936: This morning in Jerusalem, more than 30,000 Jews marched in the funeral procession for three Jews murdered the night before at a local move theatre. Isaac Ben Zvi, President of the National Jewish Council, told the mourners that he held the British government responsible for this because it was the duty of the government to protect its citizens. An editorial published in today’s Palestine Post said that “ if this is a war of extermination declared y the Arabs on Jews, the Arabs had better know that the shooting down of 400,000 Jews will not alter the course of history and will not shake the Jews’ determination to resettle the land of their fathers…This movement of the Arab Supreme Council seeks tnot only to terrorize the Jews. It aims to throw the land back to the Dark Ages.”<o:p></o:p>

1937(7^th of Sivan, 5697) Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

1937: Hundreds of Jews were injured during riots at Brest-Litovsk which is now located in Poland<o:p></o:p>

1938: A. H. Skinner, organizer and manager of the “newly organized American Palestine Securities Company which was registered with the SEC last week” and is designed “to deal in securities originating in the Holy Land” descried “the rapid growth of large-scale undertakings in Palestine in the last five years. In reporting on the economic conditions in Palestine, Skinner said that there were twelve companies with capital of more than $500,000 and that poplation had grown from 40,000 in 1920 to 400,000 in 1938.<o:p></o:p>

1938: Arthur Sweetser, a director of the secretariat of the League of Nations wrote in his diary, “The President’s proposal took a large place in the League’s refugee deliberations this past week.” By the “President’s proposal” Sweetser was referencing Roosevelt’s plan to “get all the democracies to unite” in an effort to settle all of the Jewish refugees from Europe in their respective territories.”<o:p></o:p>

1939: The British government issues a White Paper (commonly called the MacDonald White Paper) that limits Jewish immigration to 10,000 a year for five years. The White Paper allows 75,000 Jewish immigrants (up to 10,000 per year, plus an additional 25,000 if certain conditions are met) to enter Palestine. The White Paper also restricts Jewish land purchases in Palestine. British government policy will succeed in keeping the actual numbers of Jewish immigrants far below the quotas for settlement in England and Palestine. The White Paper was issued after two years of orchestrated Arab violence. Recognizing the White Paper as a death sentence for a Jewish homeland, the leaders of the Yishuv prepare to bring “illegal immigrants” into Palestine. The White Paper also sealed the fate for Europe’s Jews as it closed the last place of refuge. When World War II broke out Jewish leaders were caught on the horns of a dilemma. In true Jewish fashion when confronted with two choices, the Zionists came up with a third solution. “We will fight the war as if there is no White Paper and we will fight the White Paper as if there is no war.” The Arabs had no such problems as the fact that the Grand Mufti spent the war in Berlin proves.<o:p></o:p>

1939: There were only 679 Jews still living in Magdeburg. Eleven years earlier, there were more than three thousand Jews living in this ancient German city in which Jews had been living since the 10^th century.<o:p></o:p>

1939: Fighting broke out in Jerusalem as police sought to disperse 5,000 demonstrators who had gathered to protest the White Paper.

1940: Birthdate of Tama Gottlob, the younger sister of Salomon Gottlob. At age 2 she joined her 7 year old brother on Convoy 25 that left Drancy with 285 children all of whom were going to Auschwitz.<o:p></o:p>

1941(20^th of Iyar, 5701): In cooperation with British Army intelligence, David Raziel, the commander of the I.Z.L. (Irgun Zva-i Leumi) led a group to sabotage the oil depots on the outskirts of Baghdad. Raziels car was bombed and both he and the liaison British officer were killed. Yes, this is Menachem Begin’s Irgun, the same Irgun that will attack the British in Palestine after the war is over; the same Irgun that blew up the British headquarters in the King David Hotel in 1947<o:p></o:p>

1942: Two thousand Jews were deported from Theresienstadt to Sobibor, 500 miles away. Also, 2,000 Jews from Pabianice reached the Lodz Ghetto. All children under 10 were torn away from their parents and sent "elsewhere."<o:p></o:p>

1942: Liane Berkowitz, and Otto Gollnow, two members of the anti-Nazi Resistance were given the task of putting up about 100 posters in the Kurfürstendamm-Uhlandstraße section of west-central Berlin which protested against the Nazi "Soviet Paradise" propaganda exhibition being held in the city. Six months later, Berkowitz would be arrested for the act. Despite attempts to gain clemency for her because she was pregnant, Berkowitz would ultimately be executed.<o:p></o:p>

1943: The United States Army contracts with the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School to develop the ENIAC. Herman Heine Goldstine who passed away in 2004 at the age of 90 was one of the orginial developers of ENIAC. Adele Goldstine, his wife, wrote the technical description for ENICA.

1943: The Nazis deport 395 Jews from Berlin to the extermination camp at Auschwitz.

1944: Joel Brand was flown in a German courier plane from Budapest to Istanbul where he met with two representatives from the Jewish “agency for Palestine, Wnja Pomeranz and Menahem Bader. Brand was a Hungarian Jew active in Va’adah (Vadat Ezra Vehatzala), the Jewish Resuce Agency in Hungary who was carrying the terms of Eichman’s offer to trade a million European Jews for 10,000 trucks, 1,000 tons of coffee or tea and 1,000 tons of soap. Eichman assured Brand that the trucks would only be used on the Eastern Front. At the same time, he told Brand that the Jews could go anywhere except Palestine because “the furhrer had promised his friend the Grand Mufti Amin al-Husseini” that he would not permit that. Pomeranz and Bader took the proposal back to Ben Gurion who then informed the British of the proposal. British Foreign Minster Eden and Secretary of State Hull would not persue the offer because they feared that if the Russians go wind of the negotiations, they would become even more suspicious of the western Allies (remember this was before the Second Front had opened) and might still make their own peace with Hitler. To ensure that nobody else heard about the negotiations, the British sent Brand to Syria for “temporary internment.” Of course the Soviets might have already known about the negotiations since Brand had been a Communist agent working in Berlin during the 1930’s.<o:p></o:p>

1948:Egyptian warplanes were strafing and dive-bombing Tel Aviv for the third straight day. Arab sources were claiming unverified as yet, the surrender of the Jews of Old Jerusalem, with claims and counterclaims flying on both sides on the progress of the invading armies of Egypt, Syria and Transjordan.<o:p></o:p>

1948: During the Battles of the Kanarot Valley, as the Syrians attempted to wipe out Ein Giv, a company attacked the Israeli-held water station with heavy weapons killing all but one of the workers.<o:p></o:p>

1948: At dawn, the Syrians renewed their attack on Tzemah as they attempted to take control of the Jordon River Valley. In an attempt to limit damage to their tanks, the Syrian infantry without armor to lead them, attacked the village's northern positions. Despite a shortage of ammunition and suffering heavy casualties, the Israelis halted the Syrian advance.

1948: In Tel Aviv, as Battles of the Kinarot Valley rage into their third day. David Ben Gurion orders Moshe Dayan, the Haganah commander in the area, to ‘Hold the Jordan Valley’ no matter the cost.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Russia recognized Israel. Much to Stalin’s dismay, he lost the recognition race to the United States. Stalin had not fallen in love with the Jews. He saw Israel as a wedge that would lead to the breakup of one his nemesis, the British Empire. With its large population of refugees from Russia, the state of Israel was never in danger of being seduced by Stalin or the Communists.

1948: During the War for Independence, Israeli forces liberated Acre, Nebi Yusha, and Tel el-Kadi, Yes; this is the same Acre where Maimonides and his family landed when they first arrived in Eretz Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1948: A convoy consisting of 12 trucks filled with military supplies arrived in Jerusalem. It would be the last convoy to reach the city. "The siege of Jerusalem was now complete."<o:p></o:p>

1950: The special committee reinvestigating the assassination of Count Bernadotte in 1948 submits its report to the Israeli cabinet today. <o:p></o:p>

1950: Israeli fighter planes forced down a four-engine Royal Air Force Sunderland that was flying outside ‘the prescribed air corridor.”<o:p></o:p>

1956: Birthdate of comic Bob Saget<o:p></o:p>

1956(7^thof Sivan, 5716): Second Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1956(7^thof Sivan, 5716): Poet and author Jacob Fichman passed away.<o:p></o:p>

1956(7^thof Sivan, 5716): Dr. Judah David Eisenstein, the self-educated Hebrew scholar, writer, editor and publisher passed away today at the age of 101. In 1891, he published the first Hebrew and Yiddish translations of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Born in Poland, he came to the U.S. in 1872 where he became a successful businessman by day and a self-taught scholar by night. “He was the editor and publisher of ‘Otzar Yisrael,’ a ten volume Hebrew Encyclopedia that was last revised in 1951.<o:p></o:p>

1959: The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School was opened in the western section Jerusalem. The original facility had been on Mt. Scopus. When the Jordanian Army illegally captured the eastern section of Jerusalem, the facility on Mt. Scopus became untenable. The Israelis would return in June, 1967.<o:p></o:p>

1967: In what would be a prelude to the Six Day War, President Abdul Nasser of Egypt demands dismantling of the peace-keeping UN Emergency Force in Egypt. The UN force had been established as part of the peace agreement following the Suez War of 1956. Much to Nasser’s surprise, U Thant, the UN Secretary General immediately gave into Nasser’s demand an removed the peace keeping force. Israelis viewed the UN as the umbrella that closes when it starts to rain. The departure of the UN force gave the Arabs carte blanche to move large forces into the Sinai threatening the survival of Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1975(7^thof Sivan, 5735): Second Day of Shavuot, Yizkor

1976: Birthdate of Jeremiah Luber, the grandson of Harvey and Elaine Luber, pillars of the Little Rock Jewish community<o:p></o:p>

1981: Birthdate of Shiri Maimon, the Sephardic Jewess born at Haifa and raised a Kiryat Haim, who is a popular Israeli singer, actress and television personality.<o:p></o:p>

1981: In “Fiddler Plays at Darien Dinner Theatre,” Haskel Frankel expresses his love for this musical based on the life of Tevye but is less than enthusiastic about the version now on view at the Darien Dinner Theatre in Connecticut.

1983: Representatives of the United States, Lebanon and Israel signed an agreement that was supposed to bring peace to the two warring Middle East nations. The government of Lebanon was not able to honor the terms of the agreement so the peace was “still born.”

1984: Lia van Leer inaugurated the first Jerusalem Film Festival.<o:p></o:p>

1985(26^th of Iyar, 5745): Abe Burrows, songwriter, composer, and writer passed away. Known in his own right for such hits “How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying” Burrows was the father of James Burrow the director of the hit sitcom “Cheers.<o:p></o:p>

1994(7th of Sivan, 5754): Second day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1994(7th of Sivan, 5754: Rafael Yairi (Klumfenbert), age 36, of Kiryat Arba and Margalit Ruth Shohat, age 48, of Ma'ale Levona were killed when their car was fired upon by by terrorists in a passing car near Beit Haggai, south of Hebron.<o:p></o:p>

1996(28^thof Iyar, 5756): Yom Yerushalyim <o:p></o:p>

1998: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Jews: The Essence and Character of a People” by Arthur Hertzberg and Aron Hirt-Manheirmer and “Richard Rodgers” by William G. Hyland<o:p></o:p>

1999: Labor Party leader Ehud Barak unseated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israeli elections<o:p></o:p>

2002(6^thof Sivan, 5762): First Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2002:Maria Grullich and Alberto Kusnier participated at a Shavuot celebration today in Buenos Aires' Belgrano neighborhood organized by the local Tzedaka social service organization and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. Grullich, 63, lost her drugstore last year after it was robbed and she had no money to restock it.Optician Kusnier, 54, was fired a few months ago from another drugstore and hasn't been able to find a new job. This Shavuot event was meant to bring together an Argentine Jewish community that has been devastated by the country's economic crisis. The organizations sponsored packed Shavuot celebrations in 26 Jewish institutions in Buenos Aires and another 14 elsewhere in the country. But the Argentine crisis was a special guest that no one could avoid. Grullich and Kusnier both were invited to attend the Shavuot celebration in Belgrano, where six institutions -- including synagogues, schools and clubs -- were celebrating together.<o:p></o:p>

2006(6^thof Sivan, 5762): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2002(6^thof Sivan, 5762) Dave Berg passed away. Born in 1920, the cartoonist may be best known for his work in Mad Magazine<o:p></o:p>

http://articles.latimes.com/2002/may/24/local/me-berg24<o:p></o:p>

2004(25^th of Iyar, 5764) Tony Randall passed away. Born Leonard Rosenbeg in 1920, this native of Tulsa, Oklahoma enjoyed a successful career in film, theatre and television. Most people know him as Felix Unger in the television version of “The Odd Couple.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/theater/tony-randall-84-dies-fussbudget-felix-in-odd-couple-he-loved-the-stage.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

2005: As the Leo Baeck Institute at the Center for Jewish History marked the 50th anniversary, an exhibition entitled “Starting Over: The Experience of German Jews in America, 1830-1945” opened today. The exhibit includes photos, letters, documents, sketches, paintings, maps, medals and other rare artifacts of German-Jews who settled across the United States, many of which are being viewed by the public for the first time.

2006: Opening of the first Sydney Jewish Writers’ Festival

<o:p></o:p>

2006:Eliot Yamin was eliminated from American Idol” today, after the tightest race; each of the three top contestants received an almost exactly equal percentage of the viewer votes necessary for advancement to the remaining two spots<o:p></o:p>

2007: As part of Jewish Heritage Month, the National Archives presents a lecture entitled “Julius Rosenwald: The Man Who Built Sears, Roebuck and Advanced the Cause of Black Education in the South.” I.<o:p></o:p>

2007: Rabbi Simon Jacobson presents “Mysteries of Sinai: Find Revelations in the Everyday “at The Sixth Street Community Synagogue in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2007: An exhibition opens at the Museum of Modern Art by photographer Barry Frydlender, the first Israeli to have a solo show at the museum<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Jerusalem Cinematheque presents “A Sacred Duty \ חובה מקודשת” a major documentary on current environmental threats and how Jewish teachings can be applied in responding to these threats.<o:p></o:p>

2008 (12th of Iyar): Anniversary of the Jews of Rome being granted additional privileges by the head of the Catholic Church. On the 12th of Iyar, 1402, the Jews of Rome were granted "privileges" by Pope Boniface IX. They were given legal right to observe their Shabbat, protection from local oppressive officials, their taxes were reduced and orders were given to treat Jews as full-fledged Roman citizens.<o:p></o:p>

2008: At the JCC in Manhattan the international premiere of new episodes from the Israeli comedy series “Arab Labor (Avoda Aravit)” followed by a conversation with writer and creator Sayed Kashua. “Arab Labor” is a satirical look at the Arab status In Israeli society, the controversy surrounding issues of identity and the sensitivities of both populations. Through humor, the series explores the daily conflicts that Arabs face between the desire to integrate and their own values and traditions.<o:p></o:p>

2009: An exhibition at Williams College Museum of Art entitled “The ABCD’s of Sol LeWitt” that features artist’s drawing and sculptures as well as items from his private art collection comes to an end.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Hadassah meets in the Twin Cities where its members celebrate Jewish Women in the Arts and recognize the Charter Member of the Region Chai Society<o:p></o:p>

2009: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Third Reich At War” by Richard J. Evans, “A Failure of Capitalism” by Richard A. Posner and the recently released paperback editions of “Reappraisals: Reflections on the Forgotten Twentieth Century” by Tony Judt and “The Dream: A Memoir” by Harry Bernstein.<o:p></o:p>

2009: The Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Paul Newman: A Life” by Shawn Levy and “Valkyrie” by Philipp Freiherr von Boeselager <o:p></o:p>

2009: At least five people were arrested today after a clash between anti-Semitic demonstrators and Jews in Argentina.

2009(23^rd of Iyar), 5769: Daniel Carasso passed away today at the age of 105. The member of a famed Sephardic family, this native of Salonica who was the son of Isaac Carasso created the company that many of us know for one of its most famous products, Dannon Yogurt. (As reported by William Grimes)

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/21/business/21carasso.html?_r=1<o:p></o:p>

2010: Professors Raanan Rein and Jeffrey Lesser are scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled Jewish-Latin American Historiography: The Challenges Ahead Lecture at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2010: In “Reading to Recall the Father of Tevye”, Clyde Haberman explores the life Bel Kaufman and her grandfather Shalom Aleichem.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18nyc.html<o:p></o:p>

2010:A Facebook group called “Comedy Central – I.S.R.A.E.L. Attack game is offensive. Remove it” had more than 1,500 members as of today. The game, “Drawn Together,” which is currently available on Comedy Central’s website is based on the network’s politically incorrect animated series of the same name, depicts “Jew Producer,” a character that has a speaker for a head and is taken to task for failing to kill certain animated characters. A robot called “the Intelligent Smart Robot Animation Eraser Lady” (I.S.R.A.E.L.) is then sent in to do the job, unleashing destruction and murdering children

2011: Jenna Weissman Joselit, Charles E. Smith Professor of Judaic Studies and Professor of History at The George Washington University is scheduled to deliver a lecture at Beth Sholom in Potomac, MD, entitled “Romancing the Stone: America's Embrace of the Ten Commandments”

2011: Sam Brylawski and Karen Lund are scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Emile Berliner and the Birth of the Recording Industry”

2011: The building housing the world’s first green-certified synagogue Congregation Beth David in San Luis Obispo, Calif., is scheduled to be up for auction today to satisfy an unpaid loan of 3.3 million dollars.<o:p></o:p>

2011: A course entitled “Oasis in Time: The Gift of Shabbat in a 24/7 World” is scheduled to be held at the Center for Jewish Life, the Chabad center in Little Rock, AR under the leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment. <o:p></o:p>

2012: DeLeon, a Sephardich Indie Rock Band is scheduled to appear at the Washington Jewish Music Festival.<o:p></o:p>

2012: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, The American Jewish Committee and The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists are scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Irvin B. Nathan entitled “The Challenges of a D.C. Attorney General<o:p></o:p>

2012(25^th of Iyar, 5772): Seventy-four year old Israeli politician Gideon Ezra passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

2012(25^th of Iyar, 5772): Eighty seven year old publicist and theatrical manager Herbert Breslin passed away today. (As reported by Daniel Wakin)<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/20/arts/music/herbert-breslin-pavarottis-publicist-and-manager-dies-at-87.html?hpw&_r=0<o:p></o:p>

2013; “No Place On Earth” is scheduled to premiere at theatres in Atlanta, GA and Key West, FL.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The 3^rd annual Celebrating India in Israel Festival is scheduled to come to an end.<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

This Day, May 16, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

10:35 PM Wednesday, May 15, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

<o:p> </o:p>

May 16 In History<o:p></o:p>

0942(21^stof Iyar, 4702): Saadia Gaon passed away. Born in 882, Saadia Gaon was the head of the Talmudic Academy of Sura (Babylonia). He was a recognized authority on the Talmud, and a profound student of philosophy and philology. Saadia was forced to deal with the challenge of assimilation of the upper-class Jews of Babylonia who were attracted to the Greek philosophers whose works had been translated into Arabic. Saadia wrote a philosophic work, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, in magnificent flowing Arabic. In it, he defended the rational underpinnings of Judaism and showed logically that every rational Jew could believe in the Torah as well as Aristotle and Plato. He wrote the first Hebrew grammar book which explained how the holy language worked. He provided a Hebrew dictionary plus a compendium of rhyming words for Hebrew poets. He was the first to write an Arabic translation of the Bible. He included commentaries, explanations, and grammatical notes as well. His translation continues to be the authoritative Bible for Jews in Arab lands. He also led a successful fight against the Kararites, a sect which rejected Rabbinic commentary as law.<o:p></o:p>

1165: Maimonides and his family arrived at Acre, Palestine. Having been forced to leave Spain because he would not convert to Islam, Maimonides and his family settled in Fez, Morocco. His work with Jews who had been forced to convert to Islam attracted attention of the local authorities and the family moved on to Palestine. Do to the poverty of the land and the uncertain conditions there, Maimonides finally settled in Egypt where he served both as a physician and leader of the Jewish Community.

1474: Minister Pacheco of Spain used an attack he organized against "new Christians" as a diversion in order to enable him to capture the citadel of Segovia (and maybe the King). Although the plot was discovered in time, the Marranos were attacked by the organized mob, and men, women and children were murdered.<o:p></o:p>

1477: Abraham dei Tintori produced the first printed edition of the book of Job with a commentary by Levi ben Gerson was published today in Ferrara, Italy<o:p></o:p>

1487: Joseph Solomon Sonciino produced the first printed edition of Seder Tahanunim at Soncino, Italy<o:p></o:p>

1527: Florentines drove out the Medici for a second time and re-established a republic The recreation of the Republic led to the expulsion of the Jews. This event took place in the Jewish year 5300 (a year with Jewish mystical connotations), fueling messianic hopes helping to layer the ground for the rise of Solomon Molcho.<o:p></o:p>

1573: Today Polish nobles elected Henry, as the first elected monarch of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. However, the Lithuanian nobles boycotted this election, and it was the Lithuanian ducal council who confirmed his election. Poland elected Henry, rather than Habsburg candidates, partly in order to be more agreeable to the Ottoman Empire (a traditional ally of France through the Franco-Ottoman alliance), with which a Polish-Ottoman alliance was also in effect.. He owed his election to Solomon Ashkenazi, a “Rabbi” who was an advisor to the Sultan. He was in effect the Sultan’s foreign minister. In an unusually blunt statement, Ashkenazi wrote Henry “I have rendered you majesty most important service in securing your election; I have effected all that was done here.” The last statement refers to his behind the scenes work at the Sultans Palace. See Volume 4 p 605 0f Graetz<o:p></o:p>

1611: Birthdate of Pope Innocent XI. During his papacy, “Innocent showed a degree of sensitivity in his dealings with the Jews within the Italian States. He compelled the city of Venice to release the Jewish prisoners taken by Francesco Morisini in 1685. He also discouraged compulsory baptisms which accordingly became less frequent under his pontificate; but he could not abolish the old practice altogether. More controversially in 1682 he issued an edict by which all the money-lending activities carried out by the Roman Jews were to cease. However ultimately convinced that such a measure would cause much misery in destroying livelihoods, the enforcement of the edict was twice delayed.”<o:p></o:p>

1648: During the great Cossack uprising which brought death and destruction to hundreds of thousands of Jews, Bohdan Khmelnytsky's forces overwhelmed and defeated Commonwealth forces under the command of Stefan Potocki at the Battle of Zhovti Vody.<o:p></o:p>

1746(26^th of Iyar, 5506): Moshe Chaim Luzzatto passed away. Born in 1707, this Italian rabbi known by the Hebrew acronym RaMChal was noted philosopher and student of kabbalah. <o:p></o:p>

1754: Fire ravaged the Ghetto in Prague.<o:p></o:p>

1785(7th of Sivan): Rabbi Chaim Abraham ben Moses Israel of Ancona, author of “Bet Avraham” passed away.<o:p></o:p>

1790: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Warsaw.<o:p></o:p>

1801: Birthdate of William H. Seward who served as Secretary of State under Presidents Lincoln and Johnson (1861-1869). Shortly after he assumed office, Seward met with Henry I. Hart, President of the Board of Delegates of American Israelites and assured him that he would continue the push to end the discrimination practiced by the Swiss against American Jews. In 1863, Seward instructed American diplomats to do all that they could to stop the attacks on the Jews of Morocco. <o:p></o:p>

1845: Birthdate of Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov, also known as Eli Metchnikoff. Born in the Ukraine, he was a Russian microbiologist best remembered for his pioneering research into the immune system. Mechnikov received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1908, for his work on phagocytosis. He passed away in Paris in 1916.<o:p></o:p>

1853: The New York Times provided more information about outbreaks of violence that had occurred in Jerusalem during Holy Week (Palm Sunday thru Easter). A group of English missionaries were forced to leave the Church of the Holy Sepulcher because “they behaved in an unseemly manner when the Procession of the Host passed on Good Friday.” One of the missionaries delivered a sermon outside of a synagogue while the Jews were attending services in which he used “invectives” in talking about the Talmud. One of the Jews reportedly threw a dead cat at the missionary and a fight broke between the rest of the missionaries and the Jews who sought to defend their religious beliefs. <o:p></o:p>

1853: The New York Times reported that the recent defeat of the Jewish Disabilities bill in the House of Lords had bitterly disappointed supporters of the measure since they had anticipated that the Lords would follow their usual path and approve legislation that had been approved by the House of Commons. The action of the Lords, according to the Times, shows the great gulf between the aristocracy and the rest of the citizenry. Despite the prominence of such families as the Rothschilds, “the Jew in England is no better off than he was in the days of King John.”<o:p></o:p>

1853: The New York Times reported that thousands of Prussians including Alexander Von Humboldt have petitioned the Second Chamber (one of the two houses of their bi-cameral legislature) demanding that Jews be allowed to hold government jobs and allowing for full freedom of religious opinion. The petitions were in response to vote by the First Chamber to exclude Jews from public employment. <o:p></o:p>

1854(18th of Iyar, 5614): Lag B’Omer<o:p></o:p>

1854: According to an article published today the American Society for Meliorating the Condition of the Jews reported that there are 17 synagogues in New York City that show a membership totaling 25,000. The last census shows that there are 46,000 Jews in the entire United States. The society believes that the census figure is a case of underreporting because it only records people as being Jewish if they self-report. “It is a well-known fact that one-half or more of the Jews in this country call themselves Frenchman, German, Poles, Hungarians and Englishman and never make themselves known as Jews in governmental connections.”<o:p></o:p>

1863(27^th of Iyar, 5623): Jonas Ennery passed away. Born in 1801 at Nancy he became head of the Jewish school at Strasbourg. He served as a Deputy in the French Parliament and compiled a Dictionnaire Général de Géographie Universelle, He was the brother of Marchand Ennery, the chief rabbi of Paris.<o:p></o:p>

1864: Birthdate of Nathan Birnbaum the Austrian journalist, Jewish philosopher and founder of a Jewish nationalist organization "Kadimah." Kadimah was formed ten years before Theodor Herzl became the leading spokesman of the Zionist movement. Birnbaum is credited for coining the term "Zionism". He died in 1937.<o:p></o:p>

1864: In New York, the "Open Board of Stock-Brokers" adopted its constitution. Among the signatories was Mendez Nathan, the son of Seixas Nathan.<o:p></o:p>

1868: President Andrew Johnson was acquitted in his impeachment trial in the United States Senate. According to one source, Johnson made several virulent anti-Semitic statements during his political career prior to becoming President. Considering the fact that the “Tarheel Tailor” was illiterate until adulthood, his anti-Semitic statements may be more a case of ignorance than anything else.<o:p></o:p>

1875: The Board of Trustees of B’nai Jeshurun met today in New York City and approved a proposal to allow members of the opposite sex to sit together in the same pews during services. This put an end to the separate seating that had been the rule at the synagogue since its founding. The decision would be contested by Israel J. Solomon a member of the congregation who brought a suit in the Court of Common Pleas to over-turn the decision. His suit would fail.<o:p></o:p>

1877: As the constitutional crisis in France came to a head, 363 parliamentary deputies passed a vote of no confidence in the new government championed by Royalist President Patrice MacMahon. The leaders of the opposition would be defended by Raphael Basch a liberal French Jewish political leader and journalist. Basch was the father of Victor-Guillaume Basch who would be murdered by the Vichy French in 1944.<o:p></o:p>

1880(6^th of Sivan, 5640): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1881: Birthdate of Amy Loveman, a founding editor of the Saturday Review.<o:p></o:p>

1881: A comic melodrama entitled “Sam’l of Posen, or The Commercial Drummer” premiered at Haverly’s Fourteenth Street Theatre in New York.

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27502012?uid=3739640&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102217661721<o:p></o:p>

1888(6^th of Sivan, 5648): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1890: It was reported today that former President Grover Cleveland, Oscar Straus and Joseph Blumenthal will be among those who have purchased boxes for the upcoming Strawberry Festival, a fund raiser sponsored by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.<o:p></o:p>

1891: It was reported today that among the bequests made by the late Nathan Littauer were$1,500 to Mt. Sinai Hospital for the permanent endowment of a bed in memory of his daughter Louise; $1,000 each to the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society and the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews; $500 to the Board of Relief of the United Hebrew Charities.<o:p></o:p>

1892: Justice George C. Barrett officiated at the wedding of Albert Kohn and Sophie Kupfer. The nuptials which were one of the most fashionable events in the Jewish community, took place at the home of Henry Kupfer on east 78^th Street.<o:p></o:p>

1893: George Kennan, the explorer and newspaper man who has become a critic of the Czar and advocate for Russian democracy stated his belief that Polish and Russian Jews will be coming to the United States as a result of the edicts of expulsion issued by the Russian government.<o:p></o:p>

1893: “Myer S. Isaacs, Chairman of the Trustees of the Baron Hirsh Fund for the aid of Russian Jews” in the United States said today that he and his associates “had not considered the question of an influx of Polish Jews” because they did not except any abnormal increase in immigration from that region. (Editor’s note – Based on contemporary reports there was a great deal of disagreement about Russian edicts of expulsion and the potential major influx of Jews from Poland and Russia)<o:p></o:p>

1894: It was reported today that while Herman Rosenblatt stood in the smoldering ruins of his crockery store, a local ruffian pointed at the Jew and shouted “There is the man who set the fire” causing a mob yelling “Lynch him” to chase after Rosenblatt. Rosenblatt outran the mob and found sanctuary in the 47^th Street Police Station.<o:p></o:p>

1896: In a cable from London, Harold Frederic provided a scoop for the New York Times when he broke the news about Baron Hirsch’s grandchild, who is the daughter of the Baron’s son Lucienne and a French governess. As confirmed by a copy of the Baron’s will, the child will inherit a large portion of the Hirsch millions.<o:p></o:p>

1898: The Daughters of Jacob are hosting a Strawberry Festival at Terrace Garden for the benefit of a Home for Aged Hebrews of the down-town east side. They have already sold 3,000 tickets at fifty cents each, and have received presents of large quantities of goods that will be sold at the festival.<o:p></o:p>

1898: Joseph J. Corn, the Vice President Temple Culture Society spoke yesterday about the purpose of the society. He said “that in these days of cheap philosophy and what has come to be known as ethical culture there is a need for Jewish culture. In an effort to combat the notion that religious education ended with confirmation, the society is holding weekly meetings devoted to the study of Jewish history and Jewish philosophy. Among other things, the programs should help Jews answer the question “Why are you Jews in this Christian world and yet not of it?”<o:p></o:p>

1899(7th of Sivan): Jewish historian Jacob Ezekiel passed away<o:p></o:p>

1903: At a meeting held under the auspices of the English Zionist Federal a resolution was adopted “declaring that the establishment of a home in Palestine was the only practical solution of the Jewish question.” Israel Zangwill had given an impassioned speech in support of the motion during which he invoked the bloody images of the atrocities committed against the Jews of Romania and Kishineff.<o:p></o:p>

1904: Herzl's diary breaks off with a report to Jacob Schiff. Schiff was a successful banker and financer. He was one of the leaders of the Jewish community in the 19th and early 20th century. He actively intervened on behalf of the Jews suffering in Tsarist Russia. Although he had reservations about Zionism, he was increasingly drawn to Herzl’s concept of a Jewish homeland in Palestine as a practical way of lessening the suffering of Russia’s Jews.

1909: Birthdate of Yehiel Feiner whom the world would come to know as Yehiel De-Nur or Dinur, a survivor of Auschwitz who used his experience as the basis for several books including “The House of Dolls.” <o:p></o:p>

1911: Masliach Effendi of the Turkish government ridicules the idea that Jews could become a menace to Turkey. He suggests appointment of committee to examine the whole question of Zionism.

1912: Birthdate of Rita Kanarek. In her senior year at N.Y.U. she married Alex Hillman founder and President of Hillman Periodicals. Mrs. Hillman became president of the Alex Hillman Family Foundation where she pursued her passions as an art collector and philanthropist. Among the beneficiaries of her largesse was the Phillips Beth Israel School of Nursing in Manhattan. She passed away at the age of 95 in November, 2007.<o:p></o:p>

1912: Birthdate of author, historian and broadcaster, Studs Terkel. “My family was Jewish but not religious. My mother went through the rituals; my father didn't. He was a freethinker.” He passed away at the age of 93.<o:p></o:p>

1914 20^th of Iyar): Isaac Halevy (Rabinowitz) author of “Dorot ha-Rishonim” passed away<o:p></o:p>

1916: Birthdate of Ephraim Katzir, former President of Israel. Born Katchalski in Kiev, Katzir came to Palestine in 1925. A biophysicist, Katzir taught at Hebrew University and served as department hair at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot. One result of his research was the creation of a synthetic fiber for internal surgery that can be dissolved by body enzymes. He served as Israel's fourth President (a largely ceremonial position) from 1973 to 1978<o:p></o:p>

1916: The will of Shalom Aleichem was published in the New York Times and read into the Congressional Record of the United States.<o:p></o:p>

1919: The first Estonian Congress of Jewish congregations which had been convened on May 11 to discuss the new circumstances Jewish life was confronting came to a close today. This is where the ideas of cultural autonomy and a Jewish Gymnasium (secondary school) in Tallinn were born. Jewish societies and associations began to grow in numbers. The largest of these new societies was the H. N. Bjalik Literature and Drama Society in Tallinn founded in 1918. Societies and clubs were established in Viljandi, Narva, and elsewhere. In 1920, the Maccabi Sports Society was founded and became well-known for its endeavors to encourage sports among Jews. Jews also took an active part in sporting events in Estonia and abroad. Sara Teitelbaum was a 17-time champion in Estonian athletics and established no less than 28 records. In the 1930s there were about 100 Jews studying at the University of Tartu. In 1934, a chair was established in the School of Philosophy for the study of Judaica. There were five Jewish student societies in Tartu Academic Society, the Women’s Student Society Hazfiro, the Corporation Limuvia, the Society Hasmonea and the Endowment for Jewish Students. All of these had their own libraries and played important roles in Jewish culture and social life. Political organizations such as Hasomer Hazair and Beitar were also established. Many Jewish youth traveled to Palestine to establish the Jewish State. The renowned kibbutzim of Kfar Blum and Ein Gev were set up in part by Jews from Estonia.<o:p></o:p>

1923: Birthdate of economist Merton Miller, winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Economics.<o:p></o:p>

1923: Birthdate of Manuel D. Plotkin, the native of Chita, Russia who was appointed Director of the Census Bureau by President Carter in 1977.<o:p></o:p>

1923: The first aerial display in Palestine took place at Ramleh today, a squadron of 14 aeroplanes of the British Royal Air Force participating. The exhibition program included flying, air races, a baloon hunt, mimic air fighting and a bombing demonstration. The aerial derby was over the circuit of Ramleh, Raselain, Jaffa, Ramle... Lieut. Martyn, flying a Vickers Vimy biplane, won the air race covering a distance of twenty-seven miles.<o:p></o:p>

1926: Dr. James Simon will preside over today’s celebration marking the 25^th anniversary of the establishment of the Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden, a “German Jewish organization founded in 1901 to improve social and political conditions of Jews in Eastern Europe and Orient.”<o:p></o:p>

1927: It was reported today that four thousand six hundred and twenty-eight persons are now living in 41 settlements in Palestine created by the Keren Hayesod, according to the latest figures given out by the Department of Agricultural Colonization of the Palestine Zionist Executive. Sixty-five per cent of this population are workers, and the remainder children. (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1928: Three Jews who are reported to be Communists, were scheduled to be deported from Palestine. One of the deportees “was found guilty in Jerusalem of belonging to an illegal organization” while the other two were being deported after having served short jail terms for participating in “May Day riots in Tel Aviv.”<o:p></o:p>

1929: In Baltimore, MD, Arnold Rice Rich and Helen Gravely Jones Rich gave birth to Adrienne Rich, a poet of towering reputation and towering rage, whose work — distinguished by an unswerving progressive vision and a dazzling, empathic ferocity — brought the oppression of women and lesbians to the forefront of poetic discourse and kept it there for nearly a half-century. Her father was Jewish. Her mother was not. (As reported by Margalit Fox)<o:p></o:p>

1929: The 1st Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honoring the best films of 1927 and 1928 and took place on May 16, 1929, at a private dinner held at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, in Los Angeles, California. The awards, popularly known as Oscars, were created by Jewish movie mogul Louis B. Mayer, founder of Louis B. Mayer Pictures Corporation.<o:p></o:p>

1932: The Nazis are demanding the removal of Bernhard Weiss from his post as the Vice-President of the Berlin Police Force. Their objections are two-fold: Weiss is Jewish and he ordered the arrest of four Nazis for their role in attacking a former Nazi named Schotz who had left the party.<o:p></o:p>

1935: “A convention of delegates from national Jewish youth organizations will meet tonight in room 327 of the Chanin Building, 122 East Forty-second Street, to consider the syllabi which will be presented to the seminars to be held on June 9 at the Metropolitan Conference of Jewish Youth Organizations. The meeting, under the auspices of the youth division of the American Jewish Congress, will consider such problems as anti-Semitism, boycott of the 1936 Olympics, Zionism, Jewish youth and economic discrimination and Jewish education.” (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1936(24th of Iyar, 5696): A bomb thrown by Arabs kills three Jews at the Edison cinema in Jerusalem. The Haganah demands permission to retaliate, but Ben Gurion refuses. The Edison Cinema was not just a movie theatre. It was a “citadel of secular European culture in Jerusalem. It opened in 1932 with a performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s “Elijah” sung in Hebrew. The Edison was the third largest cinema in the city and popular sport for British soldiers and officials.<o:p></o:p>

1936: “Steel helmeted police maintained comparative quiet in the Holy Land today following” demonstrations that had broken out yesterday when the Arab campaign of civil disobedience officially began.<o:p></o:p>

1937(6^th of Sivan, 5697): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1937: The Polish government launched two investigations into the attacks on Jews that took place last week in Brzesc, which was known as Brest-Litovsk, the site of the peace negotiations between the Germans and the Russians that resulted with the latter surrendering to the former.<o:p></o:p>

1937: Dr. Bernhard Kahn and David J. Schweitzer, European director and vice-president, respectively, of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee issued a report today that described “the role of the cooperative credit system established by the American Jewish Joint Reconstruction Foundation in aiding some 500,000 Jews in eleven European countries by facilitating issuance of $28,000,000 in credits in nine months <o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Post reported on the continued fighting between the police and British army units in the Acre District. At least 23 terrorists were killed there and numerous arrests were made. Jewish settlements repulsed numerous terrorist attacks, but complained that they were supplied with insufficient arms and too small a number of supernumerary constables for a successful defense. The Iraq Petroleum Co. pipeline was again set on fire.<o:p></o:p>

1938: After two and half weeks of touring the country, Britain’s Palestine Partition Commission began its first official session. Because of the continued Arab violence, the meeting was held “in camera under heavy guard.’ While Arab leaders continued to boycott the commission, Jewish leaders Chaim Weizmann, David Ben Gurion, Moshe Shertok and Dr. Bernard Joseph met with the British to discuss possible implementation of partition proposals.<o:p></o:p>

1943: The famous Tolmatsky Synagogue of Warsaw was dynamited by order of General Jurgen Stroop. It marked the last German "major operation" in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.<o:p></o:p>

1943: SS-Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop reports the final liquidation of the Jewish ghetto at Warsaw, although some Jews remain in hiding. The Germans reportedly lost 300 troops. Amazingly the Jewish resistance had proved fierce, by comparison than that of the French Army in 1940. The number of Jewish dead does not matter, since they would have perished in the showers and ovens any way. Death was not the question; the manner of death was the matter of choice. There were a few survivors of the Ghetto, one of them being the mother of Marsha Fensin, the former Cantor of Temple Judah.<o:p></o:p>

1943(11^th of Iyar 11): Yiddish author Chaim Zhitlowsky passed away<o:p></o:p>

1944: The first of more than 180,000 Hungarian Jews reached Auschwitz.<o:p></o:p>

1948: In New York City, the American Zionist Emergency Council sponsored a celebration of the creation of the Jewish state at Madison Square Garden that was so well attended 75,000 people had to be turned away.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Based on a telegram from David Ben Gurion and Moshe Sharett, Abba Eban and not Mordechai Elisah, is to be Israel’s chief spokesman at the the United Nations.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Israel issued its first postage stamps.<o:p></o:p>

1948: At the Landsberg DP Camp, survivors of the Holocaust held a celebratory parade in honor the creation of the state of Israel

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/may/16.asp<o:p></o:p>

1948: Chaim Weizmann was chosen Chairman of the Provisional State Council of Israel which effectively made him the first president of the State of Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The Egyptian army suffered its first defeat at Nirim, in the Negev.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The Egyptians entered Gaza. They would not “leave’ until 1967.<o:p></o:p>

1948: At approximately one o’clock in the morning Syrian artillery began shelling Kibbutz Ein Gev. At dawn, Syrian aircraft attacked the Kinarot valley villages. Later in the day “Syrian aircraft made bombing runs on Masada, Sha'ar HaGolan, Degania Bet and Afikim.” This was the opening round in the Syrian attempt to sweep the Jews from the Galilee. To any one observing events of that day, it would appear that the victory would go to the Syrians with their tanks, artillery and combat aircraft.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Christopher Mayhew, the future Lord Mayhew, an anti-Zionist ally of British Foreign Minister Ernest Bevin, writes in his diary, “I must make a note about Ernest’s anti-Semitism, which has come out increasingly sharply these past few weeks with the appalling crisis in Palestine. There is no doubt to my mind that that Ernest detests Jews. He makes the odd wise-crack about the ‘chosen people’ and declares that the Old Testament is the most immoral book ever written…” This view of Bevin is fascinating when his role in enforcing the White Paper and his opposition to a Jewish homeland is being considered.<o:p></o:p>

1948: An article published today “JEWS IN GRAVE DANGER IN ALL MOSLEM LANDS; Nine Hundred Thousand in Africa and Asia Face Wrath of Their Foes” described the precarious position of the 900,000 Jews living “Arab and Moslem countries stretching from Morocco to India.” “There is a tendency” in some Moslem states “such as Syria and Lebanon” “to regard all Jews as Zionist agents and fifth columnists. There are indications that that the stage is being set for a tragedy of incalculable proportions” which the United Nations has done nothing to prevent. These fears are based in part on Arab League announcements that at some unspecified date, “all Jews except citizens of non-Arab states, would be considered ‘members of the Jewish minority state of Palestine.’ Their bank accounts would be frozen and used to finance resistance to ‘Zionist ambitions in Palestine.’ Jews believed to active Zionists would be interned and their assets confiscated.” In Syria, “virtually all” Jewish civil servants have already been fired and in Iraq Jews are not allowed to leave the country without posting a $20,000 bond to guarantee their return. However bad conditions are now, it is predicted that in the event of an all-out war in Palestine, “the repercussions will be grave for Jews all the way from Casablanca to Karachi.”

1949: Milton Berle appeared on the cover of Time Magazine.<o:p></o:p>

1950: Out of a large collection of 120 styles of knit fashions brought to this country from Israel, for merchandising, forty were shown this afternoon at the Plaza Hotel to buyers. The presentation, under the auspices of Service for Palestine, Inc., 2 Park Avenue, was its first show to promote Israel-made products in the American market.<o:p></o:p>

1955: Birthdate of actress Debra Winger, the star of “Officer and a Gentleman.”<o:p></o:p>

1955: Birthdate of Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO of Seagram and Warner Music<o:p></o:p>

1960: Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser at Hughes Research Laboratories in Malibu, California.<o:p></o:p>

1967: General Fawzi, the Egyptian chief of staff, sent a message to the commander of the UN Emergency Force, General Rikhye of the Indian Army requesting the withdrawal of the UNEF from Egypt. The Egyptian Foreign Minister sent a cable to U Thant, UN Secretary General tell him that the Egyptian government ad decided to immediately terminate the presence of UNEF in Egypt and the Gaza strip.<o:p></o:p>

1968(18th of Iyar, 5728); Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1969: Barbra Streisand appeared at a Friars Club Tribute<o:p></o:p>

1973: Birthdate of actress Tori Spelling.<o:p></o:p>

1973(14th of Iyar, 5733): Famed Cubist sculptor Jacques Lipchitz passed away. His body was flown to Jerusalem for burial.<o:p></o:p>

1974: Despite a terrorist attack the previous day on a school at Ma’alot, Prime Minister Golda Meir tells Secretary of State Kissinger that talks with the Syrians will continue. After a one day hiatus, she says, “We had all better back to peacemaking.<o:p></o:p>

1975(6^th of Sivan, 5735): Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

1977: "Boulevard Montmartre, in the Afternoon Rain," by Camille Pissarro the son of Frederick Pissarro, a Sephardic Jew, was sold today, at Christie's in New York for $275,000<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that in his 28th Annual State Comptroller's Report Dr. Yitzhak Nebenzahl called for a "Ministry of Administration." He said that while there are many links that tie people to its government, in Israel the administration is the weakest link in this chain. "A government," he explained, "is like an automobile. No matter how fine the car is, it will not ride well unless all four wheels are intact." The Report claimed a massive maladministration, and was specifically highly critical of the Treasury.<o:p></o:p>

1984(14th of Iyar, 5744): Comedian Andy Kaufman passed away. Born in 1949, Kaufman is best remembered for his many appearances on ‘Saturday Night Live’ and for his portrayal of Latka on the television hit “Taxi.” He was diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer and was 35 at the time of his death.

http://andykaufman.jvlnet.com/core.htm<o:p></o:p>

1984(14th of Iyar, 5744): Irwin Shaw passed away at the age of 71. Born Irwin Gilbert Shamforoff in 1913 in the Bronx, his Jewish immigrants from Russia changed the family to Shaw and moved to Brooklyn. After graduating from Brooklyn College in 1934, Shaw wrote scripts for radio shows including Dick Tracey. After serving in the Army during World War II, Shaw produced his "great American war novel" The Young Lions, which became the basis for a successful film of the same name. Among other works by this highly prolific writer was Rich Man, Poor Man which became a hit t.v. mini-series.

http://www.irwinshaw.org/<o:p></o:p>

1986(7^th of Iyar, 5746): Sixty-five year old Yehuda Hellman passed away today. http://www.nytimes.com/1986/05/18/obituaries/yehuda-hellman-dies-headed-jewish-groups.html?pagewanted=print<o:p></o:p>

1987: For the third and final night Leonard Bernstein conducted the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as part of the IPO’s 50^thanniversary celebration<o:p></o:p>

1987: Birthdate of Can Bonomo, the Turkish born Jewish singer who “represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 at Baku.<o:p></o:p>

1990(21st of Iyar, 5750): Multi-talented entertainer Sammy Davis Jr. passed away at the age of 64. Born in Harlem in 1925, began his show business career at the age of four. Davis was the son of a popular vaudeville entertainer. He learned how to dance from the legendary BoJangles. He began dancing with the Will Mastin Trio and moved on to a singing career that included opening for Frank Sinatra. Davis was part of the Rat Pack and starred with them in the cult classic “Ocean’sEleven.”During the 1950's Davis was in an automobile accident in which he lost his eye. It was during this period of his life than he converted to Judaism. He will be remembered not just for his talent but for his support of the Civil Rights Movement as well. (As reported by Peter Flin)

http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1208.html<o:p></o:p>

1991: The Los Angeles Times featured a review of “Wartime Lies,” the first novel written by Louis Begley. "Wartime Lies is the story of a ‘lucky’ little boy. Lucky goes in quotation marks; the child went through terror and degradation. On the other hand, no one in his small family of well-to-do Polish Jews went to a concentration camp. Only two--his grandfather and grandmother--were killed; he, his father and his aunt survived and were able to prosper after the war, even before emigrating.”<o:p></o:p>

1993: A third revival of “3 Men on a Horse” featuring Jewish thespians Tony Randall, Jack Klugman, Jerry Stiller and Ellen Green closed today in New York City<o:p></o:p>

1994(6th of Sivan, 5754) First Day of Shavuot <o:p></o:p>

1994(6th of Sivan, 5754): Shaul Ben-Tzvi, the second commander of the Israeli Navy passed away today. Born Paul Hamah Schulman in Connecticut in 1922 he graduated from the U.S. Navy Academy and served with the U.S. Navy in the Pacific during WW II. Following his discharge he worked to bring Jews to Palestine during the mandate and then helped to establish a naval arm for the infant Jewish State.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/18/obituaries/paul-shulman-72-headed-israeli-navy.html?pagewanted=1<o:p></o:p>

1999: Angela Warnick Buchdahl was invested as the first Asian American cantor. Two years later, she became the first Asian American rabbi.

http://jwa.org/thisweek/may/16/1999/angela-warnick-buchdahl<o:p></o:p>

1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Return of Depression Economics by Paul Krugman and recently released paperback editions Aharon Appelfeld’s “The Iron Tacks,” the “Israseli novel…about a concentration camp survivor who wanders through Austria buying sacred books and other remnants of the Jewish culture that once flourshedthere while searingfor the Nazi officer who murdered his parents” and “Bronstein’sChildren”by Jurek Becker, “anovel about the psychic aftershocks of the Holocaust in which an 18 year old German Jew stumbles onhis father and two other camp survivors as they torture a former Nazi Guard.”<o:p></o:p>

2002(5th of Sivan, 5762): Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2004(25^th of Iyar, 5764): Eight-six year old singer and lyricist June Carroll passed away today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/nyregion/23hurewitz.html?_r=0<o:p></o:p>

2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of “Part of Our Time: Some Ruin and Monuments of the Thirties” in whichMurray Kempton re-evaluate “the radical movements and personalities of the 1930’s focusingon such ‘ruinsand monuments’ as Paul Robeson, Whittaker Chambers, Algers Hiss and …Walter Reuther.”<o:p></o:p>

2006: Australia’s Prime Minister John Howard received the prestigious B'nai B'rith international Presidential Gold Medal for his "outstanding" support of Israel and the Jewish people at a ceremony in Washington.<o:p></o:p>

2006: A French politician and his sister sued France's state-run SNCF railway for transporting their father and three relatives to a wartime transit camp that sent Jews off to Nazi concentration camps. Alain Lipietz, a Greens European Parliament deputy, and his sister Helene accused the SNCF of organizing the transport of French Jews to the Drancy transit camp near Paris and billing the wartime government for its services. Of the 330,000 Jews living in France in 1940, 75,721 were deported to death camps and only about 2,500 returned alive. Alain and Helene Lipietz told the court their father Georges had been sent by train in mid-1944 from Toulouse in southwestern France to Drancy, usually the last stop for French Jews before they were put on trains to the death camps. He was freed from Drancy on August 18, only days before Paris was liberated by Allied forces. The SNCF billed the state for that transport which came two months after Allied forced had landed in Normandy, the two plaintiffs said. "The SNCF charged for third class tickets for people who were crammed 200 at a time in freight cars meant to transport 60 horses," Helene Lipietz said. "These were cars without water, food or toilets and they were able to pass through Allied lines even as French territory was being liberated and someone could have stopped these convoys," Alain Lipietz added. The SNCF's lawyer, Yves Baudelot, said the railway could not be held responsible for the transports because it had no choice but to cooperate with German occupying forces during the war.<o:p></o:p>

2007: Thomas Cole, Rose Dobrof, Marc Kaminsky, Penninah Schram, Mark Weiss, and Steve Zeitlin present “Stories as Equipment for Living: Last Talks and Tales of Barbara Myerhoff” at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. “Stories As Equipment For Living” is a compilation of Barbara Myerhoff's unpublished talks on the meaning of stories, the tales she collected and the searching field notes that document her struggle to discover and maintain her personal and cultural identity - all that survive of the work she had undertaken in Los Angeles' orthodox Fairfax community. It is a true sequel to her groundbreaking best seller Number Our Days.”<o:p></o:p>

2007: (28 Iyar, 5767) Yom Yerushalayim - Jerusalem Reunification Day; Celebrating forty years of the return of Jerusalem to its rightful place as, one, undivided city serving as the capital of the Jewish state. “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its cunning. May my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.”(Psalms 137:5-6)

2007(28th of Iyar, 5767): Rabbi Mordecai Simon, chief administrator of the Chicago Board of Rabbis for thirty two years and host of the Sunday morning television show “What’s Nu?” passed away in Highland Park, Il, at the age of 81.<o:p></o:p>

2007: Richard J. Pratt was awarded the Woodrow Wilson Medal for Corporate Citizenship. This is given to is executives who, “...by their examples and their business practices, have shown a deep concern for the common good beyond the bottom line. They are at the forefront of the idea that private firms should be good citizens in their own neighborhoods and in the world at large”<o:p></o:p>

2008: At the Channel Inn in Washington, D.C., as part of the monthly meeting/luncheon of the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants of the District of Columbia, The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington marks the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel with a series of book talks by Laura Cohen Apelbaum on Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community (the companion to the award-winning exhibit of the same name) co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum.<o:p></o:p>

2008(11th of Iyar, 5768): Ninety-three year Middle East scholar J. C. Hurewitz, passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/23/nyregion/23hurewitz.html?_r=0<o:p></o:p>

2008: "Furo" is being performed for the first time in Israel, in a special temporary pavilion designed by Giora Porter on the Tel Aviv Port boardwalk.<ins cite="mailto:Deb" datetime="2010-04-24T16:07"> </ins><o:p></o:p>

2009: The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division struck down a lawsuit that sought to prevent the state of New York from using eminent domain to seize the property where Bruce Ratner’s Atlantic Yards project is being built.<ins cite="mailto:Deb" datetime="2010-04-24T16:07"><o:p></o:p></ins>

2009: Ronald Radosh and his wife, Allis Radosh, discuss and sign their new book, “A Safe Haven: Harry S. Truman and the Founding of Israel” at Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2009: At the Dennis and Phillip Ratner Museum in Bethesda, Md. Rabbi Shefa Gold, a leader in Aleph: the Alliance for Jewish Renewal and a composer of six albums of Jewish liturgical music, reads from and discusses her new book, “In the Fever of Love: An Illumination of the Song of Songs” (with illustrations by Phillip Ratner) followed by a Havdalah Service. <o:p></o:p>

2009(22^nd of Iyar, 5769): Mordechai Limon, the first commander of the Israel Navy, passed away today at the age of 85. “During World War II, he volunteered for the British Merchant Marine, where he learned the art of naval commanding, and after the war he commanded ships that brought clandestine immigrants to the Land of Israel in defiance of the British mandatory authorities. Limon is best remembered for his role in the Cherbourg Affair, directing the operation that brought five warships from France to Israel that French President Charles de Gaulle sought to prevent Israel from receiving, even though they had been paid for. Limon was subsequently expelled from France and retired from the Navy, becoming a private businessman.”<o:p></o:p>

2009: An Israeli entrepreneur who has started what is believed to be the world's first tuition-free on-line university said today “he hopes the effort will expand education to less fortunate people around the world. Shai Reshef said University of the People has about 150 students from 35 countries who have enrolled since the school began two weeks ago. He hopes to expand the program to include 15,000 students in four years. (Jerusalem Post) <o:p></o:p>

2010: Linda Levi, Director of Global Archives for The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee is scheduled deliver a talk entitled “The JDC Archives: Resources for Genealogists” in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Finding Chandra: A True Washington Murder Mystery by Scott Higham and Sari Horwitz and Innocent by Scott Turow.<o:p></o:p>

2011: “2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey,” a two day symposium focusing on the Jews of Morocco, sponsored by The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to come to an end.<o:p></o:p>

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2011: Rabbi Matthew Kraus, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Cincinnati is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “The Nature of Jewish Life in America” in which he explores “the impact of the move to the suburbs on Jewish spiritual life--how Jews pray, how Jews practice, and how Jews relate to the Almighty”<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

2011: Rabbi Matthew Kraus, Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Jewish Studies at the University of Cincinnati is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “History of the JQC (Jewish Queen City)” which traces the history of Cincinnati’s Jewish community “from its humble origins to the glory days of Plum Street Temple and the Manischewitz Baking Company to the start of the Big Brothers organization at the turn of the century and so much more!” <o:p></o:p>

2011: Tonight, the Great White Way of Broadway will light up as stars, including Dudu Fisher and Tovah Feldshuh, perform in “Broadway Sensation,” a benefit celebrating Israel’s future. The event, which will raise proceeds for the Jewish National Fund, the OR Movement and the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, will be broadcast live in Times Square, and feature over 100 performers from popular shows including Wicked, The Scottsboro Boys and Next to Normal.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Rahm Emanuel took the oath of office today to become Chicago’s 46^th mayor and the first mayor of The Windy City.<o:p></o:p>

2012: A screening of “Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray” is scheduled to be shown at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage in Beachwood, Ohio.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Professor Steven Bowman is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled Italian Hebrew Renaissance of the 10th-11th Centuries at Cedar Village in Mason, Ohio<o:p></o:p>

2012: Movie critic Carrie Rickey is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled Untold Stories:The Films of Aviva Kempner Yoo-Hoo Mrs. Goldberg at the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, PA.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Chilean singer-songwriter Yael Meyer is scheduled to perform at the Washington DCJCC.<o:p></o:p>

2012: During an interview today, Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress said that his organization is urging European governments to quickly adopt measures to tackle anti-Semitism and the threat of right-wing extremist. <o:p></o:p>

2012: David Levin beams with joy as Elizabeth Levin graduates from Columbia Medical School after which this accomplished young woman will begin a vascular surgery residency at UCLA.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Weiner Library is scheduled to host Ray Farr’s film “A Different World” which “concentrates on the vibrant lives of Polish Jews before their arrival at the Third Reich’s killing centers.”<o:p></o:p>

2013: As part of the Books That Shaped America Series, Professor Pamela Nadell, the recipient of the American Jewish Historical Society’s Lee Max Friedman Award will lead a discussion of Jacob Riis’ How the Other Lives which among other thing presented an accurate picture of the Lower East Side, home to tens of thousands of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Poetry Festival at Metulla, Israel’s most northern town is scheduled to come to an end today.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The annual Indigo Festival, a huge dance fest on the shores of the Sea of Galilee is scheduled to begin today.<o:p></o:p>

2013(7^thof Sivan, 5730): Second Day of Shavuot/ Yizkor<o:p></o:p>

This Day, May 15, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

09:00 PM Tuesday, May 14, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 15 In History<o:p></o:p>

392: Theodosius I, who had been emperor of the eastern half of the Roman Empire became the last ruler of the entire Roman Empire (east and west) “A general of Spanish origin, and the son of another general, was chosen to replace Valens who had been killed fighting the Visigoths. He refused to condemn Judaism believing that it was a legitimate religion. Theodosius prohibited the destruction of synagogues by zealot Christians.<o:p></o:p>

756 CE: Abd Al-Rahman won the battle against his co-religionist outside the city walls of Cordoba. He entered the city as victor. After he set up his Umayyad administration, Abd Al-Rahman mandated all Jews and Christians pay a jizya, a discriminatory mandated tax in accordance with the Koran for their "protected" status as dhimmis.<o:p></o:p>

1248: Odo of Chateaubroux "investigated" the Talmud and then condemned it. This was the second condemnation of the Talmud after an appeal was made by the Jewish community of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull Ad Exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics as part of the Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe. There would be several Inquisitions during the Middle Ages and on into the Renaissance. The primary aim was to destroy Christians who did not accept the doctrine as commanded by the Popes at Rome. Of course if you were going to rack or dunk or flay Christians, certainly there were those who would think that it would be alright to do the same to Jews. Interestingly, there were some Popes who disagreed saying that it was alright to treat the Jews badly, but not to actually do them physical harm.<o:p></o:p>

1648: The Treaty of Westphalia was signed as part of series of treaties that brought an end to the Thirty Years War and the Eighty Years War between Spain and the Netherlands. The treaty officially recognized the independence of the Dutch from the Spanish Empire. This guaranteed the independence of a European nation that had give Jews a place to grow and prosper. Ironically, many of these were Sephardic descendants of those who had been expelled by the Spanish in 1492 or were Morrano refugees who had grown weary of the ever present Inquisition. The end of the Thirty Years provided a respite to Jews living in Central Europe including the communities of Frankfort, Worms and Jena each of which was the scene of at least one pogroms.<o:p></o:p>

1745: In Prague, after many appeals and petitions, Empress Maria Theresa revoked her decree banishing all Jews in Moravia and Bohemia, allowing Jews to live there for an unlimited time. Only the Jews in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Prague</st1:place></st1:city>itself who were actually banished 3 years earlier were still under the order, but they were soon permitted to return on a restricted basis. <o:p></o:p>

1755: Villa de San Agustin de Laredo which is now known as Laredo, Texas, was founded by Don Tomás Sánchez while the area was part of the Nuevo Santander region in the Spanish colony of New Spain. According to the Society for Crypto Judaic Studies, Sanchez came from a family with Jewish origins. For about this and other facets of Jewish life in this Texas border town see “Tomas Sanchez, founder of Laredo” by Carlos M. Larralde, PhD and “History of Laredo's Jewish Community” by Stan Green.<o:p></o:p>

1756: The Seven Years War begins when <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">England</st1:place></st1:country-region> declares war on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region>. In <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the war is known as the French-Indian War. Officially there were no Jews living in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region> at the start of the war since <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>was a French colony and Jews were forbidden by law to live there. This changed as a result of the war. The first Jews entered <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>with the forces of Lord Jeffrey Amherst, the English military leader who conquered <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city>. There were several serving in his regiments including four officers. One of them, Aron Hart, remained, settled at Three Rivers where he became a large landowner and the father of four sons who helped to form the nucleus of the Jewish community in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Montreal</st1:place></st1:city>. On the other side of the line, some sources contend that a Converso was in the Commissary General for the French forces. <o:p></o:p>

1767:Birthdate of Canadian entrepreneur and politician, Ezekiel Hart Jewish. Contrary to the image of Jews coming to the New World and assimilating, Hart fought to maintain his Jewish identity when he took his seat in the Canadian legislature. Hart scored a posthumous victory when the wording of the oath was changed.<o:p></o:p>

1773: Birthdate of Klemens Wenzel, Prince von Metternich, known to history simply as Meternich.

http://www.guidetomusicaltheatre.com/shows_r/rothschilds.htm<o:p></o:p>

1799: Birthdate of Adolf B. Marx, composer and educator. Marx was supposed to be a lawyer, but changed his mind after graduation and moved to <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state>to begin his musical studies. While composing, he also served a lecturer on Music at the famed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">University</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Berlin</st1:placename></st1:place> and started the Stern Music Conservatory which became one of the leading musical schools of its time. Marx died in 1866, two days after his 67th birthday.<o:p></o:p>

1800: An English Jew named D.M. Dyte saved the life of King George III when he thwarted an assassin’s attempt to shoot the monarch. “George III. attended the Drury Lane Theater to witness a comedy by Colley Cibber; and while the monarch was acknowledging the loyal greetings of the audience, a lunatic named Hadfield fired a horsepistol pointblank at his Majesty. Two slugs passed over the king's head, and lodged in the wainscot of the royal box. The king escaped unhurt; but it was only subsequently realized that Hadfield had missed his aim because some man near him had struck his arm while in the act of pulling the trigger. This individual was Dyte, father of Henry Dyte, at one time honorary secretary to the Blind Society. It is said that Dyte asked as his sole reward the "patent" of selling opera-tickets, then a monopoly at the royal disposal. (As reported by James Picciotto in Sketches of Anglo Jewish History)<o:p></o:p>

1800: A community of Jewish slaves, captured over a period of two centuries and held for ransom by the Knights of St. John on the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">island</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Malta</st1:placename></st1:place>, was officially dissolved.<o:p></o:p>

1817:Jean Lafitte, moved from Matagorda Bay to Galveston today, after having purchased supplies from João da Porta. João da Porta (also José da Porta or Joseph de la Porta was a Portuguese Jewish merchant, who along with his older brother, Morin, “played an important in the early settlement of the Texan coast. João was born in Portugal but attended school in Paris, France, before moving to Brazil, the British West Indies, and finally New Orleans, Louisiana. Along with his brother, João provided the financing for the privateer Louis Michel Aury, who established his base at the site of the future Galveston, Texas, in 1816. The same year, Mexican revolutionary general Francisco Javier Mina visited and successfully encouraged Aury to join him in an invasion, which failed. Morim left Galveston and soon died, and João sold Aury's camp and supplies to Jean Lafitte, In 1818, João was appointed supercargo for trade with the Karankawa Indians. João later returned to New Orleans after Lafitte had left Galveston.<o:p></o:p>

1858(2^ndof Sivan, 5618): Marcus Durloch, a member of the Independent Order of Free Sons of Israel passed away today. His widow was the person to received benefits from the organizations Widows and Orders Fund that had been incorporated earlier in the year.<o:p></o:p>

1862: Birthdate of playwright and novelist Arthur Schnitzler. Born in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Vienna</st1:place></st1:city>, Schnitzler began his career as a playwright. He was a central figure in the Viennese literary community that spanned the last decades of the 19th century and the first three decades of the twentieth century. Schnitzler was a contemporary of Herzl and used him as a character in one of his novels. Schnitzler passed away in 1931. His works were later banned by German and Austrian Nazis.<o:p></o:p>

1864: Moses Jacob Ezekiel fought at the Battle of New Market at as a member of the VMA Cadet Battalion.<o:p></o:p>

1864: Emma Mordecai apologized to her sister-in-law for their quarrel over whether or not reports of General Lee's victory were accurate. Mordecai's apology pointed up the precarious position of this unmarried Jewess who had sought refuge from the war at her relative's farm in rural Virginia.<o:p></o:p>

1867: In a letter written to his wife today, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, described his shipboard encounter "with three Jewish former slaveholders. "Sitting opposite me at the table, are three German Jews, Louisiana planters, who have lost all their slaves, now that they are free, will be unable to take care of themselves! Of these Israelites it cannot be said that they are without guile; ("Jews of the Civil War: A Reader")<o:p></o:p>

1872: “Jews in Romania” published today described the decision of the Grant Administration, as conveyed Secretary of State Hamilton Fish, to have its representative in Bucharest work with the other powers to alleviate the suffering being inflicted on the Jews living in Romania.<o:p></o:p>

1876: Professor Felix Adler delivered the opening address at the first meeting of the Ethical Culture Society.<o:p></o:p>

1881: Anti-Jewish riots break out in Odessa, Russia.

1882: Alexander <st1:stockticker w:st="on">III</st1:stockticker> issued the May Laws. They were designed to "cause one-third of the Jews to emigrate, one-third to accept baptism and one-third to starve." Jews were banished from all rural areas and towns of less than ten thousand people, even within the Pale of Settlement. These laws remained in quasi-effect until 1914 and provided the impetus for migration to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region>as well as expanded interest in the settlement of Eretz-Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1889: Birthdate of Bessie Hillman. Born Bessie Abramowitz, Hillman was active in the labor movement designed to alleviate the sweatshop conditions in the garment industry. She was active in the 1910 strike against Hart-Shaftner and Marx. The strike paid two dividends - the creation of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and the first meeting with her future husband, labor leader Sidney Hillman. An early role model for feminists, Hillman continued her labor work even after giving birth to her two daughters.<o:p></o:p>

1891: The will of Nathan Littauer, a benefactor of many Jewish charities, was filed in the Surrogate’s office today.<o:p></o:p>

1892: “The Israelite Alliance has sent the Sultan of Turkey an address in commemoration of the admission of the exiled Spanish Jews to the Turkish Empire in 1492.”<o:p></o:p>

1893: “Mission Work Among Jews” published today described a potential conflict between the New York Presbytery and the Presbyterian Home Board. The New York wants to begin a program to aggressively convert Jews. Up until now the national organization has not endorsed such an effort aimed directly at the Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1893: It was reported today the Jews have been coming to the United States from Poland every month this year “in gradually increasing numbers.” Twenty –one came in January, seventeen in February and 316 in March, 306 of whom had less than $30 when they arrived.<o:p></o:p>

1893: “Jews of Poland” published today refutes claims from correspondents in Berlin “that there is no movement for the expulsion of Jews from Poland based on eyewitness accounts of the arrival in London of scores of Jews who have been expelled from Poland. They carry copies of orders of expulsion some of which show that the movement against the Jews began in January. “Russian officers will say that they are expelling no one but merely moving subjects about inside of the empire.” However, “the ‘moved’ subject stripped of his possessions and deprived of this home, must starve or get out of the country.”<o:p></o:p>

1894: A policeman discovered that crockery store owned by the Rosenblatts on 10^thAvenue was on fire. The officer entered the building which was also home to the Rosneblatts and dragged them to safety.<o:p></o:p>

1894: A picture of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum was found in the studio of Henry Alexander who took his life today. The picture was one “that he prized dearly.”<o:p></o:p>

1894: Francis Bedford passed away. Born in 1816, he was a noted artist and photographer who helped to found the Royal Photographic Society in 1853. He accompanied the Prince of Wales on his tour of the Middle East. His photographs of Palestine were some of the earliest and best of those taken in the 19^th century. They were published in 1865 providing many with their first real look at the Holy Land as it actually was. <o:p></o:p>

1895: Birthdate of Fanny Goldstein, a librarian and the founder of Jewish Book Week<o:p></o:p>

1899(6^thof Sivan, 5659): Last Shavuot of the 19^th century.<o:p></o:p>

1898: In Harlem, Temple Israel completed its three day celebration of the 25^thanniversary of the congregation and the 10^th anniversary of occupying its current facility.<o:p></o:p>

1899: The Sanitarium for Hebrew Children of the City of New York which helps “sick and destitute” Jews as well as providing free summer excursions has released its annual report. It showed that last summer the sanitarium provide nine boat excursions and 24 trains excursions while aiding a total of 15,445 people.<o:p></o:p>

1899: According to an article by Leopold Sanders, Jews are “the most anciently cultured people” since in the Book of Genesis they were the first to give the world various prehistoric legends of Babylonian origin.<o:p></o:p>

1902: Jewish housewives on the Lower East Side poured into the streets, breaking windows and throwing meat. The women were protesting a jump in the price of kosher meat from 12 to 18 cents a pound (Jewish Women’s Archives)<o:p></o:p>

1904(29th of Iyar, 5664): Hayyim Selig Slonimski passed away in Warsaw. Born in Poland in 1810 when it was part of the Russian empire, his accomplishments included the invention of a calculating machine for which the Russian Academy of Sciences awared himthe Demidov Prize in 1844 and the establishment of Ha-Tsefirah, a weekly paper published in Hebrew.<o:p></o:p>

1905: Birthdate of businessman Abraham Zapruder, whose famed home movie documented the assassination of JFK<o:p></o:p>

1905: Founding of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Las Vegas</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Nevada</st1:state></st1:place>. According to an article in Hadassah Magazine there is little documented proof concerning the first Jewish families living in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Las Vegas</st1:place></st1:city>. Names like Bergman and Berman appear in the 1910 census In the 1920’s a family named Goldring served kosher food and proudly announced that they had produced the first Jewish baby born in the town. Other sources provide a replica of cattle brand found on bovines belonging to a Las Vegas Jew named Charles Field. The brand consisted of a diagonal “I” with the letter “C” superimposed over it. Of course the first two Jewish names that come to mind when mentioning <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Las Vegas</st1:place></st1:city> are Meyer Lansky and his protégé Ben “Bugsy” Siegel. Today Las Vegas has one of the fastest growing Jewish communities in the United States.<o:p></o:p>

1909: The cornerstone for a new building to be used by the Hebrew Infant Asylum is scheduled to be laid today.<o:p></o:p>

1911: Birthdate of actor Leo Fuchs. His place of birth is given variously as Lemberg, Hungry and <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Lwow</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Regardless, he came to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> and began his career in the Yiddish Theatre. Fuchs appeared in "Broadway Plays" in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state> and in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>. He was seen on the television hit Mr. Ed. His film credits include The Frisco Kid and Avalon. He passed away in 1994.<o:p></o:p>

1912 Morris Lasker and Nettie Heidenheimer Davis Lasker gave birth to film producer Edward Lasker.<o:p></o:p>

1912: Birthdate of composer Arthur Victor Berger. Born in the <st1:place w:st="on">Bronx</st1:place>, Berger was a graduate of NYU and Harvard. Berger was well known in his native <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">America</st1:place></st1:country-region> as a composer, teacher and music critic, but was better known in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region> as a writer on music, particularly on the academic, musicological side. He passed away in 2003 at the age of 91.<o:p></o:p>

1914: Architect Louis Isadore Kahn, who had been born Itze-Leib Schmuilowsky in Estonia in 1901, became a naturalized citizen of the United States.<o:p></o:p>

1915: Birthdate of American economist Paul Samuelson. Samuelson won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1970. Jews account for 40% of all winners of the Nobel Prize for Economics. Fifty-four percent of the Americans who have won the award are Jewish.<o:p></o:p>

1916: Shalom Aleicheim was buried today at Old Mount Carmel Cemetery in Queens, NY.<o:p></o:p>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sholem_Aleichem_funeral.jpg<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of of Saul Laskin, the native of Fort William who was the first mayor of Thunder Bay, Ontario.<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of Joseph Wiseman, the Canadian actor who played “Dr. No.”<o:p></o:p>

1919: In the Winnipeg General Strike “virtually the entire working population of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Winnipeg</st1:place></st1:city> had walked off the job. 30,000 to 35,000 people were on strike in a city of 200,000. Even essential public employees such as fire fighters went on strike, but returned midway through the strike with the approval of the Strike Committee. The Winnipeg Police were technically on strike but remained on patrol in practice.” Opponents of the strike, especially those in the press including The New York Times demonized the strikers as Bolsheviks and Jews. Cartoons were produced depicting the strikers as hooked nosed Jews. In 2005, this historic event would become part of the popular entertainment world through a musical called “Strike”by Danny Schur. The hit play (in Canada) focused on the treatment of the Jewish and Ukrainian workers and carried a message of universal brotherhood. <o:p></o:p>

1919: Birthdate of Samuel Abraham Goldblith a food scientist who studied malnutrition while after having been taken prisoner by the Japanese at Corregidor and who developed the techniques for preserving food that were critical to the U.S. manned space program.<o:p></o:p>

1922: The German-Polish Convention signed today guaranteed all minorities in Upper Silesia, including the Jews, equal civil and political rights.<o:p></o:p>

1926: Leopold Damrosch Mannes was appointed a Guggenheim Fellow today for creative work in musical composition and a study of musical literature.<o:p></o:p>

1927: Judge Julian W. Mack is scheduled to be the principle speaker at the banquet this evening that will mark the start of Philadelphia’s United Palestine Appeal drive.<o:p></o:p>

1927: Birthdate of Bezalel Rakow “an orthodox rabbi who headed Gateshead’s Jewish community and was the chair of the Council of Torah Sages of Agudas Yisroel of Great Britain.”<o:p></o:p>

1928: Julius Rosenwald admitted today that he has given away so much money that he does not know the dollar value of his philantrhopies.<o:p></o:p>

1928: Sixty-six year old Herione May, social worker and founder of the Jewish Women’s Federation passed away. <o:p></o:p>

1928: Birthdate of a French–born American “novelist and academic, known also for poetry, essays, translations, and criticism who taught at the University at Buffalo, wrote in “the experimental style, that sought to deconstruct traditional prose” and whose books included “Double or Nothing.” <o:p></o:p>

1929: David Wuntch of Tyler, TX, was elected president of the Texas Zionist Association which concluded its silver anniversary convention today.<o:p></o:p>

1930: It was announced today that “a request for an audience with the Roumanian Regency in connection with continuing attacks on Jews in various parts of the country will be made by the Union of Roumanian Jews” Dr. William Filderman is President of the Union.<o:p></o:p>

1930: “Eliel Loefgren, former foreign minister of Sweden; Charles Barde, a Swiss jurist, and A. Van Kempen, a former Dutch colonial official, were today announced as members of the international Wailing Wall Commission to investigate the Moslem and Jewish claims to the Wailing Wall. The names were submitted to the Council of the League of Nations by Arthur Henderson, British foreign secretary.”<o:p></o:p>

1930: The High Commissioner’s office has announced that, effective today, all immigration into Palestine is suspended pending the completion of a report being compiled by Sir John Simpson dealing with immigration and land settlement problems.<o:p></o:p>

1931: Birthdate Norma Diane Fox who gained fame as award winning author Norma Fox Mazer.<o:p></o:p>

1932: Hitler’s "Voelkischer Beobachter" advised the Jews of Germany to leave the country because “we National Socialists will certainly clear all Jews out of every position they occupy in Germany.<o:p></o:p>

1933: The Secretariat of the League of Nations rejected petitions protesting the treatment of the Jews of Silesia because the treaty guaranteeing them their political and civil rights requires that the citizens of Silesia file the grievance and representatives of member nations. The League chose to ignore the reality of the claims.<o:p></o:p>

1933: In Germany, “a plan to expel Jewish barbers and tobacconists from their positions was initiated here today.”<o:p></o:p>

1933 (19th of Iyar, 5693): Dr. Alfred Strauss, a Jewish lawyer, was killed in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Dachau</st1:place></st1:city>.<o:p></o:p>

1934(1st of Sivan, 5694): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1934: Jewish candidates are running in both the Democratic and Republican primaries being held in New Jersey today. Among the candidates are Samuel Raff, a Republican seeking a seat in the General Assembly and four candidates for the Justice of Peace Passaic County - David Ehrlich, Democrat, and Benjamin Rosenfelt, Toby Schneider, and Morris Rosenberg, Republicans.<o:p></o:p>

1935: “The Italian Crown Prince Umberto and the Crown Princess Maria, who are now on an official visit to Tripolitana, today visited the Jewish quarter in the town of Tripoli”. <o:p></o:p>

1935: Representatives of several Jewish communities in Poland were considering taking part in a project to plant a forest in Palestine in honor of Marshal Josef Pilsudski <o:p></o:p>

1935:The Gazeta Warszawska, organ of the anti-Semitic National Democratic Party, was expelled today from the Press Association of the Polish Republic for its "tactless attitude" while the nation was mourning the death of Marshal Pilsudski. The Press Association comprises all newspapers in Poland. The expulsion was decided on at a special session called for this purpose (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1936:The Italian consul denied today in a statement to the press that Italian agents are responsible for disorders in Palestine. London newspapers had charged Italian agents with fomenting the outbreak in an attempt to embarrass Great Britain in the Italo-Ethiopian situation. (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1936: On the first day of the official Arab campaign of civil disobedience aimed at ending Jewish immigration violence breaks out forcing the British to cordon off Tel Aviv from Jaffa. <o:p></o:p>

1937: Birthdate of Madeleine Korbel Albright. A native of Czechoslovakia, Albright was raised as a Roman Catholic. In 1996, Albright discovered that her grandparents had been murdered at Auschwitz and Terezin. Her parents had converted to Roman Catholicism to escape the Holocaust. Albright has stated that she did not know she had Jewish ancestors until she was an adult. In 1997, she was the first woman to be named Secretary of State.<o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Post reported that while the armed Arab gangs continued to carry out robberies, commit arson, blow up culverts, dig holes in the roads and set up mines throughout the country, at least one such gang suffered heavy casualties when engaged by British forces near Acre. Many arrests were carried out in Tamra and the neighboring villages. Two British officers were wounded in this operation. An Arab mukhtar, village elder, was murdered near <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Nablus</st1:place></st1:city>after he refused to pay ransom<o:p></o:p>

1939 The SS St. Louis leaves <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Hamburg</st1:place></st1:state>. Most of the thousand or so passengers are Jewish escapees from Nazi Germany. They have landing passes for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cuba</st1:place></st1:country-region> as well as quota numbers that could allow them entry into the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> three years hence;<o:p></o:p>

1939 A women's concentration camp opens at Ravensbrück, 50 miles north of Berlin.<o:p></o:p>

1940: Thousands of refugee Jews from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia are trapped behind German lines as Nazi forces push through Holland. The Dutch Army surrenders<o:p></o:p>

1941(18th of Iyar, 5701): On Lag B’Omer, 12 Polish Jews who have traveled by sealed train from the Biala Podlaska Jewish POW camp to Konskowola are murdered after the train's Nazi overseers discover that four of the POWs have escaped. <o:p></o:p>

1941: Nazi occupiers in Netherlands forbid the playing Jewish music<o:p></o:p>

1943: In Rohatyn, Jewish ghetto police secretly plan to buy weapons and form escape parties to the nearby woods. Three weeks later the plan is foiled and all 1,000 Jews of the ghetto are killed.<o:p></o:p>

1943: The Warsaw ghetto was reduced to ashes and the uprising came to an end after an active resistance of four weeks. <o:p></o:p>

1943(10th of Iyyar, 5703): After days of being crammed in a box car, Salamo Arouch, a Greek-born Jewish boxer, his parents, three younger sisters and his brother arrived at Auschwitz at 6 p.m. His mother and sisters were immediately taken to the gas chambers.<o:p></o:p>

1943: The first issue of Liberal Judaism, a new illustrated monthly journal of opinion and letters appeared today.<o:p></o:p>

1944: Nazi deportation of Jews from greater Hungary began with the deportation of 14,000 Jews from Munkacs to Auschwitz. The roundup is directed by Eichman with “the full cooperation of the Hungarian police.”<o:p></o:p>

1944: As part of the Nazi proposal to swap Jews for supplies including ten thousand trucks, Joel Brand is flown from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Budapest</st1:place></st1:city>to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Istanbul</st1:place></st1:city> to meet with two representatives of the Jewish Agency for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>. The two will listen to Brand and take the offer back to Ben-Gurion in Tel Aviv.<o:p></o:p>

1944: On the eve of the Allied invasion of Europe, 878 Jews are deported from Drancy, France, to the Reval, Estonia, slave-labor camp. At the very time when Rommel, the Nazi General who is in charge of preparing to face the Allied onslaught, is bemoaning the lack of men and equipment, the Germans are busy shipping Jews to their death. This provides further proof that the creation of a Jew-Free Europe was an integral part of the German effort and not some tangential activity.<o:p></o:p>

1944: Dr. Salomon Gluck, the brother of Rose Warfman, was deported on convoy 73 which left Drancy today. He would reportedly die five days later<o:p></o:p>

1945: Birthdate of Gail J. Koff, who would be considered the silent partner in the national law firm Jacoby & Meyers after she opened their New York offices six years after the firm began operations in Los Angeles, California.<o:p></o:p>

1948:In a radio Broadcast Menachem Began said "It is Hebrew arms which decide the boundaries of the Hebrew State. So it is now in this battle; so it will be in the future."<o:p></o:p>

1948: Egypt, Transjordan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Saudi Arabia invade the state of Israel on its second day of existence. As soon as the Mandate ended, the Arab armies attacked with the aim of driving the Jews into the sea.<o:p></o:p>

1948: As the first day dawned on the new Jewish state, the Israeli military force had grown from 4.500 to 36,600 in the six months since the partition vote. This seemingly impressive total includes everybody not just combat troops. And it pales in comparison to the size (not to mention the equipment) of the invading Arab armies. At least 1,200 Jews had fallen in fighting during the same period and this does not count civilian casualties. <o:p></o:p>

1948: On Cyprus, the British open the gates of the detention camps. Thousands of Jews who had been imprisoned in their attempt to reach Eretz <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, would now be free to leave for the new national Jewish home. Within days, many of those released would be fighting in the front lines against the invading Arab armies. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Mordechai Ruttenberg took part in one of those small actions, described below, which helped to change history.<o:p></o:p>

In <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, a young teenager and a member of Gadna (Gedudei Noar--Israeli youth corps offering pre-military training of teenagers) helping to defend <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>“found a crate of Molotov cocktails in the Notre Dame Monastery, got really scared, and hid it. The Jordanians tried every possible way to break into the city, and on that day armored vehicles arrived via <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Damascus</st1:place></st1:city> Gate and took up positions below the windows of the monastery. Someone shouted from the street, 'Hey, kid, where are the cocktails?' I didn't know what to do, so he explained to me how to throw them. From the window I threw one of the bottles onto the first armored vehicle, which immediately started to burn, and the Jordanians beat a hasty retreat. Afterward people wrote that the Molotov cocktails saved <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, because otherwise the Jordanians would have entered the city. I pretty much forgot the whole thing, but one day I heard a tour guide telling about the boy with the bottle, and I came out of the closet and said, 'I am that boy.'" That boy was the future Professor Mordechai Rotenberg who Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who taught at Hebrew University in the social work school, the criminology institute and the department of psychology.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The American office of Magen David Adom (the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross) opened a blood bank for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York City</st1:place></st1:city>that was soon packed with donors.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Voice of Israel (Kol Israel) was born simultaneously with the birth of the State of Israel. Operations for Kol Israel were in the old Palestine Broadcasting Service facilities left behind when the British left Palestine. The first Kol Israel broadcast was made from Tel Aviv as David Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence for the Jewish State.

1948: On the day after Israel declared its independence Jews in Baghdad "walked liked shadows, terrified about their own destiny and that of their brothers in the Land of Israel."<o:p></o:p>

1948:The Battles of the Kinarot Valley began tonight when Israeli observers reported that “many vehicles with full lights” were “moving along the Golan ridge east of the Sea of Galilee.” The observers were describing the movement of a Syrian infantry brigade accompanied by at least one tank battalion and one artillery battalion that was on its way to attack Kibbutz Ein Gev. Among the Jewish forces facing the Syrians were elements of the Golani Brigade. Thanks to an arms embargo, the Israelis had no artillery, tanks or combat aircraft to face this onslaught. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Moshe Sharett became Israel’s first Foreign Minister.

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/sharett.html<o:p></o:p>

1948: Etan Liivni who had been freed from Acre Prison in 1947 during the great prison break, returned to Israel today from his hiding place in Europe so he could fight in the War for Independence. <o:p></o:p>

1949: In Philadelphia, PA, opening of “3rd Sculpture International” which includes the works of Chaim Gross, Jacob Epstein, Jacques Lipschitz and William Zorach.<o:p></o:p>

1949(16^thof Iyar): Rabbi Chaim Tchernowita, author of “Toledot haHalakah” passed away<o:p></o:p>

1950: The remains of Oscar Grusenberg, the Russian Jewish lawyer who defended Mendel Beilis against blood-ritual charges were interred in Israel<o:p></o:p>

1951: Birthdate of Frank Wilczek winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in the theory of the strong interaction.<o:p></o:p>

1951: Pitcher Saul Rogovin is traded from the Tigers to the White Sox and still compiled a league leading 2.78 Earned Run Average.<o:p></o:p>

1952: Abba Khoushy, Mayor of Haifa, attended the United States Conference of Mayors at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York.<o:p></o:p>

1952: Founding of Sde Boker (Cattle Rancher's Field) in the central Negev hills. Sde Boker began as a horse-breeding community. Later sheep were added to the breeding activity. As the desert was reclaimed orchards were planted by the settlers. Sde Boker's most famous settler was David Ben-Gurion who first moved there in 1952 when he resigned as Prime Minister in 1952. Ben Gurion saw Sde Boker as a key to reclaiming the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place>. In turn Ben Gurion saw reclamation of the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place> - making the desert bloom - as a key to the ultimate success of the new Jewish state.

1953(1st of Sivan, 5713): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that a new railway line linked Hadera with Tel Aviv. The entire new track was constructed out of the French-manufactured material acquired with the aid of French railways. The funds came from the Development Budget. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Bavarian Cabinet had decided to ban the return to Bavaria of Jewish Displaced Persons who left Germany for Israel after World War II and now decided to return to Germany. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Kfar Saba celebrated its 50th anniversary.<o:p></o:p>

1959(7th of Iyar, 5719): Charlotte Lipsky passed away today at the age eighty.

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/lipsky-charlotte

1967: Israel holds the Independence Day parade in Jerusalem without the usual numbers of heavy artillery and tanks. The full parade is not held because of an agreed limitation of tanks in the city, as laid down in the armistice agreement with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> accuses <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> of having sent the "missing tanks and other weaponry to the north." <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> names May 17 as the day on which <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>will invade <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Syria</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A new song is born: "Yerushalayim shel Zahav" - "Jerusalem of Gold" by Naomi Shemer is performed for the first time on Independence Day. It soon becomes a kind of second national anthem.<o:p></o:p>

1967: During a parade in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>marking the 19^th anniversary of Israeli independence, a messenger brings word to Prime Minister Eshkol that “large Egyptian forces were moving into Sinai and advancing westward.” The message continued that in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cairo</st1:place></st1:city> rumored reports had <st1:place w:st="on">Nasser</st1:place> ordering the removal of the UN Emergency Forces from the Sinai and the Straits of Tiran.<o:p></o:p>

1969: Associate Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas resigned over a controversy concerning past legal fees.<o:p></o:p>

1973: President Richard Nixon awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to Air Force Sergeant John L. Levitow, the only enlisted airman to be so honored during the Viet Nam War. The citation reads as follows: “For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty. Sergeant John L. Levitow (then Airman First Class), U.S. Air Force, distinguished himself by exceptional heroism on <st1:date day="24" month="2" w:st="on" year="1969">24 February, 1969</st1:date>, while assigned as a loadmaster aboard a AC-47 aircraft flying a night mission. On that date, Sgt. Levitow's aircraft was struck by a hostile mortar round. The resulting explosion ripped a hole through the wing and fragments mad over 3,500 holes in the fuselage. All occupants of the cargo compartment were helplessly slammed against the floor and fuselage. The explosion tore an activated flare from the grasp of a crewmember, who had been launching flares to provide illumination for Army ground troops engaged in combat. Sgt. Levitow, though stunned by the concussion of the blast and suffering from over forty fragment wounds in the back and legs, staggered to his feet and turned to assist the man nearest to him, who had been knocked down and was bleeding heavily. As he was moving his wounded comrade forward and away from the open cargo compartment door, he saw the smoking flare ahead of him in the aisle. Realizing the danger involved and completely disregarding his own wounds, Sgt. Levitow started toward the burning flare. Sgt. Levitow struggled forward despite the loss of blood. Unable to grasp the flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. Hugging the deadly devise to his body, he dragged himself back to the rear of the aircraft and hurled the flare through the open cargo door. At that instant, the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft. Sgt. Levitow, by selfless and heroic actions, saved the aircraft and its entire crew from certain death and destruction. Sgt. Levitow's conspicuous gallantry, his profound concern for his fellowmen and his intrepidity at the risk of his own life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.” Born in in 1945, Levitow passed away at the age of 55 and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. <o:p></o:p>

1974(23rd of Iyar, 5734): A cell from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrated into Israel from Lebanon. They entered an apartment in Ma’a lot, killing the Cohen family including their four year old son. The terrorist then stormed <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Netiv</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Meir</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">School</st1:placetype></st1:place>. “They took 105 students and 10 of their teachers hostage. They were from a religious high school in Safed and who were staying the school during a class trip.” The terrorists killed 22 students and three of the teachers before the IDF could mount an effective rescue mission.<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Embassy in Washington reiterated that "the supply of advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia and Egypt creates a serious threat to the security of Israel." President Sadat of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, in a major policy speech, threatened domestic critics of his policy of negotiating with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, and took great pains in explaining why he had deposited one million pounds, received from Katar, in his personal account. <o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israeli Cabinet, by a vote of 14 to three, backed the Chief of Staff, Raphael Eitan's declaration that Israel cannot defend itself without Judea, Samaria, and the Golan.<o:p></o:p>

1981:President Anwar el-Sadat called on Syria and Israel today to adopt a policy of ''hands off Lebanon'' and urged the Palestinians to form a provisional government because ''the day will come when Israel will sit with you.'' Mr. Sadat's remarks came in a two-and-a-half-hour address to Parliament, which was devoted in large measure to a scathing denunciation of Egypt's small opposition Socialist Labor Party. The President dealt only briefly with the Lebanese crisis and did not address himself to a question that has been arising with some frequency here - What would Egypt do if Syria and Israel went to war?<o:p></o:p>

1983: Rabbi Charles Kroloff of Temple Emanu-El in Westfield officiated at the wedding of Lisa Ehrich and Robert Bernstein. He was assisted by cantorial student Jill Spasser.<o:p></o:p>

1983: In “Psychological and Moral Dilemmas” published today, Robert Alter reviewsEight Great Hebrew Novels edited by Alan Lelchuck and Gershon Shaked.<o:p></o:p>

1985(24th of Iyar, 5745): Author and journalist Theodore White passed away. White first gained fame covering <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">China</st1:place></st1:country-region>during World War II for the Time/Life media empire. His honest reporting got him in trouble with Right Wing Americans and he ended up coming back to the States after the war. White had been so effective as a reporter because he spoke Chinese, a language he learned quite by accident while studying at Harvard. A whole new generation of Americans came to know him for his prize winning popular political science treatise, The Making in President which told the story of the Nixon-Kennedy campaign in 1960. It provided many Americans with their first insight as to how the American electoral system really worked. Although he was to write several “making of a President” books, none would come close to the original effort which spawned a whole new genre of political reporting.

http://articles.latimes.com/1986-05-16/news/mn-5696_1_white-house<o:p></o:p>

1995: The Chicago Sun Times reports that Eddie Schwartz has left WLUP after having failed to obtain the same success he had enjoyed with WGN.<o:p></o:p>

2000: <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sri Lanka</st1:place></st1:country-region>(formerly <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ceylon</st1:place></st1:country-region>) reestablish diplomatic relations.<o:p></o:p>

2000:By decree of the French Republic President, Israeli diplomat, Dr Meir Rosenne, has been made Commander in the National Order of the Legion of Honour.<o:p></o:p>

2001: One Israel, a party formed by Ehud Barak in 1999 ceased to exist today.<o:p></o:p>

2001: In a column entitled “Let the Circle Be Unbroken,” Mimi Sheraton laments the latest assault on “The Bagel” – Pillsbury’s ToasterFilled Bagels.<o:p></o:p>

Bagel purists have had a lot to swallow as their favorite nosh has come in for its share of creative rethinking. The basic flour-water-salt-yeast-malt dough that should be shaped and then boiled before being baked is now often steamed or not moistened at all, so that it lacks the inimitable yeasty, chewy inner texture. Pizza or pumpernickel doughs are often used now, and the traditional crust that should be plain, with a golden, shiny finish, may be pockmarked with poppy or sesame seeds, garlic or onions, while the correctly neutral, cool interior is adulterated with cinnamon and raisins, nuts and berries. Economic considerations, like high labor costs, have fostered mammoth bagels that fetch mammoth prices even though they resemble inner tubes more than they do the compact, true bagel that ideally measures about 3.5 inches in diameter. It's a wonder we permit these versions to be called bagels at all. But the single characteristic of the bagel that has always been honored, no matter what other attributes go by the board, is its shape. A bagel is ring-shaped -- round with a hole in the center. At least until now;The Pillsbury Company’s''filled bagels'' -- described in the advertising copy as ''highly evolved'' -- are more like Pop-Tarts than bagels. Each 3- by 4-inch rectangle of ''tasty bagel crust'' is filled with cream cheese and, of all things, strawberry jelly. Although sweetness is antithetical to true bagel connoisseurship, the jelly and the cheese suggest the red-and-white color combination (visible through three slashes on the top crust) of cream cheese and smoked salmon. Real fish, of course, would not work, being too perishable for both freezer and toaster. The greatest attribute of these ''filled bagels,'' promises the ad copy, is: ''No gloppy mess. Next breakfast, it's freezer, toaster, done.'' Following Pillsbury's instructions, this highly evolved taster found the crust (neither baked nor steamed, I bet) to have the flavor and texture one might expect from a dampened, heated manila folder enclosing a crowd-pleasing, sweet and creamy filling. But please, Pillsbury Doughboy, go back to your creative copywriters and marketing talents and come up with another name. The new product you so proudly hail may not be totally terrible, but it is totally not a bagel. Where is the circle? Where is the hole? <o:p></o:p>

2002: President Bush welcomes forty-five leaders from the United Jewish Communities to the White House.<o:p></o:p>

2005(6th of Iyar, 5765): Alan B. Gold, Chief Justice of the Quebec Superior Court passed away at the age of 87.<o:p></o:p>

2005: The New York Timesincluded reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback editions of “After Such Knowledge: Memory, History, and the Legacy of the Holocaust,” Eva Hoffman’s essay that “thoughtfully conveys the conflicted inner lives of a generation of children of Holocaust survivors” and “The Sea House” Esther Freud’s “intricate English novel, inspired by the letters of Esther Freud's grandfather (Sigmund's son), which is set along the Suffolk coast and tells two stories separated by half a century.”<o:p></o:p>

2006: Over 150,000 people attended the celebrations at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai on <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Mount</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Meron</st1:placename></st1:place> in the <st1:place w:st="on">Galilee</st1:place>, where a large feast is traditionally held.<o:p></o:p>

2007: In Washington, D.C. Theater J presents the last of performances of Arnold Wesker's “Shylock,” a landmark re-imagining of the three stories which inspired Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. Featuring beloved international performer Theodore Bikel in the title role and Edward Gero as Antonio, this staged concert reading is presented in conjunction with the Shakespeare in Washington Festival.

2007: In London, the ZF presents “A Special Commemoration of the 40th Anniversary of the Reunification of Jerusalem” featuring a speech by Moshe Arens, former Israeli Ambassador to the United States who also served as the Israeli Defense Minister and Foreign Minister.<o:p></o:p>

2007: Four people were wounded by a barrage of at last 19 Qassam Rockets fired by Hamas terrorists at the western <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place> town of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Sderot</st1:place></st1:city>. Palestinian leaders said that Hamas was trying to divert attention from internecine fighting in the Gaza Strip by renewing hostilities between <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>and the Palestine Authority.<o:p></o:p>

2007(27th of Iyar, 5767): Ninety-five year old Italian-Jewish architect Giorgio Cavaglieri, passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/18/arts/design/18cavaglieri.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print

2008: In Mishkenot Sha'ananim in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, The First International Writers Festival comes to a close.<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington marks the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel with a series of book talks by Laura Cohen Apelbaum on “Jewish Washington: Scrapbook of an American Community” (the companion to the award-winning exhibit of the same name) beginning at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library. It is co-sponsored by the Embassy of Israel and the B'nai B'rith Klutznick National Jewish Museum<o:p></o:p>

2008: President George Bush is schedule to address the Knesset on the second day of his visit to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>; a visit designed to honor <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>on its sixtieth anniversary as well as to try and advance peace talks with the Palestinians.<o:p></o:p>

2008: A conference is held at the Beit Chail Haavir in Herzlia by the National Road Safety Authority, Or Yarok, and the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Institute</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Technological Studies</st1:placename></st1:place>in order to promote new technological advances to improve road safety in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p>

2008:Google co-founder Sergey Brin lauded Israeli innovations in technology and environmental efforts, saying <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>"takes our climate challenges very seriously." Brin, visiting as a delegate to President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference, told Haaretz that these challenges have "great geopolitcal ramifications on this country, in addition to environmental ones."<o:p></o:p>

2008:Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch told a panel in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>today that promoting technology throughout the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place> could help advance peace. "When people have the skills - to build better lives for themselves and their families, their societies become more peaceful and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>will have better neighbors," Murdoch said during a debate on new media and the internet at President Shimon Peres' "Facing Tomorrow" conference. "We'll continue to do what we can to help <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> maintain its competitive edge. Yet we must also look for new ways to expand human capital throughout the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>."<o:p></o:p>

2008:"Waltz With Bashir” a daring new animated documentary which follows Israeli director Ari Folman as he tries to piece together memories of the 1982 massacre of Palestinians in Beirut's Sabra and Shatila camps is screened at the Cannes Film Festival.<o:p></o:p>

2009:Michael Pollan, author of “The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals,” discusses his most recent book, In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto, at the Round House Theatre in Bethesda, Md., in an event sponsored by Politics and Prose Bookstore.<o:p></o:p>

2009: Rabbi Shefa Gold, a leader in Aleph, The Alliance for Jewish Renewal leads Friday night services for Congregation Bet Mishpachah at the Jewish Community Center in Washington, D.C.<o:p></o:p>

2009(21^stof Iyar): Ninety-one year old Edwin S. Shneidman, a psychologist who gave new direction to the study of suicide and was a founder of the nation’s first comprehensive suicide prevention center, passed away today at his home in Los Angeles. (As reported by William Dicke)<o:p></o:p>

2010:Before Shabbat morning services start at Temple Emanuel in Denver, Rabbi Steven Foster is scheduled to discuss "Reform Responsa: Applying Jewish Text to Modern Day Questions." <o:p></o:p>

2010(2^ndof Sivan, 5770): Moshe Greenberg, one of the most influential Jewish biblical scholars of the 20th century, died today at his home in Jerusalem at the age of 81. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/20/arts/20greenberg.html?pagewanted=print<o:p></o:p>

2011: Joel and Ethan Coen, the Oscar award-winning producer-director team that created films like The Big Lebowski and A Serious Man are expected to attend the ceremony in Israel today at which they will be formally awarded The Dan David Prize “for their contribution in film making.” The other million-dollar prize winners for 2011 are University of California at San Francisco Professor Cynthia Kenyon and Harvard Medical School Professor Gary Ruvkun for their work in gerontology, and Stanford University Medical School Professor Marcus Feldman for his work in the evolutionary sciences. President Shimon Peres and 2010 prize winner Italian President Giorgio Napolitano are expected to attend the award ceremony, the tenth year that the prizes will be awarded.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The American Sephardi Federation is scheduled to present a symposium entitled: “2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey.”<o:p></o:p>

2011: In what would prove to be a case of “rush to judgment” the New York Police Department arrested Dominique Strauss-Kahn at 2:15 a.m. today “on charges of criminal sexual act, attempted rape, and an unlawful imprisonment in connection with a sexual assault on a 32-year-old chambermaid in the luxury suite of a Midtown Manhattan hotel yesterday” about 1 p.m., Deputy Commissioner Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman, said. (As reported by Al Baker and Steven Erlanger)<o:p></o:p>

2011: Young Jewish Professionals are scheduled to take part in The Lox, Stock & Bagel Scavenger Hunter where they will “explore the heart of the Lower East Side that is changing right before your eyes. Highlights include Russ & Daughters, Katz's Deli, the birthplace of B'nai B'rith, Economy Candy, and much more.”<o:p></o:p>

2011: In honor of Jewish American Heritage Month, the Mizel Museum will open its doors free of charge” today “for visitors to tour its new permanent exhibit 4,000 Year Road Trip: Gathering Sparks,” which offers “a dynamic journey through art, artifacts and digital media that narrates and celebrates Jewish culture and history.”

2011: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Wizards of Lies: Bernie Madoff and the Death of Trust” by Diana B. Henriques and the recently released paperback edition of “The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time” by Judith Shulevitz <o:p></o:p>

2011: The Los Angeles Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including 'Say Her Name' by Francisco Goldman.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Four people were reportedly shot dead by Israel Defense Forces troops today as they opened fire on large numbers of infiltrators trying to breach Syria's southern border with Israel. Another four people were said to have been killed on the Lebanese side of its shared frontier with Israel, as Palestinian protests for the annual Nakba Day, which mourns the creation of the State of Israel, took hold across the region.

2011: Cedar Rapids native, John Lipsky, brother of Temple Judah congregant Ann Lipsky is named as acting managing director of the IMF.<o:p></o:p>

2011: Dozens of Im Tirtzu activists gathered outside the offices of UNRWA in Jerusalem holding signs and chanting, "They expelled, they attacked, they lost.” Im Tirtzu takes its name from the saying of Theodor Herzl "If you will it, it is no dream."<o:p></o:p>

2012: The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Book by Matti Friedman went on sale today.

http://www.workman.com/products/9781616200404/<o:p></o:p>

2012: Basya Schecter is scheduled to perform “Songs of Wonder” which sets the Yiddish poetry of the civil rights activist and Jewish philosopher Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel to music at the Washington DCJCC.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Cellist Yoed NIr is scheduled to join Regina Spektor in tonight’s performance at the United Palace Theatre.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Ellen Cassedy is scheduled to read from and sign her new book, We Are Here: Memories of the Lithuanian Holocaust at the National Museum of American Jewish Military History<o:p></o:p>

2012: Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times will receive an honorary degree to at Farleigh Dickinson University’s 69^thcommencement exercises.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Arab terrorists attacked southern Israel with a Kassam rocket early today and attacked Jews in the Hevron area with two firebombs overnight as “Nakba Day” began<o:p></o:p>

2012: Twenty-four year old Majid Jamali Fashi was hung today by Iran after having been “convicted for Israel and assassinating an Iranian nuclear scientist.”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/topic/majid-jamali-fashi/<o:p></o:p>

2012: “Sisters Joined by Tumult, Grown Apart in Time” published today provides a details review of I Am Forbidden, a novel by Anouk Markovits.<o:p></o:p>

2012(23^rdof Iyar, 5772): Eighty-eight year old Holocaust survivor and scholar Arno Lustiger passed away today.

http://www.northjersey.com/obituaries/Holocaust_survivor_and_scholar_Arno_Lustiger_dies_at_88.html<o:p></o:p>

2013(6^thof Sivan, 5773): First Day of Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2013: Scheduled opening of the Ein Gev Shavuot Festival<o:p></o:p>

This Day, May 14, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

11:07 PM Monday, May 13, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 14 In History<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>1141: As he journeyed towards Jerusalem, Yehuda Halevi set sail for Palestine today from Alexandria, Egypt. According to legend, Halevi was killed by an Arab horseman when as he reached his ultimate destination. <o:p></o:p>

1288: Thirteen Jews in Troyes, France were burned at the stake by the inquisition<o:p></o:p>

1316: Birthdate of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor. Charles viewed his Jewish subjects as “servi camerae” and issued numerous letters ordering that they not be harmed. The title of Holy Roman Emperor sounded grand but had very limited power so these letters went unheeded for the most part. However, when the Jewish community of Breslau was attacked, Charles ordered the killers to be arrested and punished for their crimes. <o:p></o:p>

1483: Coronation of Charles VIII of France ("Charles l'Affable"). In the second year of his reign, following accusations of usury, the inhabitants of Marseilles, the port city of the recently acquired territory of Provence, attacked the Jewish neighborhoods pillaging them and killing numbers of Jews in 1484 and again in the early months of 1485, leading to an exodus of Jews from the city, especially to Sardinia which became home to about 200 Jewish families of Marseilles. However, King Charles VIII was not inclined to conform to the popular demand of expelling the Jews from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Provence</st1:place></st1:state>. He decreed that all Jews wishing to leave should be allowed to leave <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city>unharmed on condition they had fulfilled all their engagements with the Christians. The city authorities, on the other hand, were not prepared to let the Jews leave <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city>with their property and took various measures in order to reduce their emigration, among others they organized an inventory of the Jewish property in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city> in 1486. The resulting protests of the Jews assured the royal intervention and a few additional years of protection. The expulsion of the Jews from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Spain</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1492 brought new Jewish inhabitants to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city>. In 1492 the Jewish community of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city>ransomed 118 Jews of Aragon captured by the pirate Bartholemei Janfredi, having paid the sum of 1,500 écus, which it borrowed from a Christian. Renewed anti-Jewish attacks in 1493 eventually led to the general expulsion of the Jews from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marseilles</st1:place></st1:city> three years after Charles passed away in 1498. <o:p></o:p>

1572: Gregory XIII begins his papacy. “Gregory's policy toward the Jews cannot be distinctly characterized, since it swayed between relative favor and severity. Soon after his election, he protected the Jews in the ghetto of Rome who were in danger of being attacked by the soldiers. Further, an order issued by his notary threatened with hanging any non-Jew found in the ghetto or its vicinity without a valid reason. Gregory authorized once more moneylending with a maximum interest rate of 24%. He guaranteed the safe-conduct of Jews coming into Italy or passing through the country. Although Marranos were also able to benefit from this concession, Gregory nevertheless allowed the Marrano Joseph Saralbo, who had returned to Judaism in Ferrara, to be condemned to the stake in 1583. Gregory was also responsible for organizing regular compulsory missionary sermons, often with the collaboration of apostate preachers The Jewish community was compelled to defray the costs of this institution, as well as the expenses of the House of *Catechumens. The new prohibitions against Jewish physicians treating Christian patients contributed to the decline of medical science among Italian Jews. However, shortly before his death, Gregory intervened with the Knights of Malta to obtain the release of Jewish prisoners in their hands, even though the ransom he offered was lower than the sum demanded.” (As reported by Jewish Virtual Library)<o:p></o:p>

1590: On this date the Sumptuary Laws were enacted aimed at the Jews of Casale (Italy). These were laws regulating what Jews may wear, how they may marry, what they may serve at a wedding, and all manner of what might be called social intercourse. These laws were commonplace in <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>and designed to humiliate and punish the Jews in the name of Christ<o:p></o:p>

1637: The Jews of Venice were denied the right to practice law<o:p></o:p>

1643: Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII. Louis reigned until his death in 1715. His record of dealing with the Jews was uneven, based primarily on financial needs and attempts by Catholic French merchants to use religion to oust their Jewish competitors. Five years before his death, he issued a final ban against Jews living in France, a ban that was not fully enforced.<o:p></o:p>

1726(13^thof Iyar, 5486): Rabbi Moshe Darshan, author of Torat Ahsam, passes away.<o:p></o:p>

1803: Birthdate of Salomon Munk, the German-born French Orientalist. In his formative years he was a trained in Torah and Talmud before moving on to Berlin where he became well versed in the classical languages and cultures. He moved to France, because as a Jew, he could not be hired to work in his chosen profession. In France, he developed an expertise in the works of Aristotle and Maimonides. <o:p></o:p>

1807: The newly created grand duchy of Baden recognizes “Judaism as an officially tolerated religion” mean they are “emancipated.” At the same time Jews are still exclude from being employed in the civil service.<o:p></o:p>

1808: Birthdate of Leon Hyneman, a native of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania who settled in Philadelphia where he was a leading Mason and the father of eight children including Leona Moss who gained fame as an actress using the stage name of Leona Moss and Alice Hyneman, a noted author.<o:p></o:p>

1824: The Justices of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, meeting in Lancaster, a city that for one day in September, 1777 was capital of the nascent United States of America, "carefully perused and examined" the Constitution of the Jewish congregation known as Kaal Kadosh Mickve Israel (The Holy Congregation Hope of Israel) in Philadelphia which decrees that services in the Philadelphia synagogue shall always be according to the custom of the Portuguese Jews. The finding of Justices Tilghman, Gibson and Duncan was that this, and everything else in their proposed constitution, was lawful. It was a beautiful example of the novus ordo seclorum "the new order of the times" promised on the Great Seal of the United States. Let us strive to remember this in our day when this new order is under constant attack, both at home and abroad.<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> 1832: Birthdate of Rudolf Lipschitz, the German mathematician who gave “his name to the Lipschitz continuity condition.”<o:p></o:p></o:p>

1847: Composer Fanny Mendelssohn passed away. She was the granddaughter of Moses Mendelssohn. Her grandfather was one of the founders of what would become Reform Judaism. Unfortunately, Fanny was not Jewish.<o:p></o:p>

1853: Word reached the United States today, as reported in the New York Times,that Holy Week had seen outbreaks of violence in Jerusalem. Greeks and Armenians fought with each in front of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher while 24 “missionaries of the London Protestant Association” had “a scuffle with the Jews in the streets of Jerusalem.”

1853: According to reports published today, J. Lewis Levy Esq., who is Jewish, has been returned as guardian of the Cathedral City of Rochester (U.K.)<o:p></o:p>

1853: The New York Times reported that the Earl of Aberdeen has told the House of Lords that he had changed his mind about the Jewish Disabilities Bill. Two years ago he had voted against the bill. Now he was prepared to vote for it because “he reagred the exclusion of the Jews from civil privileges as a remnant of the spirit of persecution which prevailed in former times throughout Christendom.”<o:p></o:p>

1854: The American Society for Meliorating the Conditions of the Jews celebrated its sixth anniversary with a meeting tonight at the Reformed Dutch Church in New York City. The organization is dedicated to converting Jews to Christianity. The Society is convinced that the Jews of the United States are ripe for conversion. However according to its own figures there are more than 40,000 Jews living in the United States and the society has successfully converted 79 of them. <o:p></o:p>

1859: Mr. R. J. de Cordova, a well-known humorist is scheduled to give a lecture this morning at Temple Emanu-El in New York City. Mr. de Cordova is scheduled to give a lecture every third Saturday for the rest of the year.<o:p></o:p>

1861: A copy of the War Department order announcing Major Mordecai's resignation reached the arsenal at Watervliet, NY which forced Mordecai to relinquish command to his subordinate before his unnamed replacement had arrived.<o:p></o:p>

1864(8th of Iyar, 5624): Baron Salomon de Rothschild died in Paris today at the age of 29, only two years after his marriage and less than a year after the birth of his daughter, Helene. He was buried at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in the family vault. Of his death, the Goncourt brothers wrote "Cabarrus, the Rothschild's doctor, told Saint-Victor that the young Rothschild who died the other day really died of the excitement of gambling on the stock exchange."<o:p></o:p>

1864: Emma Mordecai had a dispute with her sister-in-law Rosina over reports of a victory by the Confederates under General Lee. Rosina, who was not Jewish, doubted the report. Emma, who was Jewish and was an ardent Southern patriot, insisted that the report must be true. Mordecai's outburst was intemperate since she was a refugee staying at her sister-in-law's Virginia farm<o:p></o:p>

1865(18^thof Iyar, 5625): Lag B’Omer<o:p></o:p>

1867: Birthdate of Kurt Eisner, author and critic turned politician. Eisner opposed the Kaiser during World War I and became the first democratically elected leader of Bavaria after the war. He was assassinated in 1919.<o:p></o:p>

1872: In response to a U.S. Senate resolution of March 28, today, President Grant sent to the Senate copies of all correspondence regarding “the persecution and oppression of the Israelites of Romania.” The correspondence consisted of a series of letters from Benjamin F. Peixotto, the American Consul at Bucharest and Hamilton Fish, the U.S. Secretary of State. In the correspondence, Peixotto described the attacks on the Jews and the failure of the government to punish the attackers. He also described the efforts made by the representatives of several European governments, except for the Russians, who attempted to intercede with the government of Prince Michael on behalf of the Jews. For his part, Secretary Fish wrote to Peixotto expressing his support for any action that might “avert or mitigate further harshness toward” toward the Jews living in Romania. [Editor Note – The Grant Administration’s support of the Jews of Romania is but one of several actions that would tend to show that Grant was not an anti-Semite and that the order of expulsion he issued during the Civil War was an aberration and a mistake he regretted rather than a sign of deep character flaw.]<o:p></o:p>

1873: The New York Times reviewed Sketches of Jewish Life and History by Henry Gersoni which was published by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Printing Establishment.<o:p></o:p>

1879: An article subtitled “Frenchmen of Foreign Origin: Distinguished Instances of Aliens Attaining Position in France” published today provides background information on several non-native Frenchmen who rose to prominence in France and who played key role in the life of the country. Of the Jews who fit into this category, the article mentions “the ancestor of the bankers Pereire [who] was a Portuguese Jew who introduced into France the teaching of the deaf and dumb; Bisschoffsheim, another banker is a self-made Jew…Bauer a Hungarian convert from Judaism [who] was court preacher to Napoleon III…Salomon Munk, another orientalist was a German Jew. So too was Jules Oppert, whose religion obliged him to seek a professorship in France.” [Editor’s Note – The references to Munk and Oppert are self-explanatory, although the column makes one mistake. It was Munk, not Oppert, who came to France because his religion precluded him from being hired in his native Germnay. Bauer probably refers to Abbe Bauer who reportedly trained as a Rabbi before converting to Roman Catholicisim. Bisschoffsheim is probably Raphael Louis Bischoffsheim, the banker whose philanthropy included the founding of the Nice Observatory. Pierre probably refers to Emile and Isaac Pierre the 19^thcentury bankers of Sephardic origin, who were the sons of Jacob Rodrigues Pereira, who was “one of the inventors of a manual language for the deaf.”<o:p></o:p>

1879: Mary Nolhes swore out a complaint in the Essex Market Police Court today “charging her husband, Joseph, a Polish Jew with abandonment.” The complaint was dismissed after the court determined that Joseph was “a henpecked husband” who had been abandoned by his wife. Gustav Diner, a “young and muscular man” who was the complainant’s brother, left the court with the couple. Once outside of the building, Diner, who apparently thought he could not be seen by anybody from the court “began to pound his brother-in-law unmercifully.” A police officer named Ryan “collared Ryan” and took him back to Court where he was jailed on charges of assault and battery.<o:p></o:p>

1885: Birthdate of conductor and composer Otto Klemperer. Born in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Breslau</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Germany</st1:country-region></st1:place>(now <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Wroclaw</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Poland</st1:country-region></st1:place>) Klemperer was a child prodigy taking his first music lessons at the age of four. Like so many of his generation, Klemperer had two lives. The first was in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the second in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. His musical contributions to his native land were recognized by President Hindenburg who gave him the Goethe Medal "for his contributions to the advancement of German Culture." A few years later, in 1933, the Nazis confiscated his property and issued a warrant for his arrest. Klemperer came to the Klemperer came to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1934 with the reputation as a world-famous conductor. Over the years he led orchestras in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>, <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Philadelphia</st1:place></st1:city>, and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Pittsburgh</st1:place></st1:city> and was director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra for six years. He also continued his distinguished career as a composer. He died in 1973 at the age of 88.

1889(13th of Iyar, 5649): Samuel Hirsch, a major Reform religious philosopher and rabbi, passed away in Chicago, Illinois.

<o:p> </o:p>

1891: Claims have were filed by many of the unsecured creditors of Levy Brothers & Co with the Sheriff today<o:p></o:p>

1891: Solomon Crizar, a Polish Jew was still in custody today facing charges for setting fired to a tenement on Johnson Avenue in Brooklyn, NY<o:p></o:p>

1891: A detachment of troops has been sent from Athens to Corfu to restore order after an outbreak of violence that has resulted in the death of 2 Jews and all businesses owned by the Jews closed. At the same time the Prefect of Corfu has been summoned to Athens to explain the outbreak of violence<o:p></o:p>

1892: In Germany, the liberal newspapers express the hope that the libel action brought by Loewe & Co against Rector Ahlwardt, the well-known Jew-baiter will put an end to his false claim that this Jewish firm supplied defective rifles to the army.<o:p></o:p>

1892: Mrs. Schloss purchased a picture embroidered by a little girl from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum on the last night Actors’ Fund Fair.<o:p></o:p>

1892: “Columbia Likely to Get More Books” published today described the successful efforts of Professor Richard Gottheil and E.R.A. Seligman to secure the books in the library of Temple Emnau-El for Columbia College. The school already has a Professor of Hebrew and Semitic Languages.<o:p></o:p>

1893: Harold Frederic sent a cable from London “announcing that the exodus of Jews from Poland had actually begun and that the refugees were already arriving in America.”<o:p></o:p>

1893: “New Jersey Religious Bodies” published today provides a picture of denominational membership in the Garden State. There are 19 Orthodox congregations with 2,521 members and 5 Reform congregations with 1,755 members scattered through the state. The total number of Jews in the state is thought to be closer to 15,000 than the published 4,276. The discrepancy is created by the fact that most congregations tend to just count the head of the family instead of all family members.<o:p></o:p>

1894: The London correspondent of the New York Times reported today that the Jewish immigrants being forced to leave Russia face an additional challenge – an outbreak of Cholera which has spread from southwestern Russia to areas near Hamburg and Riga which are the ports of embarkation used by these emigrants<o:p></o:p>

1895: Based on a review published today, “Oliver Twist” is no longer popular with New York theatre goers. Among other things, “the audience refused to take Fagin seriously” even though H. G. Carleton played the part with great skill. Apparently, a play featuring an evil Jew no longer has the allure it did when Dickens wrote the novel on which the play is based.<o:p></o:p>

1895: Birthdate of Lew Lehr, the native of Philadelphia, PA comedian and writer in the pioneering days of film and radio whose works included Stop Me If You’ve Heard This One<o:p></o:p>

1897(12th of Iyar, 5657): Max Maretzek passed away at Pleasant Plains, New York<o:p></o:p>

http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10401-maretzek-max<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

1898: “Stories of the Ghetto” published today provides a review of The Imported Bridegroom and Other Stories of the New York Ghetto by Abraham Cahan.<o:p></o:p>

1899: Reverend Madison C. Peters of the Bloomingdale Reformed Church gave the second lecture in his series “Justice to the Jew” in which he is trying to correct many of the inaccurate conceptions about this “race that has been maligned.”<o:p></o:p>

1899: “Russian Plans Against Jews” published today described various anti-Semitic policies being pursued by the Czar’s government, the first of which was the prohibition of Jews being in St. Petersburg, the nation’s capital. The ban applies to foreign Jews including those from France, Russia’s primary military ally. <o:p></o:p>

1904: Herzl writes to the Austrian Foreign Ministry. He reports on this audience with Agenor Goluchowsky, the Austrian Foreign Minister.<o:p></o:p>

1908(13th of Iyar, 5668): Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach, a New York gangster was gunned down.<o:p></o:p>

1910: A pogrom was perpetrated by a nationalist organization against the cultural institutions of the Russian Jews in Buenos Aires.<o:p></o:p>

1912: The Tomb of Samuel Manasseh Ben Israel was restored at the Middleburg Portuguese Cemetery in Holland.<o:p></o:p>

1913; New York Governor William Sulzer approves the charter for the Rockefeller Foundation, which begins operations with a $100 million donation from John D. Rockefeller. Governor Sulzer enjoyed support among the Jewish community of New York City and signed The 1913 New York State Civil Rights Act into law.<o:p></o:p>

1915: During WWI, the Alliance Israelite Universelle announced that it would continue all activities in its institutions in the Ottoman Empire. <o:p></o:p>

1923: A check for $10,000 was handed by Mr. Felix Warburg to Dr. Chaim Weizmann just before the former sailed for Europe<o:p></o:p>

1923: It was reported today that The Committee on Higher Degrees of Columbia University has accepted the dissertation of Dr. Mordecai Saltes entitled “The Yiddish Press As A Force in America.” (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1923: A radical change in money raising methods for National Jewish philanthropies was proposed at the National Conference of the Jewish Social Service which began its sessions this afternoon here at the Hotel Washington. The proposal, made by Mr. Samuel A. Goldsmith of the Bureau of Jewish Social Research, New York, on behalf of the Committee of Nine appointed last year was that instead of these institutions obtaining their maintenance and other funds by direct, personal solicitation, a national budget be established based on the requirements of these institutions. (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1924: The first conference of the General Zionist movement concluded its meeting in Jerusalem. It decided to establish a General Zionist Federation to amalgamate all centrist factions in Palestine.<o:p></o:p>

1924: Establishment of the city of Bnei Brak. Bnei Brak is mentioned in the Bible as one of the cities of the tribe Dan. Later it was famous as the site of Rabbi Akiva’s academy. The city is mentioned in the Haggadah as the place where the all-night Seder of the Rabbinic sages took place. The modern city was founded by charedi Jews from <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>and is famous for its yeshivot and Chassidic communities. Bnei Brak is northwest of Tel Aviv. <o:p></o:p>

1925: Birthdate of Yuval Ne’eman founder of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s space program and a key figure in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s nuclear program. http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/may/15/obituaries.guardianobituaries <o:p></o:p>

1926: Birthdate of Allen Mandelbaum, whose fluid, sensitive English version of Dante’s “Divine Comedy” stamped his reputation as one of the world’s premier translators of Italian and classical poetry (As reported by William Grimes) <o:p></o:p>

1930: In New York, Ruth and Sol Peterman gave birth to famed opera singer Roberta Peters http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/peters-roberta<o:p></o:p>

1930: Dr. Leon Pazi, who has just returned from Palestine, cheered delegates to the Argentine Zionist Congress which opened here today, with an optimistic report of the work of the Jewish colonies in Palestine. Zionists from all parts of Argentine are in attendance. Assurance of the support and sympathy of the people of Argentine for Zionism was given the congress by Senator Molinari while reports on the work of the Buenos Aires Zionist Federation during the riots in Palestine last Summer and on the aid being given Zionism by Zionists in Argentine were read to the delegates by the president of the Buenos Aires Zionist Federation. (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1931(27th of Iyar, 5691): Playwright and stage producer David Belasco passed away.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.broadway.tv/broadway-features-reviews/haunting-broadway-the-ghost-of-david-belasco<o:p></o:p>

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Belasco.html<o:p></o:p>

1933(18th of Iyar, 5693): Lag B’Omer<o:p></o:p>

1933: Indignation against the Hitler regime in Germany is not confined to British Jewry but is shared by the British public of all classes and opinions, Leonard Montefiore, president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, told members of the Board of Jewish Deputies today.<o:p></o:p>

(As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1934: A natural disaster occurs in Tiberius when cloudbursts cause flooding and rockfalls. Homes are swept into <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">Lake</st1:placetype> <st1:placename w:st="on">Kinneret</st1:placename></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p>

1935: A court in Bern, Switzerland, pronounces the German edition of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion a forgery.<o:p></o:p>

1936: Viscount Edmund Allenby passed away. As General Allenby, he led the Allied forces that liberated Eretz <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, including <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, from the Ottoman Turks. Allenby’s victory gave practical meaning to the Balfour Declaration by creating facts on the ground. Furthermore, a Jewish Legion fought under Allenby’s command and played a central role in some of the fighting with the Turks.<o:p></o:p>

1936: A large Jewish delegation met with the British High Commissioner and discussed the worsening conditions in the country brought on by continued Arab attacks and violence. The Mayor of Tel Aviv questioned the ability of the British to deal with the situations and leaders from Hederah said they could mobilize 150,000 men to protect the Jews and their interests. The High Commissioner praised the “exemplary Jewish behavior and self-control…He requested the Jews to fortify themselves with more patience.”<o:p></o:p>

1937: The Government today rushed police reinforcements into the Polesia province as anti-Semitic rioting in the town of Brzesc (formerly known as Brest-Litovsk), which caused injuries to 50 Jews and an estimated $400,000 damage, gave signs of spreading to neighboring villages.As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1937: Jews were forbidden today to give performances of Beethoven, Mozart and Goethe on the ostensible grounds that they must be allowed "to develop their own spiritual and creative genius." Explanation of the ban was offered by Hans Hinkel, Nazi Commissar for Jewish Cultural Affairs, who said: "Jews must be allowed to develop their own spiritual and creative genius. If they are unable to or show themselves so poor in spiritual endowments that they cannot develop their own culture, it is all the more necessary to show the world that we cannot allow them to become the masters of our cultural life." (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1940(4th of Iyar, 5700): Anarchist and feminist, Emma Goldman passed away. Born in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>in 1869, she fled <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region>in 1885 during a period of intense anti-Semitism. Over the years she became active in anarchist causes. Her anti-war political activities cost her <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region>citizenship and deportation back to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Russia</st1:place></st1:country-region> to experience the Communist takeover in that country. Goldman was anti-Communist and ended up escaping to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>. For the rest of her life she devoted herself to trying to save the world through anarchy and feminism. She died in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Toronto</st1:place></st1:city>but the American government allowed her body to buried in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Chicago</st1:place></st1:city>, the city that had so influenced her life.<o:p></o:p>

1941: The Nazis arrested more than 3,600 Parisian Jews and sent to them concentration camps. This marked the start of the roundup of Jews in the Occupied Zone of France (the area directly controlled by the Nazis as opposed to Vichy France. The roundup began with Polish Jews who had become naturalized French citizens but it did not stop here.<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

or<o:p></o:p>

1941: Approximately 4000 Jews are deported from <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Paris</st1:place></st1:city>, most to a camp at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Pithiviers</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place>. “Pithiviers, near <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Orleans</st1:place></st1:city>, was one of the infamous concentration camps where children were separated from their parents and imprisoned, while the adults were processed and departed to camps further away, usually <st1:place w:st="on">Auschwitz</st1:place>.” This camp, like the one at <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Drancy</st1:place></st1:city>, was operated by the Vichy French and their collaborators. Contrary to the image that the French have concocted about their behavior during World War II, French fascists, led by Petain and Laval, were active participants in the Nazi New World Order. As to the Jews, the French were already handing them over even before the Germans asked for them. <o:p></o:p>

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/may/07.asp<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

1941: The decision was made in Tel Aviv to establish the Palmach (Plugot Mahatz or ‘striking companies’ of the Haganah. “The Palmach had two primary aims: the defense of the Yishuv against the Arab bands which would inevitably harass the Jewish towns and settlements and engage in local rioting as soon as the British retreated from Palestine; and the defense of the country against the Axis invaders.” Yitshaq Sadeh, a Jew born in Russia in 1890, was the found and first commander of the Palmach. He passed away in 1952.<o:p></o:p>

1941: The Nazis interned 3,600 naturalized Jews of Russian origin.<o:p></o:p>

1942(27th of Iyyar, 5702): Noted Jewish Viennese pianist Leopold Birkenfeld is murdered at the Chelmno death camp. <o:p></o:p>

1946: The SS Max Nordau, a Haganah ship containing 1,750 men women and children (300 of whom were orphans) was intercepted by the British off the coast of Palestine. The refugees were shipped off for detention at Atlit while the crew was arrested and the ship confiscated by the British. The vessel joined other such ships, including the Enzo Sereni, the Tel Hai and the Orde Wingate at a dock in Haifa. The Palmach responded by simultaneously, blowing up eleven bridges that connected Palestine with surrounding countries. This spectacular event came at the cost of 14 Palmach lives.<o:p></o:p>

1948(5th of Iyar, 5708): In one of the most stirring moments in Jewish history David Ben-Gurion led the ceremony establishing the State of Israel. The British Mandate actually ended on <st1:date day="15" ls="trans" month="5" w:st="on" year="19">May 15, 19</st1:date>48. But that was a Saturday and the Jewish State would not be declared on Shabbat, so it was done the afternoon before. Herzl's prediction was off by one year. <o:p></o:p>

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Peace+Process/Guide+to+the+Peace+Process/Declaration+of+Establishment+of+State+of+Israel.htm<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

1948: Three resolutions were defeated at the United Nations by the Arabs and their allies to insure that Jerusalem would be an international city governed by the U.N. The Arabs insisted that Jerusalem must be an “Arab city” even though it had a Jewish majority. This lack of will on the part of the U.N. and Arab intransigence are the animating force by the refusal of Israeli governments to ever give up the city.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Egyptian planes bomb Tel Aviv, the first time the city had been bombed since the Italians flew over in 1940<o:p></o:p>

1948: The first broadcasts by Kol Yisrael, Israel's radio station. Kol Yisrael is Hebrew for the Voice of Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1948: In violation of the U.N. resolutions, Jordan's Arab Legion captured Atarot, north of Jerusalem. This was part of the Arab plan to cut off <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city> from the rest of the state of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1948: The United States became the first country to recognize the state of Israel.<o:p></o:p>

1948: "The Egyptian Prime Minister, al-Nukrashi Pasha, decided to proclaim a state of emergency and arrest all Communists declaring that all Jews were potential Zionists and that all Zionists were in fact Communists." (In Ishmael's House by Martin Gilbert)<o:p></o:p>

1948: Sir Alan Cunningham drove out of Jerusalem, bordered a plane and flew to Haifa.<o:p></o:p>

1948: When the Israeli flag was unfurled outside the Jewish Agency building in New York City, “throngs of Jewish youngster danced the hora outside and traffic on East 68^th Street came to a halt.”<o:p></o:p>

1948: The bitter battle to keep the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem took a positive turn for Jewish forces as they occupied Beit Dagan the British police fortress. At the same time, the Arabs were poised to seize the vital airport at Lydda. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Bechor-Shalom Sheetrit, was appointed Minister of Police, a position he held until a month before his death in January 1967. He served in fourteen governments and making him the country's longest continually serving minister.<o:p></o:p>

1948: David Remez was appointed Minister of Transportation in David Ben-Gurion's provisional government.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Yehuda Leib Maimon was appointed at Israel’s first Minister of Religious Services.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Maury Atkin, who had been employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, opened the first Israeli embassy in the United States at 2210 Massachusetts, Avenue. Atkin served as executive officer and agricultural consultant to the new Israeli Embassy until April 1950<o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported on the first visit to Israel of the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Foster Dulles, who arrived, accompanied by a large entourage "for a frank exchange of views." Israeli leaders asked <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> for a loan to meet their foreign currency debts which reached $70m., while another $40m. were due shortly. Dulles "was happy to be in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>" and was certain that the talks will be "mutually beneficial." <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel received from West Germany $75m. on account of reparations. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Post reported that 102 new immigrants arrived from Iran. <o:p></o:p>

1953: “The first railway line built by the State of Israel – 28 and a half miles of track running parallel to the coast between Hadera and Tel Aviv – was dedicated by Mrs. David Remez, widow of Israel’s first Minister of Communications who conceived the line in 1948.” The opening of the rail connection will shorten the time it takes to travel beween Haifa, Israel’s major port and Tel Aviv.<o:p></o:p>

1955: On the seventh anniversary of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>’s independence, a public memorial service is held at Carnegie Hall in honor of the late Albert Einstein.<o:p></o:p>

1967: Alfred Kazan and Nissim Ezekiel of the Bombay University were among the speakers at the six-day celebration of Henry David Thoreau sponsored by the Nassau Community College that came to an end today. <o:p></o:p>

1967: According to statements made by Nasser in justifying the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, this is the day on which he discussed the Soviet report of the Israel’s planned invasion of Syria with the government in Damascus and formulated their military response.<o:p></o:p>

1967: Israeli newspapers carried interviews with General Rabin, IDF chief of staff warning “Damascus” of the consequences that would arise from continued terrorist attacks.<o:p></o:p>

1969: Today marked the end of Abe Fortas’ tenure as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court.<o:p></o:p>

1974(22nd of Iyar, 5734): First Lieutenant Rami Zusman and Sergeant Reuven Brinenberg were killed just two weeks before Henry Kissinger negotiated a separation of forces agreement between the Syrians and Israelis.<o:p></o:p>

1977:The first official images of the Merkava were released to the American periodical Armed Forces Journal<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported on the changed mood in the Cairo media which claimed that the deadlock in the Israeli-Egyptian peace negotiations moved the whole Middle East to the situation which preceded the 1973 Yom Kippur war. The Egyptian press warned that President Sadat's pledge of "no more war" would not be fulfilled, unless <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>dropped its refusal to relinquish all the territories it captured in the 1967 war.<o:p></o:p>

1980(28^thof Iyar, 5740): Yom Yerushalayim<o:p></o:p>

1982: Richard F. Shepard reviewed Max and Helen by Simon Wiesenthal<o:p></o:p>

1983: It was reported today that Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger delivered a speech to the American Jewish Committee in which he said the Soviet government was “making a profound and dangerous mistake if it thought it could force the United States to abandon its commitment to Israel’s security.”<o:p></o:p>

1983: A new advertising campaign created by Needham, Harper & Steers/Issues and Images, which will promote a friendliness and warmth of the Israeli people toward travelers with the new theme line: ''Come to Israel, come stay with friends'' premieres today with two new 30-second television and radio commercials.<o:p></o:p>

1984: Birthdate of Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame.<o:p></o:p>

1986(5th of Iyar, 5746): Yom HaAtzma'ut<o:p></o:p>

1986: The Institute for War documents published Anne Frank’s complete diary.<o:p></o:p>

1987: As the IPO celebrates its 50^th anniversary, Leonard Bernstein conducts the symphony for a second night.<o:p></o:p>

1998: Performance of the last episode of Seinfeld on NBC with commercials selling at $2 million for a 30 second slot.<o:p></o:p>

2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Working Class New York: Life and Labor Since World War II” by Joshua B. Freeman and the recently released paperback edition of “The Lexus and the Olive Tree” by Thomas L. Friedman The New York Times columnist deploys a torrent of anecdotes and vignettes to probe the causes and effects of globalization and the transforming power of technology.<o:p></o:p>

2000:Karl Jay Shapiro, a native of Baltimore who was appointed the fifth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1946 passed away in New York.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.departments.bucknell.edu/stadler_center/shapiro/ <o:p></o:p>

2003: Allan Kornblum was appointed as a federal magistrate for the northern district of Florida.

2003: Dorrit Moussaieff an Israeli-born British jewelry designer, editor and businesswoman married the President of Iceland, Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson,<o:p></o:p>

2004:Mayyim Hayyim, a community mikveh [ritual bath] and education center in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Newton</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:state></st1:place>, opened its doors. The opening was the culmination of over three years of work by a committed group of Boston-area women led by author Anita Diamant.

<o:p></o:p>

2006(16th of Iyar, 5766): American poet and two time Poet Laureate Stanley Kunitz passed away.<o:p></o:p>

2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Becoming Eichmann: Rethinking the Life, Crimes, and Trial of a "Desk Murderer" y David Cesarani and the recently released paperback edition of “Omaha Blues: A Memory Loop” by Joseph Lelyveld which is a memoir of his “often painful Midwestern childhood” featuring his “warring parents: a literary mother and a political father, who was a Reform rabbi and a committed civil-rights activist.”<o:p></o:p>

2006: On NPR's Weekend Edition, Daniel Schorr mentioned a meeting at the White House that took place with colleague A. M. Rosenthal and president Gerald Ford. Ford mentioned that the Rockefeller Commission had access to various CIA documents, including those referring to political assassinations. Although scolded at first for his television report by former CIA director Richard Helms, Schorr was vindicated by the text of the Pike Committee, which he obtained from an undisclosed source and leaked to The Village Voice. [Editor’s Note – Schorr and Rosenthal were Jewish. Ford and Helms were not.]<o:p></o:p>

2006: The following tours were scheduled as part of the 15th annual Historic Site Preservation Week, an initiative of the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites (SPIHS: "Bauhaus on Bialik Street" - a tour of this street will mark the designation of "the White City" as a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Free guided tours of the old city of Be'er Sheva and other historic sites in the capital of the Negev; a free guided tour of The National Museum of Science, Technology and Space in Haifa which was formerly the site of the historic Technion Israel Institute of Technology Building.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The <st1:stockticker w:st="on">JCC</st1:stockticker> in Manhattan presents a film screening “Be Fruitful and Multiply: What’s A Mother to Do?”

2008: “The World Stamp Championship Israel2008” opens under F.I.P patronage in Tel Aviv. “<st1:stockticker w:st="on">WSC</st1:stockticker>Israel 2008” is organized by the Israel Philatelic Federation in cooperation with the Israel Post Ltd. and its Philatelic Service. Over 70 countries will be present with a variety of 2,500 exhibition frames of the world's finest philatelic collections at the weeklong event.<o:p></o:p>

2008:As US President George W. Bush lands in Israel for a three-day visit the IDF starts reducing its operations throughout the West Bank. The orders were delivered earlier this week to the IDF's Central Command by the political echelon.

2008:A shopping mall in Ashkelon was hit this afternoon by a long-range rocket fired from the Gaza Strip injuring around 90 people, four of them seriously. Two militant groups, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Resistance Committees, claimed responsibility. Among those seriously hurt are a 24-year-old mother and her infant daughter, both of whom were flown to Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, for treatment. They suffered head injuries. Two others sustaining serious injuries were rushed to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Barzilai</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Medical</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Center</st1:placetype></st1:place>in <st1:place w:st="on">Ashkelon</st1:place> for emergency surgery. Most other injuries were light.<o:p></o:p>

2009:The Foundation for Jewish Studies presents a free lecture with Dr. Robert Alter speaking on “The Challenge of Translating the Bible” at the Washington DC Jewish Community Center.<o:p></o:p>

2009: The 92^nd Street Y presents a lecture by Susanne Vromen entitled “Sanctuary from Hell: Belgian Nuns Who Saved Holocaust Children” in which this Professor Emeritus of Sociology at Bard College author of “Hidden Children of the Holocaust: Belgian Nuns and Their Daring Rescue of Young Jews from the Nazis” shares the “riveting stories” of the Belgian Jewish children who were hidden in Roman Catholic convicts and orphanages starting in 1942.

2009:Today Jordan's king pressed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to immediately commit to the establishment of a Palestinian state, as the monarch pursued a sweeping resolution of the Muslim world's conflicts with Israel. King Abdullah II made the comments during a meeting in the Red Sea city of Aqaba with Netanyahu, who made an unannounced, lightning visit to neighboring Jordan.

2009(20^thof Iyar, 5769): Beatrice Israel Muhlendorf, passed away today at the age 93 in Sheffield, Alabama. Mrs. Muhlendorf was a native of Worcester, Mass., and a member of Temple B'Nai Israel. She attended Florence State Teachers College and graduated from the University of Alabama in 1936.She was the co-founder of the Rho chapter of Sigma Delta Tau sorority at the University of Alabama and served as president in 1935. a lifelong sustaining member of the Muscle Shoals District Service League, past board member of the YMCA of the Shoals and Northwest Alabama Easter Seals Rehabilitation Center, Turtle Point Yacht and Country Club and was past president of the Temple B'Nai Israel Sisterhood. She worked for the Navy department during World War II, where she met her husband, Jack, and married in 1942. She, along with her father and husband, co-founded Paper and Chemical Supply Co. in 1949, where she served as a chairman of the board until her passing. She was preceded in death by her husband, Jack Muhlendorf <o:p></o:p>

2010(1 Sivan, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

2010:Rabbi Shira Stutman and musician Sheldon Low are scheduled to lead a musical and interactive Shabbat at the Historic 6^th & I Synagogue in Washington, D.C.

2011:Bat Mitzvah of Liliana Schulder is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah at The Temple, Atlanta’s oldest synagogue which was founded in 1867.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The Cincinnati Art Museum is scheduled to present “A Jewish View of Cincinnati” will “explore art from ancient times that relates to Jewish history; paintings of biblical stories and themes, and works by Jewish artists. <o:p></o:p>

2011: Pianist Menahem Pressler is scheduled to appear with the Jupiter Quartet as part of the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, was taken off an Air France plane at Kennedy International Airport minutes before it was to depart for Paris on today, in connection with the alleged sexual attack of a maid at a Midtown Manhattan hotel, the authorities said.

2011(10^thof Iyar, 5771): Ninety-year old Joseph Wershaba, the colleague of Edward R. Murrow who helped to expose Senator McCarthy, passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/18/business/media/18wershba.html?_r=0<o:p></o:p>

http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=seeitnow<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

2011(10^thof Iyar, 5771): Eighty-nine year old Murray Handwerker, the man who turned Brooklyn based Nathan’s hot dog stand into a nationally known institution passed away today. (As reported by Reed Abelsson) <o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/16/nyregion/murray-handwerker-who-made-nathans-more-famous-dies-at-89.html<o:p></o:p>

2012: At the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC, Dr. Pamela S. Nadell, Chair of the Department of History and Director of the Jewish Studies Program at American University is scheduled to survey 350 years of the American Jewish experience through the prism of National Museum of American Jewish located on Philadelphia's Independence Mall.<o:p></o:p>

2012: The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music is scheduled to present an evening of performances celebrating its Israeli alumni, students, and international collaborators

2012:Todd Hasak-Lowy author of Here and Now: History, Nationalism, and Realism in Modern Hebrew Fiction is scheduled to participate in A Dalkey Archive Translators Night as the McNally Jackson Bookstore in New York City.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Roberto Rodriguez and the Cuban Jewish All Stars are scheduled to perform at the Washington DCJCC.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Center for Jewish History and Center for Traditional Music and Dance are scheduled to present “Bay mayn mames shtibele: The Women's Art of Yiddish Folksong.”<o:p></o:p>

2012: In London, The Wiener Library is scheduled to hold a workshop for new recruits and experienced veterans of the Wiener Library’s Volunteer Translation Program. The program began with one translator in 2009.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Offensive lineman Mitchell Schwartz, a second-round draft pick of the Cleveland Browns, signed a four-year, $5.17 million contract with the team. Schwartz, a tackle from the University of California, Berkeley, was selected 37th overall in April’s draft. The Jewish player was among eight draft picks signed by the team today. His older brother Geoff is in his fourth season as an NFL player ( As reported by Mary Oster)<o:p></o:p>

2012(22^ndof Iyar, 5772): Nine-four year old “David M. Helpern, the business side of the husband-and-wife apparel design team known as Joan & David, who popularized elegant, comfortable — and non-high-heeled — shoes for working women in the 1960s before expanding their line internationally to include clothing,” passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/10/business/david-m-helpern-chief-of-joan-david-apparel-brand-dies-at-94.html?hpw<o:p></o:p>

2012: Jill Abramson, the executive editor of the New York Times did not address the graduating class at Barnard College because she was pre-empted by President Obama.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The refurbished Jerusalem Train Station is scheduled to host its first major event today.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/the-trains-in-the-station/<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Riddle of the Labyrinth: The Quest to Crack an Ancient Code by Margalit Fox, the doyenne of New York Times obituary writers goes on sale today. <o:p></o:p>

http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-06-222883-3<o:p></o:p>

2013: “Fire In My Heart: The Story of Hannah Senesh” is scheduled to open at the Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center.<o:p></o:p>

2013: Erev Shavuot<o:p></o:p>

2013: As part of the observance of Shavuot, Bentlee Birchansky and Noah Thalblum will celebrate their Confirmation at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Editor’s Note – I had the pleasure of teaching both of these youngsters. They are two of the brightest, nicest, most diligent students I ever worked with in the last fifty years. They have much to be proud of and even more to look forward to.)<o:p></o:p>

2013: On the secular calendar, 65^th anniversary of the establishment of the State of Israel!<o:p></o:p>

This Day, May 13, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

12:05 AM Monday, May 13, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 13 In History<o:p></o:p>

1333: Birthdate of Reginald III of Guelders, a duchy in the Kingdom of Prussia. In 1349 the Duke of Guelders, was authorized by the Emperor Louis IV of the Holy Roman Empire of Germany to allow Jews to live in his duchy. This may have been considered somewhat unusual because Jews were being expelled from other parts of the realm in response to the Black Death.<o:p></o:p>

1497: Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola. Alexander VI was one of the Renaissance popes whose religious qualities might best be summed up by stating that he was the father of Cesare and Lucretzia Borgia. His lack of concern with Church matters benefited the Jews especially the Jews and Marranos fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. He admitted so many refugees to Rome, that Ferdinand and Isabella registered major protests to his policy. Savonarola was a Dominican monk who opposed Alexander on grounds of morality of ethics which is what led to his excommunication. Savonarola’s enmity for the Pope had led him to “expel the Pope” from the Florentine region under his control. At the same time, Savonarola banned Jews from this area as well. So, from a Jewish point of view Alexander trumps Savonarola regardless of the moral stance of the two men.<o:p></o:p>

1610: Coronation of Marie de Medicis, as Queen consort of France and Navarre. Despite the ban on Jews living in the realm, she employed Elijah Montalto as her personal physician. He was a Marrano, who had been raised as a Christian in Portugal before settling in Venice after publicly returning to “the faith of his fathers. Born in 1567, he passed away in 1616 and was buried at Amsterdam in Beth Haim of Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Netherlands. <o:p></o:p>

1665: A statute was enacted in Rhode Island, offering “freemanship” with no specifically Christian requirements, thus effectively enfranchising Jews<o:p></o:p>

1728: Hayyim and Joshua Reizes of Lvov (heads of the Rabbinical court and the yeshiva respectively) were arrested when a Jesuit priest, Zoltowskiki, discovered that Jan Filipowicz (soon tortured and killed), a convert, had reconverted to Judaism. They were accused of complicity. Condemned to death, Joshua committed suicide by cutting his own throat. For three days his brother Hayyim refused to convert to Christianity. His tongue was then torn out, his body quartered and he was finally burnt. Their property was then confiscated.<o:p></o:p>

1781: Joseph II, the son and successor of Maria Theresa let Chancellor Count Franz Esterhazy know that he intended to improve the condition of his Hungarian Jewish subjects.<o:p></o:p>

1787: Captain Arthur Phillip of the Royal Navy and his eleven convict laden ships set sail for Botany Bay Australia. There are reportedly 17 Jews among the 1500 convicts.<o:p></o:p>

1792: Birthdate of Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti who would become Pope Pius IX. “Pius IX's relations to the Jews remain ambiguous. He repealed laws that forbade Jews to practice certain professions, and that required them to listen to sermons four times per year aimed at their conversion. Judaism and Catholicism were the only religions allowed by law (Protestant worship was allowed to visiting foreigners, but strictly forbidden to Italians). But the testimony of a Jew against a Christian remained inadmissible in courts of law, a tax levied only on Jews supported schools for converts from Judaism to Catholicism, and Jews continued in various other respects to be discriminated against by law. At the beginning of his pontificate, Pius IX opened the Jewish ghetto in Rome, but after his return from exile in 1850 re-instituted it again. In 1858, in a highly publicized case, a six-year-old Jewish boy, Edgardo Mortara, was taken from his parents by the police of the Papal States. It had been reported that he had been baptized by a Christian servant girl of the family while he was ill because she feared he would die and go to Hell, otherwise. At this time, the law did not permit Christians to be raised by Jews, even their own parents. Pius IX steadfastly refused calls from numerous heads of state including Emperor Franz Josef (1848–1916) of Austria-Hungary and Emperor Napoleon III of France (1852–70) to return the child to his parents.<o:p></o:p>

1799(8th of Iyar, 5559): Isaiah Berlin an 18^th century German Talmudist passed away.

1804: Birthdate Daniele Fonseca, who gained fame as Daniele Manin, the Italian patriot. Manin was born a Jew, but converted as a child at which time he changed his name out of respect for his patron. <o:p></o:p>

1837: The Jews of Leipzig were given permission to organize as a religious community and establish a synagogue<o:p></o:p>

1839(24th of Iyar, 5699): Rabbi Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, leader of the Aliya of the followers of the Gaon of Vilna to Eretz Yisrael passed away. The dynamic force of early Hasidism clashed head-on with the dynamic force of Ashkenazic traditionalism generated by the GR"A. The momentum of both movements created the two major aliyot of the pre-Zionist times. Rabbi <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>of Shklov arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1808. In 1815 he moved to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The location of his grave was unknown for a long time. It was discovered in 1964, 125 years after his death, in Tiberias.

1843(13th of Iyar, 5603): Dr. Daniel Levy Maduro Peixotto passed away. He was the eldest of son of Moses Levi Maduro Peixotto, a native of Curaco who had brought his family to New York from Amsterdamn. The elder Peixotto was a successful businessman who served as Chazan at Shearith Israel. Daniel who was born in Amsterdam in 1800 graduated from Columbia at the age of sixteen and earned his medical degree in 1819 at the age of 19. After a few years of travel he returned to New York in 1823, where he pursued his profession with success, and gained a place among the foremost practitioners of his day. He was one of the physicians of the city dispensary in 1827, and president of the New York county medical society in 1830-'1832, and took an active part in public charitable work as well as in Jewish educational movements. One of his eight children, Benjamin Franklin, went on to become a prominent newspaper man and politician who served in several diplomatic posts during the post-Civil War period. Dr. Daniel was quite proud of his Jewish heritage as can be seen from a speech he delivered while he was vice president of the Medical Society of the City and County of New York. “The writings of the Hebrews are generally acknowledged to be unequaled for the simplicity and dignity - the strength, conciseness and boldness of their style; the perfect truth to nature of their imagery; their animated eloquence and sublime figures. The conceits and puerile vanities which disgrace much of classical literature are altogether banished from their pages. It may, however, be suggested that these writings were inspired. This assertion is more imposing by its speciousness than forcible by its application. The great truths and sublime doctrines which were inculcated by Moses and the Prophet were undoubtedly derived from immediate communication with the Almighty.” [Moses and Daniel Peixotto by Dr. Yitzchok Levine]<o:p></o:p>

1846: The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>declares war on <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>officially marking the start of the Mexican-American War. As has been true in all other wars, Jews were active participants in this fight with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Like their gentile neighbors, Jews from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Texas</st1:place></st1:state> were active combatants. These included Adolphus Stern, David Kaufman and Leon Dyer each of whom would be prominent office holders in the early days of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Lone</st1:placename> <st1:placename w:st="on">Star</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">State</st1:placetype></st1:place>. Baltimore Jews formed a company of volunteers whose three commanding officers were Jewish. David Camden de Leon of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">South Carolina</st1:place></st1:state> was the most famous and colorful Jew to serve in the fight with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Mexico</st1:place></st1:country-region>. A surgeon by trade, de Leon literally swapped his scalpel for a sword at the Battle of Chapultepec where he led a successfully led a cavalry charge after the other officers had been killed or wounded and could not lead the troops. Fifteen years later, de Leon would be named Surgeon General of the Confederate Army.<o:p></o:p>

1853: An article entitled “The Jewish Disabilities Bill” published today described efforts in the British Parliament to make it possible for Jews to sit in the House of Commons. “The British House of Commons has again decided in favor of striking out the words ‘on the true faith of a Christian’ from the oath administered to Members of Parliament.” According to the author, the House of Lords will surely reject the attempt to change the in the oath as part of the continued to keep Jews from sitting in Parliament. While “notorious non-believers” take the oath “without a scruple” the only way a Jew could take the oath would be to convert from the faith of his fathers.<o:p></o:p>

1860: Birthdate of Henry Samuel Morais the son of Rabbi Sabato Morais, a well-known national Jewish leader, Rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. <o:p></o:p>

1864: The jury was unable to reach a decision in the case of Solomon Ullman vs. The Congregation B'Nai Israel. The unusual case revolved a claim by Ullman, a former congregant, that the synagogue had illegally removed his father’s tombstone from their cemetery. <o:p></o:p>

1866: The Pennsylvania Legislature passed an act today that allowed the children who were attending a school operated under the auspices of the Hebrew Education Society of Philadelphia to attend the Boys' and Girls' High School, Philadelphia.<o:p></o:p>

1872: Secretary of State Hamilton Fish wrote to Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, the U.S. Counsel in Bucharest, that while it is usually the policy of the government not to interfere in the internal affairs of other country’s an exception is to be made in this case since all else has failed. The State Department will support whatever measure Peixotto may take in joining with other diplomats “to avert or mitigate further harshness” shown toward the Jews living in Romania. (Peixotto was Jewish and he was purposely chosen by President Grant in an attempt to ameliorate the suffering of the Jews in Romania. This is yet another proof that Grant was not an anti-Semite) <o:p></o:p>

1877: An article subtitled “Jute” published today describes the origins and modern uses of this plant. The author claims that jute has been used since ancient times citing the story of Samson and Delilah as one of his proofs. “The seen green withes that had never been dried” which the Philistines had given to Delilah so that she might bind the Israelite prophet were “jute withes. “The basis for this supposition is the fact that the word translated ‘withes’ is in the Hebrew reading jeter – that means cordage or roping stuff of any kind.” In the 17^th century the Jewish connection was so strong that a form of jute called or Tossa jute (Corchorus olitorius), was popularly referred to as ‘Jews mallow.’ [Editor’s note – Apparently the term Jews mallow is one known to many cooks as can be seen from the recipe for a dish called Jews Mallow Soup http://www.food.com/recipe/molukhia-jews-mallow-soup-151132 ]<o:p></o:p>

1878: The New York Times featured a review of "Religion of China" by Dr. Richard Edkins. During Edkins visit to China he found that "the Jewish colony had dwindled to a few hundred members none of whom can read Hebrew." In what must be a reference to Simchat Torah, Edkins reported that until their synagogue was destroyed by fire the Jews "had an Autumn festival when they walked in procession around the hall taking the scrolls of the law with them." Until recently, they had twelve copies of the Pentateuch, some of which are now in England. According to some, the first Jews arrived during the Han Dynasty - 200 BCE to 200 CE while others came later from Persia<o:p></o:p>

1884(18th of Iyar, 5644): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1886: Birthdate of violinist and composer Joseph Achron. Born in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Warsaw</st1:place></st1:city>, Achron was a child prodigy from a musical family. He moved to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">St. Petersburg</st1:place></st1:city> in 1899 and joined the Society for Jewish Folk Music in 1911. His first Jewish work called "Hebrew Melody" became famous thanks to the interpretation by Jascha Heifetz. Achron lived in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Berlin</st1:place></st1:state>and <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>before settling in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> in the 1920's where he continued performing and composing. One of his most compositions was "Golem." When he passed away in 1943, one obituary called him "one of the most underrated modern composers.<o:p></o:p>

1888: Birthdate of Zelig Harry Lefkowitz who gained fame as "Big" Jack Zelig a New York City thug who was one of the last leaders of the Monk Eastman Gang.<o:p></o:p>

1890: The Amusements column published today provided a detailed review of “The Shatchen” a play written by Henry Doblin and Charles Doblin starring M.B. Curtis in the title role of this comedy about a Jewish marriage broker

1891: Two Jews were killed today and several more were injured when new violence broke out today in Corfu.<o:p></o:p>

1892: “Jews Ordered From Russia” published today reported that “ten thousand foreign Jews in Odessa have been order to leave” the Czar’s kingdom immediately.<o:p></o:p>

1892: Rector Alhwardt, the notorious anti-Semite went on trial today on charges that he libeled the firm of Loewe & Company when he charged that the company had furnished defective rifles to the army. <o:p></o:p>

1893: “Germany’s Political Crisis” published today described the surprise that has resulted from “the fact that the anti-Semitic electors of Arnswalde have again nominated Rector Ahlwardt, the notorious Jewish Baiter” despite the fact that he is serving a term in prions for having libeled the Jewish firm of Lowe & Company<o:p></o:p>

1893: “A press association dispatch sent from Berlin” today “asserts, in contradiction of the recent dispatches from” the New York Times correspondent in London “that there is no movement for the expulsion of Jews from Poland.”<o:p></o:p>

1893: Relying on information that first appeared in the Jewish Messenger, “The Expulsion of the Jews from Poland” published today decried the fact that Russia is allowed to treat her Jewish inhabitants in a manner that is both brutal and laced with bigotry while the Great Powers remain passive in the face of this menace to civilization that smacks of medieval barbarism.<o:p></o:p>

1893: The examination of another 200 of the 1,000 Russian Jews who arrived yesterday at Ellis Island aboard the steamship Dania will resume today. Immigration officials said that many of those already examined “were absolutely destitute” and that a number of them will be returned to the ship.<o:p></o:p>

1894: It was reported today that “there appears to have been a series of savage popular” attacks on the Jews in a number of towns in Southern Russia at Easter time. The bloodiest took place at Ekaterinoslav.<o:p></o:p>

1894: It was reported today that in response to new outbreaks of violence a renewed exodus of Jews has begun from Odessa. In the last week 2,200 have left the port, 800 bound for Argentina; the rest bound for England and the United States.<o:p></o:p>

1894: It was reported today that the official returns from the by-election in Schlochan (Germany) will require a run-off between the Conservative candidate and the first runner-up because the anti-Semitic candidate made “deep inroads in the traditional Conservative majority.<o:p></o:p>

1894(7^thof Iyar, 5654): Twenty year old Edwin Bach, the son of Sigmund J. and Rosalie Bach passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

1895: A dramatized version of “Oliver Twist” opened at the Star Theatre with H.G. Carleton playing the part of Fagan, “the awful Jew.”<o:p></o:p>

1896: Solomon Schechter discovered a fragment of the original Hebrew text of “Ecclesiasticus” that had come from the Cairo Genizah.<o:p></o:p>

1897: Theodor Herzl wrote, "Über Nacht fiel mir der Titel des Blattes ein: Die Welt. Mit dem Mog'n Dovid, in der der Globus hineinzuzeichnen wäre, mit Palästina als Mittelpunkt." -"Overnight the name for the paper occurred to me: Die Welt. [The masthead comes] with a Mogen Dovid [Star of David], inside which a globe should be drawn, with <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Palestine</st1:place></st1:city>as the central point."<o:p></o:p>

1898: In Harlem, Temple Israel began celebrating its 25^th anniversary and the 10^th anniversary of the dedication of its current facility today.<o:p></o:p>

1898: “Hebrew Charities Building” published today described the plans of Solomon Loeb of Kuhn, Loeb & Co to build a new four-story structure at 21^stStreet and Second Avenue which will be called The Hebrew Charities Building. De Lemos & Cordes have been retained for the project that will cost $150,000 on top of the $60,000 that has been paid for the land.<o:p></o:p>

1899: Memorial services for Baroness de Hirsch were held this afternoon in the auditorium of the Educational Alliance at East Broadway and Jefferson Street.<o:p></o:p>

1899: It was reported today that Doubleday & McClure will soon be issuing an abridged version of The Future of War by Jean de Bloch the Polish Jew who began as a peddler in Warsaw and rose to become a financier with a wide variety of interests in railways, banking and science. <o:p></o:p>

1900: Herzl made a Zionist speech at the "Israelitische Allianz".<o:p></o:p>

1900: In responding to Jacob Schiff’s criticism of the work of the Baron and Baroness de Hirsch Monument Association, Isador Straus agreed that these two great philanthropists required no monument since their good works spoke for themselves. Building the monument was an act of gratitude and hopefully, those who would view it would be moved to emulate the generosity of the Baron and Baroness.<o:p></o:p>

1904:Herzl writes to Wenzel von Plehve asking for an audience for Katzenelson.<o:p></o:p>

1905: Birthdate of Israeli graphic designer Franz Kraus. Born in St. Pölten, Austria he passed away in 1998 in Tel Aviv.<o:p></o:p>

1906: The Bezalel Art School opened in Jerusalem<o:p></o:p>

1912: Birthdate of Rabbi <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Judah</st1:place></st1:country-region>Nadich. As a Lt. Colonel and Army chaplain, Nadich would play a key role in the treatment for the Jews of Europe after W.W. II. As President of the Rabbinical Assembly, he would play a key role in gaining equality for women in Conservative Judaism.<o:p></o:p>

1916 (10th of Iyar, 5676): Sholem Aleichem passed away. Born Shalom Rabinowitz in the Ukraine, he grew up in the town of Vornokov which served as the model for the fictitious town of Kasrilevke that appears in his writings. Shalom Aleichem began writing in Hebrew. In 1883, he began writing in Yiddish which is when he adopted the pen name of Shalom Aleichem. He used a pen name because he did not want to offend friends and family (including his father) who thought Jews should be writing in Hebrew. Following the pogroms of 1905, he now famous author moved to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He died while living in the <st1:place w:st="on">Bronx</st1:place> at the age of 59. Shalom Aleichem employed humor and pathos to create a picture of the Shtetl. He was called the Jewish Mark Twain. His most famous character was Tevye who became a worldwide favorite in the hit show and movie, “Fiddler on the Roof.” [Ed. Note: There is no way this brief guide can do justice to this man or his work. The best way to “say Kaddish” for him is to read one of his stories]<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/nyregion/18nyc.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print<o:p></o:p>

http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Sholem_Aleichem<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of Edwin S. Shneidman, “a psychologist who gave new direction to the study of suicide and was a founder of the nation’s first comprehensive suicide prevention center..” (As reported by William Dicke)<o:p></o:p>

1919: During the Russian Civil War the Jews of Boguslav, a city in the Kiev district of the Ukraine were attacked by gangs of marauding peasants that killed 20 Jews,<o:p></o:p>

1921: The Palestinians have expressed their dissatisfaction with the reply made by Winston Churchill to the petition of the Moslem-Christian Association, which consisted of thirty-two typewritten pages and contained all their grievances “against the colonization of their country by the Zionist immigrants, who are arriving at the rate of 1,000 a month.”<o:p></o:p>

1922: Birthdate of actress Bea Arthur. Born Bernice Frankel, gained fame as Maude Findlay, a character first created for the hit series All In the Family, and then spun off for Maude, a hit show in which she was the lead. She gained further success as Dorthoy Zbornak, one of the lead characters in the television hit, “The Golden Girls.”<o:p></o:p>

1923: President Judge Jacob Caplan of New Haven, First Vice President, Louis Fabrican of New York; Second Vice-President, Bertram M. Aufsesser or Albany; Treasurer, Herman Asher of New York, Secretary, Max Levy were elected as officers of District #1 of the B’nai Brith Lodge today.<o:p></o:p>

1923:Mayor David E. Fitzgerald addressed a meeting of the B’nai Brith lodges in the Eastern United States. <o:p></o:p>

1924: Birthdate of Harry Heinz Schwartz, a South African lawyer, opponent of apartheid and South African ambassador to the United States. He served as defense lawyer for James Kantor, who was the defense attorney for Nelson Mandela during the infamous Rivonia Trial.<o:p></o:p>

1923: During a meeting held at the Hotel Astor, Dr. Chaim Weizmann, President of the World Zionist Organization addressed members of four congregations located on New York’s West Side. Mr. H. Leonard Simmons announced that the $100,000 quota for the West Side would be forthcoming shortly. Captain Gloster Armstrong, British Consul General in New York assured the attendees that Great Britain intends to fulfill its commitments in Palestine under the terms of League of Nations’ mandate. (As reported by JTA) <o:p></o:p>

1926(29^th of Iyar, 5686): Sixty-nine year old Sir Stuart Montagu Samuel, the elder brother of Herbert Samuel, 1sr Viscount Samuel passed away today. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1900 replacing his uncle Samuel Montagu, 1^stBaron Swaything. He served until 1916.<o:p></o:p>

1926: It was reported today that David M. Bressler, announced that contributions to the United Jewish Campaign in New York reached the sum of $4,835,867. (JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1926: The New York Times reported that during his recent visit to Palestine, Yasha Heifetz performed a concert in the Valley of Jezreel near the site of the “legendary battle of Armageddon.” During the five day tour, Heifetz took part in seven concerts including one attended by 10,000 workers in Tel Aviv.<o:p></o:p>

1927: Forty members of the National Socialist Party, responsible for the recent anti-Semitic riots on Kurfuerstendamm, were arrested by the police today. In a statement issued by the chief of police, he declared that the police will combat terrorism in the streets of Germany's capital. (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1928: Officials of the Hebrew National Orphans Home, led by its President, State Supreme Court Justice Aaron J. Levy, launched a drive today for an additional 10,000 members.<o:p></o:p>

1929: In Palestine, The Mandatory Government announces an immigration quota of 2.400 permits for a half-year period, beginning in April.<o:p></o:p>

1930: Talks between the heads of the Colonial Office and the Palestinian Arab delegation are concluded. Demands to end the growth of the Yishuv, immigration and land settlement remain unfulfilled.<o:p></o:p>

1935: Birthdate of composer Yizhak Sadai. Born in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Bulgaria</st1:place></st1:country-region>, Sadai moved to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> in 1949. Prof. Yizhak Sadai is one of the most regarded and influential music teachers in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p>

1936(21st of Iyyar, 5696): Two Jews are killed in the Old City of Jerusalem during the Arab Uprising.<o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Postreported that an Arab police constable who was expected to offer his testimony in the District Court was shot and killed by an Arab terrorist in a Haifa's market cafe. An Arab woman who came into the line of fire was also severely injured and later died from her wounds. <o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Postreported that at the League of Nations Britain requested "for the sake of peace" that all nations recognize the Italian conquest of Ethiopia. <o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Postreported that Poles became suddenly aware of the rapid Nazification of the local German community.<o:p></o:p>

1939: SS St Louis departs Hamburg for Cuba with 937 Jews on board. This tragic episode was portrayed in the book and the film, Voyage of the Damned. Having been denied entrance to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cuba</st1:place></st1:country-region>, the ship was turned away from the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Steaming off the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placetype w:st="on">shore</st1:placetype> of <st1:placename w:st="on">Florida</st1:placename></st1:place>, the refugees could see the lights of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Miami</st1:place></st1:city>. Coast Guard vessels tracked the ship to make sure nobody escaped and to keep the captain from running his ship aground in American waters. In the end, the ship returned to <st1:place w:st="on">Europe</st1:place>. About half of the passengers survived the war.<o:p></o:p>

1939: Birthdate of actor Harvey Keitel<o:p></o:p>

1940: Hans Rey, who is best known for creating Curious George, wrote in his diary today, “Songs English very slowly because of the events.” “Songs English” refers to a book of French and English rhymes on which he was working. “The events” refers to the German blitz driving across France.<o:p></o:p>

1941: The Nazis interned 3,600 naturalized Jews of Russian origin.<o:p></o:p>

1942(26th of Iyyar, 5702): Hyam Greenbaum, British violinist, composer and conductor passed away. He died one day after his 41st birthday.<o:p></o:p>

1943: Hans Frank sent Hitler a list of the "Jewish concealed and stolen goods," that were recovered including 94,000 men's watches, 33,000 women's watches, 25,000 pens and 14,000 scissors. Many of the watches were melted down for their gold or platinum content.<o:p></o:p>

1944: Dr. Samuel Levy, chairman of the board of directors announced that Dr. Samuel Belkin, Talmudist and scholar, will be inducted as second president of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, which includes Yeshiva College on May 23. The 33 year old Belkin is assuming a position left vacant by the death of Dr. Bernard Revel, the founder and first President of Yeshiva College.<o:p></o:p>

1944: Throughout the Nazi camp system, inmate tattoo numbers gain a new series, prefaced with the letter "A." The intention is to conceal the number of prisoners at <st1:place w:st="on">Auschwitz</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p>

1945: During Winston Churchill's famous broadcast speech "Five years of War", Britain’s wartime Prime Minister remembers the valor of Lance-Corporal John Patrick Kenneally who won the Victoria Cross for his exploits in Tunisia in 1943.<o:p></o:p>

1946: Birthdate of Marv Wolfman former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics<o:p></o:p>

1947: The U.N. General Assembly established the United Nations Special committee on Palestine, also known as UNSCOP.<o:p></o:p>

1948: As the British began their withdrawal from the Old City, the Haganah awaits the attack by 20,000 Arab soldiers who are determined to capture Jerusalem.<o:p></o:p>

1948: Chaim Weizmann calls Abba Eban out of a meeting at the United Nations seeking reassurance that the proposal to create a trusteeship for all of Palestine (a proposal that would kill the creation of the Jewish state) would not succeed. Eban assures Weizmann that U.N. Secretary General has said that trusteeship is a non-issue.<o:p></o:p>

1948: The Arab Emergency committee and the Haganah High Command signed the terms for the Arab surrender of the town of Jaffa. Despite Jews pleas to stay, 67,000 of the city’s 70,000 inhabitants of the city left, many by boat for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Lebanon</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p>

1948: In a daring nighttime firefight, Jewish forces seized the fort at the ancient town of Gezer at the southern end of the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem road. This is the same <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Gezer</st1:place></st1:city> that the Pharaoh gave to King Solomon as a wedding gift. <o:p></o:p>

1948: On the day before Israel declares her independence, Arab irregulars perpetrate The Kfar Etzion massacre. Armored cars of the Arab Legion broke through the final defense line of Kfar Etzion. In the last message sent by the defenders to <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, the defenders described “a <st1:place w:st="on">Masada</st1:place> –like battle.” The handful of Jewish defenders came out under a white flag and surrendered. Fifteen of the defenders stacked their weapons, and then, lined up to be photographed. Instead of the click of the camera, the Jews were treated to a burst of machinegun fire that killed all of them. Was this planned or a freak accident? To this day, the question has never been answered. The victorious Arab Legion did kill an Arab family that had remained in Kfar Etzion with their Jewish friends. <o:p></o:p>

1948: A motorbike courier delivers an envelope the Tel Aviv apartment of 32 year old Arieh Handler. The envelope contained an invitation to the ceremonies marking the Israeli Declaration of Independence. The envelope also contained a request that the arrangements be kept secret because of a fear that the British might stop the ceremony or the Arabs might use the ceremony as pretext to attack. <o:p></o:p>

1948:Maury Atkin was offered a job as executive officer and agriculture attaché of the first Israeli embassy. The embassy actually would not exist for another 24 hours.<o:p></o:p>

1950: Eliahu Elath, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, was named Ambassador to Great Britain today. Abba Eban is expected to succeed Elath.<o:p></o:p>

1952: The first degrees of Doctor of Medicine were awarded to 62 graduates of the Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School. <o:p></o:p>

1953: Tennis player, promoter, and women's advocate Gladys Heldman released the first issue of World Tennis Magazine<o:p></o:p>

1953:The Jerusalem Post reported that a Bill had been introduced in the Knesset by the Minister of Education and Culture, Prof. Benzion Dinur, for the establishment of "Yad Vashem" (an everlasting name), for the memory of the six and a half million Jews who perished in the Holocaust and were granted Israeli honorary citizenship. The Yad Va'Shem archives and museum were to be set up in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:place></st1:city>, "The Heart of the Jewish People<o:p></o:p>

1954: The original Broadway production of Pajama Game featuring features a score by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross opened today and ran for 1,063 performances. <o:p></o:p>

1959: Birthdate of British comedian and author Benjamin Charles “Ben” Elton, the grandson of German Jewish historian Victor Ehrenberg and the son Lewis Elton, a refugee from Hitler’s Europe and Mary Foster, a product of the Church of England.<o:p></o:p>

1959(5th of Iyar, 5719): Yom HaAtzma'ut<o:p></o:p>

1959: Birthdate of Israeli author Zeruya Shalev. A native of Kibbutz Kinneret and an editor at Keshet Publishing house, she survived a suicide bombing in January of 2004.<o:p></o:p>

1962(9th of Iyyar, 5722): Franz Kline abstract expressionist painter passed away at the age of 51.<o:p></o:p>

1965: Germany established diplomatic relations with Israel. (This comes 20 years after its unconditional surrender, at the end of World War II, and 17 years after the establishment of the State of Israel.)<o:p></o:p>

1965: Several Arab nations broke ties with West Germany after it established diplomatic relations with Israel. This came during the height of the Cold War when Communist East Germany was trying to establish itself as the real German government. The West Germans knew what it would cost them in them in the international arena if they recognized Israel, but they went ahead and did it any way.<o:p></o:p>

1967: Birthdate of American singer, songwriter, guitarist and musical genre innovator, Charles Michael "Chuck" Schuldiner.<o:p></o:p>

1967: Egyptian troops move into the Sinai, which is a demilitarized zone. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> radio sets the tone of propaganda ("<st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, with all its resources, is ready to plunge into a total war that will be the end of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.")<o:p></o:p>

1968: A funeral service for New York jurist George Frankenthaler is scheduled to be held at Temple Emanu-El starting at 2 pm.<o:p></o:p>

1975:"Rodgers & Hart" opens at Helen Hayes Theater in New York City for 108 performances.<o:p></o:p>

1983(1st of Sivan, 5743):Rosh Chodesh Sivan<o:p></o:p>

1983: Philip H. Dougherty reported that the “Israel Ministry of Tourism is more than tripling its advertising budget in the United States from last year, to $2.5 million, and may even add another $3 million to lure more American travelers and make up for the European falloff that followed the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. The advertising, created by Needham, Harper & Steers/Issues and Images, will promote a friendliness and warmth of the Israeli people toward travelers with the new theme line: ''Come to Israel, come stay with friends.''<o:p></o:p>

1986(4th of Iyyar, 5746): Yom HaZikaron<o:p></o:p>

1986: Natan Shcharansky is scheduled to meet with President Reagan and Secretary of State George P. Shultz in Washington, where he is to receive the Congressional Gold Medal at a reception in the Capitol Rotunda. (As reported by Jane Gross)<o:p></o:p>

1987: Leonard Bernstein will serve as guest conduct of the Israel Philharmonic as the IPO marks its 50^thanniversary.<o:p></o:p>

1988: Vincent Canby reviews “The Lighthoresman,” an Australian made film that depicts the heroism of 800 Australian mounted soldiers who triumphed over thousands of Turks and Germans at Beersheba, in southern Palestine, on Oct. 31, 1917. The battle was a key to the eventual Allied victory over the Turks during World War I which was a critical step in the creation of the modern state of Israel. As mechanized vehicles and machine guns came to dominate the modern battlefield, the Australians climatic cavalry charge against the Turks proved to be the last great, successful endeavor of this kind.<o:p></o:p>

1998: A souvenir sheet of three illustrations by Kariel Gardosh (Dosh) showing postal activities and featuring the character of "Srulik": a service counter at a post office, philately, and post boxes is issued by the Israeli Postal Authority.<o:p></o:p>

1999(27th of Iyyar, 5759): Mary Ellen “Meg Greenfield” famed political columnist and editor of the Washington Post Editorial Page, passed away. <o:p></o:p>

1999:On his 32nd birthday, famed musician Chuck Schuldiner was diagnosed with pontine glioma, a type of brain cancer that invades the brain stem, and immediately underwent radiation therapy.

2001: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Holocaust on Trial” by D.D. Guttenplan, “Lying About Hitler: History, Holocaust, and the David Irving Trial” by Richard J. Evans and the recently released paperback edition of “Dazzler: The Life and Times of Moss Hart” by Steven Bach “a careful, clear-eyed account of the life of the playwright, director and actor who collaborated with Broadway's best and pleased many people many times without making large claims for his own significance.”<o:p></o:p>

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2005: The Bishop of Birmingham, Hugh William Montefiore, passed away. The great-great-nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore, he converted to Christianity while attending Rugby School – a famous English day and boarding school.<o:p></o:p>

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2006: Approximately 3,000 people came a to a Toronto bookstore to see Leonard Cohen who was making his first public appearance in 13 years. <o:p></o:p>

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2007: The Wolf Prizes are presented at ceremony in the Knesset. Ada Yonath of the Weizmann Institute and George Feher of U.C. San Diego won the Chemistry Prize. The Art Prize went to Italian Michelangelo Pistoletto. <o:p></o:p>

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2007: After 90 days The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition, including some original scroll fragments never before displayed in the United States comes to a close at the Union Station in Kansas City. The Dead Sea Scrolls exhibition is a joint production of Union Station Kansas City and the Israel Antiquities Authority. <o:p></o:p>

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2007: The Sunday New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon and Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek which presents a detailed examination of the relationship between America’s first Jewish Secretary of State and his Presidential patron whose dark sided included a predilection for making anti-Semitic remarks.<o:p></o:p>

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2007: The Sunday Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Yiddish Policemen’s Union by Michael Chabon, Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power by Robert Dallek, The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 by Saul Friedländer and The Diary of Petr Ginz, 1941-1942 edited by Chava Pressburger. Petr Ginz was a budding writer and artists who died at <st1:place w:st="on">Auschwitz</st1:place>in 1944. <o:p></o:p>

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2007: The New York Times Magazine publishes “Writings in the Dark” by David Grossman in which “an Israeli novelist reflects on what literature can accomplish in a time of permanent political emergency and personal loss.”<o:p></o:p>

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2007(25th of Iyyar, 5767): Harvey Weinstein, a formalwear manufacturer and former chairman of Lord West formal Wear, passed away at the age of 82

2008: The 92^nd Street Y presents “Andy Borowitz, Jonathan Alter, Susie Essman, Calvin Trillin & More: Countdown to the Election” during which award-winning satirist Andy Borowitz of The New Yorker hosts an irreverent look at the upcoming presidential election, featuring Newsweek columnist Jonathan Alter, comedian Susie Essman and humorist and writer, Calvin Trillin.<o:p></o:p>

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2008: Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Lakeview's Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation leads a discussion of Rashi's Daughters Book 1: Johevedby Maggie Anton as part of the Spertus Book Review series. “In 1068, the scholar Salomon ben Isaac — better known as Rashi — returned home to the family winemaking business. He embarked on a path that indelibly influenced the Jewish world, writing the first Talmud commentary and secretly teaching Talmud to his daughters. In the first book of Maggie Anton’s dramatic — and romantic — trilogy, Joheved finds her spirit awakened by religious study, but has to keep her passion hidden. Must she choose between marital happiness and her study of Talmud?<o:p></o:p>

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2008: U.S. President George W. Bush, former British Prime MinisterTony Blair and media mogul Rupert Murdoch are among the 13 heads of state and 3,500 guests expected to attend President Shimon Peres' Presidential Conference in Jerusalem, which begins today and is being held in honor of Israel's 60th anniversary

2008: Best-selling author and Harvard psychology professor Tal Ben-Shahar was the guest speaker at today’s gala for the International Sephardic Education held at the Plaza Hotel, Daniel Roubeni received a Young Leaders Award. ISEF president Nina Weiner received the Lifetime Achievement Award.<o:p></o:p>

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2008: Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan assumed his new post as the 16th commander of the Israel Air Force. Nehushtan took up his new post during a ceremony at the IAF's Ramat David Base in the North and during which he replaced Maj.-Gen. Elazar Shkedy, head of the air force for the past four years. A pilot with thousands of hours on his flight log, Nehushtan, who previously served as head of the IDF Planning Division, holds degrees from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Northwestern University and Harvard University's Advanced Management Program.<o:p></o:p>

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2008: At today’s gala for the International Sephardic Education Foundation, held at The Plaza, Iran-born real estate maven Daniel Roubeni, a Young Leaders Award recipient, got teary-eyed as he described leaving Germany (where he had grown up) “to find a Jewish wife in the U.S.”<o:p></o:p>

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2009: At the National Archives in Washington, D.C., Michael Lasser, host of National Public Radio's "Fascinatin' Rhythm," presents a lecture on the music of the Great Depression, "Let's Go Slumming, Nose-Thumbing, at Park Avenue." Lasser is co-author of “America's Songs: The Stories Behind the Songs of Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley” so the lecture is followed y a book signing.<o:p></o:p>

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2010: Professor David Ruderman is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “The People And The Book: The Invention of Printing And The Transformation of Jewish Culture.”<o:p></o:p>

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2010: The Wolf Prize Awarding Ceremony is scheduled to take place at 6:30 pm the Knesset Building in Jerusalem. The awards are scheduled to be presented to the recipients by the President of the State of Israel, in the presence of the Chairman of the Knesset, the Minister of Education, the Chairman of the Wolf Foundation Board of Trustees, and members of the Foundation´s Council.

2010: A cross section of rabbis and Jewish leaders met in the White House today with administration leaders in the second of two meetings that are part of a “charm offensive” designed to reassure the American Jewish community of the Obama administration’s positive view of Israel.<o:p></o:p>

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2010: Oz Goffman of the Ministry of Agriculture said today that parliament must still approve the proposal to ban fishing on the Sea of Galilee for the next two years before it takes effect. <o:p></o:p>

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2011: On the secular calendar “Friday the 13^th”. Friday the 13^th has not always been a lucky day for the Jews. In Strasbourg, the Jews were arrested by a newly installed town council on Friday 13, 1349 on charges that they were responsible for the Black Plague. The Jews were burned the next day, St. Valentine’s Day. Sholom Aleichem, who died on the 13^thof May suffered from triskaidekaphobia – the fear of the number 13. Arnold Schoenberg experienced triskaidekaphobia “which possibly began in 1908 with the composition of the thirteenth song of the song cycle Das Buch der Hängenden Gärten Op. 15 (Stuckenschmidt 1977, 96).” His fear of the number 13 is especially odd since he was born the 13^thof September and died on the 13^th of July. In her novel “Paternity” Susan Baruch created a character who was born on the 13^th and suffers from triskaidekaphobia. For the most part, the Jewish view of the number “13” runs contrary to the Western concept that associates it with bad luck. Bar and Bat Mitzvah are associated with the number 13. The TaNaCh lists 13 attributes of God. There are six hundred and 13 commandments. Maimonides Creed contains 13 principles of Judaism. There are 13 months in the year. I know, this is not really history, but every so often you have to have a little fun.<o:p></o:p>

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2011: The International Young Israel Movement and the Maimonides Heritage Center are scheduled to present: Shabbaton in the Holy City of Teverya<o:p></o:p>

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2011(9^th of Iyar): Centenarian Vivian Myerson a political activist in Los Angeles and later a member of the city’s Human Relations Commission passed away today. (As reported by the Eulgizor)

2012: As part of Yom Hashoah events, artist Wendy Weisel is scheduled to speak during the presentation of her painting "Es Brent" – "It is Burning" at Tifereth Israel in Washington, DC.<o:p></o:p>

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2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer.<o:p></o:p>

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2012: The Los Angeles Times features a review of The Crisis of Zionismby Peter Beinart<o:p></o:p>

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2012: “Mazel Tov! A Jewish Celebration of Jewish Weddings” an exhibit that explores the mores, symbolic artifacts, and celebration unique to the Jewish wedding is scheduled to open at the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee. <o:p></o:p>

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2012: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu congratulated Kadima leader Shaul Mofaz on his joining the government coalition during his opening remarks at the weekly cabinet meeting today.<o:p></o:p>

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2012: Presentation of the Wolf Prizes.<o:p></o:p>

2012: Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan today called on the government to cut off the supply of electricity to the Gaza Strip in order to avoid electricity shortages it is feared could affect Israel this summer. (As reported by the Jerusalem Post)<o:p></o:p>

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2013: The 92^nd Street Y is scheduled to host “Baseball: Kosher Style” featuring Larry Ruttman, Jeffery Lyons, Bob Tufts and Alan Dershowitz

2013: The Center for Jewish History with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance’s An-sky Institute for Jewish Culture are scheduled to present: “Tsimbl un Fidl – Uncovering the Lost Jewish String Music of Eastern Europe”

2013: In Little Rock, AR, the Chabad Center for Jewish Life under the leadership of Rabbi Pinchas Ciment is scheduled to host an open house that will feature an appearance by an authentically trained and certified Sofer. This rare event is part of the preparations for Shavuot.

2013: The Leo Baeck Institute is scheduled to present: Berlin Book Evening – “Jews in Berlin” and Essays by Kurt Tucholsky.<o:p></o:p>

This Day, May 12, In Jewish History by Mitchell A. Levin

09:10 PM Saturday, May 11, 2013 by melamed&amp;mavin

May 12 In History<o:p></o:p>

1191: Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre. This was an arranged marriage to the extreme. Richard was already leading the Third Crusade in the Holy Land when it came to marry Berengaria. Richard had to break off his fight and come to Cyprus to marry his queen. Richard spent most of his reign outside of the British Isles which was unfortunate for the Jews because he was not given to the ant-Semitic behavior of his English counterparts.<o:p></o:p>

1267: A large group of church leaders, including a most of the German churchmen, met in Vienna under the leadership of the papal legate Gudeo. They confirmed every canonical law that Innocent III and his successors had pass for the branding of the Jews. Jews were not allowed to have any Christian servants, were not admissible to any office of trust, and were not to associate with Christians in ale-houses or bars. Christians were not permitted to accept any invitation from Jews or to enter into discussion with them. <o:p></o:p>

1267: A special session of the city council of Vienna decided to force all Jews to wear a cone-shaped headdress in addition to the badge. It was called the Pileum cornutum and was to become distinctive attire which is prevalent in many medieval woodcuts illustrating Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1393: The Jews of Sicily were forbidden to display any funeral decorations in public.<o:p></o:p>

1540: Paul III issued “Licet Judaei,” a papal bull “clearing the Jews Of the charge that they practiced blood rituals.”<o:p></o:p>

1728(5488): The brothers Hayyim and Joshua Reizes of Lemberg, famous for their piety and scholarship, were tortured and executed on charges of influencing the apostate Jan Filipowicz to return to Judaism.<o:p></o:p>

1800(Iyar 17): Rabbi Moses Hayyim Ephraim of Sadilkov, author of “Degel Mahaneh Ephraim” passed away<o:p></o:p>

1805: Birthdate of German-Jewish orientalist Julius Furst who works included Cultural and Literary History of Jews in Asia.<o:p></o:p>

1807: Rothschild’s “official” balance sheet shows that his assets on this day totaled 1,973,192 gulden. His assets had quadrupled since 1797.<o:p></o:p>

1811: An article published in The Star described the dedication of a new synagogue. "On Friday last a new Synagogue was consecrated at Sheerness, which was very numerously attended, and the service performed by Messers Leos and Phillips, who went from London for that purpose. The music was composed by one of the Mes. Leos, and was perhaps as grand as has been witnessed, as Mr. Leo led the band in a most excellent manner. Several persons of distinction were admitted to see the ceremony performed."<o:p></o:p>

1838: In London, Dinah Levy and Jacob Farjeon gave birth to British writer Benjamin Leopold Farjeon.<o:p></o:p>

1842: Birthdate of Amos Kidder Fiske the author of The Great Epic of Israel: The Web of Myth, Legend, History, Law, Oracle, Wisdom and Poetry of the Ancient Hebrews and The Jewish Scriptures: The Books of the Old Testament in Light of their Origin and History<o:p></o:p>

1850: Birthdate of Henry Cabot Lodge, United States Senator from <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Massachusetts</st1:place></st1:state>. Lodge led the fight to defeat the Versailles Treaty and to keep the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region> out of the <st1:place w:st="on">League of Nations</st1:place>. The failure of the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>to join the <st1:place w:st="on">League of Nations</st1:place> was one of the root causes of World War II, a war that destroyed European Jewry. Lodge was more interested in wounding President Wilson than he was creating a new way for nations to solve their disputes peacefully. Lodge was the co-sponsor “of the 1922 joint Congressional resolution (known as the Lodge-Fish resolution) that endorsed the creation a Jewish national home. The bill commended the ‘building up of new and beneficent life in Palestine’ as an act of ‘historic justice’ and ‘an undertaking which will do honor to Christendom and give to the House of Israel its long-denied opportunity to reestablish a fruitful Jewish life and culture in it ancient land.’” Elihu D. Stone, the leading Zionist in Boston “persuaded Lodge to present the resolution to Congress on the eve of” Passover in 1922, since in Stone’s word “this too was to an act of freedom for the Jewish people…” Lest anybody thing the Lodge had become an ardent had become an ardent Zionist at least one historian makes the strong case that the resolution, which was non-binding, was an attempt to mollify Jews who were upset with the Republican supported anti-immigration that had been passed the year before. (As described in The Jews of Boston edited by Jonathan D. Sarna, et al)<o:p></o:p>

1859: In the United Kingdom due to nationwide scare over the possibility of war with France, today the War Office gave sanction for the formatting of volunteer corps out of concern for home defense to which Lazarus Simon Magnus responded. This would lead to the formation of the Kent Voluntary Artillery, a 19^thcentury version of the Home Guard that would be formed to face Hitler in 1940.<o:p></o:p>

1860: The Rhode Island Republican described the early development of Newport which benefited from the introduction of the first chandlery factory in America by Jewish immigrants from Portugal. <o:p></o:p>

1861: Three weeks after Rabbi David Einhorn, a leading abolitionist had escaped to Philadelphia, a delegation from Har Sinai asked him to return to Baltimore. While they were sympathetic with his views, they said the request was conditional on his promise not to speak out on slavery, secession or the war.<o:p></o:p>

1870:The Manitoba Act was given the Royal Assent, paving the way for Manitoba to become a province of Canada on July 15, 1870. According to a census taken the following year there were only 1,115 Jews living in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>, most of whom were found in the major metropolitan areas in the provinces of <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Quebec</st1:place></st1:state> and <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Ontario</st1:place></st1:state>. Jewish settlement in western <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Canada</st1:place></st1:country-region>began in earnest under the aegis of the Baron de Hirsch Foundation and the Jewish Colonial Association in 1890. The Association financed a series of agricultural settlements including those at New Hirsch and Narcisse in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Manitoba</st1:place></st1:state>. <o:p></o:p>

1871: The American Christian Society for Promoting Christianity in the city of New York and elsewhere held their first anniversary meeting at Cooper Institute. The society has one branch – in Somerset, Iowa. According to the society there are 65,000 Jews living in New York and 250,000 in the whole United States.<o:p></o:p>

1872: Birthdate of Eleanor Florence Rathbone an independent British Member of Parliament and long-term campaigner for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool. In the House of Commons, the courageous Eleanor Rathbone attacked the British government for the defeatist attitudes expressed at the Bermuda Conference and noted that the Allies are responsible for the deaths of any Jews if they refuse to help.<o:p></o:p>

1875: In Philadelphia, The Young Men's Hebrew Association was organized today with Mayer Sulzberger as president. This new organization replaced a predecessor, The Hebrew Association. The object of the association is "to promote a higher culture among young men". The organization would grow to over 1,000 members, under the presidency of Adolph Eichholz.<o:p></o:p>

1877: According to a column published today titled "Russian Interior" a revolt has broken out in the Crimea and the "Jews of Jassy have been warned that if they continue prayers in their synagogues for the success of the Turks they will be severely punished."<o:p></o:p>

1878: An article published today entitled “Works of the Rabbis: The Talmud and other Jewish Books; A Supposed Dangerous Work and What Was Done to Suppress It – The Great Change it Wrought by Time - How The Talmud Originated and of What It Consists – The Ten Targums or Interpretations of Scripture – The Principal Commentaries on the Bible – The Masora and Cabala” provides a comparative lengthy and detailed history of Jewish writings and the various attempts to suppress or destroy them.<o:p></o:p>

1884: France expanded its colonial empire in North Africa by forcing Tunisia to become a French protectorate. The Jewish community of Tunisia dated back to Biblical times and by the middle of the 18^thcentury, they made up about one sixth of the population and had access to 27 synagogues. (Jewish Virtual Library)<o:p></o:p>

1884(17th of Iyar, 5644): Czechoslovakian composer Bedrich Friedrich Smetana passed away. The melody for Hatikvah was written by Samuel Cohen who based his composition on a musical theme found in Smetana's "Moldau." During the Mandate, when the British forbade the playing of Hatikvah, many Jews would play records of the piece by Smetana. The words for Hatikvah which means Hope were written by Naphatali Herz Imber an English poet born in Bohemia<o:p></o:p>

1885: Birthdate of Paltiel Daykan, a Russian born Israeli Jurist who was awarded the Israel Prize in 1957.<o:p></o:p>

1886: Birthdate of Max Adler. A native of Elgin, Illinois, this son of German-Jewish immigrants gave up a career as a concert violinist to become a vice president of Sears Roebuck & Co after he married SophieRosenwald, the sister of Julius Rosenwald. Adler retired in 1928 to pursue a life of philanthropy that included the creations of the Adler Planetarium, the first planetarium built in the Western Hemisphere. He passed away in 1952.<o:p></o:p>

1889: Birthdate of Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank.<o:p></o:p>

1892: It was reported today that behavior of Polish strikers show “a blind hatred for all Jews and a brutal delight in murdering Jews…” Anti-Semitism is so endemic to the general population that “if Russia were…under a constitutional Government, there is no reason to believe that the Jews would be any more decently treated than they are under the Government of the Czar.” (Events in the 20^th century would prove these words to be prophetic.) <o:p></o:p>

1892: “Polish Rioters Punished” published today described the ongoing labor violence at Lodz “and the attendant Jew baiting.” <o:p></o:p>

1892: Birthdate of Fritz Kortner. Born Fritz Nathan Kohn, in Vienna, the Austrian stage and film actor gained performing in Germany. He fled Germany in 1933 for the United States where his career. He returned to Germany in 1949 where he gained additional fame for his directorial skills in the “legitimate theatre.” He passed away in 1970. <o:p></o:p>

1892: “Better Teachers Wanted” published today described the efforts to improve the quality of the Jewish Sunday Schools in New York. According to Miss Julia Richmond of the Hebrew Free School Association and a leading public school educator, most of the teachers are “willing and intelligent” but lack the proper training. Her solution is to create a two year program that would include course in Hebrew, Bible and ancient history mixed with actual classroom experience. A committee composed of Rabbis Kohler, Kohut, Isaacs, Silverman, Harris and De Sola Mendes and Miss Richmond has been formed to pursue the matter.<o:p></o:p>

1893: One thousand immigrants, most of whom were Russian Jews arrived at Ellis Island today aboard the steamship Dania. <o:p></o:p>

1895: It was reported today during the last year, the expenses for operating Mt. Sinai Hospital exceeded all sources of income by $6,000.despite several sources of revenue including generous bequests by the late Sarah Burr, the last of which totaled $35,000. The board headed by President Hyman Blum and Vice President Isaac is working to remedy the situation.<o:p></o:p>

1895: “Through With Their Studies” published today described the season ending activities of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association which “will open it twenty-second season next fall with a membership of over 500.” In addition to its other activities, the Association will continue to operate a school that offers courses in Jewish history and stenography.<o:p></o:p>

1895: Zene Barkuskie and Vincent Oustra form Jersey City and Mr. and Mrs. Tony Stelitzka of Kingston, NY, all of whom are Polish Jews are waiting on Commissioner Shields to take action following their arrest yesteray on charges of counterfeiting. <o:p></o:p>

1895: “Golden Wedding Tablets in a Temple” published today described the two tablets that Amalie and William S. Rayner donated to Congregation Har Sinai in Baltimore in honor of their golden wedding anniversary. The two marble tablets which are six feet by 3 feet by 3 feet were created by William A. Gualt. They are inscribed with two Hebrew statements and their English translations which are “Hear Israel! The Eternal is God; The Eternal is One” and “Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor as Thysef.”<o:p></o:p>

1897: Herzl decides to create a Zionist paper. ("Mit allem war ich gleich im reinen, nur mit dem Titel nicht" - "I saw everything clearly right away - except for the name.")<o:p></o:p>

1898: Hammerstein’s Lyric Theatre will host this afternoon benefit performance featuring members of the Professional Woman’s League.<o:p></o:p>

1899: Roswell P. Flower, the Governor of New York who appointed Edward Jacobs, a member of the Buffalo, NY, Jewish community to serve as Loan Commissioner, passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

1900: Birthdate of German born actress Helene Weigel, wife of Bertholt Brecht. Her father was Jewish; her mother was not. She died in East Berlin in 1971.<o:p></o:p>

1900: In a letter to the New York Times, Jacob Schiff expresses his opposition to the “project of the Baron and Baroness de Hirsch Monument Association. A long-time friend of the Baron, Schiff believes that he and his wife would not want a monument built in their honor preferring instead that their good works serve as their memorial. Schiff did not question the good intentions of those wishing to build the monument but did challenge the project as being totally inappropriate.<o:p></o:p>

1901: Birthdate of the talented musician, Hyam Greenbaum. Greenbaum lived in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Great Britain</st1:place></st1:country-region>. He was an accomplished violinist, film score arranger and conductor for several <st1:stockticker w:st="on">BBC</st1:stockticker> orchestras. He passed away in 1942.<o:p></o:p>

1916: Date of death shown on the tombstone of Shalom Aleichem. Actually it said “12a). He died on May 13. But he suffered from triskaidekaphobia, which is a showboating way to say that he had a fear of the number 13. He used 12a in numbering the pages of his manuscripts. (As reported by Clyde Haberman)<o:p></o:p>

1918: Birthdate of Julius Rosenberg. Rosenberg and his wife would become the center piece in a spy ring that gave Atomic secrets to the Soviets. The <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Rosenbergs</st1:place></st1:city> were executed for treason in 1953.<o:p></o:p>

1919: Thirty-eighth anniversary of the laying of a corner stone at the synagogue in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Oran</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Algeria</st1:country-region></st1:place>. At its peak, the Jewish population was about 2,000. After <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Algeria</st1:place></st1:country-region> gained its independence in 1962, the Jewish community left for <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">France</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p>

1920: Charles Edward Sebag-Monteifiore and Muriel Alice Ruth de Pass gave birth to Hugh William Montefiore<o:p></o:p>

1920:Birthdate of Vilém Flusser the Czech born Jewish philosopher and author who was a long time resident of Brazil before finally settling in France. <o:p></o:p>

1922: Birthdate of Paul Milstein, the prominent businessman and philanthropist who used profits from the family flooring business to build a real estate empire in New York City, distinguished by major projects begun in uncertain neighborhoods and totaling 50,000 apartments, 8,000 hotel rooms and 20 million square feet of office space.”<o:p></o:p>

1923: In Poland, Jewish physicians issued a protest against the memorandum published by the Medical Faculty of the Krakau University justifying the demand for a percentage norm against the Jewish medical students on the ground that the Jewish physicians have "low moral standards". The Jewish doctors demanded a retrataction. (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1923: The Joint Distribution Committee announced that it has decided to continue its support for Hebrew Schools operated by the Tarbut Organization. “Tarbut was a Zionist network of Hebrew-language educational institutions founded in 1922, when the first Tarbut conference was held in Warsaw.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tarbut_poster.jpg<o:p></o:p>

1923: "Kaufman Kohler Sabbath" was observed by Reform Synagogues throughout the United States today in celebration of the eightieth birthday last Thursday of Dr. Kaufman Kohler. The 80 year old Rabbi expressed his concern that “idealism has given way to materialism and opportunism.” He believes that “the world is passing from a disturbed phase of thought to a higher plane” and that he sees women as playing a vital role in the spread of religious values.<o:p></o:p>

1926: JTA reported that in Great Britain many public functions of Jewish bodies and societies will have to be postponed if the general strike does not come to an end this week including the scheduled monthly meeting of the Board Jewish Deputies.<o:p></o:p>

1926: It was reported today that Lord Allenby's unveiling of the Jewish World Memorial at the synagogue in Stepney, has been postponed as result of the General Strike that is gripping the United Kingdom.<o:p></o:p>

1926: The role of Sir Herbert Samuel, former High Commissioner of Palestine and chairman of the British Royal Coal Commission, in the settlement of the general strike, the first event of that nature in western Europe, was disclosed today in the official statement issued by the Trades Union Congress. It appears that Sir Herbert played the main part as the mediator between the strikers and the government. Immediately upon his return to London from a vacation, Sir Herbert made efforts toward mediation, as chairman of the Royal Commission, with a view toward settlement. He obtained the memorandum of the Trade Unions which was accepted by the government. (As reported by JTA)<o:p></o:p>

1926:"No attempt toward the economic reconstruction of European Jewries will succeed unless we stem the anti-Semitic wave," declared Dr. William Filderman, president of the Union of Roumanian Jews, on the eve of his departure for Europe on the Berengaria today. "There is no use educating Jewish artisans if anti-Semitic prejudice deprives them of any market for their products," he explained.<o:p></o:p>

1928: Birthdate of Burt Bacharach Jewish-American pianist and composer.<o:p></o:p>

1930: During this evening’s annual meeting of the American Jewish Physicians' Committee, Dr. Nathan Ratnoff, president of the organization announced, that “$100,000 would be raised this year for an administration building for the proposed medical college at the Hebrew University of Palestine. The medical school will be erected on land bought by the committee in 1922 located on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem. <o:p></o:p>

1935: Polish dictator Jozef Pilsudski dies. From here on Jews will experience more anti-Semitism in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region>. The government and most Polish political parties will call for discrimination, economic boycott, expulsion, and physical violence against Jews. The Polish Catholic Church, most priests, the Catholic press, and schools will sanction discrimination and/or violence against the Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Post reported the Jewish Labor declaration that the Arab terror will merely strengthen the determination of the Jewish people in their development of uninhabited areas and other up building tasks. <o:p></o:p>

1938: The Palestine Post reported that an armed Arab gang robbed and burned the tents of the Ghazzabiya Bedouin tribe near Beit Shean after its demands failed to be met. Bodies of Arabs kidnapped from the neighboring villages by Arab terrorist gangs were found near Safed. <o:p></o:p>

1940: On this day the German blitzkrieg (lightning war) breached the French defenses. At the time Sousa Mendes was the General Consul of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Portugal</st1:place></st1:country-region>to <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Bordeaux</st1:city>, <st1:country-region w:st="on">France</st1:country-region></st1:place>. Thanks to Mendes' actions it is believed that around 30.000 refugees were saved, among them 10.000 Jews avoided death in the Reich’s death camps. It was said Mendes was descendant from Jewish family.<o:p></o:p>

1942(25th of Iyar, 5702): Four days after the Ghetto at Radun was sealed off, 3,400 Jews were marched to the outskirts of town and shot, row-by-row, into ditches dug by other Jews.<o:p></o:p>

1942(25th of Iyar, 5702): One thousand, five hundred Jews from Sosnowiec are gassed in Auschwitz. Another 2,750 Jews from Turobin, joining several other thousands of Jews were crammed into railway box cars and deported to Sobibor to meet their extermination<o:p></o:p>

1943: The remains of the Warsaw Ghetto go up in flames.<o:p></o:p>

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F10612FD3E5411738DDDA00A94D9415B8284F0D3<o:p></o:p>

1943 (7th of Iyar, 5703): Seventeen-year-old Frania Beatus, active in the Warsaw Ghetto underground, commits suicide rather than surrender to the Nazis.<o:p></o:p>

1943 (7th of Iyar, 5703): Another round up of Jews who escaped from the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising were caught and executed. <o:p></o:p>

1943 (7th of Iyar, 5703): In London, Shmuel Zygielbogm committed suicide. He was one of two Jewish representatives of the Polish-Government-In-Exile in <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">London</st1:place></st1:city>. His final letter was a cry of agony and despair. He was crushed that the world would do nothing to save the Jews. His wife and son perished in the Ghetto. He felt his life had been a failure and hoped that his death might shock the world into action. At one point he wrote that he could not live ‘when the remnant of the Jewish people in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Poland</st1:place></st1:country-region> . . . is being steadily annihilated.'<o:p></o:p>

1943: The first Aliyah to the Negev began with the establishment of Kibbutz Gevulot. The first three settlements, Gevulot, Revivim, and Bet Eshel, were experimentally established in 1943 to determine the feasibility of permanent settlements in the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place>. As a result of the information gathered in the experimental stage, eleven new settlements were established in the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place> in 1946, and an additional seven in 1947. These settlements served also as strong-points to defend the Yishuv from attack by an enemy advancing from the south. The Egyptian army suffered its first defeat at Nirim, one of the settlements established in 1946, on the anniversary of the first Aliyah to the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p>

1948: Bet-Shean was captured by the Haganah; specifically the 13^thBattalion of the Golani Brigade. Bet-Shean is one of the oldest cities in the world having been first built in the fifth century B.C.E. The bodies of King Saul and Jonathan were hung from its walls after their defeat at Mt. <st1:placename w:st="on">Gilboa</st1:placename>. Bet-Shean is in the eastern portion of <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:placename w:st="on">Jezreel</st1:placename> <st1:placetype w:st="on">Valley</st1:placetype></st1:place>. After the war thousands of Moroccan Jews settled there. It has been the site of a great deal of archeological discovery. One of the battalions was commanded by Avraham Yoffe<o:p></o:p>

1948: U.S. Secretary George Marshall “appealed to Ben-Gurion to hold off a decision for independence. Courteously, but firmly the appeal was refused.” <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marshall</st1:place></st1:city>told Moshe Sharett head of the Jewish agency’s U.N. delegation to ignore the the assurance of Jewish military leaders that they can win out against the Arabs. He advised him to put off the declaration of independence and accept a UN trusteeship. This marked the <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">high point</st1:place></st1:city> in the clash between Marshall and Truman over the recognition of the Jewish state. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Marshall</st1:place></st1:city>had even threatened to resign over the matter. Marshall’s opposition was based on what he considered the realities of the geo-political situation in the Middle East. Fortunately for all concerned, Marshall remained at his post and the team of Truman and Marshall continued to work together as America dealt with challenges of Soviet Imperialism.<o:p></o:p>

1948:Yigael Yadin, the Haganah's chief of operations, put the odds of the nascent Jewish state surviving the onslaught by the Arab armies at 50-50<o:p></o:p>

1948: David Ben-Gurion convened an emergency meeting of the Provisional Council, the governing body of the unborn Jewish state. The issue at hand was a proposal that there should be a delay in declaring statehood. According to one report as much as half of the council wanted to postpone the declaration and accept some sort of cease-fire with the Arab forces already fighting the Jews. The news the council was not good. Mrs. Meir reported on the failure of the talks with the Jordanians. She later reported that she was relieved to see that her report did not dissuade Ben-Gurion from deciding that the Jewish state would be born when the British mandate ended in forty-eight hours. The Council also heard from Yigal Yadin, the military leader who brought the negative reports about the pending destruction of the Etzion Bloc of settlements. Ben-Gurion closed the debate by outlining all of the risks. In the end, the Council voted by six to four to reject the offer of a cease fire and push forward with the declaration of statehood. <o:p></o:p>

1948(3rd of Iyar, 5708): Pianist and composer Isidor Achron passed away. Born in Warsaw in 1892, Achron came from a musical family. His older brother Joseph was a famed violinist. Achron's early musical career was interrupted by a three year stint in the Czar's Army during World War I. After the war, he came to the United States where he served as the principal accompanist for Heifitz for ten years. During the 1930's and 1940's he created his own compositions while pursuing a career as a soloist at such venues as Carnegie Hall. He passed away suddenly at the age of 55.<o:p></o:p>

1950: As of today, doctors in Israel are “exhausting supplies of the drug Aureomycin in an attempt to curb the worst polio epidemic in” the history of the Jewish state.<o:p></o:p>

1950: The Government of Israel said today that farmers in the Hebron area had "extended the cultivation of lands" within Israel, but denied that this had been done under the guns of heavily armed troops.<o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that Israel agreed to review the acute border infiltration problem in high level talks with Jordan. <o:p></o:p>

1953: The Jerusalem Postreported that The Special Commission which studied the problems of the Jerusalem Municipality severely criticized the staff, and recommended that the Mayor should be deprived of all executive and fiscal powers, which should be rendered to an appointed City Manager. <o:p></o:p>

1957(11th of Iyar, 5717): Erich von Stroheim passed away. As a director, von Stroheim ranks up there with D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. DeMille. As an actor he was noted for playing Germanic characters. His most famous role was that of the loyal servant Max von Mayerling, in Billie Wilder’s cinema noir classic Sunset Boulevard.<o:p></o:p>

1958: Birthdate of Yitzhak Vaknin a member of Shas who has been an MK since 1996.<o:p></o:p>

1959: For its time, a celebrity bombshell was dropped as two Jewish entertainers, Liz Taylor and Eddie Fisher were married -she for the fourth time and he for the second time after ending his all-American marriage to Debbie Reynolds.<o:p></o:p>

19594th of Iyar, 5719): Yom HaZikaron<o:p></o:p>

1960: The Yossele Shumacher affair makes headlines when the child's ultra-Orthodox grandfather, Nahman Shtarks, is arrested on suspicion of abducting him from his parents.<o:p></o:p>

1963(18th of Iyar, 5723): Lag B'Omer<o:p></o:p>

1963: Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman, walked off the Ed Sullivan (television variety) Show.<o:p></o:p>

1964: Barbra Streisand won the Grammy for Best Female Vocalist for “The Barbra Streisand Album.”<o:p></o:p>

1965: Israel and West Germany exchange letters beginning diplomatic relations. For Jews in general, and Holocaust survivors in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>, this was and is a sensitive topic. The issue of whether or not to trade with <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Germany</st1:place></st1:country-region>, to enter into arms agreements and/or accept reparation payments for the Holocaust touched off major political debates in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1966: In Seattle, Washington, Temple Beth Am published Statement of Principles that declared “...let our congregation be religious, democratic, creative, relevant and learned...”<o:p></o:p>

1967: Oded Kotler wins the Best Actor Award in the Cannes Film Festival for his leading role in the Israeli film: "Three Days and a Child<o:p></o:p>

1967: In Moscow, an Egyptian parliamentary delegation including Anwar Sadat was told to expect “an Israeli invasion of Syria immediately after Independence Day, with the aim of overthrowing the Damascus regime.”<o:p></o:p>

1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that on the occasion of Israel's 30th anniversary, the Chief of Staff, Rafael Eytan, declared that Zahal will be unable to defend Israel without the West Bank, and urged both his soldiers and civilians to "stop being naive about the subject." He was thus countering the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat's declaration made at the same time in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New York</st1:place></st1:state>, which demanded that <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>returns the Gaza Strip to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>and the <st1:place w:st="on">West Bank</st1:place> to <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Jordan</st1:place></st1:country-region>. <o:p></o:p>

1980: Birthdate of award winning Israeli actress Maya Maron.<o:p></o:p>

1985: In “Garden Where Biblical Plants Come To Life,” Matthew Nesvisky describes Israel's Neot Kedumim Biblical Landscape Reserve.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/1985/05/12/travel/garden-where-biblical-plants-come-to-life.html?pagewanted=all<o:p></o:p>

1985: Amy Eilberg is ordained in New York as the first female Conservative Rabbi.<o:p></o:p>

http://www.jewishannarbor.org/page.aspx?id=210056<o:p></o:p>

1987: James Angleton, a senior officer with the CIA from its earliest days in 1947 passed away today at the age of 69. Angleton was best known for his counter-intelligence work but Angleton also “handled one of the agency's most sensitive relationships with an allied intelligence service, its ties to the Israelis. Mr. Angleton handled ''the Israeli account'' as it was termed in C.I.A. argot, for more than a decade. Indeed, Mr. Colby, the agency director who forced his resignation, earlier insisted that Mr. Angleton relinquish his control over Israeli matters.” (As reported by Stephen Engelberg)<o:p></o:p>

1995: While visiting the Ukraine, President and Mrs. Clinton go to <st1:place w:st="on">Babi Yar</st1:place>. Escorted by a Chasidic Rabbi, they pay homage to the 30,000 Jews of Kiev who were massacred by the Nazis with the help of the local populace in 1941. <o:p></o:p>

1995(12th of Iyar, 5755): Movie director Arthur Lubin passed away. Lubin was an actor during the 1920's, moving behind the camera in the 1930's when he started working with Abbot and Costello. His re-make of Phantom of the Opera with Claude Raines is considered a classic. Lubin is credited for two of the most famous talking animals. He directed the Francis the Talking Mule films and then moved over to television with Mr. Ed. Lubin passed away at the age of 95.<o:p></o:p>

1999(26th of Iyar, 5759): Saul Steinberg Romanian born cartoonist and illustrator whose work graced numerous issues of The New Yorker passed away at the age of 85. After coming to the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>in 1942, he did 85 covers and 642 illustrations for what was, in its day, the nation’s most sophisticated weekly.<o:p></o:p>

2001:“Sing America” which was co-written by Dr. Sherwin Kaufman the son of Sholom Aleichem was played at the Ellis Island Medals of Honor Awards Gala,. As an invited guest at this black-tie event, he “heard the song played at the beginning of festivities and then as a musical background during a video of the ceremony.”<o:p></o:p>

2002: The New York Times featured books by Jewish writers and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “'Hester Among the Ruins” by Binnie Kirshenbaum and “Somebody'sGotta Tell It'' by Jack Newfeld<o:p></o:p>

2002: “The Golem” “…a new English version of the Yiddish classic” based on the legend surrounding a 17^th century Rabbi living in Prague was performed for the last time today.<o:p></o:p>

2005:Observance of Yom Ha'atzma'ut (יום העצמאות yom hā-‘aṣmā’ūṯ), Israeli Independence Day, which commemorates the declaration of independence of Israel in 1948. Yom Ha'atzma'ut falls on the 5th day of Iyar ( ה' באייר) on the Hebrew calendar. When the 5th of Iyar falls on a Friday or Saturday, as in 2005, the official celebration may be moved to the preceding Thursday. The Gregorian date for the day in which Israel independence was proclaimed is May 14th 1948 when David ben Gurion publicly read the Proclamation of the establishment of the State of Israel. However, when the fifth of Iyar falls on Friday or Saturday as it does in 2005, Israeli Independence Day is celebrated on the preceding Thursday to avoid any possible violation of the Sabbath. <o:p></o:p>

2006: In Israel, events begin marking the start of the 15th annual Historic Site Preservation Week, an initiative of the Society for Preservation of Israel Heritage Sites (SPIHS) <o:p></o:p>

2006:Harvey Sheldon launched for the first time in the world, WORLD JEWISH NETWORK on the internet. The format will be 24 hours a day, 7 days a week of nothing but popular Jewish and Israeli music, that you can listen to and dance.

http://www.harveysheldontv.com/<o:p></o:p>

2007: In Detroit, Michigan, Ayal Mendelsohn, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Mendelsohn, is called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah. <o:p></o:p>

2007: In an article styled “Women add to Torah Dialogue,” the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports on a Torah commentary written by female rabbis and female Jewish scholars that will be published in the autumn of 2007.<o:p></o:p>

2007: The Cedar Rapids Gazette reports on labor troubles at Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. Agriprocessors is controlled by the Rubashkin family and is the largest kosher slaughtering operation in the United States.<o:p></o:p>

2008: The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies presents “A Short History of Anti-Semitism,” the second of four lunchtime session taught by historian Dr. Dean Bell that covers anti-Judaism in the classical world, the Crusades and expulsions in the Middle Ages, tolerance and restrictions in the early modern period, and racial anti-Semitism in both the nineteenth century and early twentieth century.<o:p></o:p>

2008: In article entitled “Wage the Warrior: David Mamet tackles mixed martial arts,” Sports Illustrated reviews “Redbelt,” Mamet’s latest cinematic effort. “Redbelt” is set in the world of mixed martial art which seems a far cry from the world of the man who wrote The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-hatred and the Jews. On the other hand, the sixty year old man of letters and motion pictures is “a serious jiu-jitsu practitioner.”<o:p></o:p>

2008: The prestigious Turin Book Fair comes to an end. The Turin Fair is honoring <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> on the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state's creation. Prominent Israeli authors Abraham B. Yehoshua, David Grossman, Amos Oz, Aaron Appelfeld and Meir Shalev were among those featured at the fair. <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Turin</st1:place></st1:city>'s chief rabbi, Alberto Moshe Somekh, said that the city had shown "great courage" in deciding to honor <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> despite protests from various pro-Arab and anti-Israel activists. At a special service in the city's main synagogue, he said the tribute marked also marked "4,000 years of our presence on the world stage as 'People of the Book.'"<o:p></o:p>

2008:More than 300 people here have already been arrested at <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:city w:st="on">Postville</st1:city>, <st1:state w:st="on">Iowa</st1:state></st1:place>, in what is being called the largest operation of its kind in <st1:state w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Iowa</st1:place></st1:state>, federal officials said this afternoon.

2008: In a front page article entitled “Time To Go” appearing in The Cedar Rapids Gazette Kathy Goldstein, the Musical Voice of Temple Judah and a <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city> supporter expresses her views on Hillary Clinton’s exit strategy. “The race is over, and I think she should go out in grace and style,” said Katherine Goldstein of <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Cedar Rapids</st1:place></st1:city>. “If she does it now, she looks like a queen. If she keeps fighting, she’ll look like a fool.” Once she makes that decision, it may take a while for <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>’s backers to accept her decision, said Goldstein, a retired teacher. “But once they do, they’ll understand this is the only thing she can do.” Goldstein expects <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city> to put the party first and support Obama, and “we’ll all take our cue from her.” <st1:city w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Clinton</st1:place></st1:city>’s partisans are divided as to whether Obama will — or should — offer her the vice presidency. “It would look very nice, even though she represents the old and he represents the new,” Goldstein said. “The fact she is a woman would trump their differences.”<o:p></o:p>

2008(7th of Iyar, 5768): An elderly woman was killed by a Kassam rocket that scored a direct hit on a western Negev community, hours after Israeli leaders said they were leaning toward accepting an Egyptian cease-fire deal with Hamas. Shlomit Katz, 75 of Kibbutz Gvar'am, was killed while visiting Moshav Yesha in the Eshkol Regional Council. The deadly attack came four days after a mortar shell barrage killed Jimmy Kedoshim, 48, a father of four, as he stood in the yard of his house in Kibbutz Kfar Aza in the <st1:place w:st="on">Negev</st1:place>. <o:p></o:p>

2008: Irena Sendler - a Polish social worker who helped save some 2,500 Jewish children from the Nazis by smuggling them out of the Warsaw Ghetto and giving them false identities - has died today at the age of 98. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)<o:p></o:p>

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/13/world/europe/13sendler.html?_r=0&pagewanted=print<o:p></o:p>

2009 (18 Iyar): Lag B’Omer – 33^rd Day of the Omer<o:p></o:p>

2009: As part of its Centennial Celebration, Tel Aviv hosts a special conference on education attended by prominent educators, academics and researchers who will address the key educational and pedagogic issues facing the city's future generations, as well as educational policy and curriculum unique to Tel Aviv-Yafo.<o:p></o:p>

2009:Today U.S. President Barack Obama declared May Jewish American Heritage Month, saying that the "United States would not be the country we know without the achievements of Jewish Americans."Obama called on all Americans to "commemorate the proud heritage of Jewish Americans with appropriate ceremonies and activities." "Unyielding in the face of hardship and tenacious in following their dreams, Jewish Americans have surmounted the challenges that every immigrant group faces, and have made unparalleled contributions," Obama said. He added, "Jewish American leaders have been essential to all branches and levels of government. Still more Jewish Americans have made selfless sacrifices in our Armed Forces." Obama said that Jewish American community has set an example for all Americans. "They have demonstrated that Americans can choose to maintain cultural traditions while honoring the principles and beliefs that bind them together as American," said Obama. "Jewish American history demonstrates how America's diversity enriches and strengthens us all."<o:p></o:p>

2009:Today the Freie Universitat in Berlin launched a project that will give high school students across Germany access to more than 50,000 video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses. "The goal of our efforts is to sustainably integrate working with the biographical accounts into classroom teachings about National Socialism," said Dr. Ursula Lehmkuhl, Vice President of Freie Universitat. "Nothing may document an era or a historic event more strikingly than personal narrations of the lived history."<o:p></o:p>

2010(28th of Iyar, 5770) Yom Yerushalayim<o:p></o:p>

2010:The story of Russ & Daughters is scheduled to be featured in the premiere episode of New York Originals, a documentary series profiling “classic one-of-a-kind shops and mom-and-pop businesses that have stood the test of time.” <o:p></o:p>

2011:An Israeli delegation of religious leaders is going to present Syrian opposition members toChief Rabbi of Holon Avraham Yosef, the son of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and a member of the rabbinate’s council, will be one of the more high-profile religious leaders in the group that took off from Israel yesterday – one week after the original delegation was postponed.day with a list of sites in Syria holy to Judaism, to be safeguarded if Bashar Assad’s regime collapses.<o:p></o:p>

2011: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present The 2011 Spring Concert as part of the Sidney Krum Young Artists Concert Series.

2011: The National Museum of American Jewish History is scheduled to present a screening of “Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray” “a …documentary that reveals the little-known struggles that faced Jewish-Americans both in battle and on the home front during the Civil War” including the 7,000 who fought for the Union, the 3000 who fought with the Rebels and the “five Union Jewish soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor.”<o:p></o:p>

2011(8^thof Iyar, 5771): Seventy-nine year old Jay D. Fischer, the attorney “who negotiated a monetary settlement with the Palestine Liberation Organization on behalf of the family of Leon Klinghoffer after his murder during a 1985 hijacking” passed away today.<o:p></o:p>

2011(8^thof Iyar, 5771): Seventy-six year old Jack Keil Wolf, an engineer and computer theorist whose mathematical reasoning about how best to transmit and store information helped shape the digital innards of computers and other devices that power modern society passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)<o:p></o:p>

2012: Jan Kasoff is scheduled to deliver a talk based on his 36 years as an NBC cameraman entitled Behind the Scenes at SNL and NBC!! at the JCC of Northern Virginia<o:p></o:p>

2012: Those living in the Washington Metropolitan area have a chance to party to a unique mix of Israeli hip-hop, bhangra, baile funk, radio remixes, 80s freestyle and a live performance by Israeli-American emcee and rapper Kosha Dillz as part of the Washington Jewish Music Festival.<o:p></o:p>

2012:Jazzrael - A Festival of Israeli Jazz & World Music: Israeli Jazz/World Music Concert is scheduled to take place at Temple Israel in NYC.<o:p></o:p>

2012:Mendy Cahan, founder of Yung Yiddish in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is scheduled to lead an interactive workshop about the craft of presenting Yiddish song for contemporary audiences at the Workman’s Circle in New York City. <o:p></o:p>

2012: Thousands rallied in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square this evening, and in cities around the country, in the largest “social justice” protest held since last summer’s wave of cost-of-living demonstrations. (As reported by Ben Hartman and Melanie Lidman)<o:p></o:p>

2013: The Maccabeats are scheduled to perform at the Jewish Federation of Princeton in Princeton, NJ.<o:p></o:p>

2013: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Business of Baby by Jennifer Margulis, Tirza by Arnon Grunberg and the recently released paperback edition of Thinking, Fast And Slow by Daniel Kahneman.<o:p></o:p>

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