Every Day Is Special: Jewish

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February 27 – Happy Birthday, Bertha Pappenheim

Posted on February 27, 2018

Today's famous birthday is someone whose face once graced a German stamp in a series called "Benefactors of Mankind" (but in German, of course: Helfer der Menschheit).

Perhaps it should have been called "Benefactor of Womankind"!

Bertha Pappenheim (who was born in Vienna, Austria, on this date in 1859). Her family had roots in Orthodox Judaism. When she was 29 years old, Pappenheim moved from Austria to Frankfurt, Germany, and there she got involved in art, science, and charitable works. She also wrote poems, novellas, children's stories, and a play. Many of her writings were published, some under a male pseudonym (common for women writers at the time).

So...why did I say Pappenheim was a benefactor of womankind?

She worked on issues of human trafficking of women.

She worked with, and served as president of, the League of Jewish Women, striving for education for girls and job equality for women.

She founded and helped to found kindergartens, community homes, and schools.

She founded an orphanage for Jewish girls.

She translated Mary Wollstonecraft's paper in defense of women's rights (English to German).

She translated the "Women's Talmud" and the Women's Bible (Yiddish to German).

You may wonder how this Jewish woman living in Germany dealt with the Nazi threat. Actually, when the Nazis came to power in 1933, Pappenheim was already pretty old. She took a group of orphaned Jewish children to safety in Great Britain in 1934 - but the next year she discovered she had cancer. She died in 1936 - before Kristallnacht and the concentration camps and all the most horrific stuff.

Also on this date:

Read Me Day

Dominican Republic's Independence Day

Toxicologist Alice Hamilton's birthday

Anniversary of a plea for help regarding the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Science celebrations

Author Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's birthday

Author John Steinbeck's birthday

U. S. Snowshoe Days

Birthday of Constantine the Great

Birthday of Constantine Mavrocordatos

International Polar Bear Day

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

February holidays
February birthdays
Historical anniversaries in February

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

November 9 – Remembering Kristallnacht

Posted on November 9, 2017

"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - George Santayana, philosopher and writer

"Never again!" should be the way we remember Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," which was the beginning of the Holocaust in which millions of Jews were murdered.

Yes, yes, we all know that it was bad that, on this date in 1938, German Nazis attacked thousands of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, hospitals, schools, and synagogues! We know that it is horrific that, on this one night alone, Nazis killed more than a hundred Jews, damaged or destroyed thousands of properties, and arrested tens of thousands of Jewish men, putting them in concentration camps.

But think about this:

It was not actually the German police officers, nor the German military, who carried out these awful attacks. Instead, it was the Sturmabteilung , the "Storm Detachment," often known as the SA or "Brownshirts." It was not an official nationally-sanctioned group - it was just a part of the Nazi Party.

The SA was paramilitary - not actually Germany's military forces, but having the sorts of uniforms and weapons and training that we associate with military forces.

And think about this:

IF the actual German military, and the German police officers, and the average German citizens had moved against the SA during these attacks, Kristallnacht might have been a teeny disturbance instead of a terrible tragedy, and the Holocaust might have been averted.

But the military did not move against the SA. German police officers stood by and watched the SA ransack Jewish-owned businesses and take sledgehammers to buildings. Many average German citizens joined in and took part in the destruction.

And now think about this:

IF governments all around the world had taken a hard line with Germany, placing economic sanctions on and severing diplomatic relations with the nation, and especially if the people of other nations had immediately moved to help German Jews, opening immigration to them, welcoming refugees - perhaps the Holocaust would not have happened.

IF anybody had done anything, perhaps World War II would have been stopped before it started.

Kristallnacht sent shock waves around the world. People almost everywhere heard about it. But they did not do much other than condemn the attacks with their words.

"Never again!" means we have to stand up to bullies, take action against monsters and fascists, actively help victims and marginalized groups, and take common sense steps to solve problems. Whether we are talking about racist immigration policies or ineffective gun laws, we need to stand up for what is right with our words - but also our actions.

Also on this date:

Independence Day in Cambodia

World Freedom Day

Anniversary of the first use of limelight

Iqbal Day in Pakistan

Astronomer Carl Sagan's birthday

(a.k.a.Sagan Day)

Anniversary of the discovery of Darmstadtium

Anniversary of the Great Northeast Blackout

Astronomer Benjamin Banneker's birthday

Plan ahead:

Check out my Pinterest boards for:

November holidays
November birthdays
Historical anniversaries in November

And here are my Pinterest boards for:

December holidays
December birthdays
Historical anniversaries in December

January 28 - Anniversary of a Just Appointment

Posted on January 28, 2017

Louis Brandeis was brilliant. He was passionate about the law and about the betterment of individuals and American society. He was incorruptible.

(Incorruptible means that nobody could influence him with power, money, or other bribes.)

Of course he would make a great justice of the Supreme Court, right?

Then why-oh-why did so many conservative Republicans fight against Brandeis's 1916 nomination to the Supreme Court?

Was it because the president who nominated him, Woodrow Wilson, was a Democrat?

A big part of the problem many had with Brandeis was because he was a crusader for social justice – and that often pitted him against monopolies, big corporations, the wealthy and the powerful. Brandeis devoted so much time to public causes and social justice he was called “the People's Lawyer,” and he was even described as “a Robin Hood of the law.”

Of course, we know that standing up against unfair practices is a good thing – even if, actually ESPECIALLY if, the people being unfair are wealthy and powerful.

Still, a lot of politicians are themselves wealthy and powerful, and almost all politicians are influenced by the wealthy and powerful, so Republicans as a group fought against Brandeis because he made a habit of standing up to the wealthy and powerful.

Another big part of the problem many people had with Brandeis was that he was a Jew. Antisemitism (bigotry toward Jewish people) had been a problem in America for centuries, although thankfully it has decreased since World War II and the Civil Rights Movement, in the middle of the 1900s. (I will point out, however, that so far there has never been a Jewish president or vice-president in the United States. There has never even been a Jewish major party candidate for president, and the only candidate for VP was Joe Lieberman in 2000.)

Thank goodness, Brandeis did end up getting confirmed as a Supreme Court Justice. He weighed in on many free-speech issues and right-to-privacy issues. His written opinions on those two topics, in particular, are considered some of the greatest defenses ever written by a member of the Supreme Court.

Here are a few interesting facts about Louis Brandeis:

His parents immigrated from Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic.
Brandeis graduated from Harvard Law School at age 20 – with the highest grade average in the law school's history.
The law firm he founded in Boston still practices today. Its name is now Nutter McClennen & Fish – Nutter for short – which is a bit surprising to me. If I wanted a lawyer, I think I would not want to choose Mr. Nutter, would you? Maybe not even Mr. Fish... But the law firm has one of the highest reputations in the state and nation.
Although Brandeis was the first Jewish Supreme Court Justice, he was far from the last. Starting with the 1932 appointment of Benjamin Cardozo, there have been seven other Jewish justices on SCOTUS, including three current justices! (All but one of these were nominated by Democrats.)
Brandeis is widely considered a pioneer in pro bono work, helping to create the concept that is now prevalent in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. Pro bono means “for the public good,” and it is used to refer to professional work done without payment. The American Bar Association has an ethics rule that suggests that every lawyer in the U.S. contribute at least fifty hours of pro bono service every year.