Today’s Jewish Birthday

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Shemp Howard

When Curly was felled by a stroke in 1946, Moe and Larry asked Shemp to fill in temporarily. But Curly’s health did not improve and in 1948 Shemp agreed to remain as the third Stooge permanently. His high pitched “bee-bee-bee-bee-bee-bee’ sound, produced by inhaling, became his trademark, emitted when scared, sleeping, overtly happy, or dazed. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Jonathan Sacks

From Sept 1991 through September 2013, he served as Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. In 1995, he won the Jerusalem Prize for his contribution to diaspora Jewish life. In 2005 he was dubbed a Knight Bachelor for his work in interfaith relations. In 2009, the House of Lords announced that Sacks was recommended for life peerage with a seat in the House of Lords. He took the title of Baron Sacks. He was also the recipient of an honorary doctorate of divinity conferred by the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey, to mark his first ten years as Chief Rabbi. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Michael Eisner

When he was passed over to succeed Diller at Paramount, he moved over to Walt Disney Studios, where he served as chairman and CEO.  Under his watch, Disney released such films as Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little Mermaid and acquired Miramax Films, ABC, most of ESPN, Fox Family, and The Muppets. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Rob Reiner

In 1970, he hit the big time in All in the Family, Norman Lear’s situation comedy, in which his father-in-law Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor, was contemptuous of his liberal views and called Reiner’s character “Meathead.” That name stuck with Reiner beyond the series. “I could win the Nobel Prize and they’d write ‘Meathead wins the Nobel Prize,'” he complained.  He did win two Emmy Awards for the role. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Louis Kahn

From 1958 through 1965, he collaborated with biologist Jonas Salk on what some have described as his defining work, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla. The architecture, sometimes described as brutalism, emphasized the cement and wood materials used in its construction. The laboratory cluster, consisting of two parallel blocks, frame a long view of the Pacific Ocean, accentuated by a thin linear fountain that seems to reach for the horizon. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: John Garfield

Following the war, Garfield starred with Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice; and with Joan Crawford in Humoresque.  He took a supporting role in Gentlemen’s Agreement because he wanted to participate in that film’s exposé of antisemitism.  He was nominated for an Academy Award in 1947 for his leading role in Body and Soul. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Yitzhak Rabin

In 1992, Rabin unseated Peres as the Labor party leader, leading to his second term as prime minister. In 1993, Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat exchanged letters of recognition, with Arafat renouncing violence. Encouraged by President Bill Clinton, Rabin had a historic handshake with Arafat at the White House in 1993. The following year, Rabin signed a peace treaty with Jordan. Along with Arafat and Peres, Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Dinah Shore

In 1951, she debuted The Dinah Shore Show on NBC television, and in 1956 The Dinah Shore Chevy Show, a variety show that continued through 1961.  She sang with Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Peggy Lee, Frank Sinatra, and Pearl Bailey. When Tennessee Ernie Ford appeared on the show, she kiddingly introduced him as Tennessee Ernie Chevrolet. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Bugsy Siegel

After Siegel relocated to Los Angeles, he subordinated crime boss Jack Dragna and recruited Mickey Cohen as his chief lieutenant in a numbers racket and the creation of a drug trade route from Mexico. Siegel also controlled bookmaking, offshore casinos, and a major prostitution ring. His free-spending ways and high profile led to friendships with some of Hollywood’s best-known stars … [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Elizabeth Taylor

Taylor said neither Todd nor Fisher were the reason for her conversion, that she had wanted to become Jewish “for a long time” and that there was “comfort and dignity and hope for me in this ancient religion that [has] survived for four thousand years … I feel as if I have been a Jew all my life.”[SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Meir Dizengoff

After moving back in 1905 to Palestine, where he settled in Jaffa, he formed a partnership with the Ahuzat Bayit company to develop land on the outskirts of Jaffa. Sixty six families drew lots for housing locations along the beach from which the city of Tel Aviv would grow. The Dizengoffs were among those first families, and he served as head of town planning from 1911 to 1922. When Tel Aviv was recognized as a city, Dizengoff was elected as its first mayor. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Ted Arison

Arison moved to New York approximately in 1954. In 1966, he moved to Miami, Florida, where with Knut Kloster he co-founded Norwegian Cruise Lines. The partners split in 1971 and the following year Arison founded Carnival Cruise Lines, which he took public in 1987, one month before a stock market crash that left potential competitors without sources of financing. [SDJW staff]

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Today’s Jewish Birthday: Debbie Friedman

Over nearly four decades she recorded 22 albums, enriching the Jewish liturgy with such compositions as “The Aleph Bet Song,” “Miriam’s Song,” “Not By Might,” “I Am a Latke,” and “Mi Shebeirech,” co-written with her partner Drorah Setel. “Mi Shebereich,” a song for healing, is used by hundreds of congregations throughout North America. Her songs were gender sensitive and inclusive. [SDJW staff]

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