Today’s Jewish Birthday

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]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Debbie Friedman Read More »

Jewish Religion, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Maurycy Gottlieb

His painting “Shylock and Jessica” won the Gold Medal at the Munich Academy. Later, he returned to Vienna to study under Heinrich von Angeli, and produced paintings on biblical themes. Meeting in Rome, Matejko urged him to return to Krakow to work on a series of monumental paintings including scenes depicting the history of the Jews in Poland. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Maurycy Gottlieb Read More »

International, Jewish History, Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Annie Meyer

Meyer helped to found Barnard College for women in 1889 across the street from Columbia. Barnard became one of the Seven Sisters of women’s colleges in America. Meyer became an associate editor of Broadway Magazine and also edited Women’s Work in America. She also authored such works as Robert Annys: A Poor Priest (1901); The Dominant Sex (1911); The Dreamer: A Play in Three Acts (1912); Black Souls (1932) which dealt with lynchings in the South; Barnard Beginnings (1935) and It’s Been Fun: An Autobiography. (1951) –SDJW staff

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Annie Meyer Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Milos Forman

In 1975, Forman had his first big hit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, about life in a psychiatric ward, which won him an Oscar as best director. In 1979, he directed Hair, based on the Broadway musical but it did not do well financially. In 1981, he directed Ragtime, based on a novel by E.L. Doctorow, and in 1985, he won another Academy Award for directing  Amadeus, about the life of Mozart. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Milos Forman Read More »

Holocaust, Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Chaim Potok

In 1967 Potok published The Chosen, and in 1969 a sequel The Promise, which helped delineate differences between Orthodox and Hasidic Jews.  The Chosen was made into a film in 1981.  In the interim,  the Potoks moved to Jerusalem in 1970, returning to the states in 1977.  Potok’s My Name is Asher Lev was published in 1972. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Chaim Potok Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Israel, Jewish Religion, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Barbara Myerhoff

Following advice to “study your own,” Myerhoff began fieldwork on the elderly Jews at the Israel Levin Center in Venice, California, resulting in a 1977 Oscar-winning short documentary film, Number Our Days, and in 1979 a book of the same title. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Barbara Myerhoff Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish History, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Theatre, Film & Broadcast, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Richard Blumenthal

Blumenthal worked in all three branches of the U.S. government before winning elective office himself.  He was an aide to U.S. Sen. Abraham Ribicoff of Connecticut, an assistant to Daniel Moynihan during his time in the Nixon White House, and a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Harry A. Blackmun. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Richard Blumenthal Read More »

Jewish History, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Judy Blume

Blume’s fight against the book banners, led to her becoming active in the National Coalition Against Censorship. Her treatment of menstruation, masturbation, teen sex, and birth control in different books have prompted calls for their banning. In 2000, the Library of Congress named her a “Living Legend.” [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Judy Blume Read More »

Books, Poetry & Short Stories, Jewish Fiction, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Leo Szilard

In 1938, Szilard moved to the United States, where he worked at Columbia University to demonstrate the concept of nuclear fission.  He drafted a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, which he got his more famous mentor, Albert Einstein, to sign warning of Germany’s nuclear weapons project.  This eventually prompted the creation of the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago. [SDJW Staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Leo Szilard Read More »

Antisemitism, International, Jewish History, San Diego County, Science, Medicine, & Education, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Mark Spitz

At Indiana University under coach Doc Counsilman, he won eight individual NCAA titles. In 1971, he won the James E. Sullivan Award as the top amateur athlete in the U.S. Then came the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, where he won seven gold medals, setting new world records in each of them. They were the 100-meter freestyle, 200-meter freestyle, 100-meter butterfly, 300-meter butterfly, 4×100-meter freestyle relay, 4 x 200-meter freestyle relay and 4 x 100-meter medley relay. [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Mark Spitz Read More »

International, Israel, Sports & Competitions, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Carole King

With King composing the music and Goffin writing the lyrics they wrote a string of hits for various groups including “Chains,” “The Loco-Motion,” “Half Way to Paradise,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Up on the Roof,” “I’m into Something Good,” “One Fine Day,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” and “(You make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman.” [SDJW staff]

Today’s Jewish Birthday: Carole King Read More »

Music, Dance, and Visual Arts, Staff and Bylined Contributors, Today's Jewish Birthday, USA