April 17, 2006 — “Zionist Idea” Author Rabbi Hertzberg Dies
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, shown in 1972, recognized in 1949 that the Diaspora’s challenges were more complex than those of the State of Israel. By Stsparky, own work, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, a leading scholar and Jewish communal and religious leader perhaps best known as the author of “The Zionist Idea,” dies of heart failure at 84. A native of Poland who immigrated to Ohio when he was 5 and settled in Baltimore, he embraced Labor Zionism in his teens. After spending the summer of 1949 in Israel, he wrote that the problems of the Diaspora were more complex than those of the new state.
April 18, 1933 — YMCA Dedicates New Home in Jerusalem
A crowd gathers in the courtyard of the Jerusalem YMCA for the dedication service April 18, 1933. American Colony Photograph Collection, U.S. Library of Congress.
Gen. Edmund Allenby, who led the British offensive that captured Palestine from the Ottomans during World War I, delivers the keynote address at the dedication of the YMCA’s new complex on what is now King David Street in Jerusalem. Allenby says the building is a gift from British and American Christians to their co-religionists and to the Jews and Muslims who share the holy city, where the YMCA has operated since 1878.
April 19, 1949 — American Zionist Leader Stephen Wise Dies
Rabbi Stephen Wise (right) appears with fellow Jewish leaders Louis Brandeis (center) and Nathan Straus, co-owner of Macy’s. U.S. Library of Congress.
Rabbi Stephen Wise, a founder of the U.S. Federation of Zionist Societies and the American Jewish Congress whose many leadership positions included the presidency of the American Zionist Movement in the 1930s, dies in New York at age 75. Among other activities, Wise helped persuade President Woodrow Wilson to endorse the Balfour Declaration and lobbied for President Franklin Roosevelt to do more for Europe’s Jews.
April 20, 1953 — First Israel Prizes Are Awarded
As acting education minister, David Ben-Gurion presents the Israel Prize to Habima Theatre actor Aharon Meskin on May 2, 1960. By Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
At the initiative of Education Minister Ben-Zion Dinor, the government presents the first nine Israel Prizes as part of the celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut (Independence Day). The recipients are poet Yaakov Cohen, author Haim Hazaz, historians Gedalya Alon and Mark Dvorjetzki, mathematicians Yaakov Levitzky and Shimshon Amitzur, physician Lipman Halperin, educator Dina Feitelson-Shore, and artist Ze’ev Ben Zvi.
April 21, 1984 — Dada Artist Marcel Janco Dies
Education Minister Zalman Aran presents the Israel Prize for art to Marcel Janco on May 15, 1967. By Fritz Cohen, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
Marcel Janco, one of the founders of the Dada art movement, dies at the Sheba Medical Center at age 88. A native of Romania, he studied architecture in Zurich during World War I and became part of a group of anti-war artists. Janco created masks and scenery at the Cabaret Voltaire as the group launched Dadaism, which aimed to universalize art. He immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1941 and later founded the Ein Hod artists village.
April 22, 1978 — U.S. Sympathizes With Security Concerns Tied to Palestinian State
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roy Atherton (left) meets with Eliyahu Ben-Elissar, the director-general of the Prime Minister’s Office and a future ambassador to Egypt, in Cairo in December 1977. By Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Roy Atherton, amid repeated trips to the Middle East to advance Israeli-Egyptian peace talks, acknowledges that the United States has sympathy for Israel’s security concerns about the possible creation of an independent Palestinian state. He and other State Department officials manage to draft substantial portions of the Camp David Accords before the summit is held in September 1978.
April 23, 1963 — President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Dies
Norwegian Ambassador Carl M.F. Irgens (left) presents his credentials to Israeli President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, joined by Golda Meir and others, in November 1958. By Moshe Pridan, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Israel’s second president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, dies of cancer at age 78 after more than a decade in office. He was active in Labor Zionism and Jewish self-defense in his native Ukraine and made aliyah in 1907 after his father was sent to Siberia because of a cache of weapons found in their home. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and served in the Knesset until he was elected president after Chaim Weizmann died in office.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.