Who is Baruch Spinoza?

Via Aish.com:

In 1656, the Jewish elders of Amsterdam issued an excommunication notice against Baruch Spinoza. Spinoza was a philosopher who postulated that God and nature are equivalent, and that the Bible is purely allegorical. Spinoza is known as the "Jewish Atheist," and he is considered the founder of modern biblical criticism. Spinoza believed that there is no Divine intervention, and that all events are fatalistically destined to occur (thus there is no free will).

For these and other heretical ideas, Spinoza was officially shunned by the Jewish community.

Who was David "Mickey" Marcus?

David "Mickey" Marcus (1902-1948) was an American Jew who volunteered to fight for the Israeli army in the 1948 War of Independence.

Marcus was a tough Brooklyn street kid who attended West Point and then law school. In World War II, Marcus rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army, where he helped draw up surrender terms for Italy and Germany. While serving in the occupation government in Berlin, he was responsible for clearing out the Nazi death camps, and then as chief of the War Crimes Division, where he helped arrange the Nuremberg trials.

Seeing the Jewish suffering first-hand, Marcus became a committed Zionist, and in 1947 he volunteered to help secure the Jewish settlements which were under attack from hostile Arabs.

Marcus designed a command structure for Israel's new army and wrote manuals to train it. His most famous achievement was ordering the construction of the "Burma Road," a winding mountainous path which allowed Jewish convoys to reach Jerusalem and relieve the Arab siege.

Tragically, on the day that the war's cease-fire took effect, Marcus was mistakenly shot by a Jewish guard.

His story became the subject of a movie, Cast a Giant Shadow, starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Yul Brynner.

Source: Aish.com

Today in Jewish History - Cheshvan 17

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On this date in 1919, a New York Times headline declared "Einstein Theory Triumphs." Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German-born physicist whose theory of relativity revolutionized the scientific approach to time, space, matter, energy and gravity. Einstein claimed that his defining moment came at age five when his father showed him a compass, and young Albert was intrigued by the mysterious, invisible force acting upon it. Einstein succeeded in explaining principles of cosmology and physics that had baffled scientists for decades. From 1914 to 1933, he conducted physics research in Berlin, and it was during this time that he made his most groundbreaking discoveries and was awarded a Nobel Prize. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Einstein renounced his German citizenship and fled to the United States, where he accepted a position in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1939, Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt urging the study of nuclear fission for military purposes, fearing that the Nazis would be first to develop atomic weapons. After the war, however, Einstein lobbied for nuclear disarmament, saying that: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Einstein was instrumental in founding Brandeis University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, to which Einstein bequeathed his estate. In 1952 he turned down an offer to become President of the State of Israel. Einstein has been called one of the most influential figures in history, and Time magazine named him "Person of the Century."

Marcel Marceau was a French Jew

Marcel Marceau, whose lithe gestures and pliant facial expressions revived the art of mime and brought poetry to silence, died Saturday. He was 84. Wearing white face paint, soft shoes and a battered hat topped with a red flower, Marceau — notably through his famed personnage Bip — played the entire range of human emotions onstage for more than 50 years, never uttering a word. Offstage, however, he was famously chatty. "Never get a mime talking. He won't stop," he once said. A French Jew, Marceau escaped deportation during World War II — unlike his father, who died at Auschwitz — and worked with the French Resistance to protect Jewish children.

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Playwright George Tabori Dies in Berlin

Hungarian-born playwright and director George Tabori, a legend in Germany's postwar theater world whose avant-garde works confronted anti-Semitism, has died, the Berliner Ensemble said Tuesday. He was 93.

Tabori, who as recently as three years ago dreamed of returning to stage to play the title role in Shakespeare' s "King Lear," died Monday in his apartment near the theater, the Berliner Ensemble said, noting that friends and family had accompanied him through his final days. No cause of death was given.

"George Tabori - a poet, a director, an actor, a genius of life, a truly unique human being - has reached the close of his life's cycle," the theater, founded by Berthold Brecht, said in a statement.

Born into a Jewish family in Budapest on May 24, 1914, Tabori fled in 1936 to London, where he started working for the British Broadcasting Corp., and became a British citizen. His father, and other members of his family, were killed at Auschwitz.

Tabori moved to Hollywood in the 1950s, where he worked as a scriptwriter, most notably co-writing the script for Alfred Hitchcock's 1953 film, "I Confess."

He moved to Germany in the 1970s and launched a theater career that spanned from acting to directing to writing. He used sharp wit and humor in his plays to examine the relationship between Germany and the Jews, as well as attack anti-Semitism.

Among his best-known works are "Mein Kampf," set in the Viennese hostel where Adolf Hitler lived from 1910-1913, and the "Goldberg Variations," both dark farces that poke fun at the Nazis.

"Tabori's humanity and wisdom were unique in the world of theater," Klaus Bachler, director of Vienna's leading Burgtheater, where many of Tabori's works were staged, told Austrian ORF state television.

"Our profession is poorer from his death," Bachler said. "The generosity of his art and his heart will be sorely missed."

Tabori is survived by his wife and three children.

Honest Ed' Mirvish Dies at 92

Edwin Mirvish, the theater producer and flamboyant Canadian businessman known as "Honest Ed" because of his popular Toronto discount store, has died at age 92.

Mirvish died Wednesday at St. Michael's Hospital, his family announced. Mirvish's Toronto theater career began in 1963, when he purchased and saved from demolition the stately Royal Alexandra Theatre. He also bought and restored the Old Vic, one of England's most famous theaters, and with his son, David Mirvish, built the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto in 1993.

But before he became a producer, Mirvish was a savvy - and shrewd -business man.

He opened his discount emporium in 1948 at Bathurst andBloor - the heart of Toronto's immigrant district. His first newspaper ad read: "Our building is a dump! Our service is rotten! . . . But. ..!!! Our prices are the lowest in town!"He once said he named his store Honest Ed's because "it was so ridiculous. As soon as you claim to be honest, everybody gets suspicious."

In 1962, Mirvish, who acknowledged he knew nothing about theater, bought the Royal Alexandra and spent nearly $475,000 restoring the1907 theater to its former glory. Twenty years later, he purchased the Old Vic, the legendary London theater where Olivier, Gielgud, Redgrave and Richardson once performed. He sold the property in 1998.

Mirvish was also well-known to Toronto residents for his generosity.

At his annual July 24 birthday bash, to which everyone was welcome, there were free hotdogs, rides and cake. And each Christmas, people would line up overnight outside Honest Ed's for a free turkey and fruitcake. Born in 1914 in Colonial Beach, Va., Mirvish came to Toronto in 1923where he and his family lived above their downtown Dundas Street grocery. He was 15 when his father died and he dropped out of school to support his family.

Over the years, Mirvish picked up honorary degrees and awards, including the Order of Canada and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire."It's wonderful to go from Dundas Street to Buckingham Palace, but what is really wonderful is to be lucky enough to live in a country where this is possible," Mirvish said in 1989 before he was presented the honor by Queen Elizabeth II.

Besides his son, Mirvish is survived by his wife, Anne, and a sister.

A funeral service will be held Friday at Beth Tzedec Synagogue in Toronto.