On Saturday morning, March 18, 1922, 12-year-old Judith Kaplan, the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai M. Kaplan, stepped forward in her father's synagogue, the Society for the Advancement of Judaism. She recited the preliminary blessing, read a portion of the Torah in Hebrew and English and intoned the closing blessing. It was the first bat mitzvah conducted in the United States and set the model for what is today a widespread American Jewish practice.
Today in 1893, Lord Stanley, then Governor General of Canada, put forth a call for a championship competition in hockey and offered a silver cup to the winning team. The Stanley Cup remains today the most coveted prize in professional hockey. Lord Stanley never witnessed a championship game nor attended a presentation of his trophy, having returned
