September 2
44 BCE: Cicero delivers the first of his fourteen Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months. From a Jewish perspective it might be proper to say “a pox on both of your houses.” Cicero was anti-Semite. Once when addressing the Senate he was reported to have told his colleagues that he must whisper lest the Jews hear him. He described Judaism as “’a barbarous superstition’” and derided the Jews as “a race born in slavery.” When defending a Roman official against charges that he had stolen a large sum of gold bound for Jerusalem, the famous orator used “all the anti-Jewish canards” of the day to defend his client. Antony was no prize either. After he and Octavius had triumphed at the Battle Of Philippi, Marc Antony went to Asia Minor, an area under his control. Antony violently rejected several groups of Jews who sought to meet with him concerning the need to replace Herod. While Herod had made the mistake of siding against Antony before the Battle of Philippi, the vile monarch kept his throne. Why did Antony favor him over Antigonus? Given the greed and the debauchery of the man, a bribe seems a likely explanation. Also, Antigonus was a reformer and Herod along with his new ally the High Priest Hyrcanus, could be counted on to keep peace in the Jewish kingdom.
31 BCE: Octavian defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium off the coast of Greece. The outcome of the battle can be viewed as a positive event for the Jews of that time. The defeat sealed Antony’s fate and ensured that Octavian would succeed his great-uncle Julius Caser as head of the Roman government. Antony was not popular with the Jews living in Judea since he had given Cleopatra the area around Jericho for her own kingdom. Octavian, who ruled Augustus, continued the relatively benevolent policies toward the Jews practiced by Julius Caesar. He exempted the Jews from emperor worship, banned the Roman Eagle from Jerusalem and forbade pagan altars being in the Jewish capital. He allowed Diaspora Jews to send contributions to the Temple in Jerusalem, exempted them from court appearances on Shabbat and ensured that their holy books were not disturbed.
1192: The Third Crusade ends as English king Richard the Lion-Heart and Islamic sultan Saladin sign a peace treaty that allows Christian pilgrims’ access to Muslim held Jerusalem. Saladin is remembered as the ruler who readmitted the Jews to Jerusalem in 1190 (4950) as ecstatically recounted by the Jewish poet Al-harzi.
1347: Coronation of Emperor Charles IV, who classified his Jewish subjects as vassals of the Emperor which meant he received an annual payment from them, as King of Bohemia
1492: Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella
1504: In Pilsen, “the councilors and aldermen” decreed “that all Jews both local and visiting must wear Jewish coats so they can be distinguished from other people, and that Jewish women must wear a veil with a broad yellow and white ribbon. If Jews were found without such clothing, the penalty would be five coppers for each offence. It was emphasized that Jews must not manufacture veils or undertake any other gentile business.”
1649: In Italy, the Jews of Castro found refuge in Pitigliano when forces supporting Pope Innocent X at the end of the Wars of Castro. The Jews had nothing to do with the fighting and their flight is what we would call today “collateral damage.”
1666: The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings. While Jews had already returned to London we can assume that none of the buildings that burned were synagogues. In 1656, the Jews had been denied the right to build a synagogue or buy land for a cemetery. The famed Bevis Marks synagogue was not built until 1701.
1686: When imperial troops recaptured Buda, most Jewish residents were massacred, while a “lucky few” were captured and later released for ransom.
1728: An edict issued today allowed the Jews “to attend the fairs of Little Russia, provided they carried on wholesale business only.” (As reported by Herman Rosenthal)
1731: In response to an application by Danil Pavlovich Apostl, who was Hetman of the Cossacks, Jews were permitted “attend the fairs of Little Russia, provided they” only engaged in wholesale business activities.
1735: Lewis Gomez, a Jewish merchant in New York sold 25 loads of lime to the city for £6 pounds, 5 shillings. Gomez advertised his "lime" in the newspaper as "good stone-lime."
1752: England and its American colonies use the Julian calendar for the last time, dropping it in favor of the Gregorian one. Eleven days (September 3 – 13 inclusively) vanish as the calendar was adjusted forward so that September 14 followed September 2. This does not directly affect Jewish history, but it is worth noting since it accounts for some of the seeming discrepancies in providing dates for events.
1763: Moses Lindo, the Surveyor and Inspector-General of Indigo, Drugs and Dyes wrote a letter from Charleston, South Carolina to Emanuel Mendez da Costa containing “an account of a n
ew die from the Berries of a Weed in south Carolina.”
1777(30th of Av, 5537): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1777: The will of Aaron Franks, the brother of Isaac Franks was dated tdaoy.
1778: Birthdate of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Emperor Napoleon, who thanks to his brother ruled Holland from 1806 to 1810. During his short reign he sought to improve the condition of the Jews with such steps as moving market day from Saturday, abolishing the “Oath More Judaico” and allowing Jews to serve in the military for the first time by creating two battalions with Jewish enlisted men and officers.
1796: In Holland which now was called the Batavian Republic, the National Assembly voted in favor of emancipation for the Dutch Jews who numbered approximately 50,000 – 20,000 of whom lived in Amsterdam. The Jews of Holland were emancipated as the Dutch state became the Batavian Republic.
1789: Founding the United States Department of the Treasury. Although there is some anecdotal evidence that the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was Jewish, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. is listed as the first Jewish Secretary of the Treasury. He was appointed by FDR and served from 1934 until 1945. Morgenthau was chosen because he was country squire neighbor of FDR and not for financial acumen.
1806: Birthdate of Mikhl Yosef Gusikow (Michael Joseph Gusikow) “a Klezmer musician from Shklov who was popular in German and France during the 1830’s.”
1807: Barnett Nathan married Julia Solomons today.
1813: In Gibraltar, Abraham Israel Bernal and his wife gave birth to Esther Bernal, the wife of Samuel Levy Bensusan and the mother of Orovida, Abraham, Jacob and Miriam Bensusan.
1818: Laurence Lazarus married Catherine Phillips at the New Synagogue today.
1819: Birthdate of Louisa Sophia Goldsmid, the wife of Member of Parliament Sir Francis Henry Goldsmid.
1822: Baron Rothschild conferred with Prussian diplomat Friedrich von Gentz “at breakfast regarding the Frankfort Jewish matter.”
1825: Mordecai Manuel Noah led a large group of Christians and some Jews to St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Buffalo, NY where they participated in a dedicatory ceremony marking the founding of Ararat, which was to be a Jewish colony on an island in the Niagara River.
1831: Thirty-seven year old Daniel Lessmann, a veteran of the Battle Lutzen who converted in 1824, possibly to advance his career as a poet and history.
1832: Hart Lyon, Moses Cohen D’Azevedo, Meyer Abrahams, Abraham Finzi, Levi Eleazer and Joseph Hart were among those who attended “a meeting of the Vestry” today.
1833: Oberlin College is founded by John Shepherd and Philo P. Stewart. Today Oberlin has about 800 Jewish students out of a student body of 3,000. It offers ten courses in Jewish Studies as well as both a Major and a Minor in Jewish Studies.
1839: Birthdate of London born Australian politician Elias Solomon, an Australian who migrated to Australia as a child. He had no formal education, but in 1868 became a clerk and auctioneer in Fremantle in Western Australia. In 1877 he was elected to the Fremantle City Council. In 1892, he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the member for South Fremantle, where he remained until 1901. In that year, he transferred to federal politics, winning the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fremantle for the Free Trade Party. He was defeated by Labor's William Carpenter in 1903. Solomon died in 1909.
1839: Three days after he had passed away English portrait painter Solomon Polack, the husband of Sarah Polack with whom he had five children was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1844: In Bavaria, Emanuel Grabfelder and his wife gave birth to Samuel Grabfelder the husband of Delia Griff who served President of the Guardians of Public Children of Louisville and the Jewish Free Hospital and President and a trustee of Temple Adath Israel in Louisville, KY.
1850: In Silesia, “railway entrepreneur and coal mine owner Rudolf Pringsheim and his wife Paula, née Deutschmann” gave birth to “German mathematician and patron of the arts” Alfred Pringsheim.
1851: Lazarus Powell began serving as the 19th Governor of Kentucky who in an act that was totally disingenuous condemned General Grant’s General Order No.11 two years after it was issued and withdrawn as part of his on-going attempt to thwart Lincoln’s policies to save the Union and free the slaves – something that Powell opposed.
1852: Birthdate of Paul Charles Joseph Bourget one of several French authors including Maurice Barres, Charles Maurra and Leon Daudet who engaged in “literary anti-Semitism” that “portrayed Jews as cosmopolitan financiers, rapacious parasites, unscrupulous parvenus, intruders and strangers, very different from ‘ordinary’ Frenchman.” (Alan Corcos)
1856: The "Foreign Correspondence” column published today reported that when the subscription books opened to buy shares in the Zurich Credit Mobilier, Bavarian Jews with with millions in their bags, were reportedly seen in the crowd of purchasers.
1857” Solomon Isaacs married Jane Abrahams at the Great Synagogue today.
1857: Young Barney Aaron the son of “Hall of Famer Barney Aaron” “became the first Jewish fighter to a win a championship” when he defeated American Lightweight Champion Johnny Moneghan in Providence, RI in a fight that went 80 rounds and lasted 3 hours and 20 minutes,
1857: Simon Goldman married Julia Phillips at the Great Synagogue today.
1861: Birthdate of Felix Albert Bettelheim, the son of Rabbi Aaron Siegfried Bettelheim, who became a successful doctor in the United States.
1863: Birthdate of Budapest native, Isidore Phillip, “the French composer and pianist.”
1863: Three days after she had passed away, 11 year old Isabella Kisch, the daughter of Simon Abraham Kisch and the former Flora Davis was buried today at the “Brompton (Fulham Road) Jewish Cemetery.
1864: The 79th Indiana Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Knefler fought the Rebels in Georgia at the Battle of Lovejoy’s State.
1864: Solomon B. Kaufman who rose to the rank of Sergeant began serving with Company B of the 202nd Regiment.
1864: Corporal Adam Salzmann began serving with Battery G of the 204thRegiment.
1864: Birthdate of Abraham “Abe” Reuf, the native of San Francisco and graduate of Hastings College of Law who began his career as a fighter against political corruption but ended up “a big city boss” who served time for his mis-deeds.
1864: General Sherman and his Union soldiers capture Atlanta.
1871: In Charleston, SC, “Maier and Hannah (Reichman) Trieste gave birth to College of Charleston and Columbia graduate Montague Triest, the husband of Addie Israel and, during WW I, a member of the Sumter Guard Reserve Company and President of the Hebrew Orphan Society as well as chairman of the United Jewish Relief Campaign.
1877: Birthdate of Cecile M. Pilpel, the native of Wissembourg, France and wife of Emmanuel Pilpel who “became a leader in parent education and…an executive of the Child Study Association of America.
1877: A large group of Jews from New York and Brooklyn attended today’s dedication of the Salem Fields Cemetery which is adjacent to Cypress Hills. The cemetery is the property of Temple Emanu-El on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Several lots have been sold to other Jewish congregations and benevolent societies. Louis May, President of Temple Emanu-El and Rabbi Gottheil officiated during the event.
1878: The “Israelites” of Vicksburg, MS, have made an appeal to their co-religionists throughout the United States to provide aid for “their sick and destitute brethren” who are trying to survive the current Yellow Fever Epidemic. Money should be sent to Alexander Kuhn Treasure of the Hebrew Relief Society of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1881: Based on information that first appeared in the Daily News, it was reported today that an Anglo-Jew named Lewishon who has the support of Lord Granville has been given permission by the Russian Government to visit Novgorod. The British government intends to pursue the central issue – the right of citizens, including Jews to reside and conduct business in Russia under the terms of the treaty signed by the two countries.
1881: In Chicago, Moses Jacobs, a Polish Jew who was attacked by Thomas Kennedy at Clark and Taylor Streets is in critical condition.
1882: It was reported today that that Ignace Eprhussi & Co a Jewish banking house in Odessa was ceasing operations in Russia because of the persecution of Jews in the land of the Czars. Founded by Charles Joachim a Russian grain trader, the firm moved its operations to Vienna
1883: American labor leader Daniel De Leon and his wife gave birth to Solon De Leon, who followed in his father’s footsteps and who created The American Labor Who's Who which is a registry or directory of people involved in the American Labor Movement.
1883(30th of Av, 5643): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1883(30thof Av, 5643): Eighty-one year old Léon Halévy a French dramatist and historian who was the son of cantor Elie Halevy, the brother of composer and Jacques Halevy and the father of Ludovic Halevy passed away today.
1883: “The Hungarian Riots” published today described that renewed attempts by the military to stop the attacks on the Jews in Zala.
1885: Nine-year old Samuel Neuman was sent to the Riverside Hospital because he suffering from smallpox which he caught in Hamburg or while sailing to America on board the SS Firsa.
1886: It was reported today Jacob H. Schiff, Jess Seligman and the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co are among those who have contributed to a fund that will allow The Hebrew Technical Institute to move into new, enlarged quarters. Founded in 1884 to provide instruction in the mechanical arts to poor Jewish boys, the institute now is serving 100 youngsters.
1886: It was reported today that Mr. and Mrs. Harris Manheim and their five year old son have been sent back to England before Coroner Levy of the Jewish Immigrants’ Protective Association could meet with them. It was alleged that the Manheims were indigent when in fact that they “had a valuable Jewish parchment which…could have easily sold for $200 or $300.
1888: In Brest, Richard and Sarah Brodsky gave birth to Samuel Brodsky.
1888: Three days after she had passed away “in her 88th year,” Ester (Aarons) Ellis, the wife of Samuel Ellis and the daughter of Aron Aarons was buried today at the “Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.”
1889: The New York Times reviewed The Jew In English Fiction by Rabbi David Philipson.
1890: “Jews Ordered To Go” published today described the issuance of an by the Governor of the Transcaspian Territories of the Russian Empire expelling the Jews of that region.
1891: In the United States District Court in Brooklyn, Judge Benedict heard the case of 19 Russian Jews who were seeking to reverse the order of the Immigration Commissioner that would not let them remain in this country “because they had no visible means of support.”
1892: In New York, the Eldridge Street police, at the request of Justice Hogan, are looking for “some information” that will help him decide whether or not Israel Simovitch did or did not steal $90 of jewelry from his fellow Russian Jew Jacob Rohnewitch.
1892: As Europe deals with concerns about an outbreak of Cholera, it was reported today that “hundreds of Russian Jews” arriving at Stettin “by sea from Memel or by rail from Eidtkuhnen” are kept in quarantine until they board steamers headed for America.
1892: “Duels and French Duels” published today described the acquittal of Marquis de Mores on charges of having murder Captain Mayer, a Jewish officer in the French Army, because the killing took place during a duel and regardless of the letter of the law, the jury rendered a verdict “that is exactly what might expect from a jury in Mississippi or South Carolina.”
1892: A supply of flour arrived today at Zionsville, the Russian Jewish Colony in Gloucester County, NJ and was quickly turned in to bread to feed the “famished” Jewish “families.
1892: A “carload of Russian Jews arrived at Port Huron, Michigan tonight from Liverpool by way of Montreal.
1892: In the UK, the Jewish Chronicle described the arrival of a group of Polish Jews at the Isle of Jersey and their desire to hold services if they can obtain a Sefer Torah.
1892: Gottlieb Deininger, a member of the Haifa Templer Colony passed away today leaving his widow Mary and their children an estate valued at 50,488 Piasters including stone house, a two and half acre vineyard and 243 gallons of “new Carmel wine.” (The Zionists were not the only Europeans who were settling in this part of the Ottoman Empire prior to WW I)
1893: It was reported today that the Jews of Camden, NJ, have formed “The Hebrew Protective Club” to protect “the members from robbery, insult, assault and murder” and will be retaining a lawyer “who will be permanently engaged to look after their interests.”
1893: Dr. Christian Adolf Stoecker the former Chaplain of the Court of Berlin and leading anti-Semite who arrived in New York yesterday left from Philadelphia where he had stayed with the house surgeon of the German Hospital today for Chicago. Stoecker joined the anti-Semitic movement in 1888 “because he believed that the Hebrews in several cities and districts in Germany were persecuting and oppressing the Christians.” (This is four decades before the rise of Hitler)
1893: In what may be the first round of a general strike in the clothing industry, the finishers went on strike. Eighty per-cent of the 25,000 workers in the clothing in New York’s clothing industry are Jewish, most of whom are immigrants from Russia and Poland.
1893: Birthdate of Hobart, Tasmania, native Betty Lewis, the sculptor and “wife of City Magistrate Julius Isaacs.
1894(1st of Elul, 5654): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1894: “Man’s Oldest Civilization” published today provided a lengthy review of New Light on the Bible and the Holy Land: Recent Discoveries in the East by Basil T. Evetts.
1894: Approximately 600 employees decided to go on strike at Julius Stein & Co in New York City.
1894: Birthdate of Austrian author Joseph Roth best known for his family saga, The Radetzky March and for his novel of Jewish life Job.
1895: The tailors, most of whom are Jewish, “will celebrate their victory over the contractors today, Labor Day, with a big mass meeting and parade.”
1895(13thof Elul, 5655): Eighty-one year old Joshua Heschel Schorr a leading proponent of the Haskalah (Enlightenment Movement) whose criticism of traditional rabbis and their teachings were recorded in He-Haluz, a Hebrew magazine that he edited, passed away today in his hometown of Brody today
1896 Birthdate of Odessa native Shmuel Yeivin, the Israeli archaeologist who served as the Director of the Israeli Department of Antiquities from 1948 to 1961.
1896: “Stein’s Heavy Stealings” published today described how the jewelry firm of Julius M. Lyon was forced to close its doors do the embezzlement orchestrated by 26 year old Julius Stein, his most trusted employee, that cost the firm over $200,000.
1897: Dr. Julius Wasserman conducted the funeral services for Lazarus Morgenthau at the residence of is son J.C. Morgenthau which were followed by burial “in the family vault at Salem Fields, Cypress Hills Cemetery.”
1897: Birthdate of concentration camp commandant who was hung for his crimes while his wife was sentenced to life imprisonment.
1897: Writing in the American Israelite, Reform Rabbi Isaac M. Wise expressed his belief in the impossibility of the Zionist dream due in part to Herzl’s ignorance about Judaism and the inevitable clash between him and Orthodox Jewry.
1898: At the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan where John Maxwell who would support the creation of the Zion Mule Corps but opposed a Jewish “fighting force” led he 2ndBrigade in a battle that helped to burnish the reputation of Winston Churchill who would go on to have close, yet strange relationship, with Jewish constituents and political leaders including Chaim Weizman
1898: The “wealthy Jews” living at Hempstead, Long Island and surrounding villages are considering a plan to build a synagogue.
1898: During the Dreyfus affair, the presidential decision that ratified the board of inquiry’s decision to discharge Estherhazy “for habitual misbehavior” was made today, three days after Colonel Henry’s suicide.
1898: Herzl leaves Basel and sets out for the Bodensee island of Mainau, for an audience with the Grossherzog Friederich of Baden. The main topic of the audience is Kaiser Wilhelm's journey to Palestine.
1899: “Notes and News,” a compilation of information from various publishing houses reported today that the September issue of Century contains a “timely article” entitle “An American Forerunner of Dreyfus” that tells the story of a gallant naval officer who early in the present century was persecuted throughout his career because he was a Jew.” (Editor’s note – this must be a reference to Commodore Uriah P. Levy)
1902(30thof Av, 5662): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1905(2ndof Elul, 5665): Parashat Shoftim
1905: A disastrous fire in Adrianople, Turkey destroys 1500 Jewish homes and 13 synagogues. 10,000 Jews were rendered homeless along with the 40,000 who already were.
1906(12th of Elul, 5666): Rabbi Elias Epstein passed away
1907: Sir Matthew Nathan, the son of Jewish Paddington businessman Jonah Nathan became the 7thGovernor of Natal.
1908: The Conference for the Yiddish Language organized by Nathan Birnbaum continued to meet in Czernowitz.
1911: Alderman Henry E. Davis was re-elected May of Gravesend in Great Britain.
1912: Birthdate of David Daiches, the Scottish literary critic and writer whose memoir was entitled “Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood.”
1913(30th of Av, 5673): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1913: Birthdate of Israel Gelfand, the prize-winning Soviet mathematician.
1913: The 11thWorld Zionist Congress met today in Vienna where it approved a resolution “to establish a Hebrew University in Palestine.”
1915: In San Francisco, “Morris and Rachel (Margolis) Podvidz gave birth to Lily Judith Pokvidz the graduate of Hunter College and Columbia University who married Nathan Edelman and as Lily Edeleman gained fame as an educator and the author of children’s books including The Sukkah and the Book Wind.
1915: “Brooklyn Jews Greet Gov. Alexander” published today described plans for the upcoming visit of Idaho Governor Moses Alexander, the only Jewish person to serve as a state chief executive.
1915: Two weeks after the lynching of Leo Frank, Tom Watson equated the hanging with an act of God as he wrote in The Jeffersonian, “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
1915: The circulation of Tom Watson’s The Jeffersonian reached 87,000 today, triple the number of issues sold before Watson began writing articles condemning Leo Frank as the murder of Mary Phagan.
1916(4th of Elul, 5676): Glasgow-born Lt Edwin Schonfield, 2/19 London Regiment was killed today on the Western Front.
1916: “The Joint Distribution Committee of the Funds for the Relief of Jewish War Sufferers announced” today “that it had been notified from Washington that the cruiser Des Moines now at Barcelona had been ordered to Alexandria by the Secretary of the Navy to carry” medical supplies for the hospitals in Palestine which had been embargoed by the Allies to the port of Jaffa.
1916: It was reported today that Jacob de Hass, the Secretary of the Provisional Committee for General Zionists had recently written a letter in which he took exception to a report by three teachers from American colleges in Turkey who said “that on their visit to Palestine they learned that all the Jews had been deported from Jerusalem with the exception of a few who had accepted the Moslem faith.”
1917: It was reported today that it is imperative that the drive to raise at least a million dollars in the upcoming drive for the Jewish War Relief Fund to be successful for Julius Ronsewald of Chicago to make good on his offer “to give an amount equal to 10 per cent of all funds raised in America.”
1917: “A committee of 100 women to canvas the east side of New York for money to be used in relief work among the families of Jewish soldiers was organized” today “in the office of Dr. Louis Glucksman…where the committee will have its headquarters.
1917: The American Jewish Congress meeting did not take place today as planned because it was postponed until November based on a recommendation made by the Administrative Committee.
1918: “Australians of the Second Division” under the command of Sir John Monash completed their capture of the rest of Peronne during the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin.
1918: Private Daniel Stern who had been drafted in February, 1918 and landed in France where he served as a bugler was totally blinded for six week after he was gassed during fighting today in the Argonne.
1921: “Roswolsky's Mistress” a silent German filed directed by Felix Basch based on a novel by George Froeschel who wrote the script along with Henrik Galeen and Hans Janowitz.
1922: In Brooklyn, Ukrainian-Jewish immigrants Isadore and Anna Ashkin gave birth to the Columbia and Cornell trained Nobel Prize in Physics Arthur Ashkin.
1923: Universal Pictures released the Irving Thalberg production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
1924: In Wolomin, Poland, Izaak Krasucki and his wife gave birth to French trade unionist Henri Krasucki.
1926: Birthdate of department store mogul, political activist and philanthropist Betsy Bloomingdale.
1926: The opinion that there is unity in American Jewry and the only real division is on the question of Jewish nationalism and Zionism is voiced by today’s “American Israel" Referring to the various rabbinical seminaries that have been established in American Jewry, the paper continues thus: "These widely varying institutions are typical of the divisions in American Jewry. We have the strictly orthodox, the moderately orthodox, the middle of the road, the moderately reform, the ultra-reform and the Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana and Kaddish Jew, each holding firmly to his own views. "In a number of instances these differences of opinion have resulted in the useless duplication of philanthropic institutions, especially hospitals, homes for indigent aged and infirm and orphans homes. "Here the main dividing factor is the matter of 'Kashruth,' not only according to the commands of Mosaic Law, but also the requirements added after the Scriptural era by the Rabbis and other Talmudic authorities. "Yet all these divisions in American Jewry, irremediable as they apparently appear are, after all, not so wide, not so important as they seem. "Whenever persecution becomes violent, as it is at present in Europe, and misfortune in its direct forms comes upon our brethren anywhere, the truth of the old maxim. 'All Israel are brethren' is sure to be again verified and help is given unstintingly by all Jews, regardless of the particular kind of Judaism they may profess. This has been splendidly exemplified during the last few years in which brief-period American Jewry, in addition to private benefactions, has contributed not less, probably more than one hundred million dollars for the alleviation of the misery brought upon suffering coreligionists through the fanaticism and barbarism of their Christian countrymen. "After all, there is more or less unity in American Jewry. If there is any real division today it is on the question of Zionism and that, except as it refers to Nationalism, is of no vital importance."
1928: Birthdate of Mel Stuart director and producer whose career ranged from the ultra-light (Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory) to the very serious (The Triangle Factory Fire Scandal) http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-19210701
1928: Birthdate of Sir Patrick Hamilton Moberly who “worked at the British embassy in Israel as Counsellor (Commercial) from 1970 to 1974” and “served as British Ambassador to Israel” from 1981 to 1984.
1929: “Triumph of Love,” produced by Joe Pasternak was released today in Germany.
1929(27th of Av, 5689): Forty-four year old avant-garde German film make Paul Leni passed away today in California where he had been working since 1927 when “he accepted Carl Laemmle's invitation to become a director at Universal Studios and moved to Hollywood.”
1931: New York state Supreme Court justice Alfred Frankenthaler will hear a motion this morning seeking “to restrain the national officers” of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America “from interfering with the activities of the local Cutters Union 4.
1932: Birthdate of Arnold Shepard Greenberg, the Brooklyn native who founded beverage giant “Snapple” with his brother-in-law.
1932: In Hamburg, Germany, George Mengers and Ruth Levy gave birth to “Sue Mengers, a powerful agent who represented stars like Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen and helped shape Hollywood’s vibrant revival in the 1970s” (As reported by Michael Cieply)
1934: Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom officiates at consecration of the Wembly United Synagogue
1935: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Herman Bernstein in New York City. During the eulogy, Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy said that “Herman Berstein was a fine exemplar of the Jewish American who chooses the United States for his home for what he can give, not for what he can get…He was an American Jew, faithful to America an faithful to Judaism. A native of Russia, Bernstein was educated in the United States where he wrote for several publications including the New York Evening Post, The Nation and the New York Times. In 1921, he wrote History of a Lie, which exposed the Protocols of Zion as being “a notorious forgery. His diplomatic career included a stint as Ambassador to Albania. Burial was in the Montefiore Cemetery.
1935: The funeral for Rabbi Avraham Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook is scheduled to take place today at l p.m. All cafes, theatres and places of amusement throughout Palestine will remain closed until after the funeral is over.
1936: In Budapest Maria and George Gróf gave birth to András István Gróf who as American businessman Andrew Stephen “Andy” Grove “was one of the founder and the CEO of Intel.”
1936: Premiere of “The General Died At Dawn” directed by Lewis Milestone (Leib Milstein) with a script co-authored by Clifford Odets.
1936: “The Seven Arts Feature Syndicate, which serves fifty-nine English-Jewish weeklies made public today Jewish New Year’s greetings from President Roosevelt and Governor Lehman.”
1937(26th of Elul, 5697): NYPD Lieutenant (Retired) Otto Raphael, the son of Anna Raphael and Raphael Raphael, a butcher from Russia who was a friend of New York City Police Commissioner Teddy Roosevelt the future President who was often his sparring partner passed away today after having retired in 1921.
1937: The Mandatory administration and police took summary action in connection with the recent wave of Jewish-Arab violence. In Hadera 15 Jews, mostly Revisionists, were arrested and summarily sentenced, under the prevention of crime ordinance, to one year's imprisonment. In Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Hadera many Jews were held for interrogation. The Mandatory administration was usually much effective at arresting Jews than Arabs.
1937: An Arab constable was shot and killed by Arab terrorists at the high commissioner's summer residence at Atlit.
1937: Birthdate of Sophie Turner-Zaretsky. Born Selma Schwarzwald in Lvov (Lwow, L'viv), Poland, she would gain fame for her stuffed bear named “Refugee” a replica of which would be taken into outer space by Space Shuttle Discovery Commander Mark Polansky in December of 2006.
1938: “On the border of Jaffa and Tel Aviv,” an Arab threw “a bomb…into a vegetable market wounding nine Jews, including one woman.
1938: “A synagogue in the Givat Moshe quarter,” on the border of Jaffa and Tel Aviv “was destroyed by fire early this morning after heavy Arab sniping” kept the fire brigade from approaching this building
1939: The Germans established, a camp for "civilian prisoners of war" at Stutthof, Poland
1939: As 1,400 Jews escaping from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia land on a Tel Aviv beach, British soldiers shot and killed two refugees.
1939: In Mirecourt, Vosges, France. Roger Lang and Marie-Luce Bouchet gave birth to French political leader Jack Mathieu Émile Lang.
1939(18th of Elul, 5699): Parashat Ki Tavo
1939(18th of Elul, 5699): Sixty-eight year old Kovno native Abraham Alpert, the Boston journalist and organizer of the “Boston branch of HIAS” passed away today in Roxbury, MA.
1939: “Thirty-six hours after the German invasion of Poland… there was widespread indignation in the House of Commons when” Prime Minister Neville “Chamberlain spoke of the possibility of German troop withdrawal to be followed by a territorial settlement with which Britain would be willing to be ‘associated.’” (Editor’s note – as can be seen by this information provided by Sir Martin Gilbert, the willingness to make deals with Hitler was a rot that infected Europe and the United States and helps to explain, but not excuse, the inability and unwillingness to do anything about that unique genocide known as the Holocaust.”
1940: German occupation authorities in Luxembourg introduced the Nuremberg Laws. All Jewish businesses were seized and handed to "Aryans."
1940: Bishop Theophil Wurm, head of the provincial Lutheran Church at Württemberg, Germany, sends a second letter to German Interior Minister Wilhelm Frick expressing his objections to "euthanasia" killings.
1941: The Germans open an exposition in Paris called "The Jew and France." Visitors see sculptures and paintings of hideous mythical Jews, Jews allegedly cursed to wander the world forever because of their supposed attack on Jesus Christ, and Jews allegedly out to control the world. Other exhibits portray the Jew as a repulsive monster destroying France. In the first few days, more than 100,000 Parisians visit the exhibit
1941: Romanians and Germans force nearly 150,000 Jews into death marches to internment camps in Bessarabia, Ukraine. Many die of beatings, random shootings, fatigue, hunger, thirst, exposure, and disease.
1941: Chemists and mechanics at the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) Criminal Technical Institute develop an execution van with engine exhaust directed to the sealed rear-cargo area.
1941: Jews in Slovakia, Bohemia, and Moravia are ordered to wear Yellow Stars, effective September 19, and to suspend all business activity.
1941 Ukrainian nationalist Ulas Samchuk, editor of the newspaper Volhyn, writes that Jews and Poles "must disappear completely from our cities."
1942: Over the next three days, 6,000 more Jews from Wlodzimierz would join the 7,000 Jews gathered the previous day for transport to the death camps. Babies were dropped to their death from hospital windows. One enterprising German began catching them with his bayonet.
1942: The Nazis liquidated the Mir ghetto
1942: Ten thousand Jews in Dzialoszyce, Poland were gathered. Two thousand were killed in a bloody purge during the day. Eight thousand were deported to Belzec.
1942 In Oslo, Norway, Julius Samuel, the chief rabbi of Norway, refuses to go into hiding or to flee the country. He is arrested and interned in a camp at Berg, south of Oslo.
1942: At Lachva (aka Lachwa) in Belorussia, which at that time was part of the Soviet UnionGerman troops, together with Belorussian police, surrounded the ghetto which still contained 2,000 people. Dov Lopatin head of the Judenrat refused the German request to line up for deportation. Although many of the town’s elders were against taking any initiative, Lopatin and the youth leaders decided to resist even without weapons. As the Germans entered, most of the town attacked them even though they were only “armed” with axes, sticks, and Molotov cocktails. Between 600 and 700 Jews were killed fighting, and a further 600 succeeded in reaching the forests after killing or wounding about 100 Nazis. The rest were shot by the Germans. Many of those who reached the forests were killed by local police units. Approximately 90 people survived. The resistance ended on the following day.
1942: Birthdate of attorney Robert Shapiro, part of O.J. Simpson’s Dream Team who cofounded LegalZoom.
1943: “Proposals for the immediate rescue of as many Jews as possible from the Nazi-controlled countries of Europe, for the post-war rehabilitation of Jewish life in those lands and for an international bill of rights to safeguard their political status in the future were approved” today “by the American Jewish Conference as it brought to a close its five day meeting at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria.”
1943: One thousand Jews are deported from Paris to Auschwitz
1943: Ten thousand Jews from Tarnów, Poland, are deported to Auschwitz and the Plaszów slave-labor camp.
1943(2nd of Elul, 5703): Sixty-nine year old Oskar Michael Blumenthal, the Egeln, Germany born son of Selig and Juliane Blumenthal and husband of Dora Blumenthal died today in the Theresienstadt Ghetto.
1943(2nd of Elul, 5703): Fifty-one year old Joseph Diamond, a World War I veteran, former vaudevillian and clothing manufacture passed away today Rochester, NY. He was a Republican and a member of Temple B’rith Kodesh
1943: During the next 48 hours, 3,500 Jews are deported from Przemysl, Poland, to Auschwitz.
1943: At Treblinka the Jews who were left behind to clean out the recently closed camp revolted against their guards. Wearing a guard's uniform, Seweryn Klajnman led his fellow 12 inmates out of the camp to their freedom. The remaining Jews would be sent to Sobribor after the final dismantling of Treblinka. Treblinka was plowed over and turned into a farm.
1944(14th of Elul, 5704): Forty-eight year old Bella Rosenfield Chagall, the first wife of Marc Chagall whom she met when he was a penniless painter in 1909, married in 1915 and posed for several of his pictures including “Bella with White Collar passed away.
1944(14th of Elul, 5704): Forty four year old New York City native Pincus “Pinky” Match who played for CCNY from 1923 to 1925 when it was a national powerhouse passed away today.
1944: Walter Suskind, who had been released from Westerbork transit camp, finds out that his family is about to be shipped to Theresienstadt and joins them for what will be a trip that leads to their death at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1944: Approximately 2000 Jews deported from Plaszów, Poland, are gassed to death at Auschwitz.
1944: Diarist Anne Frank and her family were placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They would arrive at their destination three days later.
1945: World War II officially ended as Japan signed the terms of surrender on the deck of the battleship USS Missouri.
1945: Among those attending the surrender of Japan was Bernard Schwartz who was serving aboard the submarine tender U.S.S. Proteus. Year’s later actor Tony Curtis would say, “That was one of the greatest moments of my life.
1946(6th of Elul, 5706): Sixty-two year old William Harris, Jr., the second generation of prolific Broadway producers passed away today.
1946: Ayn Rand begins writing Atlas Shrugged.
1947: After having been part of the American delegation that attended the opening of the UN in 1945 at San Francisco, Congressman Sol Bloom at attended the Rio Conference where today the Rio Pact, a ground breaking mutual defense pact for nations in the Western Hemisphere was signed.
1949: “Miss Lasker Rites Tomorrow” described plans for the funeral of ACLU board member Florina Lasker to be held at the Universal Chapel on Lexington Avenue on September 3, not on September 2 as previously reported.
1950: In Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Yashuva Kolontarov and Tamara Khanimova Kolontarova gave birth to Tajik-American dance Malika Kolontarova, known as the “Queen of Tajik & Eastern Dance.”
1950: Birthdate of Los Angeles native and University of Chicago Law School grad, Harvey Robert Levin, the Emmy Award winning founder of TMA and “longtime partner of Chiropractor Andy Mauer.”
1951: In the wake of the assassination of Jordan’s King Abdullah, Israel has informed the Big Three (U.S., Great Britain and France) that it will not stand idly by if there is a change in the Middle East that would result in Jordan’s union with Syria or Iraq. Israel will take act to protect its self if Syrian or Iraqi troops take up positions on the east bank of the Jordan River.
1952: “Monkey Business” produced by Sol Siegel with a script by Ben Hecht and I.A.L. Diamond was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox.
1952: Yosef Opatoshu, the 65-year-old Polish-born Yiddish writer, arrived aboard the SS Kedma, as a guest of the Histadrut Executive. Optashua was famous in his own right but he is also known as the father of American character actor David Opatoshu. One of David Opatoshu's most famous roles was that of the Zionist leader Arik in the movie “Exodus.” The character was loosely based on Menachem Begin.
1953: Attackers infiltrated from Jordan, and reached the neighborhood of Katamon, in the heart of Jerusalem. They threw hand grenades in all directions. No one was hurt.
1953: Birthdate of multi-talented musician John Zorn who is the leader of “the musical group Masada.”
1954(4th of Elul, 5714): Franz Leopold Neumann a German-Jewish political activist and labor lawyer, who became a political scientist in exile and is best-known for his theoretical analyses of National Socialism passed away today at the age of 54. He studied in Germany and the United Kingdom, and spent the last phase of his career in the United States. Together with Ernst Fraenkel and Arnold Bergstraesser, Neumann is considered to be among the founders of modern political science in the Federal Republic of Germany.
1957: Arthur Hiller made his directorial debut today with the release of “The Careless Years” in the United States by United Artists – a movie that included a musical score by Michael Kamen.
1964(25th of Elul, 5724): Eighty-six year old Rudolph Lessing, the son of Simon and Clara Lessing and husband of Milly Lessing the native of Bamberg who moved to England where he was the chief chemist at the Mond Nickel Company, a member of the Coal Smoke Abatement Society and Prsident of the National Society for Clean Air.
1965: Rabbi Amram Blau, the legendary leader of the extremist, ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta married Ruth Ben-David in a Bnei Brak yeshiva.
1967: Uwe Kohler at Aichach women's prison today where he found out that his mother, Ilse Koch who was serving a life sentence for her murderous crimes during WW II had committed suicide the day before.
1969: The last episode of the original “Star Trek” television series is broadcast. Most people did not know that the actors playing the Captain and his loyal first officer were played by Jewish actors.
1968: In Brooklyn, Myron and Regina Rosen gave birth to James Samuel Rosen, the graduate of Johns Hopkins and Northwestern universities, FOX news personality and author who married Sara Ann Durkin in 2004.
1969(19th of Elul, 5729): At Qiryat Shemona two people, one of whom was a child, were killed today and five more were injured by artillery shells fired from Lebanon.
1973: Eighty-seven year old Fritz Konrad Ferdinand Grobba Nazi Germany’s Ambassador to Iraq in 1941, who played a key role in the coup that led to the Farhud, the pogrom in Baghdad in which “nearly 300 Jews were killed, over 2,000 Jews were injured and 600 Jewish businesses were looted.”
1974: “Monument of Jewish sculptor Ernst Neizvestny was installed on the grave of Nikita Khrushchev.”
1974(15th of Elul, 5734): Sixty-nine year old Ruven Avinoam, who as Chicago native Ruben Grossman, moved to Palestine in 1929 where he taught English literature at Hezliyyah high school, became a published author, serve as “supervisor of English studies at the Israel Ministry of Defense” and raised a son Noam, an author who died in the War of Independence passed away today.
1975: Thomas Paul Malone completed his service as Canada’s ambassador to Israel.
1975: “Jewish leaders agree in Paris to hold a Second World Conference on Soviet Jewry in Brussels in February 1976.”
1975: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held today for 78 year Max Artz, the Vice Chancellor of JTS and husband of Esther Artz with whom he raised Raphael and David Artz, both of whom became rabbis.
1975: Yasir Arafat was awarded a gold medal by the World Peace Council an organization that traces its origins back to Cominform (a Soviet organization known as the Communist Information Bureau)
1976(7th of Elul, 5736): Ninety-seven year old Colonel Ernest Albert Rose who married Julie Eda Lewis at the Synagogue Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool passed away today.
1977(19th of Elul, 5737): Sixty-two year old Maurice (Maury) Kozinsky one of the three brothers who founded King Brothers Productions which had the courage to employ blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo passed away today.
1978: Italian premiere of “Dawn of the Dead” co-starring Gaylen Ross as “Francine Parker.”
1981: Two days after he had passed away, funeral services are scheduled to be held today at Temple Shalom in Greenwhich for 82 year old financier and art patron Joseph Hirshhorn whose name is found on the Washington museum for which he raised so much money.
1987: The Holocaust themed film, ''Flames in the Ashes,'' opens at Film Forum 1 asking the question, ‘Who is more heroic, one who goes in the woods to fight with a gun or one who decides to go that last road and die with his family?
1991: “McBain,” a film about violence and revenge “written and directed by James Glickenhaus”
1991: Jerry Lewis' 26th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raised $45 Million.
1994: “The Hudsucker Proxy” a comedy directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen with a script written by the brothers and Sam Raimi and starring Paul Newman premiered in the United Kingdom.
1997(30th of Av, 5757): Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning passed away. There is no way to justice to the man or his writings in this brief space. If you have not read Man’s Search for Meaning, you should. If you have read it, you should read it again.“Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the byproduct of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run - in the long run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it." - Man's Search for Meaning
1998: “The musical revival group 42nd Street Moon in San Francisco, presented a staged concert of Redhead,” “a musical with music composed by Albert Hague and lyrics by Dorothy Fields, who with her brother, Herbert, along with Sidney Sheldon wrote the book/libretto.”
2000(2nd of Elul, 5760): Ninety-eight year old author and screenwriter Curt Siodmak passed away today.
2000: “The Man Who Cried,” a film about “young Russian Jewish girl who grows up in England” featuring an appearance by Ukrainian born Israeli actor Mark Ivanir premiered today at the Venice Film Festival.
2001: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest includingThe Marble Quilt: Stories by David Leavitt.
2002: “Far From Heaven,” a film that looks behind the façade of mid-20th century suburbia with music by Elmer Bernstein and filmed by cinematographer Edward Lachman premiered today at the Venice International Film Festival.
2003: The appointment of 49 year old Jill Abramson as the managing editor for news gathering at the New York Times takes effect today.
2003: The Boeing Company named David Ivry who had served as commander of the IAF and Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, as President of Boeing Israel.
2004(16th of Elul, 5764): In Honolulu Marilyn M. Lichton, co-founder of the Hadassah-Hawaii chapter and secretary of Temple Emanu-El passed away at the age of 74.
2005: Funeral services in Cedar Rapids for Leo Handler, father of Mark Handler and Barbara Feller. Mr. Handler passed away on September 1 at the age of 85.
2005: Writer and director Noah Baumbach married actress Jennifer Jason Leigh today.
2005: Funeral services were held in Brookfield, Wisconsin for Ruth Swider Gelbart (Ruchl bat Szaja Pesach v'Rivka Laiya), mother of Marsha Fensin, former Cantor at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids. Mrs. Gelbart was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto. She made her way to Palestine while it was still under the control of the British before moving to the United States after the untimely death of her husband.
2006: A revival of “Sunday in the Park with George,” a music with lyrics and a score by Stephen Sondheim came to an end at the Wyndham’s Theatre in London’s West End.
2006:Security forces said they had arrested two Palestinian militants suspected of trying to launch rockets from the West Bank into central Israel with the backing of Hezbollah. At the same time, Italian troops started arriving in Lebanon as part of the UN peacekeeping force that will enable Israeli forces to withdraw under the terms of the UN brokered cease fire with the same Hezbollah organization.
2007:As part of European Day of Jewish Culture and Heritage the Manchester Jewish Museum is fully playing its part on this day when important Jewish buildings throughout Europe are freely open to the public. The theme of the day is “Testimonies”. Visitors hear testimonies from the extensive collection of interviews with Manchester Jews about their lives as newcomers to Manchester in which they described the joys and sorrows of growing up in Manchester in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries. At 2.00 pm well known raconteur Stanley Hyman entertains and amuse with his vivid recollections of Manchester Jewish life.
2007: The Sunday New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Marc Chagall by Jonathan Wilson, Jews and Power by Ruth R. Wisse, The World Without Us by Alan Weisman and Away by Amy Bloom.
2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section featured a review of Interventionsby Jewish gadfly Noam Chomsky.
2007: In London, the ZF conference, entitled “Israel at 60” comes to an end.
2007: In Glenn Kessler’s recently released The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy Rice is described as thinking that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was a weak disappointment and that President Bush’s signature Mideast peace program was unworkable.
2007: On the eve of the Labour Day classic Canadian Football League game which he was to host, Canadian sport journalist Elliotte Friedman shaved his head bald in secret without telling many family members or friends. This was in recognition of a young boy he met at a shopping mall whose parents informed him their child was a big fan of his and watched all his broadcasts. Unfortunately, the boy was afraid to greet Elliotte due to the fact that he was bald as a side effect of his chemotherapy. As a result, Elliotte shaved his head in secret in order to show the young man that there is nothing wrong with being bald.
2007: Craig Breslow was sent back to the minors today after having been called up to the Big Leagues yesterday by the Boston Red Sox.
2008: A new 120mm mortal shell with a built-in guidance system that allows operators to direct the shell to its target with a laser-honing device was unveiled at a press conference held at Israel Military Industries (IMI) headquarters in Ramat Hasaharon.
2008: In “Entrepreneurs Find Ways to Make Technology Work with Jewish Sabbath,” published today Dan Levin describes how “the rabbis, scientists and engineers of the Zomet Institute are trying to solve the problems that arise when technology and the Torah collide.Working from their research facility in the West Bank settlement of Alon Shvut, they create electronic devices — from phones to alarm systems to motorized vehicles — that obey Orthodox Jewish laws about the Sabbath, when even turning an electric current on or off is forbidden. “In the last 10 years, manufacturers like Whirlpool and Viking have put Sabbath mode settings on most of their ovens, refrigerators, and even wine cellars. General Electric introduced its Sabbath mode in 2000, and said the special setting is featured on more than 150 of its wall ovens, ranges and other cooking appliances. These modes either turn off certain lights, fans and alarms, or use a Jewish legal concept known as “gramma,” or indirect action, to operate the appliance on holy days. In refrigerators, for example, a built-in delay prevents the compressor from turning on immediately after the door is opened. Zomet created the metal detectors used to screen worshippers at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, in a manner that uses electricity in a way not prohibited on the Sabbath. It also developed pens that use ink that disappears after a few days, based on a rabbinic interpretation that only forbids permanent writing, and Sabbath phones, which are dialed in an indirect manner with special buttons and a microprocessor…the Israeli army bought 1,000 of these phones in 2007, so that Orthodox soldiers can take part in military operations on the Sabbath and holidays. Hospitals and medical personnel also use these technologies. Mechanized vehicles present similar problems. In the past, religious Jews who were disabled were largely cut off from their community, unable to walk to synagogue or hear prayers. But Zomet has invented Sabbath-friendly wheelchairs, sound systems and elevators that stop on each floor, and developed a Shabbat scooter with Michigan-based Amigo Mobility International.”
2009: Just before the start of the High Holidays, The Jerusalem Theater presents a festive concert of classic pieces from the cantorial repertoire, including "Mamale” and Rosenblatt's "All of Israel are Brothers."
2009: Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said today.The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders. The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem of the Middle Bronze Age had a powerful population capable of complex building projects, said Ronny Reich, director of the excavation and an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa. The wall dates to the 17th century BC, when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, one of the peoples the Bible says lived in the Holy Land before the Hebrew conquest. The kingdom thought to have been ruled from Jerusalem by the biblical King David is usually dated to at least seven centuries later. A small section of the wall was first discovered in 1909, but diggers have now exposed a 79-foot portion, and Reich believes it stretches much further. Reich said budget constraints related to the global financial crisis put an end to the excavation, at least for now.
2009: At Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park, Madonna appears at the second and last of two concerts that are the final stop on her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. She first appeared at Hayarkon Park 16 years ago as part of her Girlie Tour, and also visited Israel in 2006 during the Jewish High Holidays along with 2,000 other students of Kabbalah.
2010: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met today in Washington, DC as peace talks resume under the auspice of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.
2010: Today, a Hamas spokesman said the group was responsible for another attack in which two settlers were shot and wounded just as Mr. Obama began his White House meetings. Reuters quoted a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, as saying “operations of resistance will continue” and neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority would be able to thwart them.
2010: Yula and The Extended Family, featuring Tel Aviv native Yula Beeri, are scheduled to perform at the Highline Ballroom in New York.
2010(23rd of Elul, 5770): Israeli sociologist Shmuel Eisenstadt, a native of Warsaw passed away in Jerusalem today.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3948435,00.html
http://www.donlevine.com/uploads/1/1/3/8/11384462/_eisenstadt_obituary-dlevine.pdf
2010(23rd of Elul, 5770):Ninety-one year old deputy police inspector Seymour Pine who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/nyregion/08pine.html
2011: Madelyn Kent, an award-winning theater artist and published writer with an MFA from New York University, is scheduled to teach the first session of a four week long Jerusalem Memoir Workshop.
2011:In Washington, DC, at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue, Rabbi Shira Stutman is scheduled to lead an egalitarian, chavurah-style service and celebrate “Labor on the Bimah,” an initiative of Jews United for Justice. Labor on the Bimah weaves together labor issues, social justice and Judaism, in an effort to bring meaning and reflection back into Labor Day.
2011:Germany's Foreign Ministry announced today that it will not take part in the UN-sponsored Durban III anti-racism conference on September 22, because of the possibility that the event can be turned into a forum for anti-Semitic statements.
2011: Turkey said today it will seek to prosecute all Israelis responsible for the deaths of nine Turkish activists during an IDF raid on a ship bound for the Gaza Strip in May 2010.
2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including When We Argued All Night by Alice Mattison, “a book about the trajectories of 20th-century Jewish life” and the recently released paperback edition of Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in Englandby Anthony Julius
2012:“Jewish Homegrown History: Immigration, Identity and Intermarriage” is scheduled to have its final showing at the Skirball Cultural Center
2012: In the wake of Hurricane Isaac, Congregation Beth Israel is scheduled to dedicate its new facility in Metairie. The original building was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
2012: All 50 families living in the Migron outpost evacuated their homes today in advance of a court-imposed military evacuation set for September 4th.
2012: A long-lost poem by Hannah Szenes, titled “Hora to an exiled girl,” was revealed on Army Radio this morning, 68 years after the its Jewish paratrooper author was executed by a Nazi firing squad
2013: James Franco is scheduled to be roasted on Comedy Central
2013: Secret British WWII Intelligence Files in Mandatory Palestine
http://israelsdocuments.blogspot.com/2013_09_01_archive.html
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to open at Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg, VA.
2013: Mihaela Martin, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Ori Kam, Madeleine Carruzzo and Julian Steckel are scheduled to perform Mozart’s String Quintet in C Major, K515 at The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.
2013: In Budapest, the Jewish Summer Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: Today, “Pope Francis assigned a senior church official to investigate the current ban on Jewish and Muslim religious slaughter in Poland, where such practices have been illegal since January…The Pope also reiterated a statement he made earlier this year that “a Christian cannot be an anti-Semite” (As reported by Sam Sokol)
2013: A 92-year-old who served in the Waffen-SS, Adolf Hitler's elite Nazi troops, goes on trial today in the western city of Hagen on charges of having shot in the back and killed a Dutch resistance fighter at the end of World War II.
2014: Dr. Efraim Lev and Dr. Moshse Lavee are scheduled to begin a week-long visited to the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut.
2014: At Temple Judah, choir rehearsal begins in preparation for the High Holidays.
2014: “The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court issued an injunction today against an ultra-Orthodox girls’ school that took over part of a secular Beit Shemesh public school, ordering it to leave the building amid protests over a “creeping conquest” into secular institutions in the deeply divided city.” (As reported by Yifa Yaakov and Marissa Newman)
2014: Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that “the direct cost of Operation Protective Edge stands at more than $9 billion.” (As reported by Itay Blumenthal)
2014: “Two French teenage girls are arrested for plotting to blow up a synagogue in Lyon. A Central Directorate of Homeland Intelligence source said the teens were “part of a network of young Islamists who were being monitored by security services.” (As reported by Stephanie Butnick)
2014(7thof Elul, 5774): The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant released a video of the beheading of a man they identified as Steven J. Sotloff.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2740998/ISIS-release-video-showing-beheading-American-journalist-Steven-Sotloff.html
http://forward.com/articles/204991/isis-has-reportedly-beheaded-steven-sotloff/?
2015: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Professor Wallace J. Mlyniec of Georgetown University Law Center on “The Old East End: Civil War to the Modern Revival.”
2016(29thof Av, 5776): Seventy-five year old music manager Jerry Heller passed away today. (As reported by Christopher Mele)
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/arts/music/jerry-heller-music-manager-who-promoted-nwa-and-gangsta-rap-dies-at-75.html?_r=0
2016: “The Kind Words” a comedy about three Jewish Israeli siblings who learned that the man who raised them was not their biological father is scheduled to be shown in Columbus, Ohio.
2016: Erev Shabbat, “Jonathan Rideau, member of the Jewish community of Porto arrived at The Kadoorie Mekor Haim Synagogue in Porto” a town in northern Portugal whose Jewish community was wiped out in the 15th century but today has become “a safe haven for Jews despite the growth of anti-Semitism in other parts of Europe.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/amid-rising-european-anti-semitism-portugal-sees-jewish-renaissance/
2017(11thof Elul, 5777): Parashat Ki Taytzay
2017(11thof Elul, 5777): Ninety-year old photographer and documentarian Murray Lerner passed away today. (As reported by Neil Genzlinger)
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/05/movies/murray-lerner-who-filmed-musics-biggest-stars-dies-at-90.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
2017: At Shabbat services this morning, Jews will be mourning Shelly Berman who passed away erev of Shabbat.
2017: Israel lost to Macedonia 1-0 tonight which probably put an end “any hope it might have had a making to the World Cup.
2017: “Hall of Fame NFL coach and World War II veteran Marv Levy, attended a ceremony marking the 72nd anniversary of V-J Day, today at the National World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C
2017: Tony Levine, the special team’s coordinator is scheduled to take the field as Purdue begins its football season today.
2017: As Iowa begins its 2017 football season, Esther Hugenholtz is scheduled to lead her first Shabbat morning service at Agudas Achim.
2017: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education is scheduled to offer free admission to those coming to see the Bill Graham Exhibit honoring “the rock impresario who used music for social change.
2018: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure co-authored by Jonathan Haidt and the recently released paperback edition of Improvement by Joan Silber
2018: The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts is scheduled to host a screening of “The Unorthodox” in Uzi Wexler Hall.
2018: In Des Moines, IA, The Jewish Federation is scheduled to co-host a matinee screening of the newly released “Operation Finale.”
2018(22ndof Elul, 5778): Seventy-six year old fabled restaurateur Kenny Shopsin passed way today. (As reported by Neil Genzlinger)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/04/obituaries/kenny-shopsin-dead.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage§ion=Obituaries
2018(22ndof Elul, 5778): Thirty-third yahrzeit of Joseph B. Levin, husband of Deborah Levin and father of Judy, Mitchell and David who in a strange twist of fate is responsible for this blog.
2019 Following yesterday’s announcement by the IDF that the alert for the communities on the Israel-Lebanon border, those living in these communities are scheduled “to return to their routines.”
2019: The Israel Museum is scheduled to host an afternoon of “Big Art for Little Artists.”
2019: “The Train Theatre” is scheduled to present “the theatrical performance of ‘Princess Banana.’”
2019: Two hundred and thirtieth anniversary of the founding of the United States Treasury. There are some who claim that Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury who was educated at a Jewish school in Nevis, was the son of Jewess. Jess Seligman could have been the first Jewish Secretary of the Treasury but he turned down President Grant’s offer to appoint him to the post. Henry J. Morgenthau, Jr. FDR’s long serving Secretary of the Treasury was the first Jew to hold the position.
https://www.yu.edu/straus/hamilton-jewish
2019: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of “Blinded by the Light.”
2019: In the United States, Labor Day
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/southern-and-jewish/jewish-perspectives-on-labor-day/