July 4
925: Moslems raided Oria as part of their attacks on Italy. Ten rabbinical leaders were killed and many others were taken into captivity, including 12 year old Shabbetai Donnolo, who later achieved fame as a physician
1187: Guy de Lusignan (King of Jerusalem) force-marched his troops through the dry, hot Galilee against the advice of Raymond III of Tripoli and others. At a site known as the Horns of Hittim near Lake Tiberius, the Moslems defeated him and his Crusader army. The Moslems were led by the legendary Saladin. This defeat lead to a string of Crusader defeats that culminated in the loss of Jerusalem in October. These losses would result in the Third Crusade, led by Richard the Lionhearted, which would fail to restore the gains of the Christians. There would be several more Crusades, none of which would prove any more successful. In the end, the Christians would be forced into retreat as Moslem rulers would extend their rule into the across a large swath of Europe. Those who contend that the today’s clashes between the West and certain groups of Moslems and Arabs are rooted in the creation of the state of Israel would do well to read some history. Obviously, today’s conflicts pre-date modern Zionism. Lest we lose track of the events of the eleventh and twelfth century, the Crusades were not a good period for the Jews
1348: Pope Clement VI confirms the papal bull Sicut Judaeis("and thus to the Jews," better known as the "Constitution for the Jews"), issued in 1120 by Pope Calixtus II. (As reported by Austin Cline)
1349(9thof Tammuz, 5109): Based on “evidence furnished by Judah’s testament and epitaphs” 79 year old German Talmudist Judah Ben Asher, the son of Rabbenu Asher and the brother of Joseph Ben Asher, who served as the rabbi at Toledo, Spain passed away.
1453: Forty-one Jews were burned at the stake in Breslau, Germany. The remainder of the Jewish population was expelled
1546: Birthdate of Murad III, future Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign “the Jewish community was shaken by a decree ordering the killing of Jews, which resulted from the appearance of men and women in the streets in rich clothing and jewels. As a result of the intervention of the physician Solomon Ashkenazi at court, the decree was mitigated, but Jews were forbidden to wear such apparel. Subsequently, the rabbis of Istanbul and the community leaders reached an agreement that ‘the women and the girls shall not go out in grandiose apparel, golden jewelry, and precious stones.’” (As reported by the Jewish Virtual Library)
During his reign Esther Chiera “was executed along with one of her sons by the Sultan Murad III's cavalry. Esther, the wife of a Jewish merchant, was known as a Chiera or Kiera, the title given to the women in charge of all relations (including commercial) between the wives in the sultan's royal harem and the outside world. Esther was extremely influential with Safiyeh, the favorite wife of the Sultan. Jealousy on the part of other ministers and the desire of the Sultan for her assets led to their arrest (officially for interfering in a military appointment) and execution, with all their possessions and property going to the Sultan.”
1569: The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus finally sign the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth was a haven for Jews and the center of Ashkenazi Jewry. The Jews enjoyed a significant degree of autonomy under the authority of Chief Rabbi of their own selection. All of this would come to an end with the Cossack uprising in the 17thcentury.
1584: An expedition dispatched by Sir Walter Raleigh to explore the area of the Atlanta Coast around Roanoke Island that probably included Joachim Gans, which made “Gans the first recorded Jew in Colonial America” arrived at Roanoke Island today
1632: Several secret Jews in Spain were sentenced at an auto-de-fe for holding Jewish services. They practiced in a house on a street known as Calle de las Infantas. The house was later destroyed on orders of the Inquisition and a Capuchin monastery was built on the site.
1632: In Madrid, “the first auto was held for Judaizers in celebration of the delivery of Elizabeth of Bourbon.”
1632(15thof Tammuz, 5392): Isabel Nuñez Alvarez, of Viseu in Portugal, wife of Miguel Rodriguez of Madrid, the owner of a synagogue, situated on the street "de las Infantes" in Madrid died a martyr's death in the flames today. The Inquisition ordered the synagogue to be torn down, and upon its site a Capuchin monastery was subsequently erected
1636: City of Providence, Rhode Island was created under the leadership of Roger Williams. The first Jew did not settle permanently in the city until 1838 when a Dutch merchant named Solomon Pareira settled there. In 1849, he founded a cemetery which was the city’s first Jewish institution
1642: Marie de Médicis, the Italian born Queen consort of France passed away. Marie ignored the fact that Jews had been banned from France since she employed Elijah Montalto, a Portuguese Marrano who returned to the faith of his fathers, as her personal physician. His medical care cannot be blamed for her demise since had passed away in 1616.
1753: Abraham de Fonseca de Mattos graduated from Leyden University with a degree in medicine.
1776(17thof Tammuz): Celebration of Independence Day. A copy was sent to Amsterdam via the small Dutch Caribbean Island of St. Eustatius. The Declaration was intercepted by the British at sea. An accompanying letter with the Declaration of Independence was also intercepted and sent to London as being a secret code about the document that needed to be deciphered - the letter was written in Yiddish. In one of those strange twist of fate, when British Admiral Sir George Rodney conquered the island which was a major source of supply for the Americans in 1871, he singled out the Jews for the kind of harsh treatment associated with anti-Semites. The treatment was so out of bounds, that when Edmund Burke, no friend of the Jews hear about it he said, "If Britons were so injured, Britons have armies and laws to fly to for the protection and justice. But the Jews have no such power and no such friend to depend upon. Humanity then must become their protector." (As described by Louis Arthur Norton)
The Declaration of Independence in the United States of America provided the basis for religious tolerance not found in most other countries. During the Revolutionary war there were fewer than 2,500 Jews in total within the colonies. More than six hundred fought in the war including the great grandfather of Supreme Court Justice Cardozo. One company in South Carolina had so many Jews that it was called the Jews’ company. In 1776, July 4 corresponded to the 17th of Tammuz, which is a fast day on the Jewish calendar tied to the events leading up to the destruction of the Temple.
1776: Among the Jews serving with Continental Army today is Francis Salvador who had just rejoined his comrades on the South Carolina frontier after having ridden thirty miles on July 1 to sound the alarm that the Cherokees have been attacking the local settlements “massacring and scalping the colonial inhabitants.
1785: In Baltimore, MD, Lean Nathan and Jacob Naphtali Hart who were married in 1778 gave birth to David Hart.
1787: In Camden, SC, Samuel Levy and Sarah Moses Levy, the daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Moses gave birth to South Carolina lawyer and state legislator Chapman Levy, the Mississippi planter who was predeceased by both of his wives – Flora and Rosina Levy -- who rose to the rank of Colonel during the War of 1812/
1788: The Jews of Philadelphia celebrate in a Federal Parade after hearing that the Constitution was adopted by a majority of the states. The newspaper read, "The rabbi of the Jews, locked in arms of two ministers of the gospel, was a most delightful sight."
1788: Benjamin Franklin was too sick and weak to get out of bed, but the Independence Day parade in Philadelphia marched right under his window. And, as Franklin himself had directed, ‘the clergy of different Christian denominations, with the rabbi of the Jews, walked arm in arm.’
1794: Catherine II of Russia restricted the area where Jews were permitted to trade.
1802: The U.S. Military Academy opens its doors at West Point, N.Y. According to Daniel Isaac Helmer, Cadet Sergeant, United States Military Academy--West Point and the Hillel president at the United States Military Academy the Jewish people have been associated with the Academy since its opening. The first graduating class consisted of two cadets one of whom was a Jew named Simon Levy. In the 1980s, the West Point Jewish Chapel, a beautiful $10 million facility, was opened. In 2002, in honor of 200 years of Jewish history at the Military Academy, the Jewish Chapel began building a commemorative wall to record and recognize all of the Jewish graduates of West Point. At that time there were about 70 Jews at the Military Academy out of a student population of approximately 4,000. An increasingly active Jewish population has begun to sponsor numerous Jewish activities. Jewish students from other schools have visited West Point for events including "Weekend of the Jewish Warrior" and a Hanukkah party. The Military Academy also has a West Point Jewish Chapel Choir, which has performed all over the East Coast.
1807: Birthdate of Giuseppe Garibaldi one of a triumvirate of Italian patriots who freed the peninsula from foreign rule and created the modern nation of Italy. Garibaldi was a revolutionary and a guerilla fighter in the true sense of the terms. His belief in equality extended to religion where he made no distinction between the rights of Christians and the rights of Jews. Numerous Jews served in his military unit known as “the Thousands” which liberated southern Italy and Sicily.
1809: Today in accordance with newly adopted law, Samuel Marx Levi, the son of Rabbi Samuel Marx Levi became Samuel Marx when he adopted “the family name Marx for himself and his siblings.
1817: Birthdate of Charleston, SC native Mary Levy Florance, the wife of Henry Florance who lived in New Orlean where she had three children – Sarah, Henry and Alfred.
1819: In Charleston, SC, David and Sarah Carvalho gave birth to Julia Carvalho.
1821: Aaron Cohen married Sophia Minden at the Great Synagogue.
1822: Birthdate of Boston native Alfred T. Jones, the resident of Philadelphia who was the secretary of the first Jewish Publications Society organized in 1845 and printer who in 1875 created “the Jewish Record, a newspaper which remained in existence until 1886.
1826: Meno Berg who was one of the few career Jewish officers in the Prussian Army was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant while teaching at the United Artillery and Engineering School.
1833: In Philadelphia, PA, “Joseph M. and Clara Ulman Asch” gave birth to their second son and Jefferson Medical College trained physician Joseph Morris Asch who served with the Union Army during the Civil War after which he pursued a career as a laryngologist in New York City.
1835: Birthdate of Moritz Benedikt, the native of Eisenstadt who served with the Austrian Army and became a leading Austro-Hungarian neurologist.
1840: Thirty-four year old Moritz Moses Jacob von Goldschmidt and Anna Netti von Goldschmidt gave birth to Hermann (Ritter) von Goldschmidt
1841: London native Benjamin Jacobs was buried today at the Brady Street Jewish Cemetery.
1842(26thof Tammuz, 5602): Sixty-two year old Rabbi Nahum Trebitsch, the son of Selig Trebitsch while on a trip to Carslbad.
1842: In New York City, Rachel Hearst and merchant Herman Londoner who in 1856 moved his business to Dubuque, IA gave birth to wholesale grocer Wolf Londoner the Republican Mayor of Denver who was forced to leave office because of election irregularities.
1842: Birthdate of Hermann Cohen, a German-Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, and he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century"
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/HermannCohen.html
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/cohen/
1845: The Egyptian Revival Hobart Synagogue was consecrated in Hobart a city on the Australian island state of Tasmania.
1849: Sigismund Schloss married Rebecca Mocatta at the West London Synagogue.
1849: Birthdate of József Bánóczi, the native of Szt. Gál, Veszprém, Hungary, a “privat-docent of philosophy at the University of Hungary” and a “professor at the Budapest Jewish Theological Seminary” who “at the insistence of Dr. Beck, the Bucharest rabbi, Bánóczi and Prof. Wilhelm Bacher took the necessary steps to save from certain ruin the congregation and schools of the sect of Szekler Sabbatarians in Transylvania.”
1849: In Rhenish Palatinate, Germany Jacob Mohr and Mena Weil gave birth to Michael Mohr, the husband of Mena Dreyfus who settled in Montgomery, Al where he was active in B’nai B’rith and served as President, vice president and trustee of Kahl Montgomery.
1850: In Germany Ascher Freudenthaler and Hennele (Hanchen) Haber gave birth to Chicago businessman Joseph Freudenthal, the husband of Jennie Liebenstein with whom he had three children – Carrie, George and Leo.
1857: Birthdate of Joseph Pennell the American artist and photographer who was arrested and deported from Russia because he sketched and photographed the wretched conditions under which the Jews of Kiev were living when he visited there in 1891 which he described in The Jew At Home: Impressions of a Summer and Autumn Spent With Him.
1858: Solomon and “Rachel Lubin Weinstock” gave birth to Fanny Weinstock who became Fanny Bonheim when she married Albert Bonnheim with whom she had one son, Joseph.
1861: Philadelphian Joseph Davidson, who would be killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville in 1863, began his service as a Private in Company I of the 28thRegiment
1863(17thof Tammuz, 5623): Parashat Balak
1863(17thof Tammuz, 5623): In one of those quirks of the calendar, the 87thIndependence Day fall on the same day on both the Secular and the Jewish calendars.
1863(17thof Tammuz, 5623): Because it is Shabbat the Tzom Tammuz is not observed today since it is a day of national celebration due to the victories at Gettysburg and Vicksburg which for some makes it seem to be a foretaste of the Messianic Era when fast days will become feast days.
1863: Birthdate of Solomon Lipschütz who “was chess champion of the United States from 1889 to 1890 and 1891 to 1894.
1863: "Sarah, the Hebrew; or, the Dream of Destiny," will be one of the attractions at Barnum's Museum during its Independence Day Celebration.
1863: In one of the climactic moments of the Civil War, Confederate forces surrender Vicksburg to Union forces under the command of General U.S. Grant. The victory is both a major tactical and strategic success since it split the Confederacy in half and gave control of the Mississippi River back to the Union. While there were Jewish soldiers fighting on both sides, the real significance is that the victory helped ensure that the United States of America would continue to exist offering Jews a place of refuge from European anti-Semitism. The victory would also be a major stepping stone in the career of General Grant which would eventually lead him to victory over Lee and the Presidency. Despite the unfortunate issuing of Order #11, Grant was not an anti-Semite as can be seen from the fact that Jews voted for him for President, his friendship with Joseph Seligman who refused Grant’s request to serve in his cabinet, his meeting with Rabbi Hayim Tzvi Sneersohn, a great-grandson of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the "Alter Rebbe" of Chabad Hasidim and his attendance at the dedication of Adas Israel’s newly built house of worship.
1863: Among the Jews serving at Vicksburg were Private David Orbansky of the 58thOhio Infantry and Colonel Marcus M. Spiegel of the 120th Ohio Infantry. A native of Lautenburg, Prussia, Orbansky would receive a Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery at Shiloh and Vicksburg. Spiegel would die before he could be promoted to the rank of Brigadier of General “for his bravery at Vicksburg and Snaggy Point.”
1863: General Frederick Charles Salomon, a native of Prussia who had settled in Wisconsin, led the 1st Brigade of the Army of the Tennessee against the Rebels at the Battle of Helena, Arkansas.
1863: In Philadelphia, as the possibility of a Rebel victory seemed possible Rabbi Sabato Moraiss, “an avid abolitionist,” supporter of Abraham Lincoln and loyal Unionist delivered a sermon today at Mikveh Israel in which he said, “the more intently I gaze upon the bright past, the darker does the present appear to my vision”
1867(1stof Tammuz, 5627): Rosch Chodesh Tammuz
1867(1stof Tammuz, 5627): Grace Judah, the daughter of Hillel Judah who married Henry Markx after having been married to Judah Myers passed away today.
1869: In Leipzig, the Synod attended by Elie-Aristide Astruc, the Chief Rabbi of Belgium came to an end today.
1873: Birthdate of dietician Frances Stern. The Frances Stern Nutrition Center a part of Tufts-New England Medical Center was named in her honor.
1873: In the UK, Rabbi A.E. Gordon and his wife gave birth to H.H. Gordon, the graduate of London University and Cambridge, president of the Cambridge Hebrew Congregation and honorary secretary of the Jews’ Temporary Shelter who served “four years on the staff of the East Indian Railway and served as a member of the Stepeny Borough Council.
1876: In Rovno, Russia, Samuel and Mary Simon gave birth to Sophie Irene Simon who moved to McKeesport, PA, at the age of six. She gained fame as Sophie Simon Loeb journalist and advocate for social welfare reform.
1880: Rabbi Adolph Huebsch of Temple Ahavath Chesed officiated at the funeral of Joseph I. Stein who had served as Assemblyman of the 12th District. A crowd of 2,000 spilled out from the home on East 52nd Street and one hundred coaches were needed to carry all of those who went to the cemetery. Stein was a victim of last month’s Seawanhaka ship disaster.
1880: In “Berischoff, Russia,” “Charles and Dorothy (Vigdrochik) Benenson gave birth to Benjamin Benenson the husband of Frances Shapiro who in 1899 arrived in New York City where he went from being a carpenter, to being a general contractor to being a bank vice president while joining serving as board member for the Shield of Abraham, the Beth Abraham Home for Incurables and the Montefiore Hospital
1880: Birthdate of New York native Jacob Paul “Twister” Steinberg one of Teddy’s Roosevelt’s Rough Riders who became one of the first, if not the first Jewish professional football player.
1880: “The Soldiers of Morocco” published today described the great strides made in turning the Moroccan Army into an effective military unit. Credit for this accomplishment goes to an English soldier known as Kaid Maclean (Sir Harry Aubrey de MacLean). Kaid could not have accomplished his mission if it had not been for a unnamed Jew. Kaid did not speak Arabic and the troops did not understand English so Kaid “had to give his instructions through a Jewish interpreter” who spoke both language but who nothing about military drill.
1881: Birthdate of Dov Ber Borochov the Ukrainian born proponent of the labor Zionist movement who was one of the founders of the Poale Zion.
1881: In Lithuania, Harris Abelow and his wife gave birth to Samuel Abelow, the husband of Jeanette Abelow who settled in New York.
1881: “Jewish Ladies Whipped” published today described the whippings of Jewish men, women and children, including “ladies of good position” who received 300 strokes, at Smjela, a small town near Kiev. The attacks, which had been ordered by an unnamed Colonel, ended when the governor of Kiev arrived.
1881: It was reported today that “in some Russian districts, the peasants have offered to pay for the damage done to the property of the Jews” including one district where 800 rubles have been deposited for that purpose.
1882: Birthdate of Benjamin Gruskin, the Lithuanian born son of Leon Gruskin and a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Rush Medical School who was “a leader in experimental medicine” “credited with several medical discoveries” including the discovery of the therapeutic value of chlorophyll, blood and skins tests for cancer, a test for inactive tuberculosis and a pregnancy test” passed away today in a hospital in Durham, NC after which he was buried at the Beth Shalom Cemetery in Pittsburgh, PA.
1882: Patrolman Edgar S. Slauson defended himself against accusations that he had overreacted when dealing with a mob that had attacked workers who working in place of the striking freight handlers. The replacement workers included large numbers of recently arrived Jewish immigrants from Russia who did not know about the strike. He admitted having to use his club on more than one of the attackers but he had little choice since he was facing a throng of more than 2,000.
1882: It was reported today that a mass meeting held to support the strike by the freight handlers in New York cheers greeted the announcement that 150 Russian Jews who had recently arrived in the United States and gone to work at the Erie Railway pier refused to do any more work once they had heard about the strike.
1883: In San Francisco, CA, Max and Hannah (Cohen) gave birth to Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist Rube Goldberg. Goldberg entertained several generations with his drawings of simple activities that were turned into multi-step complex functions. His name became synonymouswith improvised temporary solutions to problems of major and minor magnitude.
1883: It was reported today that “The Art Magazine for July” published by Cassell and Co features an article about the Russian sculptor, Mark Antokolsky. Born in Wilno, this poor Jewish boy somehow managed to become a student at the Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg. His first work “Jew Tailor” was created in wood because Antokolsky could not afford marble. His career took off in 1870 when the Czar saw his statute “Ivan the Terrible.”
1884: In Grodno “Abram and Anna (Muniches) Abrahams gave birth to “calligrapher, designer and artist Joseph B. Abrahams, the husband of “the former Mrs. Lillian Manning” whose creations included “the bronze doors of Temple Emanu-El” in New York and “the interior décor for the Ziegfeld Follies” and whose communal efforts included serving as the “head of the Overseas Depart of the Jewish Welfare Board” and “Secretary of the Jewish Theological Seminary” starting in 1902.
1884: Two days after he drowned, Isidore Joseph, the son of Lewis and Bluma Joseph was buried today at the Balls Pond Road Jewish Cemetery.
1884: It was reported from Odessa that there has seen a “rapid increase” in the emigration of Jews from southern Russia, to the United States.
1885: At Temple Beth-El, Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler’s Shabbat sermon included “his last discourse in the series in reference to sustaining the principles of Reform” and the relationship of “Independence Day to the Jews” of the United States.
1885: The congregants of Ahavath Chesed filled the sanctuary to hear the Shabbat sermon Rabbi Alexander Kohut in which he defended the principles of Orthodoxy while calling for unity among the Jewish people.
1885: Birthdate of Louis B. Mayer. Born in Minsk, Russia, Mayer was one of a generation of early movie moguls. In his case, he was the motion-picture executive MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)
1886: “Jews To Be Dismissed” published today relied on information from the St. Petersburg Dispatch and the London Daily News to described the orders given by the Minister of Justice to dismiss all Jewish secretaries and clerks employed by the examining magistrates.
1886: David J. Dean delivered an address entitled “The Golden Rule In Political Government” during which he said that “race prejudice” had presented the greatest hurdle for people to overcome in their quest for effective government. The folly of this attitude could be seen in that “for centuries the Hebrew” had been “an object of infamy and denunciation” but now Beaconsfield governed ‘the empire on which the sun never sets’ i.e. Great Britain. [Despite his conversion, Disraeli/Beaconsfield was regarded as a Jew; although the reference was usually a derogatory one used by his political opponents.]
1887: In his 69th year, Jonas Heller, a long serving member of the Board of Directors of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews passed away today.
1888: Jacob Lissauer is reported to be contesting the will of his late wife, Yetta. Her estate was worth $5,000. The will makes bequests for the benefit of the Hebrew Home for the Aged and Infirm and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, but lives nothing to the husband. He contends that the Yetta’s cousin, who drew up the will never let her read the instrument so she signed it without knowing this.
1889: “A Home For Hebrew Societies” published today described plans for the construction of a building that will be home to the Hebrew Free School Association, the Young Men’s Hebrew Association and the Aquila Free Library located in the Tenth Ward. The facility will contain classrooms, manual training facilities and “a hall capable of holding 800” people.
1889 Birthdate of Joseph Ruttenberg, the Russian born American photojournalist who became an award winning cinematographer who began in the silent film era and made the successful transition to talkies.
1890: It was reported today that Dr. Clifton Levy will deliver the sermon at Temple Gates of Hope on Shabbat.
1890: Barney Rosenberg, who is among the group of striking tailors and cloakmakers most of whom are Russian and Polish Jews, was being treated at Gouverneur Hospital for injuries he received from a policeman who broke up an attack that took place on scabs yesterday.
1890: Henry Simon, Welf Heiman, Harris Dienerstadt, Hyman Schmlovitz, Aaron Michael Knovic, Isidor Kaufman, Jospeh Hyman are in police custody for the role in attacking strike breakers at two clothing manufacturers who have locked the immigrant Jewish tailors and cloakmakers.
1891: The SS PIckhuban which had left Antwerp with a large party of Jews who had been expelled from Russia came upon the burning wreck of the Octavia whose crew must have left in lifeboats since they were nowhere to be seen.
1891: Twenty-six year old Max Wilhelm Zach, the Ukrainian born son of Heinrich and Julia Zach and conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra married “Blache Going” today in Boston after which “they had three children – Leon, Phillip and Elanor.”
1891: A deed was recorded today in Marlborough, Hartford County, CT “transferring a sizable tract of land in that town near Marlborough mills on which buildings are to be erected” for use by “poor Jews who are now being driven out of countries in Europe.”
1892: At their meeting today, the Board of Managers of the Baltimore Congregation “reported that they thought it was inexpedient at present to abolish the old custom of the men wearing their hats during services.”
1892: In Beloit, KS, Charles B. Epstein and Minnie Newman gave birth to Esther Epstein the wife of Arthur Marowitz and the mother of Harley Marowitz who was an officer in the National Council of Jewish Women.
1892: As part of Independence Day celebrations in New York, American flags flew in all sections of the city including those “streets where all of the signs are written in Hebrew characters.” (The letters my have been “Hebrew” but the language may have been Yiddish”
1892: Hostilities begin between France the African Kingdom of Dahomey in what was called the Second Franco-Dahomean War in which Andre Cremeiu-Foa who had been a victim of attacks by French anti-Semites including Edouard Drumont, served with such distinction that he was cited in the orders for the day.
1893: “Pupils of the Hirsch Schools” published today described the method by which these institutions prepare the children of Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania for success in public school. In the past, these children had stayed away from school because they did not speak English and did understand American customs. In a three-month course that begins almost as soon as the youngsters get off of the boat, the Hirsch Schools teach them English and cultivate their understanding of “freedom of thought and action, together with respect for law” which are the hallmark of the American experience.
1894: As part of their Independence Day Celebration the young men at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum were formed into two companies each with a brass band of 30 pieces so that parade at the facility on Amsterdam Avenue. Following the parade, all of the youngsters were treated to cake and ice cream followed by a fireworks show.
1894: As part of the Independence Day celebration, “the cadets of the Hebrew Institute went into camp near St. George, S.I. They then conducted a drill in the presence of dignitaries including Isidor Straus and Alfred Hochstader
1894: Because of the Independence Day holiday, the regularly scheduled lecture on the “Care of Feeding of Infants and Children During the Warm Weather” will not take place at the Hebrew Institute.
1895: “In the Henry Street Settlement on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Romanian Jewish immigrant Morris Keiser, “the owner of a second-hand bookstore: and his wife Sofie gave birth to Isidor Keiser, the brother of screenwriter Arthur Caesar, who gained famed as award winning songwriter Irving Caeser who was responsible for such all-time hits as “Sewanee” and “Tea for Two.”
1895: Governor Levi P. Morton is considering the tenth application for a pardon submitted on behalf of Phillip Kiven who is serving a six year term in Sing Sing Prison after having been convicted, along with is wife of stealing $250 from two Polish Jews who were staying at their resort. In a strange twist of events, Kiven claims that he is the victim of a police persecution.
1895: It was reported that the late Lewis Levy has left his estate in a trust for the benefit of his wife Mary and his sister Julia. Upon their death the residue will be used for bequests to several charities including the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society, Mount Sinai Hospital, the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews , the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids and the Hebrew Technical Institute.
1896: “Doom of the Tombs” published today provided a recap of those hung at the old New York City jail including three men hung for the murder of Abraham Weisberg, a Jewish peddler.
1896: Birthdate of New York native John Alexander, the WW I veteran who was guided during his career at Rutgers by theatrical legend Paul Robeson and who made football history in 1922 when as a member of the Milwaukee Badgers played the position of “outside linebacker” much to the surprise of the Chicago Cardinals
1897: Jews came from all over the state to witness the laying of the cornerstone in Elizabeth, NJ, of their new Educational Institute and Library at the corner of Fourth and Streets.
1898: During the Spanish American War, Captain Albert W. Lilienthal began serving as an adjustant with the 7th U.S. Volunteer Infantry.
1898: The first convention of the Federation of American Zionists opened at the B'nai Zion Club on Henry Street in New York's lower East Side. One hundred delegates, 20 from outside of New York, attended the convention which elected Rabbi Guvstav Gottheil to serve as President.
1900: Birthdate of Brooklyn native Jacob Jacques Landesberg, the Columbia trained Ophthalmologist and husband of Isabelle Goldberg Landesberg both of whom are buried together at the Mount Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, NY.
1901(17thof Tammuz, 5661): New Yorker Jacob F. Cullman passed away in Wuerzburg and left $15,000 to Mt. Sinai Hospital and $10,000 to both the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum and the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids.
1901: In Brooklyn Isidor and Malka Halpern Goldstein gave birth to Samuel Goldstein who gained fame as novelist and screenwriter Samuel Guy Endore who also used the named “Harry Relis.”
1902: Herzl had his first meeting with Nathaniel Mayer Rothschild in London.
1902: The Sultan asks Herzl top come to Constantinople immediately.
1902: Birthdate of Meier Suchowlański the native of Grodno who gained fame or infamy as gangster Myer Lansky.
1902: In Mulhouse, Constance Kenendel Lang and Baruch Kahn gave birth to Felix Kahn
1902: Dr. Joseph Heller who had served as surgeon “to a battalion of the 24thU.S. Infantry” and had earned a Silver Star for his service during the Battle of Naguilan was in the Philippines “when the civil government was established” today.
1903: The Sisters of Zion which had been organized at Detroit in December of 1902 hosted “their first annual ice cream festival” this evening at Winter’s Teutonic Hall.
1903: Birthdate of New Yorker Isabelle Goldberg Landesberg, who was born two days to the day after the birth of her husband, Dr. Jacques Landesberg.
1903(9th of Tammuz, 5663) Albert F. Hochstadyer who had been a member of the firm of Newburger and Hochstadter Brothers of Philadelphia until 1879 passed today at his summer home in Elberon at the age of fifty-six. He was active in numerous New York Jewish organizations including Temple Emanu-El where he was serving as a Trustee and Honorary Secretary at the time of his death.
1903: Following the Pogrom at Kishinev, Leo Napoleon Levi, a lawyer from Texas who was President of the B'nai B'rith, wrote a letter to Czar Nicholas II calling for an end to the mistreatment of the Jews living in Russia.
1903: Maurice Arnold de Forest, one of the adopted sons of Baron Maurice de Hirsch and Baroness Clara de Hirsch, “became a Second Lieutenant in the Staffordshire Imperial Yeomanry (Queen's Own Royal Regiment)” today
1903: Dorothy Levitt (born Dorothy Levi) won her class at the Southport Speed Trials driving a S.F.Edge's 12 hp Gladiator, shocking British society as she was the first woman, a working secretary, to compete in a motor race. She became noted for racing in a dust coat (a loose coverall coat reaching down to the ankles), matching hat and veil.
1904: In New York “the convention of orthodox rabbis of the United States and Canada reassembled this morning where they continued to discuss a letter from Rabbi H. Pereira Mendes which included a request “by Judge Newburger to bring to the notice of the rabbis that certain marriages that are legal in Jewish law” such as that between an uncle and his niece “are illegal according to the state of New York” and a reminder that it was not too late for them to support the” Jewish Theological “seminary which was established to be a bulwark against reform Judaism as taught by the Cincinnati College.” (Editor’s note – he was referring to Hebrew Union College, not the University of Cincinnati.)
1905(1stof Tammuz, 5665): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1905: “in Queens, New York, Fannie (née Cohen), who was from London, and David Trilling, a tailor from Bialystok in Poland gave birth to literary critic and intellectual Lionel Mordecai Trilling.
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2000/07/the-last-great-critic/378281/
1905: Independence Day was commemorated in Jerusalem with a display of American and Swedish flags.
1906: “The Jewish Territorial Organizathion of which Israel Zangwill of London is the President was officially condemned today at the convention of the Federation of American Zionists when “a resolution was introduced prohibiting any person known to be a member of the Territorial Organization from being an officer or member of the Executive Committee of the American Federation.”
1906: In St. Petersburg, the Ministry of the Interior, the War Office and the Duma’s investigating committee issued their reports today which included “the Government’s version that attributes the responsibility entirely to the Jews” and the Duma’s version that “expressly declared that no race hatred existed in Bialystok and that the ‘pogrom’ was the result of a deliberate plot.”
1907: At today’s session of the 18th annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis a message from Judge Louis Sloss of San Francisco to Judge Julian W. Mack regarding the rehabilitation of the synagogues destroyed by the earthquake was received and referred to the appropriate committee and Rabbi Isaac Landman read his paper on “Moses Hayyim Luzzato in Honor of His Bicentenary.”
1907: After noting that “the Detroit News of July 2, 1907 records another attack of Bitlis and Van,” today, the Rabbis of the Central Conference in convention assembled adopted a resolution recording their “utter abhorrence of persecution in any form of any people” and stating that it was their “patriotic duty to extend” their “warmest sympathy with the Armenian victims of this most recent epidemic of cruelty and fanaticism.”
1908(5thof Tammuz, 5668): Parashat Korach
1908: In Brooklyn Joseph Zeitland, the Polish born “general collector for a large firm that led him to travel through Poland and Russia” who came to the United States at the age of 85 celebrated his one hundredth birthday today along with the 103rdanniversary of the “birth of Uncle Sam.”
1909: Rabbi Morris Goldberg of Camden, NJ “was elected head of the Brothers of Israel Congregation” today.
1909: Columbia University trained Civil Engineer Benjamin J. Sigmund the Polish born son of Selig and Leonore Sigmund married Leah Astrakhan today after which he became the manager of the Philadelhia Office of Truscon Steel Company and a member of Temple Keneseth Israel.
1910: Melville Weston Fuller, the eighth Chief Justice of the United States passed away. While some may remember him for reactionary rulings including Plessy v Ferguson, he was the one of the signatories of the Blackstone Memorial, a petition expressing support for the Jews settling in Palestine that was presented to President Benjamin Harrison in 1891. The memorial was the first expression of support to come from leading non-Jewish Americans.
1910: The Educational League for the Higher Education of Orphans which was organized in 1896 held its 15th annual meeting today in Cleveland, Ohio.
1910: In Santa Monica, Frank Stewart and his wife gave birth Gloria Stewart who as Gloria Stuart married Arthur Sheekman, the script writer for Eddie Cantor and Groucho Marx with whom she took a trip around the world in 1939 and then joined him in an attempt to work on Broadway.
1911: In Rochester, NY, “Hinda Rosenblum Miller, a former seamstress, and Abram Calmen Miller, a Russian-Jewish immigrant wrought-iron worker gave birth to Mitchell William Miller who gained fame a Mitch Miller who was connected with hit recordings of “Tzena, Tzena,Tzena “ and "The Yellow Rose of Texas" and for his television show, "Sing Along With Mitch."
1911(8thof Tammuz, 5671): Eighty-eight year old Esther Herrmann, the widow of cloth importer Henry Herrmann whom she married in 1843 and philanthropist whose support went to such organizations as Barnard College of which she was one of the founders, the Hebrew Technical Institute for Boys, the American Museum of Natural History and the Young Men’s Hebrew Association passed away today.
1911: “A farce by Abraham Reuf” who has served less than half of his fourteen sentence for bribery” and who has donated a concert grand piano to the prison is scheduled to be “the main feature of the program” celebrating the Fourth of July at San Quentin Prison.
1912(19thof Tammuz, 5672): Eighty year old Greenville, Mississippi native and Confederate War veteran Jacob Moses passed away today in New Orleans, LA.
1912: At Marburg University, “celebration of the seventieth anniversary of the birth of Hermann Cohen, a German-Jewish philosopher, one of the founders of the Marburg School of Neo-Kantianism, who he is often held to be "probably the most important Jewish philosopher of the nineteenth century"
1913: Abe Attell the boxer known as “the Little Hebrew” accidentally hit the referee on the face during a win against Willie Beecher.
1913: In Atlantic City, at the Conference of American Rabbis Sabbath eve services were held at Temple Beth Israel under the leadership of Rabbi William Lowenburg of Union Town, PA who served as the Cantor while the sermon was delivered by Rabbi Charles S. Levin of Milwaukee, WI.
1913: Independence Day is scheduled to be celebrated this afternoon with “a large children’s festival to be held on the grounds of the Chicago Hebrew Institute.”
1914(10thof Tammuz, 4674):Parashat Chukat
1914: Today, after almost three years, “the Paris Yiddish-language labor movement journal The Jewish Worker published its last issue, after its pacifist stance led to a break away from the rest of the French labor movement.
1914: “New York fruit merchant” Joseph Kozinsky and his wife gave birth to Herman Kozinksky who would change his name to Herman King and along with his brothers Maury and Frank formed King Productions, the film company that had the courage to hire blacklisted writers during the McCarthy Era.
1914: Sydney Grundy, the English dramatist whose works included “An Old Jew” a play produced in London in 1894, five years before Israel Zangwill's watershed play, Children of the Ghetto was done. Zangwill. (As reported by Edna Nahsohn) Contemporary accounts said the play was panned by critics in London and New York because it was “a very bad play with a wildly improbable plot.”
1915: It was reported today that the recently deceased Rabbi Julius Kaletzky, the author of The History of the Jews in the Ancient East is survived by “his widow, a son and two daughters on of whom is Mrs. Louis Isaacs whose husband is prominent in the real east business.”
1915: “Forty Years’ Work On One Book” published today described how Dr. Elieser Ben Jehuda “is giving his life to complete a Hebrew Dictionary.”
1915: In the area east of the Bowery where Grand Street, Gouverneur Street and Sheriff Street cross and crisscross, where the signs are in Hebrew characters and the conversations are nearly always in Yiddish” and where “little children who have been hurried across the ocean y parents in fear of pogroms” the people are “all celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
1916: Birthdate of Martin E. Segal, the native of Vitebsk, Russia, who would become “one of New York’s leading cultural figures” “known as the elder statesman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.” (As reported by Robin Pogrebin)
1916: “A resolution urging the President and lawmaking bodies of” the United States “to exert every possible effort to avoid war with Mexico” was presented to today’s session of the Central Conference of American Rabbis by Rabbis David Phillipson, Joseph Krauskopf and Julian Morgenstern and then “was adopted by a rising vote.”
1916: In Philadelphia, the Federation of American Zionists adopted “resolutions approving the plan of self-taxation of Zionists throughout the United States to create an emergency fund to further the work of the Zionists and Palestine and thanking the State Department for its co-operation in relieving suffering Jews abroad.”
1916: In Troy, NY, George and Margaret Toon gave birth to Malcom Toon who was “named ambassador to Israel in the spring of 1975 by President Ford.”
1917: Former Ambassador Abram I. Elkus arrived in New York City aboard a French steamer, a day after he had been originally scheduled to land.
1917: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Trenton, NJ, has elected new officers including President Harry Greenburg, Vice President Meyer Wessel and Financial Secretary Phillip Wenkes
1917: In Asbury Park, NJ, the final day of the Ninth Annual Convention of Young Judaea is scheduled to include “a patriotic gathering and sightseeing
1917: In New York City, the Mayor is scheduled to speak at “a patriotic rally” sponsored by “the local Young Men’s Hebrew Association.”
1917: “Here and There in Camden” published today described listed the newly elected officers of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in that New Jersey city including Harry Greenburg, President; Meyer Wessel, Vice President; Dr. Philip Wenkos, Financial Secretary and Trustees Abe Fuhurman, Samuel Mackler, Isaac Frisch, Jack Weinberg, Jacob L. Furer and Arnold Weiss.
1918: At the Battle of Hamel John Monash applied his doctrine of "peaceful penetration", and led Australian Divisions, along with a small detachment of US troops, to win a decisive victory for the Allies. A native of Australia, Monash was the son of Prussian born Jews and had risen to the rank of Major General in 1917.
1918: In Sioux City, Iowa Russian Jewish emigrants Rebecca Friedman (née Rushall) and Abraham B. Friedman gave birth to twin sisters born within 17 minutes of each other -- Esther Pauline Friedman Lederer and Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips. Esther, known as Eppie Lederer became advice columnist Ann Landers. Pauline, nicknamed Popo became Abigail Van Burn or “Dear Abby.” The fact that the two leading advice columnists of the second half of the 20thcentury were Jewish was one of the best kept media secrets.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/jul/04/1918/ann-landers-and-abigail-van-buren
1918: In Chicago, Illinois, the 29th Annual Convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis came to an end today after having chosen new officers including Louis Grossman of Cincinnati as President.
1918: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne. Mehmed had the unenviable challenge of salvaging what he could of Ottoman glory as World War I came to the end and the Allies were poised to turn most of the Ottoman Empire into European Colonies. Jews continued to play an active part in the governing of the Empire and the emerging Republic. These included the minister of telegraph Yusuf Franko Pasa and Professor Avram Galante who served as “translator of the foreign press news for the Ankara government.”
1918: In Jerusalem, General Edmund Allenby, the British general who had liberated the ancient Jewish capital from the Ottomans was the guest of honor at the American Colony’s Independence Day Celebration
1919: Today, Goldsboro, NC native Gertrude Weil “an active leader at Temple Oheb Shalom” and “the North Carolina Equal Suffrage League wrote a letter to attorney J.O. Carr explaining why women should be granted the vote – something he opposed.
1920(18thof Tammuz, 5680): Tzom Tammuz observed since the 17th of Tammuz fell on Shabbat
1920: In Connecticut, “Jewish Farmers’ Field Day” which “was sponsored by the I.O.B.B. Jewish Agricultural and Industrial Society, Federation of Jews Farmers, the council of Jewish Women and the Fairfield County Farm Bureau” was held today at the “farm of Paul Swersky.”
1920: Today’s final session of the Central Conference of American Rabbis “was devoted to receiving the reports of the committees” and hearing a paper by Professor Gotthard Duetsch on “The Jew in Economic Life.”
1920: Birthdate of Nany Mars, the native of Evanston who gained fame as novelist Nancy Freedman, the wife of Benedict Freedman
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/22/local/la-me-nancy-freedman-20100822
1920: More than fifty delegates Mizrachi delegates are expected to attend the London Zionist Conference opening today where they would “take up the immediate problems necessary to re-establish the Jewish National Homeland in Palestine.
1920: The American delegation to the London Zionist Conference starting today whose members included “Hebrew scholar Reuben Rainin,” “A.H. Fromenson, publicity direction of the ZOA,” Professor Aaron Ember of Johns Hopkins and Mrs. Caroline Greenfield of Atlanta” “will attempt to have the conference approve their Pittsburgh Program for the governing principles of the Holy Land including equal rights for all irrespective of sex, race or religion…”
1920: The 35thannual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis is scheduled to come to an end today in Rochester, NY.
1921: Birthdate of Philip Rosenberg, who gained fame as Philip Rose, “the producer of Broadway shows like “A Raisin in the Sun” and “Purlie Victorious” who advanced the cause of black playwrights and actors and helped widen the scope of American theater to include stories of blacks and other minorities…’ (As reported by Bruce Weber)
1921: Rabbi Joseph Hertz, the Chief Rabbi of the British Empire, began a six week tour “that took him across Western Canada with stops in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg delivering eleven sermons and speaking at thirteen meetings as well as receptions with four Lieutenant-Governors, received by seven Mayors and visiting three provincial Premiers.”
1921: The funeral of Jacob A. Cantor was held at his home in New York City today. Rabbi M. H. Harris of Temple Israel delivered the eulogy. Cantor, an attorney by training, had been active in the New York Democratic Party for several decades holding a variety of positions including U.S. Congressman. The service was attended by numerous prominent government officials.
1922: Twenty three year old NYU alum and JTS trained rabbi Herman Hailperin who led Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburg for over forty years, married his first wife Harriet Silverman.
1923: A movie made by Delaware native William Topkis at the urging of the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund “to encourage American tourism and Aliya” which had been filmed in Palestine was shown for the first time at the Zion Cinema in Jerusalem. (As reported by David Geffen)
1924: “The bath director at Borkum, the well-known German island bathing resort, has been dismissed from his post because he permitted the playing by a Borkum orchestra of the anti-semitic "Borkum song" despite police prohibition and protests from Jewish associations and individuals
1925(12thof Tammuz, 5685): Parashat Chukat and Balak are read on Independence Day.
1925: “The Jewish Palestine Exploration Society is continuing excavations along the so-called Third Wall of Jerusalem” which has resulted in the uncovering of 196.
1926: Birthdate of Viennese native Amos Elon, who in 1933 made Aliyah to Palestine where he studied law and history, became “a journalist and author and married “New York-born literary agent Beth Elon,” with whom he had one child – “filmmaker Danae Elon.”
1926: The Nazis inaugurate their youth movement which is known as the Hitler Youth
1927: In the Bronx, “Irving Simon, a garment salesman” and “Mamie (Levy) Simon gave birth to playwright Neil Simon some of whose hits included The Odd Couple, Plaza Suite and Biloxi Blues.
https://www.biography.com/people/neil-simon-9484352
1927(4thof Tammuz, 5687): Forty-six year old Julius Daniels, the son of Bernhard and Julia Kaatz Daniels and the brother of Max, Minnie, Samuel and Hattie Daniels passed away today in Chicago.
1927: Nathaniel Phillips, the Chairman of Mayor’s Committee on Independence Day Receptions to First Voters was among those who addressed the 7,500 men and women who attended a Fourth of July celebration to in City Hall Park urging “the new voters to use their franchises earnestly and intelligently, to associate themselves with a political organization and to forget all lines of race, creed and color.”
1927: Five thousand KKK members whose credo includes anti-Semitism, their wives and children celebrated Independence Cay on a ten acre field at Babylon, Long Island
1928: “One thousand children from Jewish schools of New York joined the same number from Philadelphia today in a pilgrimage to Independence Square, where they saw the Liberty Bell and sang The Star Spangled Banner.”
1928: Thirty-six year old Max M. Levand, the Cincinnati, OH born son of Lena Bardenstein Levand, and his brothers “Louis, Max and John purchased the Beacon newspaper today.
1929: Eighty-six year old Sarah Bancroft Foster Leavitt, who gave President Theodore Roosevelt two seven-branch menorahs that he kept at “Sagamore Hill, his 95 acre estate on the North Shore of Long Island, New York.”
1929: In Brocton, Massachusetts, Rose and Louis Davis gave birth to Allen “Al” Davis a driving force behind the creation of the American Football League who was the ‘legendary owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders.”
1929: When the “Ah-Say-Fah Ha’Nivcharim” (Assembly of the Chosen) resumes its meeting Jaobtinsky loses the vote to ignore the organization’s’ agenda and leads the eleven revisionist delegates out of the meeting after reading a speech attacking the Jewish Agency.
1930: It was stated in a bulletin issued by Hadassah today, that “school children in Palestine who attended the schools of the Jewish Agency in Palestine during the past year showed a rate of only 7 per cent suffering from trachoma as compared with a rate of 62 percent among those attending government schools/”
1931: According to a report by the Labor Department of the Jewish Agency made public today by the American Palestine Campaign, “few countries in the world afford women such equality of opportunity as is enjoyed by Jewish women in Palestine.” Out of work force of 23,830 most of which is located in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Petach Tikvah 18,067 are men and 5,754 are women. While the largest number of women works in agricultural endeavors, they are also represented in manufacturing, the professions and government work.
1932: Birthdate of Martin Cohan, the TV writer and producer who co-created 'Who's the Boss?'
1933: Birthdate of David Gerald Littman, the London born human rights activist whose efforts including rescuing Moroccan and Russian Jews who is the brother of Lewis Littman, the founder of the Littman Library of Jewish Civilization and the husband of Gisèle Orebi, the author known as Bat Ye’or.
1933:Elyakum Heinrich Loewe and his family immigrated to Palestine where he became a librarian.
1934: An Inspectorate of Concentration Camps is established, headed by Theodor Eicke.
1934: Rebbetzin Renee Schick, who founded the Schick's Bakery in Boro Park in 1941 and her husband gave birth to political science Professor Allen Shick fifteen minutes after having given birth to Marvin Schick.
1934(21st of Tammuz, 5694): Zionist poet Chaim Nachman Bialik passed away. Born in Russia in 1873, Bialik had a traditional Talmudic education. However, at an early age he was attracted to Zionism and became a member of the Lovers of Zion. He fell under the influence of the author Achad Ha’am. His Hebrew poetry reflected the idea that Zionism was as much a cultural as it was a political movement. One of his famous early poems was "City of Slaughter" written in response to the pogrom at Kishnev. Bialik made Aliyah in 1924. Such was his influence that during his lifetime, he was called the "national poet," a title that has remained to this day. For those interested in reading his works in translation, consider looking at a copy of “Songs from Bialik: Selected Poems of Hayim Nachman Bialik.”
1934: Leo Szilard, the Hungarian born Jew who would take refuge in the United States and become part of the Manhattan Project, patents the chain-reaction design for the atomic bomb.
1935: “The anti-Jewish campaign continues with renewed virulence throughout Germany.”
1935: It was reported today that “the windows of a confectionary in a suburb of Berlin were plastered with anti-Jewish signs” and that “customers were threatened for patronizing a Jews..
1936: In Napoli, Italy Margit and Pasquale Frustaci gave birth to Cesare Frustaci, the Holocaust survivor who now lives at Port Charlotte who has dedicated himself to overcoming the lies told by the Holocaust Deniers.
1936: The 39thannual meeting of the Zionist Organization of America opened tonight in Providence, RI.
1936: “American Jews in Palestine celebrated Independence Day without Fires” and the traditional baseball game sponsored by the United States Consul General did not take place “because of the gravity of the situation” i.e. Arab violence
1937: Today, in Palestine “both Arabs and Jews” are “impatiently awaiting the royal inquiry commission’s report and recommendation for a solution of the nationalities problem” with the Jews fearful of an outbreak of Arab violence.
1938: The Manshieh quarter on the Jaffa-Tel Aviv border was again the scene of violence early this morning as Jews reportedly attacked Arabs apparently in retaliation for the Arab campaign of violence that began in 1937. Major Hebrew language dailies condemned the attacks, regardless of the reasons for which they launched.
1938: Birthdate of Robert Abrams the New York State Attorney General and Bronx Borough President.
1939: Esther "Etty" Hillesum took the second and final part of master’s exams in Dutch Law.
1939: Fifty-nine year old NYU Law School Graduate and former Republican Congressman Isaac Siegel “was appointed as a magistrate of New York City,” today.
1939: NYU trained attorney and former Republican congressman Isaac Siegel was “appointed as magistrate of New York City” today.
1939: Today, “The Nazi regime passed the tenth supplementary decree to the Reich Citizenship Law and established a new central Jewish organization, the Reichsvereinigung der Juden in Deutschland directly subordinated to the Reich minister of the interior” which had as it is purpose “the promotion of Jewish emigration” and which reinforced the decision that converts, called “Christian non-Aryans” were to be treated as Jews.
1940: “All This And Heaven Too” a movie version of the novel by the same name directed and produced by Anatole Litvak and with music by Max Steiner was released today in the United States.
1940: Leon Blum went to Vichy to voice his opposition to the proposed constitutional reform granting all power to Marshall Pétain.”
1940: “All This, and Heaven Too” a film adaptation of the novel of the same name produced by David Lewis and Anatole Litvak who also served as director and with music by Max Steiner was released in the United States today.
1940: As part of its deal with Hitler which made it possible for him to start WW II, the Soviet Union completed its occupation and annexation of Bessarabia, Northern Bukovina and the Hertza Region of Romania.
1941: Birthdate of Cannes native Pierre Brochand who served as French Ambassador to Israel from 1993 to 1995.
1941: In Liepāja, the roundup of Jews by SS-Obersturmbannführer Reichert’s EK 1a men begun last night came to an end this morning hundreds being slaughtered in Rainis Park.
1941: The Nazis murdered scientists and writers in the captured city of Lvov.
1941(9th of Tammuz, 5701): Lithuanian militiamen murdered 416 Jewish men, 47 Jewish women in Kovno at the Seventh Fort.
1941: Two thousand Jews from Lutsk, Ukraine, are transported to the Lubard Fortress and killed.
1941(9th of Tammuz, 5701): Fifty-four Jews are killed at Vilna, Lithuania.
1941: Between July 4 and July 11 five thousand Jews are killed in Ternopol, Ukraine.
1942: “The first Army Air Forces bomber mission over Western Europe was flown by US crews of the 15th Bomb Squadron operating British Bostons IIIs (the Royal Air Force's name for most of their Havocs) against airfields in the Netherlands.” (Editor note – for all of those who are critical of the U.S. failure to bomb the concentration camps, please note that the first U.S. attack took place seven months after Pearl Harbor and the planes used were twin-engine bombers of limited range and no significant armament. In other words, the planes did not exist for the attack that modern revisionists like to call for.)
1943: In Manhattan, Lillian (née Friedman) and Cruz "Allen" Rivera gave birth to Gerald Michael Rivera who gained fame as Geraldo Rivera.
1944(13th of Tammuz, 5704): Corporal David H. Rubenstein was killed in action in France. He was the 19th Milford, Massachusetts man to lose his life in World War II. “Milford’s Fallen Family” of that war would come to total 55.
1944:Sarah Levendal, the mother of Isaac Levendal, “arrived at Auschwitz today, where she became victim number 23925.”
1944: One thousand Jewish women are sent from Auschwitz to Hamburg, Germany, to pull down the remains of structures damaged during Allied bombing raids.
1944: In one of the tragedies of WW II, 250 inmates, most of them French Jews, from the Alderney camp on the Occupied Channel Islands are killed by fire from British warships while being transported to the mainland.
1944: The Milice, the anti-Semitic French militia working for the Vichy Government and the Nazis captured Jewish journalist and Resistance leader Georges Mandel.
1944: Between July 4 and July 5 2565 Jews from Pápa, Hungary, are sent to Auschwitz just as the Hungarian government is poised to defy Germany and halt the deportation. Only 30 of Pápa's 2800 Jews will survive the war
1945: In Tripoli, Libya and in other Libyan towns, Muslims began anti- Jewish riots.
1946: A Pogrom took place in Kielce, Poland. The date is correct –1946. One year after the end of the World War II and the Holocaust and a Polish mob attacked a house in Kielce in Poland where almost all of the town's surviving Jews were living (200 of the original 25,000). Forty-two Jews were brutally murdered, another 50 injured. This was followed by a chaotic mass exodus of around 150,000 Jews from across Poland to DP camps in Germany
1946: Following todays pogrom in Kielce, Poland “more than 100,000 Jews” fled to the American Zone of Occupation in Germany putting an unbelievable strain on the DP resources that had been allocated by the U.S. Government.
1946: “The Unknown,” a mystery directed by Henry Levin, was released in the United States today.
1946: Birthdate of financier Michael Milken, a wizard of Wall Street, whose name became synonymous with greed and the Junk Bond Scandal and who eventually ended up going to prison for his part in the financial fraud that was rampant in the 1980’s but later became known as a “philanthropist” when he co-founded the Milken Family Foundation.
1947(16th of Tammuz, 5707): Fifty-three-year-old Chicago native and WW I Navy veteran Salem N. Baskin, the advertising executive and one-time head of the Baskin Clothing Store who raised two daughters and one son, Mark, with his wife Bess Baskin, passed away today.
1947: David Ben-Gurion appeared before the United Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP). During his testimony which covered the history of the Jewish people and the reasons for creating a Jewish state in Palestine Ben Gurion tells the UN officials that “What happened to our people in this war is merely a climax to the uninterrupted persecution to which we have been subjected for centuries by almost all the Christian and Moslem peoples in the world.’
1948: Pitcher Marv Rotblatt made his major league debut with the Chicago White Sox.
1949: In describing the progress of the nation's so-called austerity program today Dr. Bernard Joseph, Minister of Supply and Rationing, disclosed that Israeli importers functioning in collateral fields have been requested by the Government to pool their efforts with a view to obtaining the lowest possible prices in world markets.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that an accidental blast in a quarry of Even V’Sid Company on Castel Hill killed eight workers and injured six others. The holiday-with-pay principle was legally established in Israel following the final reading of the Annual Leave Bill in the Knesset. Employees were entitled to a minimum of 14 days' paid vacation as of October 1, 1951. The employee must have worked 200 days out of year's contract or must have worked 240 single days for the same employer in any one 12-month period to be entitled to such paid leave.
1951(30thof Sivan, 5711): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz coincides with Independence Day in the United States.
1951: In what would be known in the West as the “Doctor’s Plot” escalated when the Politburo set up an investigatory commission headed by Lavrentiy Beria head of the dreaded secret police which at that time was called the NKVD.
1954: In Hutchinson, Kansas, Julius E. and Ruth (Gottfried) Kaplan gave birth to Fred M. Kaplan the Oberlin graduate and Slate contributor who “was a member of a team that won a 1983 Pulitzer Prize for a special Sunday Boston Globe Magazinearticle, "War and Peace in the Nuclear Age", on the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms race.
1955(14thof Tammuz, 5715: On Independence Day, 51 year old Boston born and Harvard trained attorney Milton A Kramer, a partner in the law firm of Kramer, Marx, Greenlee and Backus and the husband of Enid Saper with whom he raised two children, John and Alison, passed away today at his home in New York.
1956: Today, Foreign Minister Golda Myers told the Knesset that “there has been no decision by the government of Israel to enter into negotiations for a diplomatic exchange with the West German Government” led by Chancellor Konrad Adenauer.
1959(28thof Sivan, 5719): Parashat Sh’lach
1959: Alaska becomes the 49th state to join the Union. Jewish involvement with Alaska dates back to January, 1868 when the Alaska Commercial Company was formed in by a group of Jewish businessman in San Francisco including Louis Sloss (President), Lewis Gerstle (Vice President), Simon Greenwald, William Kohl and A. Wasserman. Jews were included in those went “North to Alaska” during the Gold Rush of the 1890’s. There was actually an attempt made before World War II to turn the Alaska Territory into a refuge for Jews fleeing Hitler. The plan failed. Ernest Gruening, a Jew from New York, was one of Alaska’s most prominent early political leaders. A supporter of statehood, he served as territorial governor and then was elected as one of the state’s first two United States Senators. Gruening joined Wayne Morris as one of only two Senators to vote against the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The vote cost him his seat. But it made him one of the first to see the folly of the Viet Nam War.
1960: Thanks to the intervention of Mayor Wagner American Nazi did hold a rally in New York’s Union Square because the city’s chief executive said that his appearance was an “invitation to riot and disorder.”
1960: George Lincoln Rockwell and eight of his American Nazi Party members were arrested at the Washington National Mall when a riot broke out during one his political demonstrations.
1963: U.S. premiere of “The Great Escape” with music by Elmer Bernstein.
1967: In the General Assembly of the UN Chile gave its full support to the resolution of the Latin American Bloc in the aftermath of the Six-Day War.
1967: Just a month after the “Six Day War” a MiG-17 was shot down when Egyptian warplanes attacked Israelis in the Sinai Peninsula.
1968: Birthdate of Ronni Ancona “a Scottish actress, impressionist and author” who “won the Best TV Comedy Actress award at the 2003 British Comedy Awards for her work in Big Impression.”
1970(30th of Sivan, 5730): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1970(30th of Sivan, 5730): American painter Barnett Newman passed away.
http://www.artnet.com/artists/barnett-newman/
1971(11thof Tammuz, 5731): Eighty-one year old Albert Matarasso, a retired insurance broker and a leader in the Sephardic Jewish community, who translated books from Ladino while two children – Daniel and Alice – with his wife Dora passed a way today.
1972: Eighty-eight year old Communist party leader Max Bedacht who was raised as a Catholic and is sometimes misidentified as being Jewish because when he was a member of the Central Committee he was one of only two members the other eight being “foreign born Jews” passed away today.
1974: Avital Sharansky (Natasha Stiglitz) emigrated from Moscow to Israel
1975(25th of Tammuz, 5735): In Jerusalem’s Zion Square, members of the PLO detonate a bomb hidden in a refrigerator which killed fourteen and wounded seventy. Victims included Arabs as well as Jews.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that there was extensive violence in the West Bank towns in protest against the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old Arab youth during clashes with security forces during the weekend.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that the giant American Bicentennial National Park in the Jerusalem hills was officially opened to the public.
1976: Operation Thunderbolt came to a successful conclusion as aircraft carrying 102 rescued hostages and the IDF units that had rescued them land in Israel.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/19-years-after-entebbe-idf-archive-releases-operation-log/
1976(6thof Tammuz, 5736): Antoni Słonimski, Polish poet and author, passed away. Slonimski spent the war years in exile in Britain. He returned to Poland in 1951 where he was a staunch anti-Stalinist.
1976(6thof Tammuz, 5736): The Entebbe Rescue – Over 100 Jewish and Israeli hostages from an Air France plane being held prisoner by Palestinian terrorists and Ugandan soldiers who were threatening to murder them if their demands were not met were rescued by Israeli commandos in a brilliant ruse under the command of Yonatan Netanyahu who was shot in the back during the rescue. Netanyahu was the one of four Israeli soldier killed in the rescue mission. Tragically, 19 year old Jean-Jacues Maimoni, 52 year old Pasco Cohen and 56 year old Ida Borochovitch were killed in the cross fire . Seventy-five year old Dora Bloch, who was undergoing treatment at Mulago Hospital, was murdered by the Ugandans as revenge for the raid.
1977(18thof Tammuz, 5737): Sixty-eight year old Odessa native and City College and Columbia alum Maurice Chernowitz, the professor of fine arts at Yeshiva University and the husband of the “former Rose Fineman” with whom he raised two daughters – Tamara and Rena – passed away today
1978: The exhibit “A Treasury of Modern Drawing: The Joan and Lester Avnet Collection” which had been exhibited starting on April 27 at the Museum of Modern Art came to a close today.
https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/2355
1979: Simon Veil completed her term as French Minister of Health.
1979(9thof Tammuz, 5739): Fifty-three year old legendary basketball referee Marvin “Mendy” Rudolph” passed away today.
http://web.archive.org/web/20070930181653/http://www.hoophall.com/ot/rudolph-induction-article.html
1979: “The Wanderers” directed by Philip Kaufman who co-authored the script with his wife Rose Kaufman and featuring Alan Rosenberg as “Turkey” was released in the United States today.
1980: Birthdate of Michael “Maxy” Klinger, the Australian born cricketer.
1981: The American premiere of “Halil” took place at Tanglewood today “with Doriot Anthony Dwyer as the soloist and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.” ‘Halil’ is a work for flute and chamber orchestra composed by Leonard Bernstein composed in 1981. The work is sixteen minutes in length. Bernstein composed Halil in honor of a young Israeli flutist Yadin Tanenbaum who was killed at the Suez Canal in during the 1973 Yom Kippur war.”
1986(27th of Sivan, 5746): Eighty-seven year old Russian born, American mathematician Oscar Zariski passed away.
https://www.usna.edu/Users/math/meh/zariski.html
1987: Nazi Klaus Barbie, "Butcher of Lyon" is convicted by a French court.
1988: The bulk of the Furth family summer estate at Yarrow Point on the east shore of Lake Washington, which traces its origins back to Jacob Furth “was deeded to the towns of Yarrow Point and Hunts Point as the Wetherill Nature Preserve” today.
1988: Fifty-five year old Ben Briscoe followed in the footsteps of his father Robert Briscoe when he became Lord Mayor of Dublin after defeating the incumbent by 6 votes in an election held by members of the city council.
1992(3rd of Tammuz, 5752): Ninety-eight year old painter and printmaker Harry Gottlieb passed away.
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/08/arts/harry-gottlieb-is-dead-wpa-artist-was-98.html
http://keithsheridan.com/gottlieb.html
1993: The first round of family tours of Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Congress come to an end.
1996(17thof Tammuz, 5756): Tzom Tammuz
1998: Sandra Bernhard gave birth to daughter Cicely Yasin Bernhard
1999: The New York Times reviews books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Story Begins: Essays on Literature by Amos Oz and The Elusive Embrace: Desire and the Riddle of Identity by Daniel Mendelsohn.
2000(1stof Tammuz, 5760): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
2000: “A court called an indefinite halt to the country's first Nazi-era war crimes trial, citing the poor health of 93-year-old defendant, Aleksandras Lileikis, a former American citizen stripped of his passport who has denied charges that he turned over Jews to Nazi executioners during the German occupation of Lithuania”
2000: “Leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization decided late tonight in Gaza City that a Palestinian state should be declared by mid-September, whether or not a permanent peace deal has been reached with the Israelis.”
2001(13thof Tammuz, 5761): Thirty-two year old Eliahu Na’aman was shot today at Sueika.
2001(13thof Tammuz, 5761): Ninety-year old Leonard Pines, the man who Hebrew National the “gold standard in cold cuts” for generations of Jews and expanded the product to the non-Jewish world, passed away today. (As reported by David Cay Johnson)
https://www.hebrewnational.com/
2002: Jewish National Fund officials announced that retired Tel Aviv District Court Judge Arye Segelson will head the organization's investigation into allegations of misconduct in JNF's 'Plant a Tree With Your Own Hands' program for tourists.
2002 (24th of Tammuz, 5762): A gunman opened fire at Israel's El Al airline ticket counter at Los Angeles International Airport; three people were killed, including the gunman
2002(24thof Tammuz, 5762): Eighty-seven year old French mathematician Laurent Schwartz who won the Fields Medal in 1950 passed away today.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/aug/07/guardianobituaries.obituaries
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1404336/Laurent-Schwartz.html
2003:“Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy apologized to Chancellor Gerhard Schröder of Germany for likening a German member of the European Parliament to a bullying guard in a Nazi concentration camp.”
2003: In “Europe’s Jewish Space at Center Stage” published today Ruth Ellen Gruber how “Jewish stage and screen professionals” see the manner in which “Jewish themes are addressed in contemporary European theatre.”
2004: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Conspirators by Michael André Bernstein and Politics: Observations & Arguments by Hendrik Hertzberg
2004: At the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Rabbi Sholom Tendler is scheduled to officiate at the wedding of 23 year old Gabriella Sarah Rosen, “a founder of the Women’s Resource Center at Boston Medical Center and 25 year old Jesse Oren Kellerman, the writer and playwright who is the son of two mystery writers – Faye Kellerman and Jonathan Kellerman.
2004: Tzipi Livni began serving as Minister of Construction and Housing
2004(15th of Tammuz, 5764): Victor Kreiderman, 49, was killed by terrorists in Israel.
2005: Today marks the 160th anniversary since Judah Solomon and the entire Jewish community of Hobart Town turned out for” for the opening of what is now Hobart Hebrew Congregation in Tasmania.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080801021416/http:/ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=143
2006: “During a joint operation conducted by the IDF and the Israel Security Authorities, the three Tanzim militants who murdered Eliyahu Asheri and whom were hiding in the a Palestinian Police headquarters building in Ramallah, were apprehended after a three-hour standoff”
2007: Meir Sheerit succeeded Roni Bar-On as Minister of the Interior.
2007: Ze’ev Boim succeded Meir Sheerit as Minister of Construction and Housing
2007: Yaakov Edri began serving as Minister for the Development of the Negev and Galilee.
2007: In an interview broadcast on Channel 10 Abu Mutfana - a leader in the Army of Islam – said that the kidnappers of Cpl. Gilad Schalit have transferred him to the custody of Hamas,
2008(1stof Tammuz, 5768): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
2008: The Washington Post features a review of Undiscovered by Jewish actress, Debra Winger
2008: American legal scholar Cass Sunstein married Ambassador Samantha Power.
2008: As part of its 4th of July cookout themed advertising, Wal Mart touts the availability of “100% all kosher Hebrew National Hot Dogs.” The Red, White and Blue meets OU!
2008: “Kabluey” a comedy starring Lisa Kudrow that had premiered in Los Angeles was released in the United States today.
2008: Following two days each punctuated by a rocket attack on Israel,Hamas today announced that it was suspending all negotiations with Israel over the release of captured IDF soldier Gilad Schalit.
2008: Despite the seemingly endless rounds of adversity that would break the spirits of lesser people, the Jews of Tel Aviv showed their true mettle by hosting the fourth annual mass water fight in Rabin Square which drew hundreds of children, teens and adults.
2008(1stof Tammuz, 5768): 1st Lt. Daniel Farkas was killed today, at Camp Phoenix in Kabul, Afghanistan. He was 42 years old. “Daniel Farkas, a 20-year-veteran of the New York City Police Department and a dedicated athlete, had been a member of the National Guard since 1992. He lived in Brooklyn with his mother, two sisters and two nieces, the New York Daily News reported. Farkas was honored with the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, the Armed Forces Reserve Medal and the National Defense Service Medal, among others. (As reported by The Forwards)
2009: In Alexandria, VA, Jews of the Old Dominion celebrate Independence Day with a "Red, White & Blue Tot Shabbat" in the chapel at Beth El Hebrew Congregation.
2009: There is no Independence Day Celebration at the U.S. Embassy in Israel on July 4 because the official celebration took place on July 1. The celebration included remarks by the Ambassador on the 233rd anniversary of U.S. Independence, Shiri Maimon singing the “Star-Spangled Banner” and “Hatikva” and fireworks lighting up the night sky above the cliffs of the Mediterranean.
2009(12thof Tammuz, 5769): Pfc. Aaron E. Fairbairn was killed today, when insurgents attacked his base in eastern Afghanistan. He was 20 years old. “Aaron Fairbairn was born nearly two months premature and had to be fed from a Barbie bottle until he was big enough to move into the regular natal facility. A happy and friendly child, Fairbairn overcame the health problems he faced as a baby and became fiercely devoted to his family. He showed a dedication to hard work at an early age, quitting sports in the seventh grade to work four different newspaper routes to buy his first car by the time he was 14 years old. His family told the Forward there was nothing Fairbairn enjoyed more than working on his cars. He owned seven trucks by the time he was 20. Born Aaron Eli Ben-Neth, Fairbairn took his mother’s surname when he was 18 years old. Grandson and son of Vietnam War veterans, Fairbairn decided early on he wanted to enlist and establish a career for himself in the army. Always a slight man, Fairbairn was only 115 pounds when he went into the army and worked incredibly hard to reach 145 pounds. Fairbairn was so proud that he was serving that he wore his uniform around town in Aberdeen, Wash., when he was home on leave. When news of a kidnapped soldier in Afghanistan coincided with no communication from her son for a week, Shelly Fairbairn told the Forward she envisioned the worst case scenario. “But then he called [and] we breathed a sigh of relief…the next morning when the soldiers showed up at my door I thought maybe they were here because it’s Fourth of July… [I thought,] it can’t be, we just spoke to him yesterday.” (As reported in The Forwards)
2009(12thof Tammuz, 5769): Sixty-three year old French businessman Robert Louis-Dreyfus passed away today in Zurich.
2009(12thof Tammuz, 5769): Sixty-two year old Drake Levin, the lead guitarist for Paul Revere and the Raiders passed away today. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/10/arts/music/10levin.html?_r=0
2009: Julius Shulman's last exhibit at Craig Krull Gallery (his Los Angeles gallery since 1991) opened today.
2009(12thof Tammuz, 5769): Seventy-seven year old Allen Klein, the business manager for Sam Cooke, the Rolling Stones and the Beatles passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/05/arts/music/05klein.html
2009: On the Billboard Hot 100 chart, both “Best I Ever Had” and “Every Girl” featuring Canadian Rapper Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham) {entered the top ten at positions 3 and 10 respectively” making him “only the second artist to have his first two top ten hits in the same week.”
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer by Peter Elkind, Journal of the Plague Year: An Insider’s Chronicle of Eliot Spitzer’s Short and Tragic Reign by Lloyd Constantine and The Frozen Rabbi by Steve Stern.
2011: Thirty-fifth anniversary of the Raid on Entebbe. Joy is still tempered by the sadness at the loss of Yonatan "Yoni" Netanyahu, the thirty year old officer who was the only IDF casualty during this act of derring-do. Herman Wouk, the famous author, offered these words about Netanyahu. "He was a taciturn philosopher-soldier of terrific endurance, a hard-fibered, charismatic young leader, a magnificent fighting man. On the Golan Heights, in the Yom Kippur War, the unit he led was part of the force that held back a sea of Soviet tanks manned by Syrians, in a celebrated stand; and after Entebbe, "Yoni" became in Israel almost a symbol of the nation itself. Today his name is spoken there with somber reverence."
2011: The Association of Americans of Americans and Canadians in Israel (AACI) are scheduled to celebrate 4th of July and Canada Day at Kraft Stadium in Jerusalem
2011: As Americans celebrate Independence, Jews can take pride in their active support of the patriot cause. Besides the famous Hyam Solomon, “there were hundreds of Jewish soldiers and sailors who fought in the Revolution and patriots who supported it. There was Phillip Russell, a surgeon at Valley Forge; Col. David Franks an aide to George Washington; a “Jew Company, " which fought in South Carolina; Moses Myers, who fought in Virginia; the Sheftall family, which fought and were captured in Savannah. In Manhattan's Chatham Square cemetery, 22 Revolutionary Jewish soldiers lie. Many had sacrificed their lives for their new country. Just like the approximately 500 Americans who were killed or wounded during the three British assaults at Bunker Hill in 1775. (New evidence has surfaced that a Jewish soldier, Abraham Solomon, participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill as a member of Colonel John Glover's 21st Regiment from Gloucester.)”
2011: The Canadian ship "Tahrir", participating in the flotilla to Gaza, attempted to depart from the Greek port of Agios Nikolaos today, but was intercepted by the Greek coast guard shortly after departure.
2011: Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered a stop to the transfer of the bodies of 84 Palestinian terrorists to the Palestinian Authority at the last minute today, despite earlier confirmation from the IDF
2012: The Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage is scheduled to host an Independence Day Celebration featuring including live Americana music and free flags for the youngsters
2012: In honor of Independence Day, the Jewish Community Alliance of Jacksonville, FL, is scheduled to sponsor a Family Fun Day completed with hot dog, games, prizes and a DJ
2012: In honor Independence Day, the National Museum of American Jewish History, will be open free to the public today.
2012: The Jewish Women’s Archives celebrates Independence Day by sponsoring an contest where readers can honor the FIJW (Fiercely Independent Jewish Woman) in their lives with a brief tribute.
2012: Israeli cellist Yoed Nir is scheduled to perform at The Apollo Theatre in Manchester, UK
2012: 36thAnniversary of the Raid on Entebbe, a moment of great pride for Jews and all who value the best in Western Civilization. Of course, we will never forget that this gift was paid for with Jewish blood – in this case the life of Yonatan Netanyahu. If a person’s name defines them, then this is just such a case since the brave Israeli bears the name of the noblest of all biblical characters – the son of Saul and comrade of David.
2012: Today Kadima party chairman Shaul Mofaz asserted that the implementation of the Plesner Report is a condition for his party staying in the government. "The ball is in Prime Minister [Binyamin Netanyahu's] hands and he has a matter of days," Mofaz added, declaring that "the Plesner plan is the only plan."
2012: Yigal Amir, assassin of late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, is set to leave solitary confinement in the coming days, the Prisons Service confirmed today. Amir has spent 17 years in solitary detention, in line with repeated court extensions of his prison terms.
2013: American superstar Alicia Keys, one of the leading musical artists of the last 10 years, is scheduled to arrive in Israel for the first time today.” (As reported by David Brinn)
2013: Independence Day – Even before the “shot heard around the world” was fired Jews were active in the military units that would eventually fight the British. In 1769, Captain Richard Lushington formed a volunteer company at Charleston, SC “composed chiefly of Hebrews. They would later be referred to as “the Jews company” and include Marks Lazarus, Emanuel Abrahams, Jacob Moses Joseph Solomon and Abraham Spidel among its members. Among others who served on the battlefield were Mordecai Sheftall of Georgia who was twice captured by the British; Francis Salvador of South Carolina who was the first Jewish soldier to die during the war; Colonel Isaac Franks, aide de camp to General Washington, Major Benjamin Moses who served on the staffs of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette; Colonel David S. Franks the loyal patriot who served as aid de camp to Benedict Arnold; Philip Moses Russell “whom Washington commended for his assiduous attentions to the sick and wounded: and Colonel Jacob De La Motta. While we all know about the contribution of Haym Solomon who bankrupted himself to provide funds for the Revolution we should also take note of Benjamin Levy and Benjamin Jacobs of Philadelphia and Samuel Lyon of New York who signed Bills of Credit for the Continental Congress for which they were never reimbursed. This list is not complete, but it should give a sense of the small Jewish community’s support for the Revolutionary cause. The most important contribution made by the Jews was intellectual and spiritual. From portraying King George as modern day Pharaoh and themselves as Israelites escaping bondage, to the inscription on the Liberty Bell to the concept that All Men Are Created Equal, the Patriots drew from the well of Jewish tradition and Jewish books.
2014: The U.S. Embassy in Israel is scheduled to host a July 4th Celebration starting at 5:45.
2014: Some celebrate Independence Day, while others remember the Battle of the Horns of Hittin. If you do not understand their impact on today’s world then to paraphrase Burke and Santayana, those who do not know and learn from history are up the creek without a paddle. "
2015: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host “Bach and Mozart with a touch of the Present”
2015(17thof Tammuz, 5775): Parsha Balak; Fast of Tammuz not observed because it is Shabbat.
2015(17thof Tammuz, 5775): Ninety-two year old Charles Winick, a controversial professor of anthropology and sociology passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/13/us/charles-winick-professor-and-author-who-challenged-social-norms-dies-at-92.html?hpw&rref=obituaries&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=1
2015(17th of Tammuz): A “Calendar Coincidence” makes this a special Independence Day. In 1776, Independence Day was observed on July 4 which was the 17th of Tammuz on the Jewish calendar. In a rare calendar convergence, in 2015 we will be celebrate Independence Day on July 4 which is also the 17th of Tammuz. In another Jewish connection to the Revolution, the Haftarah for July 4th comes from Micah who wrote “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree; And none shall make them afraid.” later, in 1790, President George Washington wrote to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island, in part to reassure the Jews of their acceptance in the new republic. Echoing the words of the Jewish prophet he wrote: “May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants - while everyone shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.” Whether he meant to or not, Washington was telling the Jewish population that the messianic vision of peace and justice could be realized in the United States of America under its newly adopted constitutional form of government.
2016(28th of Sivan, 5776): Former Congressman and federal judge Abner Mikva passed away today at the age of 90.
http://www.mikvachallenge.org/about/about-abner-and-zoe-mikva/
2016: Prime Minister Netanyahu is scheduled to participate in a ceremony at Entebbe marking the 40th anniversary of Operation Thunderbolt, the famous recuse mission which claimed the life of his brother Yoni.
2016: In a fitting tribute to the memory of Elie Weisel who passed away two days ago, Independence Day provides a chance to discover “more about the role of American soldiers in the liberation of the concentrations and the mission of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in keeping “this history alive.
2017: 830th Anniversary of the Battle of the Horns of Hittin
2017: Scheduled observance of Independence Day could include a visit to one or more these landmarks
http://www.jta.org/2016/07/01/life-religion/9-iconic-sites-that-celebrate-american-jewish-history
2017: Today, Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Jerusalem for the “first-ever visit by an Indian Prime Minister” which is a sign of the deepening relationship between two countries who gained their independence from British rule after WW II.
2017: In Israel, the Labor Party is scheduled to hold the first round of elections that would lead to choosing a new leader.
2017: “A committee of the United Nations Education, Science and Culture Organization (UNESCO) convened in Krakow today where it approved the wording of a proposed resolution denying that Israel is the sovereign power over Jerusalem and condemning it for conducting archeological excavations in the Old City."
2017: In Philadelphia, the National Museum of American Jewish History is scheduled to host a special Independence Day program including talking “with a costumed impersonator portraying a young Jewish woman who came to Philadelphia in 1913.”
2017: The Maccabiah Games opened in Israel today.
http://www.timesofisrael.com/teen-cricket-girl-banned-from-maccabiah-goes-to-court/
2018: “Batsheva – The Young Ensemble is scheduled to perform Ohad Naharin's Bessie Award-winning dance, Naharin's Virus, inspired by the great Austrian writer Peter Handke's play” at Jacobs Pillow today for the first time.
2018: 155thanniversary of the Confederate surrender to Union forces under the command of U.S. Grant who authored the brilliant campaign that brought about the victory and who was the first President to attend synagogue services and make a contribution to Adas Israel. (For more about Grant and the Jewish people see the writing s of Jonathan Sarna.
2018: Based on a list previously published by JTA, Independence Day would be a good day to “celebrate the history of the Jewish people” in the United States by visiting the Lower East Side Tenement; Touro Synagogue in Newport, RI; Temple Beth Sholom in Elkins Park, PA; Gomez Mill House, Newburgh, NY; Beth Jacob Cemetery, Galveston, TX; Canter’s Deli in Los Angeles; Congregation Mikveh Israel in Philadelphia; Bob Dylan’s childhood home, Hibbing, MN; and Congregation Sherith Israel in San Francisco
2019: Aviva Kempner’s “The Spy Behind Home Plate” which tells the tale of Moe Berg is scheduled to open in Hudson, NY.
2019: Gregory Michenaud’s “photo of Orthodox Jewish pilgrims praying at the tomb of a Chassic rabbi in Poland” is among the finalist for “the 2019 British Journal of Photography’s Open Walls Competition” the winner of which is scheduled “to be announced” today “at a ceremony in a 17th century mansion and gallery in the French town of Arles.”
https://static.timesofisrael.com/jewishndev/uploads/2019/05/gregory_michenaud_yibbum-39.jpg
2019: In London, JW3 is scheduled to host a special preview screening of “Never Look Away,” “an intergenerational tale of love, sorrow, art and politics spanning three decades of 20th century German history, from Nazism through much of the Cold War.”
2019(1st of Tammuz, 5779): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz;
2020: The Eden Tamar Music Center is scheduled to host “Flute Sounds in Ein Kerem” with “Noam Buchman and Friend.”
2020: In New Orleans, Touro Synagogue is scheduled to host via Zoom a community wide lay-led Torah Study session
2020: Esther, Lady Gilbert, the widow historian Sir Martin Gilbert, the official biographer of Winston Churchill will join the rest of the Anglo-Jewish community innnnn celebrating Shabbat while looking to see if today is Independence Day in the UK when “key sectors of the economy including tourism and hospitality are scheduled to reopen for the first time since March.
2020: In New Orleans, via live stream Temple Sinai is scheduled to host Summer Union Shabbat keeping alive a long time tradition of the Reform community where all of the congregations combine for one Shabbat service despite the reality of the Pandemic.
2020(12th of Tammuz): On the Jewish calendar, yahrzeit for the massacred Jews of Wiener Neustadt, Austria in 5058/1298 (As reported by Abraham P Bloch)
2020: For Jews celebration of a double simcha – Shabbat and Independence Day
http://americanjewisharchives.org/publications/journal/PDF/1975_27_02_00.pdf
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/the-revolutionary-war-and-the-jews/
2020(12th of Tammuz, 5780): Parashat Chukat and Balak;
2021: The New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including From Sarah to Sydney: The Woman Behind All-of-a-Kind Family by June Cummins with Alexandra Dunietz
2021: Following yet another attack on Shabbat of incendiary balloons, Israelis brace for more such terror attacks from Hamas.
2021: In Israel, “Health Ministry officials are scheduled to meet today to “consider offering third doses of the Pfizer vaccine to individuals with weakened immune system.”
2021: As Americans celebrate Independence, Jews can take pride in their active support of the patriot cause. Besides the famous Hyam Solomon, “there were hundreds of Jewish soldiers and sailors who fought in the Revolution and patriots who supported it. There was Phillip Russell, a surgeon at Valley Forge; Col. David Franks an aide to George Washington; a “Jew Company, " which fought in South Carolina; Moses Myers, who fought in Virginia; the Sheftall family, which fought and were captured in Savannah. In Manhattan's Chatham Square cemetery, 22 Revolutionary Jewish soldiers lie. Many had sacrificed their lives for their new country. Just like the approximately 500 Americans who were killed or wounded during the three British assaults at Bunker Hill in 1775. (New evidence has surfaced that a Jewish soldier, Abraham Solomon, participated in the Battle of Bunker Hill as a member of Colonel John Glover's 21st Regiment from Gloucester.)”
2021: The London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled to host “The Jews of Ancient Tour,” a virtual event with Dr. Lindsey Taylor-Guthartz.
https://www.lsjs.ac.uk/the-jews-of-ancient-rome-tour-1370.php
2022: Grammy-winning U.S. rapper 50 Cent is scheduled to arrive in Israel for a single show at Tel Aviv's Menora Mivtachim Arena today as part of his with ticket prices starting at NIS 349. (As reported by Ron Boker)
2022: Rachel Levin, the world’s best granddaughter is scheduled to march in today’s Bexley Parade for the Fourth of July which members of Congregation Tifereth Israel can which from the home of Rabbi Skolnik whose home is along the parade route.
2022: The London School of Jewish Studies is scheduled host Rabbi Michael Harris as presents the first lecture in the series on “A Tale of Two Trucks: The Problem of Moral Luck.
2022: The Pardes Learning Seminar which brings together community leaders, professionals and lifelong learners, who wish to study classical Jewish sources either online or within the landscape of Israel and this year will focus on the topics of Shabbat and Shmittah is scheduled to continue for a second day in Jerusalem.
2022: As Israelis celebrate the triumph over terrorism known as the Raid on Entebbe, based on previously published information they are bracing for another wave of terrorism tied to the upcoming visit of President Biden.