JUNE 11
1509: Marriage of King Henry VIII of England and Katherine of Aragon. Before marrying Henry, the Spanish made him promise that he would never permit Jews to live in his Kingdom. Henry agreed which was no big deal at the time since Jews had been officially banished from the realm for centuries. In one of those ironic twists of history, Henry would rely on the book of Leviticus when seeking to divorce Katherine. He sought support from Rabbis in Italy whose interpretation of the divine text might be different from the prelates in England. The Italian Rabbis did not jump at the opportunity to bail out the English monarch since they had no desire of angering the “Bishop of Rome” who had power over their existence.
1557: The reign of King John III of Portugal came to an end. During his reign, John brought the Inquisition to Portugal and its colonies. Since the Jews had been expelled from his realm the Inquisition was aimed at Conversos. Oddly enough, John met with David Reubeni in November 1525 where the King promised to supply him with ships and cannons. The King recanted when he realize that it made sense to arming Jews while his Inquisition was hunting backsliding marranos.
1590: The entire Jewish quarter of Posen which was built almost entirely of wood burned while the gentile population watched and pillaged. Fifteen people died and eighty scrolls were burned.
1774: Jews in Algeria escape the attacks of the Spanish army.
1777(6thof Sivan, 5537): Shavuot
1807: Curacao businessman Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto landed in North America. He would not be able to return to Curacao and settled in New York where he served as the Rabbi for Congregation Shearith Israel
1826(6thShavuot 5586): Shavuot
1829: Birthdate of Alphonse Millaud, the nephew of French published and banker Moïse Polydore Millaud
1834:Lewin Aron (`Libesch') Pinner, who served as a rabbi in Bombst and Wronke became a naturalized citizen of Posen under the terms of the Emancipation Act of 1834.
1835: Congregation B'nai Israel laid the cornerstone for the first synagogue to be built in Cincinnati, Ohio. The congregation would hire Max Lilienthal as its Rabbi in June of 1855.
1845(6thSivan, 5605): Shavuot
1845: In Pikeln, Russian Empire, Rabbi Benjamin Rabinowitz and his wife gave birth to Elijah David Rabinowitz-Teomim, who served as Rosh Yeishiva of Mir before emigrating to Jerusalem in 1901.
1847: The Jewish Chronicle reported that Maurice S. Mawson of Pernambuco had married Rose Phillips, the second daughter of Michael Phillips. The bride was from Jersey and the wedding took place at St. Helier.
1849: At the 14th meeting of The Free Sons of Israel, Noah Lodge Number 1, a constitution was adopted marking the real date from which the society began working as an effective organization.
1852: “America’s Mail – Some Additional Items” published today included a copy of Lionel Rothschild’s “address to the independent electors of London” in which he thanked them for their twice electing him to the House of Commons even though he has been denied his right to take his seat in Parliament and soliciting their support in the upcoming election so that the will of the people will hold sway and he will finally be seated.
1857: An article entitled "Moral and Religious," subtitled "Denominations in London," published today reports that according to Mr. Low's Handbook to Places of Worship London has 11 synagogues with 8,642 seats.
1857: Today,Kehillat Anshe Ma'arab, the first Jewish congregation closed its original burial grounds which had been established by the now defunct Jewish Burial Ground Society and had the first burial in its new cemetery.
1859: Prince Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, who served as Austria’s foreign minister for nearly forty years, passed away. Metternich’s dealings with Jews were as devious and Machiavellian as were his dealings with anybody else. Metternich was careful not to pursue anti-Jewish policies that would offend the powerful Salomon Rothschild. He did come to the defense of the Jews during the Damascus Blood Libel. But Heinrich Graetz, the Jewish historian who lived during the Metternich Era, viewed him negatively saying that Metternich was prone to treat the Jews in a manner consistent with Maria Theresa rather than with the benevolence shown by Emperor Joseph II. During the Napoleonic era Metternich said of the Jews, “I fear that” they “will believe Napoleon to be their promised Messiah.”
1859: A major silver strike known as the Comstock Lode is discovered in Nevada. David H. Cohen was one of several who Jews worked “as ordinary muckers and miners” where they earned four dollars for spending 12 hours beneath the earth. Adolph Sutro was a self-taught engineer who tried to bring modern technology to the mining operations. This included the building of the Sutro Tunnel which a “passageway” designed to improve ventilation in the mines while providing an easier way to haul the ore and drain excess water.
1859: Disraeli was replaced by his arch-rival William Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1865(17thof Sivan, 5625): Elias Chaim Lindo, the nephew of Moses Mocatta who moved from St. Thomas to London in the 1830’s where he pursued a life of Jewish scholarship that included writing The History of the Jews of Spain and Portugal passed away today.
1865:Frederick Knefler is mustered out of the Union Army with the rank of Brevet Brigadier General. He had joined the army in 1861 with the rank of Lieutenant.
1868(21stof Sivan, 5628): Lazar Horowitz, the leading Orthodox Rabbi in Vienna who defended the historian Heinrich Graetz against charges of heresy and whose most famous work was “Yad Eleazar” passed away today.
1870: The funeral of Mrs. D. Dinkelspiel, the wife of the Treasurer of the Hebrew Mutual Benefit Society is scheduled to be held this morning at Number 7, West 53rd St.
1871: It was reported today that the Jewish Times has taken issue with criticism published in some Connecticut newspapers of the fact that a rabbi had been asked to lead the opening prayer at the state legislature. The Times contended Protestant, Catholic or Jew could call upon the Divine to provide support for the legislators and that anybody who questioned that was neither a Christian nor a gentleman.
1871: The Notes and News column reported on the efforts of Polish authorities to enforce the new Russian rules that require the Jews to give up their traditional garb and hairstyle – including the requirement that they shave their beards, cut off their side curls, give up their long coats and their short pants. The Jews are resisting the changes and the authorities are resorting to trickery and force to accomplish their goals.
1871: Hatzofeh B’Eretz HaChadashah (The New Land Speculator) “the first Hebrew periodical in America published its first issue today in New York.”
1872: “Jews versus Christians” published today described the efforts of various societies, many of which are located in England, to convert Jews. These efforts have met with “very limited success.” Most Jews do not respond to these expensive attempts and the few that do “are of a sort whose private life and reputation does not render them very valuable acquisitions as citizens.” The article continues with a repute of the attacks on the Jews of Smyrna and suggests that the money might be better spent teaching the Christians of Smyrna to behave like Christians. The article concludes that considering the Christian violence in Smyrna, “people almost be excused for thinking that a liberal-minded Jew may easily be a better man than a Smyrna Christian.”
1876: “Consecration of a Synagogue” published today described the services consecrating a new orthodox synagogue in Washington, DC which were attended by U.S. Grant, the President of the United States and the Speaker Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate (Editor’s note: The article fails to name the Synagogue was Adas Israel which is still located in Washington, DC.)
1876: Louis Raminsky, a Jew living on Mott Street was assaulted by Irishman named George Richardson who mistook him for a man named Rubenstein.
1877(30th of Sivan, 5637): Rosh Chodesh Tamuz
1878(10thof Sivan, 5638): Thirty-eight year old Lucien Levy passed away this afternoon. Based on the note found with the body, he had committed suicide by taking strychnine.
1879: “American Israelites in Russia” published today described the attempts of the U.S. House of Representatives to remedy an inequity when it came to Jews owing landing in Russia. Under Russian law, Jews, including Jews who are citizens of the United States are not allowed to own land in Russia. British Jews are allowed to own land in Russia under a treaty that exists between those two countries. The House wants the situation remedied since it amounts to discrimination again American citizens based on their religion; something which the legislators feel is intolerable.
1881: Maruice Lippmann and Marie-Alexandrine-Henriette Dumas gave birth to French gold medal winning fencer Auguste-Alexandre Lippmann.
1881(14thof Sivan, 5641): British painter and engraver Solomon Alexander Hart, the son engraver and Hebrew teacher Samuel Hart passed away. An observant Jew, “he was the first Jewish member of the Royal Academy in London.” “Among Hart's Jewish works are: "Hannah, the Mother of Samuel"; and "The Conference Between Manasseh ben Israel and Oliver Cromwell," which was bought by F. D. Mocatta, who subsequently presented it to Jews' College.”
1881: It was reported today that there are 277,000 Jews living in Kiev; 155,000 in Kovno, 143,000 in Minsk; 119,000 in Vilna and 98,000 in Bessarabia. The total Jewish population of Poland is reported to be 815,000. Large communities of Jews can also be found in St. Petersburg and Moscow where they have been settling since the ban instituted by Nicholas I was overturned by his successors.
1882: The New York Times published a review of Spinoza: A Novel by Berthold Auerbach which has been translated into English from the original German.
1882: It was reported today that a dispatch from St. Petersburg states appointing Jews as Chief Surgeons in the Russian Army has been forbidden.
1883(6thof Sivan, 5643): Shavuot
1883: “Felix Adler and Israelites” published today described the belief of some Jewish leaders, including those who are friends of Felix Adler, that membership in his Ethical Cultural Society means that Jews have joined a group that is beyond the pale of the Jewish community. Dr/ Solomon H. Sonneschein a leading rabbi in St. Louis has written an open letter published in the American Israelite that asks his friend Adler, “Are you still an Israelite, a disciple of Moses and the prophets, a standard bearer of God’s love and truth, as understood by reformed Judaism…or have you hopelessly abandoned the faith in which you were born and bred?”
1885: It was reported today that a Jew named Solomon Ovitch has arrested for seditious practices at Kharkoff.
1886(8th of Sivan, 5646): James Koppel Gutheim, who has been serving as Rabbi at Temple Sinai, the leading Reform congregation in New Orleans, passed away this evening in the Crescent City
1887: Mrs. Abraham Bernstein, the wife of Jewish peddler living at Port Chester, found today that her husband was living in Glenville, Connecticut, with another woman. The towns are only a couple of miles apart.
1887: Birthdate of Max Sievers, the chairman of the German Freethinkers League whose inability to get a visa while living in the United States in 1939 after having fled the Nazis meant he had to return to Europe where he was evening beheaded by the Germans.
1888: In New York during trial being held in the Court of General Sessions, the defense attorney “spoke to the Jury as Christians and became very indignant” when held them that Jews do not believe “in the divinity or miracles of Christ.” He apparently forgot that five the jurors were Jewish.
1891: In Berlin, an Associated Press correspondent met today with Herr Goldberg a prominent Jewish financer who is the Director of the International Bank in Berlin and serves as Consul General for Belgium
1891: The first vice president and second vice president of the New York Life Insurance Company admitted today that Julio Merzbacher had not retired as the company’s Spanish-American because of ill health as previously announced but that he had left the company after his embezzlement of from $300,000 to $500,000 had been discovered.
1893: The new Jewish cemetery on Long Island was dedicated today by the Mount Zion Association.
1893: “A granite monument was unveiled today” in “memory of the late Moses Mehrbach” at Cypress Hills Cemetery.
1893:In Atlantic City, N.J., dedication of the Jewish Seaside Home takes place. The home was the outgrowth of a project in which four cottages had been rented to provide a refuge designed to help improve the health of invalid mothers and their children. The cottages were purchased and converted into a thirty room institution which would meet the needs of these women and their offspring.
1893: George Kennan will the guest of honor at dinner in London in honor of Colonel Goldsmid “who has just returned from organizing Hirsch colonies in Argentina
1894(7th of Sivan, 5654): Second Day of Shavuot
1895: S.K. Brown, the son of an Austrian rabbi was ordained as a Baptist minister in Camden, NJ.
1897: The Jewish community in München protests against holding the Zionist congress in the city.
1898: “London Literary Notes” published today includes a review of Jew, Gypsy and El Islam in which the author, the late Sir Richard Burton expresses his admiration for Mohammedanism but “abuses the Jews.”
1898: “Mr. and Mrs. Bierman’s Garden Party” published today described the soiree given for more than 100 residents of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews who were served refreshments after enjoying musical selections played by the band from the Hebrew Orphan Asylum
1898: “New Rabbis To Be Ordained” published today described the upcoming plans for the graduation exercises to be held at the Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1899: “Dreyfus and Picquart” published today noted that Captain Dreyfus “has done nothing, absolutely nothing to become the center of all this fury except not have sold the military secrets of France.” The real hero of affair is Major George Picquart, the Minister of War.
1899: “Aid Asked for a Worthy Family” published today described the efforts of the United Hebrew Charities to raise $400 for a 35 year old man, his wife and four children. “Through overwork, both the man and the wife have become chronic invalids” and the money would be used to help them open “a notion store” that would provide them with income and allow the family to stay together.
1899: “In The Russian Capital” published today described the attack in Nicolaieff in which an unknown number of Jews have been killed or wounded.
1900: Birthdate of journalist, producer and broadcaster Lawrence E Spivak. Spivak was one of the creators, first producers and first moderators of Meet the Press. This was the original television news interview show. It was for its time because it put a major political or other such leader on television facing the unfiltered question of four members of the working press. In various formats, this program has survived for almost six decades. Spivak died in 1994.
1901: In London Herzl attends a banquet at the Maccabaeans with Israel Zangwill and Sir Francis Montefiore and other influential and wealthy Jews. But the successes in London
1902(6th of Sivan, 5662): Shavuot
1903: Leo Wise wrote a letter to Rabbi Zadok Kahn, the Chief Rabbi of France
1906: As a prelude to the Bialystok Pogrom, “the Police Chief of Białystok, Derkacz, was murdered, most likely on the orders of the Russian commissar and fervent anti-Semite Szeremietiev. Derkacz, who was Polish, was known for his liberal sympathies and opposition to anti-Semitism; for this he was respected by both the Jewish Bund and the Polish Socialist Party. On a previous occasion, when Russian soldiers attacked Jews in the marketplace, Derkacz had sent in his policemen to put down the violence and had declared that a pogrom against the Jews would occur “only over his dead body”.
1909: In New York, a two day conference that has created Young Judaea came to an end.
1909(22nd of Sivan, 5669):Jacob Michailovitch Gordin “a Russian-born American playwright active in the early years of Yiddish theater” who “is known for introducing realism and naturalism into Yiddish theater” passed away.
1912(26th of Sivan, 5672): Arthur L. Welsh passed away. Born in Kiev in 1881, Leibl Welcher, came to the United States with his father Abraham and mother Deborah at the age of 10 where he would become Arthur L. Welsh. After trying a variety of careers, including a stint in the U.S. Navy, Welsh found his calling as test pilot with Orville and Wilbur Wright. In 1912, the Wrights had sent Welsh to the U.S. Army Signal Corps in College Park, MD, to serve as a civilian test pilot for a new plane being developed for the War Department. On June 11, 19 12, Welsh, accompanied by Signal Corps Lt. Leighton W. Hazelhurst, was attempting to complete final military tests of the Wright Model C airplane when the airplane buckled under its 450- pound load. Both men were killed instantly, the first-ever fatalities at College Park. Hap Arnold who gained fame as one of the most decorated leaders of the U.S. Army Air Force during World War II was one of his most famous students.
1913(6th of Sivan, 5673): Shavuot
1913: While fighting in the Philippine Islands against rebels resisting the American occupation, Private Louis C. Mosher “risked his life” so that he could “rescue a wounded soldier under enemy gunfire.” He was awarded the Medal of Honor for this rescue.
1913: In the Bronx, Christian Steenberg, a Norwegian American and Sadie Mechanic who was Jewish gave birth to Risë Gus Steenberg who would gain fame as “Risë Stevens, the internationally renowned mezzo-soprano who had a 23-year career with the Metropolitan Opera, where she practically owned the role of Carmen during the 1940s and ’50s.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1915: American ambassador to Turkey University of Constantinople
1916: Djemal Pasha, military governor of Palestine for Ottoman Turkey, issued a warning to the Jewish settlers that the creation of future settlements would become more difficult. (This may have been in reaction to fact that a lot of the Zionists were Russians and the Turks assumed that they would make common cause with the Czar whose army they were fighting.)
1916: The Federation of the Oriental Jews of America held its third annual meeting in New York. Joseph Gedalecia served as President and Albert J. Amateau served as secretary. The 1000 member organization's purpose was the "Americanization and betterment of condition of Oriental Jews."
1918: In Odessa, Ukraine, Rabbi Joseph J. Kaplan and Chava Lerner Kaplan gave birth to American philosopher Abraham Kaplan author of The Conduct of Inquiry.
1920: Birthdate of Irving Howe. A graduate of City College
1921: Daniel Joseph Jaffé, the son of Martin Jaffé and a nephew of Sir Otto Jaffé, passed away. A noted waterworks consulting engineer, his most famous efforts were completed in China. Evidence of his fame can be seen Hong Kong’s Jaffe Road which was named in his honor.
1922: Prominent New York merchant Louis Stern arrived in Paris having crossed the Atlantic on board the SS Homeric.
1922: In Mannville, Alberta, Canada, Max Goffman and Anne Goffman (née Averbach) gave birth to sociologist Erving Goffman,the 73rd president of the American Sociological Association
1924: In Brooklyn Morris and Pauline Faust gave birth to high school guidance counselor and author Irvin Faust.
1926: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that “a concert hall will be erected in Tel Aviv through the efforts of Palestinian Jewish musicians as a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the musical composer Engel.”
1929: The British High Commissioner wrote to the Mufti defending the right of the Jews to ‘conduct their worship’ (at the Western Wall) as in the past.
1932(7th of Sivan, 5692): Second Day of Shavuot
1933: The New York Times reported that the German government “is digging through the backgrounds of over 350,000 civil servants to find out who is of ‘Jewish extraction’ and thus ‘liable to dismissal.’”
1933:“The Jewish organizations of Silesia hold a conference to discuss the safeguarding of rights of German Jews.”
1934: Birthdate of Murray Wolfe, successful businessman, playwright, poet, Yiddishist, and, most important of all, a first class mensch. If you did not know that Murray was a real person, you would think his life story was one of those big historic novels written Leon Uris.
1934(28th of Sivan, 5694): Lev Semenovich Vygotsky a developmental psychologist known for his socio-cultural perspective passed away. Born into a middle-class Jewish family in Orsha, Russia in 1896, Vygotsky's faith and social standing shaped many of his choices and views.
1935: In Oklahoma City, OK, Sylvan N. Goldman and Margaret Katz Gold man gave birth real estate developer and philanthropist Monte H. Goldman.
1935: Birthdate of Gene Wilder. Born Jerome Silberman in Milwaukee Wisconsin, Wilder is known for his roles in “Young Frankenstein” and “Silver Streak.”
1936: As the wave of Arab violence increased, The Palestine Post reported that many Arabs were injured and a number might have been killed in a battle with police and British troops in the Ein Harod area and during a demonstration in Hebron. Arab crowds were dispersed in Jaffa Jerusalem Egypt
1936: As the Arab uprising continued, arsonists set fire to the fields of Kfar Joshua and to the forest at Ataroth which is located outside of Jerusalem. Guards at the forest fired shots at the arsonists as they escaped.
1937: Marx Brothers'"A Day at the Races" released to popular acclaim.
1937: Stalin moves forward with the Great Purge which was animated in part by anti-Semitism as the Soviet Dictator went after those whom he claimed were followers of Trostky and which denuded the general staff of many seasoned officer which helps to explain the abysmal showing of the Russians when the Germans invaded in 1941.
1940: As the Nazis sweep across France, Eugène Tisserant, a French Cardinal working at the Vatican writes to the Archbishop of Paris lamenting the silence of the Pope when it comes to the evil of the Nazis.
1940: “As a result of internal pressure from citizens objecting to the large number of “transient” refugees (many of whom were Jews fleeing Hitler’s Europe) who had reached Ciudad Trujillo and were waiting there to procure entry into other North and South American countries, the Dominican Congress passed a bill barring all immigration except of persons intending to make the Republic their permanent home.” (JA)
1941: Following the bombing of Haifa, which is an important naval base for the British, by German planes, the Vichy government has condemned reports by the British that the German war planes “returned” to the Aleppo airfield in Northern Syria. The term “returned” implies that the planes had flown from Aleppo to attack Haifa and the Vichy French claim that there are no German aircraft in Syria. Syria is a French colony which is supposedly governed by the Vichy government under the terms of the surrender agreement signed with the Nazis.
1941: Hans and Margaret Rey try to buy two bikes so that they can leave Paris. The search is fruitless.
1941: Hans Rey spent 1,600 francs for two unassembled bikes. He then spent the rest of the day putting them in working order.
1942:Major Liebmann and his hundred surviving men (out of a company that had been 400 strong when the fight began on June 2) linked up with the forces of General Marie Pierre Koenig of the 1st Free French Division who was in charge of the fort at Bir Hakeim. The French general had no idea that his unit had been supported by this group of Jewish volunteers. In perfect French, Major Liebmann told him that his men were fighters from Palestine, but that they could not serve under their flag because of British rules. Koenig then told him to raise their Star of David flag, and all Free French officers around him saluted it.
1942: One thousand Jews were deported from Prague, Czechoslovakia, to the “East,” where they are murdered.
1942(26th of Sivan, 5702): Ten thousand Jews from the ghetto at Tarnów, Poland, were murdered at the Belzec extermination camp.
1943: Himmler ordered the liquidation of all Polish ghettos.
1944: For the next seven days the Germans shipped an additional 50,805 Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz .
1944: Joel Brand, who is being held by the British, and Moshe Sharett continue their meetings where Brand continues to explain the “Jews for trucks” deal that he hopes will save the Jews of Hungary.
1945(30th of Sivan, 5705): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1945(30th of Sivan, 5705): Fifty-two year old Eliyahu Golomb who played a key role in the creation of the Haganah and the Palmach passed away today. Born in Russia in 1893, he made Aliyah in 1909. After working at the famed kibbutz Dagania Alef he served with the British in the Jewish Legion during WW I. During the inter-war years he worked with the Revisionists to try and form a unified Jewish military defense force. During the Arab Revolts in the 1930’s he served with the FOSH.
1948: Jordan’s King Abdullah ordered a “hunda” or ceasefire.
1948: King Abdullah visited Jerusalem and promoted Abdullah el-Tell to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and gave him command of three Jordanian infantry companies occupying the Old City. El-Tell would be the lead negotiator who met with Jewish military leaders in matters regarding Jerusalem.
1948: The first truce between the Israelis and the Arab invaders began. During four weeks the Israelis had not only survived, they were in control of respectable amount of territory. This included the eastern and western portions of the Galilee , the Jezreel Valley from Haifa Jordan River , the coastal plain as far south as Ashdod Negev and the corridor that connected Jerusalem
1948: As the first truce between Arabs and Israelis went into effect, Kfar Darom was completely surrounded by Egyptian forces laying siege to the Negev Kibbutz. The Kibbutz had been under attack since December. The Moslem Brotherhood had tried to capture it in April and the Egyptians had begun their assault in May. Although the Kibbutz would eventually have to evacuated, its gutsy stand gave heart to the embattled Israelis and prevented the Arabs from sweeping up the road to Tel Aviv.
1948: David Shaltiel the Haganah district commander in Jerusalem began the first in a series of meetings with Abdullah el Tell the commander of the Arab Legion under the auspices of the UN.
1948: As of today, 300 people have been killed and 1,400 more have been wounded since the battle for Jerusalem began on May 14. The Arab Legion had lobbed more than 14,000 shells at the Jewish defenders since the British High Commissioner flew off to Haifa.
1948 (4th of Sivan, 5708): As night fell on the first night of the truce, tragedy struck. The Jewish commander of the Jerusalem Front, Mickey Marcus aka Mickey Stone, was shot by an Israeli guard. Marcus was spending the night with a Palmach battalion. When return from a trip to the latrine, Marcus was challenged by a guard. Marcus spoke no Hebrew and was unable to respond. The youngster fired a warning shot and called again for the password. Marcus did not respond, but kept moving forward. The young guard fired several more shots one of which hit Marcus, mortally wounding him. Marcus’ most famous accomplishment was the construction of the “Burma Road” – the roadway to Jerusalem built under the threat of Arab guns that guaranteed Jerusalem would be part of the Jewish state. Marcus’ body was taken back to the United States West Point , the military academy that gave him the training to fight for his country during World War II and to fight for his people during the War of Independence.
1948: Syrian forces captured Bnot Ya’akov Bridge which spans the Jordan River. The Syrians will be forced to withdraw as a result of the 1949 Armistice Agreement.
1950: “Israel notified Jordan that it was holding up the establishment of mixed border patrols” that are intended “to check Arab infiltrations into Israel” and thus limit the possibility of clash between the military forces of the two neighbors. Israel said that its action was in response to Jordan’s failure to return three soldiers who had been captured six weeks ago. Israel claims that three are survivors of a five-man patrol that had accidently crossed the Armistice line with Jordan. The Jordanian killed two of the Israelis and imprisoned the three survivors. In the mean time, armed Arab gangs continue to infiltrate the Jewish state from Jordan.
1950:Plans to proceed with the construction of what is to be the "Harry S. Truman" village (Kfar Truman) in Israel were announced here tonight at the "Land for Israel" dinner of the New England Jewish National Fund. “Vice President Alben W. Barkley who addressed the 1,500 guest accepted honorary chairmanship of the project.” In a letter addressed to Dr. Harris J. Levine, chairman of the JNF which was read at the dinner President Truman wrote, “I am highly honored and appreciate very much what you are proposing to do.
1950: It was reported today that Rosemary Sebag-Montefiore the daughter of Colonel Thomas Henry Sebag-Montefiore and the late Mrs. Sebag-Montefiore plans to be married in England this October to her fiancé, Dr. Joseph Richmond, Levenson, the Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Max Levenson of Massachusetts
1951(7th of Sivan, 5711): Second Day of Shavuot.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel Syria Lebanon Lebanon
1952: The Israeli Foreign Ministry sent a note to the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry “drawing attention to the ‘atmosphere of mystery’ surrounding the arrest of Mardechai Oren, an Israeli citizen.
1953: In response to a request made in March by Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier, the Archbishop of Lyon, Germaine Ribière reported that the Finlay children were being held Basque priests. She was a Catholic member of the French Resistance who had rescued Jews during the war. The Finlay children were Jewish orphans who had been baptized and were being kept from the surviving members of their family.
1954: Archeologist Yigael Yadin sent a telegram to Teddy Kollek stating that four Dead Sea Scrolls, including the Book of Isaiah, had been brought to the United States and were being offered for sale. Yadin said they could be purchased for $250,000, what he considered a paltry sum for so great a treasure. He said that he could raise the money from private sources but that it would take a year. He pleaded with Kollek to get the Israeli government to provide the funds immediately. Prime Minister Sharett agreed and authorized the Minister of Finance to provide the funds. Thanks to the quick action, this national treasure was secured for Israel
1957: “Philip Klutznick, president of B’nai B’rith and Moshe Feinstein, president of the Hebrew P. E. N. Club of America. Dr. Moshe Davis, Provost of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and chairman of the Hadoar executive committee were the speakers at a dinner celebrating the 35th anniversary of Hador, “the only Hebrew language weekly published in the United States.” (JTA)
1967: “A delegation of former residents of the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem asked the municipality for permission to rebuild their old homes.
1967: Teddy Kollek arranged for 20,000 bottles of milk for infants to be taken in to the Muslim, Christian and Armenian Quarters of the Old City
1968: Birthdate of Michelle Levin
1969: Pierre Goldman, the son of Alter Mojze Goldman, robbed the Royal Bank of Canada in Puerto La Cruz , taking 2.6 million bolívars (the biggest hold-up of that year).
1970(7thof Sivan, 5730): Second Day of Shavuot
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that in view of the voices emanating from Arab organizations "inviting Jews to return to Iraq Morocco Israel
1978(6th of Sivan, 5738): First Day of Shavuot
1978(6th of Sivan, 5738: Herman Barron, the first Jewish golfer to win a PGA Tour event passed away.
1978: In Italy, Premier Giulio Andreotti's government scheduled a national referendum for today despite the fact that it had been told that it was a Jewish holiday and observant Jews would not be able to participate in the vote.
1982: The Jerusalem Post published a front page photograph of 21 year old Yoav Blum an IDF soldier pictured holding a portrait of Yasser Arafat taken from the PLO’s headquarters in southern Lebanon.
1982: Israel Syria Lebanon Israel Lebanon Syria Lebanon province of Greater Syria Syria Lebanon Lebanon Lebanon Israel
1983: Mayor Ed Koch and Bronx Borough President Stanley Simon are scheduled to a gathering that will celebrate the 10thanniversary of Lambert Houses, the award low-rising public housing buildings in the South Bronx.
1983: Nigel Lawson completed his service as Secretary of State for Energy under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
1983: Nigel Lawson began serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
1986: Birthdate of actor Shia LaBeouf
1990(18th of Sivan, 5750): Seventy-four year old philanthropist Beatrice Coleman the widow of Dr. Joseph Coleman and head of Maidenform since 1968 passed away today.
1990: Ariel Sharon succeeded David Levy as Minister of Housing and Construction.
1990: Avner Shaki succeeded Zevulen Hammer as Minister of Religious Services.
1990: Yuval Ne’eman began serving as Energy and Water Resources Minister.
1990: Roni Milo began serving as Minister of Public Security.
1997: Herb Gray began serving as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada.
1997(6th of Sivan, 5757): Shavuot
1997(6th of Sivan, 5757):Benjamin (Ben) Dunkelman passed away. Born in 1913 to Polish-Jewish parents who had settled in Toronto, he had a distinguished military career in the Canadian Army during WW II followed by service with the IDF during the 1948 War for Independence.
1998: In “Turf; The Neighbors Rally Around the Mayor of Bedford Street, William Hamilton described Lawrence Selman’s fight to spend the rest of his life at his Greenwich Village home.
1999: Polo Ralph Lauren became a public company traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol RL.
2000:The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Ordinary Resurrections: Children in the Years of Hopeby Jonathan Kozol and the recently released paperback edition of Another Life: A Memoir of Other People by Michael Korda.
2001:The Right Honourable Barbara Roche completed her term as Minister of State for Asylum and Immigration under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
2003(11th of Sivan, 5763): In Jerusalem, seventeen people - 11 women and six men - were killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #14A outside the Klal building on Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem.
2003 - Seventeen people were killed and over 100 wounded in a suicide bombing on Egged bus #14A outside the Klal building on Jaffa Road in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack. The victims: Sgt. Tamar Ben-Eliahu, 20, of Moshav Paran; Alan Beer, 47, of Jerusalem; Eugenia Berman, 50, of Jerusalem; Elsa Cohen, 70, of Jerusalem; Zvi Cohen, 39, of Jerusalem; Roi Eliraz, 22, of Mevaseret Zion; Alexander Kazaris, 77, of Jerusalem; Yaffa Mualem, 65, of Jerusalem; Yaniv Obayed, 22, of Herzliya; >Bat-El Ohana, 21, of Kiryat Ata; Anna Orgal, 55, of Jerusalem; Zippora Pesahovitch;, 54, of Zur Hadassah; Bianca Shahrur, 62, of Jerusalem; Malka Sultan, 67, of Jerusalem; Bertine Tita, 75, of Jerusalem. Miriam Levy, 74, of Jerusalem died of her wounds on June 12. The 17th victim, male, who has not yet been positively identified, is believed to be a foreign worker from Eritrea. (Jewish Virtual Library)
2003:President and Mrs. Bush host 70 members of the Jewish community at the White House for a Kosher dinner to honor of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s 10th anniversary.
2005: The Queen’s Birthday Honors List published today awarded a knighthood (Knight Bachelor) to Michael Kadoorie.
2005(4th of Sivan, 5765): Eighty-six year old veteran Yiddish actress Lillian Lux passed away today.
2006:Shalshelet’s Second International Festival took place today at Ohr Kodesh Congregation, Chevy Chase, Maryland
2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Mohr by Frederick Reuss and The Good Fight:Why Liberals — and Only Liberals — Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Againby Peter Beinart
2007: Nobel Laureate Dr. Elie Wiesel delivers the 2nd Annual Gershon Jacobson Memorial Lecture at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York.
2007: On the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, U.S. News & World Report magazine features three articles on the subject including “A Changing Mind-Set Among Jerusalem's Palestinians,” “A Look Back at the Six-Day War” and “Marking the 40th Anniversary of the 1967 Six-Day War.” This last article was written by Fouad Ajami, a Lebanese born American professor who states that “at the heart of the war lay the willful Arab refusal to accept Israel
2008: In Cedar Rapids , Iowa , Temple Judah
2008: The Croatia Jewish Film Festival opened in Zagreb
2008: The New York Times includes a review of Travel Pictures by Heinrich Heine. Of Judaism, he writes, “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. It gives you nothing but scorn and shame, I tell you, it’s no religion at all, just a lot of hard luck.” “Heine refers only once, bitingly, to German anti-Semitism. Pointing out a hunting area, he concedes the sport’s pleasure for some. ‘My ancestors, however, did not belong to the hunters, but rather to the hunted.’”
2009:President Obama's former pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright again sought to tamp down controversy in the wake comments blaming "them Jews" for keeping him away from the president. He had meant to refer to "Zionists" and not all Jews, he said in an interview on SIRIUS Satellite Radio's "Make it Plain" with Mark Thompson."Let me say like Hillary, I misspoke," Wright said. "Let me just say: Zionists."
2009: In Washington, D.C. the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is closed for the day in honor of the memory of Stephen T. Johns who died from the wounds inflicted by an anti-Semitic white supremacist who attempted to shoot his way into the building on Wednesday
2009(19thof Sivan, 5769): Eighty-seven year old Irving Schulman, MD who helped to found the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital passed away today.
2009:In Washington, D.C., David Makovsky, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, signs copies of his new book, which he coauthored with Ambassador Dennis Ross, special advisor to the secretary of state for the Gulf and Southwest Asia, entitled Myths, Illusions, and Peace: Finding a New Direction for America in the Middle East
2010:Men’s Club Shabbat, completed with the installation of next year’s Board of Directors is scheduled to take place Congregation Olam Tikvah
2010:“Called up to life- Legends of the Baal Shem Tov” is scheduled to open in Gaithersburg, MD.
2010:“Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work,” comes out today.
2010:Two Border Police officers were lightly wounded in Wadi Joz this afternoon when a pickup truck rammed into them as they entered the east Jerusalem neighborhood amidst reports of potential rioting in the area.
2011:Shelby Zukin is called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah in Iowa City, IA at Agudas Achim.
2011:In New York City the duet "Heroes" is scheduled to be performed by Israeli based Yossi Berg and Oded Graf on the 4th night of the Contemporary Israeli Dance Week
2011: Bank of Israel Governor Stanley Fischer has decided to become a candidate for head of the International Monetary Fund, Israel's Channel Two News reported today.
2011:Representative Anthony D. Weiner planned to check himself into a treatment center today after House Democratic leaders, including Nancy Pelosi, called on him to resign and suggested he needed psychiatric counseling.
2012: The Carmen at Masada Opera Festival is scheduled to come to a close.
2012: Dr. Paris Chronakis is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Greeks and Jews in the 20th Century Salonika: History Through the Kaleidoscope,” at UCLA.
2012:The Vatican is about to "indirectly recognize" Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem, according to a report published today. This would be done if the draft of an economic agreement between the Jewish state and the Holy See, containing no distinction between sovereign Israel and the territories occupied by it in 1967, is approved by the two sides, Ha'aretz online reported.
2012: Forty-year old Scream star David Arquette, whose mother was Jewish, celebrated his Bar Mitzvah today at the Wall.
2013: Friends and family gather to celebrate the birthday of Michelle Levin an ashyish chayil of the first order who has done a wonderful job of creating a Jewish home for Jacob and Rachel Levin
2013:“Life in Stills” (Ha-Tzalmania) is scheduled to be shown at The JCC in Manhattan
2013(3rd of Tammuz): Yahartzeit the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory who passed away 19 years ago.
2013(3rd of Tammuz, 5773): Eight-six year old Nobel prize winning economist Robert W. Fogel passed away. (As reported by Robert D. Hershey, Jr)
2013: Chairwoman of the Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child Likud Beiteinu MK Orly Levy-Abecasis called for “real and substantial integration” of Ethiopian pupils into the education system with their native-Israeli classmates at a meeting of the Committee on the subject held today. (As reported by Danielle Ziri)
2013(3rd of Tammuz, 5773): Evelyn Kozak, who at age 113 is reputed to be the oldest Jew in the world, passed away today.
2013: Professor Deborah Dash Moore, co-editor of Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Chabon, film producer Scott Berrie, musicologist and conductor Leon Botstein, and Russ & Daughters, New York’s century-old purveyor of appetizers were presented with the Jewish Cultural Achievement Award from the Foundation for Jewish Culture today.
2013:A bill to reserve four places on the rabbinical judges appointments committee for women was successfully passed into law in this morning, but not before haredi MKs repeatedly stalled the legislative process due to their vehement opposition to the terms of the new law. (As reported by Jeremy Sharon)
2014: Despite opposition from 22 Arab nations, "People, Book, Land, The 3,500 Year Relationship of the Jewish People to the Holy Land" is scheduled to open today under the auspices of UNESCO.
2014: The Oregon Jewish Museum is scheduled to host a reception marking the opening the exhibition “Vida Sefaradi: A Century of Sephardic Life In Portland.”
2014: The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, DC is scheduled to host its annual meeting.