JUNE 25
1218: Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, who expelled the Jews from Leicester, died.
1221 Although the Archbishop of Canterbury forbade anti-Jewish riots in Erfurt, Germany, they continued unabated. A group of religious 'pilgrims' on their way to the Holy Land attacked the Jewish quarter burning two synagogues. Some 26 Jews were killed and others threw themselves into the fire rather than be forcibly converted.
1240: In Paris, a commission that was making an inquiry into the nature of the Talmud with a specific interest in alleged derogatory comments about Jesus began its deliberation.
1240: “A public disputation” opened at the Court of Louis IX in the presence of Queen-Mother Blanche between Parisian Talmudist Rabbi Yechiel and Nicholas Donin, an apostate who wanted all copies of the Talmud to be burned. (He would get his way in 1244 when 24 cartloads of the sacred text were burned)
1477: At Ferrara, Italy, Abraham die Tintori completed printing Tur Yorch De’ah a work of halacha by Jacob ben Asher. Born in Cologne in 1269 he was known as the Ba’al ha-Turim, the Master of the Rows. His works were divided in four turim or rows. The term probably comes from the tur or row of Jewels on the breastplate of the High Priest described in the Torah. According to sketchy information he lived in Chios, Greece before arriving at Toledo where he reportedly passed away in 1343.
1539: Joachim II Hector, Elector of Brandenburg acceded to the request of Josel von Rosheim and allowed the Jews to “settle in Margraviate again.
1629: Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller set out for Vienna to face baseless accusations that he had abused his powers as Chief Rabbi of Prague when raising funds demanded by the government to help pay for fighting the Thirty Years War.
1644: Lope de Vera (Judah
1656: Rabbi Menashe Ben Yisrael applied for official permission to practice Judaism in England England
1756: Provincial Governor Sir Charles Hardy confirms the last will and testament of Abraham Mendes Seixas. The will had been translated from Portuguese into English.
1784: The Jewish Benevolent Society of South Carolina, the oldest Jewish charitable organization in the United States, was founded today.
1788: Virginia ratified the U.S. Constitution making it the tenth state to enter the Union. Virginia Virginia Virginia
1807: Mr. R.J. Ricardo and Miss Sarah Hyams, both of Charleston, SC, were married this evening.
1827: Protestant theologian Johann Gottfried Eichorn who “has been called ‘the founder of modern Old Testament criticism’” passed away today.
1844: The Jews of Mobile, Alabama, who had been meeting in private homes for the last three years formed a congregation that adopted a constitution and by-laws and titled itself "Sha'arai Shomayim U-Maskil El Dol," which is Hebrew for "Congregation of the Gates of Heaven and Society of the Friends of the Needy." Within a year the congregation hired its first rabbi – Benjamin da Silva – and had its first home on St. Emanuel Street.
1846(1stof Tammuz, 5605): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1851:Adolphus Simeon Solomons who “was a moving force in helping to establish the American Red Cross” “married Rachel Seixas Phillips, a descendant of colonial patriot families. They had eight daughters and a son.”
1856: “The Way they treat the Jew in England” published today rerpoted that “The statesman who undertakes in England to bring forward a measure for the admission of the Jews to the same rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens of that country, simply dooms himself to the Sisyphean labor of rolling up each year to the House of Lords a measure which is quietly rolled hack again.”
1857: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Jacobs officiated at the weeding of Mr. Iszair and Miss An Mintz.
1858: “The Jew Bill in Parliament – Prospect of a Concession” published today spoke approvingly of a compromise proposed by Lord Lucan. His compromise would allow the Lords and the Commons to each adopt their own wording for the Oath of Office to be used by those members who, for religious or other reasons, could not use the current form of the oath. In effect, Lord Lucan’s compromise would permit either the two Houses of Parliament to admit Jews by resolution. Since the Commons favors the admission of Jews and the Lords opposes their right to sit in Parliament, Lucan’s compromise would get the supporters of the “Jew Bill” half way to their destination. The compromise was withdrawn because the members of the Commons objected to it. If they had not, it appears that sufficient numbers of the Lords would have voted for it even though they object to Jews serving in either house of the English legislature.
1864: Charles I began his reign as the king of Württemberg during which he bought on the wooden models of the Temple Mount created by Conrad Schick, the “German architect, archaelogoist and Protestant missionary who settled in Jerusalem in October of 1846. Schick “designed the Mea Shearim neighborhood” and his home, Tabor House “is today considered one of Jerusalem’s most beautiful buildings.” (Moshe Gilad)
1865: Birthdate of Julius Hess the native of Lithuania who served as a rabbi for several Midwestern congregations while living in St. Louis which was his family’s home.
1870: Birthdate of Helena Rubinstein, one of the creators of the American cosmetics industry.
1871: The Jewish Messenger complained that while there were a number of wealthy Jews in America who were “good men and true” they seemed to be more interested in making money than they were in taking part in projects to promote the civic good. The Messenger compared the behavior of the Americans with that of their European counter-parts who were “prominent in all public matter – whether to relieve the poor or honor the rich; to rect a statue to the living or a monument to the dead.”
1875: In Gutenberg, Germany, Isidor Straus and Rosalie Ida Blun gave birth to Jesse Isidor Straus, scion of the famous Straus department store family who served as FDR’s first Ambassador to France in 1933.
1875: According to a report published today there are more Jews living in London today than living in Palestine.
1875: The Jewish Messenger lamented the lack of involvement by “Israelite” men in the affairs of the community, especially when it came to better of civic activity and attempts to improve the lot of the less fortunate. The paper feels that Jewish men are “good men and true” who are willing to contribute their money to worthy causes. But they are apparently are too busy amassing wealth to give of themselves and their time. This is the opposite of the case in Europe where wealthy Jews give both their time and money to causes that benefit both the Jewish community and the general society as well.
1876: The Home and Foreign Events column published today reported that "nine Jewish ministers of this City have united to call the attention of their people to the 'growing evil or extravagance and displays at funerals." They suggest a return 'the simplicity by which Jewish funerals were formerly characterized,' and that costly caskets and expensive floral displays be dispensed with.
1875: George Geiger, a Jewish Sergeant from Cincinnati fought with distinction at the Battle of the Little Big Horn. According to the commendation he received for the Medal of Honor. "With 3 comrades during the entire engagement courageously held a position that secured water for the command"
1876: The Home and Foreign Events column published today reported that "The Jews of Khiva, it is said, observe very strictly the feasts and ceremonies of the Jewish religion." [Khiva is a city in Uzbekistan.]
1876: “Justice in Persia” published today contained examples of the lack of Justice available to the residents of this ancient country including a Jewish silversmith in Isfahan whose house “had been broken into and plundered by servants of the Governor” claiming that they were going to take him “before the Prince to answer a case in which a Persian” claimed he was really owed this money.”
1879: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi David Levy officiated at the wedding of Frances E. Goldsmith and Rabbi E.S. Levy of Augusta, GA. (David Levy and E.S. Levy would serve as visiting rabbis for the congregation in Sumter, SC which could not afford a full time clergyman).
1881: “Paris and Politics” published today described a benefit in the French capital sponsored by Baroness Rothschild to raise funds for the suffering “Israelites of Kiev and Elizabethgrad.” Russia.
1882: During today’s session of the hearing investigating the sanity of Samuel Obrieght, his brother Dr. Max, L. Obreight described half dozen attempts by Samuel to commit suicide including taking strychnine, attempting to jump over Niagara Falls and trying to cut his throat. Obreight’s family did not move to commit him until he jilted his Jewish fiancée and married a young Christian girl whom he had just met.
1883: Mayor Nathan Barnet got into a scuffle with a Republican Alderman at tonight’s meeting of the Aldermanic License Committee in Paterson, NJ. Barnet, a Jew born in Pozen is a Democrat won election in April of 1883.
1884: “Jew-Baiting in Russia” published today described an attack by Christians on the Jews of Nizhnee-Novogrod after reports that a Jew had kidnapped a Christian child and taken it to the local synagogue. An untold number of Jews were injured in this latest version of the blood libel and nine were murdered.
1886: The Sanitarium for Hebrew Children is collecting funds to provide poor children and their mothers with summer day trips out of New York City. Contributions can be sent to John J. Davis at the office of the Hebrew Journal on East 14th Street.
1888: “Jew and Catholic United” published today described the marriage of Joseph J. Herrmann (Catholic) and Bertha Cahn (Jewish) in New Orleans. Rabbi Emile Hirsch of Chicago performed the ceremony since the rabbis in the Crescent City refused to do so.
1888: It was reported today that Orphan Asylum of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society is caring for 575 youngsters, 400 of whom are boys and 175 are girls. The boys are housed at building on 11th Avenue while the girls are housed at a building on 87thStreet near the East River.
1891: “Too Many and Too Mighty” published today takes issue with the list of the reasons given by the Russian government for its treatment of the Jews contending that “cruel restrictive laws…have made the Hebrews in the Czar’s dominions what they are.”
1891: “Wants To Fight Tammany” published today described the decision of New York attorney William A. Gans who had served as the President of the B’nai B’rith to ally himself with Julius Harburger in the fight against the Democratic machine.
1891: Point 14 of the platform of the Iowa Democratic Party published today included an expression for the support of Russian Jews. “We abhor the persecutions of Russia toward the Jewish people and we believe that all civilized nations should protest against such barbarism and inhumanity.
1892: The new sanitarium for Jewish children is scheduled to open today at Rockaway Park.
1892: The Jews of Paris send condolences to the family of Armand Meyer, the Jewish French military officer who was killed in a duel brought on by the Marquis de Mores, a noted anti-Semite. Authorities take extra precaution because they fear violence by the Jews. The reality is that the Jews have been the victims of attacks, something which does not bother these same officials.
1892: “The French Duel” published today described the role of “an anti-Semitic journal in Paris” which deliberately goads Jews into fighting duels with the swashbuckling swordsman the Marquis de Mores who at least on one occasion has killed his Jewish opponent.
1892: The Berlin Board of Alderman passed a resolution “calling upon the police to suppress the sale of indecent pamphlets assailing the Jews.”
1893: All the students at the Jewish Theological Seminary including the members of the senior, junior and preparatory classes underwent final exams today.
1893: “French Views of Russia” published today provided a detailed review of The Empire of the Tsars and The Russians by Anatole Leroy-Beauliue which warns that “Western readers cannot apply to Russia rules and notions which prevail in the West” because Russia belongs “to the Europe of three or four centuries ago.
1894: Governor Flower appointed Edward Jacobs, a New York lawyer who was the brother of the Joseph Jacobs both of whom were active in the Jewish community, to serve as the new Quarantine Commissioner.
1894(21st of Sivan, 5654): Sixty-eight year old Wilhelm Diamant, the husband of Johanna Theres Diament and the son of Johanna and Hermann Diamant passed away today in Budapest.
1894: The Hog and the Ass” published today described the ancient Roman on why Jews do not eat pigs. Even though Pompey and the soldiers of Titus saw that there was no representation of the Divinity when they entered the Temple, Romans still believed that “Jews worshipped clouds, celestial bodies and animals” among them the Hog or Pig. They deduced that since the Jews were forbidden from eating Hogs or even, in the Talmud, from owning them, the Jews must worship this animal and the prohibition about consuming it had do with not consuming their “god.”
1894: “Last of Great Jewish Generals” published today provided a detailed reviews of Judas Maccabaeus and the Jewish War of Independence by Calude Reignier Conder. This edition is an improvement over the first one published by Major Condor fifteen years ago because the author has been to Moab and Gilead in his role as the head of the Palestine Exploration Fund.
1894:Annie Cohen Kopchovsky’s, known as Annie Londonderry, adventure began with a bet. In 1894, a gentleman in Boston Boston
1896: In New York, a body of a young man who would later be identified as 25 year old Simon Mischel an unmarried Jew residing on Delancey Street was found floating in the Clyde River.
1896: A summary of the United Hebrew Charities activity report the month of May published today showed that 3,355 had applied for aid and that over $12,000 had been spent in meeting their needs and the needs of previous applicants. The organization found work for 538 people and provided transportation for an additional 157 people to travel to other parts of the United States.
1897: Rabbi Isaac Ruff wrote Declaration versus Declaration which appeared in today’s issue of Die Welt. This was defense of Herzl who had been attacked by the anti-Zionist “Protest Rabbis.”
1897: In an example of Jew supporting Jew it was reported today that the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Band had provided the musical program at the recent graduating exercises for the students of the Hebrew Technical Institute.
1897: “Jacob Scholle’s Bequests” published today contained a list of the charities that were to receive $2, 500 according to the late bankers will including the Montefiore Home, Mount Sinai Hospital, Hebrew Orphan Asylum, Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews and the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of San Francisco.
1898(5th of Tammuz, 5658): Seventy year old Ferdinand Julius Cohn “one of the founders of modern bacteriology and microbiology” passed away today.
1899: It was reported today that officers of the newly formed Orthodox Hebrew Society are President - Dr. Bernard Drachman, the Rabbi of Congregation Zichron Ephraim and Vice President Max Cohen, a New York attorney. The Society was formed to promote traditional Jewish observance in the face of the growing popularity of the Reform Movement.
1899: In London Palestine
1899: “The Jews of Germany” published today described the “continuing Jew-baiting crusade” being conducted by Count Puckler. During his lectures in Berlin he “invited his audience to wage a merciless was on ‘godless, lying, thievish Jews.’”
1899: “France’s New Cabinet and its Peculiar Composition” published today described the difficulty that Gallic politicians are having in forming a new government in the wake of the ongoing crisis surrounding the Dreyfus Affair.
1899:”Fears that Dreyfus May Be Assassinated” published today described precautions being taken at Rennes where the court-martial of the French officer is taking place including placing “Gendarmes…at every corner” and the testing of all food supplied to him by his jailers before it is eaten.
1900: Birthdate of Moses Hadas, an American teacher, one of the leading classical scholars of the twentieth century, and a translator of numerous works. Raised in Atlanta in a Yiddish-speaking Orthodox Jewish household, his early studies included rabbinical training; he graduated from Jewish Theological Seminary of America (1926) and took his doctorate in classics in 1930. He was fluent in Yiddish, German, ancient Hebrew, ancient Greek, Latin, French, and Italian, and well-versed in other languages. His most productive years were spent at Columbia University, where he was a colleague of Jacques Barzun and Lionel Trilling. There, he took his talent for languages, combined it with a popularizing impulse, to buck the prevailing classical methods of the day—textual criticism and grammar—presenting classics, even in translation, as worthy of study as literary works in their own right. This approach may be compared to the New Criticism school: even as the New Critics emphasized close reading, eschewing outside sources and cumbersome apparatus, Hadas, in presenting classical works in translation to an influx of post-war G.I. Bill students, brought forth an appreciation of his domain for those without the specialized training of classicists. His popularizing impulse led him to embrace television as a tool for education, becoming a telelecturer and a pundit on broadcast television. He also recorded classical works on phonograph and tape. His daughter Rachel Hadas is a poet, teacher, essayist, and translator. He passed away in 1966.
1901: Eighty-seven year old Charles Kensington Salaman who passed away two days ago, was described today as “the oldest living English composer” who, in the last years of his life was best “known as the man who alone of living men, knew many of the great masters of composition of the early part of the nineteenth century.” This meant that that the late Jewish composer knew Mendelssohn, Listz, Schumann, Mayerbeer and Wagner (and a whole lot more)
1902(20th of Sivan, 5662)Samuel Edward Shrimski the native of Prussia who moved to London in 1847, then to Melbourne in 1859 before settling in New Zealand in 1861 where he became a Member of Parliament died suddenly today. In addition to supporting many secular institutions he was “vice president of the Otago branch of the Anglo-Jewish Association.
1903: Birthdate of English author and social commentator George Orwell. Orwell is best known for such works as “1984” and “Animal Farm.” A lesser known work is his essay entitled “Anti-Semitism in Britain Britain
1903(30thof Sivan, 5663): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1904(12thof Tammuz, 5664): In Greenville, MS, sixty year old Edward Storm passed away. Born in Berlin he moved to Mississippi and served in two Confederate cavalry units during the Civil War.
1909: Hebert Louis Samuel, the 1st Viscount Samuel began his term as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in the government of Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith.
1911: Birthdate of biochemist William Stein. Stein won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972. Jews have won 18% of the Nobel Prizes for Chemistry. Stein died at the age of 68 in 1980.
1912: Birthdate of “Arnold Forster, an American Jewish leader, lawyer and writer who was a longtime executive of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.”
1913: In Cincinnati, Ohio, officers are elected at the American Zionists’ convention including Harry Friedenwald of Baltimore who is chosen to serve as Honorary President and Louis Lipsky who is chosen to serve as Chairman of the Executive Committee.
1914(1stof Tammuz, 5674): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1914: It was reported today that the late Isidor Wormser, a retired banker and automobile racing enthusiast was a member of the New York Stock Exchange up to the day of his death having kept is seat on the NYSE even after he had liquidated his business holdings.
1915(13th of Tammuz, 5675): Hungarian born American pianist and composer Rafael Joseffy passed away.
1915: “In a long statement seeking to justify the use of asphyxiating gases in war-fare, the semi-official Wolff Telegraph Bureau assert in German newspaper…that the Allies first used such gases against the German.” According to Wolff, the French had authorized use gas in February of 1915. [Like so many other agencies of this type, its ownership had Jewish origins.]
1915: Authorities believe that yesterday’s attack on Benny Snyder at the Tombs just before he was to appear in court was brought on by those who thought that he was going to provide the D.A. with information about criminal activities he had acquired while in jail.
1917: The Italian government publishes a decree assuring that all 10,000 Lire ($2,000) of a bequest from Emilio Treves will be awarded as a prize upon publication of an Italian language manuscript to combat anti-Semitism.
1919: The first national conference of the Religious Zionist Organization, Mizrachi, opens.
1920: The Jewish Chronicle reported on a meeting of the Board of Deputies where they discussed the disposition of the Cemetery at St. Heliers.
1920: Birthdate of William H. Prusoff, a pharmacologist at the Yale School of Medicine who, with a colleague, developed an effective component in the first generation of drug cocktails used to treat AIDS,
1921: Authorities in Syria
1921: In Newport News, VA, Mr. and Mrs. Elias Cohen gave birth to Sherman Cohen “a one-time auto dealer who, with his two brothers, built a real estate empire of more than 20 residential and commercial buildings across Manhattan…” (As reported by Charles V. Bagli)
1923: Opening of the Summer Edition of the Ziegfeld Follies featuring songs, sketches written and performed by Eddie Cantor.
1924: In Philadelphia, PA, Polish born actor Baruch Lumet and Mrs. Lumet gave birth to Director Sidney Lumet best known for the film Dog Day Afternoon
1928: Birthdate of Alexei Alexeyevich Abrikosov, Russian born physicist who now also holds American citizenship. He was a co-recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2003.
1929: Birthdate of Thomas Eisner, “a groundbreaking authority on insects whose research revealed the complex chemistry that they use to repel predators, attract mates and protect their young,Thomas Eisner, a groundbreaking authority on insects whose research revealed the complex chemistry that they use to repel predators, attract mates and protect their young,”
1930: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Rabbi Maurice H. Harris which is being held this morning at the Free Synagogue. (JTA)
1930: Birthdate of Hugo Gabriel Gryn, the Czech born survivor of Auschwitz who served as the Rabbi at West London Synagogue.
1930: The two-day celebration of opening of the Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva founded by Rabbi Meir Shapiro came to an end.
1932(21st of Sivan, 5692):Herbert Bentwich passed away in Jerusalem. Born in 1856, at Whitechapel, he was a British Zionist leader and lawyer. “He was an authority on copyright law, and owner/editor of the Law Journal for many years. He was a leading member of the English Hovevei Zion and one of the first followers of Theodor Herzl in England. In 1897 Bentwich he led a group of 21, including the writer Israel Zangwill, on a tour of holy sites and new settlements in Palestine on behalf of the Maccabaeans, and in 1911 he acquired land for settlement at Gezer, near Ramleh on behalf of the Maccabean Land Company. He later succeeded his brother-in-law Solomon J. Solomon as president of the Maccabaeans. Bentwich was a founder of the British Zionist Federation in 1899 and for some time served as its vice-chairman. He was a legal adviser for the Jewish Colonial Trust. From 1916 to 1918 he served on the Zionist political advisory committee under Chaim Weizmann. Bentwich was a regular visitor to Palestine after 1921 and settled in Jerusalem in late 1929. Susannah Bentwich died in London in 1915. He was survived by ten of his eleven children, eight of whom eventually settled permanently in Palestine. His eldest son, Norman Bentwich, a leading barrister, also spent much of his professional life there, and another son, Joseph Bentwich, was awarded the Israel Prize, for education, in 1962.”
1933: Outfielder Milt Galatzer made his major league debut with the Cleveland Indians.
1935: Joe Louis defeats Primo Carnera at Yankee Stadium. Neither of the fighters was Jewish. But Joe Louis’ manager Mike Jacobs was Jewish. It was under his guidance that Louis broke the “color barrier” and got his shot at being Heavy Weight Champion of the World.
1936: The Palestine Post reported that Haim Golowitzky, one of the founders of Atarot who was on his way to milk cows, was shot dead by Arab snipers, just outside his cowshed. Passengers in a Jewish bus in Haifa April 19, 19 36
1936: Last broadcast of Camel Caravan a radio show that showcased several talented musicians including Benny Goodman.
1938: As Arab violence flared, “a gain of terrorist entered a hospital in Haifa seeking a wounded Arab ‘traitor’ who was a patient there.” When they could not find him, “they killed another Arab patient. “A manifesto issued today by the Tel Aviv municipality called on Jews to remain calm and not resort to violence.
1938: Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the U.S. adopts a minimum wage which is set at $.40 an hour. Sidney Hillman, head of the “Amalgamated” and advisor to FDR played a key role in drafting and gaining support for this landmark legislation.
1938: German-Jewish doctors are allowed to treat only Jewish patients.
1940: France formally surrenders to Nazi Germany.
1940: As Churchill works to transfer the eleven battalions of Regular British troops from Palestine England British Isles against the pending Nazi invasion, he writes to the Secretary of State for Colonies, Lord Lloyd, asking “what weapons and organization the Jews have for self-defense.” Churchill wants to arm the Jews so they can protect themselves against Arab attackers. Lloyd opposes the arming of the Jews and would rather have the British troops remain.
1941: Members of the Lithuanian militia marched Jews to the Seventh Fort in Kovno where they would be murdered after suffering abuse at the hands of the local sadists.
1941: “President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8802 prohibiting government contractors from engaging in employment discrimination based on race, color or national origin. This order is the first presidential action ever taken to prevent employment discrimination by private employers holding government contracts. The Executive Order applies to all defense contractors, but contains no enforcement authority. President Roosevelt signs the Executive Order primarily to ensure that there are no strikes or demonstrations disrupting the manufacture of military supplies as the country prepares for War.” By the standards of the 21stcentury, this action might seem “weak.” But it gives us an idea of the level of bigotry which was sanctioned in the society. At the time Roosevelt signed this order it was considered a major step in the fight against prejudice.
1941: When 47-year-old Dr. Benjamin From, a Jewish surgeon, refuses to break off an operation on a Christian woman at Lutsk , Ukraine
1941 (30th of Sivan, 5701): Many Jews were killed in a pogrom at Jassy, Romania. The following appears in The Tragedy of Romanian Jewry by Randolph Soviet Union , and even before launching the anti-Soviet war on June 22, 1941 , a number of secret anti-Semitic measures had been initiated in Romania 29 June, 1941 , Jews were formed into columns and marched from Tatarasi, Pacurari, Sararie, and Nicolina Streets to police headquarters. Most of the prisoners were men but among them were also some women with children. Some were dressed, others were in their night clothes many had been beaten and had bruises and open wounds. Civilian onlookers as well as soldiers and gendarmes, Romanian and German spat at them and hit them with stones, broken bottles, clubs, crowbars and rifle butts. Civilians joined the police and the military in dragging Jews out of their homes. All told, thousands of Jews were herded into the courtyard of the Jassy police headquarters. In another report, addressed to the Minister of the Interior, Lieutenant-Colonel Chirlovici, reported 1,000 Jewish prisoners at 9:00 a.m. and 5,000 by nightfall. He stated that at noon there were 3,500 Jews in the courtyard. At about 1:30 PM German soldiers and Romanian gendarmes and soldiers surrounded police headquarters and an area close by. At about 2:00 p.m. , the German and Romanian soldiers began to fire directly into the crowds; they were joined by some civilians. They used machine-guns, automatic weapons, or rifles. Crazed with terror some Jews tore down the fence of the courtyard and tried to take refuge near the Sidoli cinema ... They too were mowed down without mercy. The massacre continued intermittently until 6:00 p.m. It is difficult to establish the number of victims of the massacre at police headquarters. Four trucks and 24 carts transported the corpses; it took two whole days to move them. Approximately 2,500 Jews survived the massacre in the police headquarters courtyard. At about 8:00 p.m. the process of getting them to the railroad station began. Two thousand five hundred Jews were herded were herded into freight cars. The train left Jassy on June 30, 1941 between 3:30 and 4:15 a.m. At about 4:00 a.m. the same morning, a second group of approximately 1,900 Jews to be evacuated were rounded up at police headquarters. Two death trains left Jassy between 3:30 and 4:15 a.m. on Monday, June 30, 1941 . The first one ... consisted of from 33 to 38 sealed freight cars and contained between 2,430 and 2,530 Jews. When the train was emptied there were 1,076 survivors.]The history of the second car is ... equally horrifying. On June 30, 1941 at about 6:00 A.M. , 1,902 Jews were loaded onto a second train comprising 18 cars. Of the 1,902 Jews put on the train, 1,194 died and were buried in the Podul Iloaei cemetery. The total number of victims of the Jassy pogrom cannot be established with certainty. While the number of victims on the trains is known and relatively accurate, it is not known how many Jews in Jassy were buried in communal graves, how many such graves there were, and how many corpses were simply thrown onto garbage heaps or into the Bahlui River. German diplomats estimated at least 4,000 victims... The most reliable source seems to be documents from the archives of the Romanian Ministry of the Interior which ... place the number at over 8,000."
1941 (30th of Sivan, 5701): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1941 (30th of Sivan, 5701): In the town of Luck, Poland, Dr. Benjamin From aged forty-seven refused to stop his operation, so he was dragged out of operating room, taken to his home and killed with his entire family.
1941 (30th of Sivan, 5701): In Jedwabne, Poland, local Polish citizenry begin a pogrom aimed at the Jews living in the town.
1942: An article in the London Daily Telegraph reports, "More than 700,000 Polish Jews have been slaughtered by the Germans in the greatest massacres in the world's history."
1943: Crematorium III at Auschwitz begins operation. Also, Otto Ben, from the Foreign Ministry reports that the “100,000th Jews has been removed from Dutch Society.”
1943: The Germans began the final destruction of the people living in the Czestochowa Ghetto. The Jews put up armed resistance in a series of bunkers. Czestochowa Poland
1944: In Brooklyn Anne Goldberg, a bookkeeper and postal worker George Goldberg gave birth to Gary David Goldberg who would gain fame as television producer and writer.
1945: Birthdate of singer and songwriter Carley Simon who recorded “You’re So Vain” among other hits
1947: The Diary of Anne Frankis published.
1948: Birthdate of Brooklyn-born actor and television director Michael Lembeck
1948: Warner Bros. released “Romance on the High Seas” a musical comedy written by Julius and Philip G. Epstein with additional dialogue proved by I.A.L. Diamond today.
1950: Birthdate of Israeli actress Nitza Saul.
1950: The beginning of the Korean War, with the invasion of the South by the North. Jews fought in the Korean War just as they had in every war since the call to arms went out in 1775. Seehttp://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/sugar10.html for a partial list of those who served. In an article entitled “Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in North Korea, 1951, Remembered,” Warren Zundell, MD (Captain, 11th Evacuation Hospital SMBL, 10th Corp. 8th Army, Korea) provides us with a glimpse of what it was like during what some derisively called a “police action.”
These evenings occurred years ago, but every Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, they return as vividly as if they happened last year.In May, 1951, my hospital unit was transported from Sasebo, Japan to Pusan, Korea. I was on the Orthopedic Surgery Team. Five months later, on the day before Rosh Hashanah, our hospital Chaplain (a Catholic priest), asked me if I was planning to attend services the next day, being conducted some 40 or 50 miles north of our location, just over the 36th parallel, in North Korea. We were in Wonju, South Korea. I knew the Rabbi who was to conduct the services, as he would visit our hospital from time to time. Knowing this would be a 40 or 50 mile trek through sniper-infested mountains, I answered negatively, even though I knew that the Rabbi might be disappointed. The following conversation then ensued:
Chaplain: You have to go.
Me: Why do I have to go?
Chaplain: There are about 30 Jewish boys around here who want to go.
Me: So let them go.
Chaplain: An Officer has to go to be in charge of the convoy.
Me: Why me? I am a Doctor.
Chaplain: You are the only Jewish Officer in this hospital, so you go. He was a Major, I was a Captain. I think he was giving me a direct order. He then informed me that he would lend me his jeep in which to head the convoy of trucks. It had a big white cross on the front hood, which he implied would protect us from sniper fire. He didn’t say anything about land mines. That afternoon we assembled the convoy and headed North. It may have been the first all-Jewish convoy in the history of Korea. As Jews, we were not fully convinced that the white cross would totally protect us from sniper fire. We were therefore well-armed. A few uneventful hours later we crossed the 38th parallel into North Korea. We were making Jewish history. Soon we checked into 10th Corp. HW. The Rabbi (Major Meir Engle) seemed happy to see us. The next day was Rosh Hashanah. We had a big tent in which to hold services. There were about 300 Jewish boys attending, including my 30. I was proud to be there. After services we reassembled our convoy and returned to our hospital, without incident. When Yom Kippur came, I was called upon by the Chaplain again. I didn’t want to push my luck, with a baby daughter back home whom I had never seen. Nevertheless, I soon found myself in the same Jewish convoy. But between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, there had been heavy fighting on the 10th Corp. Front. Instead of 300 Jewish boys attending Yom Kippur services, there were less than 150. Korea is now referred to as the "Forgotten War". What it really means is that this country has literally forgotten the more than 34,000 Americans who died there, including those Jewish boys who died between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur in the year 1951."
Korea also presented the newly independent state of Israel with one of its first great foreign policy challenges not directly related to the Middle East or its own immediate survival. Israel’s shifting policy, as described below, demonstrated how quickly conflict in the Middle East and conflict in the Far East were joined together because of the Cold War. The shift also resulted, in part, from the Soviet Union’s change of policy towards Israel. Stalin’s smile quickly turned sour, while Harry Truman’s never did. “Israel's foreign policy underwent a change during the Korean War. In the first two years after its establishment, Israel maintained a stance of nonalignment. However, it became clear from the anti-Jewish attitude of the Communist bloc and especially Joseph Stalin that strengthening relations with the United States was the only way to safeguard Israel's continued existence and long-term interests. Both Israel's foreign and domestic policy during the Korean War reflected a growing U.S. influence, which has only deepened with time. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion went one step further during the Korean War when he suggested that an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit be sent to join the UN forces fighting North Korea and the Chinese volunteers. A debate broke out in Israel over whether it should provide support to U.S. and UN policies given that Washington had made no such request. The leading opponent of sending an IDF unit was the political party Mapam, which was part of the governing coalition and openly favored North Korea. With the Achdut Ha'Avoda party, another member of the coalition, also against the measure, the government decided to limit its assistance to medical aid and food shipments. In addition, Israel lent political support during the UN deliberations on whether its troops should cross the 38th parallel northward. In February 1951, the UN General Assembly condemned China as the aggressor and placed a boycott on certain strategic supplies to China. Here, too, Israel continued to side with the United States, the United Nations, and South Korea, though formal diplomatic ties with the latter were still more than a decade away. From the 1951 ideological debate between the Israeli parties until 1960, there were no initiatives on the question of relations with South Korea.”
1950: Israeli airline El Al began service. Anybody who has ever flown El Al to Israel
1950: The outbreak of the Korean War delayed the build of a new Jewish Community Center in Salt Lake City Utah delaying its completion until 1959.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that 20 lists of parties were registered for the Second Knesset elections. Israel Switzerland
1952: A government spokesman reported that an Israeli army patrol had shot three Arabs who were trying to enter Israel from Jordan.
1953:Robert and Gérald Finaly, two Jewish children, who were hidden during the Occupation by a Catholic network, were brought back to France from Spain where they had been by Catholics who did want to return to Jewish authorities.
1962: The U.S. Supreme Court decides that non-denominational prayer allowed in New York States is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of church and state.
1965: When followed home from a meeting of Canadian Nazis,Henryk Van der Windt tells the Toronto Star that he working under cover for the Canadian Jewish Congress who had hired him to spy on Nazi leader John Beattie. For more on this see “Delayed Impact” by Frank Bialystok.
1966(7th of Tammuz, 5726): Sixty-six year old Mose “Moe” Solomon whose major league career consisted of two games with the New York Giants passed away today.
1967: After 1,530 performances Neil Simon’s “Barefoot in the Park” finished its first Broadway run toay.
1968: Herb Gray began serving as a Member of Parliament for Windsor West.
1972: Sir Joshua Abraham Hassan began serving his second term as Chief Minister of Gibraltar.
1974(5th of Tammuz, 5734): Eighty-one year old Hungarian physicist and mathematician Cornellius Lanczos who “served as assistant to Albert Einstein during the period of 1928–29” passed away today.
1976: “Notes on People” published today described the release of Morton Sobell “who served part of a 30-year sentence to commit espionage in the Julius and Ethel Rosenberg treason case” “from having to report periodically to a probation as condition of his parole. Sobell, who was sentenced in 1951 has been working as electronics engineer since his parole in 1969.
1976: It was reported today Dr. Saul Lieberman and Dr. Herman F. Marks “are this year’s recipients of the Israel Institute of Technology’s annual $35,000 Harvey Prize. Seventy-eight year old Lieberman, the rector of JTS, was recognized for his “research on Palestine in the Greek and Roman eras and his two books on Jewish life in the Hellenistic period. Eighty-one year old Marks, the dean emeritus of the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn “was honored for his pioneering research in synthetic fibers.”
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that Foreign Minister Yigal Allon and his West German counterpart, Hans Genscher, signed in Bonn Israel
1977(9th of Tammuz, 5737): Fifty year old Sue Kaufman the novelist best known for The Diary of a Mad Housewife passed away today.
1979(30thof Sivan, 5739): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1987: Pope John Paul II received Austrian President Kurt Waldheim at the Vatican
1988: Israeli-born, American musician Hillel Slovak, the original guitarist with Red Hot Chili Peppers, passed away.
1990: Geula Cohen began service as Deputy Science and Technology Minister.
1990:A disagreement appeared to break out today among the leaders of Israel's new Government over whether Soviet Jewish immigrants would be settled in the occupied territories. The dispute adds further confusion to Housing Minister Ariel Sharon's statement that the migrants would not be settled in occupied land. Immigration officials said they had been notified of no policy change. They said Soviet immigrants who chose to live in the West Bank or Gaza Strip would still be permitted to move there and would be given Government money to subsidize living expenses, just as if the immigrant had chosen to live inside Israel. Mr. Sharon, a longtime and ardent proponent of increased Jewish settlement, said that ''due to the problems we have,'' immigrants would not be settled in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. ''We will not send any Jew who comes from Russia to Judea, Samaria or to Gaza because we understand the seriousness of the situation,'' he said, using the biblical names for the West Bank.
1993: Premiere of “Sleepless in Seattle” directed by Nora Ephron who also co-authored the script with music by Marc Shaiman
1998: Pitcher Mike Saipe made his major league debut with the Colorado Rockies.
2000:The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including A Little Too Close to God:The Thrills and Panic of a Life in Israel by David Horovitz and Life So Far by Betty Friedan.
2006: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Bronfamns: The Rise and Fall of the House of Seagram by Nicholas Faith and Failed States by Noah Chomsky.
2006: In an article entitled “The Killing after the Killing” Elie Weisel reviews of Fear: Anti-Semitism in Poland After Auschwitz by Jan T. Gross.
2006: IDF Corporal Galid Shalit is kidnapped by Hamas terrorists. An armed squad of Palestinians terrorists from the Gaza Strip crossed the border into Israel via a 300-meter-long underground tunnel they dug near the Kerem Shalom border crossing. One group of militants blasted the rear door of a Merkava III tank open with a rocket-propelled grenade shell. The tank commander and the driver were killed when they evacuated the burning tank. The tank’s gunner, Gilad Shalit, was only lightly wounded and taken prisoner by the militants. A fourth member on the tank crew was injured in the incident and escaped.[
2007: Inthe newly minted Israel Baseball League, four teams debut with Netanya Tigers vs. Bet Shemesh Blue Sox at Kibbutz Gezer Field and Ra'anana Express vs. Tel Aviv Lightning at Sportek in Tel Aviv.
2007: The Israel Museum Jerusalem
2008: The Jerusalem Kabbala Museum
2008: In an article in The New Republic entitled “Genes and Identities,” Jerome Groopman reviews Jacobs’s Legacy: A Genetic View of Jewish Historyby David Goldstein.
2008: In Kensington, Maryland, Poet Gretchen Primack, who “lives in the delightfully Jewish feminist-rich Hudson Valley” reads from her new work The Slow Creaking of Planets as part of the poetry series at the Kensington Row Bookshop.
2008: In Jerusalem 8 p.m. , the Bridge of Strings Calatrava Bridge NIS
2009: In Des Moines, Iowa, AIPAC hosts The 2009 Iowa Annual Event featuring Aharon Barnea Anchorman and Senior Correspondent in the USA, Channel 2 TV News, Israel with a Special Address by Krista Allen AIPAC Campus Liaison at Louisiana State University who will describe her recent maiden visit to Israel and how a Catholic student from Louisiana became engaged as a pro-Israel political activist
2009:The Montreal International Yiddish Theater Festival comes to a close.
2009:The opening day of G'day Shalom Salaam Israel, presented by the Australia Israel Cultural Exchange, floods the Jewish state with the flavor of Australia.
2009:New York City police arrested two youth who vandalized two Lower East Side synagogues with eggs, smoke bombs, and swastikas. The teenagers, a 15-year old Asian and a 16-year old black, drew a large swastika on the United Hebrew Center on East Broadway. The two then set off a smoke bomb before heading to the Bialystoker synagogue on Willet Street, where they drew a second swastika and through eggs at the building. The attacks occurred only a few days after eight Jewish children were injured in Williamsburg, Brooklyn after a resident of a Latino block across the street threw a bottle with dangerous chemicals at them. That attack is not officially categorized as a bias crime, however. Police plan on charging the Lower East Side vandals with the hate crimes of aggravated harassment, criminal mischief and reckless endangerment. “This is a desecration of G-d, no matter what your religion,” said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who attends the Bialystoker synagogue. “It is just a despicable act that really should tug at the heartstrings of all of us.” State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that the Civil Rights Bureau would open an investigation into the crime calling it “outrageous and deeply disturbing.”
2009 (3rd Tammuz): Third of Tammuz marks the Rebbe’s Yahrzeit. “The day of passing of a holy tzadik is an auspicious day to reflect and bond with the tzadik’s soul by studying from his teachings as well as to ask the soul to intercede on High on our behalf, especially as it ascends even higher on his Yahrzeit.” click here to read more about the anniversary of the Rebbe's passing . Rabbi Pinchas Ciment will join tens of thousands of other people from around the world to pray at the Rebbe’s resting place, The Ohel .
2009:Some 2,000 Israelis gathered in front of the Defense Ministry headquarters in Tel Aviv today to mark three years to the day in which Israel Defense Forces Gilad Shalit fell into captivity in a cross-border raid by Gaza-based Palestinian gunmen. The gathering's keynote address was delivered by Shalit's father, Noam.
2010: Mark Ethan is scheduled to lead a discussion at the 92nd St Y following a screening of “A Man For All Seasons.”
2010:Ronit Elkabetz, an Israeli actress from Beersheba married architect Avner Yasharon
2011: Fifth anniversary of the kidnapping of Galid Shalit.
2011:Jewish comedian and actress Sarah Silverman is scheduled to perform a night of stand-up comedy in Tel Aviv
2011: The National Yiddish Theatre is scheduled to present a performance of “The Adventures of Hershele Ostropoyler.”
2011: For the second time in two day, oil spills tainted the waters off of Eilat.
2011: France's ambassador to Israel Christophe Bigot met this afternoon with the parents of captured IDF soldier Gilad Shalit and presented them with a letter in which French President Nicolas Sarkozy directly addressed Shalit. "Since your kidnapping, I have taken it on myself to do everything to return you to your family," Sarkozy wrote. "I repeated this commitment when I met with your father at the Elysee Palace on June 10 and I repeat it now: France will not abandon you to your fate and will continue to act, along with other bodies, including those in the Arab world, so that this unjustified suffering comes to an end." Shalit holds dual Israel and French citizenship.
2011: Steve Sobroff resigned his management position with the Los Angeles Dodger after Major League Baseball seized control of the club.
2011:Acclaimed British writer Howard Jacobson who won the prestigious Man Booker Prize last year for his novel, “The Finkler Question,” which tackled themes relating to anti-Semitism, Jewish identity and Israel, criticized fellow novelist Alice Walker for her planned participation in the upcoming flotilla to Gaza. [Editor’s note: A year later Walker would announce that she would not let The Color Purple be translated into Hebrew.
2011(23rd of Tammuz, 5771): Eighty-year old Eugene H. Kummel, who had led McCann Erikson Worlwide during a period of creativity that saw the appearance of signature commercials for Coke and Miller Lite, passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2011(23rd of Tammuz, 5771): Ninety-four year old Gilbert Sedbon, a longtime correspondent for Reuters who scooped the world on the 1952 “Free Officers” Egyptian army coup against King Farouk with the help of Anwar Sadat passed away today. (As reported by the Eulogizer in JTA)
2012: At the Wiener Library in London, Dr. Iris Groscheck is scheduled to deliver a lecture on “The Murder of the Children of the Bullenhuser Damm: How a challenging history of the Shoah can be told to young people” during which she will and discuss the challenges of engaging school-age audiences with violent and disturbing historical events. The Bullenhuser Damm Memorial is dedicated to the memory of 20 Jewish children and at least 28 adults who were hanged and who were subjected to medical experiments in the Neuengamme concentration camp before being murdered, to the 4 prisoners who cared for them, and to 24 unidentified Soviet prisoners.
2012:Center for Jewish History and Society for the History of the Czechoslovak Jews are scheduled to present “Bratislava/Pressburg Returns to the Map of Jewish Europe” alecture by Dr. Maroš Borský, Director of the Slovak Jewish Heritage Center in Bratislava
2012: The Boston Red Sox traded Kevin Youkilis to the Chicago White Sox.
2012:At a ceremony in Netanya alongside visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin, Israel’s President Shimon Peres todah honored Russian soldiers who were killed while fighting the Nazis, saying the “Red Army prevented the world from being brought to its knees(As reported by Aaron Kalman)
2012: Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews participated in a mass rally this morning in Jerusalem’s Shabbat Square. In a display of mourning, protesters donned burial sacks and smeared ash on their heads to show their disapproval of anticipated changes to IDF deferment and exemption practices. . (As reported by Yoel Goodman)
2013: The Israel Museum is scheduled to host a symposium beginning today entitled “In a Strange Land: The Photographic and Artistic Interpretation of Unfamiliar Environments.”
2013(17th of Tammuz, 5773): Shiva Asar Be-Tammuz (Seventeenth of Tammuz), a minor fast day that commemorates the breaching of the walls of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. by the Babylonians and again in 70 C.E. by the Romans. According to some sages, the Second Temple fell because of the lack of love and community spirit. In America, whether it is bullying or the coarsening of our public discourse, we are painfully aware of the harm that speech can do. Since most American Jews do not refrain from food and drink on the 17th of Tammuz maybe it has been proposed that we refrain from Lashon Hara (i.e. Speaking Evil) on this minor fast day. To paraphrase the old Chasidic tale, we will show as much concern for what comes out of our mouths as we show for what we put in our mouths for one day, it might become a habit.
2013(17th of Tammuz, 5773): On the Jewish calendar, observance of American Independence Day. In 1776, the 4thof July fell on the 17th of Tammuz. So for those of you who want to get a head start on celebrating American Independence, here is your chance.
2013: Archaeological excavation prior to the installation of a drainage pipe has exposed for “the first time…such a finely preserved section of the road in Jerusalem,” the Israel Antiquities Authority announced today.
2014: In London The Wiener Library is scheduled to be hosting a special networking evening for the grandchildren of Holocaust survivor
2014: “Hanna’s Journey” is scheduled to be shown at the Portland Jewish Film Festival.