JUNE 27
1096: Massacres of the Jews took place in Xanten and Eller (Germany
1240: In Paris, a commission that was making an inquiry into the nature of the Talmud with a specific interest into alleged derogatory comments about Jesus ended its deliberation after three days. The commission condemned the Talmud be burned. The sentence of condemnation was not executed. Apparently Archbishop Walter Cornutus of Sens, a prelate influential with the King, interceded on behalf of the Jews and succeeded in having many of the confiscated volumes of the Talmud returned to their rightful owners
1462: Birthdate of Louis XII who expelled the Jews from Provence in 1501.
1570(23rd of Tammuz): Cabbalist Moses ben Jacob Cordovero, known as Ramak, passed away in Safed.
1709: Peter the Great defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava. The Russian victory marked the beginning of the end for Sweden as a major European military and political power. Charles XI, the father of Charles XII had banned Jews from living in Sweden. Charles XII did not adhere to his father’s wishes since he used Jewish merchants as court treasurers and royal paymaster for his armies when they were in the field. The father’s religious concerns were overridden by the son’s financial needs. Peter the Great did not want Jews living in his ever expanding kingdom. During the war with Sweden, when the fighting reached Poland, Russian soldiers were given in a free hand in looting and pillaging the Jewish property and taking whatever liberties they wished with the Jewish populace.
1787: After 25 years of work, Edward Gibbon completes the manuscript of the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Gibbon had a very low opinion of the Jewish people describing them as the “disturbers of the religious harmony of the ancient world” who had emerged from the deserved obscurity resulting from the enslavement by the Assyrians and Babylonians to observe their “peculiar rites and unsocial manners” with “sullen obstinacy.” [Ed. Note: It only gets worse after this.]
1804: In Berlin, jeweler David Jacob Riess and his wife gave birth to Peter Gottlieb Riess, who as physicist and mathematician Peter Theophil Riess became the first Jewish member of the Berlin Academy
1805: Birthdate of Francis William Newman, the brother of Cardinal Newman whose works included A History of the Hebrew Monarchypublished in 1847.
1854: An article entitled “The British Ministry” published today reviewed the changing fortunes of various English political leaders. The author expressed the belief that Lord John Russell would not enjoy the continued support of London’s Jews if here running for election today. The authors stated that “it was solely due to his bad management” and lack of tact “that Jews were not declared eligible to sit in Parliament.” If Lord Russell had allowed Mr. Rothschild to follow the same oath pattern when he was elected in 1847 as the Quaker Mr. Pease had used in 1833, Jews would now be sitting in the House of Commons. Lord Russell’s insistence on solving the problem with an Act of Parliament was counter-productive since such a solution was bound to fail.
1846: In Magdeurg, Rabbi Ludwig Philippson and his wife gave birth to historian Martin Philippson.
1857:Asteroid 45 Eugenia was discovered by Hermann Mayer Salomon Goldschmidt
1860: The New York Times published the following:
To the Editor of the New-York Times:
Several New-York Archaeologists have, within the past week, received various communications concerning the discovery of a very curious stone relic, covered with Hebrew inscriptions, said to have been found by Mr. WYRICK, of Newark, Ohio, in one of those artificial earthworks so numerous in that vicinity. Some of these letters, which we had the pleasure to see, are accompanied by full-sized drawings of the stone and inscriptions, together with many-columns of newspaper notices, showing the deep interest the discovery has created amongst Western antiquaries. One of these letters, we are informed, was read at the last meeting of the American Ethnological Society; but, with their usual caution, the members did not venture an opinion, preferring, we presume, to defer an expression of it until after a more critical and scientific examination of the relic itself, and all the circumstances connected with its discovery shall have been entered into. For the purpose of giving your readers some account of the discovery, we have condensed the various notices into a reasonable length. First, as to Mr. WYRICK, the finder of the stone. He seems to be an old and respected citizen of Licking County, by profession a surveyor, and of late years has become enamored of archaeological pursuits. He has recently been engaged in surveying, platting and constructing a topographical map of the ancient earthworks so extensive in Cherry Valley. During this process he has been prospecting in a quiet way by excavating the mounds and embankments for the purpose of finding some implement or relic which might repay him for the trouble. So on Friday morning, the 29th of June, he started out with his digging implements, accompanied only by his son, a lad eight or nine years of age. He concluded to try his luck in a new place, influenced, he states, by a suggestion from Mr. SQUIER, that it might be well to examine the "dug holes," conceiving they might be caches or hiding places -- cemeteries or bone-pits, as they are called in New-York. "Having found one in the woods more articulated than the others," he commenced a trench in the greatest depression of the circle, and did not proceed down more than two feet (through black loam) before he found a stone bale, then this wonderful emblematic stone embedded in a bale of composition clay, adobe, or sunburnt brick. On cleaning off the stone he discovered the inscriptions, but was totally ignorant of their nature. Almost frantic with delight, he hastened to his friends, who informed him that they were Hebrew characters.
DESCRIPTION OF THE STONE.
The material is novaculite, or hone-stone, not found in places within the limits of Ohio, yet may be seen in any carpenter's shop. Now, mark the description. It is very hard, with perfectly smooth surfaces, and has apparently been polished; 5 3/4 inches long, with two flat sides, each 2 1/2 inches wide at the top, tapering down to 1 1/4 inches at the end. The edges are square, and nearly the same width. On each of the four sides is an inscription in Hebrew, each complete in itself. The letters are about one inch in length, and cut as clear as a die -- a fair specimen of letter-carving in stone.
THE INSCRIPTION is as follows, which may easily be rendered by any Hebrew scholar:
1. Kedosh Kedoskim -- The Holy of Holies.
2. Torath, J[???]hovah -- The Law of God.
3. Melec Erets -- The King of the Earth.
4. Devar Jehovah -- The Word of the Lord.
So much for the history of this stone and the character of the inscription. Of course suck a discovery must give rise to numerous and various speculations. Some have suggested that it might be a Masonic emblem -- the keystone which Master Masons anciently deposited in the corner-stone of their temples. (But, unfortunately for this hypothesis, the shape is not the same.) Others have supposed it furnished evidence of the presence of the lost tribes of Israel. Copies of the inscription have been submitted to some of our learned Rabbis, who generally agree that the above is a fair rendering of the text. But a difference of opinion has been expressed with regard to the antiquity of the characters, some carrying them back to the rime of Ezra, whilst others think them more modern. But this discussion is neither here nor there. The first and most important question to be solved by the cautious archaeologist is, whether or not this is a genuine relic of antiquity? Taking a general view of the subject, we might say, at the recent discovery of America by the Europeans, they found millions of inhabitants, but no well authenticated instance of an alphabet, or a single page of written history, other than symbolic pictures. We hold that no people, whether savage or civilized, ever occupied the earth's surface without leaving in the soil some trace of their existence and arts. If the Lost Tribes came to this Continent, it was after they possessed a written language and knowledge of certain arts, evidences of which might naturally be recorded upon imperishable materials, as stone, pottery and coins. And these evidences should be of frequent occurence to prove anything -- as no single isolated case, no matter how well authenticated, should-establish a theory. But no one will admit that enough has as yet been discovered to justify this hypothesis. We will next allude to the internal evidence of its antiquity, as derived from the published accounts. The stone is said to be novoculite, or hone stone, with a high polish, with the characters as sharply cut as if recently done by a lapidary. Now, everyone who claims any knowledge on the subject must be aware that few varieties of stone can remain long in the soil without losing a polished surface, and showing evidence of decomposition. And, even those substances, as quartz and obsidian, not liable to such change, are invariably (in the oldest mounds) found incrusted with lime. Indeed, from all that we can gather, both from private and published sources, we must classify it thus: Genus-bug-species-hum -- recalling the celebrated Pickwickian stone -- belonging to the same category as the gold plates of the Mormon Bible -- the graphic mica -- the brass plates with Chinese characters, found in Illinois, perhaps akin to the Louisiana Hebrew inscription, the last so skillfully conceived as to deceive our most astute archeologist, (Mr. SQUIER,) who favored one of our Societies with a very learned paper on this 1st of April hoax! The West, especially Ohio, seems fertile in false as well as genuine antiquities, so that we would fain hope the Newark stone may not prove "Lapis offensionis, et petia scandali, to the local antiquaries. D.
1862(29th of Sivan, 5622): E.J. Sampson who served with the 4th Texas of the Confederate Army was killed today and subsequently buried in Richmond, VA.
1865: In West Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Louis Monash and his wife Bertha, née Manasse, two German Jewish refugees gave birth to Sir John Monash, a civil engineer who would become his nation’s leading general during WW I, serving with distinction and intellectual brilliance on the Western Front.
1869: Birthdate of Emma Goldman. Goldman gained fame as an anarchist and feminist. Goldman’s views on revolution and violence changed after she witnessed the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. She became disillusioned with Bolshevism and became a pacifist as a result of the horrors she saw firsthand.
1875: An article published today on the history of “Secret Societies” offered a novel explanation for the conversation of the Roman Emperor Constantine to Christianity. According to the article an unnamed “Jewish Rabbi” and Pope Sylvester were contending with another in the presence of the Emperor. “The Rabbi whispered “Shemhamphorasch or the Tetragrammaton “into the ear of an ox, which instantly fell dead.” Sylvester responded by saying, “’Arise, ox, in the name of the trinity!’” “This showed the Emperor the superiority of the Christian religion, and he accepted it at once.” [Editor’s note - “The Shemhamphorasch is a corruption of the Hebrew term Shem ha-Mephorash (שם המפורש), which was used in tannaitic times to refer to the Tetragrammaton. In early Kabbalah the term was used to designate sometimes a seventy-two Letter name for God, and sometimes a forty two Letter name. Rashi said Shem ha-Mephorash was used for a forty two letter name, but Maimonides thought Shem ha-Mephorash was used only for the four letter Tetragrammaton.” This is four Hebrew letters (Yod, He, Waw and He) called The "Tetragrammaton" is the unpronounceable name of God made up of four Hebrew letters – Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay. There was a Pope Sylvester but his relationship with Constantine was apparently more invention than fact; the invention having been used to promote the concept of Papal authority over temporal rulers.]
1876: Moses Tannenholz obtained an affidavit from Rachel Blumenthal stating that she was 18 years old. This affidavit, which was of questionable validity, would figure prominently in a divorce case in which, among other things, it was contended that the bride below the age of consent at the time of the marriage rendering the nuptials null and void.
1877: Following the refusal of Judge Hilton to allow Jews to be guests at the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga, NY, Harry Ward Beecher delivered “a long eulogy on the Hebrew race” today.
1880: It was reported today that the throngs attending the fair in Hungary’s capital city included “Jews…by the hundreds, German Jews, Hungarian Jews” dressed as Magyars, “Polish Jews in black toga and long corkscrew curls, Transylvanian Jews in greasy brown cloth dressing gown and sandaled feet, looking like dissipated Capuchin friars.” [This serves as a reminder of the rich variety of Jewish cultures that flourished in pre-Holocaust Europe.]
1880: It was reported today that the parties attending the conference on Morocco in Madrid have reached an impasse. The Moroccans are expected to tell the European powers that they cannot protect the Jews from “popular fanaticism” unless the Europeans agree to “strengthen the authority of the Sultan” – or in plain English give up some of their colonial power. This is something that the French and Spanish will never agree to. The issue of protecting the Jews is a smokescreen behind which the Europeans can hide their imperial designs and the Ottomans can hide their attempts to protect their crumbling empire.
1881: In Spain, Praxedes M Sagasta the President of the Council of Ministers wrote to a prominent European Jewish author H. Guedalla that “article 1 of the Constitution of Spain is the most decisive revocation of the edict of banishment against the Jews in the year 1492. Thus all of your coreligionists who wish can come to Spain without any obstacle whatever…”
1882: “Bad for Russian Refugees” published today described the financial crisis facing the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society in trying to care for the tidal wave of Jewish immigrants fleeing eastern Europe. The American Jewish community, much of which had only been in the United States for only one or two generations, was small when compared to the millions in Russia, Romania, etc. and had only limited financial resources to deal with the crisis.
1882: Referee Jerome Buck is scheduled to hear more testimony in the hearing to determine the sanity of Samuel Obreight a young Jew who had been institutionalized by his family after his recent marriage to a young Christian woman.
1882: Mr. Cohn chaired tonight’s meeting of the Cap-finishers’ Union which was held on Eldridge Street. The major concern was the declining wages of the workers. Wages have fallen percipitiously since last November when members were earning fifteen to twenty dollars a week. Now they can are earning between seven and eight dollars a week because the manufacturers have found sources of cheap labor including Russian Jewish immigrants who will work for $2.50 to 3.00 per week.
1883: The first cruise of the season for poor Jewish children and their mothers today sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children is scheduled to leave at nine o’clock this morning.
1883: “The Alleged Jewish Murder” published today reported that “all the Christian lawyers at Nyreghhaza, Hungary, where the trial of the Jews charged with a murdering a Christian girl” is taking place “have adopted a resolution attacking the conduct of the Public Prosecutor. At the same time, the Hungarian government claims that it could not prevent the trial from taking place but that it does “not believe the accusation to be true.” [The allegation is that the Jews murdered a Christian girl in their synagogue – a case based on the coerced confession of a Jew named Moritz Scharf.]
1884(4th of Tammuz, 5644): Ignatz Kunreuther passed away. Born in Germany in 1811, he came to Chicago from New York in 1847 and became the first rabbi to serve KAM. He also served as the Chazan and Shochet for six years before “retiring to private life.
1885: In Lithuania, Eva Gross Landy and Rabbi Jacob Landy gave birth to Rachel (Rae) Landy the Cleveland, Ohio trained nurse who “initiated the first public health and sanitation systems in Palestine and whose 37 career in the U.S. Army included serving as “chief of nurses of the Second Command at Governor’s Island, NY. (“Landy's father established Hebrew Books, the first Jewish bookstore in Cleveland, and her mother was instrumental in the founding of Menorah Park Center for the Aging.”).
1885: As the conflict between Orthodox and Reform rabbis continued Rabbi Alexander Kohut took issue with remarks made by Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler of Temple Beth-El today by declaring that “We cannot all be authorities. No one is privileged to say for himself ‘I am the authority, and I alone.’ Or ancient believers had some very great prominent men, and should we not in this nineteenth century follow the doctrines which are laid down for us in the Talmud?” [The answer to this question is still one that some Jews are asking in the 21stcentury.]
1888: “A Hebrew Fresh-Air Fund” published today provided a summary of the annual report for Sanitarium for Hebrew Children issued by its President, Nathan Strauss. Last year the society provided 8 free excursions that served 4,732 infants, 3,631 children and 2,789 mothers.
1888: It was reported today that that Jacob H. Schiff has offered to contribute $10,000 to help the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children build a new facility to meet the needs of underprivileged Jewish children and their mothers.
1888: Birthdate of Ludwik Niemirowski, who gained fame as the English historian, Sir Lewis Bernstein Namier.
1891: “Jews Barred From Palestine” published today reported that “there is little hope that the Sultan will consent to the Jews settling in Palestine.”
1893: During the Panic of 1893, the crash of the New York Stock Exchange. The Panic of 1893-94 was the worst economic depression to hit the United States New York Greeley , Colorado
1893: A convention of New York Republicans adopted a resolution condemning the decision of the New York Union League Club to blackball Mr. Seligman because he was Jewish.
1893: Rector Hermann Ahlwardt, the Jew baiting member of the Reichstag has been sentenced to three months imprisonment for libeling Prussian officials again.
1894:Wilhelm Diamant, the son of Herman and Johanna Diamant, was buried today in Vienna.
1896: Twenty-year old George H. Webb persuaded Dora Henry, a 16 year old Jewess to leave her father’s house and then went the home of Reverend C.A. Daniel where the Lutheran minister married them. The two then separated and went back to their respective homes.
1896: “Lottery-Crazed Ghetto” published today described the congested district east of the Bowery as being the Ghetto because the preponderance of the population was Jewish. “The Russian and Polish Jews who” live “in such large numbers in the district extending from Division to Houston Streets are the most eager purchasers of lottery tickets” which can make them the victims of the swarm of agents selling these pieces of pasteboard.
1897: The Hebrew Free School Association sponsored the entertainment for 1,000 needy New York children which was held at the auditorium of the Educational Alliance at East Broadway and Jefferson Street.
1897: “Dr. Benjamin F. De Costa preached on the ‘Diamond Julibee’ at the Church of St. John the Evangelist” tonight “taking as his text Exodus XII:26 ‘What mean ye by this service?’”
1897: In Chicago, Bernard Schwager, a successful cigar market, kissed his ten day old grandson for the first time today. The child’s mother, who will convert tomorrow, was a Christian when she married Schwager’s son over a year ago.
1897(27thof Sivan, 5657): Seventy-eight year old Sir John Simon. Born at Jamaica in 1818, his father Isaac Simon sent him study in England in 1833. He wanted to become a rabbi but ended up becoming a lawyer. He returned to Jamaica after his marriage but went back to London “for his wife’s health.” He began serving as Liberal MP in 1868. His career lasted for twenty years and was marked by his efforts on behalf of the Jews of Russia.
1897: The Young Folks’ League of the Hebrew Infant Asylum will leave for an excursion today from the pier at the foot of West 129th aboard the SS Bay Queen.
1899: Rabbi Drachman delivered the opening prayer at the commencement exercises of the Jewish Theological Seminary which were held in Tuxedo Hall tonight. Joseph Blumenthal, President of the Board of Trustees, delivered the introductory address.
1899(19th of Tammuz, 5659): David Kraukauer, the benefactor of many Jewish charities including the Montefiore Home and Mount Sinai Hospital, passed away today.
1900(30thof Sivan, 5660): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1900: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Lesser officiated at the marriage of Harry Deitchman and Rosa Fechter.
1901: The funeral for the Honorable Samuel Edward Shrimski, the former Mayor of Omarau currently serving as member of the New Zealand Parliament who was survived by his wife Deborah, is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m.in the Waikumete Cemetery.
1903: In the wake of the exoneration of Colonel Dreyfus, the French government ordered the closure of 120 religious (Catholic) schools as a sign of a loss of clout of those on the political right.
1906: On the Lower East Side, 50,000 immigrant Jewish mothers stormed the local public schools in response to a rumor that doctors were slitting the throats of their children in public schools.
1907: Birthdate of British jurist Sir Alan Abraham Mocatta.
1911(1stof Tammuz, 5671): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1911:Louis-Lucien Klotz began serving as French Minister of Finance in Briand’s third government
1912: The Jewish Territorial Organization holds its annual meeting over four days in Vienna. It passes a resolution thanking the Portuguese Chamber of Deputies for the offer of land in Angola
1912: The funeral for Julia Richmond the New Yorker who was an educator and defender of the underdog including those suffering from consumption and Russian Jewish immigrants is schedule to be held today.
1914:Dr Max Raisin of Brooklyn delivered the following address at Berith Dodesh Temple, a Reform Jewish Congregation in which he declared that while some Reform Jews do not proclaim their Zionism, at heart they hope for restoration as a people.
"Reform is what made Zionism what it is. Zionism has found amongst reformers some of its staunchest upholders. Reform is only a phase of religion, and religion makes for race consciousness. The integrity of the Jews as a race depends upon the existence and survival of Judaism as a religion. When a Gentile becomes a Jew by religion, he becomes ipso facto a Jew by race; but when a Jew joins a Gentile religion he remains a Jew by race. "When reform Jews in Washington some time ago told Congressmen some time ago that the Jews were only a religious body, and not a race, opposition to the statement arose from the very ranks of reform itself. Is the belief of the reformer dogmatically different to that of the orthodox? Does it deny the hope of the Jews for national restoration? There is a higher court than the rabbinical conference. Reform Judaism goes to the prophets, and there is nothing their opposed to national restoration. "You will say that all reference to Zion has been stricken from your Prayer Book. That is quite true, but that is a mere negative attitude for you to take. It is not true that reform as a whole is opposed to Zionism. The Prayer book is one thing, and Reform as a whole another thing. National restoration is a universal movement. Reform looks upon nationalism, even if potentially, as a means to realize all the hopes of Judaism. I content that Reform does stand upon national ground. Zionism has again and again made itself felt in the camp of reform. If nationalism is not included in your prayer book, it is not opposed or denied."
1914: In Rochester, NY, Dr Mordechai M. Kaplan of New York delivered a sermon at Beth Israel Synagogue in Leopold Street this morning.
1914: Fifty delegates to the convention of Zionists from Chicago and twenty-five more from Cleveland reached Rochester tonight. They were among delegates invited to attend an evening reception at the Jewish young Men's Association in Franklin Square.
1915: Birthdate of philanthropist, Bernard Roth, “an entrepreneur who built a major company from a single gas station in Los Angeles by promoting self-service gas pumps”
1918: The volunteers of the Jewish Battalion in World War I were sent to the front. In August 1917, thanks in part to the efforts of Jabotinsky; the formation of a Jewish regiment was officially announced. Formation of such a unit had been opposed by members of the British military and other members of the British Establishment. By 1917, the Empire was desperate for soldiers. It was probably this sense of desperation more than anything else that led to the formation of the first Jewish combat unit since the Bar Kochba Revolt in 135. The unit was designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. It included British volunteers, members of the former Zion Mule Corps and a large number of Russian Jews. In April 1918, it was joined by the 39th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers, more than 50 percent of whom were American volunteers. In June 1918, The 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers was sent to Palestine
1920: Birthdate of Itek Dommnici, the native of Rumania who gained fame as I. A. L. Diamond, the Hollywood screenwriter and the longtime collaborator of the director Billy Wilder and won an Oscar for the “Apartment.”
1920(11thof Tammuz, 5680): Sixty-nine year old Julius Newman who had served as Rabbi of the Moses Montefiore Congregation and had lived in Chicago for forty years, passed away in California.
1921: Mrs. Edith R. Sulzberger, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Julius Rosenwald, went to Crown Point, Indiana today and obtained a marriage license.
1923: Catcher Moe Berg made his major league debut with the Brooklyn Robins.
1926:The twenty-ninth annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America opened here today with more than 1,000 delegates from all parts of the country, including 200 from New York. Louis Lipsky, Chairman of the ZOA, delivered a lengthy keynote address in which, among other things, he criticized England for failing to cooperate with the Zionists under the terms of the mandate. “Emanuel Neuman, national director of the United Palestine Appeal reported that over five million dollars had been raised since last October” for projects in Palestine.
1927: Time magazine reported that “Pilot Clarence Duncan Chamberlin and passenger Charles A. Levine were last week enjoying the hospitality of Germans, resting in the watering place known as Baden-Baden, inspecting huge multi-motored airships at the Dornier and Zeppelin plants. Some of their doings: Frau Thea Rasche, Germany's only licensed woman pilot, was taken for a ride over Berlin by Pilot Chamberlin. Skillful, she also took passenger Levine for a ride. Correspondents heralded the trips as strengthening to U.S. - German relations. Flyers Chamberlin and Levine hustled to Bremen to meet their respective wives, who arrived from the U.S. Said Mrs. Chamberlin on seeing her husband: "Why, your knickers are awful. Didn't you even have them cleaned?" Then the two couples flew to Berlin in three hops. The two wives were reported to be feeling ill after the first hop. "The Columbia is not on the market," said Mr. Levine when Grover Cleveland Bergdoll, a rich American then living in Germany, offered to buy the monoplane. Mr. Bergdoll let it be known that he desires to fly to the U.S. to show that he is no coward, that conscientious objection was his only reason for refusing to fight in the World War.” [Levine was Jewish and laid claim to being the “first passenger” to cross the Atlantic.]
1931: Labor economist Theresa Wolfson was the principal speaker at the opening of the Barnard College Summer School for Women Workers in Industry
1931: Birthdate of Canadian businessman Charles Bronfman
1933: Birthdate of Robert Katz, “an author and screenwriter who incurred the wrath of the Vatican by accusing Pope Pius XII of failing to act to stave off a Nazi massacre of Italians in 1944.”
1933: At a rally in London
1934: Filming of “Imitation of Life” directed John Stahl (Jacob Morris Strelitsky) began today.
1936: The Democratic National Convention comes to a close after re-nominating Franklin D. Roosevelt for a second term. FDR enjoys overwhelming support among Jewish voters. Among the delegates is Samuel Untermyer who is attending his last national convention.
1938: “The Jews of Palestine observed a day of semi-mourning today in sympathy for the Revisionist youth, Ben Yosef, who is under a death sentence for having fired on an Arab-owned bus. There were special prayers and sermons in synagogues throughout the country. Shops were closed in the evening and places of amusement were shut all day.”
1939: NBC Radio takes over the Camel Caravan, a musical variety program that will feature regular appearances by comedian Lew Lehr.
1939: The Irgun placed a letter bomb in the mailbox attached to the outside wall of the Schneller Orphanage which was now a British military facility known as the Schneller Barracks, which, when it exploded “collapsed part of the wall and injured five Arabs in the vicinity.”
1940: During a meeting of the Cabinet, Churchill again called for the arming of the Jews of Palestine so that British troops could come back to defend the home islands. Lord Lloyd spoke against the move; anti-Semitism trumped strategic thinking as Lord Lloyd prevailed.
1941: On a day known as Red Friday: German units in Bialystok Minsk
1941: German troops gathered in a synagogue courtyard in Niéswiez , Poland
1941: Romanian Iron Guard Legionnaires, encouraged by the anti-Semitic policies of dictator Ion Antonescu, undertake the extermination of the Jews in Falesti. Thousands are killed.
1944: Jewish Resistance leader David "Dodo" Donoff, 24, is executed near Lyons , France
1944: Almost one half million Jews have been sent to Auschwitz since May 15, 19 44.
1944: Following his meeting with Joel Brand, Moshe Sharett wrote in his report, "I must have looked a little incredulous, for he said: 'Please believe me: they have killed six million Jews; there are only two million left alive'."
1944: A report was given to officials in London that Captain Isidor Newman who was serving with SOE had been taken to a private house at Rue des Etats Unis in Paris that had been turned into a Gestapo prison.
1945: Birthdate of Amihai "Ami" Ayalon the native of Tiberias who grew up at Ma’agan co-founded by his father Yitzhak who “emigrated illegally from Romania and who served as a commander in the Israeli Navy before moving to a career in politics.
1945: Having heard no further reply from Churchill over his request to suspend the White Paper of 1939, a bitter Chaim Weizmann told his colleagues that the “leaders of the Western world” had done what they had done to the Jews but did not have “to swallow it.” He continued saying that Churchill and Roosevelt had let the Jewish people down, “maybe not intentionally, but inadvertently. They made promises which did not carry out or mean to carry out.” He had no faith in the upcoming meeting of the Big Three – Stalin, Churchill and Truman because “nobody cared about what happened to the Jews. Nobody had raised a finder to stop them from being slaughtered.” And now they did not care about “the remnant which had survived.” Weizmann, feeling broken and betrayed expressed his willingness to resign his leadership position regardless of the consequences.
1947: In Manhattan, Morris Helprin the President of London Films and Broadway actress Eleanor Lynn Helprin gave birth to American novelist, journalist, conservative commentator, Mark Helprin.
1949: “Dr. Philipson Collapses” published today described the physical condition of Dr. David Philipson, “the dean of the American Reform Rabbinate” who is resting at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston where he was taken after he lost consciousness at the sixtieth annual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. The 87 year old cleric is the “oldest living graduate of the Hebrew Union College” and boasts that he has never missed one of these conferences.
1949: “Laboring Voice” published today described the birth of WFDR, a new non-profit FM station “back by the 400,000 members of the ILGWU headed by David Dubinsky.
1950: Admiral Sir John Edelsten, Commander in Chief of the British Mediterranean Fleet completed a two-day courtesy visit to the Jewish state. The Admiral’s visit included stops at Haifa and Tel Aviv.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that 283,000 votes were cast for the Zionist Congress elections. According to the rough estimates Mapai was expected to send 103, Mapam 46, Hapoel Hamizrahi 26, Herut 21, Progressives 12 and Revisionists one delegate to the Congress. More than one million dollars worth of food parcels sent by relatives abroad arrived in Israel
1954: Meir Har-Zion “in a seven man squad led by Major Aharon Davidi that launched a surprise attack on an Arab Legion camp at Azzun, 13 km east of Qalqilya” tonight.
1957: Release date for “Sweet Smell of Success” a film based on novelette by Ernest Lehman with a script co-authored by Clifford Odets and co-starring Tony Curtis.
1965: Birthdate of British author and historian Simon Sebag-Montefiore, a member of one of Britain’s oldest and most distinguished Anglo-Jewish families. While he has written on a variety of topics, his Jerusalem: The Biography is one that anybody with an interest in Jerusalem, the Middle East or the three so-called Abrahamic Faiths should read. His brother Hugh Sebag-Montifiore is also an author whose works include two World War II histories Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man and Enigma: The Battle for the Code.
1966: In New York City television producer Gerald W. Abrams and executive producer Carol Ann Abrams (née Kelvin) gave birth to Jeffrey Jacob "J. J." Abrams
1967: An episode of Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple,” a television program starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman that had a baseball theme was filmed tonight at Shea Stadium, the day before the Mets played the Pirates.
1968(1st of Tammuz, 5728): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1976: “An archaeological dig uncovered the Golan site of the ancient Jewish fortress of Bamla, which was destroyed by Vespasian in the early statges of the rebellion against Rome in the year 67.” P 180 green
1971: The New York Times featured a review of St. Urbain's Horseman by Mordecai Richler
1974: Birthdate of Mariano Idelman the Argentine native who became a popular Israeli television personality.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that US Israel Ein Karem Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center Jerusalem
1976:News broke that four hijackers from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German Revolutionary Cells had captured an Air France flight from Tel Aviv to Paris
1976: A revival of Rodgers and Hart’s “Pal Joey” opened at the Circle in the Square Theatre.
1978: Morton I. Abramowitz began serving as U.S. Ambassador to Thailand.
1987: Daniel Barenhboim is scheduled to conduct his final in a series of concerts with the IPO that include performances by members of the Paris Opera all of which are part of the celebrations marking the 50thanniversary of the founding the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra.
1994: Alan Blinder began serving as Vice Chairperson of the Federal Reserve System.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Holocaust in American Life by Peter Novick.
2000: U. S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright arrives in Israel. She met with Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.
2000: NBC airs the final episode of Veronica’s Closet, a sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kaufman.
2002: Rabbi Baruch Lanner “was convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls.” An appeals court later dismissed one of the child endangerment changes in 2005. The case against Rabbi Lanner had begun with investigative reporting done by Gary Rosenblatt of The Jewish Week.
2002: In recognition of his successful efforts to save thousands of Jews from the Nazis in France,. Secretary of State Colin Powell presented a posthumous "Constructive Dissent" award to the children of Hiram Bingham IV at an American Foreign Service Officers Association awards ceremony in Washington, DC.
2003(27th of Sivan, 5763): Sgt. Maj. Erez Ashkenazi, 21, of Kibbutz Reshafim, an Israeli navy commando, was killed in an operation in Gaza to capture a Hamas cell, believed responsible for several bombings and the firing of anti-tank missiles in the Netzarim area (Jewish Virtual Library)
2004(8th of Tammuz, 5764): "Staff Sgt. Roi Nissim, 20, of Rishon Lezion, was killed and five other soldiers were wounded when their outpost in the Gaza Strip was blown up by Hamas terrorists who tunneled under the position and detonated a massive explosive charge."
2004: Israel's renowned composer and songwriter Naomi Shemer was laid to rest today at 6 p.m. in Kvutzat Kinneret cemetery in the Galilee , where many of Israel Jerusalem Old City Ichilov Hospital
"Y'rushalayim shel zahav, v'shel n'choshet v'shel or; Halo l'chold shi-rayich ani kinor
The mountain air is clear as water
The scent of pines around
Is carried on the breeze of twilight,
And tinkling bells resound.
The trees and stones there softly slumber,
A dream enfolds them all.
So solitary lies the city,
And at its heart -- a wall.
Oh, Jerusalem
bronze,
I am the lute for all your songs.
I am the lute for all your songs.
The wells ran dry of all their water,
Forlorn the market square,
The Temple Mount
In the Old City there.
And in the caverns in the mountain,
The winds howl to and fro,
And no-one takes the Dead Sea highway,
That leads through Jericho
Oh, Jerusalem
bronze,
I am the lute for all your songs.
I am the lute for all your songs.
But as I sing to you, my city,
And you with crowns adorn,
I am the least of all your children,
Of all the poets born.
Your name will scorch my lips for ever,
Like a seraph's kiss, I'm told,
If I forget thee, golden city,
Jerusalem of gold.
Oh, Jerusalem
bronze,
I am the lute for all your songs.
I am the lute for all your songs.
The wells are filled again with water,
The square with joyous crowd,
On the Temple Mount
The shofar rings out loud.
Within the caverns in the mountains
A thousand suns will glow,
We'll take the Dead Sea road together,
That runs through Jericho
Oh, Jerusalem
bronze,
I am the lute for all your songs.
2004(8th of Tammuz, 5764):Mordechai Yosefov, 49, and three-year-old, Afik Zahavi, were killed outside a kindergarten when Palestinian terrorists in Gaza launched Kassam rockets into the southern Israeli city of Sderot. Zahavi's mother, Miriam, was seriously injured in the attack, and is struggling to recover in a local hospital.
2004:The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including 'Letters, 1928-1946': The Book of Isaiah (Berlin) by Sir Isaiah Berlin and 'Sweet Land Stories': The Call of the Wild Ones by E.L. Doctorow
2005: Author and Civil War Historian Shelby Foote passes away at the age of 88. A native of Greenville , Mississippi
2005: The United States Air Force appointed Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff, who had served as a chaplain for 25 years in the United States Navy, to the newly-created position of Special Assistant (for Values and Vision) to the Secretary and Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force. Resnicoff served in this position from for a year “at the equivalent military rank of Brigadier General, responsible for making recommendations regarding policy and guidance in support of the Air Force initiative to integrate core values into all Air Force operating concepts and policies. His assignment took him around the world, beginning in the Middle East, with Iraq, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and continuing to military bases throughout Europe and the Pacific, as well as installations within the United States, including the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, CO, and the Air War College, in Montgomery, Alabama, where he met with Air Force leaders at every level of command. During this appointment, Resnicoff was instrumental in terms of beginning service-wide discussions on policies for religious free exercise within the Air Force.”
2006: Rabbi, Arnold E. Resnicoff completed his one year assignment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force. He was awarded the Air Force Decoration of Exceptional Civilian Service for his year’s worth of work.
2006(1st of Tammuz, 5766): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
2007: David Milliband’s last day as Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
2007:In Jerusalem,legendary Israeli composer/singer Shlomo Gronich presents his newest compositions of biblical sources on a wide spectrum of themes: justice, righteousness, integrity, man and his identity, love songs & prayers. Performance includes Gronich on piano & shofar, the Jerusalem String Quartet and percussion.
2007:Dr. Ashraf Marwan, an Egyptian businessman identified as the Mossad agent who tipped Israel off on the eve of the Yom Kippur War about the coming surprise attack was found dead outside his home in London's Mayfair neighborhood. Dr. Ashraf Marwan was the son-in-law of the Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser. There is a dispute as to whether Marwan was really a spy for Israel
2007: Social justice was the theme of the first Jurisprudence Awards dinner sponsored by the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs at the Hilton Chicago.
2009:The final performance of “Dov and Ali” by Anna Ziegler, at the Cherry Lane Studio Theater, in the West Village. The drama revolves around the relationship between Dov, a high school teacher and Orthodox Jew, and Ali, a 17-year-old student and strict Muslim.
2009: David Anthony Freud “was created a life peer as Baron Freud, of Eastry in the county of Kent,and became a shadow minister for welfare in the House of Lords.”
2009: At the Durham Performing Arts Center, the Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet presents the final performance Israeli modern choreographer Ohad Naharin's “Decadance” which was acclaimed by The New York Times as "dancing that pulls viewers right out of their seats.”
2009: Today, the London-based A-sharq Al-awast reported that a deal trading Shalit for over 1,000 Hamas prisoners was imminent. Hamas leader Haniyeh, however, said that reports of a breakthrough on Shalit negotiations were exaggerated. Israeli sources also continued to deny any impending deal.
2010: The Jewish Feast-ival is scheduled to take place at The Jewish Center in Rock Island, Illinois.
2010:"The Adventures of Hershele Ostropolyer," a new musical adaptation of the classic Yiddish play by Moyshe Gershenson, is scheduled to have its final performance at The Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue.
2010: The New York Times featured books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Faith and Power: Religion and Politics in the Middle East by Bernard Lewis and Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance by Nouriel Roubini and Stephen Mihm.
2010:Jews from more than 15 countries are scheduled to compete in a “Jewish World Cup" in New York today.
2010(15thof Tammuz, 5770): Martin David Ginsburg “an internationally renowned taxation law expert” who “was Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. and of counsel to the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson” passed away today. He was the husband of Associate Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. (As reported by Gardiner Harris)
2011:Israeli violinist Misha Vitenson and the Jupiter musicians are scheduled to perform Beethoven’s Sextet for 2 virtuoso horns and string quartet, the Flute Quartet in E Minor by his pupil Ferdinand Ries, Webern’s Romantic Langsamer Satz, and the Brahms String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat Major at the Church for All Nations in New York City.
2011:Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior, one of the senior figures of religious Zionism, was arrested today after he refused to appear for questioning for his endorsement of the controversial book, “Torat Hamelech,” which justifies killing non-Jews.
2011: Today Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's inner cabinet instructed the Israel Defense Forces to be firm in preventing the flotilla from reaching the Gaza Strip while operating with maximal restraint to avoid causing injuries.
2011:Israeli director Guilhad Emilio Schenker won an award at the Detroit Windsor International Film Festival 2011 today for his short film "Lavan."
2011(25th of Sivan, 5771): Ninety-seven year old Rabbi Michel Yehuda Lefokowitz passed away today.
2012:The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, The American Jewish Committee, and The American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists are scheduled to present the next session in its brown bag lunch speakers’ series: “Haunting Legacy: Vietnam and the American Presidency from Ford to Obama” with Marvin and Deborah Kalb.
2012: "Going Up: Jerusalem" - a pilgrimage by artists, social activists and intellectuals that is inspired by social protests in Israel and abroad is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Funeral services are scheduled to be held at B'nai Israel Synagogue, 2601 Chestnut St. in Wilmington, NC for of Wendy Block, z”l, of Wrightsville Beach, NC. She was the former chair of the Network of Independent Communities of The Jewish Federations of North America, former board member of National Women’s Philanthropy and campaign vice chair for National Women’s Philanthropy. Mrs. Block passed away on June 25 at the age of 72.
2012: The Library of Congress obtained the papers of astronomer Carl Sagan, the son of Ukrainaian-Jewish immigrants.
2012(7th of Tammuz, 5772):Two Israel Navy officers were killed in a car crash on Highway 4 near Rishon Lezion early this morning. An initial investigation into the accident revealed that the officers, Captain Omri Shahar, 25, of Kfar Saba and First Lieutenant Rafael Bublil, 22, of Ramat Gan, were killed when their car collided with a truck and overturned at Holot Junction.
2012: Deep divides were exposed between coalition factions today over the terms of legislation being formulated to raise the number of ultra-Orthodox men in national-service programs.
2012: In “How Iran Killed Its Future” published today Shahrzad Elghanayan described how the execution of Habib Elghanian, Iran’s most prominent Jewish industrialist and philanthropist, was a turning point for the country.
2012: “A small group of men gathered at the small cemetery of Rehovot to pay respects to 53 year old Aharon Zandani of blessed memory a pillar of Yemen’s Jewish community who was murdered in Sanaa. (As reported by Elhanan Miller)
2012: Barry Landau, a “collector of presidential memorabilia” who was convicted of stealing thousands of historic documents “was sentenced to seven years in prison” and ordered to pay $45,525 to dealers to whom he had sold stolen items.
2013: In the UK, The Wiener Library is scheduled to host a book launch of Ruta’s Closet, “the harrowing and astonishing true story of how a Lithuanian Jewish family fought to escape the deadly clutches of Hitler’s Final Solution.”
2013: JCCNV and the Jewish Community Relations Council are scheduled to present an evening with Elliot Abrams who will discussion the Israeli-Palestinian relationship under President George W. Bush.
2013:Adas Israel Congregation, EntryPoint DC, and The Foundation for Jewish Studies are scheduled to present a talk by Dr. Allan Lichtman author of FDR and the Jews at the Lillian & Albert Small Jewish Museum
2013: Israel is the center of the world “in so many ways,” the archbishop of Canterbury said today in Jerusalem. He stressed Israel’s legitimacy and right to security, and also spoke, in the context of persecution of Christians by Islamists in the Middle East, about the Christian imperative to “love our enemies.”
2013: Tel Avis White Night begins
http://www.timesofisrael.com/pull-an-all-nighter-in-tel-aviv/2014: “G-D’s Honest Truth” featuring Marcia Jean Kurtz and David Deblinger is scheduled to be performed at the 14th Street Y.
2014: “Friday LIVE” is scheduled to start this morning at Tel Aviv.
2014: The first round the Temple Menorah annual rummage sale in Milwaukee, WI is scheduled to come to an end.