JUNE 30
713 CE: In Spain, Visigoth nobility which had held out against the invading Moslem forces, throughout the winter of 712 finally surrendered to the Arabs. A majority of the remaining Goths and Hispano-Roman people who lived in the newly acquired areas eventually converted to Islam. The Jews, who had been persecuted by the ruling Goths, proved to be the exception. They kept their religious identity and flourished under the new rulers.
1294: The Jewish community of Berne, Switzerland forfeited all financial claims against non-Jews, and then was expelled from the country.
1298: The Jewish community of Morgentheim , Austria
1470: Birthdate of Charles VIII, King of France. In 1494, Charles invaded Italy leading to the occupation of the Kingdom of Naples in 1495. Charles conquest led to increased persecutions of the Jewish population which lead to their expulsion in 1510, two years after his death.
1487: At Faro, Portugal, the printing of a Pentateuch was completed on the printing pressed located in the house of Don Samuel Giacon. According to Konrad Haebler's Typographie Ibèrique, “this was the first Hebrew book printed with vowel-points.”
1503: Birthdate of John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony who in August of 1536 “issued a mandate that prohibited Jews from inhabiting, engaging in business in, or passing through his realm.
1522:Johann Reuchlin “a German humanist and a scholar of Greek and Hebrew” who “for much of his life… was the real centre of all Greek and Hebrew teaching in Germany, passed away. “In 1510, Reuchlin was drawn into a bitter controversy with the Jewish-Dominican convert Johannes Pfefferkorn, who had convinced the emperor to confiscate and burn copies of the Talmud and other Jewish books. Asked for his opinion on the issue, Reuchlin urged the preservation of this literature and recommended the establishment of a chair of Hebrew in each of the major universities. As a result of his efforts, the order to destroy the Jewish books was rescinded. However, his enemies persisted, and Reuchlin had to face charges from the Inquisition. He was able to deflect the accusations for a time and returned to teaching …. Reuchlin is considered a hero in the history of European Judaism.”
1651: During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, Polish forces prevailed at the Battle of Beresteczko. The victory only provided a brief respite. The Cossack Revolt would continue with thousands of more Jews dying in what would be the worst loss of life until the Holocaust.
1680: In Madrid, an Auto de Fe was held in honor of the marriage of Carlos II to Louis Marie d’Orleans. It took place in the Plaza Mayor and lasted 14 hours. Over 50,000 spectators came to see 118 accused sentenced to prison or burned. It marked the last time that a "royal" auto was held since Carlos’ successor, Philip V, refused the "honor." took place in the Plaza Mayor
1713:Nehemiah Chiya Chayun arrived at Amsterdam and requested permission of the Portuguese congregation to circulate his writings, which had been published at Berlin.
1762: In New York, 31 year old Uriah Henricks, a native of the Netherlands married Eva Henricks.
1781: In Danbury, CT, Solomon Simson and his wife gave birth to Sampson Simson the first Jewish graduate of Columbia who went on to become a lawyer in New York. (As reported by Dr. Yitzchok Levin)
1782(18thof Tammuz, 5542): Because the 17 fell on Shabbat, observance of Tzom Tammuz
1784: In Charleston, SC, Rabbi Abraham Alexander officiated at the wedding of 16 year old Rachel de la Motta, a native of St. Croix to Abraham de Pass of Jamaica.
1785: James Oglethorpe, the founder of the colony (and later the state) of Georgia passed away. Georgia had been created by Oglethorpe as an alternative to Debtor’s Prison. However, when a boatload of Sephardic Jews arrived in the colony a month after its founding, Oglethorpe welcomed them as he did a subsequent arrival of German Jews who came a year later. Oglethorpe did this despite the opposition of the trustees which surely endeared him to this remnant of the House of Israel.
1821(30th of Sivan, 5581): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1821: Birthdate of Sigmund von Henle, a descendant of Löb Berlin, the district rabbi of Bamberg a lawyer who was held in high esteem by King Ludwig II.
1838: The Swedish government abolished discrimination against Jews. Unfortunately due to public objections it was repealed. Another 30 years were to pass before Jews were given the right to vote.
1840: Major Alfred Mordecai and Sara Ann “Hays” Mordecai gave birth to Alfred Mordecai, Jr. the West Point Graduate who served with distinction during the Civil War and Rose to the rank of Brigadier General.
1862: At Glendale, VA, seventeen year old Private Benjamin Bennett Levy, a drummer-boy in the Union Army, picked up the “colors” when the color bearers and carried them during the battle. He saved them from capture by the Rebels and was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his bravery under fire. [Nothing was of greater value to a regiment than its colors. Defeat in battle was one thing; losing the colors to the enemy was a point of great disgrace. Color bearers were an easy target for enemy soldiers so it was a high risk job.]
1863(13thof Tammuz, 5623): Mordecai Ze'eb Ettinger passed away today at Lemberg. Born in 1804, he was the father of Rabbi Isaac Aaron Ettinger, the nephew of Rabbi Moses Joshua Heschel and the brother-in-law of Joseph Saul Nathanson witho whom he co-authored "Mefareshe ha-Yam"
1864: During the Civil War at the Battle of Petersburg, Abraham Cohn, a Sergeant Major with the 6th New Hampshire Infantry “bravely and coolly carried orders to the advanced Union line while under severe fire from Confederate troops” behavior for which he earned the Medal of Honor.
1866:Today, in Romania, Jews were attacked maimed and robbed. The Bucharest Synagogue was desecrated and demolished. As a result of the violence Article 6 of the 1866 Constitution was replaced by Article 7. Article 6 declared that "religion is no obstacle to citizenship"; but, "with regard to the Jews, a special law will have to be framed in order to regulate their admission to naturalization and also to civil rights". Article 7 read that "only such aliens as are of the Christian faith may obtain citizenship". All this came to pass when Charles von Hohenzollern took the throne as Carol I and was forced to deal with a riot against the Jews in his capital city.
1870(1st of Tammuz, 5630): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1874: “Partial Destruction of a Town by Fire” published today described the two days of fires in Berditchev, a Ukrainian city in the Russian “inhabited most by Jews” have destroyed over 600 houses and left thousands homeless. [Berditichev was a major center of Jewish life in the Ukraine, home to Mittnagdim and Chasidim, the famous of which were the Berditchiver Hasidim and their Rebbe, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok of Berditchev
1876: Esther Hellman Wallenstein, the founding president of the Hebrew Infant Asylum and Solomon Wallenstein gave birth to the youngest child Milton H. Wallenstein.
1878: According to today’s Foreign Notes column, before departing for the meeting of heads of state in Berlin, the Earl of Beaconsfield received a letter from Lionel de Rothschild in which he asked Disraeli to do everything he could to get them to endorse measures that would put all religions on an equal footing in each of their countries. Rothschild made a special point of asking Disraeli to intervene on behalf of the suffering Jews of Romania and Serbia. Disraeli replied that he would do all that he could in this matter.
1885(17thof Tammuz, 5645): Tzom Tammuz
1889(1st of Tammuz, 5649): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1890: It was reported today that the Romsey Abbey “founded more than nine centuries ago” by Benedictine monks included a library “that was celebrated for its collection of Hebrew books.”
1891: “The first of the weekly excursions” sponsored by the “Sanitarium for Hebrew Children took place” today.
1891: During the fiscal year ending today, Russia sent 33,504 immigrants to the United States, “the majority of whom were Jews.”
1891: “The Nautch Girl,” a two-act comic opera with music by Edward Solomon opened at the Savoy Theatre.
1891: “To The Land Of Midian” published today described the plan of Dr. Paul Friedman, a native of Berlin who lived in London before settling in New York, to settle Russian Jews in “the land of Midian which extends from 26 degrees to 30 degrees north latitude and is situated on the Gulf of Akaba near the head of the Red Sea. Friedman had originally sought to use Somalia for this purpose but after visiting there “he concluded that it was not suitable.
1891: Over four hundred people sailed up the Hudson as far as Yonkers today during the first of the weekly excursions sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1892: In an example of the problems with transliteration “The Holy Land Colonies” published today described the activities of “Showey Zion meaning Returners to Zion.” The author probably meant “Shavei Tzion” - שבי ציון (Zion Returneees)
1892: It was reported today that New York layer Adam Rosenberg is the Presdeint of “Returners to Zion” a recently incorpoated society “whose main object” is to send Russian Jews to the Palestine “as colonists.”
1892: Marriage broker or ‘Shatchen” Martin Klein brought suit in a Brooklyn court today in an attempt to collect a $25 commission he claimed cigar maker Mauritz Grauer owed him for having secured a husband for Miss Paulie Grauer. Klein also claimed that Grauer had promised the groom, liquor dealer Joseph Ritter an additional $500.
1892: An explosion at 26 Willet Street, a tenement that was home to Polish and Russian Jews “wrecked the lower part of the hous and injured half a dozen tenants.”
1893: Birthdate of Harold Joseph Laski “an English political theorist, economist, author, and lecturer, who served as the chairman of the Labour Party during 1945-1946.”
1894: It was announced today that the Hebrew Institute will be hosting a series of lectures by prominent doctors on the “Care and Feeding of Infants during the Warm Weather.”
1894: Representatives of the United Hebrew Trades Association spoke at tonight’s meeting held in Union Square to support the proposed “under-ground rapid transit system.
1894: “Isaac Jacobs, a middle-aged Jew…was arrested” today “on a larceny warrant.” (More to come)
1895: “A troupe of German-speaking peasants are performing a passion play similar to the one presented at Ober-Ammergau” at the “village of Selzach in the Swiss canton of Solothurun.” A large number of Berliners are expected to attend the performance.
1895: It was reported today that “a recent examination” of the books of the B’nai B’rith Society in San Francisco showed that the shortage was actually $17,000 and not $13,000 as originally alleged. The discovery of the original shortage led to the suicide of Louis Blanc, the Society’s former treasurer. He had not been prosecuted for taking the money, but the community obviously failed he was responsible when they failed to re-elect him as treasurer.
1895: Annie Silverman, the wife of Wolf Silverman was buried today at Washington Cemetery in New York.
1897: A list of the graduates of the Hebrew Technical School for Girls published today included the names of Mary Wiener, Esther Freed, Celia Levin and Sadie Pearlman.
1900(3rdof Tammuz, 5660): Chaya Chana Ettinger (nee Kluger), the wife of Yonah Ettinger, passed away today.
1902: Herzl began a journey to London seeking support for his plans for a Jewish homeland. The journey lasted until July 17.
1904(17thof Tammuz, 5564): Tzom Tammuz
1904: On a day connected with the loss of the second Jewish commonwealth, Herzl, the man trying to create a modern Jewish commonwealth, suffers a severe bronchial catarrh, which turns into pneumonia. Oskar Marmorek proceeds to Edlac with two doctors.
1905: Albert Einstein publishes the article "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies" where he introduces special relativity.
1911: A Jew, Abraham Benrubi, former President of the Tribunal of Commerce at Cavalla (Turkey Jerusalem
1912: A few weeks after serving as valedictorian for her high school graduation, Bertha Alexander who would change her name to Beatrice and gain fame as “Madame Alexander”, married Philip Behrman (Jewish Women’s Archives)
1913: Eighty-three year old Victor Henri Rochefort, the editor of La Patrie who joined with people like Edoouard Drumont and Hubert Joseph Henry to promote the campaign against Dreyfus passed away today.
1915:The convention of the Federation of American Zionists came to a close this evening with the election of national officers. Dr. Harry Friedenwald of Baltimore was elected President. Other officers chosen were Chairman of Executive Committee, Louis Lipsky of New York; Honorary Secretary, Bernard A. Rosenblatt of New York, and Treasurer, Louis Robison of New York. The delegates to the convention received a pleasant surprise at this closing session when it was announced that Nathan Starus, the famed philanthropist had turned over his private yacht, valued at between $35,000 and $50,000, to the Zionists to help them deal with the looming financial shortfall.
1916: Seventy year old French Egyptologist Gaston Camille Charles Maspero passed away. He was the author of The Struggles of the Nations which provided an account of “the first Egyptian mention of the Hebrews ever found on an Egyptian monument.”
1917: Birthdate of Bernard “Buddy” Rich. Born in Brooklyn , Rich is best remembered as one of the greatest drummers of all times. Later in his career he was the leader of his own group – The Buddy Rich Band. According to one legend, when on his deathbed a nurse asked him if anything was bothering him, Rich replied, “Yes, country music.
1920:Sir Herbert Samuel the first high commissioner for Palestine Jaffa
1921:Jonas and Pauline Bernanke arrived at Ellis Island today. The 30 year old Bernake listed his occupation as “clerk.” The Bernakes eventually moved to Dillon, South Carolina, where they ran a drug store and raised a son named Ben.
1922: The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Reform movement's professional organization, meeting in Cape May , N.J.
1922: A joint resolution of both Houses of Congress of the United States unanimously endorsed the "Mandate for Palestine," confirming the irrevocable right of Jews to settle in the area of Palestine - anywhere between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea:
" Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That the United States of America favors the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which should prejudice the civil and religious rights of Christian and all other non-Jewish communities in Palestine, and that the holy places and religious buildings and sites in Palestine shall be adequately protected." (As described by Dr. Yitzchok Levine)
1924(28th of Sivan, 5684): Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael De Haan, a Dutch born Jew who was a leader of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community opposed to Zionism was shot outside of the synagogue moments after finishing his evening prayers. De Haan was scheduled to lead a delegation of ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionist Jews to London Jerusalem
1925: Viscount Herbert Samuel completed his service as High Commissioner of Palestine. He was the first person to hold the position.
1925: Birthdate of Samuel M. Ehrenhalt, “a poet of percentages who for 15 years as a regional commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics transformed colorless wage and employment figures into small, brightly lighted windows onto New Yorkers’ daily lives.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1926: Birthdate of Paul Berg, co-winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1980.
1926: Governor Moore of New Jersey is scheduled to deliver the welcoming remark at the opening session the annual convention of the Rabbinical Assembly of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Professor Louis Ginzberg and Rabbi Max Drob are scheduled to address the meeting of North American rabbis being held at the Scarboro Hotel in Long Branch, NJ.
1927: Henry Ford retracted and apologized for the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion
1934: Night of the Long Knives: Hitler ordered the execution of some of the SA (Sturm Abteilungen) leaders of whose absolute loyalty he questioned including Ernst Roehm. Until then the SS under Himmler was subordinate to the SA. The SS now became independent and was given charge of the concentration camps.
1936:Gretel Bergmann matched a German high jump record today. Two weeks later the young Jewess would be kicked off the German Olympic Team.
1936: Polish Jews strike to protest anti-Semitism
1937: Birthdate of Gideon Ezra, the native of Jerusalem who served as an MK and led several government ministeries.
1937: “A tower and stockade kibbutz was established at Tirat Zevi (Zevi’s Castle) 6 miles south-east of Beisan and less than a mile from the Jordan border.” [As the debate rages about the borders of the state of Israel and settlements on the “West Bank,” please note the location of this kibbutz. Obviously the Zionist pioneers assumed that all territory west of the Jordan River was open to them.]
1937: Under the auspices of the Bialiki Association, Chiam Nachman Bialik’s house was opened to the public. The public display included: the archives of Bialik’s manuscripts and that of other writers, Bialik’s private library and a museum with the poet’s personal possessions.
1939: Tel Aviv attorney M. Seligman was released on bail, pending his appeal of a conviction on charges of conspiring to assist in the illegal immigration of Jews into Palestine which carried a six month term of imprisonment. “He was acquitted of 18 other charges including brigery and corruption of Palestine Government officials.”
1939: Premiere of “Bachelor Mother” directed by Garson Kanin.
1941: Ninety Jews are murdered at Dobromil , Ukraine
1941: German troops enter Lvov , Ukraine
1941: Two death trains left Iasi, Romania after a pogrom. One of them stopped in Podu Iloaiei and the 1,194 Jews who died along the way from thirst and heat exhaustion were buried there in a mass grave.
1941 Three hundred young Jews are deported from Amsterdam Holland Austria
1941: American radio commentator Father Charles Coughlin celebrates Hitler's invasion of Russia as "the first strike in the holy war on communism" and attacks "the British-Jewish-Roosevelt war on Germany and Italy."
1941: The Germans entered Lvov, Soviet Union, cite of the third largest Jewish Community after Warsaw and Lodz. Thousands of Jews would be tortured and slaughtered at the hands of rampaging mobs.
1941: In Amsterdam
1941: In Denmark
1941: In Belorussia
1941: In Latvia
1941: Heinrich Himmler, head of the SS, tells Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz , that Hitler has ordered that the "Jewish question" be solved once and for all and that the SS is to implement that order. Auschwitz is the death camp that is to carry out the greater part of the Jewish extermination. Mass gassings, not shootings, are determined to be the most effective means to exterminate the large numbers of Jews.
1942: A headline in the London Daily Telegraph reads: "MORE THAN 1,000,000 JEWS KILLED IN EUROPE." [Sort of puts the “lie” the statement that people did not know what was happening to the Jews in the clutches of Hitler.]
1942: Three-year-old Jewish twins in Sosnowiec , Poland
1943: After almost 8 years, the New Deal agency known as The Federal Art Project (FAP) whose artists included Leon Bibel, Adolph Gottlieb, Harry Gottlieb, Isaac Soyer, Moses Soyer. Raphael Soyer and Lee Krasner came to an end
1944: By now, more than 500 Jews are being secretly protected by industrialist Oskar Schindler.
1944: Joel Brand and Rudolf Kasztner working together with the Jewish Agency and the War Refugee board concluded a deal with and Adolph Eichmann. It became known as “Blut fuer Ware” ("Blood for Goods"). This date marked the first of three transports from Hungary Switzerland
1944: One thousand, seven hundred, ninety-five Jews arrived from Corfu arrived at Birkenau.
1944: The crematoria at Auschwitz are working at full capacity when 2044 Jews from Corfu and Athens, Greece, arrive. At day's end, lightning rods on crematoria chimneys are warped from the heat generated by the furnaces.
1944: The 461st Bombardment Group under the command of Frederick E. Glantzberg bombed Blechhammer an area home to a synthetic oil plant whose workers included inmates from Theresienstadt concentration camp who probably lived in fear of the Taschenofen (mobile pocket furnace) located there.
1945:"Lest We Forget," an exhibition of death-camp photography organized by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Washington Evening Star began a tour in Boston, Massachusetts, and then on into Midwest. By tours end nearly 90,000 Americans will have viewed this testament of the Holocaust.
1946: “Irgun Zvai Leumi…issued an ultimatum tonight saying it would kill three British hostages if the British executed two Irgun members condemned to death.”
1946: British soldiers and police officers rushed into the Tel Aviv business district when pamphlet bombs exploded in this predominately Jewish city. They snatched the pamphlets from “the hands of the jeering populace. “The pamphlets, signed by Irgun, said, ‘All this, and what will follow, will not change our dtetermination to take the lives of these three if our two die.’ The pamphlets referred to the three of the five British soldiers kidnapped by Irgun two weeks ago. Two of the British soldiers have already been released in response to pressure from the Haganah.
1946: “Despite the detention of 2,000 “ Jews “in the largest mass arrest ever made in Palestine, the secreted radio of the Jewish resistance movement announced tonight that its leadership and general staff had not been ‘silenced’ by the campaign that British forces opened against’ Jewish forces “yesterday morning.
1946: As the British continued to wage war against the Jews of Palestine, the city of Haifa was placed under a curfew tonight following a spontaneous demonstration that had taken place earlier in the day. According to unofficial reports, four people were wounded when the British fired on the demonstrators.
1946: As the British crack down on the Yishuv, there are reports that the Mandatory Government will cease to recognize the Jewish Agency and replace it a variety of local councils. Moshe Shertok had already expressed the view that withdrawal would not mean the end of the Jewish Agency since it was supported the community in Palestine.
1947: Birthdate of Major General Yedidya Ya’ari, the native of kibbutz Merhavia “who was the commander of the Israeli Navy from 2000-2004.” Ya’ari is one of at least prominent Israelis from Merhavia the others being Golda Meir and Yaakov Shabtal, the novelist, playwright and translator who is the brother of Aharon Shabtai who is also a poet.
1948: The last British armed forces left Israel.
1948: An Israeli convoy led by commandos arrives at the isolated settlement of Kfar Darom, south of Gaza
1948: Shai was disbanded as part of a reorganization of the Israeli secret service. Shai, “an acronym for Sherut Yediot” was established in 1940 as “the intelligence and counter-espionage arm of the Haganah.”
1948, Meir “Tobianski was taken into custody and interrogated by Isser Be'eri, David Kron, Binyamin Gibli and Avraham Kidron during a drumhead court-martial. Be'eri had already prepared a firing squad consisting of six soldiers from the Palmach Yiftach Brigade, which was in control of the Jerusalem corridor zone. Tobianski was found guilty and executed in Bayt Jiz, where his body was buried. Tobianski had received neither a lawyer nor a right to appeal, and his case was not reviewed by a higher court. Be'eri knew of his innocence, but still ordered his execution. In 1949, Be'eri was tried and found guilty of manslaughter. At the trial the court found that as there was a ceasefire in effect at the time, any information supposedly passed by Tobianski could not have served the Jordanian artillery. Be'eri received one day of prison time due to his extensive service to Israel. He was pardoned on the same day by the president, Chaim Weizmann.”
1949: Birthdate of Alain Finkielkraut the French author and intellectual the son of manufacture of fine leather goods who survived Auschwitz, whose works include “In the Name of the Other: Reflections on the Coming Anti-Semitism.”
1949: “Stand Against Zionism” published today summarized the anti-Zionist views of the late Dr. David Philipson, a leading Reform Rabbi who supported the American Council of Judaism.
1952: Guiding Light, a soap opera created by Irna Phillips, debuted on television on. It is one of the longest-running daily television programs.
1953(17th of Tammuz, 5713): Tzom Tammuz
1953: Between May 15, 19 48June 30, 19 53Israel
1955: Final broadcast of “Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator” an NCB radio detective drama directed by Himan “Hi” Brown who began his broadcasting career at the age of 18 reading newspapers with a Yiddish dialect on WEAF.
1956: Between May 15, 19 48 and June 30, 19 56, the Jewish population of Israel tripled from 640,000 to 2.1 million.
1957: Allied Artists released “Love in the Afternoon” a romantic comedy that owed its existence to two Jews since it was directed and produced by Billy Wilder with a screenplay co-written by Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond.
1959(24th of Sivan, 5719): American composerLazare Saminsky passed away at Port Chester, NY. Born in Russian in 1882hewas a pupil of Lyadov and Rimsky-Korsakov at the St Petersburg Moscow New York
1962: LA Dodger Sandy Koufax pitches another no-hitter. This time he beat the Mets 5-0.
1965: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 proposed by New York Congressman Emanuel Celler which abolished the National Origins Formula became effective today.
1966: The National Organization for Women (NOW) was founded at a meeting in Betty Friedan's hotel room.
1970: During the War of Attrition Yitzhak Peer was taken prisoner when his F-4E II Phantom was shot down by an Egyptian SAM.
1970: During the War of Attrition, Rami Harpaz and Eyal “Los” Ahikar were taken prisoner when their F-4E II Phantom was shot down by an Egyptian SAM. (Israel’s existence comes at a very high price.)
1971(7th of Tammuz, 5731): Herbert Biberman, screenwriter, director and part of the Hollywood Ten, passed away
1971: “The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the New York Times voting 6 to 3 allow resumption of the publication of the Pentagon Papers, a project overseen for the Times by Gerald Gold.
1976: Catcher Jeff Newman made his major league debut with the Oakland Athletics.
1984(30th of Sivan, 5744): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1984(30thof Sivan, 5744): Seventy-seven year old playwright Lillian Hellman a New Orleans born Jewess passed away.
1985: In an article entitled “Yuppies with Fetlocks” Jean Franco reviews “The Centaur in the Garden by Moacyr Scliar.; translated by Margaret A. Neves. “This novel…is reminiscent of the Chagall paintings in which the scenes of everyday Jewish life are tenderly and oddly transmuted into fantasy. ''The Centaur in the Garden'' is set..on a farm in southern Brazil, in one of the colonies of Jewish immigrants established there at the beginning of this century by the German-Jewish philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch…One Jewish family's struggle to make a living in these unfamiliar and lonely surroundings is thwarted by the birth of the youngest child, Guedali, who is a centaur.
1992:Prosecution of East European Nazi collaborators who had gained entry to the country posing as innocent refugees from Communism by Australia's "Special Investigations Unit" met with failure and the prosecution effort for all practical purposes was shut down on this date.
1994: Catcher Mike Lieberthal made his major league debut with the Philadelphia Phillies.
1996: IN “New Museum Traces 2 Paths Into Jewish History in Atlanta” published today, Ronald Smothers provides a snapshot of a Jewish culture captured south of the Mason-Dixon Line.
2003(30th of Sivan, 5763): Comedian Buddy Hackett passes away at the age of 78 (As reported by Richard Severo)
2005: Sir James David Wolfensohn completed his service as the 9thPresident of the World Bank.
2006: In the evening, Jonathan Michael Kerbis participates in Friday Night services as part of becoming a Bar Mitzvah.
2006: Release date of “The Devil Wore Prada” a cinema treatment of the novel by Lauren Weisberger directed by David Frankel.
2006: Ismar Schorsch, the sixth Chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary, retired.For more information about the life of this famed Jewish scholar and author see the following JTS sponsored website. http://www.jtsa.edu/progs/his/isschorsch/index.shtml
2007: Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, officially resigns his position.
2008: In New York 92nd Street Cleveland Heights Israel
2008: James B. Cunningham was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
2009: In New York, Malcolm Hoenlein, Executive Vice Chairman of Presidents Major American Jewish Organizations delivers the Fourth Annual Gershon Jacobson Memorial Lecture, with an address entitled “The Media and Silencing the Support for Israel.”
2009: In the Czech Republic the Holocaust Era Assets Conference comes to an end.
2009:Phoebus Energy is scheduled to unveil its first hybrid water heating system at the Gilo community center in Jerusalem today.
2009: Israel’s defense minister Ehud Barak is scheduled to meet with George Mitchell, the special envoy to the Middle East, in Washington, D.C. today.
2009: A concert featuring 100 cantors from the world is scheduled to take place in Warsaw at The Grand Opera which is less than a kilometer from Tlomackie Synagogue which the Nazi blew up during World War II.
2009: Al Frankin was declared winner of the U.S. Senate election in Minnesota. The number of Jewish senators does not change since he defeated Norm Coleman who was also Jewish.
2009:Six weeks after authorities foiled an alleged bomb plot against two Bronx synagogues, the Department of Homeland Security has allocated $1.83 million to boost safety at Jewish institutions in another part of the city. More than two dozen Jewish organizations in Brooklyn, including yeshivot, synagogues and a children's museum, will receive funds as part of the program, an effort to offset security costs at non-profit institutions considered particularly high-risk by officials.
2009: Haim Ramon announced that he was resigning from the Knesset.
2010:Humanity in Action: Resistance and Rescue in Denmark, a powerful photography exhibition that explores the history of the rescue of Danish Jewry in 1943 and provides a striking narrative of individual and collective resistance, has its final showing in Washington, D.C.
2010:Gaza terrorists attacked the Western Negev this morning with a Kassam rocket before workers arrived, but it heavily damaged a packing house that was knocked out of operation.
2010:American Eagle Outfitters Inc. has signed a multiyear franchise agreement to open a series of stores in Israel by the spring of 2012. The
2010: “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector,” directed by Vikram Jayanti, opens at Film Forum on West Houston Street.
2011: The Galilee Music Festival is scheduled to open.
2011: The New York Times reported that the case again Dominque Strauss Kahn was on the verge of collapse because of problems with the credibility of the alleged victim, who had, according to sources within the NYPD, repeatedly lied since making her first statement.”
2011:YIVO Institute for Jewish Research is scheduled to present a lecture by Rebecca Margolis entitled “ Yiddish Culture in Montreal: Yesterday and Today” that “ will examine the origins and development of Yiddish culture in Montreal and discuss the changing place of Yiddish from the era of mass Jewish immigration in the early 1900s through today. The lecture is scheduled to be followed by a book-signing of Margolis' new book, “Jewish Roots, Canadian Soil: Yiddish Culture in Montreal, 1905-1945.”
2011:Tel Aviv “the city that never sleeps,” is scheduled to host its annual White Night (Layla Lavan). “Since 2003, when Tel Aviv was declared the White City by UNESCO, the municipality has been marking the honor by offering a host of special events for the benefit of the residents and visitors of Tel Aviv. Here is a selection of this year’s hottest music, food and cultural events taking place throughout the city.”
2011:Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman was attacked while praying at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron today, apparently by right-wing religious extremists protesting the arrest of Hebron-Kiryat Arba Chief Rabbi Dov Lior. "How dare you come to pray? You are responsible for humiliating Rabbi Dov Lior," shouted the extremists as the justice minister was surrounded by security personnel.
2011:Israel's U.S. ambassador, Michael Oren, outlined for Jewish leaders his country's list of priorities in framing peace talks with the Palestinians.
2011:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the United States as a champion of freedom and a great ally of Israel in his address to the annual Fourth of July celebration at the U.S. ambassador's residence in Tel Aviv tonight. President Shimon Peres, who spoke shortly before Netanyahu at the Fourth of July festivities, shared the prime minister’s sentiments, calling the United States a “powerful nation and generous giver”.
2011: Mark Halperin was suspended from his duties at MSNBC for "slurring" President Barack Obama on the program Morning Joe, saying the President came off as "kind of a dick" during the previous day's press conference
2011(28thof Sivan, 5771): Eighty-four year old songwriter Ruth Roberts, the creator of “Meet The Mets” passed away today. (As reported by Peter Keepnews)
2012: Israeli cellist Yoed Nir is scheduled to perform at the Rock Werchter Festival in Rock Werchter, Belgium.
2012(10thof Tammuz, 5772): Ninety-six year old Yitchak Shamir passed away today.
2012: Close associates of the prime minister prompted the cancelation today of a meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz, government sources said. /
2012:A week after protests resulted in violent clashes with the police, demonstrators were set to return to the streets of Tel Aviv on tonight.
2012:Egypt’s newly elected president sent an implicit message of reassurance to Israel in his first major address after taking office, but he also pledged support for the “legitimate rights” of the Palestinians.
2013: As part of the Jewish Plays Project, “Estelle Singerman” is scheduled to be performed at the 14th Street Y.
2013: The mandate creating the UN peacekeeping force on the border between Israel and Syria which has been renewed every six months for the past thirty-nine years is scheduled to expire today. (As reported by Mitch Ginsburg)
2013: “It's a Thin Line: The Eruv and Jewish Community in New York and Beyond” is scheduled to come to a close today at the Yeshiva University Museum
2013: Bank of Israel Gov. Stanley Fischer is scheduled to step down as Israel’s central banker today two years before the end of his second five-year term. (As reported by Niv Elis)
2013: “Shabbat – Inside and Out” is scheduled to come to a close today at the Yeshiva University Museum
2013:“The Mexican Suitcase: Rediscovered Spanish Civil War Negatives by Capa, Taro and Chim” is scheduled to close at Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme
2013: The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is schedule to vote today on a bill that would enable the burial of non-Jewish soldiers alongside their Jewish comrades (As reported by Haviv Rettig Gur)
2013: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers Life including Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center by Ray Monk
2013: The Ministerial Committee on Legislation passed an electoral reform bill proposed by MK Ronen Hoffman today, clearing the way for legislation that will change the electoral system to pass into law by the time the Knesset begins its extended summer recess at the end of the month (As reported by Gil Hoffman)
2013:US Secretary of State John Kerry wound up his whirlwind 72-hours of shuttle diplomacy by announcing at Ben-Gurion airport this afternoon that "real progress" was achieved, and that with a little more work Israeli-Palestinian talks could be re-started. (As reported by Herb Keinon)
2014: “By Dawn’s Early Light: Jewish Contributions to American Culture from the Nation’s Founding to the Civil War” an exhibition presented by the Center for Jewish History and American Jewish Historical Society is scheduled to come to an end.