July 8
1099: In a move reminiscent of Joshua at Jericho, during the First Crusade 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as the Muslim defenders look on. This seemingly desperate move is part of the preparations for the final successful Crusader assault that will take place on July 15 following which the Moslem and Jewish citizenry would be slaughtered by those who claim to fight in the name of the man who said “love thine enemies.”
1153: Pope Eugene III passed away. In an effort to gain support for the Second Crusade, Eugene had “issued a bull announcing that all those who joined in the holy war were absolved from the payment of interest on debts owed to Jews.” Regardless of the level of participation, it gave Christians a chance to repudiate the legitimate debts owed to Jews. (As reported by Graetz).
1187: Acre surrendered to Saladin
1230: “Pope Honorius III issued from San Rieti an order directing the Archbishop of Mayence to compel the [Jewish] community to pay the sum of 1,620 marks before the following Easter, threatening it with exclusion from all dealings with Christians if it failed to raise the amount.”
1510: A printed edition of Halikhot Olam, Talmudic dissertations by “Rabbi Jeshua ben Joseph Ha-Levi was published at Constantinople
1623: Pope Gregory XV passed away. During his papacy Gregory appointed three expurgators to approve, revise or otherwise deal with Jewish texts.
1654: According to some sources, Jacob Barsimon left Holland aboard the Peartreefor New Amsterdam. He was the first Jewish resident of New Amsterdam (New York). Other sources claim that the Peartree and Barsimon did not set sail until July 17 and did not arrive until August 22, 1654. Regardless of which dating one accepts, the origin of the Jewish Community is dated from September 7, 1653 when 23 Sephardic Jewish refugees from Recife (Brazil) arrived in New Amsterdam aboard the French ship, St. Charles.
1663: Jews were already living in Rhode Island when The British Crown granted a charter the colony founded by Roger Williams, which guarantees freedom of worship. The Jews had arrived in Newport in 1658. Reportedly, these were Sephardic Jews who had fled from Brazil to avoid another round of the Inquisition.
1690(2nd of Av): Rabbi Aaron ben Moses Teomim of Worms, author of Mate Aharon passed away.
1721: Elihu Yale passed away. While serving as the English governor of Madras Yale had a romantic relationship with a Portuguese Jewess who was the wife Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia), a successful Jewish trader and businessman. The wife, Hermonia de Paiva, went to live with him, causing quite a scandal within Madras' colonial society. Hermonia and the son fathered by Yale both later died in South Africa. [The next time you look at the Hebrew Letters in Yale’s seal, you might remember Hermonia.]
1755: This evening during the Emden-Eybeschütz Controversy, Jacob Emden’s house was broken into and his papers seized and turned over to the "Ober-Präsident," Von Kwalen. Six months later Von Kwalen appointed a commission of three scholars, who, after a close examination, found nothing, which could inculpate Emden.
1768: Cossack leader Maksym Zaliznyak and 73 rebels were imprisoned in Kyiv-Pechersk Fortress. Zaliznyak had played a key role in the Massacre at Uman where 20,000 Jews and Poles were killed during the Koliivshchyna rebellion. Zaliznyak was not imprisoned because of Russian government cared about the Jews who had been betrayed by their countrymen. He was imprisoned because the government feared his rebellion would spread and undermine imperial authority.
1776: The Liberty Bell was rung to summon citizens of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the reading of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress. The Liberty Bell takes its name from the inscription taken from Leviticus 25:10 that states, "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
1805: Simon Mussina, merchant, newspaper editor, and attorney, was born to Zachariah and Nancy Mussina in Philadelphia today,
1805: Rothschild writes the Landgrave seeking the status of “Protected Jew” in Kassel so that he could business there while still living in Frankfurt. The request was rejected. The need for such a request was symptomatic of the crazy quilt of regulations designed to limit the business opportunities for Jews.
1807: Rothschild wrote to his son Nathan telling him that that Czar Alexander and Napoleon had met at Tilsit. He expressed the hope that peace would prevail. In the end, his hopes proved to be unfounded.
1822: Percy Bysshe Shelley, the English poet whose work includes “The Wandering Jews Soliloquy” passed away.
http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/wj_soliloquy.html
1831: Birthdate of Bohemian author Seligmann Heller whose works included the epic poem "Ahasverus.”
1836: Birthdate of British statesman Joseph Chamberlain. Regrettably, Joseph Chamberlain’s greatest claim to fame was the fact that he was the father of Neville Chamberlain, the great appeaser of the Hitler period. Jews should remember him as a British political leader who was sympathetic to Herzl and his cause. In 1903, Chamberlain was one of those who worked to offer Uganda as a colony which European Jews could settle.
1838: A band of Druze attacked the Jewish community of Tzfat. This incident is a far cry from the relations today between the Druze and the Jews. Founded in the early 11th century, the Druze faith was initially based on the doctrines of Shi’a Islam. As with other such groups who deviated from Islam, the Druze have been at odds with the dominant Moslem populations in the countries where they live – Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. There is a Druze community in Israel and Druze soldiers have served with honor and distinction in the IDF
1839: Birthdate of John D. Rockefeller whom the world connects with petroleum, Standard Oil and monopoly. For Jews he was one of those who signed the Blackstone Memorial, a petition favoring “the delivery of Palestine to Jews” that was presented to President Benjamin Harrison.
1847(24th of Tammuz, 5607): Rachel Lindo, the widow of the late David Lindo, and the oldest member of the local congregation passed away at the age of 85 in Bridgetown, Barbados.
1849: Formal installation of Toechter Lodge No. 1 of the Free Sons of Israel. This lodge was unique because it was made up of women, as can be imagined by the name which is the Yiddish word for daughter.
1850: Birthdate of Frederick de Sola Mendes the native of Montego Bay, Jamaica, West Indies who gained fame as a rabbi, author, and editor. The son of Abraham Pereira Mendes, he was educated at Northwick College and at University College School, London, and at the University of London where he earned a B.A. in 1869. “Subsequently he went to Breslau, Germany, where he entered the university and studied rabbinics at the Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau. Mendes received the degree of Ph.D. from Jena University in 1871. Returning to England, he was licensed to preach as rabbi by Haham Benjamin Artom, in London, 1873; in the same year he was appointed preacher of the Great St. Helen's Synagogue of that city, but in December removed to New York, where he had accepted a call to the rabbinate of Shaaray Tefillah congregation (now the West End Synagogue); he entered upon his duties there January 1, 1874. Mendes was one of the founders of the American Hebrew. In 1888 he took part in the Field-Ingersoll controversy, writing for the North American Review an article entitled "In Defense of Jehovah." In 1900 Mendes joined the staff of the Jewish Encyclopedia as revising editor and chief of the translation bureau, which positions he resigned in September 1902. Associated with Dr. Marcus Jastrow and Dr. Kaufmann Kohler, he was one of the revisers of the Jewish Publication Society of America Version of the Bible. He also translated Jewish Family Papers: Letters of a Missionary, by "Gustav Meinhardt" (Dr. William Herzberg). Of his publications the following may be mentioned: Child's First Bible; Outlines of Bible History; Defense not Defiance. He contributed also the article on the "Jews" to Johnson's Encyclopedia. In 1903 he became for a time editor of The Menorah, a monthly magazine. In conjunction with his brother Henry Pereira Mendes, and others, he was one of the founders of The American Hebrew (1879), to whose columns, as to those of the general press, he was a frequent contributor. He passed away in 1927.
1852(21stof Tammuz, 5612): Moses Benedict the German banker and artist who was born at Stuttgart in 1772 and who operated the banking business of Benedict Brothers with his brother Seligman passed away today.
1868: Birthdate of American journalist Thomas Franklin Fairfax Millard, the founder of the China Press, an English language paper that supported the new government of Dr. Sun Yat-sen which he sold to Edward Ezra, a leading Jewish businessman in China in 1918.
1870: In Dublin, Professor Alexander Macalister and his wife gave birth to Robert Alexander Steward Alexander, the only professional archaeologist at the excavation of Gezer which last from 1902 to 1902 and is best known for the “Gezer calendar.”
1871: Isaac Hyman who used to be a City of Marshal in New York City was ordered to pay seven dollars a week in support payments after he had been arrested today on charges of abandoning his wife.
1872: Birthdate of Aaron Gumbinsky who gained fame as the songwriter Harry Von Tilzer whose tunes included "A Bird in a Gilded Cage", "Cubanola Glide", "Wait 'Til The Sun Shines Nellie", "Old King Tut", "All Alone", "Mariutch", "I Love My Wife, But Oh You Kid!", "They Always Pick On Me", "I Want A Girl Just Like The Girl Who Married Dear Old Dad", And The Green Grass Grew All Around and many others.
1873: Union of American Hebrew Congregations (Reform) was launched in Cincinnati under the leadership of Dr. Isaac Meyer Wise.
1877: In Warsaw, Feliks Rappaport and Justyna Bauerertz gave birth to Emil Stanisław Rappaport the Jewish lawyer who served as Judge in post-WW I Poland and was the author of several works on international law.
1877: Delegates representing American Hebrew congregations from the principal cities in the United States are scheduled to hold the opening session of their convention at Concordia Hall in Milwaukee. Approximately 150 delegates are expected to attend. The primary aims of the meeting are to consolidate all of the Reform congregations under one central body that will, among other things, create a uniform service to be followed by all members. “The convention will also discuss the feasibility of securing lands in the West and South” for Jews who have not been able to “establish their own homes and businesses.
1877: “Prejudices,” a reprint of an article from Macmillan’s Magazine, published today reported that “The past generation of Englishmen has been so generous to Jews that” it would be “ungrateful” to accuse present day Englishmen “of being consciously repelled by the idea of a poor Jew being worthy of admiration. But 15 centuries of hatred” are not easily “wiped out” by the passage of legislation. “A deep unconscious undercurrent of prejudice against the Jew” still exists among Englishmen. This “unconscious Judaeophobia” exists alongside “a tacit of assumption that modern Judaism is a lifeless code of ritual instead of a living body of religious truth.”
1877: According to a paper that Mr. E.G. Ravenstein presented to the Statistical Society of London, the population of Russia has been increasing at the rate of 1.1 per cent per year with “the Jews being the most prolific” group in the Czar’s Empire.
1877: It was reported today that for several years the “American Hebrews” in New York “have united to furnish poor Christian children in Industrial Schools with warm and nourishing food.”
1877: According to reports published today Judge Hilton’s decision to ban Joseph Seligman (and all Jews) from his hotel in Saratoga Springs, NY has caused quite a stir among Jews and Gentiles in San Francisco, CA. The Seligmans are quite well known to Californians and are well thought. A ban like the one adopted in Saratoga Springs would not find any support on the west coast since the Jews are viewed as being patriotic citizens who are always ready to “extend their aid and assistance” whenever it is needed. The Jews are viewed as being “valuable and…respectable” members of the community, “good neighbors and …businessmen” whom the “hotels are very glad to have” as customers.
1878: William Evarts, the U.S. Secretary of State in the administration of President Rutherford B. Hayes, has complied with a request made by M.S. Isaacs of New York, President of the Board of Delegates of the American Israelites and Simon Wolf of Washington, DC, the Vice President of the Board of Delegates of the American Israelites. He “has instructed” the U.S. “Consul at Tangiers, Morocco to co-operated with the representatives of other governments in using his good offices” on “behalf of the oppressed Israelites in the Empire of Morocco. The instructions are similar to those given several years to…the Consul at Bucharest which proved so beneficial for the relief and protection of the Jews” in Romania who were being persecuted at that time.
1879: Moritz Loth of Cincinnati presided over the opening session of The Sixth Council of the Union of American and Hebrew Congregations at Standard Hall in New York City. Rabbi Gustav Gottheil of Temple Emanu-El offered the opening prayer followed by Moritz Ellinger’s opening address.
1879(17th of Tammuz, 5639): Tzom Tammuz
1880: An untitled article published today credited the Jews with developing the first principles of what we now call the insurance industry. The Babylonian Talmud contained a systemized code that articulates “the principle of sharing among a number the loss of a single individual.
1882: “A New Socialistic Society” published today provided an insight into the divisions within Jewish socialists when it reported that among the officers elected were a Corresponding Secretary in German and a Corresponding Secretary in Russian. Added to the mix was the fact that the first speaker of the evening whose topic concerned the future of the Jewish race was named Allen McGregor.
1883: It was reported today that the outbreak of Cholera in Egypt is so serious that the British are considering transferring their troops from the land of Nile to Malta or Cyprus. If the plague reaches Cairo the Jewish population will find itself at great risk since most of it is confined to a quarter that consists of narrow streets without drainage or proper sanitation of any kind.
1883: “Notes from Cincinnati” published today described “an important (upcoming) event…the ordination of four young Rabbis from the graduating class of the Hebrew Union College.” They are part of the school’s first graduating class.
1883: It was reported today that Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler opened the exams given to the rabbinical students at HUC by declaring that “Cincinnati had become the center and heart of American Judaism” a fact “he attributed to the great and energetic mind of” Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise.
1885: It was reported today that after the latest conscription deadline had passed nearly 16,000 Jewish draftees had failed to report for military service. This meant that the Jews had missed their quota by more than 50% of the mandated total. Jews were not the only ones who avoided serving in a military that was meant to brutalize them and in which there was no opportunity to enter the officer corps. Bashkirs, Tartars and Mennonites were among other groups who sought to avoid service in the Czars army using such tricks as injuring their fingers and lessening the measurement of their chest since a conscript is rejected if his chest does not measure at least half the length of his stature.
1885: Birthdate of Ernst Bloch. Bloch was a German Marxist. He fled Germany during the 1930’s. When he returned he went to live in East (Communist) Germany. He broke with Communists and defected to West Germany in 1960. Bloch had opposed Herzl and Zionism in the 1960’s he became an outspoken advocate of Israel’s right to exist. He passed away in 1977.
1888: The Executive Board of the Union of Hebrew Congregations held its annual meeting today in Cleveland Ohio simultaneously with the annual meetings of the Board of Trustees and Managers of the Jewish Orphan Asylum and the Montefiore Home for Aged and Infirm Israelites. Eight Governors of Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati were elected by the board including Solomon Simon of New York City.
1888: An “informal reception” was held to honor Rabbi Jacob Charif (Sharp) at his home at 179 Henry Street. Charif has been to New York from Wilna to serve as the leader for the Orthodox synagogues on the Lower East Side
1889: “Hebrew in Convention” published today described plans for the upcoming meeting of the Council of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations which will be held in Detroit, Michigan. The council is made up of lay and rabbinical delegates representing organizations with an aggregate membership of almost 600,000 members.
1890(20th of Tammuz, 5650): Fifty two year old Ludwig Chronegk, the stage-manager and "Intendanzrath" of the famous Meininger troupe established at Weimar by Duke George of Meiningen” passed away today at Meiningen.
1891: It was reported today that “nine hundred Jews left Lithuania (Russian Poland) last after refusing…to embrace” the Russian Orthodox religion “as ordered.”
1891: It was officially announced today that the Porte (the government of the Ottoman Empire) will only allow Jews to enter Jerusalem as pilgrims and will not allow them to emigrate there as settlers.
1893: Only 120 of the 800 steerage passengers aboard the tramp steamer Red Sea which is due to arrive in New York tomorrow are Russian Jews.
1893: Asher Weinstein, a New York real estate man was on board the Cunard steamship Umbria when it left today bound for Liverpool.
1893: Birthdate of FritzPerls father of Gestalt therapy. He developed his therapy during the 1940’s. It should not be confused with Gestalt psychology developed during the 19th century.
1894: Solomon Schechter worked “in the library at what was known as the Old Schools” sorting fragments of Hebrew manuscripts that had been found in the Cairo Geniza.
1894: Seventy-one year old German biblical scholar August Dillman who was one of the foremost Old Testament exegetes” passed away
1895: It was reported today that the stepped up enforcement of the Sunday Closing Laws has forced various immigrant groups to take added precautions when selling their wares including the Jewish merchants on the lower east side who operate “sidewalk stands” that sell cigars, cigarettes, crullers, pretzels and candy and who on Sunday “will not sell a stranger a soda water unless he speaks Yiddish.”
1895: It was reported today that 20 year old Alma Mayer who passed away yesterday had taken her own life for reasons unknown after visiting her brother-in-law Carl Sternberg, a New York Broker. The young Jewish girl had been the United States for about a year, living most of that time with an aunt in Nyack, NY.
1895: Lazarus Shapiro presided over a mass meeting of Jews living in the Tenth Ward during which the attendees protested “the failure of the Board of Education to appoint a” Jew “as a School Trustee for the Tenth Ward even though nearly 95 percent of the children attending the schools in that ward” are Jewish.
1895: In New York City, during a public meeting in Irving Hall, Jewish residents of the Tenth Ward protested against the failure of the Board of Education to appoint one of their co-religionists as a School Trustee. The demand was based on the fact that 95 per cent of the students in the ward are Jewish.
1896: Seventy-seven year old Isaac Bramfield who lives at the Hebrew Home on West 105thStreet was wounded in thigh by William Johnson who was trying to shoot William H. Sutton.
1899: The will of David Krakauer was filed for probate in the Surrogate’s today.
1899: The Heine Lorelei Fountain, a mounted dedicated to the memory of Heinrich Heine which is located at the entrance to the Grand Concourse and the Boulevard was dedicated today.
1899: Birthdate of lawyer and public servant, David Lilienthal. A lawyer by profession, Lilienthal's twin passions were improving the human condition and converting natural resources. He was able to further both of these when he became the first Chairman of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in 1933. This major power producing and flood control project was the most important thing to improve the lot of a mass of Southerners since the end of the Civil War. Lilienthal later served as the first chair of the Atomic Energy Commission. He passed away in 1981.
1899: “Nuremberg” published today provides a review of The Story of Nurembergby Cecil Headlam which described the changing fortunes of the city’s Jews for whom “medicine was originally their chief possession.” “When the Christians were no longer allowed to take interest for money” which had been “the business of the monasteries” the Jews stepped in because they were not prohibited by their laws to engage in such a practice. As their wealth increased, their neighbors persecuted them, destroyed their houses and “burned” themat the stake. “In 1499 they were driven from the city” and not allowed to return again until 1850.
1902: Herzl visits Lord James in his quest to gain great power support for a Jewish home in Palestine.
1903(13thof Tammuz, 5663): Fifty-seven year old Esther Hellman Wallenstein the native of Bavaria who was the founding president of the Hebrew Infant Asylum passed away today in New York City.
1903: Herzl writes to Polish author Pauline Korvin-Piatrovska and asks her to intervene for him with the Russians. In the meantime, Wenzel von Plehve, the Russian Minister of the Interior and an anti-Semite calls for the suppression of the Zionist Organization in Russia
1904(25th of Tammuz, 5664): In Georgia, 64 year old Charles Wessolowsky passed away today.
1907: Florenz Ziegfeld staged his first Follies on the roof of the New York Theater in New York City.
1907: Rabbi Joseph H. Stotlz offered the opening prayer at the final session of the 18thannual convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis at Frankfort, Michigan.
1910: The Queen of Holland appoints Joseph Carasso, Inspector of the Bank of Salonica, to be Consul for Netherlands at Salonica.
1912: Birthdate of Moses M. Weinstein “a Queens Democrat who served in the State Assembly, with stints as majority leader and acting speaker in the 1960s, and nearly two decades as a trial and appellate judge of the State Supreme Court.”
1912: The body of Julia Richman, the prominent New York educator who died unexpectedly while in France arrives in New York aboard the S.S. Lapland and is taken to Temple Ahawath Chesed on Lexington Avenue.
1914: Birthdate of Jacques Torczyner the native of Antwerpt who emigrated to the United States in 1940 before the Nazi invasion of the Low Countries who became a leading member of Zionist Organization of America.
1918: Birthdate of economist and Federal Reserver governor Sherman Joseph Maisel, the Buffalo, NY native and Harvard graduate “whose research on housing markets shaped decades of federal policy on mortgages.’
1922: The Directors of the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association of Camden, NJ chose Dr. M. H. Spare to be directors of the two associations.
1922: Edwin Herbert Samuel, 2nd Viscount Samuel and Hadassah Samuel gave birth to David Herbert Samuel, 3rd Viscount Samuel
1923: Birthdate of Fred Kort, who survived Treblinka to become the founder/CEO of Imperial Toy Corporation and a noted philanthropist who “gave millions to dozens of Jewish causes, including Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, Bar-Ilan University, the Anti-Defamation League and Israel Bonds.”
1926: “Alumni Will Assist in $15,000,000 Campaign for National Farm School” published today described plans to raise funds for the school as part of a five year plan outline by Hebert D. Allman, acting president of the institution. (As reported by JTA)
1927: Birthdate of Esther Frances Masserman, who as the author E.M. Bronera “explored the double marginalization of being Jewish and female, producing a body of fiction and nonfiction that placed her in the vanguard of Jewish feminist letters.” (As reported by Maragalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/23/books/e-m-broner-jewish-feminist-writer-dies-at-83.html?ref=deathsobituaries
1933: Birthdate of comedian and actor Marty Feldman. One of his most memorable films was "Young Frankenstein."
1933:Diego von Bergen, the German Ambassador to the Vatican, sends a telegram to Berlin saying that Vice-Chancellor Franz von Papen and Cardinal Secretary of State Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, have initialed the Concordat between Nazi Germany and the Vatican. The official signing will not come for another 12 days. (As reported by Austin Cline)
1934: Birthdate of Marvin Levin, the Chicago native who became a successful developer in Sacramento, CA, where he “alerted the FBI to corruption in the California Legislature in the 1980s and played a pivotal role in the ensuing sting operation.”
1934: Birthdate of English comedic figure Martin Alan “Marty” Feldman
1935: Birthdate of Steve Lawrence. Born Sidney Leibowitz, Lawrence teamed with his wife Edyie Gorme as a popular song and dance team. They were regulars on television variety shows in the 1950’s including Steve Allen and The Tonight Show.
1936: The Palestine Post reported that the High Commissioner, Sir Arthur Wauchope, in his personal, special radio broadcast, condemned all recent crime and violence. Eliahu Said was shot dead on his way to his small tile factory on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. A bomb was thrown at the Neveh Shalom police station. One British officer, a soldier and six policemen were injured in an Arab-set ambush between Tulkarm and Nablus.
1936: The second international conference on Jewish Social Work opens in London
1938: Based on a direct order from Hitler the Great Synagogue in Munich was scheduled to be destroyed today which was German Art Day. “A few hours before the order was carried out, the heads of the Jewish community were officially given notice of the plans. Many members of the Jewish community worked throughout the night in order to remove the Torah scrolls and ritual objects from the synagogue.The municipality only reimbursed the Jewish community for approximately one seventh of the value of the synagogue and the neighboring Jewish community building.” (As recorded by Yad Vashem)
http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/april/01.asp
1938: British Marines patrol the streets of Haifa where more than a hundred people have been killed in clashes between Arabs and Jews in the central part of the port city.
1938:La Civilta Cattolica, an official Jesuit publication founded by Pope Pius IX and published under the direct control of the papacy, prints a study on the "question of the Jews in Hungary." The author defends Hungary as "the most solid and indestructible fortress of Christianity" but laments how "disastrous" the presence of Jews has been for "the religious, moral, and social life of the Hungarian people." (As reported by Austin Cline)
1940: Lester Baum, a film technician at Technicolor, and his wife, Nelda, a seamstress at Columbia Pictures gave birth to Richard Baum “who confessed to having no inkling as a Jewish American kid growing up in West Los Angeles that he would become a Sinologist.”
1940(2nd of Tammuz, 5700): David Benvenisti, Sephardic representative of the Tel Aviv Municipal Council, passed away the age of 48. Benvenisti was born in Turkey and had made aliyah from Egypt over 20 years prior. Thousands attended the funeral of this modest man who dedicated his life to public service.
1940: Birthdate of Baruch Arnon, the Yugoslav born American pianist and music teach who taught at the Israel Academy of Music before joining the faculty of the Juilliard School.
1941: As the Wehrmacht conquered the town of Lachwa, a Polish town that had been in the Soviet Occupation Zone, many Jews tried to escape with the retreating Red Army. Those left behind included Zionist leader Dov Lopatyn and Rabbi Hayyim Zalman Osherowitz who was arrested by the Germans.
1941(13th of Tammuz, 5701): Moses Schorr, Rabbi, Polish historian, politician, Bible scholar, Assyriologist and orientalist died at the NKVD's 5th concentration camp in Posty, Uzbekistan. Rabbi Schorr had fled east to the Soviet Zone to avoid capture by the Nazis. Instead of freedom, he found himself in the clutches of the Soviet security apparatus. While his life was a testament to scholarship and community service, his death serves as a reminder that the Jews of Europe died because they really had no place to go.
1941(13th of Tammuz, 5701): The Ponary Executions begin. Hundreds of Jews were taken to the resort of Ponary, stripped of all belongings, marched to the edge of a fire pit and then shot into the pit. Ponary was near Vilna, Lithuania. Over 100,000 Jews were murdered there and buried in pits. In 1943, the SS dug up the pits and burned the bodies in an attempt to hide their crime.
1941: Jews in the Baltic States (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) are forced to wear a distinguishing Jewish badge. Within months the Germans and local anti-Semites will murder most of the Baltic countries' Jewish population of one-quarter million.
1941(13th of Tammuz, 5701): Hundreds of Jews are killed at Noua Sulita, Romania
1942: Today’s entry in the diary of Adam Czerniakow, the head of the Judenrate in Warsaw, reflected his understanding of the impending doom facing the Jewish People.
1942: Seven thousand Lvov, Ukraine, Jews are murdered at the labor and extermination camp called Janówska (Ukraine)
1942: Jewish partisan Vitka Kempner and two others leave the Jewish ghetto at Vilna, Lithuania, carrying a land mine with which they hope to disable a German military train on tracks five miles to the southeast.
1943: During World War II when the Red Army was doing most of the fighting against the Wehrmacht “the largest pro-Soviet rally ever in the United States was held today at the Polo Grounds, where 50,000 people listened to Solomon Mikhoels, Itzik Fefer, Fiorello La Guardia, Sholem Asch, and Chairman of World Jewish Congress Rabbi Stephen Wise.
1944: Between July 8 and July 13, Red Army troops and Jewish partisans kill about 8000 German soldiers at Vilna. The Soviet forces were commanded by Colonel General I.D. Cherniakhovsky, reportedly the youngest of the leading Russian generals. When “asked if he was a Jew, Cherniakhovsky said, ‘My parents were.’”
1944(17th of Tammuz, 5704): In France, Marianne Cohn was killed along with five non-Jewish resistance fighters who were trying to escort a group of Jewish children to safety.
1944: Liquidation of the Kovno Ghetto
1944: There was a temporary halt to the deportation of the Hungarian Jews. By now some 437,000 Hungarian Jews had been deported. Another 170,000 still remained. Adolph Eichmann had other plans for them
1947: Doctor Chaim Weizmann appeared before the United Nations Special committee on Palestine. In answering the question as to why the Jewish home had to be in Eretz-Israel, Weizmann. He attributed the responsibility to Moses, “who acted from divine inspiration. He might have brought us to the United States, and instead of the Jordan we might have had the Mississippi. It would have been an easier task. He chose to stop here. We are an ancient people with an old history, and you cannot deny your history and begin afresh.
1948: With the reluctant approval of the General Staff, the order was given to abandon Kfar Darom. The Israelis conducted the evacuation under the cover of darkness carrying their weapons and two Torah Scrolls after having destroyed the supplies and equipment they could not carry
1948: During the War of Independence, the First Truce comes to an end a day earlier than planned when Egyptian forces begin their attacks in the Negev.
1948: Operation Dekel began today with the 7th Armored Brigade under the command of Canadian volunteer Ben Dunkelman in the lead.
1948: Today marks the first day in the Battles of Ten Days during which the Golani Brigade “managed to repel the Arab Liberation Army attack on Sejera from Lubya, and helped capture Nazareth and eventually Lubya in Operation Dekel.”
1948: For the fifth time, Israeli forces attacked the Egyptian-held police fort of Iraq Suwaydan
1950: In Tel Aviv, Jaffa and Haifa, Leftists, including Communists and members of Mapam marched in protest against the government’s policy regarding fighting in Korea.
1951: Journalist Anthony Lewis married dancer Linda J. Rannells.
1951, The Jerusalem Post reported that the Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett made his first official visit to Nazareth. The State of Israel, Sharett told some 5,000 Arabs at an outdoor assembly, first in Hebrew and then in Arabic, considered Nazareth a valuable trust. He blamed the Arab states for failing to negotiate a final peace with Israel.
1954: Birthdate of David Aaronovitch a regular columnist for The Times, and author of Paddling to Jerusalem: An Aquatic Tour of Our Small Countryand Voodoo Histories: the role of Conspiracy Theory in Modern History He won the George Orwell Prize for political journalism in 2001, and the What the Papers Say "Columnist of the Year" award for 2003.
1967: During what became the War of Attrition, “an Egyptian Air Force MiG-21 is shot down by Israeli air defenses while on a reconnaissance mission over el-Qanatra. Two Su-7s equipped with cameras are then sent out to carry out the mission, and manage to complete several turns over Sinai without any opposition. Two other Su-7s are sent for another reconnaissance mission hours later, but are attacked by Israeli Air Force fighter jets. One Su-7 is shot down”
1973(8th of Tammuz, 5733): Ben-Zion Dinur, a Russian born Zionist activist, educator, historian and Israeli politician who had made Aliyah in 1921 passed away.
http://www.knesset.gov.il/mk/eng/mk_eng.asp?mk_individual_id_t=363
1974(18thof Tammuz, 5734): Forty-five year old Mark “Moose” Charlap, the native Philadelphian who composed the music for several Broadway hits, most notably “Peter Pan”, passed away today.
1976: Chaim Herzog, Israel’s chief delegate to the UN met with Secretary Kurt Waldheim today after Waldheim issued a statement calling on the world community “to act urgently against ‘increasingly pervasive and pernicious practice of terrorism.’” The statement was only issued after Waldheim had been criticized by the United States for describing the raid on Entebbe as a “serious violation of the sovereignty of Uganda” without making reference to the hostages facing death at the hands of their captors who had been welcomed by the Ugandans.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that for the sixth successive month this year, Israel's exports exceeded the official target by 20 percent. Israel's foreign currency reserves increased by $11m., reaching $1,034m., a sign of the positive trend in Israel's trade.
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that a facsimile edition of the Aleppo Codex - the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible - was unveiled to the press in Jerusalem. The Aleppo-Codex was written in Palestine in the early tenth century. It is the earliest known Hebrew manuscript comprising the full text of the Tanach. The Codex was taken to Egypt in the eleventh century and then to the Syrian city of Aleppo (hence its name) in the fourteenth century. The Codex was moved to its final, permanent home in Jerusalem in 1958.
1980: The Eldridge Street Synagogue was designated as a New York City Landmark.
1981(6thof Tammuz, 5741): Seventy-nine year old American artist Isaac Soyer, the younger brother of Moses and Raphael Soyer passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/16/obituaries/isaac-soyer-a-painter-of-the-american-scene.html
1986: Kurt Waldheim was inaugurated as President of Austria despite controversy over his service in the Nazi Army during World War II. Waldheim had already served as Secretary-General of the U.N. His Nazi past increased a growing antipathy among some Jews for the international body.
1986(1stof Tammuz, 5746): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1996: Ariel Sharon succeeded Yitzhak Levy as Minister of National Infrastructure.
1997: Sivan Shalom began serving as Deputy Minister of Defense.
1999:The Israeli Supreme Court ruled 2-1 that Israeli citizens can choose either secular or religious dates for their tombstones, thus limiting the power of Orthodox rabbis. Chief Justice Aharon Barak writes:"If, in this non-theocratic state, the court fails to set the limits of religious freedom, we will be totally neglecting the feelings of the population"
2001: “Barenboim plays Wagner Some Israeli listeners protest; most applaud” published today described the reaction to conductor Daniel Barneboim’s decision to play music by Wagner at the Israel Festival for which he received “a standing ovation from most of the audience, but angry shouts from a vocal minority.”
2003: Wikipedia, the informational website, introduced its Hebrew language version.
2004(19th of Tammuz, 5764): Seventy-seven year old Rabbi Albert Hoschander Friedlander passed away. Born in Germany his family escaped to Cuba before finally settling in Vicksburg, MS. After graduating from the University of Chicago and the Hebrew Union College he carved out a career as a leader of the Reform Movement who championed Civil Rights and inter-faith activities that would improve relations between Christians and Jews.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/jul/13/guardianobituaries.germany
2006: Andy Ram became the first Israeli to win a grand slam tennis title when he partnered Russia's Vera Zvonareva to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown.
2007: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including More Sex Is Safer Sex: The Unconventional Wisdom of Economics by Steven E. Landsburg, the Jewish economics professor who also wrote Why Jews Don’t Farm and The Last Novel by David Markson which In rhythm and tonality, if not in content, hints at the incantations of the Kaddish.
2007:TheMarker newspaper won the Platinum Award for the most effective advertising or marketing campaign at the 2007 Effie Awards in Israel. TheMarkerwon the advertising "Oscar" for its campaign marketing the business daily as the strongest financial brand in Israel. The Effie Awards is an annual competition that recognizes the year's best advertisements and marketing campaigns, and is held in over 34 countries around the world.
2008: In Israel, an International Conference on the Dead Scrolls comes to an end.
2008: Ryan “Braun hit his 56th home run in his 200th game, the third-highest total ever in a major leaguer's initial 200 games.”
2008: The New York Times describes the release of the DVD version “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer.”
Among the first features produced in the State of Israel, “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer” was also the last film to be directed by Thorold Dickinson, a British director best known for the gothic thrillers “Gaslight” (1940) and “The Queen of Spades” (1949). “Hill 24,” released in 1955, has no obvious gothic elements but manages to be just as claustrophobic and doom-laden as Dickinson’s more famous films. Dickinson begins with a series of shots of bodies face down in the dust, suggesting that all will not turn out well. Then he shifts into a complex flashback structure, as three members of a small Israeli unit trying to claim a hill overlooking Jerusalem in the last days of the 1947 conflict recount how they came to be there. A former British officer (Edward Mulhare) is drawn to the Israeli cause by his infatuation with a beautiful student (Haya Harareet); an American tourist (Michael Wager) becomes obsessed with visiting the Old City of Jerusalem; an Israeli officer (Arich Lavi) finds himself face to face with a former German soldier fighting on the Palestinian side. If the film was meant as propaganda, it’s of a particularly perverse kind: there are no calls to glory, no heroic exploits to invite imitation, only the spectacle of a few individuals acting on a sense of personal obligation with little expectation of success. Dickinson stages much of the action at night, and the Israeli raid on the Old City becomes a study in combat noir, exploring all the expressionist possibilities of Jerusalem’s narrow streets and vertiginous drop-offs.
2009: In Jerusalem, The Sala Manca Group presents a program entitled “Köken Ergun : 3 Films, Projects and Talk” in which the Istanbul born video artist shows three of his works “I, Soldier,” "Tanklove,” and "Wedding” and then talks about his research and project at Betselem archives, and how those materials relate to his own work.
2010: Samuel Estreicher is scheduled to discuss an amicus brief he filed on behalf of the American Jewish Committee, et al., in the Christian Legal Society v. Martinez Supreme Court case, involving competing values of non-discrimination and freedom of association and the international law aspects of the Gaza blockade at noon time meeting sponsored by The DC Hadassah Attorneys' Council
2010: Brandeis University today named Frederick M. Lawrence, dean of George Washington Law School and a former Boston University law professor, as its eighth president. Lawrence, a prominent civil rights scholar who once headed the national legal affairs committee of the Anti-Defamation League, will succeed long-time president Jehuda Reinharz in January when he steps down after 16 years to lead a Jewish foundation focused on leadership education.
2011: Massada College, which was founded in Adelaide in 1975, and is the only Jewish school in South Australia, is scheduled to cease operating today.
2011: Dan Shapiro was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Israel by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today. (As reported by Jewish Virtual Library)
2011: Jennifer Chaddick and her family are scheduled to participate in Shabbat Eve services at Temple Judah as part of her Bat Mitzvah weekend.
2011: The Israeli trade office in Taiwan said today that it had accepted Taiwan's apology for photos on a government website showing students in Nazi uniforms. "I really appreciate the mature and responsible reactions by the authorities of Taiwan," said Simona Halperin, head of the Israel Economic and Cultural Office.
2011: Police diverted two passenger aircraft that landed at Ben-Gurion International Airport today and detained at least 250 suspected pro-Palestinian activists that landed at the airport for questioning.
2012: The New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Superman, Larry Tye’s definitive work about the comic book creation of Cleveland Jews Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and the recently released paperback edition of Reckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed, and Corruption Created the Worst Financial Crisis of Our Time by Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner
2012: “This History of Invulnerability” by David Bar Katz is scheduled to have its final performance at Theatre J-DCJC.
2012: The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center and the Chicago Yivo Society are scheduled to co-host the Second Annual Sarah Lazarus Memorial Concert.
2012: The State Attorney’s Office will reportedly close the case against former Military Intelligence chief Eli Zeira, who was accused of revealing the identity of Mossad agent Ashraf Marwan during the Yom Kippur War, Channel 2 reported today.
2012: Hamas continues to believe in armed resistance against Israel, a movement spokesman said today, contradicting a statement by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas over the weekend that the Islamic organization prefers non-violent means to combat Israel.
2013: “Wild West Hebron” is among the films scheduled to be shown today at the 30thJerusalem Film Festival.
2013: The government's haredi enlistment bill will be enacted as early as August, Finance Minister Yair Lapid announced today, but more experienced coalition sources doubted he will be able to keep his promise.
2013:An incident of vandalism carried out by a Muslim student at the University of Duisburg-Essen triggered sharp criticism today over the lack of public and university opprobrium toward the apparent criminal act
2014: The 92ndStreet Y is scheduled to host a lecture by Ruth Feldstein entitled “Black Women Entertainers and the Civil Rights Movement.”
2014: The Historic 6th& I Synagogue is scheduled to host Jewish Meditation Sangha.