July 25
306: Constantine I was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops. Under the rule of Constantine, Christianity would in effect become the official religion the Roman Empire. This was the beginning of a downward spiral in the life of European Jewry.No century was more decisive for Jewish-Christian relations than the fourth century. The Edict of Milan issued by Emperor Constantine in 313 CE granted freedom of worship to all religious groups, including Jews. But Christianity quickly was to become the chief beneficiary of this decree, while Jewish fortunes were to sink to a new low. In 323 CE Christianity was granted a special position within the empire. Judaism theoretically continued as a legal religion, but it was frequently abused by Christian preachers and people without any action being taken by the imperial government. By the time Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity on his deathbed in 329, the imperial government had already begun to institute restrictive measures against Jewish privileges. By the end of the fourth century the civil status of Jews was in serious danger and their image had greatly deteriorated. The Jew was now seen as a semi-satanic figure, cursed by God, and specially set apart by the civil government.
404:“Emperors Arcadius and Honorius repeal an earlier law which prohibits the Jewish patriarchs from collecting their own taxes.” (As reported by Austin Cline)
864: Charles the Bald orders defensive measures to be taken against the Viking marauders. Regardless of whatever others may think of him, Charles the Bald, who was King of France, comes up on the plus side in Jewish history when compared to other monarchs since he resisted enforcing the anti-Semitic edicts of the Archbishop of Lyon. Charles motives were political and economic, not religious.
1100: Jewish residents of Haifa joined with the Fatimids of Egypt in defending the city. Tancred, who unsuccessfully attacked Haifa, was reprimanded for his lack of success and told that he made "a mockery of the God of the Christians." Once the city fell, the remaining Jews were massacred by the crusading forces.
1196: Al Mohades despoiled the Jewish community of Castille, taking the Codes Hilleli, a 600 year old Biblical manuscript considered to be the oldest Hebrew copy of the Bible in Spain.
1261: The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos. As head of the Byzantine Empire, Alexios followed the pattern of toleration towards the Jewish people started by his father despite pressure from leaders of the church to do otherwise.
1360: Anti-Jewish riots in Breslau resulted in many deaths and the expulsion of those that remained alive.
1492: The book of Proverbs with commentaries of Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides) and Menham Meiri was published in Leira Portugal by Abraham d’Ortas
1492:Innocent VIII passed away. The Pope’s Jewish doctor had made a last ditch attempt to save Innocent’s life by providing him with a transfusion of human blood. This was an experimental operation and all three attempts failed. The Jewish doctor fled when it did not work.
1547: Coronation of King Henry II of France to whom Italian Rabbi Obadiah ben Jacob Sforno dedicated his commentary on the Book of Ecclesiastes and to whom he sent a copy of Or Ammim which he had translated into Latin.
1572 (5th of Av 5332): Isaac Luria the foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region passes away.. He is considered the father of contemporary Kabbalah. He is known for the interpretation of his teachings in Kabbalah known as Lurianic Kabbalah. There is no way that this simple blog can do justice to his writings and their effect.
1603: James VI of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots is crowned first king of Great Britain and becomes King James I. During his reign Jews were still not allowed to return publicly to England, but there was an active community of Marranos living in the British Isles. Kings James is most famous for the King James Bible, a translation commissioned during his reign completed in 161l. Most Americans, including a large number of Jews, only know the words of this translation of the Bible.
1670: The Jewish community of Vienna was expelled.
1720: A Cuban named Jose Dias Piamena was burned at a grand auto-de-fe in Seville. A pirate, Piamena had been imprisoned in Cadiz. In his cell he wrote an anti-Christian tirade on Isaiah 53. When he escaped from jail, he left a message saying he, "desired to live and die for Judaism." He was sentenced because he had converted to Judaism while in Curacao, and married a Jewish girl.
1739: Fifty-six year old Johann C. Wolf the “German Christian Hebraist” who authored the 4 volume Bibliotheca Hebræa which “brought together almost all the accessible information relating to Jewish authors and their works, as well as to the writings of Christians on Jewish subjects.”
1799: At Aboukir in Egypt, Napoleon defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha. This was part of Napoleon’s opening gambit to fulfill his imperial designs which would include promises during the siege of Acre about the creation of a Jewish home in Palestine.
1804 Jacbo Abraham de Mist, the Dutch commissioner-general issued a proclamation in Cape Town instituting religious equality for all which allowed for the Jews, among others, to practice their religion openly in public.
1818: In Baghdad, David and Hannah Sassoon gave birth to Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon.
1835: The Jews of Hebron were attacked.
1848: Birthdate of Arthur Earl Balfour. Balfour will serve as Prime Minister in the first decade of the twentieth century. But his real claim to fame came during World War I with the issuance of the British policy statement that bears his name – The Balfour Declaration.
1853: Birthdate of theatrical producer and writer, David Belasco. Belasco was highly prolific. He was involved in the production of almost 400 plays during a career that spanned one of the most dynamic periods in American theatrical history. He passed away in 1931
1855: Birthdate of Edward Solomon, the English composer, pianist, and orchestra conductor.Solomon was the composer and first night conductor of two works at the Savoy - The Nautch Girl in 1891 and The Vicar of Bray in 1892.
1857: The New York Times carried a report that an English paper, The Advertiser, says there will be a new election for the city of London because Baron Rothschild had explicitly promised to resign if the bill for the removal of Jewish disabilities was not carried during this session of Parliament.
1858:After a five-and-twenty years' wrangling the admissibility of the Jews to Parliament has been conceded.
1875: Sir Moses Montefiore arrived in Jerusalem.
1878: It was reported today that “some officers of a Jewish synagogue in Liverpool” have recently been “tried for cruelty to animals” because they allowed a bullock to bleed to death “instead of slaughtering him in the usual way. Professional experts testified that there was no cruelty…and the charge was dismissed.”
1879: A report publish today described the desperate conditions in Russia brought on by an extended heat wave and an infestation of locust. Towns in Poland and Lithuania towns “are swarming with…a large…unemployed Jewish population” that has caused the government to establish “more agricultural colonies in the various Provinces” because those created several years ago for the Jews surprisingly enough “have shown signs of prosperity.”
1879(1stof Av, 5739): Rosh Chodesh Av
1880: It was reported today that the Southeby’s has just completed a showing and sale of the works of George Cruikshank whose works include an illustration of Dickens’ “Fagan” – “the foiled Jew sitting in his cell more like an evil bird of prey than any human thing.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cruikshank_fagin_cell.jpg
1881: It was reported today the estate of the late Earl Beaconsfield was valued at approximately £76.687 and after deducting for debts and funerals a net value of £63,312. His executors include Sir Philip Rose, a prominent gentile lawyer and Sir Nathaniel Mayer de Rothschild.
1882(9thof Av, 5642): Tish’a B’Av
1882: The Turkish government added to the list of “bad things” that happened to Jews on the 9th of Av when it barred immigration of Russian and Romanian Jews and forbade the sale of land in Eretz Israel to Jews. The irony is that the Turks feared the Jews because they were Russians. Russia had cast covetous eyes on Turkish territory as it sought a warm water port.
1883: Among those arriving aboard the SS Persian Monarch from England were a Hungarian Jew named Anton Simony along with his wife and two children and Russian Jew named Nathan Smilansky along with his wife and six children. The Hebrew Relief Society of London had paid for their tickets. Both families were destitute. [This is an example of what appears to be a pattern – European Jewish agencies buying tickets for eastern European refugees to make sure they would not settle in English and other cities.]
1883: Maria Kozorswska, a Jewish immigrant who had arrived in the United States from Russia in June, was swindled out of 25 dollars today. For some inexplicable reasons she a stranger the money so that he would buy her a ticket on a steamship that would take her back to Europe.
1884: It was reported today the conspirators who had tried to kill the Czar on his visit to Warsaw planned to start a rebellion in Poland and Western Russia that would include a plundering of the Jews.
1885(13th of Av, 5645): On Shabbat Nachamu, Sir Moses Montefiore passed away at the age of 101. Although he was an English man, Jews celebrated his 100th birthday around the world and his passing was marked in the same way. Born in 1784, Montefiore was a successful businessman and civic leader. He was recognized as a leader of the Jewish community and was knighted in 1837. He was a brother-in-law to the head of the English branch of the House of Rothschild. Montefiore was an observant Jew and a frequent visitor to Eretz Israel. He donated large sums of money for the development of agricultural settlements and built the first modern Jewish housing complex outside the walls of what is called the Old City. In other words, he started the expansion of what is Jerusalem today. He also provided funds for a windmill for grinding corn which is now known as “Montefiore’s Windmill.” It still stands today in Jerusalem as a testament to a man who supported the Jewish homeland and worked to alleviate the suffering of European Jewry.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/montefiore.html
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112353/jewish/Sir-Moses-Montefiore.htm
http://www.teachittome.com/seforim2/seforim/diaries_of_sir_moses_and_lady_montefiore_1.pdf
1886: “Baron de Worm’s Suit” published today provides details of the divorce action brought Baron Henry de Worms. He sued his wife Baroness Fannie de Worms (nee Von Todesco) on grounds of adultery and named Mortiz von Leon as correspondent. The Baron is a member of a prominent Jewish family and a Member of Parliament. His wife was an Austrian Jewess. At the end of the hearing the President of the court granted the petition and awarded custody of the children to the father.
1886: Jacob Novek and Samuel Sturmak two Russian Jewish peddlers went to the police station in New York and asked when the balloon would be leaving for Hamburg. They explained that any single person who made the trip would be paid five hundred dollars and married travelers would be paid one thousand dollars. The two said they were willing to go since they were starving. The police made inquiries and discovered that the two immigrants were the victims of a hoax perpetrated by a boy who ran a soda water stand on Canal Street.
1888: “Put Salt in the Water” published today described a scheme to victimize poor east side Jews seeking relief on excursion to Raritan Beach.
1889: Herzl married Julie Naschauer in Reichenau. The young couple traveled to Switzerland and France and awaited the completion of their home in Vienna.
1889: Ohaveth Sholum (lovers of peace) was founded today in Seattle, Washington, making it the first Jewish congregation in the state’s largest city.
1890: “For Charity’s Sake” published today described the upcoming fund-raiser that B’nai Brith is sponsoring for the benefit of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews at Yonkers.
1891: All but two of the members of the United States Immigration Commission returned to London from Liverpool today where they have been investigating the involvement of the steamship companies and railways in sending “pauper immigrants” to the United States including Jews who had originally lived in Russia.
1892(1st of Av, 5652): Rosh Chodesh Av
1892(1st of Av, 5652): Washington Nathan died today in Boulogne, France. Nathan was the son of Benjamin Nathan, the prominent New Yorker, whose murder 12 years ago has never been solved. There are those who are still convinced that Washington Nathan was involved in his father’s murder.
1892: Modest Aronstam arrived in Pittsburgh intending to finish the botched attempt on the life on Henry Clay Frick but panicked and went back to New York when newspaper articles identified him as a possible assassin
1893: A crowd of about 2,000, a third of whom were Jewish immigrants listened to the band concert tonight at Paradise Park.
1893(12thof Av, 5653): Eighty-four year old Asher Kursheedt passed away in New York City.
1894(21st of Tammuz, 5654): Fifty-two year old Dr. Isidor Cohnstein, the husband of Ida Cohnstein, who was an author as well as a physician passed away today in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany
1895: The Sanitarium for Hebrew Children’s rail excursion is scheduled to leave this morning at 9:20.
1895: It was reported today that out of the nearly five million people in Belgium only 4,000 are Jews.
1896: On Shabbat, striking Jewish tailors and those who had not yet joined the strike, attended a mass meeting at Walhalla Hall
1896: The Chairman of the State Board of Mediation and Arbitration offered his services to the General Executive Committee of the Brotherhood of Tailors, most of whom were Jewish in an effort to end their strike with their employers.
1897: The funeral services for Lewis May are scheduled to be held at 11 A.M. this morning at Temple Emanu-El the congregation he served as President up until the time of his death.
1897: A party of thirty young Jewish men and women who were enjoying “some refreshments” after having visited the New Mount Sinai Cemetery at Woodside were accosted by a man claiming to be a police officer who said he would arrest them “unless he was paid to leave them alone.”
1898: In Hoboken, NJ, during a dispute over landownership, workmen arrived at the Moses Montefiore Congregation and used jack-screws to raise the building thirty feet in the aire.
1900: Percy George de Worms married Sir Harry Simeon Samuel’s only daughter, Nora, today. Although he was an English barrister and philatelist he was descended from Austrian nobility; his great-grandfather having been made a Baron by Emperor Franz Joseph.
1903: “Theodor Herzl arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia to intervene with the Russian government to life the prohibition of Zionist activities and stop the persecution of Zionists.”
1903: At the Sun-Rise Hill Climb near Edgehill in Warwickshire Dorothy Levitt was the official passenger of S.F. Edge because her Gladiator was a non-starter. Levit was born Dorothy Elizabeth Levi, the daughter of a tea dealer named Jacob Levi.
1905: In Ruse, Bulgaria, Jacques Canetti and Mathilde née Arditti gave birth to Elias Canetti who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.
1907: Birthdate of actor Jack Gilford. Born Jacob Gellman in New York City, Gilford’s "rubber-face" led him to play numerous character roles in films, televisions and commercials. One of his most famous roles was in “Cocoon” where he played the role of a gravelly voiced "doubting Thomas.”
1915: Sephardic Bikur Holim Synagogue opens in Seattle, Washington.
1915: In Chicago, a special summer course sponsored by HUC came to a close today.
1918: Louis N. Hammerling, President of the of Association of Foreign Language Newspapers was arrested today on a charge of him criminally libeling Vaclav G. Hajek a former investigator for the Department of Justice.
1921: Birthdate of Murray Handwerker, “who transformed his father’s Brooklyn hot dog business, Nathan’s Famous, into a celebrated national fast-food chain.”
1923: Birthdate of “David Gerber, an Emmy- and Peabody Award-winning television producer who brought forward-thinking series like “Police Story” and “Police Woman” to prime time in the 1970s and produced more than 50 television films and mini-series during a four-decade career.”
1924: Birthdate of Hans Arnold Wangersheim who fled to the United States from Nazi Germany as a 13-year-old and as Arnold Hans Weiss returned as an American soldier during World War II, becoming a principal in the investigation that led to the discovery of Hitler’s last will and political testament.”
1925: In Ohio, the Sandusky Star Journal ran “an uncredited illustration of Louis Wolheim.
1926: Birthdate of Ray Solomonoff, the son of Julius and Sarah Solomonoff, “the inventor of algorithmic probability, and founder of algorithmic information theory, who was an originator of the branch of artificial intelligence based on machine learning, prediction and probability.”
1927: The Jewish Telegraphic Agency announced that “Nathan Straus will build a $75,000 health center” at Tel Aviv. Straus has already funded a similar clinic in Jerusalem.
1928: Birthdate of “Igor Birman, a Russian émigré economist who virtually predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union years before its fall.”
1929:Ahdut HaAvoda and Hapoel HaTzair, the two major labor parties in Eretz Israel officially merge.
1929:Tzom Tammuz, 5689
1929: Birthdate of Yosef Alon, an Israeli Air Force officer, who was murdered in suburban Maryland while serve as Air Attaché. The murder has never been solved.
1931(11th of Av, 5691):Dr. Lee K. Frankel passed away.
1934: The Nazis attempted to overthrow the Austrian government. Chancellor Dollfus was assassinated, but the putsch failed and Kurt von Schuschnigg was appointed Chancellor. He in turn tried his best to curtail Nazi influence in Austria.
1935: Birthday of Larry Sherry. Along with his brother Norm, they formed an all Jewish battery combo that led the L.A. Dodgers to the World Series Championship in 1959.
1938: Fifty three persons were killed and fifty-eight were today as a bomb exploded at the entrance of the Arab market in the heart of Haifa. While Arabs rioted in response to the violence, Jewish newspapers called for an investigation to find out who was responsible “demanding that the guilty parties, whether Jew or Arab, be brought to justice.”
1938(25th of Tammuz, 5698: A Jewish farmer was killed by a land mine planted near Ein Vered and Jewish guard was killed at Kfar Haroesh when he was attacked by a band of 25 armed Arabs.
1938: A group of Jewish laborers were fired on this morning as they worked in quarry in Tiberias. One worker was killed and another was wounded.
1938: Tonight, the National Council of Palestine Jews issued a proclamation holding the Arabs accountable for the horrific outbreak of violence in Haifa saying that “the outrages” were an attempt to bring about a civil war in Palestine.
1939(9th of Av, 5699):Tish'a B'Av
1940: French army officer and rabbi, David Feuerwerker was demobilized today following France’s defeat by Germany. He was awarded the Croix de guerre with a bronze star for his service as chief of artillery communications during which he showed “drive, courage”…and contributed to maintain “the fighting spirit” of those around him.
1940:A cable from Simon Davidovitch Kremer, Secretary to the Soviet Military Attaché in London specifically identified Ivor Montagu as the head of the X Group spy ring “Ivor Montagu (brother of Lord Montagu) sic, the well-known local communist, journalist and lecturer.”
1941: “Immediately after the Germans occupied the city of Lvov, Ukrainian militia commanders proclaimed Petliura Day (in memory of the Ukrainian nationalist hero who was assassinated in 1926 during his exile in Paris by a Jewish avenger) and embarked on a three day pogrom that massacred 6,000 Jews.
1941: In five separate incidents, Jews in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, throw gasoline bombs at Nazi cars.
1941: A two day long Pogrom began in Kovno, Lithuania which would claim the life of 3, 800Jews.
1942: In Belgium, The Jewish Council completed a comprehensive list of the names and addresses of approximately 56,000 Jews living in the country. The SS ordered the creation of the list which was no available through existing governmental channels since Belgium did not track citizens by their religious affiliation. The SS told the Jews they needed the list so they could organize labor groups to be sent East to work. When the Jewish Council did not produce the list quickly enough, the SS threatened to start grabbing Jews off the street and shipping them East regardless of age, sex or physical description. What the Jewish Council did not know was that the SS was implementing the first steps of the Final Solution that had been agreed to in January, 1942. This list of Jews would in fact be used to prepare the transports for Auschwitz.
1943: Mussolini was dismissed from office. It was hoped that his downfall would ease the situation for Italy's Jews. In point of fact, things would actually get worse as the Nazis seized control of the Italian mainland.
1943: John Garfield and his wife Roberta Seidman gave birth to their second child and only son David Garfield whose middle name was Patton in honor of the famous general.
1943: Birthdate of actress Janet Margolin. Born in New York City, she first gained popular acclaim for her role in the 1962 film David & Lisa.
1944: Three tankers carrying more than 1600 Jews from the Italian-held island of Rhodes stop at the island of Kos, where 94 additional Jews are forced aboard
1944: Thirty-one faked postcards from deportees arrive at the Lódz (Poland) Ghetto. The writers claim to have been happily resettled, when in reality they have been gassed at Chelmno.
1944: Lord Walter Moyne, chief British official in the Middle East, finally approves British military training for Jewish Palestinians who are being sent on suicide missions into Occupied Europe. He writes: "The scheme would remove from Palestine a number of active and resourceful Jews.... The chances of many of them returning in the future to give trouble in Palestine seem slight."
1945: Following duty in England and on the Seine River, the SS President Warfield arrived at Norfolk, Virginia. After deactivation and re-sale, the President Warfield would gain fame as the SS Exodus.
1945: Kurt Gerstein, the former head of the Waffen-SSInstitute of Hygiene in Berlin and an advocate of euthanasia hangs himself in prison.
1946: Theodore Levin was confirmed by the United States Senate to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan vacated by Edward Julien Moinet.
1946: Dean Martin (the Italian crooner) and Jerry Lewis (the Jewish clown) perform together for the first time. During the next ten years, Martin and Lewis would move from clubs, to movies to a hit television program.
1948: During Operation Shoter, Israeli forces renewed their attack on an area south of Haifa known as the “Little Triangle.”
1950: The government of Lebanon protested to the United Nations claiming that an Israeli fighter plane had crossed into its territory and fired on a civilian airliner. According to the Israelis, the airliner had violated Israel’s airspace when it flew over the northern Galilee. When the plane failed to obey signals to land, the Israeli fighter fired warning shots. The Israelis said they also planned to file a protest with the UN.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported from Poland that former SS General Jurgen Stroop and Captain Franz Konrad were sentenced to death in Warsaw for the extermination of the Jewish population of the Warsaw Ghetto. In Jaffa, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, addressing a crowd of 10,000, mostly new immigrants, insisted that food and other government controls were necessary to fulfill the aim of reaching a population of two million and to establish 1,000 new settlements, even if this meant a temporary shortage of food and housing. "The newcomers will build their own homes and will grow their own food," he concluded.
1952: Birthdate of Ephraim “Effi” Eitam, the native of kibbutz Ein Gev whose political career has included membership in the Knesset from 2003 until 2009
1956: The Jordanians attacked UN Palestine truce keepers.
1957: The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed. Despite the fact that Jews like André Barouche had played an active role in Tunisia’s struggle for independence and the fact that it was a Pierre Mendes France, the Jewish Prime Minister of France, who granted Tunisia her independence, the conditions for Tunisia’s Jews deteriorated rapidly. The newly chosen President, Habib Bourguiba “ordered the dissolution of all Jewish organizations into one body known as the Jewish Religious Council, the members of which were appointed by the President...Under an order for slum clearance, the ancient Jewish quarter was razed to the ground, thereby demolishing the oldest and most historic synagogue in Tunis.” Things were so bad that 40,000 Jews (about 40% of the 1948 Jewish population) left for Israel. (This is the Refugee Problem that nobody talks about)
1958(8th of Av, 5718): Movie mogul, Harry Morris Warner passed away. Along with his three brothers, Harold Warner founded Warner Brothers Studio in 1923. These Jews made American movies. There first major star was a dog, “Rin Tin Tin.” The canine hero made 26 films for them and these hits were a big help in providing cash for the brothers. Warner Brothers took a gamble in 1927 and produced the first talking motion picture, The Jazz Singer. Harold apparently was not originally enthusiastic about the project since one of his most famous quotes is, "Who wants to hear actors talk?"
1959(19th of Tammuz, 5719: Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog passed away. Rabbi Herzog was the second Chief Rabbi of Israel, serving from 1936 until his death in 1959 at the age of 71. Born in Poland 1888, the son of a rabbi, Herzog spent his childhood in England and France. A brilliant student, he completed the study of the Talmud at the age of 16. He pursued secular academic excellence as well, earning a doctorate from London University. His thesis was uniquely Jewish – "The Dyeing of Purple in Ancient Israel." Herzog served as the Chief Rabbi of the Irish Free State before moving to Palestine to succeed the great Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Herzog worked diligently to try and save Jewish children trapped in Europe. After the creation of the state of Israel, he was faced with the challenge of applying halachah to life in a modern Jewish state, something nobody had done since the fall of Jerusalem in 70. His two most famous works are Main Institutions of Jewish Law and his responsa entitled Hekhal Yitzhak. Herzog’s life is life is a testament to the best in combining Orthodoxy and Zionism.
http://www.jta.org/1960/07/11/archive/first-anniversary-of-death-of-chief-rabbi-herzog-observed-in-israel
http://www.archives.gov.il/ArchiveGov_Eng/Publications/ElectronicPirsum/RabbiHerzog/
1960(1st of Av, 5720): Rosh Chodesh Av
1964: Birthdate José Joaquín Bautista Arias who may have been the only Jewish baseball player from the Dominican Republic to pitch in the Major Leagues.
1964: In Washington, DC, Harvey M. Applebaum, a Covington and Burling partner, and Elizabeth Applebaum of the Corcoran Gallery of Art gave birth to Pulitzer-prize winning author Anne Elizabeth Applebaum.
1965: Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman) goes electric as he plugs in at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
1969: As Operation Boxer continues, IAF aircraft continue to pound Egyptian positions.
1969: In Highland Park, Illinois, Elise and Henry Loeb gave birth to screenwriter and producer Allan Loeb
1976:The Jerusalem Post reported that the Asian Games Federation resolved that it was in the interest of Israel and for the safety of other nations' athletes that Israel should not participate in the 1978 Asian Games. [In the early days of the War on Terror, this is an easy victory for the forces of terror.] The Defense Ministry announced that it intended to allow Arabs living in Southern Lebanon to work inside Israel and that there would be no discrimination between Christians and Moslems willing to come. Israel had also sent truckloads of food to the Lebanese civil war victims. [This would be the start of what was known as The Good Fence Policy.] In his address to the Israeli Press Council, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin severely criticized the country's press and other media for "failing to check facts and for not presenting a balanced picture of news."
1976 (27th of Tammuz, 5736): One soldier was killed and three more were wounded when a terrorist set off a bomb in a restaurant in Batala.
1976: The first performance of the Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach
1979: Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
1981: On the second day of The Battle of Bint Jbeil Brigadier General Gal Hirsch prematurely announced that the town had been taken.
1981(23rd of Tammuz, 5741): Former MK Yosef Goldschmidt passed away today. Born at Frankfurt in 1907, he was certified as a high school science teacher before he made Aliyah in 1935. After leaving the Knesset, he served as Deputy Mayor Jerusalem.
1990: Roseanne “Barr performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" before a baseball game between the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds at Jack Murphy Stadium.”
1991(14thof Av, 5751): Ninety-seven year old Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich, one of the last of the original Bolshevik revolutionaries passed away today. (As reported by Francis X. Clines)
http://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/27/obituaries/l-m-kaganovich-stalwart-of-stalin-dies-at-97.html
1993: The IDF crosses into Lebanon in Operation Accountability. The week long incursion was brought on by Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israeli settlements and the PLFP’s a killing of Israeli soldiers.
1994: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan's King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries' 46-year-old state of war.
1996: Yakov Kreizberg performed the United Kingdom premiere of Berthold Goldschmidt's Passacaglia op.4 today in the presence of the composer just months before he died.
1996(9thof Av, 5756): Tish’a B’Av
1996:In an article entitled “Jewish Studies: Part of the Canon,” Jonathan Mahler warns that “the quarrel at Queens College over the selection of a non-Jewish professor to lead the school's Jewish studies program provides a lesson in the dangers of combining academic disciplines with identity politics. “
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/07/25/opinion/jewish-studies-part-of-the-canon.html?pagewanted=print&src=pm
1997: In Jerusalem, The Dead Sea Scrolls: Fifty Years After Their Discovery a conference organized by Emanuel Tov came to an end.
1999: The New York Times featured an article entitled “Streetscapes /Giorgio Cavaglieri; Near 88, a Preservationist Is Still a Maverick describing the importance of the Jewish, Italian born, architect.
1999: The New York Times features reviews books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg by Christopher Ogden and recently released paperback edition of The Process: 1,100 Days That Changed the Middle East by Uri Savir
2000: The Trilateral Statement on the Middle East Peace Summit at Camp David was issued today.
http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/nea/rls/22698.htm
2000: The INS Tkuma was commissioned today.
2001: The SS Regent Sun formerly the SS Shalom of the Israeli Zim line, sank off the coast of South Africa.
2001: “Issues in Jewish Philosophy,” a colloquium sponsored by The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) came to a close today.
2001: After four hours of searching for the body of Chandra Levy under a broiling summer sun in Rock Creek Park, 28 police candidates break off the hunt not knowing that that missing interns body was a mere 79 yards below the trail where they had stopped.
2002: In Amsterdam, the seventh conference of The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) under the presidency of Professor Albert van der Heide came to an end.
2003(25thof Tammuz, 5763): Seventy-seven year old film director John Schlesinger passed away today.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/jul/26/guardianobituaries.filmnews
2003: Gesher gives its last performance of “Shoshah” a play based on a novel of the same name by Isaac B. Singer at the Lincoln Center in New York City.
2004: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent Into Power and Influence Connie Bruck’s ''fascinating book which is a methodical portrait of an often secretive mogul whose vindictiveness, cunning and temper matched his shrewdness and prescience.''
2006(29th of Tammuz, 5766):Seventy-eight year old Professor Ezra Fleischer, an Israeli poet whose scholarly work re-defined views on the antiquity of prayer, passed away today.(As reported by Ari L. Goldman)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/01/arts/01fleischer.html
2006: Eliot Spitzer took part in a gubernatorial debate at Pace University prior to the Democratic primary which is scheduled for September.
2006: At Jerusalem’s Confederation House, the third and last concert in the series based on baskot (requests), songs of supplication traditionally sung during the early hours of Shabbat morning in Middle Eastern Jewish communities.
2006: The following were among a total of 43 Israeli civilians (including four who died of heart attacks during rocket barrages) and 116 IDF soldiers were killed in the Israel-Hezbollah war:Doua Abbas, 15, of Mughar; David Mazen, 75, of Haifa.
2006: Blu Greenberg, best known for her work on behalf of feminism within Orthodox Judaism, was honored with Hadassah's highest honor, the Henrietta Szold award for outstanding leadership in the Jewish community. Greenberg, who shared the award jointly with her husband, Rabbi Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, thus joined a list of prominent world leaders—from Elie Wiesel to Yitzchak Rabin, Shimon Peres, and Golda Meir—to be so honored
2007: In Jerusalem, a celebration of International Jewish Music entitled “Come to the Jewish Music Marathon,” features Jewish musicians from around world including, Daniel Kahan of Germany, PSOY of Russia, DJ Yonatan from Oi Va Voi of England, Trio Karfion of Israel, and Oy Devision of Israel.
2007: The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's traveling exhibition Fighting the Fires of Hate: America and the Nazi Bookburning opens in Baltimore, at the Enoch Pratt Free Library.
2008: A powerful explosion ripped through a car on a busy Gaza City killing four and wounding 23, Hamas security officials said. It was the third mysterious blast of the day in Gaza after a relatively calm period that has followed a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. No one in Gaza blamed Israel for the violence and it is likely internal Palestinian battles.
2008: At Manhattan’s Museum of Jewish Heritage, an exhibition that tells the story of Jewish refugees who took Trujillo up on his offer and settled in the town of Sosua, on the Dominican Republic’s northeastern shore comes to an end.
2009: A screening of “Rachel.” a controversial film that purports to investigate the death of anti-Israel activist Rachel Corrie, is scheduled to take place the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.
2009:In the following article entitled “Shabbat special for C.R. congregation,” Molly Rossiter of the Gazette describes upcoming events at Temple Judah.
The Shabbat service on Aug. 1 at Temple Judah will have triple significance for the congregation there. The Shabbat is the first for the congregation’s new rabbi, Todd Thalblum. The day also marks the Shabbat Nachamu, the Sabbath of Consolation, which follows the Jewish fast of Tishah B’Av, the first of seven services leading up to Rosh Hashanah. And for the third year, it is also the Raoul Wallenberg Sabbath, a day marked by Gov. Chet Culver in 2007 to remember the man who helped the Jews in Budapest avoid the concentration camps. Thalblum joins the congregation after being named rabbi last month. Thalblum, 41, last served a congregation in Texas. He said last month that he was “looking forward” to returning to the Midwest and to serving as rabbi at Temple Judah. “The first priority is going to be getting to know the congregation, that’s going to come first,” he said. But he plans to get actively involved fairly early in community interests, as well. “The congregation has talked very much about what they’ve enjoyed about the rabbi being involved in the community,” he said.
2009:This year’s “World Outgames,” a festival of sports and culture hosted by the gay community in a different city every four years opens in Copenhagen where it pays tribute to Tel Aviv’s Centennial celebration by converting on of Copenhagen’s canal into a Tel Aviv Beach and hosting leading Israeli artists, Israeli music and beach games.
2009: In Jerusalem“Beit Avi Chai's Saturday night music line, directed by Shaanan Street, presents Amir Lev in a new concert marking the release of his album Hakol Kan. The concert features familiar and new songs about the lives of ordinary people, with their laughter and tears. The concert will include a special piyyut for Tisha B’Av.”
2010: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including The Cookbook Collector by Allegra Goodman and Dreyfus: Politics, Emotion, and the Scandal of the Century by Ruth Harris
2010: Hadassah 95th annual convention opened today.
2010: “Jews and Baseball: An American Love Story” premiered at the Stony Brook Film Festival
2010:During the afternoon session of the annual Hadassah Convention, Deborah Rosenbloom, Jewish Women International (JWI) program director, was a presenter at a workshop that will provide resources and a Jewish context for parents to help their daughters identify and develop healthy relationships entitled “Dating, Sex and Love: How to Help Our Daughters Develop Healthy Relationships,” based on two national curricula—Love Shouldn’t Hurt and Strong Girls, Healthy Relationships.
2010:Israel and the United States signed an agreement today under which the Defense Ministry will receive full funding for the development and production of the Arrow 3 ballistic missile defense system. The agreement was signed in Tel Aviv by head of the ministry’s MAFAT Research and Development Directorate, Brig.-Gen. Ofir Shoham, and the head of the US Missile Defense Agency, Lt.-Gen. Patrick O’Reilly.
2010: The ninth congress of The European Association for Jewish Studies (EAJS) opened today in Ravenna
2010:First Annual New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair presented by ASF opened at noon today.
2010:Rabbi Manfred Gans announced his retirement after 60 years behind the pulpit that now stands in Forest Hills.
2011: The Silver-Garburg Piano Duo is scheduled to perform at Mannes College The New School for Music. “Sivan Silver, born in Israel in 1976, and Gil Garburg, born in Israel in 1975, studied with Prof. Arie Vardi at Tel-Aviv University and at the “Musikhochschule” in Hanover, Germany.”
2011: Israeli born dancer and choreographer Dana Ruttenberg is scheduled to conduct a Contemporary Dance Workshop at the Peridance Capezio Center in New York City.
2011:The chairman of the Israel Medical Association, Dr. Leonid Eidelman, announced that he was going on a hunger strike today to protest the state of the health care system in Israel, after exhausting all efforts to reach a negotiated agreement with the Finance Ministry
2011:After 5 protesters were arrested for blocking traffic in Jerusalem this morning, at least 200 protesters demonstrating against soaring rent prices gathered in Kikar Paris outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem today, blocking traffic on Aza Road.
2011: Nobel prize winning economist Joseph “Stiglitz participated in the "I Foro Social del 15M" organized in Madrid (Spain) expressing his support for the 2011 Spanish protests.”
2011: The first ever reunion of the Ritchie Boys, a unique intelligence unit that served in Europe from D-Day to VE-Day came to a close today at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan.
2012: The North American Premiere of “Ameer Got His Gun” and the West Coast Premiere of “Just 45 Minutes from Broadway” are scheduled to take place at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2012: In New Orleans, Gates of Prayer and Beth Israel are scheduled to present part 2 of Tevye’s World, their combined continuing education program. (For more about Jewish life in the Big Easy,
2012: Israel’s gas mask distribution centers are reporting a significant rise in the number of civilians seeking protection against chemical weapons. Over the past two days distribution centers gave out 3,700 gas mask kits each day, Maariv reported today. By comparison, since the beginning of February 2010 the distribution centers, located in post offices and malls around the country, distributed kits to about 2,200 people a day.(As reported by Stuart Winer)
2012: “Mogul’s Latest Foray Courts Jews for G.O.P.” published today described Sheldon Adelson’s multi-million dollar effort to gain Jewish votes for Mitt Romney.
2012: White House counter-terrorism adviser John Brennan arrived in Israel today for talks with several senior officials, according to a statement from the National Security Council spokesman. (As reported by Sam Ser)
2012: Under the Lone Star, the Star of David is blessed when Abbie and Feivel Strauss gave birth to their first child this evening in Houston, TX. Mother and son are doing well as is the dad and the proud maternal grandparents Dr. Bob & Laurie Silber.
2012: Former Citigroup chairman Sanford Weill publicly changed his views on banks as the financial supermarket, when he told CNBC that “what we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking, have banks be deposit takers, have banks make commercial loans and real estate loans, have banks do something that’s not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not too big to fail."
2012(6th of Av, 5772): Sixty-four year old Suzy Gersham the author of 16 “Born to Shop Guides” including Born to Shop New York passed away today in San Antonio, TX. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2013: “Next Stop, Greenwich Village,” “a semi-autobiographical account of Paul Mazursky’s life” is scheduled to be shown this evening as part of the Only In New York Summer Film Series
2003: The 17th annual Jerusalem 3x3 Streetball tournament at Safra Square is scheduled to come to an end today.
2013: After a busy year that has included a trip to Jerusalem and a move to Columbus, Ohio, Jacob Strauss celebrates his first birthday.
2013: In the southern Russian state of Dagestan, Rabbi Ovadia Eisekoff, a Chabad “emissary in the city of Derbent who was shot in the chest by an unkown assailant was taken to a hospital for emergency treatment at 1 a.m. this morning.
2013: Following an increase in violence that has included a double homicide two days ago and a stabbing last week, authorities in Jerusalem are stepping up their patorls in the Israeli capital. (As reported by Daniel Eisenbud)
2014: Following services at Riverside Memorial Chapel, Madeline Amgott, one of the female pioneers in the field of television news production is scheduled to be interred at Beth Israel Cemetery in Norwalk, CT.