August 6
412:Roman emperors Honorius and Theodosius II command that Jews should not be persecuted because of their religion or have their property confiscated without cause but Jews are warned not “to disrespect Christianity.(As reported by Austin Cline)
475: Among the edicts issued by Emperors Theodosius II and Valentinian III is one banning Jews from own Christian slaves. (As reported by Austin Cline)
1223: Coronation of Louis VIII, the French monarch “who issued an ordinance that prohibited his officials from recording debts owed to Jews” which deprived the Jews of income and set him at odds with Theobald IV, the powerful Count who ruled Champagne.
1243: After a ritual murder accusation in Kitzingen, Bavaria (Germany), fifteen Jews were tortured to death. Their corpses lay in the street for a fortnight before they were allowed to be buried.
1284: Genoa defeated Pisa at the Battle of Meloria. This battle took place when Genoa was at the height of period “mercantile expansion.” According to Cecil Roth, “Genoa was on the least hospitable and tolerant of Italian states as far as the Jews were concerned.” Not only did the Genoese not encourage the settlement of Jews, they may have actually actively discouraged them from settling so as to avoid introducing business competitors. There was no organized Jewish community in Genoa at this time and in fact, there may have only been two Jews living there. By the 13th century evidence exists that Pisa did have an organized Jewish community of at least 20 families.There are Jewish tombstones embedded in the town walls that date back to the middle of the 13th century. And a synagogue may have been located on the “Alley of the Jews” during this time.
1301(23rdof Av, 5061): Rabbi David ben Avraham Maimuni HaNagid passed away. Known variously as David Maimuni or Rabbi David Hanagid, this Rabbi was the grandson of the Rambam He was born in 1233 and followed in the footsteps of his grandfather and father as Nagid or "Prince" over the Jewish congregations in Egypt cave of Meron cave of Rabbi Hillel Egypt Nile , you were drowned." It was specifically Hillel who confronted Pharaoh's skull, since as a reincarnation of Moses he was fit to confront Pharaoh.
1414: Ladsilas, the King of Naples offered the Jews a charter which would have given them economic equality, passed away.
1492: Following the issuance of the order expelling the Jews from Spain, today, “Infante Henry ordered the Catalonian officials to transfer to him the property of the Jews expelled from Jaca.´(Jewish Virtual Library)
1527: R. Samuel Margolioth of Posen was confirmed as chief rabbi of Great Poland, and was vested with important powers over all the Jews of that district by a document issued by Sigismund I bearing today’s date.
1724(17thof Av,5484):Sixty-six year old Samson Wertheimer who was chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt as well as an Austrian financier, court Jew and Shtadlan to Austrian Emperor Leopold I passed away in Vienna.
1762: Myth meets myth. According to the non-Jewish world the sandwich was born today when the Earl of Sandwich has a servant bring him a piece of meat between two slices of bread so that he can eat without leaving the gambling tables. As anybody who has ever attended a Seder, the Earl was a Johnny-come-lately since Hillel began eating his sandwich – bitter herbs between two pieces of Matzah – during the days of the Second Temple. The Earl of Sandwich was also the First Lord of the Admiralty during the American Revolution. As such, he had to deal with Admiral Rodney who was involved in the only overtly anti-Semitic act during that conflict.
1775: Birthdate of Irish reformer Daniel O’Connell known for fighting for Catholic Emancipation but who also supported the rights of Irish Jews and in 1846 insisted on the repeal of “De Judaismo” which “prescribed a special dress for Jewish. He claimed that Ireland was “the only country unsullied by any one act of persecution of the Jews.”
1789: Birthdate of Solomon Ludwig (Levy) Steinheim whose poems included Sinai and Obadjah Sohn Amos Lieder aus der Verbannung and whose contribution to philosophy is memorialized by the creation of The Salomon Ludwig Steinheim Institute of the University of Duisburg-Essen in Duisburg Germany
1799(5th of Av, 5559):Marcus Elieser Bloch the German physician who was one of the leading ichthyologists of the 18thcentury “whose collection of 1500 specimens is preserved at the Museum for Natural History at Humboldt University in Berlin passed away today.
1806: Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire. But this was not a great loss to this European monarch since he had already declared himself Francis I, Emperor of the Austrian Empire in 1804. It was in this more powerful role that he would have an effect on the life of European Jews, For example, in 1820, Francis I of Austria Padua
1810: Rabbi Issachar Dov Baer of Zloczow, author of Mevas-ser Zedek passed away
1819: Norwich University founded in Vermont. Rabbi Ken Spiro, the Jewish historian, has a Masters Degree in History from The Vermont College of Norwich University.
1825: Bolivia Spain Santa Cruz
1840: As Europeans – Jews and non-Jews – attempted to deal with the Blood Libel in Damascus, Moses Montefiore sought an interview with Mehmet Ali in Cairo. When the two met Montefiore “handed him a petition in the name of the Jewish community rerrqauestion permission to go to Damasacus” so he could investigate the charges that had been. The Jewish leaders need a guarantee of safe conduct so that they could meet with prisoners.
1842(30th of Av, 5602): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1847(24thof Av, 5607): Baltimore communal leaders Samuel Etting passed away at the age of 83.“Maryland had a ban on non-Christians holding office or practicing law, and from 1797, Etting campaigned persistently to have this barrier removed. He finally succeeded in 1826 and was immediately elected to the Baltimore City Council. By the time of his election the American Jewish population numbered 6,000.”
1855: Birthdate of Sir Isaac Alfred Isaacs. The son of a Polish Jew named Alfred Isaacs, Sir Isaac “was an Australian judge and politician, was the third Chief Justice of Australia, ninth Governor-General of Australia and the first born in Australia to occupy that post.”
1857:The New York Timesreported that Baron Rothschild had resigned his seat in the House of Commons and a noticed had been posted for the election of a replacement. A public meeting of electors in London pledged to return Rothschild to his seat in Parliament and called upon Lord Russell to resolve the matter that was keeping Jews from serving in Parliament.
1858: After a five-and-twenty years' wrangling the admissibility of the Jews to Parliament has been conceded.
1863: As part of the day of National Thanksgiving which was celebrated today Rabbi Samuel Isaacs of B’nai Jeshurun addressed his congregation in New York City.
1865: Jacob Schiff came to the United States arriving today in New York City.
1867: Isaac and Julia Elkus gave birth to Abram I. Elkus, the New York lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire during World War I. “In 1902, Elkus' firm James, Schell & Elkus, merged with a firm headed by Joseph M. Proskauer, creating the firm of Elkus, Gleason & Proskauer, a predecessor of the law firm of Proskauer Rose.”
1867: Solomon and Betty Loeb gave birth to their second son, James Loeb who joined Kuhn, Loeb & Co in 1888 and became a partner in 1894 before retiring because of health problems in 1904. A patron of the arts, he endowed the Loeb Classical Library founded the Institute of Musical Art, which later became part of the Juilliard School of Music
1871: It was reported today that The Jewish Messenger has proposed a national conference aimed a promoting “the unity and welfare of the Hebrews” living in the United States. Among the proposals that the Messenger feels should be considered are that delegates from the various congregations from across the country should meet regularly to discuss measures that would “bring order from chaos, union from discord” as regards the differences between different Jewish groups and that efforts should be started to provide trained rabbis who can meet the needs of the American Jewish community,
1873: Approximately 700 Jewish youngsters including students who attend the six New York schools that make up the Free Hebrew Association and the children living at the Jewish Orphan Asylum and Industrial School went on an excursion up the Hudson River to Excelsior Park. Among those traveling with this well behaved group were Abraham Oetlinger, President of the Hebrew Free School Associations and several Jewish philanthropists who had raised the funds for the trip.
1878: The case of Lewinski v Lewinski is scheduled to be held in Brooklyn, New York. Mrs. Josephine Lewinski is suing her husband Philip Lewinski for divorce. As part of the divorce decree she is seeking alimony and the payment of her legal fees. The Lewinski’s are both Jewish. Six years ago, when Lewinski was a successful businessman he met Josephine Schauffer at the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, where she was a ward. The trustees gave them permission to marry after Lewinski told them that he loved her and she had happily consented to the marriage. However, Lewinski’s business affairs went sour and he became a counterfeiter. He was caught and imprisoned. Mrs. Lewinski stood by him and went to various officials seeking his release. After he got out of prison, he began spending time with his old associates which is why she is seeking a divorce.
1879: The Congressional Medal of Honor was issued to David Orbansky who had served with 58th Ohio Infantry during the Civil War was it fought its way down the Mississippi River starting with the Battle of Shiloh in 1862.
1881: It was reported today that the excursion sponsored by the Athletic Society of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem which had been scheduled to take place on August 4 has been re-scheduled for later this month. (August 4 was Tish’a B’Av which probably accounted for the scheduling change)
1881: The government of Argentina appointed a special agent to attract Jewish immigrants from Russia.
1881: It was reported today that Englishmen have developed a more positive attitude towards beef imported from the United States. Part of that improvement is attributed to the fact that between April and October of 1880, English Jews bought cattle from 15 different shipments without any complaint. Not one of the animals was rendered not Kosher or “unsound.” Apparently, the strict observance of Jewish laws concerning the inspecting and slaughter of meat is well enough known among the general populace for this fact to have had a positive impact on the sale of American cattle in the United Kingdom
1883: It was reported today that the Town Council of Ekaterinoslva, Russia has voted to give the Jews 5,000 rubles to compensate them for the losses suffered during a recent attack by an ant-Semitic mob.
1883: “The Nyireghyhaza Tiral” published today described the feelings and treatment of Jews in Europe in the wake of the “blood libel” trial recently held in Hungary.
1884:General Sir William John Codrington passed away. Codrington served as the Governor General of Gibraltar in 1859 when he provided food and shelter for Jews who had taken refuge in the colony because of the war between Spain and Morocco.
1884: “Hotel Rent By Religious War” published today described the conflicts between Jewish and Gentile society matrons at one of the leading resort hotels in Long Branch, NJ
1884: Rabbi Henry S. Jacobs delivered the principle address this afternoon at the cornerstone laying ceremony for the new synagogue to be used by Congregation B’Nai Jeshurun. The building is located at Madison Avenue, between 64th and 65thStreets in Manhattan. The Chairman of the Building Committee, Newman Cohen, deposited a variety of items including newspapers, coins and a scroll containing the history of the congregation into the cornerstone before it was put in place. Unlike many of the other Jewish congregations in the area, B’Nai Jeshrun will follow Orthodox ritual.
1886: Superintendent Jackson, the chief immigration officer at Castle Garden received a cable today from Hamburg informing him that a large number of Romanian and Polish Jews were waiting for a ship at the German port that would take them to America. According to the message, most of them were paupers.
1886: A major fire in Phoenix, Arizona, finally convinced the city council to accept the proposal of Mayor Emil Ganz to establish a waterworks and fire department.
1887: Today’s “Short Cuts” column contained an excerpt from the American Hebrew about the quality of meals served at the various resort “the mountains.” While patrons complain about the food, they come back year and year out. The paper concluded that the vacationers except too much for the small amount of money they pay. (The mountains refers to the Catskills which will later be known as The Borscht Belt)
1888: Stern Brothers of West 23rd Street in New York,have promised to provide the fund for today’s excursion sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1889(9th of Av, 5649): Tish’a B’Av
1890: Coroner Ferdinand Levy is one of the speakers scheduled to address those attending Shoen & Lowenthal’s German American Institute and Kingdergartern, a summer festival at the foot of East 69th Street.
1890: Paul Ohleshaus whose skull was fractured by Timothy Abbot after he stopped him from “tormenting an inoffensive Jew” is “lying unconscious in the Chambers Street Hospital”
1890: At its meeting in Berlin, the International Medical Congress “rejected a proposal to meet in St. Petersburg” because “of the repression of the Jews in Russia.”
1890: As of today, the managers of the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children have $7,118.47 which can be used for their free summer excursions.
1890: The Jews of Edinburgh met today and resolved to raise funds which would be sent to the Jewish Society for the Colonization of Palestine to provide assistance for “Jews expelled from Russia.”
1891: The Executive Board of the Jewish Alliance of America met in Philadelphia, PA, this evening where they adopted “an excellent plan” for meeting the needs of the “friendless and often penniless” Jewish immigrants arriving in the United States.
1891: “The Russian Jews” published today described the attack on the Jewish quarter of Elisabethgrad by a mob crying “Kill the Jews!” The authorities did nothing to stop the mobs or put an end to the looting.
1892: “Religious Statistics” published today provided a summary of the Unite States cenus report prepared by Charles E Bull Chief of the Division of Religious Statistics that showed of the 20,347,346 people counted 150,000 of them are Jewish.
1892: Harper’s Weekly published a drawing of Alexander Berkman, the Jewish anarchist who attempted to Henry Clay Frick, the steel magnate who played a key role in the Homestead Steel Strike.
1893: It was reported today that a Jewish organization in London took care of the Russo-German family named Kaiser who had been expelled as Protestants by the government in Kiev along with a stream of Jews. The English Jews raised $250 to send them on to Winnipeg.
1894: “A Standard German Life of Heine” published today provides a detailed review of Heinrich Heine’s Life In His Own Words edited by Gustav Karpleles and translated from the German by Arthur Dexter. According to the review, the refusal of the city of Dusseldorf to erect a statute to the “Hebrew poet” and the attempts to build one for him in the United States has done more to keep him before the public than publication of successive editions of his works would do.
1894: “Swearing Oaths on Books” published today contained the reminder that in English courts “Christians are sworn on the New Testament, Jews on the Old Testament and Mohammedans on the Koran and persons of other religions according to the form prescribed for that purpose by the religion they profess.” (In the 21st century an American Jewish radio host would come unglued when a newly elected Moslem member of the House of Representatives asked to take the oath of office using a Koran)
1895: The late I.S. Goldberg of San Francisco was reported to have divided his estate equally among the city’s Jewish, Protestant and Catholic Orphan Asylums.
1895: “Jewish Liberality” published today, relying on information that first appeared in The Jewish Messenger, described the decision of the late Abraham Levy of Richmond, VA, to divide his estate among Protestants, Catholics and Jews.”
1895: Louis Stern, the New York dry good merchant is prepared to serve a fortnight in a German jail and pay 600 marks after having been found guilty of insulting Baron von Thuengen who objected to Mr. Stern’s son being in the dance hall at Kur Garden in Kissingen.
1895: In the U.K., Alfred Mond the son of chemist Ludwig Mond and his wife Violet gave birth to Lady Eva Violet Mond Isaacs, née Melchett, Marchioness of Reading who served “as Vice President of the World Jewish Congress and President of its British section” where she was a “vocal supporter of the Zionist cause.”
1897: “East Side Roof Garden” published today provided the rules for the facility on top of the Hebrew Institute Building which will allow children to visit along between 8 A.M. and 5:30 P.M. but require them to be accompanied by their parents or guardians from 7:30 P.M. to 11:00 P.M.
1895: It was reported today that Hebrew Institute under the direction of Superintendent of Isaac Spectorsky will be offering concerts five times a week now that remodeling has been completed.
1898: Dr. Adolph M Radin, the rabbi of the People’s Synagogue celebrated his 50thbirthday today
1899: In an interview published today Israel Zangwill said his “soul purpose in visiting America is to supervise the staging of ‘The Children of the Ghetto’” Since “the Hebrew character has never been faithfully portrayed on the stage” and “the Jew has been caricatured” his “aim is to give a true a picture of the Hebrew as he is both as regards characteristics and religion” which is important because many of the characters in his play are Jewish.
1899: “Dreyfus Case Clearly Reviewed published today provides a summary of Joseph Reinach’s explanation of how Dreyfus was wrongly convicted including the fact that the French Army attributed Esterhazy’s treachery to French Jewish officer.
1901: Birthdate of gangster Dutch Schultz. Born Arthur Flegenheimer, Schultz made his money as a violent bootlegger during the dry days of the Roaring 20’s. Even his fellow gangsters saw him as being out of control and they gunned him down in 1935. Actually, the Jews dodged the bullet on this one. Schultz converted to Catholicism before he died and is buried in a Catholic Cemetery New York
1909: Birthdate of U.S. economist Solomon Adler, the native of Leeds who was the brother of Israeli doctor Saul Adler
1911: Birthdate of Norman Gordon a “South African cricketer who played in 5 Tests from 1938 to 1939.”
1912: The Bull Moose Party meets at the Chicago Coliseum. The Bull Moose Party was formed by Teddy Roosevelt after he lost the Republican nomination to Taft. The formation of the party would lead to a three way race for the Presidency in 1912 between Taft, Roosevelt and Wilson. Roosevelt had enjoyed strong support among Jewish leaders going back to his days as Chief of Police in New York and his two terms in the White House where appointed a Jew to the cabinet and championed the rights of Russian Jews. So strong was his support among the Jewish reform leaders that Oscar Straus “led the New York delegation down the aisles at Roosevelt’s breakaway Progressive convention in Chicago and then agreed to run for governor of New York on the Progressive ticket.” Jewish reformers were obviously in this election as can be seen by the support of Brandies for Wilson. In the end T.R. lost, but he never lost the good will of a significant part of the Jewish community. According to one source, a Jewish police officer, Otto Raphael, said Kaddish over Roosevelt's body the night before he was buried.
1915: As part of the Gallipoli Campaign, the Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay. Despite the courage of the troops, the landings were botched due to the ineptitude of the generals in charge. The campaign ultimately failed with the hopes of knocking the Ottoman Empire out of the war and breaking the stalemate on the Western Front. The Zion Mule Corps, an all Jewish supply unit gained the respect of the British during the campaign and this helped lay the groundwork for the creation of all Jewish Battalions in the British Army that would distinguish themselves while fighting with Allenby.
1916: Birthdate of historian Richard Hofstadter. Hofstadter’s father was Jewish. His mother was not. Hofstadter was a professor at Columbia University America Soviet Union . The final break came, as did with so many others, over Stalin’s pact with Hitler in 1939. Hofstadter’s writings were quite influential during the mid 20thcenturies. Two of his works, The Age of Reform and Anti-Intellectualism in American Life won Pulitzer Prizes and were on the required reading list in many of the history and political science departments at American colleges and universities. His influence would have been greater had he lived longer. He died at tragically at the age of 54.
1918: Birthdate of Norman Granz, American jazz musician and record producer
1920: In Bucharest, the government of Romania decides to consider Turkish Jews as enemy aliens. The Romanians intern the Jews, sequester their property and threaten to expel them. The Union of Native Jews of Romania intervenes to help their co-religionist.
1923:American delegates to the "World Zionist Congress, as well as hundreds of other American Jews who have come to Carlsbad
1924: In the Bronx Morris and Shirley Haber gave birth to Herbert Lawrence Haber “, the chief labor negotiator for the City of New York from 1966 to 1973.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1924: The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor made public the text of a letter sent with its approval by Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor to former Secretary of Labor William B. Wilson, who had asked the council not to make a decision on Presidential endorsements until it had the acceptance speech of John W. Davis before it, a request which was refused
1926: In New York, the Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone system premieres with the movie Don Juanstarring John Barrymore
1926: Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.
1929: A month before his death, Louis Marshall wrote a letter to Julius Rosenwald in which traced the history of the Jewish Theological Seminary, praised its many accomplishment and expressed his fear that adequate funding would not be available to ensure the growth of this unique educational institution. (This letter would inspire Rosenwald to contribute a half million dollars to JTS after Marshall passed away in September of 1929)
1930: Birthdate of Marvin Pomerantz, the Des Moines, Iowa native who would become a successful businessman, public benefactor, a friend and adviser to Republican governors and presidents for four decades, who twice served as president of the Iowa Board of Regents. He was the eighth of nine children of Jewish immigrants who came to Iowa Poland
1932: In Beirut, Jacob Safra and his wife gave birth to “Lebanese Brazilian banker” Edmond J. Safra.
1933: In Springfield, New Jersey, an undetified plane flies over an open-air meeting of United Singers Society and scatters German language pamphlets protesting against the decision of the Society to prohibit representatives of the Friends of New Germany from attending its meetings. The Friends of the New Germany was a pro-Nazi organization formed at the behest of Berlin that would morph into the German-American Bund. The United Singers Society was a German organization made up conservatives who are not sympathetic to the Friends of New Germany. Attendees complained that the noise of the plane interrupted the community sing-along taking place below.
1937(29th of Av, 5697):Miss Eleanor Septima Cohen, prominent for many years in Jewish and non-sectarian benevolent activities, died today at a Baltimore hospital at the age of 79. Her grandfather, Benjamin I. Cohen, was one of the founders and president of the Baltimore Stock Exchange. A philanthropist who supported numerous Jewish and non-Jewish causes and institutions, Miss Cohen was a descendant of Solomon Etting (her great-grandfather) and Jacob I. Cohen (her great-uncle) who were instrumental in the fight for Jews to obtain religious rights in Maryland.
1938: Near Hedaria, several Jewish laborers were wounded when they were fired on by and a band of Arabs.
1938: “The Nazi regime expatriated” (banished) Manfred George the German-Jewish author who had fled his homeland in 1933 living in various countries as an exile until he finally came to the United states where he the Aufbau “into an important journalistic voice for the Jewish exile community.”
1938: In Danzig, “the Gestapo raided a number of hotels, restaurants and cafes and frequented by Hews and demanded that all present establish their identity and explain their presence in the Free City.” This was the first of two nights of what were described as “harsh anti-Jewish measures.
1939: “The Dinah Shore Show” starring the singer of the same name debuted on NBC Radio. Dinah Shore was the stage name of France Rose Stein, the Jewish lass from Tennessee who was a graduate of Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
1940:As more than 12,000 persons stood out in the street, a funeral service was held today for Vladimir Jabotinsky, author, soldier and world leader of the New Zionist Organization, at the Gramercy Park Memorial Chapel in New York.
1942: The 5,500 Jews imprisoned at Gurs whom the French turned over to the Nazis were shipped to Drancy from where most of them would be sent to their death at Auschwitz.
1942: Three thousand Jews were slaughtered in the streets of Minsk
1942:The Palestine Regiment consisting of, three Palestinian Jewish battalions and one Palestinian Arab battalion was officially formed as part of the British military armed forces. Despite the efforts by the British to enlist an equal number of Jews and Arabs into the Palestine Regiment, three times more Jews volunteered than Arabs. Arab reluctance and Jewish enthusiasms accounts for the numerical disparity. At the time of its formation, the Regiment was principally involved in guard duties in Egypt and North Africa. The British also wanted to undermine efforts of Hajj Amin al-Husayni who successfully drummed up Arab support for the Axis Powers against the Allies.
1943: In Vilna, over a dozen Jews were shot as they attempted to resist deportation orders.
1945: The Atomic Bomb named Little Boy is dropped on Hiroshima according to the calendar in Japan.
1946(9th of Av, 5706): Tish'a B'Av
1946: Leonard Bernstein conducted American premiere of Britten's Peter Grimes, BMC.
1946: In New York City Professor Irene Golden Dash and greeting card published Martin Dash gave birth to historian Deborah Dash Moore whose “GI Jews: How World War II Changed a Generation was “awarded the Saul Viener Prize for Best Book in American Jewish History.”
1952: Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett denied that Israel was constructing air bases for atomic bombs on its soil and that it had agreed in the past, or will agree in the future, to serve a foreign power for such purposes.
1952: Over 500 members of the World Assembly of Jewish Choirs turned Jerusalem
1952: The first English draft of the text of the agreement between Israel and West Germany was drawn up and agreed to at The Hague. Israel The Hague
1959(2nd of Av, 5719): Salman Schocken passed away at Pontresina, Switzerland. Born in 1877 in Margonin, Province of Posen, German Empire (today Poland) , he was a German Jewish publisher and businessman. Salman Schocken was the son of Jewish shopkeeper in Posen. In 1901, he went to Zwickau, a German town in southwest Saxony, to help run a department store owned by his brother, Simon. Together they built up the business and established a chain of stores all over Germany. In Chemnitz and Stuttgart, Schocken commissioned the German Jewish architect Erich Mendelsohn to build branches of the Kaufhaus Schocken. In 1915 Schocken was co-founder of the Zionist journal Der Jude (with Martin Buber). After Simon's death in 1929 Salman Schocken became sole owner of the firm. The same year, in which Schocken's friend Franz Rosenzweig also died, 1929 he established the Schocken Institute for Research on Jewish Poetry. In 1931, he founded the publishing company Schocken Verlag, which reprinted the recently completed Buber-Rosenzweig translation of the Bible.In 1934, after the rise of Nazism, Schocken left Germany for Palestine. In 1940, he settled in the United States. In Jerusalem, he built the Schocken Library, also designed by Erich Mendelsohn. He was a board member of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and bought the newspaper Haaretz, which is still owned by his family. He also founded Schocken Publishing House Ltd. and opened another branch in New York (Schocken Books). The Nazis forced him to sell his German enterprises to Merkur AG but he managed to recover some of his property after the war. Schocken became the patron of Shmuel Yosef Agnon when he was a struggling writer in Palestine. Recognizing Agnon's literary talent, Schocken paid him a stipend that relieved him of financial worries and allowed him to devote himself to writing (Agnon went on to win the Nobel Prize in Literature).
1960: Shabbat Nachamu: Bar Mitzvah of David Levin at Adas Israel in Washington, D.C. – the words of Isaiah never sounded so sweet! This was the first time that a large group of adults got a chance to be dazzled by his voice and skill. Fifty years later, he is still dazzling us. This also marked the first Bar Mitzvah at Adas Israel that was officiated by Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz.
1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The passage of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Right Act of 1964 marked one of the high water marks in the battle for equal rights for all Americans regardless of race, religion, national origin and sex. Both of these landmark laws were supported by Jewish voters, communal leaders and elected officials.
1967: Birthdate of sportscaster David Greenberg
1969: “Eighteen Soviet Georgian Jewish families” made an appeal to the United Nations calling “for their right to leave the Soviet Union.”
1969(22nd of Av, 5729): A month before his 66th birthday, Theodor W. Adorno, passed away.
1970: Elimelekh Rimalt completed his service as the Minister of Postal Services in Israel.
1973: Birthdate of Max Kellerman, boxing commentator and sports talk radio host.
1976(10th of Av, 5736): Seventy-three year old Russian born American cellist Gregor Piatigorsky passed away today.
1976: Kenya and Uganda “formally agreed…to end their state of belligerency and resume normal relations.” The strained relations came following Israel’s rescue mission at Entebbe in which the Ugandans claimed the Kenyans had played an active role.
1977: The United States officially disclosed that the nuclear facilities in the US were unable to trace more than 3,000 kilograms of highly enriched uranium and plutonium. A number of American newspapers speculated that the minerals might have found their way to Israel
1978: Eighty year old Pope Paul VI who visited Israel in 1964 and who is remembered for “the impetus he gave to a continuation of the Catholic Church’s rapprochement with Judaism initiated by the late Pope John, and his personal encouragement and support of the Guidelines for the implementation of Nostra Aetate No. 4, a document that holds promise of a new era in Catholic-Jewish relations” passed away today.
1985:Thomas R. Pickering presented his credentials as U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
1986:Bernard Lewis publishes his seminal work Semites and Anti-Semites, which explores modern anti-Semitism in the Arab world.
1986(1st of Av, 5746): Rosh Chodesh Av
1986: The Israeli Supreme Court upheld the pardon given to Shin Bet chief Avraham Shalom, in connection with the “300 Bus Affair.”
1990: The funeral for philanthropist Lucy Goldschmidt Moses who passed away at the age of 103 is scheduled to take place this afternoon at Temple Emanu-El.
1995(10th of Av, 5755): Tish’a B’Av
1998: Former White House intern Monica Lewinsky spent 8 1/2 hours testifying before a grand jury about her relationship with President Bill Clinton.
1990: Funeral services are held at Temple Emanu-El for philanthropist Lucy Goldschmidt Moses
1991(26th of Av, 5751): Eighty-five year old Austrian born British violinist whose pupils included Yifrah Neaman and Edith Peinemann and who” played in a piano trio with Heinz Schröter and Gaspar Cassadó passed away today.
1995(10th of Av, 5755): Since the 9th of Av fell on Shabbat today Tish'a B'Av is observed.
2000: The New York Times book section featured reviews of In Search of Deep Throat: The Greatest Political Mystery of Our Time by Leonard Garment, one of a handful of Jews who worked for Richard Nixon, The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering by Norman G. Finkelstein, Benjamin Zucker's first novel, Bluewhich is at once a spiritual challenge and a gorgeous typographical object. Echoing the style of the Talmud, the book presents a continuing narrative in the center of each right-hand page, where a passage from the Mishna -- ancient commentary on the Torah -- would ordinarily be placed.
2001: President George W. Bush receives President's Daily Briefing entitled Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US and does nothing in response. It will be left to future historians to determine if a response might have avoided the first successful attack on Washington, D.C. since the British burned the city in 1814. To paraphrase Elie Weisel, the only thing we know for sure is that now the world knows what it feels like to be Jewish in the worst sense of that term.
2001(17th of Av, 5761):Yitzhak Snir, 51, of Ra'anana, an Israeli diamond merchant, was shot dead in Amman, in the yard of the building where he kept a flat. His body was found the following morning
2005(1st of Av, 5765): Rosh Chodesh Av:
2005: In Cedar Rapids, despite summer vacations and myriad of other distractions, the small Jewish community at Temple Judah mustered more than a minyan for the Traditional Shabbat morning services.
2006(12thof Av, 5766): Ninety year old Esther Abraham, who was the first Miss India when she won the crown in 1947 and whose cinema fans knew her as Pramila passed away today.
2006 12th of Av, 5766): Fifteen Israelis are killed by Hezbollah rocket attacks. Among them were the following twelve soldiers:
Sgt. Gregory Aharonov, 34, of Or Akiva, moved to Israel Ukraine 4 p.m. on Monday.
Sgt.-Maj. Marian Berkowitz, of Ashdod Lebanon 4 p.m. on Monday in the Ashdod
CWO Yosef Karkash, 41, of Afula, met with Shlomo Buchris, his cousin and fellow reservist, early Sunday. Later that day, both cousins were killed by the Katyusha. Relatives are devastated, and were quoted as saying that they "don't know which family to visit and console first." Karkash is survived by his wife and two daughters. He was laid to rest at 5 p.m. in the Afula military cemetery.
Sgt.-Maj. Ro'i Yaish, 27, of Herzliya got his call up order last week. "He loved his motorcycle," friends said. "You couldn't touch his bike or his helmet. Whenever we heard his bike, we knew he was coming and everyone would get excited." Ro'i is survived by his parents and three brothers. Ro'i was laid to rest at 5 p.m. in his hometown.
Despite being recently hurt in a field trip to the Judean Desert 5 p.m. in the Herzliya cemetery.
St.-Sgt. Shaul Shai Michlowitz, 21, of Netanya, had finished his army service three months ago, and was waiting for his request to serve additional time as a career soldier to be authorized. Instead, he received an emergency call-up order last week. Shaul is survived by his parents and two sisters. He was buried at 5 p.m. in the Netanya military cemetery.
St.-Sgt.Maj. Daniel Ben-David, 38, of Moshav Ahituv, volunteered to join fellow paratroopers in Lebanon 5:30 p.m. in the Ahitub cemetery.
Warr.Ofc. Shmuel Halfon, 41, of Bat Yam 7 p.m. in the military section of the Holon
Sgt.-Maj. Ziv Balali, 28, of Kfar Sava, was about to celebrate his 29th birthday next month. Ziv recently completed a degreee in Middle East Studies. He is survived by his parents and sister. He was laid to rest at 7 p.m. in the military cemetery in his hometown.
St.-Sgt.Maj. Shlomo Buchris, 36, of Moshav Sde Yitzchak, reassured his brother that while other troops had gone into Lebanon
He was buried at7:15 p.m. in the Sde Yitzhak cemetery.
He was buried at
F.-Sgt. Mordechai Abutbul, 28, of Shlomi who was buried at 10 p.m. in the military section of the Shlomi cemetery.
Captain Eliyahu Elkariaf, 34, of Moshav Granot. He will be laid to rest on Tuesday at 5 p.m. in the military section of the Kfar Ata cemetery.
2006: Surprisingly, the Chicago Tribune published an op-ed article by David Memet entitled, “Bigotry Pins Blame on Jews.”
2006: The Sunday New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Spoiling For A Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer by Brooke A. Masters and Richard Hofstadter: An Intellectual Biography byDavid S. Brown. (Hofstadter’s father was Jewish.)
2006: Anglo-Jewish author Michael Rosen was the subject of the BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs program.
2007: In article entitled “Climates” that appeared in The New Republic, Leon Wieseltier, takes issue with the behavior and media treatment of the “super-rich” citing specifically Sanford Weill and “the obscene Stephen Schwarzman, who is very bad for the Jews.”
2007: The New Republic published a review of Jesus in the Talmud by Peter Schafer.
2007(22nd of Av, 5767): Mose Fishman, who as a 21 year-old from New York fought Fascists in Spain with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, passed away at the age of 91.
2007: At a meeting in the synagogue of the Novominsker Rebbe, more than a dozen religious heavyweights – including Rabbi Aryeh Kotle and Rabbi David Zwiebel – consider evidence that that chickens may have been mistreated in past Kapparot ceremonies and acknowledged that the problem rose to a level that could violate rabbinic law. After the conference, the rabbis collectively issued a call for members of the community to clean up the process during this year’s holiday season.
2008: After a meeting today between Prime Minister Ehud Omert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, officials from both sides announced that Israel will release about 150 Palestinian prisoners at the end of the month as a gesture to President Abbas
2009: In Jerusalem Beit Avi Chai presents Part 4 of “Symbolically Speaking": Visual images of Israel, Hebrew culture, Zionism, and Judaism in which art scholar Dr. Gideon Ofrat traces the course of five icons of Jewish art until they reached Israeli galleries, thereby telling the story of modern Hebrew culture with its hopes and disappointments, highs and lows.
2009: Final night of the Israeli Wine Tasting Festival at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem.
2009: Funeral is held for Amos Kenan at a Kibbutz in central Israel.
2009: Voting closes for the selection of those who will appear in the Only In America Gallery of the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia, PA.
2009: Robert David Sack, the son of Rabbi Eugene Sack completed his term as Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
2009:Israel's largest political party, Kadima, shut down its official Web site today, claiming it had been infiltrated by Palestinian hackers.
2009:A Cobb, GA rabbi is seeking to declare Georgia’s Kosher Food Labeling Act unconstitutional, saying it de-legitimizes interpretations of “kosher” by different Jewish communities. Shalom Lewis, rabbi of Congregation Etz Chaim, filed suit today in Fulton County Superior Court. He is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Georgia and Atlanta law firm King and Spalding. The Kosher Food Labeling Act, enacted in 1980, mandates that any food sold as kosher must meet “orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements.” Lewis, a conservative Jew, said he cannot fulfill his rabbinical duties because his theological interpretation of the state’s kosher laws differs from that of Orthodox Judaism. He said he violates state law when he approves some foods as kosher that are not kosher under Orthodox definitions.
2010: In Omaha, Nebraska, the JCC Maccabi Games are scheduled to come to an end.
2010: In Springfield, VA, a Wine and Cheese Reception is scheduled to take place at Adat Reim prior to Friday night Shabbat services.
2010: According to a report by London-based Arab newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) head Yuval Diskin met with Egyptian officials today to discuss the Grad rockets fired at Eilat and Aqaba earlier this week.
2010:CNN host Fareed Zakaria has returned an award to the Anti-Defamation League over the group's opposition to building a mosque near Ground Zero.
2010(26th Av, 5770): Sixty-two year old Tony Judt, a highly praised and controversial historian who wrote with sharp persistence about the changing world at large and the tragic world within - the fatal disease that paralyzed him - died today at his home in New York City. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/books/08judt.html?pagewanted=all
2011: “In Heaven Underground: The Weissensee Jewish Cemetery a film that provides “A lush, surprising and utterly absorbing journey into the lively stories hidden among the tombstones, pathways and woodlands of the Weissensee Jewish Cemetery, which has been in continuous operation in Berlin for 130 years,” is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2011:More than 250,000 people took part in demonstrations across Israel tonight to protest the high cost of living.
2012: Athletic competition is scheduled to begin today at the Maccabi Games in Memphis, TN after opening ceremonies were held yesterday.
2012:AACI - Association of Americans & Canadians in Israel- is scheduled to present a program commemorating the 100thanniversary of the birth of Raoul Wallenberg at the Dr. Max and Gianna Glassman Family Center in Jerusalem featuring a special message from Raoul Wallenberg's niece Louise von Dardel
2012:Two Kassam rockets hit the Hof Ashkelon region today.
2012(18th of Av, 5772): Sixty-eight year old Pulitzer prize winning composer Marvin Hamlisch passed away today. (As reported by Rob Hoerburger)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/08/arts/music/marvin-hamlisch-composer-dies-at-68.html?_r=1&hp
http://www.marvinhamlisch.com/
2012(18th of Av, 5772): Eighty-nine year old R. Peter Straus, the son of Nathan Straus Jr. and Helen Sachs Straus, “who took over WMCA in New York in the late 1950s and turned it into one of the nation’s most innovative radio stations, broadcasting what are regarded as the first radio editorials and political endorsements and helping to popularize rock ’n’ roll” passed away today (As reported by Robert McFadden)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/09/business/r-peter-straus-wmca-radio-pioneer-dies-at-89.html?_r=2&hpw&
2012:Representatives of the families of 11 Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Olympics attacked International Israeli Olympic Committee Chairman Dr. Jacques Rogge at a memorial event in London.
http://www.haaretz.com/
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=280317
2012:The Tel Aviv City Council rejected a proposal to include Arabic on the city's official emblem
2013: “Closed Season,” a film about a young German student who visits a holocaust survivor in Israel is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2013: The fans of Faye Kellerman are filled with excitement and anticipation as The Beast, the latest in the Decker/Lazarus novels arrives at book stores across the country.
2013(30thof Av, 5773): Rosh Chodesh Elul
2013(30thof Av, 5773): Eighty six year old Jerry Wolman the former owner of the Philadelphia Eagles football team and the Philadelphia Flyers hockey team passed away today. (As reported by Richard Goldstein)
2013: Beginning this morning, passengers traveling on Dan’s #5 bus line in Tel Aviv may suddenly encounter a much quieter and cleaner ride, aboard the country’s first fully electric – and vibrantly orange – bus. (As reported by Sharon Udasin)
2013: A poll released today “by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University, found that 63 percent of Jews in Israel oppose a withdrawal to the 1967 lines with land swaps as part of any peace arrangement with the Palestinian Authority, even if it meant Israel would hold onto the Etzion Bloc, directly south of Jerusalem; Ma’aleh Adumim, east of the capital; and Ariel in the central West Bank about 34 kilometers (21 miles) east of Tel Aviv. (As reported by Asher Zeiger)
2013: “Rabbi Artur Ovadia Isakov, the Chabad rabbi shot in a likely terrorist attack in southern Russia has been discharged from an Israeli hospital after recovering from surgery to repair his live. One or more terrorists shot him in the chest as he was getting out of his car near his home.” (As reported by Jewish Press)
2014: Annual commemoration of the role the Jews of Corfu played in defending the island against the Turks during the invasion in 1716.
2014: Dr. Diane M. Sharon is scheduled to begin teaching a four week course, “Biblical Temptress: Sacred or Scandalous?”
2014: Tomasz Jankowski a freelance genealogist specializing in Jewish genealogy and founder of Jewish Family Search is scheduled to present “Legal and Practical Aspects of Genealogical Research in Galicia (Poland and Ukraine)” at the Center for Jewish History.