August 22
70: According to Josephus, Titus began the battering operations against the wall of the Temple Court 6:4)
1241: Pope Gregory IX passed away today. “Gregory IX was a prominent opponent of Judaism during his life, condemning it as "containing every kind of vileness and blasphemy". In the 1234 Decretals, he invested the doctrine of perpetua servitus iudaeorum – perpetual servitude of the Jews – with the force of canonical law. According to this, the followers of the Talmud would have to remain in a condition of political servitude until Judgment Day. The doctrine then found its way into the doctrine of servitus camerae imperialis, or servitude immediately subject to the Emperor's authority, promulgated by Frederick II. The Jews were thus suppressed from having direct influence over the political process and the life of Christian states into the 19th century with the rise of liberalism. In 1239, under the influence of Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity, Gregory ordered that all copies of the Jewish Talmud be confiscated. Following a public disputation between Christians and Jewish theologians, this culminated in a mass burning of some 12,000 handwritten Talmudic manuscripts on June 12, 1242, in Paris. Subsequent popes repeated this practice.”
1280: Pope Nicholas III passed away today before he could hear the request from Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia to “release captive Jews.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1370: Judah Alatzar of Barcelona, a Spanish Jew, lent the king and queen 110,000 sueldos so they could equip ten ships which would transfer the Pope from Rome to Avignon.
1400: On the day that Emperor Wenceslaus was deposed and Rupert of the Paletine was elected his successor, seventy-seven Jews were executed and three weeks later three more were led to the stake.
1454: Jews of Brno (now a city in the Czech Republic - then a free imperial city of Moravia) were expelled by King Ladislaus
1485: In England the forces of Richard III are defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where loses Richard loses and the House of Plantagenet loses control of the throne to the House of Tudor. It was a Plantagenet king who expelled the Jews from England. Henry VIII, the second Tudor King to sit on the throne, promised that no Jews would be allowed to live in England as part of the marriage agreement with his Spanish born wife. But Henry would inadvertently open the way for the Jews to return when he broke with the Catholic Church over the matter of his divorce. So, on balance, the outcome of the Battle of Bosworth Field was a win for the Jews even though they were not there and the “win” was a long time in coming.
1614: Vincent Fettmilch of Frankfurt, a former pastry cook and leader of the Guilds, calling himself the "new Haman of the Jews" attacked the synagogue while the community was at prayer. Although many tried to organize a defense, they were soon overpowered and many took shelter in the cemetery while the community was destroyed. He and his accomplices were hanged and quartered for it 2 years later. They were not hanged for their attacks on the Jews. They were hanged because they had decided to attack the wealthy nobles.
1639: Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers. Jewish merchants played a significant role in Madras as can be seen from the fact that three Jewish merchants were among the 12 Alderman nominated to serve on the first local governing council established in 1688. One of the first Jews who came to Madras with special permission to reside and trade there was Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia), originally from Amsterdam. Most Jews living in Madras were or English or Portuguese origin. They exported diamonds extracted from the mines at Goloconda to England and imported silver and coral. The Jewish community in Madras no longer exists but evidence of its vitality can be seen the Jewish cemetery located on Mint Street.
1642: King Charles I effectively began the English Civil War by branding the members of the House of Commons as traitors. As a result of the war, Charles would lose his head and Cromwell would become head of the English government. Cromwell made it possible for the Jews to return to England in an open fashion after a three century absence.
1654: Jacob Barsimson, who some claim was the first Jew to settle in North America, arrived in New Amsterdam. However, the official founding of the Jewish community in the United States is dated from September 23, 1654 when 23 Jewish refugees arrived from Recife.
1664: Kings Charles II of England responded to a petitions from “the Hebrews in his realm” by saying that as long as they (the Jews) demean themselves peaceably and with due submission to the laws, they may presumed they will enjoy the same favor as they formerly held.
1694(1stof Elul, 5454): Venetian rabbi Samuel Aboab, the son of Abraham Aboab, whose works included Debar Shemuel" (Word of Samuel and who was involved with Nathan of Gaza, passed away today.
1752: Eighty-four year old William Whiston best known for his translation of the works of Josephus including Antiquities of the Jews passed away today.
http://sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/
1791: Seventy-four year old Johann David Michaelis part of family of Christian Hebraists including Johann Heinrich Michaelis “the author of an annotated Hebrew Bible, who wrote a dissertation defending “the antiquity and divine authority of the Hebrew vowel points, passed away today.
1800(1stof Elul, 5560): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1800: Birthdate of Samuel David Luzzatto, Italian-Jewish scholar.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_12907.html
1802: Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, the Batavian (Dutch) Ambassador to France delivered a note to the French foreign minister on behalf of the Jews of Germany.
1810: Birthdate of Eliezer Eduard
1810 Birthdate of Hirschel Eliazer Kann, one of the founders of Lissa & Kann, a Dutch banking house.
1821: On this day came an end of the Spanish Inquisition in Venezuela. The Venezuela government wrote, "The Tribunal of the Inquisition, also known as the Holy Office, shall be abolished."
1843(26 Av, 5603): Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the third Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, popularly known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," finally departed Petersburg having successfully prevented the government's disruption of traditional Jewish life. “In 1843, the Interior Ministry of the Czarist government convened a rabbinical conference in the Russian capital of Petersburg, to the end of imposing changes in Jewish communal life and religious practice. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866, known as the "Tzemach Tzeddek" after his Halachic works by that name) was invited; as a primary figure in the leadership of Russian Jewry, his compliance was required to lend legitimacy to the government's proposed "reforms". In the course of the conference, the Tzemach Tzeddek was placed under arrest no less than 22 (!) times for his refusal to cooperate.” Third in the line of leaders of the Chabad movement was after the title of his voluminous responsa.
1855: Birthdate of Franz Heyse, the first son of Paul Heyse, German-Jewish author and translator.
1858: Twenty year old Jeanette Herzl married Jacob Herzl.
1860(4th of Elul, 5620): Samuel Holdheim passed away. Born in 1806, he was a German rabbi and author, and one of the early leaders of the Reform Movement in Judaism.
1863(6thof Elul, 5623): Seventy-six year old Jacob Rubino, the son of Minkel and Ruben Moses Rubino passed away today.
1864: Twelve nations sign the first Geneva Convention creating the Red Cross. The International Red Cross, as opposed to the American organization, has a negative image among Jews because of its unwillingness to recognize the Magen David as a variant of the Cross even though it allows for other variations including the Moslem Red Crescent.
1865(30th of Av, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1874: Birthdate of Max Scheler, German philosopher. Born to a Lutheran father and an Orthodox Jewish mother, Scheler opted to convert to Catholicism.
1875: A an article was published today that had originally appeared in Fraser’s Magazine (an English publication) which describes a visit to dealer in antiques and jewelry whose small shop is located on a dark and dirty lane in London. The owner of the shop is referred to as “Cohen Hertzog,” although that is not his name and he is described as a “Hebrew” and “a cosmopolitan” – a little old man with high wrinkled forehead and long white beard, a black velvet skull-cap upon his head, keen eyes that sparkle like his diamonds, and an intellect as sharp…as the file with which he tests them.” The Jew’s speech is written in a dialect saying “dese” for these, “tings” for things, etc. And during his oration the Jew reveals that the only thing for which he cares are the gems that he collects and sells. Not exactly a portrait of the Rothschilds but certainly a view of the Jew held by many English men and women of the day.
1875: “The Talmud” which was published today and was based on information first published in the Cornhill Magazine, a popular Victorian journal describes why this “extensive storehouse of Hebrew wisdom,” this “‘extraordinary monument of human industry, human intelligence and human folly’” has become “a faded memory” for the “greater majority of both Jews and Christians.” The reasons are two-fold. First, the Talmud is difficult to study and master; having it own lexicon and language. Secondly, from the Christian point of view the Talmud is filled with heresies which Bacon describes as “absurd trash”; the same words he used to describe the Koran, the Spurious Gospels and the Generations of Jesus.
1875: “The Author of Toldoth Jeshu” which was published today and was based on material first published in the Cornhill Magazine, a popular Victorian reported that the author of this work known in English as “The Generations of Jesus” was written by a 17th century “Bohemian Jew” known as “Chaim or Joachim who was converted to Christianity and baptized Ferdinand Francis. Thanks to the work of Johann Christoph Wagenseil, the German professor of Oriental Languages, the book was exposed as being blasphemous in its description of Jesus and Ferdinand Francis was condemned to be hanged in the fish market at Vienna. When the condemned man was offered a crucifix by a Jesuit he threw it on the floor and “told the people…that he had only adopted the Christian faith for reason of political convenience.” Ferdinand was then tortured by the his captors but did not cry out in pain. When they cut off his hand he said it was just punishment for turning his back on the faith of his fathers. And he continued to utter the prayers of his people until he died. In the mean time, the shops of the Jews were pillaged; they were robbed of their money and gems even if that meant cutting off their fingers and many were stoned to death. [Unfortunately for Ferdinand Francis, Toldoth Jeshu had been around since the 6th century, so he could not have been its author, regardless of he what he or Wagenseil might have said.]
1880: “A Lost Tribe” published today reviewed Wojinstwujusci Israil by W.J. Remirowitch-Dantschenko which described his encountered with a tribe in the highlands of the Daghesan that look like Cossacks but are Jews who follow “the Mosaic.” Their presence must date back to the days of the Judean kings since they know nothing about the Second Temple or the Temple.
1880: “The English Oath of Allegiance” published today traced the history of the fight for Jews to take an oath of office that require to say “upon the true faith of a Christian. By 1866, through acts of Parliament there was “a full statutory recognition of the civil equality of Jews with other subjects which though long allowed in practice had never yet been expressly decalred.”
1882: A review of the new musical “Black Flag” published today described the humorous performance by Nat Goodwin who played the role of “Sim Lazarus, an absurd London Jews of the kind that pleases for some occult reason the sense of the ridiculous in the average Hebrew…” [Goodwin was a famous 19thcentury American actor whose roles included Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice.”]
1883: It was reported to that an unnamed American Jew was expelled from St. Petersburg in accordance with Russian law that forbids Jews from living in the city.
1884(1stof Elul, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1884: It was reported today that fourteen houses and shops belonging to Jews were ransacked and demolished during anti-Jewish riots in Yekaterinoslav, Russia. Two Jews and one rioter were killed during the riots. Unlike other times, the Jews defended themselves from their attackers.
1884: In New York, Justice Power is scheduled to hear the case of Alexander Labotsky whose wife Frieda accused him of having deserted her. Frieda came to the United States ago from Poland. Labotsky said he left Poland because of her; that he had sent her papers for a divorce; and that he would support her financially but would never leave with her again as the Judge had previously suggested.
1884: “A Midnight Murder” published today described the discovery of the body of Sam Lavner, a Jewish man from Chicago who had murdered by shot fired by an unknown party. “On top of his head and one arm were fastened little cubes which on being cut open were to contain the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, such as used by the orthodox Jews in their worship”
1885: “The Will of Montefiore” published today uses information that originally appeared in the London Jewish Chronicle to provide a detailed summary of the will of the Sir Moses Montefiore which was executed in January of 1882. The will is twenty pages long and shows that his personal estate is worth between £350,000 and £380,000. The executors include Lord Rothschild, Joseph Sebag and Arthur Cohen. Among those receiving bequest are United Synagogue, Bevis Marks and various charitable institutions in Jerusalem and Palestine.
1885: “His Father to the Rescue” published today described an altercation in Chicago between Henry L. Ottenheimer who spanked 8 year old Robbie Garland for calling him a “Polish Jew” and his father R.H. Garland who came to the boy’s rescue.
1886: Eighty-four year old Professor Calvin E. Stowe, the husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe passed away. Among his best known works were History of the Hebrew Commonwealth and Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews
1887: The will of millionaire Levi Rosenfeld was admitted to probate today in Chicago, Illinois.
1887: Abraham Tombitsky who was treated at Gouverneur Hospital is in too much pain because of his fractured leg to give a statement to authorities who are investigating charges that Patrolman John Etterick was responsible for the injury during his attempt to enforce the Sunday Closing Laws by clearing the Hester and Ludlow streets of crowds of Russian and Polish Jews.
1888: The ninth free excursion sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children will leave from the foot of the 5th street pier and the East River this morning.
1889: As president of the board of regents of Indiana’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Frederick Knefler, the Jewish Civil War general, oversaw today’s laying of the cornerstone in the center of Indianapolis.
1891: At Baltimore thirty-nine Russian Jews who arrived aboard the Slavonia and 4 Russian Jews who arrived aboard the Caspian are still waiting to be investigated by authorities for their suitability to land in this country.
1891: Birthdate of Jacques Lipchitz. Born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in Druskininkai, Lithuania, this American artist was a leading Cubist sculptor.
1892: Lt. Gen. de Richter, the Czar’s aide-de-camp, acting on “formal instructions” returned the resolution to the New Zealand Legislative Assembly that it asked him to present the Czar urging more humane treatment for Russian Jews because he is not authorized to receive such petitions.
1893: Birthdate of Dorothy Parker. Born Dorothy Rothschild, she was an American writer and poet best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for twentieth century urban foibles. She passed away in 1967
1893: New York Mayor Thomas Gilroy appeared to respond favorably today to a request from Samuel Gompers, President of the American of Labor that “the municipality” should “help the unemployed and relieve their distress by ‘making working’ for them”
1893: Jacob Milch chaired the meeting of the Hebrew Trades this evening at the Pythagoras Hall.
1894(20thof Av, 5654): Dr. Bernhard Grunhut “was drowned at sea” today while sailing to Europe aboard the SS Bothnia.
1894: “Religious Duties May Interfere – Hebrews May Not Serve as Inspectors of Election in October,” published today described the plight of Jews who will be limited in their ability to serve as voter registration officers this fall since the first day of registration falls on October 9 which is Erev Yom Kippur. Jewish officials will have to leave their posts early because they have to be in their synagogues before sundown.
1894: Joseph Goldwasser was arrested this morning on charges of having beaten his 14 year old son Benjamin who is a “deaf-mute.”
1894: Julius Marcus, the young Jew who killed Mrs. Juliette Fournier and then shot himself was buried today in Bayside Cemetery by a “Hebrew benevolent society.” Because Marcus was a self-confessed atheist there was no rabbi at the burial which was attended on by his parents, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.
1895: The first conference of Russian Zionists that was secretly held in Warsaw comes to an end.
1895: Edgar Barney the principle of the Hebrew Technical Institute and twelve of his “tutors” took 300 student on an excursion to Coney Island.
1895: Sol Rubenstein is trying to replace Frank J. Butler as the Democratic leader of the 12th Assembly District. “Mr. Rubenstein wants the leadership” because of the number of Jewish “votes in the district.”
1897: “The disturbances begun on August 20 by the fanatical opponents of the Jews began again today in Pilsen, Bohemia. “An anti-Jewish mob” attacked the police “and then small the window in the synagogue, the Jewish schools and the houses of the best-known Jews.”
1897: “Reminiscence of Barney Barnato” published today provided a brief sketch of the personality of the late diamond mining magnate.
1897: “Jews Are Split on Zionism” published today described the opposition led by German Rabbis to Zionism and the call they have to “oppose the Zionist ideas as contrary to Judaism” and “to keep away from the Basil Congress.”
1898: The funeral of Leopold Minzesheimer, the Superintendent of Mount Sinai Hospital is scheduled to take place at 10 A.M. at the hospital.
1898: It was reported today that George Blumenthal is now the President of the Mount Sinai Training School for Nurses.
1898: “Entertainment for Hebrew Children” published today described a fundraiser organized by Mrs. J.F. Emanuel held at the Waldorf Amusement Hall that raised $900 for the Rockaway Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1898: It was reported today that Henry Gitterman is the acting President of the Board of Directors of Mt. Sinai Hospital.
1899(16th of Elul, 5659): Thirty-three year old Aaron J. Wechsler, the eldest son of the late Joseph Wechsler who was a partner in the dry goods firm of Wechsler & Abraham passed away today at his home in Brooklyn.
1899: Fernand Labori, the lead attorney for Alfred Dreyfus returned to the court today after enduring a “murderous attack” on August 14. He was accompanied by his wife, his physician and police inspectors. He was greeted by a cheering throng that wanted to shake his hand.
1900: In Pine Bluff, AR, Adolph and Rachel (Rae Solmson) Bluthenthal gave birth to their first child Adele who as Adele Bluthenthal Heiman would play an active part in the Little Rock, AR, Jewish community where she was an active member of Temple B’Nai Israel, the largest Jewish congregation in the state.
1903: Seventy-three year old Lord Salisbury who was political opponent of Disraeli even though they were both members of the Conservative Party and who served as Prime Minister at the end of the 19th century when Russian persecution of Jews caused some of his countrymen to fear “a wholesale invation of pauper Jews’ (Something he said during a speech in the House of Lords would not happen) passed away today.
1903: After attending the Shabbat service in the Basel synagogue, Herzl invites a number of leaders including the Russians Mandelstamm, Yelski, Bernstein-Kohan and Tshlenov as well as Wolfssohn, Marmorek, Cowen and Zangwill into Joseph Cowen's room in order to win them over to the Uganda Project. The final decision is to present the offer to the Congress.
1904: In Galicia, Max and Eugenia (née Dittler) Wilder gave birth to producer and director William Lee Wilder the brother of the more famous Billy Wilder.
1906(1stof Elul, 5666): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1909: Birthdate of Boris Schapiro, the native of Riga who became a British international bridge player.
1909: Birthdate of Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein. Among his more noted accomplishments; Epstein wrote the un-produced play that became the Academy Award winning film Casablanca. He is also the great-uncle of Theo Epstein, the baseball executive who brought the Red Sox the World Series Championship that broke the Babe Ruth Curse. During the Red Scare, Epstein appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he denied being a member of the Communist Party. However, when asked if he had ever worked for a subversive organization he reportedly replied, “Yes, Warner Brothers.”
1911: During the Tredgar Riots, another day of attacks on the Jews of New South Wales in the worst outbreak of anti-Semitic violence in modern British history
1913: In Brooklyn, Isaac and Sophie Sackler gave birth to “Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, medical researcher, publisher and art collector extraordinaire…”
1914: Lt. Edward Louis Spears, the British liaison officer serving with French General Lanrezac, whom the French ambassador in London would describe as “a most dangerous person…a very able and intriguing Jew who insinuates himself everywhere, witnessed and described the gallant behavior of the 1st Tirailleurs and 2nd Zouaves as they tried to retake the river bridges held by the Germans at Charleroi. (As described by Max Hastings)
1922: Birthdate of Ivry Gitlis, the Haifa born “Israeli violist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.”
1922: Birthdate of Canadian poet Elizabeth Brewster.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/obituary-elizabeth-brewsters-journey-of-self-awareness-led-to-prolific-poetry-career/article8226920/
1925: Birthdate of Irving David Chais Irving D. Chais, owner and chief surgeon of the New York Doll Hospital.
1927: French architect René Sergent, who helped Moise de Camondo design the family mansion on the Parc Monceau which included “a kosher kitchen with separate sections for meat dairy” passed away today.
1927: Birthdate of Walter Goodman, the Bronx native and reporter for the New York Times and “the author of a widely read history of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.” (As Reported by Douglas Martin)
1928: Birthdate of Slavko Goldstein, the Croatian author who fought in the Israel War for Independence and who worked with his son historian Ivo Goldstein to restore the Zagreb Synagogue.
1933: The Central Verein Zeitung, the “official organ of the Central Union of German Jews, was ordered closed until September 2 without explanation.”
1933: A demand that within the next ten years land and employment must be provided in Palestine for hundreds of thousands of Jews and in the next two generations for millions was the feature of the political report presented in today's session of the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress meeting in Prague by Professor Selig Brodetzky of Leeds, England.
1935: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York was invited today to address the World Zionist Congress on Jewry's position throughout the world after he had demanded a full discussion of the situation in Germany.
1936:The American consul general in Jerusalem cabled the U.S. Secretary of State to report, " A local committee of five representative Americans (leading Zionists) has been formed to meet the [Senate] party on arrival and has planned propaganda visits to Jewish colonies before proceeding [to] Jerusalem... [The] junket is designed to appeal to pro-Jewish propaganda.... The [British] Chief Secretary of the Palestine Government takes position on grounds of safety alone that the party cannot be permitted to tour country. With this I fully concur, particularly in view of present recrudescence of terrorism and especially as Zionists are sponsoring tour."
1937: The Jewish Agency Council successfully completed its deliberations at Zurich. After prolonged deliberations unity had been achieved between the Zionist and non-Zionist members. A unanimously adopted resolution stated that partition or no partition, the Zionist work in Palestine must go on. Dr. Chaim Weitzman stressed that the Jewish people were and would always be deeply conscious of their debt to Great Britain, which had exerted herself to do something for the Jewish people and created the indispensable conditions for the creation of a Jewish National Home. The Zionist Executive resolved to ask the British Government to discuss the implementation and broadening of the Peel Report and to arrange for a joint Jewish-Arab conference.
1937: Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich completed his first term as People’s Commissar for Transport of the Soviet Union.
1937: The Jewish Variety Hour will premiere at 5 p.m. on CKOC in Hamilton, Canada. Entertainment will be provided by tenor Lou Herman, his three sisters – Fay Miriam and Goldie, tenor Max Mendel and accordionist Sherman Ghan, “the blind musician who has mastered the violin, piano and organ.”
1938(25th of Av, 5698): Jonah Israelovitch, a 36 year old laborer was shot to death by Arab snipers who fired on a bus near Tel Aviv that was carrying workers to Holon.
1938: Firefighters in Jerusalem fought to contain a blaze in a Jewish owned lumberyard started by Arab arsonists that threatened to spread to nearby petroleum storage tanks owned by Standard Oil.
1938: Authorities found the bodies of three Arabs on the Acre-Safed road with a note pinned to the victims written in Arabic that state “So may it be done traitors.” The dead bodies with the note attach appear to be part of a campaign by Arab terrorists to intimidate those in their community who do not support their aims and/or tactics.
1940: As novelist Stefan Zweig and his wife Lotte Atlmann continued their flight from the Nazis, they move to Petrópolis, Brazil the city in which they would commit suicide in 1942.
1942: Ten thousand Jews from Wielun, Poland, are deported to the Chelmno death camp.
1942: In Siedlce, Poland after four hundred Ukrainians had joined by the Polish police and SS troops in surrounding the ghetto, 10,000 Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp and 2,000 were executed in the Jewish cemetery
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/august/07.asp
1942: The Jewish community from Losice, Poland, is liquidated at the Treblinka death camp
1944:Oskar Schindler signed a letter at his enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland, written on behalf of one of his employees, Adam Dziedzic, who had "received a clearings contract for unloading and assembling war-necessary machinery and has been sent to Sudetengau." (As reported by Reuters)
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=323228
1947: The British Foreign office issued a cable warning “diplomats that they should be ready to emphatically deny that the Jews from the SS Exodus were to be housed in former concentration camps after they were offloaded in Germany and that German guards will not be used to keep the Jews in the refugee camps.”
1947: Premiere of “The Pretender” produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder
1954: Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, opens its fortieth annual convention today at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
1960: After starter Don Drysdale is driven from the mound by the bats of the Giants, Larry Sherry tames San Francisco and gets the win when the Dodgers bats come alive for an 8 to 5 victory.
1966: In an interview published today, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits described his challenge while serving as the leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue as being “to make Orthodoxy elegant and fashionable and to show that you don’t have to live on the Lower East Side in squalor to be a strictly traditional Jew.” Jakobovits is the newly named Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth.
1967: Premiere “The Flim-Flam Man” directed by Irvin Kershner with music by Jerry Goldsmith.
1969: Birthdate of Jonathan Stuart Goldstein, “an American-Canadian author, humorist and radio producer” who is “known for his work on the radio programs This American Life and WireTap.”
1971(1st of Elul, 5731): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1972: Hadassah, the women's Zionist organization, emphasized its concern about the plight of Soviet Jews by giving its highest award to a Soviet Jewish woman and announcing a training program for 20 refugee Russian Jewish doctors and 10 scientists now in Israel.
1973: U.S. President Richard Nixon names Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State. Kissinger is the first Jew to hold this post. This stands in stark contrast to the anti-Semitic remarks that one hears uttered by Nixon on several of his taped conversations.
1974(4thof Elul, 5734): Sixty-six year old Jacob Bronowski, the Polish-Jewish British scientist who is remembered by many for his role in the13 part television series, “The Ascent of Man” passed away today.
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Bronowski.html
1976(26thof, 5736):Reb Avraham Yaakov, the leader of the Sadigur Chassidim passed away today in Israel
1977: The US confirmed that Israel had used American-supplied military equipment to assist the Christian forces fighting in Southern Lebanon, but denied that such action was a violation of any US-Israeli agreement.
1977: Egypt was accused by a senior defense source of serious violations of the Sinai agreement by moving forces in the Limited Forces Zone far beyond the acceptable limits.
1977: The Haifa Rabbinical Court ruled that artificial insemination does not constitute adultery. A husband whose wife bore a child by artificial insemination with his consent is responsible for the child’s upkeep.
1982: Rabbi Wall of Burlington presided at the ceremonies formally dedicating the new home of Congregation Beth-El in St. Johnsbury, Vermont
1982: General Ariel Sharon urged Palestinians to discuss peaceful coexistence.
1987:''From Marees to Picasso: Masterworks From the Von der Heydt Museum of Wuppertal,'' a new selection of Israeli art, on display at the Tel Aviv Museum is scheduled to come to any.
1990(1st of Elul, 5750): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1991: The NYPD changed their tactics in dealing with the violence in Crown Heights. Initially, the Department had practiced a strategy of containment in response to mounting violence in the streets, directing its officers only to stop the spread of disorder, but not to try to dispel it. At the same time some community leaders engaged in “blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric” including Reverend Al Sharpton who said, "The world will tell us that he (Cato) was killed by accident. Yes, it was a social accident? It's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights."
1993: The Independent published “Why the BBC ignored the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism in the top ranks of broadcasting and Foreign Office staff led to the news being suppressed” by Stephen Ward.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/why-the-bbc-ignored-the-holocaust-antisemitism-in-the-top-ranks-of-broadcasting-and-foreign-office-staff-led-to-the-news-being-suppressed-says-stephen-ward-1462664.html?printService=print
1994: The third in a series of family tours to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Congress is scheduled to come to an end.
1997: Premiere of action comedy “Money Talks” directed by Brett Ratner with a script by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
1998(30th of Av, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1998: On cemetery ridge overlooking Dawson City in Canada's far northwest Yukon Territories, "Beth Chaim," the resting place of some five Jews, was today. Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray, who is Jewish, was the keynote speaker and guests from Vancouver to Toronto joined locals to commemorate the Yukon-led cleanup of this old, nearly forgotten testament to the wandering Jews of a century ago.
1999: The New York Times book section featured a review of Foreign Brides by Elena Lappin, editor London’s “Jewish Quarterly” Actual Air Poems by David Berman, Three Dollars by Australian Jewish author Elliot Perlman and Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson by Lawrence J. Friedman whose grandfather, “an Orthodox Jew and a Talmudic scholar, who would always be at the kitchen table going through books, the Old Testament, everything else, and insisting that I would study with him, that I would be clear, be logical, be precise, and I could sometimes win some arguments against my folks by doing that.”
2003: Alabama's chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse. This is one of a series of attempts to undermine the doctrine of the separation of church and state which is cornerstone of American democracy and one of the reasons that Jews have thrived in the United States.
2004: The Sunday New York Timesbook section includes a review of A Man’s Guide to a Civilized Divorce: How to Divorce With Grace, a Little Class, and a Lot of Common Sense
by Jewish attorney Sam Margulies and Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance by Deborah Jowitt, “ grand survey of the great and deservedly popular choreographer of ballet and Broadway, as well as a personal examination of a radically unhappy man; at 57 he could call himself '’a Jewish ex-commie fag who had to go into a mental hospital.’”
2005(17th of Av, 5765): Ninety-one year Dr. Morris Ziff, an expert in rheumatic diseases passed away today in Dallas. (As reported by Jeremy Pearce)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/national/30ziff.html?pagewanted=print
2005: Red Sea Jazz Festival Opens.
2005: Israeli newspapers reported that all but one settlement in Gaza had been evacuated. The evacuation has gone faster than the government had planned and bulldozers have already begun leveling the buildings left behind.
2006: Shawn Green was dealt, along with $6.5 million in cash, by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the New York Mets for Triple-A 23-year-old left-handed pitcher, Evan MacLane. Green is Jewish; MacLane is not.
2006: Israel's police raid the home of their State President and seize computers and documents in connection with rape and abuse allegations against him.
2007(8thof Elul, 5767): Eighty-four year old author and social activist Grace Paley passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/books/23cnd-paley.html?pagewanted=print
2007: The Palestine Monitor a blatantly pro-Palestinian publication openly rebukes American Presidential candidate Rudi Giuliani for his statement that 'Palestinian statehood will have to be earned through sustained good governance, a clear commitment to fighting terrorism, and a willingness to live in peace with Israel.’
2008: The Saul Steinberg: Illuminations travelling exhibition, which displays original Steinberg works at various museum and galleries around the world is scheduled to open in Zurich.
2008: At the Jerusalem Cinematheque a screening of “The Summer of Aviya \ הקיץ של.”
2008: The Cedar Rapids Gazettereported that Iowa State labor officials are citing meatpacking plant Agriprocessors with 31 new and repeat safety violations.
2008: An article in the Chicago Jewish News describes the relationship between the Obama family and Rabbi Capers Funnye. According to the New York Times, “Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister. Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago. He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.”
2009: In Jerusalem, The Acco Theater's Dance Incubator presents "Neuronervana", a unique and creative dance performance.
2009: As we sit in the synagogue and hear the opening lines of “Shoftim,” friends and family of Shelly Luber, of blessed memory, are reminded that this was his Bar Mitzvah portion a quarter of a century ago.
2009: Hurling rocks and chanting slogans, hundreds of haredi protesters took part in demonstrations on Saturday evening against the opening of a parking lot opposite the Old City, in what has become a weekly confrontation over Shabbat observance in the capital.
2010: In Quebec, KlezKanada is scheduled to come to a close.
2010: An exhibit featuring 150 photographs of Willy Ronis is scheduled to come to a close atthe Musée de la Monnaie in Paris.
2010: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Jonathan Schneer
2010: A demonstration is scheduled to take place today outside of the BBC headquarters to protest “Death in the Med,” a documentary that examined the ill-fated confrontation between the Israelis and blockade-breaking flotilla headed for Gaza. The demonstrators are protesting the documentary because it is insufficiently anti-Israel. Organizers and/or supporters of the demonstration include Ken O’Keefe, one of the Free Gaza activists, Birmingham University lecturer Sue Blackwell, a major player in the call to boycott Israel academia and Ewa Jasiewicz part of a group of activists who spray-painted “Liberate all ghettos, free Gaza and Palestine” on a wall of the original Warsaw Ghetto.
2011: The New York City International Film Festival is scheduled to show נגטיב (Negative) directed by Yoav Hornung and בן חוזר הביתה (Ben is Back).
2011:After a meeting that concluded at 3 o’clock this morning Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his cabinet ministers concluded that Israel will not respond to the attacks from Gaza with a large-scale operation.
2011:Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel resumed yesterday evening and continued into the early hours of this morning after a lull during the afternoon. In the morning, more than 20 rockets were fired at southern cities. Three Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip after midnight landed in Sderot, the Eshkol Regional Council area and on the outskirts of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Eighty-eight year old Casey Ribicoff, the widow of the late Senator Abraham Ribicoff passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/nyregion/casey-ribicoff-widow-of-senator-dies-at-88.html?pagewanted=print
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Seventy-eight year old Jerry Leiber who wrote so many rock and roll hits of the fifties and sixties passed away. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/arts/music/jerry-leiber-rock-n-roll-lyricist-dies-at-78.html?pagewanted=print
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Eighty-five year Samuel Menashe the Greenwich Village poet who won the first Neglected Masters Award in 2004, passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/arts/samuel-menashe-new-york-poet-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=print
70: According to Josephus, Titus began the battering operations against the wall of the Temple Court 6:4)
1241: Pope Gregory IX passed away today. “Gregory IX was a prominent opponent of Judaism during his life, condemning it as "containing every kind of vileness and blasphemy". In the 1234 Decretals, he invested the doctrine of perpetua servitus iudaeorum – perpetual servitude of the Jews – with the force of canonical law. According to this, the followers of the Talmud would have to remain in a condition of political servitude until Judgment Day. The doctrine then found its way into the doctrine of servitus camerae imperialis, or servitude immediately subject to the Emperor's authority, promulgated by Frederick II. The Jews were thus suppressed from having direct influence over the political process and the life of Christian states into the 19th century with the rise of liberalism. In 1239, under the influence of Nicholas Donin, a Jewish convert to Christianity, Gregory ordered that all copies of the Jewish Talmud be confiscated. Following a public disputation between Christians and Jewish theologians, this culminated in a mass burning of some 12,000 handwritten Talmudic manuscripts on June 12, 1242, in Paris. Subsequent popes repeated this practice.”
1280: Pope Nicholas III passed away today before he could hear the request from Abraham ben Samuel Abulafia to “release captive Jews.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1370: Judah Alatzar of Barcelona, a Spanish Jew, lent the king and queen 110,000 sueldos so they could equip ten ships which would transfer the Pope from Rome to Avignon.
1400: On the day that Emperor Wenceslaus was deposed and Rupert of the Paletine was elected his successor, seventy-seven Jews were executed and three weeks later three more were led to the stake.
1454: Jews of Brno (now a city in the Czech Republic - then a free imperial city of Moravia) were expelled by King Ladislaus
1485: In England the forces of Richard III are defeated at the Battle of Bosworth Field, where loses Richard loses and the House of Plantagenet loses control of the throne to the House of Tudor. It was a Plantagenet king who expelled the Jews from England. Henry VIII, the second Tudor King to sit on the throne, promised that no Jews would be allowed to live in England as part of the marriage agreement with his Spanish born wife. But Henry would inadvertently open the way for the Jews to return when he broke with the Catholic Church over the matter of his divorce. So, on balance, the outcome of the Battle of Bosworth Field was a win for the Jews even though they were not there and the “win” was a long time in coming.
1604: An exemption was issued by the Pope allowing Portuguese conversos to seek pardon for their "offenses," and have their items returned to them. This order was not respected by the Inquisition in the New World.
1614: Vincent Fettmilch of Frankfurt, a former pastry cook and leader of the Guilds, calling himself the "new Haman of the Jews" attacked the synagogue while the community was at prayer. Although many tried to organize a defense, they were soon overpowered and many took shelter in the cemetery while the community was destroyed. He and his accomplices were hanged and quartered for it 2 years later. They were not hanged for their attacks on the Jews. They were hanged because they had decided to attack the wealthy nobles.
1639: Madras (now Chennai), India, is founded by the British East India Company on a sliver of land bought from local Nayak rulers. Jewish merchants played a significant role in Madras as can be seen from the fact that three Jewish merchants were among the 12 Alderman nominated to serve on the first local governing council established in 1688. One of the first Jews who came to Madras with special permission to reside and trade there was Jacques (Jaime) de Paiva (Pavia), originally from Amsterdam. Most Jews living in Madras were or English or Portuguese origin. They exported diamonds extracted from the mines at Goloconda to England and imported silver and coral. The Jewish community in Madras no longer exists but evidence of its vitality can be seen the Jewish cemetery located on Mint Street.
1642: King Charles I effectively began the English Civil War by branding the members of the House of Commons as traitors. As a result of the war, Charles would lose his head and Cromwell would become head of the English government. Cromwell made it possible for the Jews to return to England in an open fashion after a three century absence.
1654: Jacob Barsimson, who some claim was the first Jew to settle in North America, arrived in New Amsterdam. However, the official founding of the Jewish community in the United States is dated from September 23, 1654 when 23 Jewish refugees arrived from Recife.
1664: Kings Charles II of England responded to a petitions from “the Hebrews in his realm” by saying that as long as they (the Jews) demean themselves peaceably and with due submission to the laws, they may presumed they will enjoy the same favor as they formerly held.
1694(1stof Elul, 5454): Venetian rabbi Samuel Aboab, the son of Abraham Aboab, whose works included Debar Shemuel" (Word of Samuel and who was involved with Nathan of Gaza, passed away today.
1752: Eighty-four year old William Whiston best known for his translation of the works of Josephus including Antiquities of the Jews passed away today.
http://sacred-texts.com/jud/josephus/
1791: Seventy-four year old Johann David Michaelis part of family of Christian Hebraists including Johann Heinrich Michaelis “the author of an annotated Hebrew Bible, who wrote a dissertation defending “the antiquity and divine authority of the Hebrew vowel points, passed away today.
1800(1stof Elul, 5560): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1800: Birthdate of Samuel David Luzzatto, Italian-Jewish scholar.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0013_0_12907.html
1802: Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, the Batavian (Dutch) Ambassador to France delivered a note to the French foreign minister on behalf of the Jews of Germany.
1810: Birthdate of Eliezer Eduard
1810 Birthdate of Hirschel Eliazer Kann, one of the founders of Lissa & Kann, a Dutch banking house.
1821: On this day came an end of the Spanish Inquisition in Venezuela. The Venezuela government wrote, "The Tribunal of the Inquisition, also known as the Holy Office, shall be abolished."
1843(26 Av, 5603): Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the third Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, popularly known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," finally departed Petersburg having successfully prevented the government's disruption of traditional Jewish life. “In 1843, the Interior Ministry of the Czarist government convened a rabbinical conference in the Russian capital of Petersburg, to the end of imposing changes in Jewish communal life and religious practice. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866, known as the "Tzemach Tzeddek" after his Halachic works by that name) was invited; as a primary figure in the leadership of Russian Jewry, his compliance was required to lend legitimacy to the government's proposed "reforms". In the course of the conference, the Tzemach Tzeddek was placed under arrest no less than 22 (!) times for his refusal to cooperate.” Third in the line of leaders of the Chabad movement was after the title of his voluminous responsa.
1853:Solomon Nunes Carvalho, a South Carolina born Sephardic Jew signed on with explorer and U.S. military officer John C. Fremont as an artist and daguerreotypist. Carvalho would create a pictorial record of the “Pathfinder’s” expedition that explored the Rocky Mountain region.
1855: Mademoiselle Rachel, the great French Tragedienne, whose visit to the United States has been proclaimed in all the public prints for some months past, arrived today on the SS Pacific. Mademoiselle Rachel is Elizabeth Rachel Felix, the daughter of a German-Swiss Jew named Felix and his wife Esther Haya. She has an older sister named Sarah with whom she used to sing as a child.1855: Birthdate of Franz Heyse, the first son of Paul Heyse, German-Jewish author and translator.
1858: Twenty year old Jeanette Herzl married Jacob Herzl.
1860(4th of Elul, 5620): Samuel Holdheim passed away. Born in 1806, he was a German rabbi and author, and one of the early leaders of the Reform Movement in Judaism.
1863(6thof Elul, 5623): Seventy-six year old Jacob Rubino, the son of Minkel and Ruben Moses Rubino passed away today.
1864: Twelve nations sign the first Geneva Convention creating the Red Cross. The International Red Cross, as opposed to the American organization, has a negative image among Jews because of its unwillingness to recognize the Magen David as a variant of the Cross even though it allows for other variations including the Moslem Red Crescent.
1865(30th of Av, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1874: Birthdate of Max Scheler, German philosopher. Born to a Lutheran father and an Orthodox Jewish mother, Scheler opted to convert to Catholicism.
1875: A an article was published today that had originally appeared in Fraser’s Magazine (an English publication) which describes a visit to dealer in antiques and jewelry whose small shop is located on a dark and dirty lane in London. The owner of the shop is referred to as “Cohen Hertzog,” although that is not his name and he is described as a “Hebrew” and “a cosmopolitan” – a little old man with high wrinkled forehead and long white beard, a black velvet skull-cap upon his head, keen eyes that sparkle like his diamonds, and an intellect as sharp…as the file with which he tests them.” The Jew’s speech is written in a dialect saying “dese” for these, “tings” for things, etc. And during his oration the Jew reveals that the only thing for which he cares are the gems that he collects and sells. Not exactly a portrait of the Rothschilds but certainly a view of the Jew held by many English men and women of the day.
1875: “The Talmud” which was published today and was based on information first published in the Cornhill Magazine, a popular Victorian journal describes why this “extensive storehouse of Hebrew wisdom,” this “‘extraordinary monument of human industry, human intelligence and human folly’” has become “a faded memory” for the “greater majority of both Jews and Christians.” The reasons are two-fold. First, the Talmud is difficult to study and master; having it own lexicon and language. Secondly, from the Christian point of view the Talmud is filled with heresies which Bacon describes as “absurd trash”; the same words he used to describe the Koran, the Spurious Gospels and the Generations of Jesus.
1875: “The Author of Toldoth Jeshu” which was published today and was based on material first published in the Cornhill Magazine, a popular Victorian reported that the author of this work known in English as “The Generations of Jesus” was written by a 17th century “Bohemian Jew” known as “Chaim or Joachim who was converted to Christianity and baptized Ferdinand Francis. Thanks to the work of Johann Christoph Wagenseil, the German professor of Oriental Languages, the book was exposed as being blasphemous in its description of Jesus and Ferdinand Francis was condemned to be hanged in the fish market at Vienna. When the condemned man was offered a crucifix by a Jesuit he threw it on the floor and “told the people…that he had only adopted the Christian faith for reason of political convenience.” Ferdinand was then tortured by the his captors but did not cry out in pain. When they cut off his hand he said it was just punishment for turning his back on the faith of his fathers. And he continued to utter the prayers of his people until he died. In the mean time, the shops of the Jews were pillaged; they were robbed of their money and gems even if that meant cutting off their fingers and many were stoned to death. [Unfortunately for Ferdinand Francis, Toldoth Jeshu had been around since the 6th century, so he could not have been its author, regardless of he what he or Wagenseil might have said.]
1880: “A Lost Tribe” published today reviewed Wojinstwujusci Israil by W.J. Remirowitch-Dantschenko which described his encountered with a tribe in the highlands of the Daghesan that look like Cossacks but are Jews who follow “the Mosaic.” Their presence must date back to the days of the Judean kings since they know nothing about the Second Temple or the Temple.
1880: “The English Oath of Allegiance” published today traced the history of the fight for Jews to take an oath of office that require to say “upon the true faith of a Christian. By 1866, through acts of Parliament there was “a full statutory recognition of the civil equality of Jews with other subjects which though long allowed in practice had never yet been expressly decalred.”
1882: A review of the new musical “Black Flag” published today described the humorous performance by Nat Goodwin who played the role of “Sim Lazarus, an absurd London Jews of the kind that pleases for some occult reason the sense of the ridiculous in the average Hebrew…” [Goodwin was a famous 19thcentury American actor whose roles included Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice.”]
1883: It was reported to that an unnamed American Jew was expelled from St. Petersburg in accordance with Russian law that forbids Jews from living in the city.
1884(1stof Elul, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1884: It was reported today that fourteen houses and shops belonging to Jews were ransacked and demolished during anti-Jewish riots in Yekaterinoslav, Russia. Two Jews and one rioter were killed during the riots. Unlike other times, the Jews defended themselves from their attackers.
1884: In New York, Justice Power is scheduled to hear the case of Alexander Labotsky whose wife Frieda accused him of having deserted her. Frieda came to the United States ago from Poland. Labotsky said he left Poland because of her; that he had sent her papers for a divorce; and that he would support her financially but would never leave with her again as the Judge had previously suggested.
1884: “A Midnight Murder” published today described the discovery of the body of Sam Lavner, a Jewish man from Chicago who had murdered by shot fired by an unknown party. “On top of his head and one arm were fastened little cubes which on being cut open were to contain the Ten Commandments in Hebrew, such as used by the orthodox Jews in their worship”
1885: “The Will of Montefiore” published today uses information that originally appeared in the London Jewish Chronicle to provide a detailed summary of the will of the Sir Moses Montefiore which was executed in January of 1882. The will is twenty pages long and shows that his personal estate is worth between £350,000 and £380,000. The executors include Lord Rothschild, Joseph Sebag and Arthur Cohen. Among those receiving bequest are United Synagogue, Bevis Marks and various charitable institutions in Jerusalem and Palestine.
1885: “His Father to the Rescue” published today described an altercation in Chicago between Henry L. Ottenheimer who spanked 8 year old Robbie Garland for calling him a “Polish Jew” and his father R.H. Garland who came to the boy’s rescue.
1886: Eighty-four year old Professor Calvin E. Stowe, the husband of Harriet Beecher Stowe passed away. Among his best known works were History of the Hebrew Commonwealth and Lectures on the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews
1887: The will of millionaire Levi Rosenfeld was admitted to probate today in Chicago, Illinois.
1887: Abraham Tombitsky who was treated at Gouverneur Hospital is in too much pain because of his fractured leg to give a statement to authorities who are investigating charges that Patrolman John Etterick was responsible for the injury during his attempt to enforce the Sunday Closing Laws by clearing the Hester and Ludlow streets of crowds of Russian and Polish Jews.
1888: The ninth free excursion sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children will leave from the foot of the 5th street pier and the East River this morning.
1889: As president of the board of regents of Indiana’s Soldiers and Sailors Monument, Frederick Knefler, the Jewish Civil War general, oversaw today’s laying of the cornerstone in the center of Indianapolis.
1891: At Baltimore thirty-nine Russian Jews who arrived aboard the Slavonia and 4 Russian Jews who arrived aboard the Caspian are still waiting to be investigated by authorities for their suitability to land in this country.
1891: Birthdate of Jacques Lipchitz. Born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in Druskininkai, Lithuania, this American artist was a leading Cubist sculptor.
1892: Lt. Gen. de Richter, the Czar’s aide-de-camp, acting on “formal instructions” returned the resolution to the New Zealand Legislative Assembly that it asked him to present the Czar urging more humane treatment for Russian Jews because he is not authorized to receive such petitions.
1893: Birthdate of Dorothy Parker. Born Dorothy Rothschild, she was an American writer and poet best known for her caustic wit, wisecracks, and sharp eye for twentieth century urban foibles. She passed away in 1967
1893: New York Mayor Thomas Gilroy appeared to respond favorably today to a request from Samuel Gompers, President of the American of Labor that “the municipality” should “help the unemployed and relieve their distress by ‘making working’ for them”
1893: Jacob Milch chaired the meeting of the Hebrew Trades this evening at the Pythagoras Hall.
1894(20thof Av, 5654): Dr. Bernhard Grunhut “was drowned at sea” today while sailing to Europe aboard the SS Bothnia.
1894: “Religious Duties May Interfere – Hebrews May Not Serve as Inspectors of Election in October,” published today described the plight of Jews who will be limited in their ability to serve as voter registration officers this fall since the first day of registration falls on October 9 which is Erev Yom Kippur. Jewish officials will have to leave their posts early because they have to be in their synagogues before sundown.
1894: Joseph Goldwasser was arrested this morning on charges of having beaten his 14 year old son Benjamin who is a “deaf-mute.”
1894: Julius Marcus, the young Jew who killed Mrs. Juliette Fournier and then shot himself was buried today in Bayside Cemetery by a “Hebrew benevolent society.” Because Marcus was a self-confessed atheist there was no rabbi at the burial which was attended on by his parents, brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces.
1895: The first conference of Russian Zionists that was secretly held in Warsaw comes to an end.
1895: Edgar Barney the principle of the Hebrew Technical Institute and twelve of his “tutors” took 300 student on an excursion to Coney Island.
1895: Sol Rubenstein is trying to replace Frank J. Butler as the Democratic leader of the 12th Assembly District. “Mr. Rubenstein wants the leadership” because of the number of Jewish “votes in the district.”
1897: “The disturbances begun on August 20 by the fanatical opponents of the Jews began again today in Pilsen, Bohemia. “An anti-Jewish mob” attacked the police “and then small the window in the synagogue, the Jewish schools and the houses of the best-known Jews.”
1897: “Reminiscence of Barney Barnato” published today provided a brief sketch of the personality of the late diamond mining magnate.
1897: “Jews Are Split on Zionism” published today described the opposition led by German Rabbis to Zionism and the call they have to “oppose the Zionist ideas as contrary to Judaism” and “to keep away from the Basil Congress.”
1898: The funeral of Leopold Minzesheimer, the Superintendent of Mount Sinai Hospital is scheduled to take place at 10 A.M. at the hospital.
1898: It was reported today that George Blumenthal is now the President of the Mount Sinai Training School for Nurses.
1898: “Entertainment for Hebrew Children” published today described a fundraiser organized by Mrs. J.F. Emanuel held at the Waldorf Amusement Hall that raised $900 for the Rockaway Sanitarium for Hebrew Children.
1898: It was reported today that Henry Gitterman is the acting President of the Board of Directors of Mt. Sinai Hospital.
1899(16th of Elul, 5659): Thirty-three year old Aaron J. Wechsler, the eldest son of the late Joseph Wechsler who was a partner in the dry goods firm of Wechsler & Abraham passed away today at his home in Brooklyn.
1899: Fernand Labori, the lead attorney for Alfred Dreyfus returned to the court today after enduring a “murderous attack” on August 14. He was accompanied by his wife, his physician and police inspectors. He was greeted by a cheering throng that wanted to shake his hand.
1900: In Pine Bluff, AR, Adolph and Rachel (Rae Solmson) Bluthenthal gave birth to their first child Adele who as Adele Bluthenthal Heiman would play an active part in the Little Rock, AR, Jewish community where she was an active member of Temple B’Nai Israel, the largest Jewish congregation in the state.
1903: Seventy-three year old Lord Salisbury who was political opponent of Disraeli even though they were both members of the Conservative Party and who served as Prime Minister at the end of the 19th century when Russian persecution of Jews caused some of his countrymen to fear “a wholesale invation of pauper Jews’ (Something he said during a speech in the House of Lords would not happen) passed away today.
1903: After attending the Shabbat service in the Basel synagogue, Herzl invites a number of leaders including the Russians Mandelstamm, Yelski, Bernstein-Kohan and Tshlenov as well as Wolfssohn, Marmorek, Cowen and Zangwill into Joseph Cowen's room in order to win them over to the Uganda Project. The final decision is to present the offer to the Congress.
1904: In Galicia, Max and Eugenia (née Dittler) Wilder gave birth to producer and director William Lee Wilder the brother of the more famous Billy Wilder.
1906(1stof Elul, 5666): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1909: Birthdate of Boris Schapiro, the native of Riga who became a British international bridge player.
1909: Birthdate of Screenwriter Julius J. Epstein. Among his more noted accomplishments; Epstein wrote the un-produced play that became the Academy Award winning film Casablanca. He is also the great-uncle of Theo Epstein, the baseball executive who brought the Red Sox the World Series Championship that broke the Babe Ruth Curse. During the Red Scare, Epstein appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee where he denied being a member of the Communist Party. However, when asked if he had ever worked for a subversive organization he reportedly replied, “Yes, Warner Brothers.”
1911: During the Tredgar Riots, another day of attacks on the Jews of New South Wales in the worst outbreak of anti-Semitic violence in modern British history
1913: In Brooklyn, Isaac and Sophie Sackler gave birth to “Dr. Arthur M. Sackler, medical researcher, publisher and art collector extraordinaire…”
1914: Lt. Edward Louis Spears, the British liaison officer serving with French General Lanrezac, whom the French ambassador in London would describe as “a most dangerous person…a very able and intriguing Jew who insinuates himself everywhere, witnessed and described the gallant behavior of the 1st Tirailleurs and 2nd Zouaves as they tried to retake the river bridges held by the Germans at Charleroi. (As described by Max Hastings)
1922: Birthdate of Ivry Gitlis, the Haifa born “Israeli violist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.”
1922: Birthdate of Canadian poet Elizabeth Brewster.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/obituary-elizabeth-brewsters-journey-of-self-awareness-led-to-prolific-poetry-career/article8226920/
1925: Birthdate of Irving David Chais Irving D. Chais, owner and chief surgeon of the New York Doll Hospital.
1927: French architect René Sergent, who helped Moise de Camondo design the family mansion on the Parc Monceau which included “a kosher kitchen with separate sections for meat dairy” passed away today.
1927: Birthdate of Walter Goodman, the Bronx native and reporter for the New York Times and “the author of a widely read history of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.” (As Reported by Douglas Martin)
1928: Birthdate of Slavko Goldstein, the Croatian author who fought in the Israel War for Independence and who worked with his son historian Ivo Goldstein to restore the Zagreb Synagogue.
1933: The Central Verein Zeitung, the “official organ of the Central Union of German Jews, was ordered closed until September 2 without explanation.”
1933: A demand that within the next ten years land and employment must be provided in Palestine for hundreds of thousands of Jews and in the next two generations for millions was the feature of the political report presented in today's session of the Eighteenth World Zionist Congress meeting in Prague by Professor Selig Brodetzky of Leeds, England.
1935: Rabbi Stephen S. Wise of New York was invited today to address the World Zionist Congress on Jewry's position throughout the world after he had demanded a full discussion of the situation in Germany.
1936:The American consul general in Jerusalem cabled the U.S. Secretary of State to report, " A local committee of five representative Americans (leading Zionists) has been formed to meet the [Senate] party on arrival and has planned propaganda visits to Jewish colonies before proceeding [to] Jerusalem... [The] junket is designed to appeal to pro-Jewish propaganda.... The [British] Chief Secretary of the Palestine Government takes position on grounds of safety alone that the party cannot be permitted to tour country. With this I fully concur, particularly in view of present recrudescence of terrorism and especially as Zionists are sponsoring tour."
1937: The Jewish Agency Council successfully completed its deliberations at Zurich. After prolonged deliberations unity had been achieved between the Zionist and non-Zionist members. A unanimously adopted resolution stated that partition or no partition, the Zionist work in Palestine must go on. Dr. Chaim Weitzman stressed that the Jewish people were and would always be deeply conscious of their debt to Great Britain, which had exerted herself to do something for the Jewish people and created the indispensable conditions for the creation of a Jewish National Home. The Zionist Executive resolved to ask the British Government to discuss the implementation and broadening of the Peel Report and to arrange for a joint Jewish-Arab conference.
1937: Lazar Moiseyevich Kaganovich completed his first term as People’s Commissar for Transport of the Soviet Union.
1937: The Jewish Variety Hour will premiere at 5 p.m. on CKOC in Hamilton, Canada. Entertainment will be provided by tenor Lou Herman, his three sisters – Fay Miriam and Goldie, tenor Max Mendel and accordionist Sherman Ghan, “the blind musician who has mastered the violin, piano and organ.”
1938(25th of Av, 5698): Jonah Israelovitch, a 36 year old laborer was shot to death by Arab snipers who fired on a bus near Tel Aviv that was carrying workers to Holon.
1938: Firefighters in Jerusalem fought to contain a blaze in a Jewish owned lumberyard started by Arab arsonists that threatened to spread to nearby petroleum storage tanks owned by Standard Oil.
1938: Authorities found the bodies of three Arabs on the Acre-Safed road with a note pinned to the victims written in Arabic that state “So may it be done traitors.” The dead bodies with the note attach appear to be part of a campaign by Arab terrorists to intimidate those in their community who do not support their aims and/or tactics.
1940: As novelist Stefan Zweig and his wife Lotte Atlmann continued their flight from the Nazis, they move to Petrópolis, Brazil the city in which they would commit suicide in 1942.
1942: Ten thousand Jews from Wielun, Poland, are deported to the Chelmno death camp.
1942: In Siedlce, Poland after four hundred Ukrainians had joined by the Polish police and SS troops in surrounding the ghetto, 10,000 Jews were deported to the Treblinka death camp and 2,000 were executed in the Jewish cemetery
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/august/07.asp
1942: The Jewish community from Losice, Poland, is liquidated at the Treblinka death camp
1944:Oskar Schindler signed a letter at his enamelware factory in Krakow, Poland, written on behalf of one of his employees, Adam Dziedzic, who had "received a clearings contract for unloading and assembling war-necessary machinery and has been sent to Sudetengau." (As reported by Reuters)
http://www.jpost.com/LandedPages/PrintArticle.aspx?id=323228
1947: The British Foreign office issued a cable warning “diplomats that they should be ready to emphatically deny that the Jews from the SS Exodus were to be housed in former concentration camps after they were offloaded in Germany and that German guards will not be used to keep the Jews in the refugee camps.”
1947: Premiere of “The Pretender” produced and directed by W. Lee Wilder
1954: Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, opens its fortieth annual convention today at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
1960: After starter Don Drysdale is driven from the mound by the bats of the Giants, Larry Sherry tames San Francisco and gets the win when the Dodgers bats come alive for an 8 to 5 victory.
1966: In an interview published today, Rabbi Immanuel Jakobovits described his challenge while serving as the leader of the Fifth Avenue Synagogue as being “to make Orthodoxy elegant and fashionable and to show that you don’t have to live on the Lower East Side in squalor to be a strictly traditional Jew.” Jakobovits is the newly named Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth.
1967: Premiere “The Flim-Flam Man” directed by Irvin Kershner with music by Jerry Goldsmith.
1969: Birthdate of Jonathan Stuart Goldstein, “an American-Canadian author, humorist and radio producer” who is “known for his work on the radio programs This American Life and WireTap.”
1971(1st of Elul, 5731): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1972: Hadassah, the women's Zionist organization, emphasized its concern about the plight of Soviet Jews by giving its highest award to a Soviet Jewish woman and announcing a training program for 20 refugee Russian Jewish doctors and 10 scientists now in Israel.
1973: U.S. President Richard Nixon names Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State. Kissinger is the first Jew to hold this post. This stands in stark contrast to the anti-Semitic remarks that one hears uttered by Nixon on several of his taped conversations.
1974(4thof Elul, 5734): Sixty-six year old Jacob Bronowski, the Polish-Jewish British scientist who is remembered by many for his role in the13 part television series, “The Ascent of Man” passed away today.
http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Bronowski.html
1976(26thof, 5736):Reb Avraham Yaakov, the leader of the Sadigur Chassidim passed away today in Israel
1977: The US confirmed that Israel had used American-supplied military equipment to assist the Christian forces fighting in Southern Lebanon, but denied that such action was a violation of any US-Israeli agreement.
1977: Egypt was accused by a senior defense source of serious violations of the Sinai agreement by moving forces in the Limited Forces Zone far beyond the acceptable limits.
1977: The Haifa Rabbinical Court ruled that artificial insemination does not constitute adultery. A husband whose wife bore a child by artificial insemination with his consent is responsible for the child’s upkeep.
1982: Rabbi Wall of Burlington presided at the ceremonies formally dedicating the new home of Congregation Beth-El in St. Johnsbury, Vermont
1982: General Ariel Sharon urged Palestinians to discuss peaceful coexistence.
1987:''From Marees to Picasso: Masterworks From the Von der Heydt Museum of Wuppertal,'' a new selection of Israeli art, on display at the Tel Aviv Museum is scheduled to come to any.
1990(1st of Elul, 5750): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1991: The NYPD changed their tactics in dealing with the violence in Crown Heights. Initially, the Department had practiced a strategy of containment in response to mounting violence in the streets, directing its officers only to stop the spread of disorder, but not to try to dispel it. At the same time some community leaders engaged in “blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric” including Reverend Al Sharpton who said, "The world will tell us that he (Cato) was killed by accident. Yes, it was a social accident? It's an accident to allow an apartheid ambulance service in the middle of Crown Heights."
1993: The Independent published “Why the BBC ignored the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism in the top ranks of broadcasting and Foreign Office staff led to the news being suppressed” by Stephen Ward.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/why-the-bbc-ignored-the-holocaust-antisemitism-in-the-top-ranks-of-broadcasting-and-foreign-office-staff-led-to-the-news-being-suppressed-says-stephen-ward-1462664.html?printService=print
1994: The third in a series of family tours to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Congress is scheduled to come to an end.
1997: Premiere of action comedy “Money Talks” directed by Brett Ratner with a script by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow
1998(30th of Av, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1998: On cemetery ridge overlooking Dawson City in Canada's far northwest Yukon Territories, "Beth Chaim," the resting place of some five Jews, was today. Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Herb Gray, who is Jewish, was the keynote speaker and guests from Vancouver to Toronto joined locals to commemorate the Yukon-led cleanup of this old, nearly forgotten testament to the wandering Jews of a century ago.
1999: The New York Times book section featured a review of Foreign Brides by Elena Lappin, editor London’s “Jewish Quarterly” Actual Air Poems by David Berman, Three Dollars by Australian Jewish author Elliot Perlman and Identity’s Architect: A Biography of Erik H. Erikson by Lawrence J. Friedman whose grandfather, “an Orthodox Jew and a Talmudic scholar, who would always be at the kitchen table going through books, the Old Testament, everything else, and insisting that I would study with him, that I would be clear, be logical, be precise, and I could sometimes win some arguments against my folks by doing that.”
2003: Alabama's chief justice, Roy Moore, was suspended for his refusal to obey a federal court order to remove his Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of his courthouse. This is one of a series of attempts to undermine the doctrine of the separation of church and state which is cornerstone of American democracy and one of the reasons that Jews have thrived in the United States.
2004: The Sunday New York Timesbook section includes a review of A Man’s Guide to a Civilized Divorce: How to Divorce With Grace, a Little Class, and a Lot of Common Sense
by Jewish attorney Sam Margulies and Jerome Robbins: His Life, His Theater, His Dance by Deborah Jowitt, “ grand survey of the great and deservedly popular choreographer of ballet and Broadway, as well as a personal examination of a radically unhappy man; at 57 he could call himself '’a Jewish ex-commie fag who had to go into a mental hospital.’”
2005(17th of Av, 5765): Ninety-one year Dr. Morris Ziff, an expert in rheumatic diseases passed away today in Dallas. (As reported by Jeremy Pearce)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/national/30ziff.html?pagewanted=print
2005: Red Sea Jazz Festival Opens.
2005: Israeli newspapers reported that all but one settlement in Gaza had been evacuated. The evacuation has gone faster than the government had planned and bulldozers have already begun leveling the buildings left behind.
2006: Shawn Green was dealt, along with $6.5 million in cash, by the Arizona Diamondbacks to the New York Mets for Triple-A 23-year-old left-handed pitcher, Evan MacLane. Green is Jewish; MacLane is not.
2006: Israel's police raid the home of their State President and seize computers and documents in connection with rape and abuse allegations against him.
2007(8thof Elul, 5767): Eighty-four year old author and social activist Grace Paley passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/23/books/23cnd-paley.html?pagewanted=print
2007: The Palestine Monitor a blatantly pro-Palestinian publication openly rebukes American Presidential candidate Rudi Giuliani for his statement that 'Palestinian statehood will have to be earned through sustained good governance, a clear commitment to fighting terrorism, and a willingness to live in peace with Israel.’
2008: The Saul Steinberg: Illuminations travelling exhibition, which displays original Steinberg works at various museum and galleries around the world is scheduled to open in Zurich.
2008: At the Jerusalem Cinematheque a screening of “The Summer of Aviya \ הקיץ של.”
2008: The Cedar Rapids Gazettereported that Iowa State labor officials are citing meatpacking plant Agriprocessors with 31 new and repeat safety violations.
2008: An article in the Chicago Jewish News describes the relationship between the Obama family and Rabbi Capers Funnye. According to the New York Times, “Michelle Obama, wife of the Democratic presidential nominee, and Rabbi Capers Funnye, spiritual leader of a mostly black synagogue on Chicago’s South Side, are first cousins once removed. Funnye’s mother, Verdelle Robinson Funnye (born Verdelle Robinson) and Michelle Obama’s paternal grandfather, Frasier Robinson Jr., were brother and sister. Funnye (pronounced fuh-NAY) is chief rabbi at the Beth Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Hebrew Congregation in southwest Chicago. He is well-known in Jewish circles for acting as a bridge between mainstream Jewry and the much smaller, and largely separate, world of black Jewish congregations, sometimes known as black Hebrews or Israelites. He has often urged the larger Jewish community to be more accepting of Jews who are not white.”
2009: In Jerusalem, The Acco Theater's Dance Incubator presents "Neuronervana", a unique and creative dance performance.
2009: As we sit in the synagogue and hear the opening lines of “Shoftim,” friends and family of Shelly Luber, of blessed memory, are reminded that this was his Bar Mitzvah portion a quarter of a century ago.
2009: Hurling rocks and chanting slogans, hundreds of haredi protesters took part in demonstrations on Saturday evening against the opening of a parking lot opposite the Old City, in what has become a weekly confrontation over Shabbat observance in the capital.
2010: In Quebec, KlezKanada is scheduled to come to a close.
2010: An exhibit featuring 150 photographs of Willy Ronis is scheduled to come to a close atthe Musée de la Monnaie in Paris.
2010: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Balfour Declaration: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Jonathan Schneer
2010: A demonstration is scheduled to take place today outside of the BBC headquarters to protest “Death in the Med,” a documentary that examined the ill-fated confrontation between the Israelis and blockade-breaking flotilla headed for Gaza. The demonstrators are protesting the documentary because it is insufficiently anti-Israel. Organizers and/or supporters of the demonstration include Ken O’Keefe, one of the Free Gaza activists, Birmingham University lecturer Sue Blackwell, a major player in the call to boycott Israel academia and Ewa Jasiewicz part of a group of activists who spray-painted “Liberate all ghettos, free Gaza and Palestine” on a wall of the original Warsaw Ghetto.
2011: The New York City International Film Festival is scheduled to show נגטיב (Negative) directed by Yoav Hornung and בן חוזר הביתה (Ben is Back).
2011:After a meeting that concluded at 3 o’clock this morning Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and his cabinet ministers concluded that Israel will not respond to the attacks from Gaza with a large-scale operation.
2011:Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel resumed yesterday evening and continued into the early hours of this morning after a lull during the afternoon. In the morning, more than 20 rockets were fired at southern cities. Three Kassam rockets fired from the Gaza Strip after midnight landed in Sderot, the Eshkol Regional Council area and on the outskirts of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in the attacks.
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Eighty-eight year old Casey Ribicoff, the widow of the late Senator Abraham Ribicoff passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/26/nyregion/casey-ribicoff-widow-of-senator-dies-at-88.html?pagewanted=print
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Seventy-eight year old Jerry Leiber who wrote so many rock and roll hits of the fifties and sixties passed away. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/23/arts/music/jerry-leiber-rock-n-roll-lyricist-dies-at-78.html?pagewanted=print
2011(22ndof Av, 5771): Eighty-five year Samuel Menashe the Greenwich Village poet who won the first Neglected Masters Award in 2004, passed away today.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/arts/samuel-menashe-new-york-poet-dies-at-85.html?pagewanted=print
2012: Algerian pianist Maurice El Médioni – King of Rai and a legendary figure on the world music scene – is scheduled to host the Dialna Quintet for an evening of Jewish-Arab-Andalusian soul music with Boogie-Woogie, Rhumba and Flamenco rhythms at the Hazan Hall as part of the Oud Festival.
2012: "Vasermil" a film that tells the story of three Israeli teenagers from separate marginalized communities, who pin their hopes on soccer as a way out” is scheduled to be shown at the Avalon Theatre in Washington, DC
2012: Anyone who tries to harm Israel will taste “the deadly strength of the IDF,” Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz warned today
2012: Heiress, businesswoman and philanthropist Shari Arison placed 64th on Forbes’ 2012 list of the world’s 100 most powerful women, which was released today. Forbes’ list includes politicians, businesswomen, journalists, writers and celebrities. Arison, who was raised in Israel and the United States, was #57 in last year’s rankings.
2013: An exhibit, “The White Rose” which tells the story of a group of legitimate anti-Nazi German, which is being hosted by UNLV’s Lied Library is scheduled to come to a close today.
2013: The Macabeats are scheduled to begin a concert tour in Venice, Italy.
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to open a the Cape Ann Community Cinema in Gloucester, MA
2013: An extreme right-wing activist imprisoned for illegal political activity sent threatening letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, police said this morning. (As reported by Aaron Kalman)
2013: Four rockets fired from southern Lebanon targeted northern Israel this afternoon, setting off air raid sirens in Acre, Nahariya, and additional areas in the Western Galilee and sending frightened local residents fleeing for cover.(As reported by Yaakov Lappin)
2014: At Agudas Achim in Coralville, Iowa, Meirav Isaaca Flatte is scheduled to help lead Friday night services as part of her “Bat Mitzvah Weekend.”