August 23
1819: In Nagy-Kanizsa, Hungary, Rabbi Meïr Szanto and his wife gave birth to journalist Simon Szanto.
1938: Anti-Jewish riots begin in Bransk, Poland.
2012: A man in Melbourne accused of taunting his neighbors with anti-Semitic abuse was evicted from his apartment. Adam Schipkie, 28, was ordered by a government tribunal from his local council flat today after residents, including some Holocaust survivors, complained.
2014: At the Chabad House in Iowa City. Moishie Blesofsky, the son of Rabbi Avremel and Chaya Blesofsky is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah.
634: Umar began his reign as the second Caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate. Umar overturned the ban on Jews worshipping in Jerusalem. Not only did he clean the Temple Mount of Filth, he encouraged the formation of Sanhedrin when he invited “70 Jewish families to live on the southern end of the Temple Mount”.
686: Birthdate of Charles Martel, hero of the Battle of Tours and grandfather of Charlemagne. The Battle of Tours took place in 732. Martel led the Christian forces against invading Moslem forces coming up from Spain. This victory ended the Moslem threat to Western Europe and led to the demarcation of Christian and Moslem Europe at the Pyrenees. The life of the Jewish people varied depending upon which side of the mountains they lived. Charlemagne, Martel’s grandson, would prove to be a benign ruler where his Jewish subjects were concerned.
1179: The Battle of Jacob’s Ford opened with the arrival of Saladin at the river crossing. Jacob’s Ford was a key Jordan River crossing on the road that ran between Damascus and Acre on the Mediterranean. The area would become hotly contested in the 20th century in combat including WW I, the War for Independence and the Six Day War.
1217: During the Fifth Crusade, another futile attempt by Christians to re-take Jerusalem that brought misery to the Jews, King Andrew II of Hungary boarded Venetian ships at Spalato on their first leg of their journey to “the Holy Land.”
1305: Fifteen years after ordering the expulsion of the Jews from England, King Edward executes William Wallace in the cruel manner reserved for rebels as punishment for the Scots trying to keep their kingdom separate from Edward’s rule. The Scots never expelled the Jews the way Edward had and it is probable that some English Jews found refuge in “lowland or the highlands.” Whatever else, the Jews and the Scots shared the enmity of this avaricious monarch.
1349: Start of pogrom in Cologne known as the “Slaughter of the Jews” when “an enraged mob entered the Jewish quarter” and began killing the Jews in response to the fears over the Black Death.
1542: Joseph Caro completed his commentary on the Tur.
1555: Calvinists are granted rights in the Netherlands. John Calvin, the founder of Calvinism was seen at least from a comparative point of view as being a philo-Semite. Some Jews felt that there was some sort of bond between them and the Calvinists because both groups were intense attack from the Catholic Church. The willingness of the Dutch to allow the Calvinists to settle in the Netherlands was an example of their religious toleration which is what made the "land of windmills and tulips" a hospitable place for the Jews of Europe.
1567: The Polish king, Sigismund II Augustus, issued an edict, granting the Jews permission to open a yeshiva at Lublin. "As a result of the efforts of our advisors and in keeping with the request of the Jews of Lublin we do hereby grant permission to erect a yeshiva and to outfit said yeshiva with all that is required to advance learning. All the learned men and rabbis of Lublin shall come together for among their number they shall choose one to serve as the head of the yeshiva. Let their choice be a man who will magnify Torah and bring it glory."(Edict dated August 21, 1567)
1572: In Paris, Catholics slaughter Huguenots in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. There were no Jews living in France at the time but for more about these French Protestants and the Jews see: The Huguenots, the Jews and Me by Armand Laferee, http://www.jewishideasdaily.com/791/features/the-huguenot-connection/ and
1723: Eighty-four year Increase Mather a member of a famous family of Puritan ministers and leaders that included his father Richard Mather and his son Cotton Mather passed away. Unlike their European counterparts, the Mathers did not see themselves as anti-Semites who believed in forced conversion. Increase Mather thought the future conversion of the Jews to be both possible and not far distant in time. He opposed John Lightfoot’s argument that a general conversion of the Jews was impossible, and he also attacked Baxter’s thesis that the Jews were converted once and for all after Christ, and that those who did not convert at the time were condemned to remain in the Jewish faith for all time. According to Mather, the “national conversion” of the Jews was a “glorious truth.” (From The John Carter Brown Library)
1773: Birthdate of German philosopher Jakob Friedrich Fries, whose philosophy included ant-Semitism as can be seen by his 1816 work On the Danger Posed by the Jews to German Well-Being and Character in which he advocated distinct dress for Jews and “encouragement” for Jews to emigrate while calling “for Judaism to extirpated root and branch from German Society.”
1799: Napoleon left Egypt for France en route to seize power. Bonaparte’s position in the Middle East had become untenable because Lord Nelson had destroyed the French fleet. Napoleon’s departure put an end to the promises he had made about establishing a Jewish home in Palestine when he was fighting at Gaza and Acre.
1799: Mrs. Philip Hartvig Ree, the widow of Philip Hartvig Ree and the mother of Hartvig Phillip Ree obtained special permission from the king “to remain in joint possession” of her husband’s business.
1805: Birthdate of Austrian political leader and anti-Semite Anton von Schmerling who “urged the necessity of instruction in German in schools in order to overcome the advantageous position of the Jewish soldiers in the regiments of Galicia, who, owing to their knowledge of the German language, had better chances of promotion to the position of non-commissioned officers” adding the view "Personally, I am not in sympathy with the Jews
1806: Napoleon “proposes” that the Assembly of Notables be superseded by a Great Sanhedrin patterned after the ancient Jewish tribunal.
1819: In Nagy-Kanizsa, Hungary, Rabbi Meïr Szanto and his wife gave birth to journalist Simon Szanto.
1829: Birthdate of German born historian and mathematician, Moritz Cantor whose works included Mathematical Contributions to the Cultural Life of the People and the multi-volume Lectures on the History of Mathematics.
1854: Birthdate of Moritz Moszkowski, Polish born Jewish composer, pianist and teacher.
1855:A child of Mr. Louis Levinson of Providence was circumcised today.
1862:"Escape of Mr. W.H. Hurlbert from Richmond" published today described the Yankee journalist’s visit to Richmond and Charleston. Hulbert made the trip at the request of Judah P. Benjamin. Both men shared roots in South Carolina, but after talking matters over, he “soon found that he disagreed with that eminent Jew.”
1863(8thof Elul, 5623): Sixty-two year old historian Joseph Levin Hall, the first Jew to earn a doctorate in philosophy from the Albertus University of Konigsberg passed away today.
1865(1st of Elul, 5625): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1866: The Treaty of Prague ends the Austro-Prussian War. In approximately seven weeks, Prussia had defeated Austria. This little known war between the two leading Germanic states changed the course of victory. With Prussia the victor, Austria was removed from Germanic affairs. The other Germanic states would be forced to ally themselves with Prussia with King of Prussia as the Emperor of a united Germany. This German Empire would emerge as the strongest nation in Europe. This burgeoning strength would lead to World War I, World War II and the Holocaust.
1869: Birthdate of Lucie Hadamard, future wife of Alfred Dreyfus.
1872(19thof Av, 5632): A German Jew named Isaac Shwagar died in as a result of sunstroke at Butler’s Pottery Yard in New Brunswick, NJ.
1876: In New York’s Supreme Court, Judge Donohue heard a motion by the Corporation Counsel in a case brought by the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum Society and other charitable institutions to have assessments removed from their property.
1877: Birthdate of Samuel Armin Schlesinger, who gained fame as “Hungarian social scientist, librarian and anarcho-syndicalist revolutionary, Ervin Szabó.”
1877: It was reported today that the Department of State has received a report from the U.S. Minister to Turkey on the conditions of the Jews living in the Ottoman Empire. There are 500,000 Jews living under the rule of the Ottomans and in fairness to the Turks, “the Israelites have been better treated by the Ottoman than by many of the Western powers…They are recognized as an independent religious community” led by their own Chief Rabbi or Chacham. The only case of “maltreatment of the Israelites which has been brought to the notice of the United States Legation at Constantinople during the tenure of Horace Maynard, the current U.S. Minister to the Ottoman Empire involved an American Jew who was attacked by his co-religionist while visiting Tiberias. In the mean time, the U.S. Minister at Constantinople has requested that consular offices of the U.S. government serving in the various part of the empire pay close attention to the condition of the Jews and report any mistreatment.
1878: The Jews of Petersburg, VA, telegraphed $50 to New Orleans to help relieve the suffering of those impacted by the Yellow Fever Epidemic.
1878: A dispatch from Bucharest published today reported that Mihail Kogălniceanu (Cogalniceano) the Foreign Affairs Minister of Romania is seeking a modification of those portions of the Treaty of Berlin that deal with the treatment of the Jews. The terms of the treaty would require the calling of a Constituent Assembly to amend the constitution and the Foreign Minister is afraid that the changes would be rejected. This would be followed by a period of persecution of the Jews. The Romanian government believes that a gradual granting of civil and political rights to the Jews would be less of a problem because the people find the Jews to be so “obnoxious.”
1879: It was reported today that Emma Lazarus and W.C. Bonaparte Wyse have published sonnets on the death of the ex-Prince Imperial of France. The efforts of the Jewish Lazarus were deemed to be the better of the efforts.
1881: The Athletic Society of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem is scheduled to sponsor an excursion today.
1881(28thof Av, 5641): Babetta Scheild the 55 year old widow of Julius Schield was found dead in her New York apartment. Her throat had been cut. Notes written in Hebrew were given to her children who had discovered the body. While authorities assume that this was a suicide, the children would not reveal the contents of the notes.
1882: “The founding meeting for the Reform congregation, later to be known as Temple Emanuel, was held” today “in Lindsay Hall, St. Catherine Street West” Quebec.
1883: “The Jews In Russia” published today said the prohibition against Jews living in St. Petersburg and Moscow is based more on economics than on religion. There are thousands of Jews living in the two Russian Jews but that is because they are belong to “the privileged class” or are “skillfully” evading “compliance with the law.”
1883: “A Swindler Captured in Chicago” published today described the arrest of F. Simon Hahn a middle aged Jew from the East Coast at the Sherman House who had falsely claimed to represent Lieberman & Co of Philadelphia and who had forged at least one check for $100.00
1885: A review of Mrs. Keith’s Crime by Lucy Clifford published today contends that the Jews are the “novel characters” in this work of fiction. They include quick witted, generous Fred Cohen and Mr. Josephs, the Jewish MP.” (Like the reviewer, I am at a loss to explain the authoress’ “familiarity with Jews.”)
1886: “A Man With Six Wives” published today relied on information that originally appeared in the London Daily New to describe the exploits of a Polish Jew named Feinstein who has been arrested and tried on charges of having six wives. His criminal behavior began in Russia in 1870 where he married and then deserted his first wife (and their four children) before moving on to Paris, where he acquired and swindled several other wives before taking his last spouse in Nancy. This “Lothario” who was described as “small, ill-made and ugly” was sentenced to six years in prison for his crimes.
1887: It was reported today that the among the bequests in the will of Levi Rosenfeld, the Chicago millionaire were two thousand dollars to the United Hebrew Relief Association of Chicago and five hundred dollars for the Hebrew Union College. The bulk of the estate went to his widow who was wealthy in her own right having received one and half million dollars from the estate of Michael Reese.
1887: Congregation Or Zion of Peru, Indiana made a dues payment of $21.00 to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.
1887: Congregation Keneseth Israel of Zanesville, Ohio made a dues payment of $7.00 to the Union of American Hebrew Congregations,
1889: The Marion County Patriot reported on the recent death of Lewis Arnheim who represented rural Dougherty County in the Georgia State Legislature. Arnehim, who came to Georgia from Germany is in 1868 was the son-in-law of David Mayer of Atlanta, GA.
1890: “Mr. Mackay Maligned” published today described “annoyance caused to the friends of John W. Mackay” by reports that he “dislikes Englishmen and despises Jews.” Mackay was an Irish born American industrialist who made his fortune out of the Comstock Lode. As proof of his feelings for Jews, his friends pointed out that he sold his bank to “a Jewish syndicate” while retaining a large enough interest that he continues to have regular contact with those who bought. Also, Jews are among the biggest users of his three cable companies which respectively span the Atlantic, the United States and the Pacific.
1891: The Times of London and TheNew York Times described the two positive results of Mr. Arnold White's recent mission to Russia on behalf of Baron Hirsch. The trip was designed to improve the conditions of the suffering Russian Jewish population. First, the Czar’s government agreed to the practical abolition of the expensive passport system which has kept Jews, especially the large number of poor Jews, from leaving the country. Second, “is the authority given for the formation of emigration committees throughout Russia and for the promotion of emigration schemes in connection with the Central Berlin Committee.” Up until this point, the work had to be conducted in secret, hindering the process of Jews leaving a country dripping with anti-Semitism. The report ended with a cautionary note, that large increases of Jewish immigrants to England might result in restrictive legislation similar to that which was being adopted in the United States.
1892(30th of Av, 5652): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1893: Moses William Shapira, the Jerusalemite who deals in antiquities and ancient manuscripts wrote his last letter to David Ginsburg the Christian biblical and Masoretic scholar saying that he would be leaving London for Berlin in a day or two.
1893: “Tried To Capture A Meeting” published today described an attempt by anarchist to take over a meeting of the United Hebrew Trades which was thwarted by the police.
1894: During his arraignment, Joseph Goldwasser, a Jewish carpenter, “did not deny that he had beaten” his son Benjamin. But he did not do it because his son was deaf and a mute, but because he “had stolen and he was trying to him” to behave better.
1894: Charles Wilfred Mowbray, the English anarchist who had worked with Jewish tailors in London during their strike and who had addressed a mass meeting praising Emma Goldman left the United States for his home country aboard the White Star steamship Teutonic today.
1895: “Hebrew Boys at Coney Island” published today described the generosity of the businessman at the local resort showed towards the students from the Hebrew Technical Institute which enabled them to enjoy such amusements as the toboggan slides and carrousels.
1896: “Henry Klein married Mamie [Matilda] Norton, the daughter of Simon F. Norton, the son of a Polish Jewish immigrant merchant who had settled in Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, where she was born in October 1870.”
1896: Herzl meets with Johann Kremenetzky in Baden.Yona (Johann) Kremenetzky’ was an industrialist and electrical engineer. In 1901, Krementzky would become the first chairman of the newly created Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – the Jewish National Fund which many know today simply as the JNF. Krementzky created a wide variety of tools to educate the Jewish people about Eretz Israel and to raise funds for the purchase and reclamation of the land. He created the first Golden Book of Contributors and began the Zion Stamp series. But his most famous innovation was the “Blue Box” which has survived to this day.
1897: In Bohemia, “an order has been issued forbidding public meetings of any” and a 7 p.m. curfew following yesterday’s outbreak of anti-Semitic violence at Pilsen.
1898(5thof Elul, 5658): Thirty-five year old Herman Rosenthal kissed his four year old daughter Rachel and said good-bye to his wife before going to his room where he hung himself.
1898: In Washington, D.C. Mr. Roginksey and Mr. Levy expressed their displeasure with Adas Israel having a Rabbi and with the hiring of Morris Mandel to fill the post. “Mr. Lewis wished to know what functions Mr. Mandel was to perform, whether Rabbi or Teacher? The President answered that he was Rabbi and teacher both. Mr. M. Roginsky and Mr. Isaac Levy . . . objected to having a rabbi.”
1899: During today’s session of the court-martial of Alfred Dreyfus Major General Charles-Arthur Gonse, who had served as Deputy Chief of Staff, took the stand “with a quick step and apparently light heart.” By the time Dreyfus’ lawyers had finished examining him “his defiant bearing had changed into the abashed air of a schoolboy caught telling a lie.”
1903: The Sixth Zionist Congress convenes in Basel. It is the site of confrontations between Herzl and his supporters and the Zionists of Zion, who reject the plan for settlement in Uganda out of hand. Herzl brings the Uganda scheme is a temporary measure, emphasizing that Palestine remains Zionism's final object. Herzl is supported by Max Nordau who terms the Uganda scheme a "Nachtasyl" (refuge for the night), and is opposed by Russian Zionists. “The English Jews are deeply interested in the announcement made by Dr. Theodore Herzl, President of the sixth Zionist Congress, at its opening yesterday at Basel, that Great Britain, in view of the collapse of the project to establish Jews on the Sinai peninsula, had offered the Zionists a large tract of territory in East Africa for colonization by the Jews, who would have autonomous government under British suzerainty.”
1905: The New York Times publishes a letter from Ralph Jonas praising “the Sanitarium for Hebrew ‘children of the City of New York” which “has been doing excellent work…” So far this summer 13,400 mothers and children have enjoyed the benefit of the Sanitarium’s boat excursions and with another seven trips scheduled for the rest of the summer, more than 20,000 people will enjoy the benefits of free medical help and nutritious meals.
1908: In Glasgow, Scotland optical instrument maker Charles Frank and his wife Miriam gave birth to artist and sculptor Hannah Frank.
1911: “Savage Anti-Jewish Rioting In Wales,” published today describes outbreaks of violence in New South Wales, Great Britain, which were so severe that the Riot Act had to be read and troops used to stop the mobs. Even more troubling was the mounting evidence that the attacks were premeditated.
1914: In column published in the Boston Globe, dietician Frances Stern connected nutrition to social welfare. She opened the column with a lament that"There is meager knowledge of the comparative nutritive value of various kinds of food The column went on to explain the importance of protein in the diet, and to compare the nutritional value of various foods, along with their cost. Stern particularly emphasized the importance of education in nutrition as a way of helping poor women make the most of their food budgets. A social worker, nutritionist, educator, and pioneering dietician, Stern was a leading exponent of the idea that adequate nutrition was crucial to social welfare.
1915(13th of Elul, 5675):Emanuel Saul, a successful attorney in Essen and Duisburg (Germany) passed away today.
1917: The Jewish Legion of the British Army was established. It was long championed by Zev Jabotinsky, and was based on the Zion Mule Corps. The 38th Battalion was commanded by Colonel Henry Patterson. A second battalion commanded by Colonel Eleazar Margolin was also formed. Although initially against the idea, most of the leadership of the Yishuv including Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi joined after the Balfour Declaration. Over 2,700 men volunteered for the Legion. Many of them saw action in Transjordan in the fall of 1918. The group was officially known as the Royal Fusilier. Officially, the units were not designated as Jewish fighting units and were not supposed to wear Jewish insignias. Recruits came from the United States as well as England and Palestine. One of the most famous non-recruits was Golda Meir. When recruiters came to Milwaukee she wanted enlist. She was disappointed to find out that it was for men only.
1918(15th of Elul, 5678): During WW I,Lt Frederick Adolphus Aron, South Lancashire Regiment who had been at Shrewsbury passed away today.
1919: Birthdate of Vladimir Abramovich Rokhlin one of the leading mathematicians of the USSR.
1923: In New York City Gilbert Seldes and Alice “Amanda” Wadhams gave birth to Miriam Hall Seldes an actress whose career spanned six decades and earned her entrance in the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Her mother was a WASP; her father was the son of Russian Jewish immigrants.
1924: Birthdate of Ephraim Kishon, Israeli satirist, dramatist, screenwriter and film director. Born in Budapest, as Ferenc Hoffmann, he studied sculpture and painting, and then began publishing humourous essays and writing for the stage. After 1945 he changed his surname from Hoffmann to Kishont. He immigrated to Israel in 1949, where an immigration officer gave him the name Ephraim Kishon. Starting in 1952, he wrote a column of political and social satire call “Had Gadya” for the daily newspaper Ma’ariv. Several of his works have been translated into English including two books on the Six Day War – So Sorry We Won and Woe To the Victors.
1926: In Boston, MA, Maurice and Lallie (Rothenberg) Troobnick gave birth to American actor, Eugene Troobnick.
1927(25th of Av, 5687): In Jersey (UK), Sarah Cohen passed away as the result of an accident.
1927: The execution of Sacco and Vanzetti ignites protests around the world. The case against the two Italian immigrants was one of the great causes of the political left during the 1920’s. Numerous Jews were associated with their cause including the writer Dorothy Parker.
1929:Today, which is Friday, thousands of Arab villagers streamed into Jerusalem from the surrounding countryside to pray on the Temple Mount, many armed with sticks and knives. Harry Luke, the acting High Commissioner of Palestine requested reinforcements from Amman. Previously, Luke had ignored warnings from Jewish leaders about the potential for violence Towards 9:30 am Jewish storekeepers began closing shop, and at 11:00 20-30 gunshots were heard on the Temple Mount, apparently to work up the crowd. Luke telephoned the Mufti to come and calm a mob that had gathered under his window near the Damascus Gate, but the commissioner's impression was that the religious leader's presence was having the opposite effect. Inflamed by rumors that two Arabs had been killed by Jews, Arabs started an attack on Jews in Jerusalem's Old City. The violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine. British authorities had fewer than 100 soldiers, six armored cars, and five or six aircraft in country; Palestine Police had 1,500 men, but the majority was Arab, with a small number of Jews and 175 British officers. While awaiting reinforcements, many untrained administration officials were required to attach themselves to the police, though the Jews among them were sent back to their offices. Several English theology students visiting from the University of Oxford were deputized. While a number of Jews were being killed at the Jaffa Gate, British policemen did not open fire. They reasoned that if they had shot into the Arab crowd, the crowd would have turned their anger on the police.Yemin Moshe was one of the few Jewish neighborhoods to return fire, but most of Jerusalem's Jews did not defend themselves. At the outbreak of the violence and again in the following days, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanded that weapons be handed to the Jews, but was both times refused
1929: After the Mufti of Jerusalem made slanderous and enraging attacks against the Jews, what eyewitnesses described as “severe riots” broke out. The Arabs were told by the Mufti, "Remember that the Jew is your strong enemy, and the enemy of your ancestors since olden times…for it is he who tortured Christ…and poisoned Mohammed…." Rioting and death broke out in towns throughout Palestine with a total of 130 Jews being murdered by the Muslims.
1929: An Arab rioter pointed his rifle at a Jewish policeman named Schneryson, who was on traffic duty, with the apparent intention of shooting him. Just before he pulled the trigger, an Arab policeman appeared on the scene and the two police officers apprehended the would be killer. He was part of a group of hundreds of Arabs who were attacking the Jews of Mea Shearim who in turn were being protected by the Jewish Self-defense force as they awaited British reinforcements.
1929: In the evening, “a band of Arabs armed with rifles attacked the Jewish garden suburb of Talpiot. The Jewish defenders gathered in one of the houses and, armed with a single rifle and a few pistols drove off the attackers.
1929: The British appointed Deputy District Commissioner of the Jerusalem Division issued a three part order intended to halt the Arab rioting. The order had no immediate effect as the Arab attacks persisted.
1929: First day of the two day event known as the Hebron Massacre. While the numbers vary, according to one report 67 Jews were killed and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked; nineteen local Arab families saved 435 Jews by hiding them in their houses even under their own life risk.
1933:Despite the stormy protests of the Revisionist faction, the World Zionist Congress elected Professor Leo Motzkin of Paris president of the eighteenth annual meeting today.
1933:The Palestine Bureau of the German Zionist Federation officially announces that an agreement has been reached between the Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Reich Minister of Economics under which German-Jewish immigrants to Palestine will be permitted to place their capital in a special account in the Anglo-Palestine Bank, to aggregate not more than three million marks, against which German goods to that value will be shipped to Palestine.
1935: Catcher Bill Starr made is major league debut with the Washington Senators.
1935: Barnett Janner, a member of the British House of Commons, told the World Zionist Congress today that "Palestine stands as a complete vindication of the Jewish race."
1936:The Palestine Government revealed tonight it had deported fifteen Jewish Communists and one Armenian and was prepared to send a second group from the country next Wednesday in an effort to end disorders now in their nineteenth week. The government did not explain how deporting Jews would end violence which the government itself admitted was started by the Arabs
1936: Seventeen year old Shoshana Laznicki succumbed to wounds she had suffered at the hands of Arab gunman who had shot at her and a group of friends riding in a car near Tel Aviv on the previous Friday. She was the 76th victim of the latest Arab wave of violence.
1938: Anti-Jewish riots begin in Bransk, Poland.
1938 Premier of “You Can't Take It With You,” the screen adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart, two of the Jewish giants of Broadway.
1939: Germany and the Soviet signed a Union Non-Aggression pact. If Germany were to invade Poland, then the Soviet Union would not interfere. The pact would lead to the Soviets and Germany dividing Poland. Britain reacted with a call for the mobilization of its civil and military forces. This agreement gave Hitler his “green light” for the invasion of Poland, which marked the start of World War II and the end of European Jewry as we knew it.
1940: Junior Hadassah, the young women's Zionist organization, established at its annual convention today a war emergency fund for youth needs in Palestine
1941: In Berlin, Himmler, gave notice of a new Nazi policy. Henceforth, Jews would no longer be permitted to leave German occupied Europe.
1942: Cardinal Jules Saliège of Toulouse issued a pastoral letter today condemning the persecution of the Jews.
1942: The O.S.E. (a Jewish humanitarian organization formed in 1912) and the Eclaireurs Israélites de France joined forces with other groups to begin to work on saving Jews who have been arrested in and around Lyons.
1944: In Queens, New York, the cornerstone was laid for the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking which was designed to train disabled war veterans and provide them with a useful trade. Stanley Simon Bulova’s industrial relations director shepherded the school into being. Long before the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 made such amenities familiar, he oversaw the construction of a building specifically tailored to the needs of disabled people. (As reported, in part by Margalit Fox)
1944: Rumania surrenders to the Allies – in this case to the advancing Soviet Army. Hope of survival comes to the Jews of this Axis nation where half of the pre-war population survived thanks to King Michael’s decision to capitulate.
1952: Formation of the Arab League. The League’s charter did not call for the destruction of the state of Israel. It did not have to since the organizing members had invaded the Jewish state in 1948 with just that intent. The league did expel Egypt when Sadat signed the treaty with Begin. Years later Egypt was readmitted, but not forgiven. In the early part of the decade, the league did agree to consider “normalizing relations with Israel” after she withdrew to the pre-1967 borders including the surrender of Jerusalem.
1959: Birthdate of Eitan Cabal, the native of Rosh HaAyin who served in the Knesset as a member of the Labor Party.
1959: In Philadelphia, Mary Louise (née Beatty) and John Herbert Adler gave birth to future New Jersey Congressman John Herbert Adler.
1960(30th of Av, 5720): Sixty-five year old Oscar Hammerstein II Broadway librettist passed away. The Jewish team of Rogers and Hammerstein almost singled handedly defined that uniquely American entertainment medium – the Broadway Musical. Two of their seminal works were “Oklahoma” and “Carousel.
1960(30th of Av, 5720): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1961: Premiere of “The Young Doctors” co-starring Ina Ballin as “Cathy Hunt” with music by Elmer Bernstein.
1962(23rd of Av, 5722): While serving as Minister of Housing and Construction, 50 year old Dr Giora Yoseftal passed away. Born in Germany in 1912, he made Aliyah in 1938, fought with the British Army in WW II before working in the Jewish Agency’s Aliyah Department.
1969: Two Jordanian students try to blow up the Israeli Commercial Fair at Izmir, Turkey.
1973: In response to threats from Moshe Dayan that he either be made head of the government or he would bolt the Labor party, Israel Galili, at the behest of Prime Minister Meir, circulated a document intended to create a compromise between the competing forces within the Labor Party. Dayan led those who sought to aggressively expand Jewish Settlements in the West Bank. He was opposed by Abba Eban and Pinchas Sapir. The compromise called for the creation of 30 new West Bank settlements over the next four years. The settlements were not to be built in areas with a high density of Arab population. But at Dayan’s insistence all these 30 additional settlements along with 46 that had already been built would be within the borders of Israel at the end of any future peace negotiations with the Arabs.
1982(4thof Elul, 5742): Sixty-six year old Alfred S. Bloomingdale, the son of Hiram Bloomingdale and the heir to fortune connected with the department store chain that bears his family’s name passed away today.
1990(2nd of Elul, 5750): David Rose, British born American songwriter, composer and conductor passed away. The four- time Emmy winner is known for his work such television hits as Bonanza as well as musical creations including The Stripper and Calypso Melody.
1991: After two days of riots in Crown Heights, the police shifted tactics and the violence began to subside.
1998: The New York Times book section featured reviews of the memoir of an alcoholic who grew up in an observant Jewish household in an affluent New Jersey suburb and who changed her life after a car crash involving her parent entitledSlow Motion: A True Story by Dani Shapiro and Living the Bill of Rights: How to Be an Authentic American in which Jewish historian, writer and civil libertarian Nat Hentoff offers “profiles of Americans who, Hentoff believes, embody the constitutional ideals expressed in the Bill of Rights.”
1998(1st of Elul, 5758): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1998: Broadcast of the first episode of “That ‘70’s Show” a sit-com co-starring Mila Kunis.
1999(11th of Elul, 5759): Hollywood screenwriter Norman Wexler whose works included "Saturday Night Fever”, and "Mandingo" passed away.
2003(25thof Av, 5763): Seventy-three year old Fruma Rahel Wiezt of Jerusalem died today from the wounds she suffered during the Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing on August 19.
2005: Haaretzreported that Dalia Rabikovitch had passed away at the age of 69. Rabikovitch was born in Ramat Gan in 1936. Her name and her works may not be known to many in America. But in Israel she was described as“one of the main pillars of Hebrew poetry." She also wrote poetry for children and translated American and English poetic works into Hebrew. She had won both the Bialik Prize and the Israel Prize. Ms. Rabikovitch was a vociferous critic of Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has bought two new submarines from Germany. The new submarines - called the U212- will be fitted with a new German technology in which the propulsion system combines a conventional diesel lead-acid battery system and an air-independent propulsion system used for slow, silent cruising, with a fuel cell equipped with oxygen and hydrogen storage. Yes the Jewish state is litterally getting “U-boats”the name given to Nazi Scourge of the North Atlantic in World War II.
2006(29th of Av, 5766): St.-Sgt. Alex Assaf, 21, from Karmiel, was killed and three others were injured when a company of soldiers of the Givati Brigade accidentally walked into a minefield in southern Lebanon near Mount Dov, also known as the Shaba Farms. A platoon commander was listed in serious condition, the battalion commander Lt.-Col. Bassam sustained moderate wounds and another soldier was lightly wounded. The Jerusalem Post published the following link listing all who had lost their lives before the cease fire.In Memoriam - JPost.com special project
2007: Representatives of the Kabbalah Center confirmed that pop star Madonna, actress Demi Moore, actor Ashton Kutcher and fashion designer Donna Karan are among the famous faces scheduled to arrive as part of a Kabbalah Center tour being organized for the High Holidays.
2008: An exhibition entitled "From Distant Places to Dubuque's Shores: 175 Years of Jewish Life" opens at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. Alexander Levi blazed many trails in Dubuque. According to an article in the Telegraph-Herald, Dubuque's first Jewish settler, Levi became the state's first naturalized citizen, spent 50 years as a Mason and served as Dubuque Justice of the Peace. A successful miner and mine provisioner, Levi's dry-goods establishment became one of the largest and best-known retail stores of its time. Now, Levi's story and Dubuque's Jewish history are featured in the latest exhibit at the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium. "From Distant Places to Dubuque's Shores: 175 Years of Jewish Life" premieres at the museum Saturday, Aug. 23, and runs through the end of the year. "We are so thrilled," said Karin Pritikin, a lead exhibit organizer with the Alexander Levi Heritage Project, a volunteer initiative of Dubuque's Temple Beth El. Project organizers used a $5,000 competitive award from the city of Dubuque and a $3,000 "mini grant" from Humanities Iowa/The National Endowment for the Humanities to create a multimedia exhibit. "This is a unique exploration of Jewish history that is long overdue," said Jerry Enzler, the river museum's executive director. "It shows how diverse Dubuque was in its very founding." Levi emigrated from France in 1833 and was followed by other French Jews. By the end of the 19th century, most of Dubuque's Jewish population came from Russia or Poland. Over the decades, as their numbers ebbed and swelled, Dubuque's Jewish community founded several congregations, a Jewish cemetery, a political club, a ladies aid society and Hebrew schools. "Levi founded Dubuque's first Jewish congregation," Pritikin said. One of the exhibit's recurring themes is Dubuque's historic climate of religious tolerance:
* Levi was an early donor to Father Samuel Mazzuchelli, as the pioneering clergyman built Dubuque's first Catholic Church, St. Raphael's.
* Jews and non-Jews entered into successful and enduring business partnerships beginning in the early 19th century.
* Jewish citizens were elected and appointed to government posts at the local and state level.
* The dedication of Temple Beth El in 1939 was presided over by a Catholic judge, attended by Dubuque residents of many faiths and included an ecumenical service with participation from Methodist clergy.”
2008:Police discovered that Vandals had painted 11 swastikas on some of the 2,700 gray slabs of Berlin's Holocaust memorial today. A police statement said the red and black Nazi symbols were discovered by a guard at the monument and were immediately wiped off the seven slabs affected.
2008:Two wooden boats carrying dozens of human rights activists reached the Gaza Strip on this afternoon after the Israeli navy decided not to hinder the challenge to Israel's blockade of the Palestinian enclave.
2009: In New York City the Le Poisson Rouge Art Gallery’s third exhibition of the works of Itamar Jobani, the renowned Israeli installation artist, comes to an end.
2009: The Washington Post features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Wrestling with Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American Cityby Anthony Flint.
2009: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Why This World:A Biography of Clarice Lispectorby Benjamin Moser.
2009(3rdof Elul, 5769):Ninety-year old Stanley Kaplan, a pathfinder in the fields of test preparation and for-profit education passed away today. (As reported by Karen W. Arneson)
2010:As part of its Hints of Elul series, Beit Avi Chai is scheduled to present “Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God; and Renew a Right Spirit within Me. (Psalm 51:12)”
2010:Norway's Ministry of Finance announced that the Norway Oil Fund divested from Africa-Israel Investments and Danya Cebus Ltd. Today. The reason given is the companies' construction in the West Bank.
2010:The monumental chestnut tree that cheered Anne Frank while she was in hiding from the Nazis was toppled by wind and heavy rain today. The once mighty tree, now diseased and rotted through the trunk, snapped about 3 feet (1 meter) above ground and crashed across several gardens. It damaged a brick wall and several sheds, but nearby buildings — including the Anne Frank House museum — escaped unscathed. No one was injured, a museum spokeswoman said.
2010: The 14 Israeli police officers who will leave for earthquake ravaged Haiti as part of the U.N. multinational force, attended a ceremony at the Western Wall today ahead of their scheduled departure on early next week. The delegation constitutes the first-ever Israeli group to serve in active duty under the command of the United Nations. The police officers will remain in Haiti for an extended period of time
2010(13thof Elul, 5770):Eighty-nine year old song writer George David Weiss passed away (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2011: The Board of Trustees of Tifereth Israel Dinner and Meeting is scheduled to take place this evening Columbus, Ohio.
2011: Open Mic Night is scheduled tonight at the Off The Wall Comedy Empire in Jerusalem.
2011: Roni Ish-Ran, a musician and payytan from Nahla’ot and the Beit Abba band are scheduled to perform this evening in Jerusalem.
2011:The Israeli intelligence community is in disagreement regarding Hamas’s involvement in the recent round of violence between Israel and terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip.
2011: Officially, Hamas has claimed it was not involved in the attacks near Eilat on August 18, which Israel attributed to the Popular Resistance Committees, or in the firing of more than 150 rockets and mortars into Israel, which came to a tentative end on yesterday with the institution of a tense ceasefire.
2011:Australia today joined the growing ranks of Western nations that have decided to boycott the so-called Durban III conference set to take place at the United Nations headquarters next month.Canberra announced it would not take part in the tenth anniversary commemoration of the Durban World Conference on Racism citing concern it would be exploited by Israel's foes and focus unfairly on the Jewish State.
2011: "Jewish centers and synagogues were evacuated by the earthquake that was felt up and down the east coast. Staffers at synagogues in Washington D.C. and Richmond, Va., the city closest to the epicenter, tried to calm one another’s jangled nerves as they checked their buildings for structural damage.At Adas Israel, the largest Conservative synagogue in Washington, Executive Director Glenn Easton ordered the building evacuated after the quake ended. A lunch for seniors was stopped midway, and 100 people filed out of the building." (As reported by Naomi Zeveloff)
2012: Dr. Peggy Pearlstein, the head of the Hebraic Section at the Library of Congress is scheduled to lead a noontime discussion of People of the Bookby Geraldine Brooks.
2012:President Shimon Peres called on German President Joachim Gauck today to resolve the German legal issues around circumcision, Army Radio reported. "Circumcision has constituted a central aspect of our nation's Jewish identity over thousands of years. The value of religious freedom for the Jewish community must be preserved," Peres wrote Gacuk in a letter. Peres hosted Gauck at the Presidential Residence in May.
2012:Hezbollah should be placed on the European Union’s terror list, Philipp Missfelder, Bundestag foreign policy spokesman for German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party, wrote The Jerusalem Post today.
2012: A man in Melbourne accused of taunting his neighbors with anti-Semitic abuse was evicted from his apartment. Adam Schipkie, 28, was ordered by a government tribunal from his local council flat today after residents, including some Holocaust survivors, complained.
2012: Temple Shalom of Auburn, ME is scheduled to sponsor a field trip to the Maine Jewish Museum at Congregation Etz Chaim in Portland, Maine.
2013: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Temple Judah is scheduled to host a Musical Shabbat followed by the installation of new congregational officers.
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to be shown at several theatres in New England include the Roxy in Burlington, VT, the Colonial in Keene, NH and the Strand in Rockland, ME
2013: San Diego mayor Bob Filner is expected to resign today.
2013:Israeli fighter jets bombed targets south of Beirut early this morning in what the IDF spokesperson said was retaliation for rocket attacks against northern Israel the day before. . (As reported by Ilan Ben Zion)
2013: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the rocket fire from Lebanon that landed in northern Israel yesterday
2013(17thof Elul, 5773): Eighty-eight year old psychiatrist and author William Glasser passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
2014: At the Chabad House in Iowa City. Moishie Blesofsky, the son of Rabbi Avremel and Chaya Blesofsky is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah.
2014: In Tel Aviv, The Titanic Exhibition that includes “hundreds of artifacts” from the unsinkable ship is scheduled to come to an end.
2014: The Tel Aviv Performing Arts Center is scheduled to host a “Tribute to Ofra Haza” as part of its August Concert Series.