September 2
44 BCE : Cicero delivers the first of his fourteen Philippics (oratorical attacks) on Mark Antony. He will make 14 of them over the next several months. From a Jewish perspective it might be proper to say “a pox on both of your houses.” Cicero was anti-Semite. Once when addressing the Senate he was reported to have told his colleagues that he must whisper lest the Jews hear him. He described Judaism as “’a barbarous superstition’” and derided the Jews as “a race born in slavery.” When defending a Roman official against charges that he had stolen a large sum of gold bound for Jerusalem, the famous orator used “all the anti-Jewish canards” of the day to defend his client. Antony was no prize either. After he and Octavius had triumphed at the Battle Of Philippi, Marc Antony went to Asia Minor, an area under his control. Antony violently rejected several groups of Jews who sought to meet with him concerning the need to replace Herod. While Herod had made the mistake of siding against Antony before the Battle of Philippi, the vile monarch kept his throne. Why did Antony favor him over Antigonus? Given the greed and the debauchery of the man, a bribe seems a likely explanation. Also, Antigonus was a reformer and Herod along with his new ally the High Priest Hyrcanus, could be counted on to keep peace in the Jewish kingdom.
31 BCE : Octavian defeated Marc Antony and Cleopatra in the naval Battle of Actium off the coast of Greece Antony Antony Judea since he had given Cleopatra the area around Jericho Jerusalem Temple Jerusalem
1192: The Third Crusade ends as English king Richard the Lion-Heart and Islamic sultan Saladin sign a peace treaty that allows Christian pilgrims access to Muslim held Jerusalem Jerusalem
1492: Jews are expelled from Spain by King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella
1504: In Pilsen, “the councilors and aldermen” decreed “that all Jews both local and visiting must wear Jewish coats so they can be distinguished from other people, and that Jewish women must wear a veil with a broad yellow and white ribbon. If Jews were found without such clothing, the penalty would be five coppers for each offence. It was emphasized that Jews must not manufacture veils or undertake any other gentile business.”
1649: In Italy, the Jews of Castro found refuge in Pitigliano when forces supporting Pope Innocent X at the end of the Wars of Castro. The Jews had nothing to do with the fighting and their flight is what we would call today “collateral damage.”
1666: The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings. While Jews had already returned to London we can assume that none of the buildings that burned were synagogues. In 1656, the Jews had been denied the right to build a synagogue or buy land for a cemetery. The famed Bevis Marks synagogue was not built until 1701.
1686: When imperial troops recaptured Buda, most Jewish residents were massacred, while a “lucky few” were captured and later released for ransom.
1728: An edict issued today allowed the Jews “to attend the fairs of Little Russia, provided they carried on wholesale business only.” (As reported by Herman Rosenthal)
1731: In response to an application by Danil Pavlovich Apostl, who was Hetman of the Cossacks, Jews were permitted “attend the fairs of Little Russia, provided they” only engaged in wholesale business activities.
1735: Lewis Gomez, a Jewish merchant in New York sold 25 loads of lime to the city for £6 pounds, 5 shillings. Gomez advertised his "lime" in the newspaper as "good stone-lime."
1752: England and its American colonies use the Julian calendar for the last time, dropping it in favor of the Gregorian one. Eleven days (September 3 – 13 inclusively) vanish as the calendar was adjusted forward so that September 14 followed September 2. This does not directly affect Jewish history, but it is worth noting since it accounts for some of the seeming discrepancies in providing dates for events.
1763: Moses Lindo, the Surveyor and Inspector-General of Indigo, Drugs and Dyes wrote a letter from Charleston, South Carolina to Emanuel Mendez da Costa containing “an account of a New die from the Berries of a Weed in south Carolina.
1777(30th of Av, 5537): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1778: Birthdate of Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Emperor Napoleon, who thanks to his brother ruled Holland from 1806 to 1810. During his short reign he sought to improve the condition of the Jews with such steps as moving market day from Saturday, abolishing the “Oath More Judaico” and allowing Jews to serve in the military for the first time by creating two battalions with Jewish enlisted men and officers.
1796: The Jews of Holland were emancipated as the Dutch state became the Batavian Republic
1789: Founding the United States Department of the Treasury. Although there is some anecdotal evidence that the first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, was Jewish, Henry Morgenthau, Jr. is listed as the first Jewish Secretary of the Treasury. He was appointed by FDR and served from 1934 until 1945. Morgenthau was chosen because he was country squire neighbor of FDR and not for financial acumen.
1825: Mordecai Manuel Noah led a large group of Christians and some Jews to St Paul’s Episcopal Church in Buffalo, NY where they participated in a dedicatory ceremony marking the founding of Ararat, which was to be a Jewish colony on an island in the Niagara River.
1831: Thirty-seven year old Daniel Lessmann, a veteran of the Battle Lutzen who converted in 1824, possibly to advance his career as a poet and history
1833: Oberlin College is founded by John Shepherd and Philo P. Stewart. Today Oberlin has about 800 Jewish students out of a student body of 3,000. It offers ten courses in Jewish Studies as well as both a Major and a Minor in Jewish Studies.
1839: Birthdate of Elias Solomon, an Australian politician. Born in London, England, he migrated to Australia as a child. He had no formal education, but in 1868 became a clerk and auctioneer in Fremantle in Western Australia. In 1877 he was elected to the Fremantle City Council. In 1892, he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as the member for South Fremantle, where he remained until 1901. In that year, he transferred to federal politics, winning the Australian House of Representatives seat of Fremantle for the Free Trade Party. He was defeated by Labor's William Carpenter in 1903. Solomon died in 1909.
1856: The "Foreign Correspondence” column published today reported that when the subscription books opened to buy shares in the Zurich Credit Mobilier, Bavarian Jews with with millions in their bags, were reportedly seen in the crowd of purchasers.
1861: Birthdate of Felix Albert Bettelheim, the son of Rabbi Aaron Siegfried Bettelheim, who became a successful doctor in the United States.
1864: The 79th Indiana Infantry Regiment under the command of Colonel Knefler fought the Rebels in Georgia at the Battle of Lovejoy’s State
1864: General Sherman and his Union soldiers capture Atlanta.
1877: A large group of Jews from New York and Brooklyn attended today’s dedication of the Salem Fields Cemetery which is adjacent to Cypress Hills. The cemetery is the property of Temple Emanu-El on New York’s Fifth Avenue. Several lots have been sold to other Jewish congregations and benevolent societies. Louis May, President of Temple Emanu-El and Rabbi Gottheil officiated during the event.
1878: The “Israelites” of Vicksburg, MS, have made an appeal to their co-religionists throughout the United States to provide aid for “their sick and destitute brethren” who are trying to survive the current Yellow Fever Epidemic. Money should be sent to Alexander Kuhn Treasure of the Hebrew Relief Society of Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1881: Based on information that first appeared in the Daily News, it was reported today that an Anglo-Jew named Lewishon who has the support of Lord Granville has been given permission by the Russian Government to visit Novgorod. The British government intends to pursue the central issue – the right of citizens, including Jews to reside and conduct business in Russia under the terms of the treaty signed by the two countries.
1881: In Chicago, Moses Jacobs, a Polish Jew who was attacked by Thomas Kennedy at Clark and Taylor Streets is in critical condition.
1882: It was reported today that that Ignace Eprhussi & Co a Jewish banking house in Odessa was ceasing operations in Russia because of the persecution of Jews in the land of the Czars. Founded by Charles Joachim a Russian grain trader, the firm moved its operations to Vienna
1883: American labor leader Daniel De Leon and his wife gave birth to Solon De Leon, who followed in his father’s footsteps and who created The American Labor Who's Who which is a registry or directory of people involved in the American Labor Movement.
1883(30th of Av, 5643): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1883(30thof Av, 5643): Eighty-one year old Léon Halévy a French dramatist and historian who was the son of cantor Elie Halevy, the brother of composer and Jacques Halevy and the father of Ludovic Halevy passed away today.
1883: “The Hungarian Riots” published today described that renewed attempts by the military to stop the attacks on the Jews in Zala.
1885: Nine-year old Samuel Neuman was sent to the Riverside Hospital because he suffering from smallpox which he caught in Hamburg or while sailing to America on board the SS Firsa.
1886: It was reported today Jacob H. Schiff, Jess Seligman and the banking firm of Kuhn, Loeb & Co are among those who have contributed to a fund that will allow The Hebrew Technical Institute to move into new, enlarged quarters. Founded in 1884 to provide instruction in the mechanical arts to poor Jewish boys, the institute now is serving 100 youngsters.
1886: It was reported today that Mr. and Mrs. Harris Manheim and their five year old son have been sent back to England before Coroner Levy of the Jewish Immigrants’ Protective Association could meet with them. It was alleged that the Manheims were indigent when in fact that they “had a valuable Jewish parchment which…could have easily sold for $200 or $300.
1889: The New York Times reviewed The Jew In English Fiction by Rabbi David Philipson.
1890: “Jews Ordered To Go” published today described the issuance of an by the Governor of the Transcaspian Territories of the Russian Empire expelling the Jews of that region.
1891: In the United States District Court in Brooklyn, Judge Benedict heard the case of 19 Russian Jews who were seeking to reverse the order of the Immigration Commissioner that would not let them remain in this country “because they had no visible means of support.”
1892: In New York, the Eldridge Street police, at the request of Justice Hogan, are looking for “some information” that will help him decide whether or not Israel Simovitch did or did not steal $90 of jewelry from his fellow Russian Jew Jacob Rohnewitch.
1892: As Europe deals with concerns about an outbreak of Cholera, it was reported today that “hundreds of Russian Jews” arriving at Stettin “by sea from Memel or by rail from Eidtkuhnen” are kept in quarantine until they board steamers headed for America.
1892: “Duels and French Duels” published today described the acquittal of Marquis de Mores on charges of having murder Captain Mayer, a Jewish officer in the French Army, because the killing took place during a duel and regardless of the letter of the law, the jury rendered a verdict “that is exactly what might expect from a jury in Mississippi or South Carolina.”
1892: A supply of flour arrived today at Zionsville, the Russian Jewish Colony in Gloucester County, NJ and was quickly turned in to bread to feed the “famished” Jewish “families.
1892: A “carload of Russian Jews arrived at Port Huron, Michigan tonight from Liverpool by way of Montreal.
1892: In the UK, the Jewish Chronicle described the arrival of a group of Polish Jews at the Isle of Jersey and their desire to hold services if they can obtain a Sefer Torah.
1892: Gottlieb Deininger, a member of the Haifa Templer Colony passed away today leaving his widow Mary and their children an estate valued at 50,488 Piasters including stone house, a two and half acre vineyard and 243 gallons of “new Carmel wine.” (The Zionists were not the only Europeans who were settling in this part of the Ottoman Empire prior to WW I)
1893: It was reported today that the Jews of Camden, NJ, have formed “The Hebrew Protective Club” to protect “the members from robbery, insult, assault and murder” and will be retaining a lawyer “who will be permanently engaged to look after their interests.”
1893: Dr. Christian Adolf Stoecker the former Chaplain of the Court of Berlin and leading anti-Semite who arrived in New York yesterday left from Philadelphia where he had stayed with the house surgeon of the German Hospital today for Chicago. Stoecker joined the anti-Semitic movement in 1888 “because he believed that the Hebrews in several cities and districts in Germany were persecuting and oppressing the Christians.” (This is four decades before the rise of Hitler)
1893: In what may be the first round of a general strike in the clothing industry, the finishers went on strike. Eighty per-cent of the 25,000 workers in the clothing in New York’s clothing industry are Jewish, most of whom are immigrants from Russia and Poland.
1894(1st of Elul, 5654): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1894: “Man’s Oldest Civilization” published today provided a lengthy review of New Light on the Bible and the Holy Land: Recent Discoveries in the East by Basil T. Evetts.
1894: Approximately 600 employees decided to go on strike at Julius Stein & Co in New York City.
1894: Birthdate of Austrian author Joseph Roth best known for his family saga, The Radetzky Marchand for his novel of Jewish life Job.
1895: The tailors, most of whom are Jewish, “will celebrate their victory over the contractors today, Labor Day, with a big mass meeting and parade.”
1896: “Stein’s Heavy Stealings” published today described how the jewelry firm of Julius M. Lyon was forced to close its doors do the embezzlement orchestrated by 26 year old Julius Stein, his most trusted employee, that cost the firm over $200,000.
1897: Dr. Julius Wasserman conducted the funeral services for Lazarus Morgenthau at the residence of is son J.C. Morgenthau which were followed by burial “in the family vault at Salem Fields, Cypress Hills Cemetery.”
1897: Writing in the American Israelite, Reform Rabbi Isaac M. Wise expressed his belief in the impossibility of the Zionist dream due in part to Herzl’s ignorance about Judaism and the inevitable clash between him and Orthodox Jewry.
1898: The “wealthy Jews” living at Hempstead, Long Island and surrounding villages are considering a plan to build a synagogue.
1898: During the Dreyfus affair,the presidential decision that ratified the board of inquiry’s decision to discharge Estherhazy “for habitual misbehavior” was made today, three days after Colonel Henry’s sucide.
1898: Herzl leaves Basel and sets out for the Bodensee island of Mainau, for an audience with the Grossherzog Friederich of Baden. The main topic of the audience is Kaiser Wilhelm's journey to Palestine.
1899: “Notes and News,” a compilation of information from various publishing houses reported today that the September issue of Century contains a “timely article” entitle “An American Forerunner of Dreyfus” that tells the story of a gallant naval officer who early in the present century was persecuted throughout his career because he was a Jew.” (Editor’s note – this must be a reference to Commodore Uriah P. Levy)
1902(30thof Av, 5662): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1905: A disastrous fire in Adrianople , Turkey
1906(12thof Elul, 5666): Rabbi Elias Epstein passed away
1907: Sir Matthew Nathan, the son of Jewish Paddington businessman Jonah Nathan became the 7thGovernor of Natal.
1911: Alderman Henry E. Davis was re-elected May of Gravesend in Great Britain.
1912: Birthdate of David Daiches, the Scottish literary critic and writer whose memoir was entitled “Two Worlds: An Edinburgh Jewish Childhood.”
1913(30thof Av, 5673): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1913: Birthdate of Israel Gelfand, the prize-winning Soviet mathematician.
1913: The 11thWorld Zionist Congress met today in Vienna where it approved a resolution “to establish a Hebrew University in Palestine.”
1915: Two weeks after the lynching of Leo Frank, Tom Watson equated the hanging with an act of God as he wrote in The Jeffersonian, “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”
1915: The circulation of Tom Watson’s The Jeffersonian reached 87,000 today, triple the number of issues sold before Watson began writing articles condemning Leo Frank as the murder of Mary Phagan.
1923: Universal Pictures released the Irving Thalberg production of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
1924: In Wolomin, Poland, Izaak Krasucki and his wife gave birth to French trade unionist Henri Krasucki.
1926: Birthdate of department store mogul, political activist and philanthropist Betsy Bloomingdale.
1926:The opinion that there is unity in American Jewry and the only real division is on the question of Jewish nationalism and Zionism is voiced by today’s "American Israel" Referring to the various rabbinical seminaries that have been established in American Jewry, the paper continues thus: "These widely varying institutions are typical of the divisions in American Jewry. We have the strictly orthodox, the moderately orthodox, the middle of the road, the moderately reform, the ultra-reform and the Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashana and Kaddish Jew, each holding firmly to his own views. "In a number of instances these differences of opinion have resulted in the useless duplication of philanthropic institutions, especially hospitals, homes for indigent aged and infirm and orphans homes. "Here the main dividing factor is the matter of 'Kashruth,' not only according to the commands of Mosaic Law, but also the requirements added after the Scriptural era by the Rabbis and other Talmudic authorities. "Yet all these divisions in American Jewry, irremediable as they apparently appear are, after all, not so wide, not so important as they seem. "Whenever persecution becomes violent, as it is at present in Europe, and misfortune in its direct forms comes upon our brethren anywhere, the truth of the old maxim. 'All Israel are brethren' is sure to be again verified and help is given unstintedly by all Jews, regardless of the particular kind of Judaism they may profess. This has been splendidly exemplified during the last few years in which brief-period American Jewry, in addition to private benefactions, has contributed not less, probably more than one hundred million dollars for the alleviation of the misery brought upon suffering coreligionists through the fanaticism and barbarism of their Christian countrymen. "After all, there is more or less unity in American Jewry. If there is any real division today it is on the question of Zionism and that, except as it refers to Nationalism, is of no vital importance."
1931: New York state Supreme Court justice Alfred Frankenthaler will hear a motion this morning seeking “to restrain the national officers” of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America “from interfering with the activities of the local Cutters Union 4.
1932: Birthdate of Arnold Shepard Greenberg, the Brooklyn native who founded beverage giant “Snapple” with his brother-in-law.
1932: In Hamburg, Germany, George Mengers and Ruth Levy gave birth to “Sue Mengers, a powerful agent who represented stars like Barbra Streisand and Steve McQueen and helped shape Hollywood’s vibrant revival in the 1970s” (As reported by Michael Cieply)
1934: Dr. Joseph H. Hertz, Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom officiates at consecration of the Wembly United Synagogue
1935: Hundreds of mourners attended the funeral for Herman Bernstein in New York City. During the eulogy, Rabbi Clifton Harby Levy said that “Herman Berstein was a fine exemplar of the Jewish American who chooses the United States for his home for what he can give, not for what he can get…He was an American Jew, faithful to America an faithful to Judaism. A native of Russia, Bernstein was educated in the United States where he wrote for several publications including the New York Evening Post, The Nation and the New York Times. In 1921, he wrote History of a Lie, which exposed the Protocols of Zion as being “a notorious forgery. His diplomatic career included a stint as Ambassador to Albania. Burial was in the Montefiore Cemetery.
1935: The funeral for Rabbi Avraham Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook is scheduled to take place today at l p.m. All cafes, theatres and places of amusement throughout Palestine will remain closed until after the funeral is over.
1936: Birthdate of Andy Grove, who served as CEO of Intel from 1987 until 1998.
1939: Premiere of “The General Died At Dawn” directed by Lewis Milestone (Leib Milstein) with a script co-authored by Clifford Odets.
1937: The Mandatory administration and police took summary action in connection with the recent wave of Jewish-Arab violence. In Hadera 15 Jews, mostly Revisionists, were arrested and summarily sentenced, under the prevention of crime ordinance, to one year's imprisonment. In Jerusalem
1937: An Arab constable was shot and killed by Arab terrorists at the high commissioner's summer residence at Atlit.
1937: Birthdate of Sophie Turner-Zaretsky. Born Selma Schwarzwald in Lvov (Lwow, L'viv), Poland, she would gain fame for her stuffed bear named “Refugee” a replica of which would be taken into outer space by Space Shuttle Discovery Commander Mark Polansky in December of 2006.
1939: The Germans established, a camp for "civilian prisoners of war" at Stutthof, Poland
1939: As 1400 Jews escaping from Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia land on a Tel Aviv beach. British soldiers shoot and kill two refugees.
1939: In Mirecourt, Vosges, France. Roger Lang and Marie-Luce Bouchet gave birth to French political leader Jack Mathieu Émile Lang
1940: German occupation authorities in Luxembourg introduced the Nuremberg Laws. All Jewish businesses were seized and handed to "Aryans."
1940: Bishop Theophil Wurm, head of the provincial Lutheran Church Württemberg , Germany
1941: The Germans open an exposition in Paris France
1941: Romanians and Germans force nearly 150,000 Jews into death marches to internment camps in Bessarabia , Ukraine
1941: Chemists and mechanics at the RSHA (Reich Security Main Office) Criminal Technical Institute develop an execution van with engine exhaust directed to the sealed rear-cargo area.
1941: Jews in Slovakia Bohemia Moravia
1941 Ukrainian nationalist Ulas Samchuk, editor of the newspaper Volhyn, writes that Jews and Poles "must disappear completely from our cities."
1942: Over the next three days, 6,000 more Jews from Wlodzimierz would join the 7,000 Jews gathered the previous day for transport to the death camps. Babies were dropped to their death from hospital windows. One enterprising German began catching them with his bayonet.
1942: The Nazis liquidated the Mir ghetto
1942: Ten thousand Jews in Dzialoszyce , Poland
1942 In Oslo Norway Norway Oslo
1942: At Lachva (aka Lachwa) in Belorussia, which at that time was part of the Soviet UnionGerman troops, together with Belorussian police, surrounded the ghetto which still contained 2,000 people. Dov Lopatin head of the Judenrat refused the German request to line up for deportation. Although many of the town’s elders were against taking any initiative, Lopatin and the youth leaders decided to resist even without weapons. As the Germans entered, most of the town attacked them even though they were only “armed” with axes, sticks, and Molotov cocktails. Between 600 and 700 Jews were killed fighting, and a further 600 succeeded in reaching the forests after killing or wounding about 100 Nazis. The rest were shot by the Germans. Many of those who reached the forests were killed by local police units. Approximately 90 people survived. The resistance ended on the following day.
1942: Birthdate of attorney Robert Shapiro, part of O.J. Simpson’s Dream Team who cofounded LegalZoom.
1943: “Proposals for the immediate rescue of as many Jews as possible from the Nazi-controlled countries of Europe, for the post-war rehabilitation of Jewish life in those lands and for an international bill of rights to safeguard their political status in the future were approved” today “by the American Jewish Conference as it brought to a close its five day meeting at the Hotel Waldorf-Astoria.”
1943: One thousand Jews are deported from Paris Auschwitz
1943: Ten thousand Jews from Tarnów , Poland Auschwitz and the Plaszów slave-labor camp.
1943(2nd of Elul, 5703): Fifty-one year old Joseph Diamond, a World War I veteran, former vaudevillian and clothing manufacture passed away today Rochester, NY. He was a Republican and a member of Temple B’rith Kodesh
1943: During the next 48 hours, 3,500 Jews are deported from Przemysl, Poland, to Auschwitz.
1943: At Treblinka the Jews who were left behind to clean out the recently closed camp revolted against their guards. Wearing a guard's uniform, Seweryn Klajnman led his fellow 12 inmates out of the camp to their freedom. The remaining Jews would be sent to Sobribor after the final dismantling of Treblinka. Treblinka was plowed over and turned into a farm.
1944(14th of Elul, 5704): Bella Chagall passes away.
1944: Walter Suskind, who had been released from Westerbork transit camp, finds out that his family is about to be shipped to Theresienstadt and joins them for what will be a trip that leads to their death at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1944: Approximately 2000 Jews deported from Plaszów , Poland Auschwitz .
1944: Diarist Anne Frank and her family were placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz. They would arrive at their destination three days later.
1945: World War II officially ended as Japan
1945: Among those attending the surrender of Japan was Bernard Schwartz who was serving aboard the submarine tender U.S.S. Proteus. Years later actor Tony Curtis would say, “That was one of the greatest moments of my life.
1946: Ayn Rand begins writing Atlas Shrugged.
1950: In Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Yashuva Kolontarov and Tamara Khanimova Kolontarova gave birth to Tajik-American dance Malika Kolontarova, known as the “Queen of Tajik & Eastern Dance.”
1951: In the wake of the assassination of Jordan’s King Abdullah, Israel has informed the Big Three (U.S., Great Britain and France) that it will not stand idly by if there is a change in the Middle East that would result in Jordan’s union with Syria or Iraq. Israel will take act to protect its self if Syrian or Iraqi troops take up positions on the east bank of the Jordan River.
1952: Yosef Opatoshu, the 65-year-old Polish-born Yiddish writer, arrived aboard the SS Kedma, as a guest of the Histadrut Executive. Optashua was famous in his own right but he is also known as the father of American character actor David Opatoshu. One of David Opatoshu's most famous roles was that of the Zionist leader Arik in the movie “Exodus.” The character was loosely based on Menachem Begin.
1954(4th of Elul, 5714):Franz Leopold Neumann a German-Jewish political activist and labor lawyer, who became a political scientist in exile and is best-known for his theoretical analyses of National Socialism passed away today at the age of 54. He studied in Germany and the United Kingdom, and spent the last phase of his career in the United States. Together with Ernst Fraenkel and Arnold Bergstraesser, Neumann is considered to be among the founders of modern political science in the Federal Republic of Germany.
1965: Rabbi Amram Blau, the legendary leader of the extremist, ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta married Ruth Ben-David in a Bnei Brak yeshiva.
1969: The last episode of the original “Star Trek” television series is broadcast. Most people did not know that the actors playing the Captain and his loyal first officer were played by Jewish actors
1978: Italian premiere of “Dawn of the Dead” co-starring Gaylen Ross as “Francine Parker.”
1987: The Holocaust themed film, ''Flames in the Ashes,'' opens at Film Forum 1 asking the question, ‘Who is more heroic, one who goes in the woods to fight with a gun or one who decides to go that last road and die with his family?
1989: A revival of the musical “Shenandoah” with lyrics and story co-authored by Phillip Rose closed today.
1991: Jerry Lewis' 26th Muscular Dystrophy telethon raised $45 Million.
1997(30th of Av, 5757): Viktor Frankl, author of Man’s Search for Meaning passed away. There is no way to justice to the man or his writings in this brief space. If you have not read Man’s Search for Meaning, you should. If you have read it, you should read it again.“Don’t aim at success - the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one's personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the byproduct of one's surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long run - in the long run, I say! - success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think of it." - Man's Search for Meaning
2001: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest includingThe Marble Quilt: Stories by David Leavitt.
2003: The appointment of 49 year old Jill Abramson as the managing editor for news gathering at the New York Times takes effect today.
2003: The Boeing Company named David Ivry who had served as commander of the IAF and Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, as President of Boeing Israel.
2004(16th of Elul, 5764): In Honolulu Marilyn M. Lichton, co-founder of the Hadassah-Hawaii chapter and secretary of Temple Emanu-El passed away at the age of 74.
2005: Funeral services in Cedar Rapids
2005: Funeral services were held in Brookfield, Wisconsin for Ruth Swider Gelbart (Ruchl bat Szaja Pesach v'Rivka Laiya), mother of Marsha Fensin, former Cantor at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids. Mrs. Gelbart was a survivor of the Warsaw Ghetto. She made her way to Palestine United States
2006:Security forces said they had arrested two Palestinian militants suspected of trying to launch rockets from the West Bank into central Israel
2007:As part of European Day of Jewish Culture and Heritage the Manchester Jewish Museum is fully playing its part on this day when important Jewish buildings throughout Europe are freely open to the public. The theme of the day is “Testimonies”. Visitors hear testimonies from the extensive collection of interviews with Manchester Jews about their lives as newcomers to Manchester in which they described the joys and sorrows of growing up in Manchester in the late nineteenth and early 20thcenturies. At 2.00 pm well known raconteur Stanley Hyman entertains and amuse with his vivid recollections of Manchester
2007: The Sunday New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Marc Chagall by Jonathan Wilson, Jews and Power by Ruth R. Wisse, The World Without Us by Alan Weisman and Away by Amy Bloom.
2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section featured a review of Interventionsby Jewish gadfly Noam Chomsky.
2007: In London Israel
2007: In Glenn Kessler’s recently released The Confidante: Condoleezza Rice and the Creation of the Bush Legacy Rice is described as thinking that Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was a weak disappointment and that President Bush’s signature Mideast peace program was unworkable.
2007: On the eve of the Labour Day classic Canadian Football League game which he was to host, Canadian sport journalist Elliotte Friedman shaved his head bald in secret without telling many family members or friends. This was in recognition of a young boy he met at a shopping mall whose parents informed him their child was a big fan of his and watched all his broadcasts. Unfortunately, the boy was afraid to greet Elliotte due to the fact that he was bald as a side effect of his chemotherapy. As a result, Elliotte shaved his head in secret in order to show the young man that there is nothing wrong with being bald.
2008: A new 120mm mortal shell with a built-in guidance system that allows operators to direct the shell to its target with a laser-honing device was unveiled at a press conference held at Israel Military Industries (IMI ) headquarters in Ramat Hasaharon.
2008: In a story entitled “Entrepreneurs Find Ways to Make Technology Work with Jewish Sabbath,” Dan Levin describes how “the rabbis, scientists and engineers of the Zomet Institute are trying to solve the problems that arise when technology and the Torah collide.
2009: Just before the start of the High Holidays, The Jerusalem Theater presents a festive concert of classic pieces from the cantorial repertoire, including "Mamale” and Rosenblatt's "All of Israel are Brothers."
2009: Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said today.The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders. The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem of the Middle Bronze Age had a powerful population capable of complex building projects, said Ronny Reich, director of the excavation and an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa. The wall dates to the 17th century BC, when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, one of the peoples the Bible says lived in the Holy Land before the Hebrew conquest. The kingdom thought to have been ruled from Jerusalem by the biblical King David is usually dated to at least seven centuries later. A small section of the wall was first discovered in 1909, but diggers have now exposed a 79-foot portion, and Reich believes it stretches much further. Reich said budget constraints related to the global financial crisis put an end to the excavation, at least for now.
2009: At Tel Aviv’s Hayarkon Park, Madonna appears at the second and last of two concerts that are the final stop on her “Sticky and Sweet” tour. She first appeared at Hayarkon Park 16 years ago as part of her Girlie Tour, and also visited Israel in 2006 during the Jewish High Holidays along with 2,000 other students of Kabbalah.
2010:Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met today in Washington, DC as peace talks resume under the auspice of President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton.
2010: Today, a Hamas spokesman said the group was responsible for another attack in which two settlers were shot and wounded just as Mr. Obama began his White House meetings. Reuters quoted a Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami Abu Zuhri, as saying “operations of resistance will continue” and neither Israel nor the Palestinian Authority would be able to thwart them.
2010: Yula and The Extended Family, featuring Tel Aviv native Yula Beeri, are scheduled to perform at the Highline Ballroom in New York.
2010(23rd of Elul, 5770):Ninety-one year old deputy police inspector Seymour Pine who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/nyregion/08pine.html
2011: Madelyn Kent, an award-winning theater artist and published writer with an MFA from New York University, is scheduled to teach the first session of a four week long Jerusalem Memoir Workshop.
2011:In Washington, DC, at the Historic Sixth & I Synagogue, Rabbi Shira Stutman is scheduled to lead an egalitarian, chavurah-style service and celebrate “Labor on the Bimah,” an initiative of Jews United for Justice. Labor on the Bimah weaves together labor issues, social justice and Judaism, in an effort to bring meaning and reflection back into Labor Day.
2011:Germany's Foreign Ministry announced today that it will not take part in the UN-sponsored Durban III anti-racism conference on September 22, because of the possibility that the event can be turned into a forum for anti-Semitic statements.
2011: Turkey said today it will seek to prosecute all Israelis responsible for the deaths of nine Turkish activists during an IDF raid on a ship bound for the Gaza Strip in May 2010.
2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including When We Argued All Night by Alice Mattison, “a book about the trajectories of 20th-century Jewish life” and the recently released paperback edition of Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in Englandby Anthony Julius
2012:“Jewish Homegrown History: Immigration, Identity and Intermarriage” is scheduled to have its final showing at the Skirball Cultural Center
2012: In the wake of Hurricane Isaac, Congregation Beth Israel is scheduled to dedicate its new facility in Metairie. The original building was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
2012:All 50 families living in the Migron outpost evacuated their homes today in advance of a court-imposed military evacuation set for September 4th.
2012:A long-lost poem by Hannah Szenes, titled “Hora to an exiled girl,” was revealed on Army Radio this morning, 68 years after the its Jewish paratrooper author was executed by a Nazi firing squad
2013: James Franco is scheduled to be roasted on Comedy Central
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to open at Kimball Theatre in Williamsburg, VA.
2013:Mihaela Martin, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, Ori Kam, Madeleine Carruzzo and Julian Steckel are scheduled to perform Mozart’s String Quintet in C Major, K515 at The Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival.
2013: In Budapest, the Jewish Summer Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2013: Today, “Pope Francis assigned a senior church official to investigate the current ban on Jewish and Muslim religious slaughter in Poland, where such practices have been illegal since January…The Pope also reiterated a statement he made earlier this year that “a Christian cannot be an anti-Semite” (As reported by Sam Sokol)
2013: A 92-year-old who served in the Waffen-SS, Adolf Hitler's elite Nazi troops, goes on trial today in the western city of Hagen on charges of having shot in the back and killed a Dutch resistance fighter at the end of World War II.
2014: Dr. Efraim Lev and Dr. Moshse Lavee are scheduled to begin a week-long visited to the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish Life at the University of Connecticut.
2014: At Temple Judah, choir rehearsal begins in preparation for the High Holidays.