September 12
490 BCE: According to German scholar Philipp August Böckh, the Greeks defeated the Persians at the Battle of Marathon. The Persians were led by Darius I, the ruler under whom the Second Temple was built. It would not be surprising if there Jewish soldiers in the Persian Army since one of the things loyal subjects did was serve in the army during times of war.
1213: During the Albigensian Crusade, Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester, defeated Peter II of Aragon, at the Battle of Muret. The Albigensian Crusade was a twenty effort by the Roman Catholic Church to suppress one of the many heresies that bubbled up to challenge its authority. The Jews were not the direct target of the Crusades but were the unintended victim of the effort. The Jewish subjects of the Counts of Toulouse enjoyed a certain amount of freedom which dismayed Rome. When Toulouse was defeated, the Catholics at Rome saw to it that the Jews lost their right to hold public office in this area in the south of France and that they would be treated like Jews in other parts of Europe dominated by the Church.
1229: James I of Aragon began his conquest of Majorca by landing an army at Santa Ponça. When he conquered the island on the last day of the year, “he gave the Jews a quarter in the neighborhood of his palace for their dwellings, granted protection to all Hebrews who wished to settle on the island, guaranteed them the rights of citizens, permitted them to adjudicate their own civil disputes, to kill cattle according to their ritual, and to draw up their wills and marriage contracts in Hebrew. Christians and Moors were forbidden, under severe penalties, to insult the Jews or to take earth and stones from their cemeteries; and the Jews were ordered to complain directly to the king of any act of injustice toward them on the part of the royal officials. They were allowed to charge 20 per cent interest on loans, but the amount of interest was not to exceed the capital.”
1362: Pope Innocent IV passed away. In a period when copies of the Talmud were being confiscated and burned, Innocent IV responded positively to petition submitted by Abraham Bedaresi of Provencal and Meir of Rothenberg that they be allowed to keep their Talmudic writings. He promulgated a decree banning forcible baptism of Jews which also stated that the Jews “should not be disturbed in the observance of their festivals.” And finally he issued a strongly worded Papal Bull that exonerated the Jews of the charges of the Blood Libel and condemned those who fabricated these charges. [Editor’s Note - Considering the era in which he lived and the position he held, we might assume that more than one Jew mourned the death of this prelate.]
1494: Birthdate of King Francis I of France. Strangely enough for a French monarch, Francis show an interest in the Hebrew language. After all, no Jew had legally lived in France for over a century. But this King invited August Justiniani, the Bishop of Corsica who was reputed to be a serious student of Hebrew literature to move to France. He also invited Elias Levita, the renowned Hebrew grammarian and poet, to move to France and accept a professorship in the Hebrew language. Levita declined the offer for obvious reasons.
1654(1st of Tishrei, 5415): Rosh Hashanah 5415
1654(1st of Tishrei, 5415): The Jews of what would become the United States celebrate the first Rosh Hashanah just days after having arrived in New Amsterdam. They held their service in secret in the second floor of a commercial building. Gov. Stuyvesant (Dutch) wanted the Jews gone and they were afraid to pray in public. Also, these were Sephardic Jews who had escaped the Inquisition so they knew about secrecy. Within a few months, the Dutch East India Company would tell the governor to let the Jews stay. Over time, the Jews would buy land for a cemetery, gain the right to serve in the militia and participate in the development of the Dutch colony.
1683: The second and final day of the Battle of Vienna. During the Austro-Ottoman War, a coalition of Christian European Armies defeated the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Vienna. Many historians date the beginning of the Ottoman Empire and therefore Islam from this event. The Christians marked the start of the final drive to push the forces of Islam out of central and eastern Europe. This was a mixed blessing for the Jewish people. On the one hand the Ottoman Empire had provided a haven for Jews forced to leave Spain and Portugal. On the other hand, the Christian victory had the unintended consequence ensuring that Europe would continue to be fertile ground for the growth of capitalism. This economic system helped to provide European Jews with unprecedented economic social and economic opportunity. “An oft-repeated story states that the bagel originated in 1683 in Vienna, Austria, when a local Jewish baker created them as a gift for King Jan III Sobieski of Poland to commemorate the King's victory over the Turks that year. The baked goods were fashioned in the form of stirrups (or horseshoe, tales vary) to commemorate the victorious cavalry charge. That the name bagel originated from beugal (stirrup) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and due to the fact that traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped. (This fact, however, may be due to the way the boiled bagels are pressed together on the baking sheet before baking.)”
1685: Jews in New Amsterdam petition to be allowed to worship their religion publicly. Their wishes were not approved, because they did not, "profess faith in Christ." During this time strict Christian observance was mandatory.
1695 (3rd of Tishrei, 5456): Jacob Abendana“hakam” (chief rabbi) of London passed away. He was the older brother of Isaac Abendana who would serve as hakahm of the Spanish Portuguese Synagogue after his death.
1695: The governor of New York was petitioned to allow the Jews to exercise their religion in public. It seems that the Charter of Liberties granted by James I of England in 1683, applied only to Christians. Therefore, the governor declined the petition. Apparently this ban was not enforced since by the end of the 17th century, a building on Beaver Street in Manhattan was known as the Jewish Synagogue." In 1730, Congregation Shearith Israel (Remnant of Israel) publicly dedicated its new house of worship.
1736(7th of Cheshvan, 5497): Austrian Rabbi David Ben Abraham Oppenheim whose work included novels and response and who developed one of the largest libraries of his time that he developed from a collection left by his Uncle Samuel Oppenheim
1759: British soldiers capture the town of Quebec from the French. This victory would play a key role in the British gaining control of Canada from the French thus opening the way for Jewish settlement of what those living in the “lower 48” call “their neighbor to the North.” Under the French, the Jews were officially banned from settling in Canada.
1762: (21 Elul 5524): On the secular calendar, Rabbi Jonathan Eybeshutz passed away. Born in 1690, in Cracow, Poland, Eybeshutz took his last name from the town in which his father served as a rabbi. Eyebshutz was a child prodigy and was considered a great Talmudic scholar and kabbalist. He became head of the Prague yeshiva at the age of twenty-one and the was named Rabbi of the Triple Community - Altona, Hamburg and Wandesbeck. Unfortunately, Eybeshutz was caught up in the controversy of his time and some claimed that he had come under the influence of He was a kabbalist, author and Rabbi. Considered a brilliant authority on many subjects, Eybeshutz came under the influence of Shabbetianism. This meant that he was a secret follower of the false messiah, Shabbetai Tzevi. The depth of this controversy is meaningless to us today, but it was quit intense during the 18th century. An accusation like this was akin to calling somebody a Communist back in the 1940's or 1950's. Although Eybeshutz was cleared of the charge, it stained his reputation and the controversy followed him to the grave. In a collection of sermons published after his death, we might a clue to why some of his colleagues did not like Eybeshutz. In his talks, he "assailed materialism praying by heart and the tendency of colleagues to preach only on safe topics."
1768 (1st of Tishrei, 5529 Rosh Hashanah 5529
1768: In Newport, Rhode Island, Aaron Lopez closed his businesses on the first day of Rosh Hashanah.
1798(2nd of Tishrei, 5559): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1798: In the wake of the French capture of Mainz the gates of the ghetto were torn down. The Jews of Mainz remained French citizens until the end of the occupation in 1814. Mainz was (and is) a German city. Wherever the French armies went, they carried the message of the French Revolution - "Liberty, Fraternity, and Equality." This was a message of liberation for the Jews of Europe many of whom were living in ghettos and in an environment of something less than second class citizenship. After the French were defeated, the conditions of the Jews in many of these countries reverted to the pre-Revolutionary state. It would take several decades before the disabilities attached to the Jews would be removed in many of the countries of Central and Southern Europe.
1812: Birthdate of Reuben Joseph Wunderbar the native of Mitau who was known for being an author, tutor and principal of a Jewish school at Riga.
1812: Birthdate of Baron Moritz von Cohn the Jewish banker who managed the finances of the Dukes of Anhalft and the Prussian Crown Prince who became Kaiser Wilhelm I.
1814: As the British began their attack on Baltimore which would come to a climax with the Bombardment of Ft. McHenry began with the British victory at the Battle of North Point. “Although it’s not historically documented as such” the battle to defend the Maryland seaport “may have possibly been the largest gather of Jewish soldiers at any time during the” War of 1812.
1820(4th of Tishrei, 5581): Abraham Ben Jehield Danzig passed away. Born in Lithuania in 1748, he was a noted author and codifier of Jewish Law who ranked just behind Joseph Caro and Mordecai Yafe. His high level of personal ethics can be seen in his decision not to accept a paid position as a rabbi in Vilna because he “considered it improper to receive a stipend” for serving in that capacity. He supported himself as a merchant while he pursuing his Jewish studies and writings
1823: King Frederick William III of Prussia continued his policy of repudiating that Edict of 1812 that gave Jews the full rights of citizens by making “the minister of the interior responsible for ensuring that ‘no sects among the Jewries (Judenschaften) of my lands be tolerated.’”
1830: Birthdate of William Sprague IV, the Senator from Rhode Island who said the Jews were to blame for the fact that they had been attacked by peasants in Romania.
1832: In Scotland, Joseph Levi, a quill merchant who had died of cholera was the first person to be buried at the Glasgow Necroplis
1836 (1st of Tishrei, 5597): Rosh Hashanah
1836: A rented room was over Max's Grocery and Restaurant, on the corner of Second and Spruce Streets was the site of the first known minyan in St. Louis, MO as Jews gathered to observe Rosh Hashanah, 5597.
1841: Birthdate of Eugene Delmar, the New York born 19th century chess champ who won four state championships in the last decade of the century.
1846: Elizabeth Barrett elopes with Robert Browning. Relax; neither of them was Jewish. But one of Browning’s most famous poems is “Rabbi ben Ezra” which begins with the immortal words. “Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be…”
1847(2nd of Tishrei, 5608) Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1852: In Morely, Emily Willans and Joseph Dixon Asquith gave birth to Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith who served as Prime Minister during the first two years of WW I. For three years, Asquith pursued Venetia Stanley, competing with Edwin Montague for the affections. Asquith lost out to Montague when Stanley converted to Judaism and married the Jewish leader of the Liberal Party. His diary also contains references to taking Palestine and using it as home to “the scattered Jews” – a proposal that he feels Lloyd George is supporting not because he “cares a damn for the Jews or their past or their future” but because he but thinks it will be an outrage to let the Holy Places pass into the possession or under the protectorate of agnostic, atheistic France’”
1853: The New York Times published a review of Commentaries on the Laws of the Ancient Hebrews by a Congregationalist minister named Enoch Cobb Wines
1856: Birthdate of Amalia "Molly" Finkelstein Mogulesko, the Romanian born wife of actor and Yiddish comedian Sigmund Mogulesko.
1864: A party of Royal Engineers under the command of Captain Charles W. Wilson left England for Jerusalem where they were to begin the first modern survey of the ancient city including a variety of Biblical sites.
1866: “The Black Crook” which would provide Al Hayman with his first theatrical management opportunity, opened at Nibo’s Garden in New York.
1872: “Protection for Emigrants on Shipboard” published today described the treat of the eighty Jewish passengers on board the Charles H. Marshall who were unmercifully abused by the crew after their attempted mutiny failed.
1873: Rabbi I.M. Wise and Cantor Mortiz Goldstein officiated at today’s consecration of Anshe Chesed’s new sanctuary. The congregation has moved from the old Norfolk Street Synagogue to is new location on the corner of Lexington and 63rd in Manhattan.
1874(1st of Tishrei, 5635): Rosh Hashanah
1874: In New York, Jewish businesses in the Bowery on Grand, Chatham and Catherine streets as well as those on 6th& 8th avenues and on Broadway were closed today because of the Jewish New Year.
1874: In the United Kingdom, Joseph Guedalla and Rowena (Florance) Guedalla gave birth to Abraham Guedalla.
1875: “The Jews of Lincoln” which first appeared in Macmillan’s Magazine and was published again today provides a brief history of the Jews of that part of England beginning with the loss of part of treasure that had belonged to Aaron of Lincoln in 1187 when some of the King’s ships were sunk during a voyage back to Normandy. Like the Jews of York, Lynn and Stamford, the Jews of Lincoln had been slain and plundered by young Englishman who were going to King Richard on his Crusade to the Holy Land. The Jews of Lincoln have the additional memory of the slaughter tied Hugh of Lincoln, the Christian child whose death resulted in the first blood libel in the British Isles.
1879: A large number of New York’s most prominent Jews attended this morning’s funeral for Leonard Montefiore, the nephew of Sir Moses Montefiore. Rabbi Gustav Gottheil officiated at the services which were held at Temple Emanu-El. Several of the city’s rabbis attended including Dr. Daniel Einhorn, H.S. Jacobs, Samuel Adler, H.S. Isaacs and Aaron Wise. Montefiore’s coffin was taken to the SS Britannic which will take it back to England for final interment. Montefiore had come to the United States to study the republican social and political institutions that have developed in the United States so that he could write about them for his fellow Englishman. Just prior to his death, the Times of London had published an article of his about the Oneida Community.
1880: In New York, police arrested Mina Blumenthal, for her role in her husband’s activities that included fencing stolen goods.
1881: It was reported today that it has been proposed in Russia “to appoint local commissions to consider the Jewish question in places where Jews predominate.”
1881: According to a review of Our Nationalities by James Bonwick, Milesius, the founder of the Milesians “was intimate with Moses.”
1882: Second and final day of the first International Anti-Semitic Congress which was meeting in Dresden under the leadership of Reverend Adolf Stoecker.
1883: Joseph Blumenthal, the Chairman pro tem of the Board of Trustees of Shearith Israel said that the deadlock which has kept the board from choosing a new President is not caused by ill-will among the members and that he would in fact like to fill the office. The deadlock exists because there are six trustees and the congregation is considering changing its by-law to increase that number to 7 which will end the tie votes of the last several months.
1883: It was reported today that in Hungary, “the Bishop of Veszprim has issued a pastoral letter in which he declares that Jew-baiting is most unchristian.
1890: Birthdate of Solomon Myer “Sol” Wurtzel, the New York native who became a successful movie producer.
1890: Joseph Bondy, a promising young Jewish attorney who has served on the Board of Supervisions is seeking the nomination for the Third Assembly District
1890: Mr. M. Resinkoff, a Jewish immigrant from Poland is working in New York City while awaiting for the return of his wife and children from Poland. They had been sent back to Europe because of an error at the Barge office and it has taken the best efforts of the United Hebrew Charities and the Hamburg-American Packet Line to effect the upcoming reunion.
1891: In an editorial The London Times praised the scheme of “Baron Hirsch for colonizing in America the Jews for whom there is no place in Europe that it is the most remarkable scheme of the kind ever attempted by practical men.” The Timessaw this as an example of Jewish leaders to” spend money as generously as they can accumulate it.”
1892: In New York, Ida Japhe and Samuel Knopf gave birth to Alfred A. Knopf, founder of Alfred Knopf, Inc., the famous American publishing house. “He went to college to become a lawyer, but he fell in love with literature and decided to devote his life to it. At the time, the publishing world was a kind of gentlemen's club and Knopf had a hard time fitting in because he was Jewish. He was the first Jewish employee at Doubleday. One of his first projects was to republish all of Joseph Conrad's books in a set, which he did with the help of H.L. Mencken. At the time that Knopf got into the publishing business, before television and widespread radio, people said that Americans didn't read books—they just read the newspapers. Knopf thought that Americans might be more likely to read good books if books were beautiful to look at. He used beautiful, easy to read type and high quality paper, and he was the first publisher to cover his books with brightly colored jackets. When Knopf founded his own publishing company, he didn't have enough money to publish big-name American authors, so he published European authors instead. Most American publishers didn't care about European literature, so Knopf was able to cheaply publish writers like Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Albert Camus. When several of his authors won the Nobel Prize for Literature, Alfred A. Knopf Inc. became known as one of the best literary publishing houses.” It was his Jewish wife Blanche Wolf Knopf who encouraged him to follow his dream and start his own publishing house. She was more than just a cheerleader. She was President of Alfred A. Knopf, while her husband served as chairman of the board. She understood the publishing and was a driving force behind many of its major achievements. Although the publishing company was sold in the 1960's it remains as a known imprint to this day. Blanche died in 1966. Alfred Knopf passed away in 1984.
1892: Of the 602 steerage passengers who set sail from Liverpool today aboard the SS Indiana are “a dozen Russian and Polish Jews” who spent twelve days in the English port “where their bedding and baggage were disinfected” as part of the attempts to avoid a cholera outbreak.
1893(2ndof Tishrei, 5654): On the Second Day of Rosh Hashanah “the Hebrew societies” of New York “sent…an abundance of delicacies” to “the Jewish immigrants detained at Ellis Island.”
1893: “They Should Be Excluded” published today includes excerpts from the report by Marine Hospital Bureau Inspector, Dr. Stimpson who described the Jews as being part of the “undesirable class of immigrants…who are a dark, swarthy race with long dark unkempt hair.” In addition to which “the Jews will not eat food prepared by Christians, bring their food with them and this food is most likely to contain cholera germs.” (In light of the immigration battle ranging in the United States, the descendants of this undesirable class might do well to pay close attention to this)
1894: Abraham Greenspan who, according to Jewish tradition, had not seen the body of his wife before her burial went to Kings County Hospital claiming that they had given him the wrong body and demanding that they give him his wife; a claim that the hospital denied.
1895(23rdof Elul, 5655): Fifty year old Bernhard Mainzer who came to the United States 25 years ago and started working in the banking business passed away. A member of the NYSE since 1879 he has been actively involved with the Baron de Hirsch Fund, the Hebrew Technical Institute and the Hebrew Educational Alliance
1895: “War Between Two Butchers” published today described a battle between two competitors Louis S Newman and Samuel Lustbader which included accusations by each that the other was selling traif (non-Kosher) meat and claiming that it was kosher.
1896: Birthdate of Ella Kagan, the daughter of Jewish lawyer and music teacher living in Moscow, who gained fame as the French authoress Elsa Yur’evna Triolet.
1896: J. B. Greenhut opened its first store. The company was founded by Joseph B. Greenhut a native of Austria, who had served as Captain with the 12th Illinois Infantry during the Civil War.
1898: Birthdate of Ben Shahn, famed painter, muralist and printmaker. Born in Kovno Russia (now part of Lithuanian), Shahn’s family moved to New York in 1906. Although not just a Jewish artist," much of Shahn's works contained Jewish themes, and his calligraphy frequently used the Hebrew alphabet as in the Alphabet of Creation, and Haggadah which was handwritten and illustrated by him in the 1967 Ecclesiast. In addition, he created murals for Jewish congregations including Mishkan Israel in New Haven, Connecticut, and Ohab Shalom in Nashville, Tennessee, as well as two mosaics for the Israeli oceanic ship Shalom. These mosaics were purchased by the New Jersey State Museum when the Shalom went out of service." Shahn was a social activist as well as an artist. "Ben Shahn said, 'I hate injustice. I guess that's about the only thing that I really do hate. and I hope I will go on hunting it all my life." His work reflects his concern with injustice, political freedom, and the state of humanity.'" He passed away in 1969. There are numerous websites where you can view his art.
1897: “Rome Fears the Zionist” published today described an appeal the Pope has made to France, “which protects Catholic interests in the Orient” “to prevent the success of the Zionist movement which is regarded with horror at Rome.”
1898: As of today the officers of Adath Jeshurun are President Hermann Cohn, Vice President S.A. Diamond, Treasurer Max Slomka, Corresponding Secretary Isaac Sargent and Recording Secretary J.B. Jacobson.
1899: Dr. Rudolph Grossman of Rodolph Sholom advised “coolness and carefulness” in planning for the mass meeting designed to protest the verdict in the re-trial of Captain Dreyfus and suggested selecting a committee of “100 prominent citizens” to play a leading role in the event.
1899: A meeting was held at Mandelbaum’s Hall at Willett and Delancey Streets, to make plans for the upcoming mass meeting where displeasure will be expressed with the verdict the Dreyfus court-martial
1899: Osias Maller presided at meeting in Liberty Hall sponsored by the Englander Family Society, where speakers, starting with Bethoven Englander decried the Dreyfus verdict which “is based on bigotry, intolerance and prejudice.”
1899: In Washington, DC, “about a thousand” people “attended a mass meeting at the Masonic Temple tonight to protest against the verdict of the Rennes court-martial in the Dreyfus case. The speakers included men of all creeds – Jews, Protestants and Catholics.
1899: Louis Halle, who has been serving as treasurer for a group of 700 Chicagoans who were going to the Paris Exposition issued notices to the travelers should come and get their money since most of them have said they would not make the trip in light of the Dreyfus verdict.
1899: Among those listed as being recipients of equal portions of the estate of the late Daniel Woolf are Congregation Zichron Ephraim, the Hebrew Benevolent and Orphan Asylum, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society and Orphan Asylum, Mount Sinai Hospital, Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews and the Jewish Theological Society.
1899: The widow of the late Daniel Woolf plans to contest his will which leaves all of his estate to charity except for a dollar for her and each of his children. Woolf said the children had been comfortably provided during his lifetime and his wife “owns much property in her own name.”
1901: Birthdate of comedian Ben Blue. Ben Blue was one of several Jewish vaudeville stars who found fame and fortune in the early days of television. Like Milton Berle, Blue starred in his own television variety program. However, "all fame is fleeting," especially in the world of entertainment. Blue died in 1975 and today this once successful star is a mere memory to even the most avid trivia maven.
1901: Gedera was attacked by Arabs. Gedera was a moshav founded in 1884 by members of the BILU Movement from Russia. It is several miles south of city of Rehovot. The settlers chose the name because it was near the site of a biblical town with that same name that had been in land belonging to the tribe of Judah. In its early years, the settlers struggled to grow grapes and grains. Gedera survived the attack and early privations and today is a thriving town with a population of 6,500.
1902(15th of Elul, 5763): Sixty-five year old Polish born French chess champion Samuel Rosenthal passed away today.
1903(20th of Elul, 5663): Seventy-one year old Fabian (Feibisch) Jolles passed away in Vienna.
1909: Adolph Kaluber writes a negative review of Israel Zangwill’s latest play, "The Melting Pot."
1911: Birthdate of Gerhart Moritz Riegner
1911: Birthdate of SS Lieutenant Kurt Becher who “is best known for having traded Jewish lives for money during the Holocaust.”
1912(1stof Tishrei, 5673): As William Howard Taft, Teddy Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson take part in a rare Presidential campaign with three, rather than two, viable candidates, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah. Each of the candidates enjoyed support from the Jewish community.
1912: King of Italy makes Commanders Guido, Rava, Sforni, Mantua and Signor Sereni, Presidents of the Jewish Community at Rome, Grand Officers in the Crown of Italy.
1915: Hilfsverein der deutschen Juden (Aide Association of German Jews) was informed that the inhabitants of Strumitza, fearing its occupation by Bulgarians, set fire to the town and fled. One hundred families went to Salonica and Doiran
1917:Louis-Lucien Klotz began serving in the second government of Georges Clemenceau which led France to final victory in WW I.
1918: Birthdate of British Rabbi Ephraim Einhorn, the native of Vienna whose parents were killed at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp and who became one of two rabbis to serve Jews in Taiwan.
1921:Birthdate of Polish science fiction writer Stanislaw Lem. Born in Lviv, Poland (now Ukraine) he studied to be a doctor, but had to go undercover and hide his Jewish identity when the Nazis invaded Poland. During World War II, he pretended to be a Christian mechanic and sabotaged as much Nazi machinery as he could without getting caught. After the war, he began to write fiction. He decided that regular realistic fiction wasn't sufficient to describe the world anymore, so he wrote fiction that took place thousands of years in the future. He's best known for his novel Solaris (1961), about a scientist who travels to a space station near a strange planet and meets the ghost of his wife. His most recent novel is Peace on Earth(1987), about a future where all wars are fought on the moon by machines, so that humans don't get hurt.”
1922: Birthdate of Mark Richard Rosenzweig, the Rochester born research psychologist whose studies in animals found that the brain reshapes itself in response to experience, in adulthood as well as in early childhood.
1923: Sir Herbert Samuel, the High Commissioner, is expected to arrive in Palestine today.
1923(2ndof Tishrei, 5684): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1925: After 330 performances “Lady, Be Good” the George and Ira Gershwin musical was performed the last time at the Liberty Theatre.
1926(4thof Tishrei, 5687): Since the third of Tishrei fell on Shabbat, Tzom Gedaliah is observed today.
1927: Birthdate of Seymour Siegel the Conservative rabbi who served on the faculty of JTS and as executive director of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council.
1928: In Cleveland, Margaret and Irwin Siebert gave birth to Muriel Faye Sierbert “who became a legend on Wall Street as the first woman to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and the first woman to head one of the exchange’s member firms.” (As reported by Enid Nemy)
1929: Jonah J. Goldstein, an attorney who is a member of the Executive Committee of the Joint Distribution Committee and the administrative committee of the ZOA sailed on the steamship Bremen tonight as he began his trip to Palestine. Goldstein is going to aid in the investigation of recent uprising as well as to ensure those working for the Palestine Emergency Fund are providing the requisite support for the victims of the violence. Goldstein is traveling at the behest of Felix Warburg the financier who also chairs the administrative committee of the Jewish Agency for Palestine.
1930(19th of Elul, 5690): Ninety-five year old Amalia Nathansohn Freud, the wife of Jacob Freud and the mother of Sigmund Freud passed away.
1931(1st of Tishrei, 5692): Rosh Hashanah
1931: First organized attack by Nazi storm troopers against Jews took place in Berlin.
1933: While waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, Leó Szilárd conceives the idea of the nuclear chain reaction. The Hungarian born Jew would settle in the United States and work on the Manhattan Project.
1934: Birthdate of Abraham Telvi, the mobster who was one of those responsible for the vile crime of blinding Victor Riesel
1934: Birthdate of Alan Isler, the British born American novel whose first novel The Prince of West End Avenue won the National Jewish Book Award in 1994.
1935: The New Zionist Organization is founded in Vienna by Zev Jabotinsky. For many years there was tension between the World Zionist Organization and the Revisionist Party. Some of it was the result tactical differences, including the expansion of the Jewish Agency to include "non-Zionists." In addition there was still strong resentment and political tensions in the aftermath of the Alosoroff murder. The actual break came with a resolution to prohibit any independent political activity of Zionist organizations. Eleven years later they rejoined the WZO. The formation of this organization was just another example of differences between Jabotinsky and his supporters (including Menachem Begin) on the one hand and the Labor Zionists on the other. These differences have continued to this day and may be seen in the electoral politics of Israel in the 21st century
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the future of Palestine was discussed by the delegates of various countries at the League of Nations Council in Geneva. But British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden postponed his most important and much-awaited opening statement to the next meeting.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that at a meeting Bludan, Syria, Arab Foreign Ministers from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq decided to send special delegations to Geneva, London and other important European capitals in order to explain their opposition to Palestine¹s partition and to seek support for the Arab cause.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Shanghai Jews had created a special, volunteer Jewish Zionist defense force to protect their community. Many of the Jews living in Shanghai had either come from Russia during the First World War or during the Civil War following the Russian Revolution. Both of these upheavals had closed the western paths of immigration leaving Jews with no choice but flea across Asiatic Russia and cross into China. Another group of Jews living in Shanghai were refugees from Hitler's Final Solution. With the normal westerly routes closed, the flight east before and during World War II was an escape route. Many of these refugees and their offspring came to the United States, including Michael Blumenthal, Secretary of the Treasury under the Carter Administration.
1938: Ben Cohen and Thomas “Tommy the Cork” Corcoran two members of FDR’s Brain Trust known as the Gold Dust Twins appeared on today’s cover of Time magazine. Cohen was Jewish. Corcoran wasn’t.
1938: In an article titled “Troubles of Jews,” Time magazine reported that:
· People "of the Hebraic race" who have settled in the Kingdom of Italy, Libya or Italian Aegean Islands since Jan. 1, 1919 were last week ordered by the Italian Cabinet to depart before March 1, 1939 or be forcibly expelled. Commented No. 1 Fascist Newspundit Virginio Gayda: "These Jews, political or racial refugees of other countries, represent a foreign and perilous body and spirit inserted in the body and spirit of the Italian nation." The decree will oust about 20,000 of the estimated 85,000 persons in Italy "born of both parents of the Hebrew race." Next day the Cabinet decreed the ousting from all State-licensed schools of Jewish instructors and Jewish students numbering about 10,000. Jews who were already enrolled last year in Italian institutes of higher learning will be permitted to complete their courses.
· Jews from all over the World met in Antwerp last week to launch an appeal for $10,000,000 in behalf of the Palestine Foundation Fund. Dr. Kurt Blumenfeld, Director of the Fund, urged a change in "Jewish methods of propaganda" to oppose Communism as well as Fascism. Treasurer Eliezer Kaplan of the Jewish Agency for Palestine complained: "Jews because of their indifference and failure to provide adequate funds are equally responsible with the British Government for the decline of Jewish immigration to Palestine."
· In Brazil last week, wealthy Jews received extortion notes threatening physical violence, destruction of property unless they sent large "voluntary contributions" to Brazilian groups with allegedly Nazi affiliations. In Sao Paulo, police at once marched out to guard the premises of Jews who received threat-letters.
· The Grand Duchy of Luxemburg barred its frontier to further Jewish refugees from Germany last week, continued to care for 315.
· Swiss authorities declared that an estimated 140 Jews per day had been "clandestinely" fleeing from Germany into Switzerland, announced that barbed wire is being strung along the frontier to stem this "Jewish flood." Jewish refugee camps in Switzerland were reported jam-packed last week. The camp at Diepoldsau hoisted a banner reading: "THANKS TO THE SWISS PEOPLE."
· Fearing Nazi oppression, about 30% of the Jewish population of the Free City of Danzig were announced to have fled abroad last week. Danzig Nazis of the Hitler Youth raided a synagogue, trampled and tore up the sacred Hebrew scrolls. Notice was served on 400 Jews owning houses in Danzig that next month Aryans will "purchase" their property. The Jews will be forced to sell out at Nazi-dictated prices.
· Soviet police last week jailed numerous Komsomol (Communist Youth Organization) leaders in the Ukraine and White Russia, who were accused of fomenting pogroms, according to Swedish press reports from Moscow. Stirred up by Young Communists, citizens of Pedobanya of the River Nemiljana started beating up Jews and attacking their homes. Moscow dispatched a commission of inquiry which reported that in the Ukraine there is "organized and fairly widespread" anti-Semitism. In Kiev, the Soviet Ukrainian Capital, anti-Jewish riots were suppressed by Red Army troops.
1939: Thirty-two Jews were taken away in trucks at Pilca, Poland, shot dead and left in woods
1939: Secretary of State Cordell issued a statement tonight extending “best wishes…to the Jews of the country on the eve of their observance of the Jewish New Year. (Editor’s Note: Apparently his wishes to did not extend to the Jews of Europe whose entry into the United States he had been helping to thwart for the last six years.)
1939: In Los Angles, Esther (née Silverman) and Ralph Louis Waxman gave birth to Congressman Henry Waxman
1940: Birthdate of Congressman Stephen J. Solarz, who represents the largest Jewish congressional constituency in the country.
1941: One thousand, two hundred, sixty seven Jews were taken from Vilna and sent to Polna to be shot. General Keitel informed his commanders, "The struggle against Bolshevism demands ruthless and energetic measures, above all against the Jews." William Keitel rose to the rank of Field Marshall in the German Army. Statements such as these provide further proof of the complicity of the German military in "The War against the Jews". Keitel was hung in 1946 after being convicted at Nuremberg.
1942(1st of Tishrei, 5703): Rosh Hashanah
1942: Birthdate of French television journalist Michel Drucher.
1942: After seven straight weeks of uninterrupted deportation of close to 265,000 Jews from Warsaw and other towns to Treblinka, the transports stop. Being the Jewish New Year (5,703) was only a coincidence. No trains would arrive for another nine days.
1942: More than 4800 Polish Jews are deported from Warsaw to the Treblinka extermination camp. A young Jew named Abraham Jakób Krzepicki escapes from Treblinka and makes his way to Warsaw, where ghetto historian Emanuel Ringelblum sees that Krzepicki's eyewitness camp testimony is taken down
1943:Sid Luckman out-tossed Slingin' Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins in an aerial duel today before 56,000 fans in Baltimore Stadium as the Chicago Bears defeated the National Football League champions, 21 -- 14, in an exhibition game.
1943: Abraham (Avrom) Sutzkever, the famous Yiddish poet and his wife escaped from the Vilna Ghetto. Sutzkever’s mother and infant son had already been killed by the Nazis. Before leaving the ghetto, Sutzkever hid a diary by Theodore Herzl and drawings by Marc Chagall from the Germans. After escaping, Sutzkever joined with his fellow Yiddish poet Shmerke Kaczerginsky to fight against the Nazis as part of Jewish partisan unit under the command of Moshe Judka Rudnitski.
1944: Jewish slave laborers work near Lieberose, Germany, to build a vacation complex for German officers
1946: Birthdate of Jerry Edwin Abramson, the three-term Mayor of Louisville, Kentucky and the first Metro Mayor “of the merge city-county government known as Louisville Metro.
1948: “President Jose Figueres of Costa Rica has assured a representative of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society that the status of some 1,000 Jewish immigrants who arrived in that country since the end of the war in Europe will be legalized soon, HIAS announced here today. The announcement followed a visit here by Louis Feigenblatt, HIAS representative in Costa Rica. Feigenblatt, who is also president of the Jewish community of San Jose, revealed that the status of the immigrants was challenged after the former government was overthrown by a revolution last May and Figueres installed.” (As reported by JTA)
1949: The Knesset passed a compulsory education law. As soon as the guns of the War for Independence were silent, the new Jewish state was validating the centuries old commitment of Jews to the importance of learning. When the anti-Semites would burn copies of the Torah and the Talmud during the Middle Ages, they were not merely burning things, they were assaulting a basic form of Jewish identity; a form that they knew was part of the key to the on-going existence of the Jewish people regardless of their location.
1950 (1st of Tishrei, 5711): As UN forces led by U.S. and the ROK armies are breaking out of the Pusan Perimeter during the Korean War, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah
1950: The Israeli radio broadcasts Rosh Hashanah services. According to published reports Israelis have shown up the nation’s synagogues in unusually large numbers possibly as a sign of thanksgiving for the great strides the country has made in the past year.
1951:The Cabinet approved today a declaration by Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan that funds raised through the sale of Israeli bonds in the United States would be invested mainly in industrial and agricultural expansion and not diverted to meet "current and pressing emergency needs." Despite the worsening food situation, Mr. Kaplan said this action was necessary if Israel was to “achieve economic independence for our rapidly growing population.” Prime Minister Ben Gurion endorsed the plan even though it could mean a great deal of privation for the current generation.
1952: The Jerusalem Post published the full text of the agreement on German reparations to Israel.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the bodies of Haviva Reik and Raphael Reiss, who during World War II died on an Allied parachute mission against the Nazis in Slovakia, were laid to rest on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.
1954: Leonard Bernstein conducts the IPO in performance of Serenade featuring Isaac Stern at Teatro La Fenice, Venice.
1955(25th of Elul, 5715): Eighty-two year old Edward Lazansky, the former Secretary of State of New York who was “a found and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, passed away today.
1959: Premier of the western television hit “Bonanza.” The popular Sunday cowboy show starred a father and his three sons. Two of the four actors in the lead roles were Jewish. Lorne Greene played Pa Cartwright and Michael Landon played Little Joe.
1961: German physicist Carl Hermann passed away. Hermann and his wife hid Jews during the World War II. Hermann was arrested and imprisoned for this crime. He survived and continued his work in the field of crystallography.
1970(11th of Elul, 5730): Ninety-eight year old Ottilie Sutro, the Baltimore native who with her sister Rose formed one of the first (if not the very first) “duo-piano teams” passed away today.
1977(29th of Elul, 5737): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet was officially notified by Prime Minister Menachem Begin of the appointment of his two pre-1948 Irgun Zva'i Leumi comrades to top government posts: Ya'acov Aknin, an IDF brigadier, was appointed director-general of the Israel Lands Administration and Amihai Paglin was appointed the premier's adviser on the war against terror.
1981: In “Israeli Comedy at La Mama Annex, critic Frank Rich provides a review of “Ya’acobi and Leidenthal.”
1982(24th of Elul, 5742): Ninety-year old Louis Waldman, leading labor lawyer and founding member of the Socialist Party of America, passed away today.(As reported by Edward Gargan)
http://www.nytimes.com/1982/09/14/obituaries/louis-waldman-90-counsel-to-labor.html?pagewanted=print
1986: Birthdate of actress and singer and Emmy Rossum.
1988(1st of Tishrei, 5749): Rosh Hashanah
1995:Bella Abzug's plenary address delivered today to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing set a tone of international cooperation and commitment that helped define both the conference and its influential legacy.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including two children’s books, Moses and the Angelsby Ileene Smith Sobel; Illustrated by Mark Podwal and Journeys With Elijah Eight Tales of the Prophet,retold by Barbara Diamond Goldin; Illustrated by Jerry Pinkney.
2000: “Israel Police Northern District Commander Alik Ron requested an investigation of Hadash MK Mohammad Barakeh for inciting violence against police.”
2001: The Rim K was renamed the Karine A when it was registered in Tonga today. It was under that name that she was used in an attempt to smuggle a massive amount of arms into Gaza.
2001: The Jewish Museum in Berlin opened to the public today housed in a building designed by Daniel Libeskind. (JTA)
2002: Eyal Golan married the Miss Israel of 2001 Ilanit Levi. The couple's eldest son Liam was born in 2003 and their youngest daughter Alin was born in 2006.
2003(15th of Elul, 5763): Thirty-seven year old Tova Lev died of wounds sustained during the Shmuel HaNavi Bus Bombing that took place in August, 2003
2004: An exhibition styled “Photographs of Otto Frank” closes in Amsterdam. The exhibition was part of the commemoration of Anne Frank’s “75th birthday.”
2004: “The Boy from Oz” which had been adapted for American audiences by Martin Sherman was performed for the final time at the Imperial Theatre.
2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Collected Stories: ''Gimpel the Fool'' to ''The Letter Writer''by Isaac Bashevis Singer.
2005:Sidney Ferris Rosenberg left WFAN today after failing to show up to host the Giants' pre-game show. As a result of the no-show, management at WFAN gave him the option to resign from the station, which he did. The New York Post reported that he would likely have been fired if he did not resign.
2005: As the Kissufim Gates were closed, the last Israeli soldier left Gaza.
2005: As reported in Haaretz, Palestinians moved into the abandoned Gaza Strip settlement of Morag before dawn after Israel Defense Forces troops pulled out of the area and set the synagogue on fire. Huge flames leapt into the sky. In another synagogue, gunmen climbed on the roof and waved flags of militant groups, including Hamas, shouting "God is great." Just hours earlier, the Palestinian Interior Ministry spokesman said the Palestinian Authority will destroy the synagogues left behind in Gaza by evacuating IDF troops
2006:An artistic tribute to beloved lyricist and media personality Ehud Manor opened at the Holon Mediatheque, where 70 works inspired by Manor songs will remain on display through October 23.
2006: The Jerusalem Post reported that an al-Qaida-linked Algerian terror cell that was broken up by Italian police last fall was planning to carry out attacks on targets in Oslo, Norway, including the city's main synagogue.
2006: Eliot Spitzer defeated Thomas Suozzi in the New York Democratic gubernatorial primary.
2007: (Elul 29) On the Hebrew calendar, anniversary of the birth of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch, third leader of Chabad.
2007: Erev of Rosh Hashanah 5768
2007: In “Looking Through Rose-Colored Glass Again at Shul,” Sewell Chan describes the restoration work being done at the Eldridge Street Synagogue on the Lower East Side.
2008: In Cedar Rapids, Iowa Temple Judah begins its Musical Shabbat Season II at Friday night services where the community will also celebrate Marilyn Sippy’s formal conversion to Judaism.
2009:President Shimon Peres was rushed to hospital tonight after he fainted on stage while speaking at a Young Presidents Organization event in Ramat Aviv.
2009:Lebanon, an Israeli film that recounts Israel's 1982 invasion of its northern neighbor through soldiers' eyes, won the top prize at the Venice Film Festival today.
2009(23rdof Elul, 5769): Eighty-one year old Lawrence Slobodkin, a pioneer in the ecology movement, passed away today. (As reported by Carol Kaesuk Yoon)
2009( 23rd of Elul): Seventy nine year old Dr. Alfred Gottschalk, the Rabbi and scholar who left his imprint on Hebrew Union College and Reform Judaism, passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2009 (23rd of Elul, 5769): This evening, Rabbi Todd Thalblum conducts his first Selichot service as the leader of Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
2010: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to present “Anna Shulman: The Queen of H Street,” a one-woman show that tells the entertaining and true life story of Anna Shulman, her arrival in the U.S. and in Washington, and her impact on the H Street neighborhood, home to Jewish merchants in the 1920s and 1930s.
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Half A Life by Darin Strauss
2010(4th of Tishrei, 5771): Tzom Gedalia
2010: The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, signaled for the first time today that he was willing to limit, though not completely halt, construction in the West Bank settlements after a partial building moratorium expires later this month. The hints of flexibility came as diplomats worked to defuse a potential crisis over settlement building that threatens to derail fledgling Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.
2010:Antonina Pirozhkova, who as the widow of the renowned short-story writer Isaac Babel campaigned for more than half a century to keep his literary legacy alive after his execution by Stalin’s K.G.B., and who wrote a memoir about the last seven years of his life, passed away today at the age of 101. Babel was Jewish. She was not.
2011: An exhibition that “explores the theme of conversation in Moses Mendelssohn’s life and legacy, including in his relationships, his writings, and his concepts of Judaism and the Enlightenment” is scheduled to open at the Center for Jewish History in New York.
2011:Israeli-born pianist and composer Matan Porat is scheduled to play Ullmann’s Piano Sonata no.7at the 14thJerusalem International Chamber Musical Festival.
2011: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington is scheduled to present a special embassy of Israel briefing by Eliav Benjamin, the Counselor of Political Affairs.
2011:The home of a well-known left-wing activist in Jerusalem was defaced with graffiti proclaiming "death to the traitors" and "price tag Migron" last night, a move apparently carried out by rightists angry over the government's decision to demolish illegal structures in a West Bank settlement. The activist whose home was vandalized, who requested not to be named, said she found the graffiti this morning after informed by a neighbor.
2011:Vandals have defaced a Jewish memorial in eastern Poland by rearranging bushes forming the Star of David into a Nazi swastika, police said today, in the latest of a string of anti-Semitic incidents in the area.
2011:Some 66,000 Labor party members go to the polls today to choose the next party leader from among four contenders: Isaac Herzog, Amram Mitzna, Amir Peretz and Shelly Yachimovich.
2012: Yeshiva University Museum is scheduled to offer a Curators Tour - Microcosms: Ruth Abrams, Abstract Expressionist
2012: EMET is scheduled to present “The Road to a Culture of Peace in the Middle East: Track III Diplomacy” to members of Congress and selected invitees in Washington, DC.
2012:Rabbi Elliot Kukla is scheduled to lead an hour-and-a-half workshop focusing on holiday-related grief experiences and on tools for coping and finding comfort during the Days of Awe at Shir Hadash.
2012: Dr. Susan Gilson Miller presents a lecture entitled "Jewish Rescue and Relief in North Africa during World War II."
2012:Israel's population approached the eight million mark nearing Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year, according to a report released today by the Central Bureau of Statistics
2013: Joshua M. Bernstein is the featured speaker at “Jews & Brews: Boot Camp for Beer Geeks” at the Karl Strauss Brewing Company in San Diego, CA.
2013: To mark the 69th anniversary of the final destruction of the Łódź ghetto in August 1944, Wiener Library intern and Wrocław University PhD student Iza Olejnik is scheduled to give an informal talk about the culture of the ghetto based on her own research in London, UK.
2013: For the second year in a row, the night before Yom Kippur will bring to Israel the annual Researchers’ Night, a celebration of all things scientific, with hundreds of events taking place at over a dozen universities and colleges. Via speeches, workshops, mass experiments, and demonstrations, all taking place tonight scientists will attempt to explain to Israelis of all ages and backgrounds some of the basic principles of astronomy, biology, chemistry, genetics, and more.
2013: It was announced today that “President Shimon Peres will award this year’s Presidential Medal of Distinction to a group that includes Hollywood director Steven Spielberg and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel.”
2013: Israel Police forces, Border Patrol officers and volunteer policemen are on high alert ahead of Yom Kippur, with a special emphasis on mixed cities, like Acre and Jaffa, and areas of high sensitivity like the Temple Mount, Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino said today.
2013: Prim Minister Golda Meir’s testimony on the Yom Kippur War, as declassified today, omits all mention of her pivotal meeting in Tel Aviv with King Hussein of Jordan. (As reported by Mitch Ginsburg)
2014: Comedian and social commentator Lewis Black is scheduled to perform at the Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada.
2014: Marc Courtade is scheduled to speak on “Shirley Temple: From Child Star to Diplomat” at the 92nd Street Y.
2014: The Historic 6th& I Synagogue is scheduled to host “6thin the City Shabbat” including a service led by Rabbi Shira and Sheldon Low followed by a Friday Night Dinner.