September 16
1900: Herzl meets Arminius Vámbéry in Budapest. ("He gave me his word of honor that the Sultan would receive me by May.")
2014: TCM is scheduled to present the third in the series – The Jewish Experience on Film – featuring “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer,” “Sallah,” “A Sword in the Desert” and “Exodus”
1380: King Charles V of France died. Charles ruled during a very difficult time in French history – the 14thcentury – that included the One Hundred Years War and the Black Death. For French monarchs, guile and deception were critical to keep the state afloat. Regardless of his reasons, the Jews of France fared better under him than they did under many of his predecessors and successors. When he assumed the throne in 1364, he continued to honor the promises he had made to the Jews during the Regency. The “Jews of Paris lived quietly in the district of St. Antoine, near the dwelling of Hugues Aubriot, the grand provost of Paris, who protected them” reportedly because “he was fond of the beautiful Jewesses.” He saw to it that Jewish children who had been baptized were returned to their families and that those who stole from the Jews, including members of the nobility, were punished. The Jews did have enemies including those who owed them large sums of money and members of the nobility. These groups convinced Charles to issue a decree expelling the Jews; a decree he rescinded before it ever went into effect. “In 1370, when the king increased the general taxes, he solemnly confirmed the privileges that he had granted to the Jews, demanding of them only 1,500 francs. In 1372 he restored to them certain manuscripts which had been confiscated. But at the same time he did not lose sight of his own interests, and when he was in need of money, in 1378, he made an agreement with the Jews in accordance with which, in return for being exempted from all other imposts, they were to pay him 20,000 francs in gold, in four installments, and 200 francs a week. In 1379 he granted them an important concession in connection with the fairs of Champagne and Brie. On visiting the fairs the Jews were accustomed to take mortgages on the property of their creditors. But they could foreclose these mortgages only when solvent Christians acted as sureties, and they complained that, since they could not in general find anyone to act as surety, they always lost their claims. The king therefore decreed that Jews might in future be accepted as sureties. [Source – Jewish Encyclopedia; for a highly readable account of life in 14thcentury France that will help you better understand the plight of the Jews see A Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuchman.]
1498: According to some sources, Tomas de Torquemada, head of the Spanish Inquisition which destroyed the Sephardic Community on the Iberian Peninsula, passed away.
1501: A decree was issued by the Portuguese Governor Nicolas de Oviendo which aimed at keeping Jews from entering the New World .
1638: Birthdate of Louis XIV. Known as the Sun King, Louis reigned from 1643 until 1715.Louis’ dealings with Jews were of marginal historic interest. During his reign, Jews were variously allowed to, and banned from, conducting trading activities in French colonies and in Provence Provence port of Marseilles
1658: With the signing of the Treaty of Hadiach on this date, the Polish Crown elevated the Cossacks and Ruthenians to a position equal to that of Poles and Lithuanians in the Polish-Lithuanian Union, and in fact transformed the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth into a Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth. This led to a worsening situation for the Jews of Poland who had already suffered at the hands of the Cossacks for the last ten years.
1747: Birthdate of German theologian Johann Ludwig Ewald an “advocate for the Jews” arguing that the “shortcoming” of the Jews “were the result of persecution.”
1747: Pope Benedict XIV prohibited Jewish converts to Christianity from giving their wives gittin(religious divorce).
1777: In Frankfurt am Main, Mayer Amschel Rothschild and Gutle Schnapper gavie birther to their fourth child Nathan Mayer Rothchild, the founder of the English House of Rothschild.
1784(1stof Tishrei, 5545): Rosh Hashanah
1795: For the first time, during the Napoleonic Wars, British Forces occupied Cape Colony, South Africa, as way of keeping the valuable maritime choke point from falling in French hands. Although there is evidence that some non-observant Jews were living in the colony at this time, there was no organized Jewish community due to the fact that the Dutch East India Company, which controlled the colony, required all of its employees to be Protestants. The British would leave in 1803 only to return in 1806 when they would establish a permanent colonial presence. Oddly enough, when the Dutch regained control they promulgated an ordinance allowing for the practice of all religions; an ordinance the British repealed in 1806 and did not reactivate again until 1820, at a time when Jews first began to settle as a community in South Africa.
1810: Mexico declares its independence from Spain. Spain would not recognize the independence until 1821. At the time of the declaration Mexico Spain Mexico Mexico Mexico
1812(10th of Tishrei, 5573) Yom Kippur
1812: A. M. Rothschild observed Yom Kippur for the last time. As an observant Jew, he walked to the synagogue, spent the day in prayer and returned home in the evening to break the fast.
1829: In violation of Papal Law, “a meeting of inquisitors addresses the case of 3 Jewish families living in Foligno, Italy.
1841(1st of Tishrei, 5602): Rosh Hashanah
1841: Lydia Maria Child, a non-Jew from Boston, attended Rosh Hashanah services at Shearith Isreal Synagogue in York City. What follows are excerpts from a letter of she wrote after attending the sevice,
Shortly after entering, she and her female companion were "gruffly" moved from the front seats to the women's section "in the upper part of the house." Child then recorded her feelings of being in a Jewish house of worship. "The effect produced on my mind by witnessing the ceremonies of the Jewish synagogue was strange and bewildering; spectral and flitting; with a sort of vanishing resemblance to reality; the magic lantern of the past." As she underwent this religious experience, she was "solemnly impressed with recollections of those ancient times when the Divine was heard amid the thunders of Sinai, and the Holy Presence (Shekinah) shook the mercy seat between the cherubim." Carefully, she looked at the ark containing the "Sacred Law written on scrolls of vellum and rolled as in the time of Moses." However, she was dismayed when she realized that instead of a "brazen laver" for washing there was only "a common bowl and ewer of English delf." All male members of the congregation, even little boys, wore "fringed silk mantles bordered with blue stripes." What she found incongruous were "these mantles worn over modern broadcloth coats and fashionable pantaloons with straps." Even the dress of the "priest" as she labeled the chacham, was problematic for her. "His large white silk shawl, which shaded his forehead and fell over his shoulders, was drawn over a common black hat!" She did see this official at times "cover his face completely, as in the time of Moses, stoop and lay his forehead on the book before him." Apparently, Child had made this visit thinking the Jews of her day were representatives of biblical times. Since this was not the case for her, she wrote. "But through the whole, priest and people kept on their hats. My spirit was vexed with this. I had turned away from the turmoil of the Present, to gaze quietly for a while on the grandeur of the Past; and the representatives of the Past walked before me, not in the graceful oriental turban, but the useful European hat!" She was also critical of the shofar blowing, even as she compared it to the instrument that sounded on Sinai. "The trumpet," she wrote, "which was blown by a Rabbi with a shawl drawn over his hat and face, was of the ancient shape, somewhat resembling a cow's horn. It did not send forth a spirit-stirring peal; but the sound groaned and struggled through it." (Editor’s note: I do not have the citation for this. I hope the author will not think that I have ‘moved the boundary stones’ on his or her work.
1843(21st of Elul, 5603):Ezekiel Hart passed away. Born in 1767, he was a Jewish Canadian entrepreneur and politician, and the first Jew to be elected to public office in the British Empire. “He was elected three times by the voters of Trois-Rivières to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. Some members consistently prevented him from taking his seat by observing that as a Jew, he could not take the oath of office, which included the phrase ‘on the true faith of a Christian’.”
1847(6th of Tishrei, 5608): The poet Grace Aguilar died at Frankfort-on-the Main, at age 31. She was the oldest child of parents descended from Portuguese Marranos who sought asylum in England
1850(10th of Tishrei, 5611): Yom Kippur
1856: Birthdate of Moses Gaster, the native or Romania who become Chacham of the Spanish and Portugese Congregation in London as well as leading scholar at Oxford.
1858:Today’s Personal column reported that “a curious Hebrew publication has just issued from the Berlin press-a biography of Alexander Von Humboldt, written in the ancient tongue, and destined to extend the knowledge of the life and scientific labors of this celebrated man in the wide circle of the Russo-Polish and Asiatic Jews. The full title is, Alexander Von Humboldt: A Biographical Sketch, Dedicated to the Nestor of Wisdom on his 88th Birthday by S. Slominski.” Alexander Von Humboldt was a Prussian born naturalist and explorer who was born in 1769 and died in 1859 at the age of 89. He was not Jewish.
1859: A convention designed to "overcome evil with good" is scheduled to be held in Buffalo, NY. The Jews were among those whom the public invitation should "consider themselves cordially invited."
1860: Birthdate of Solomon Joseph Solomon, the British painter who was the brother of another painter, Lily Delissa Joseph.
1861: Judah P. Benjamin began serving as Secretary of War for the CSA.
1871(1st of Tishrei, 5632): Rosh Hashanah
1871: An article published today entitled “Commencement of the Jewish New Year” reported that “at sundown last evening the new Jewish Year, 5632 commenced. The Jews do not inaugurate their ecclesiastical year with festivities; on the contrary, the Jewish year is commenced with ten days of atonement.” According to the article the Jews keep the first part of year holy because they are remembering the receiving of the word from Mount Sinai. [Editor’s note – At least they got part of it right]
1876: B.F. Peixotto, the United States Consul at Bucharest, Romania, is scheduled to address the Young Men’s Hebrew Association at their meeting hall on the corner of 42nd Street and 6th Avenue in New York City.
1877(9th of Tishrei, 5638): Erev Yom Kippur
1877: The following anti-Semitic canard was published today during the Russo-Turkish War “The Jews are indeed ubiquitous. They are everywhere. Their jeweled fingers are in everything. The Russians cannot feed their troops without them. The Turks borrow of them to clothe their armies. No great event of any kind occurs unless they assist in it, both as principles accessories.
1877: It was reported today that Jews in the following cities have built synagogues in the past year: London &; Bath (UK), Waadt (Switzerland), Rio de Jeneiro (Brazil), Linz (Austria), Bremen & Heilbrun (Germany), Ancona and Bologne (Italy), New York, Springfield & Petersburg (United States)
1877: It was reported today there 373 houses of worship in Rome, four of which are synagogues.
1877: Rabbi Gustav Gottheil will preach the sermon at Kol Nidre services this evening at Temple Emanuel in New York City
1877: Rabbi Adolph Huebsch will preach the sermon tonight at the temple on the corner of 55th Street and Lexington Avenue.
1877: Ten fires broke out tonight between 6 and 8 o’clock in places occupied by persons who are thought to be Jews. Thanks to the swift response of the fire department none of the fires caused much damage. The damage caused by all then fires was valued at approximately 500 dollars with individual losses ranging from “slight” to $300.
1878(4th of Tishrei, 5548): Tzom Gedaliah observed because the 3rd was Shabbat
1879: It was reported today that among those in Memphis who have recently contracted Yellow Fever are the Jewish brothers, James and Israel Peres, the sons of Jacob J. Peres who owns the brokerage firm of J.J. Peres & Company.
1879: Birthdate of Georg Lewin, the Berlin native who gained fame as Herwath Walden whose eclectic interests led him to careers as “a musician, composer, writer, critic, and gallery owner.”
1880: “City and Suburban News” published today described the observance of “Yom Kippur…the most solemn fast in the Jewish calendar” which ended yesterday at sundown during which “no orthodox Jew allowed morsel of food or drop of water to pass lips during the 24 hours.”
1881: It was reported today that “a disastrous fire” that has destroyed an “enormous” amount of fire has swept through Vitebsk, a major Jewish population center in the Pale of Settlement. For more about Vitebsk see:
1882(3rd of Tishrei, 5643): Shabbat Shuva – no Fast of Gedaliah because of Shabbat
1888: It was reported today that “a peculiar and unprecedented schism has arisen among the Jews” of London. “The Socialist Jews” have protested against the Day of Atonement by holding a banquet at the International Workingmen’s Club in Whitechapel.
1889: In Vienna, Rachel Goggmann Cenrobert and Austrian automobile entrepreneur Emil Jellinek gave birth to Mercédès Adrienne Manuela Ramona Jellinek. She is the Mercédès in Merceds-Benz. Yes, this quintessential German product was named for the granddaughter of the Chief Rabbi of Vienna.
1890(2ndof Tishrei, 5651): Second day of Rosh Hashanah
1890: Harris Adolphus and Max Rodden, the former Rabbi of the “Polish Hebrew synagogue” in Trenton, NJ, sought warrants for the arrest of Moses Skomwitschiki, the congregation’s new rabbi and several of the congregation’s officers.
1890: In Huntington, PA, Rabbi T.A. Moses of New York was stricken with apoplexy tonight after having dismissed the congregation for whom he had been leading services for the past week.
1891: In Providence, RI, Morris Reiger and Michael Bernstein, the mangers of the London Opera Company which they had organized among a group of Polish Jews, escaped from the police after having apparently absconded with ticket money collected for performances of “The Greenhorn.”
1891: “Troubles In the Dispensary of the Beth Israel Hospital” published today described the conflict between the Beth Hospital Association which started its hospital four months ago and the dispensary which had been open for a year before the two were combined.
1891: “Cholera In Asiatic Turkey” published today described the discriminatory measures being taken in the villages around Aleppo to deal with the epidemic where the Turkish officials allowed the Moslems and Christians “to leave the villages but not the Jews. They are compelled to stay.”
1892(24thof Elul, 5652): Sixty-one year old Judah Leib Gordon, one of the leading “Hebrew poets of the Jewish Enlightenment” passed away.
1893: Birthdate of Hungarian native Sir Alexander Korda who became a leading figure in the British film industry where he worked as both a director and producer.
1894: It was reported today that in the one New York district inhabited by Russian and Polish Jews “there an average of fifty-seven families to a house” while the general average in other tenement districts “is 34 persons to a house.”
1895: Reverend G.R. Cutting, pastor of the Yonkers Presbyterian Church presented a paper entitled “The Conversion of the Jews” today in which “he took the view that the Jews will be restored to the land of Palestine. Some of his fellow ministers who heard the paper said that the “Jews might become Christians before the end of the world, but that they would not return to Palestine” as would be proven if a vote were taken among the Jews; the majority of whom vote to remain in America “in preference to going to Palestine.”
1896(9thof Tishrei 5657): Erev Yom Kippur – Kol Nidre
1896: At a hearing in Jefferson Market Court John Dangels told the Judge that he lost his temper yesterday when David Meyer had refused to leave his butcher shop. He did not contest Meyer’s statement that the reason he had beaten him was because he was, to use Dangels’ word “a sheeny.”
1896: A group of Anarchist, most of whom were Jews held a meeting at Clarendon Hall with the announced intention of “ridiculing and burlesquing the Yom Kippur observances and the Jewish religion.”
1896: Twenty-three year old Nathan Fischer attacked Abraham Fisher, an usher at Mount Sinai Temple in a dispute over Fischer’s admission ticket. The police were called and Fisher was arrested.
1897: “President McKinley and the members of his cabinet attended the cornerstone laying of the new Synagogue” being “erected by the Washington Hebrew Congregation on 8th Street, near H.
1898(29thof Elul, 5658): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1898: Temple Beth-El, Temple Emanu-El and the West End Synagogue “have an extended an invitation to all solders who wish to attend services” at their respective congregations.
1898: Any Jewish families who wish to open their homes to soldiers on Rosh Hashanah should contact William Mitchell, Superintendent of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association or The American Hebrew.
1898: About 40 members of the 47th Regiment stationed at Fort Adams marched out of their barracks at Newport after having received a ten day furlough from Adjutant General Corbin so they could observe the Jewish holidays.
1898: Dr. M.H. Harris delivered a sermon tonight at Temple Israel of Harlem entitled “The Influence of Good Wishes” as Jew “ushered in the 5659.”
1898: Herzl is received by Graf Philip Eulenburg, the German ambassador in Vienna.
1898: Birthdate of prize-winning Israeli novelist Chaim Hazaz
1898: Birthdate of Hans Augusto Reyersbach, the native of Hamburg, Germany who gained fame as Hans Augusto "H.A." Rey is best known for his creation of the Curious George series.
1899: A mass meeting protesting the Dreyfus Conviction is scheduled to be held at this evening at Cooper Union.
1899: Birthdate of Samuel Spewack, who with his wife Bella wrote several screenplays including “My Favorite Wife:” which earned them an Oscar nomination for Best Original Story.
1899: A mass meeting protesting the Dreyfus Conviction organized by Jews living on the Lower East Side is scheduled to take place tonight at Mandelbaum’s Hall.
1899: In a “Blood Libel Case’ a Hungarian jury convicted Leopold Hilsner of murder and the judge sentenced him to hang. Following a public outcry and campaign, Hilsner would be retried, found guilty of acting as an accomplice to murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
1899: “A Drama of Jewish Life Opens the Broadway Theatre” published today provides a review of “The Ghetto” which “was very well received” even though it was “rather slow and monotonous.” The play which was translated from Dutch into English by C.B. Fernald “personifies and embodies the spirit of revolt in the Jewish nature against the meanness and sordidness with which the race has been affliected.”
1900: Herzl meets Arminius Vámbéry in Budapest. ("He gave me his word of honor that the Sultan would receive me by May.")
1903: At its meeting today The Executive Committee of the Board of Education recommended to the Board of Education that it confirm the appointment of Miss Julie Richman as District Superintendent to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Charles Haskell.
1906: Friends and family of Mr. and Mrs. Louis Fauerbach celebrated the couple’s 50th wedding anniversary this evening. For seventeen years, they received, respectively as the Superintendent and Mtron of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Orphan Asylum.
1909(1st of Tishrei, 5670): Jews observe Rosh Hashanah for the first time under the President of William Taft.
1910: Jews of Salonica compel editors of Turkish paper that published anti-Semitic remarks to send a public retraction to every Turkish journal.
1911: Birthdate of Jerome “Jerry” Irving Wald, the Brooklyn native who gained fame as a screenwriter and producer.
1912: “To Talk on Judaism” published today described the upcoming visit to the United States of Rabbi Israel Abrahams, the noted English scholar and author. After delivering a series of lectures at Harvard on “Some Aspects of the Life and Faith of Israel from the Liberal Point of View, he will speak at various venues including Stanford, Yale and Columbia where he will speak on the theme of “A Justification of Liberal Judaism.” (Liberal Judaism is another term for the Reform Movement)
1914: Birthdate of Allen Funt, creator of the television hit “Candid Camera.”
1914(25thof Elul, 5674): Abram Glaser passed away.
1914(25thof Elul, 5674):Aron Gottschalk passed away.
1915: Albert Einstein visits Switzerland where he tells the French pacifist Roman Rolland that he was no longer hopeful about an early end to the war. According to Rolland’s diary, Einstein described the German people as having an admiration of and belief in force and a firm determination to conquer and annex territories.
1916: The German Jewish industrialist Walter Rathenau, who had been urging European reconciliation and the mitigation of hatred, wrote a public letter to Field Marshall Ludendorff supporting the forcible deportation of 700,000 Belgian workers to Germany
1916: Jewish baseball player Guy Zinn plays in his last major league game.
1917: (29th of Elul, 5677): Erev Rosh Hashanah,
1917: An article published today entitled “New Year of the Jews Begins at Sunset: Hashanah Will Be Celebrated This Evening All Over the World; Two Days of Festival Orthodox Jewish Community Devotes First and Second of Month of Tishri to Observance” reported that “The celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the festival of the New Year, by the Jewish people throughout the world will begin at sunset this evening. The new year is 5678 in the Hebraic calendar and begins on the first day of the seventh month, Tishri, the month that is held to be of great importance as the festival of the New year, the fast of Yom Kippur or the Day of Atonement and the festival of Succoth, or Tabernacles, the harvest fest all occur during that month.
1917: During World War I, U.S. soldiers and sailors began their furloughs today so that they could participate in the observance of Rosh Hashanah. The War and Navy departments had agreed to a request for the holiday furloughs that had been made by Jewish Board for Welfare Work.
1918(10th of Tishrei, 5679): Final observance of Yom Kippur during World War I.
1918: Sir John Monash, the highest ranking Jewish officer in the Australian Army planned the allied attack on the German defenses known as the Battle of the Hindenburg Line, which began today.
1919: In a lengthy written memorandum, Adolph Hitler first expresses his hatred of the Jews describing them as a people that infect host nations with a kind of racial tuberculosis. He called for measures that would eliminate them from all level of the nation’s cultural and economic life.
1922: The League Nations recognized the Jewish Agency as the organization authorized to act in concert with the British Mandate authorities with a view to “facilitating the Jewish immigration and fostering intensive settlement of Israelites on the soil of the country.”
1924: In the Bronx,Natalie (née Weinstein-Bacal), a secretary who later legally changed her surname to Bacall, and William Perske,” gave birth to Betty Joan Perske, who gained fame as actress Lauren Bacall a relative of Shimon Peres who was married to Humphrey Bogart in 1945; a marriage that lasted until his death in 1957. They co-starred in three film-noires of the 1940's - The Big Sleep, Dark Passage and Key Largo .
1924: Birthdate of Bess Myerson. Bess Myerson was crowned Miss American in 1945. She was the first (and only Jew) to win the honor. It is strange that the first Jew to be named America
1925: Birthdate of Samuel Menashe Weisberg, who as Samuel Menashe, became “a Greenwich Village poet whose jewel-like, gnomic short verse won him an ardent following in Britain and belated recognition in the United States when the Poetry Foundation gave him its first Neglected Masters Award in 2004.”
1925(27th of Elul, 5685): Alexander Alexandrovich Friedman, Russian physicist who discovered the expanding-universe solution to the general relativity field equations in 1922, passed away.
1926: Dr. Isaac Landman, editor of The Ameircan Hebrew, presided over a memorial program dedicated to the lateIsrael Zangwill which was broadcast in New York and New England through the efforts of Stations WRNY, New York, and WMAF, South Dartmouth, Mass.
1927: Birthdate Peter Falk, “who marshaled actorly tics, prop room appurtenances and his own physical idiosyncrasies to personify Columbo, one of the most famous and beloved fictional detectives in television history.” Falk’s paternal ancestry was Jewish. He passed away in June of 2011.
1935: Rabbi Chaim Hirschensohn the Zionist leader whoworked to revive spoken Hebrew and helped found the Safah Berurah ("Plain Language") society in Jerusalem
1935(18th of Elul, 5695): Isaac Loeb Goldberg, “one of the world’s foremost Jewish philanthropists and a founder of the modern Zionist movement passed away today at the age of 75. A long time resident of Tel Aviv, he was in Zurich at the time of his death seeking medical treatment. A native of Szaki, Lithuania (which was part of the Russian Empire), this son of poor merchants received “the usual Jewish educational training” before becoming the representative of a pharmaceutical company and finally a “contractor of medical goods for the Russian Army.” In 1861, Goldberg was a founder of Chovevie Zion (Lovers of Zion), one of the forerunners of the modern Zionist movement. In 1897 he was a delegate to the First Zionist Congress. He was a founder of the Jewish Colonial Trust and editor of Haolom, “the official organ of Russian Zionism” which was published in Vilna, Lithuania. Following the failed Revolution of 1905, Goldberg was imprisoned for remarks in the paper that were critical of the government. After being released, he served as President of the Russian Zionist organization from 1912 until 1914. Throughout this period and during the World War, Goldberg was a generous, though often anonymous, benefactor to the Zionist cause. In 1902, Goldberg donated “a large area of land on Mt. Scopus” to the Jewish National Fund which was that agency’s first acquisitions of territory in Eretz Israel. From 1903 until 1915, Goldberg served on the General Council of the World Zionist Organization during which time he founded Achiasaf, one of the great Jewish publishing houses. Goldberg’s commitment to Hebrew language and culture was further exemplified by his founding of Haaretz and generous contributions to the Hebrew Institute for Culture and Language. Goldberg made Aliyah in 1919. As a resident of Tel Aviv he continued to serve as a director of the Jewish Colonial Trust, the Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Palestine Land Development Company. Tragedy struck in 1929 when Mr. Goldberg’s son, Benjamin was killed during the Arab riots. In April of 1935, the grieving father donated “28 dunams of thickly wooded land for a city park” to be built in Tel Aviv and to be named in his son’s memory.
1935: The Seventh Nazi Party Rally camed to an end at Nuremberg.
1936: In Kaunas, Lithuania, attorney Zvi Brick and his wife Leah who was a teacher gave birth to Aharon Brick, the survivor of the Kovno Ghetto who as Aharon Barack became President of the Supreme Court of Israel in 1995.
1936: A public funeral will be held today in Detroit for Ossip Gabrilowitsch at Orchestra Hall following which his body “will be sent to Elmira, NY, to be buried in the Clemens family plot” near the body of his father-in-law, Mark Twain.
1938: During the ongoing outbreak of Arab terror and violence the Rabbinate in Palestine “proclaimed today as a day of fasting for throughout the world because of the situation in” Eretz Israel.
1939: Salomon Gluck, a French doctor and future leader in the Resistance, returned from London and enlisted in the French Army today.
1939: U.S premiere of “Dust Be My Destiny” starring John Garfield with a script by Robert Rossen.
1940: Sam Rayburn becomes Speaker of the House of Representative. A Democrat from rural Texas U.S. Pearl Harbor . Rayburn turned back the attempt. If he had failed the Army would have been reduced to a comparative handful of soldiers at the time of the Japanese attack and leaving American truly vulnerable to defeat at the hands of the Axis. The consequences for Jews would have been disastrous. In 1943, when a group of Four Hundred Rabbis marched on Washington Israel
1940: Slovakia
1941: The 45th Infantry Division in which Raul Hilberg would serve during WW II was shifted from state control as it became part of the regular U.S. Army.
1941(24th of Elul, 5701): Jews from the town of Uman were brought to ditches at the airfield upon the excuse of taking a town census. SS officers systematically went down the line with pistols and shot each of the Jews - men, woman and children alike. The death toll was an estimated 22,000.
1941: Those in camps in Bessarabia. Including 118, 847 Jews from Bessarabia, Bukovina and the Dorohoi district began to be deported to the region between the Dniester and the Bug rivers called Transnistria, from which the Germans had withdrawn, handing control over to the Romanians under the Tighina agreement.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1942: Paramount Pictures released “The Major and the Minor” the first American movie directed by Billy Wilder.
1942(5th of Tishrei, 5703): Six thousand Jews from Jedrzejów, Poland, are murdered at the Treblinka death camp.
1943: More than 37,000 Italian Jews come under German rule.
1943:"The first consignment of two dozen Jews was shipped from a town in northern Italy to Auschwitz. Among them was a six year old child who was gassed upon arrival."
1943: The Nazis deported the first Italian Jews from the town of Merano With Mussolini Germany Italy Italy Eastern Europe .
1944: The Brazilian Expeditionary Force (BEF) were among the Allied Forces that took Massaora, Italy. Among those serving with the BEF was Lt. Col Waldemar Levy Cardoso who served as the commander of an artillery battalion.
1945(9th of Tishrei, 5706): Erev Yom Kippur
1945: British Prime Minister Clement Attlee harshly rejected President Truman’s plea that 100,000 Jewish displaced persons be admitted into Palestine
1948: George Hawkins and Frederick Sylvester, two British officials of the Jerusalem Electric Corporation went on trial for second time. They were charged with acts of espionage, including passing information to the Arabs
1948: Count Folke Bernadotte the "U.N. mediator on Palestine Transjordan . He also supported the unconditional or Arab refugees to the state of Israel port of Haifa
1948: In Paris, Île-de-France, France Donald Bloomingdale married Bethsabee de Rothschild
1951: The Greater New York Committee for the Israel Bond Issue kicks off its fall campaign at Straus Square on the Lower East Side. David Horowitz, director General of Finance of the Israeli government is a featured speaker.
1951: The 37th annual convention of Hadassah opens with 3,500 delegates in attendance. Opening day speakers include Senator Hubert Humphrey and Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett.
1951: Despite the on-going food shortages, Israel’s economy showed growth and vitality today “when Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion formally opened the new plant of the General Tire and Rubber Company” located near Petah Tkiva. By the end of 1952 the plant is expected to producing 2,500 tons of tires annually which will be sufficient to meet local needs and leave extra product for export. Ben-Gurion called on Israeli’s to show the same spirit in the developing the Jewish state as had been demonstrated by the American pioneers. Ben Gurion reiterated his dream of Israel becoming an industrial center capable of meeting the needs of nations in the near, middle and Far East.
1956: In Paris, Romanian-Jewish social psychologist Serge Moscovici and of the Polish-Jewish psychoanalyst Marie Bromberg-Moscovici gave birth to French political leader Pierre Moscovici.
1956: Birthdate of magician David Copperfield.
1959(13th of Elul, 5719): Harpsichordist and composer Wanda Landowska, who was credited with the 20th-century revival of harpsichord music, passed away.
1960: Pitching in relief of starter Don Drysdale, Larry Sherry gains his 14th victory (Sherry was Jewish; Drysdale was not.)
1966: First baseman Mike Epstein made his major league with the Baltimore Orioles.
1969: Birthdate of Justine Frischmann, guitarist and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
1972: Following the Munich Massacre, Israel launched Operation Extended Turmoil 4 against bases in southern Lebanon, containing an estimated 600 guerrillas. “Golani forces reached the Litani river in the east, while Paratroopers reached Juwaya just south of the river. Most of the guerrilla forces did not engage the Israelis and chose to retreat, although over 40 of them were killed.”
1977: Moshe Dayan returned to Morocco Israel Camp David negotiations that would take place in the following year.
1982: A meeting between U.S. diplomats and Israeli officials was held at the Ministry of Defense concerning the entry of Phalangists into the Shatila Refugee camp.
1984: U.S. Premiere of “Amadeus” the screen adaptation of Peter Shaffer’s play produced by Saul Zaentz.
1985(1st of Tishrei, 5746): Rosh Hashanah
1988:Joan Micklin Silver's "Crossing Delancey," the story of love between a professional Upper East Side woman and a pickle seller from the Lower East Side , was released in theaters
1990: The New York Timesreported that Brandeis University, which has a large Jewish enrollment, and the College of the Holy Cross, a Roman Catholic institution in Worcester, are teaming up in a comparative-religion study program that officials hope will promote understanding between students of the two faiths.
1991: A memorandum of this date provides proof that the “KGB intervened… to stop an investigation into” the fate of Raoul Wallenberg. “The memorandum from the Swedish Embassy in Moscow cites the former head of the Soviet "Special Archive," Anatoly Prokopenko, as telling Swedish diplomats that the KGB instructed him to stop a search for documents by researchers working for the first International Wallenberg Commission.”
1992:On Black Wednesday George Soros became immediately famous when he sold short more than $10 billion worth of pounds, profiting from the Bank of England’s reluctance to either raise its interest rates to levels comparable to those of other European Exchanges.
1993(1st of Tishrei, 5754): The first observance of Rosh Hashanah after the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13; an event that has cause many rabbis to change their high holiday sermons.
1993: As a result the signing of the Oslo Accords on September 13 Rabbi Shelton Donnell of Temple Beth Sholom in Santa Ana, was scheduled to switch his Rosh Hashanah sermon from one discussing the use of time to a talk on the new prospects for peace.
1993:At the Conservative Congregation Eilat in Mission Viejo, Rabbi Bradley Shavit Artson is scheduled tell prayer-goers that if the Israelis and Palestinians can make peace, Americans can also overcome seemingly insurmountable problems of racism, homophobia and poverty.
1993:At Irvine's Orthodox synagogue, Beth Jacob, Rabbi Joel Landau is scheduled to speak about sacrifice, offering the peace accord as an example of "people sometimes making tough decisions in order to do what's right."
1997: Samuel “Sheinbein and Aaron Benjamin Needle, a former classmate at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Aspen Hill, Maryland, killed Alfredo Enrique Tello, Jr. after which they dismembered and burned his body.
2001 (28th of Elul, 5761): Samuel Z. Arkoff, American film producer, passed away.
2002(10thof Tishrei, 5763): Jews observe Yom Kippur for the first time in the Post 9/11 era
2003: “The Boys from Oz” an Australian musical that Martin Sherman Americanized began its pre-Broadway run at the Imperial Theatre.
2004(1stof Tishrei, 5765): As John Kerry battles President Bush for the White House, Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah
2005: The Jerusalem Post and Haaretz reported on the Ariel Sharon’s speech to the United Nations. Sharon took the same take as two other soldiers turned Prime Minister, in proclaiming himself as a champion of peace in the Middle Easter, recognizing the right of the Palestinians to a state of their own.
2006: In the evening, Selichot Services, as Jews prepare for the High Holidays.
2006 (23rd of Elul, 5766): Helen Deschmaps Adams, member of the French Resistance during World War II passed away at the age of 85 at her home in Manhattan. As Helen Deschmaps (Adams was the name of her American husband) “she saved American parachutists from capture…and helped Jewish families escape to Spain…She…posed as a secretary at the headquarters of the Milice…the force known as the French Gestapo. She stole the records of people marked for execution including Jews and resistance fighters…" In one of her memoirs entitled Spyglass, this righteous person asks the question “If you had to renounce family, friends, and any kind of normal lifestyle to fight a fierce enemy, would you?”
2006: Jack Kirby was among the artists honored in the exhibition "Masters of American Comics" at the Jewish Museum in New York City. The Jack Kirby Awards and Jack Kirby Hall of Fame were named in his honor.
2006: In article entitled Faith changes in Banglatown, but our social enrichment stays the same” published today Rabbi Jonathan Sacks traces the recent history of the Jews of London.
2007((4 Tishrei, 5768): Fast of Gedaliah observed. Normally the Fast of Gedaliah is observed on the third of Tishrei
2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section featured reviews of The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life by Robert B. Reich, the Jewish economist who served as Clinton’s Secretary of Labor and The Zookeeper’s Wife, a story about saving Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto from the Final Solution, by Diane Ackerman.
2007: The Sunday New York Times book section featured reviews of The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt and James L. Kugel’s How To Read The Bible: A Guide to Scripture, Then and Now which the author says “is intended as a guide to, and a tour through, the Hebrew Bible. In it, he has tried to write down most of what he knows about the Bible, its past as well as its present. That makes it a little different from other books on the subject.
2007: “Camille Pissarro: Impressions of City and Country” opens at the Jewish Museum of New York.
2007: At the Jewish Museum in New York
2008: Release of Indignation, Philip Roth's twenty-ninth book, a story of inexperience, foolishness, intellectual resistance, sexual discovery, courage, and error set in the early days of the Korea War.
2008: In Washington , D.C.
2008:The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents a lecture by Joshua Rubenstein is the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA and an Associate of the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University entitled “The Neglected Massacres: The Holocaust in the German-Occupied Soviet Territories.
2008(16th of Elul, 5768):Ninety-eight year old Avraham Biran, an archaeologist of biblical sites who excavated Tel Dan, an ancient city along Israel’s northern border, and uncovered an unexpected stone fragment bearing what might be the earliest reference to the House of David, died today in Jerusalem.(As reported by Jeremy Pearce)
2009:Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee a joint project of the Tennessee State Museum in collaboration with the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee, Jewish Community Federation of Greater Chattanooga, Knoxville Jewish Alliance, and Memphis Jewish Federation, with the participation of other Jewish communities around the state is scheduled to come to an end today. As can be seen from the following description, the exhibit provides living proof of the vitality of the Jewish community outside of the major urban areas of the United States.
2009:There are now 7,465,000 people living in Israel, the central bureau of statistics reported today. The figure represents a rise of 1.8 percent over last year. The study, released ahead of the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, find that 75.4 percent of the population is Jewish, 20.6 percent are Arab, and the rest are identified as others.
2009: The 92ndSt Y presents “This American Life: Behind the Scenes with Ira Glass and Others.”
2009:At Jerusalem’s Khan Theater the second and final performance of "La grande magica" (Grand Magic) a play written by de Fillippo in 1949 which is enjoying its first Israeli staging.
2009: The Jewish Studies Program at Tulane University, under the direction of Brian Horowitz, presents a screening of “Waltz With Bashir” as part of the Colloquium and Film Series that is devoted to the subject of “Cultural Judaism” Experience, Concepts and Rival Perspectives.”
2009(27th of Elul 5769): Eighty-two year old shopping mall mogul and professional basketball aficionado Melvin Simon, passed away today. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2010: A screening of “Anita” is scheduled to take place at the 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas. The film tells the story of Anita Feldman, a young woman with Down
syndrome living in Buenos Aires, working in shop, whose live is torn apart by the terrorist bombing of the nearby Argentine Israelite Mutual Association.
syndrome living in Buenos Aires, working in shop, whose live is torn apart by the terrorist bombing of the nearby Argentine Israelite Mutual Association.
2010: "Black Tide,” Dana Melamed's 3rd solo show at Priska Juschka Fine Art is scheduled to open in Chelsea, NYC.
2010:Wall painting of Tyche, Greek goddess of fortune, was exposed during 11th season of excavation carried out by University of Haifa. A wall painting (fresco) of Tyche, the Greek goddess of fortune, was exposed during the 11th season of excavation at the Sussita site, on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee, according to a University of Haifa statement released today.
2010:US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today she is convinced that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas are trying to seek common ground in peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.
2010: The upright piano used by Irving Berlin when he composed such hits as “I Love a Piano” in 1915 was removed from the Ascap’s headquarters today. It had resided there for 15 years on loan from Berlin’s family. The piano is being moved to the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia where it will be part of an exhibition called “Only in America.” The exhibition will mark the opening of the museum.
2011:The 14th Jerusalem International Chamber Music Festival is scheduled to come to a close.
2011: Following a traditional Friday night services at the 6th& I Historic Synagogue, Mort Fertal is scheduled to deliver an after-dinner lecture entitled “Dating Smart” followed by questions from the audience.
2011:Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said today that the Palestinians plan to approach the United Nations Security Council for full recognition, clarifying that they are seeking to delegitimize the occupation, not Israel, by taking the UN route for Palestinian statehood.
2011: New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced today that New Zealand will boycott the Durban III conference on September 22 because the anti-racism event is plagued by anti-Semitism.
2012: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform at the Collington Retirement Community in Mitchellville, Maryland.
2012: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Vagina: A New Biography by Naomi Wolf, The End of Men: And the Rise of Women by Hanna Rosin and The Fish That Ate the Whale, Rich Cohen’s biography of Samuel Zemurray.
2012: In the evening, Erev of Rosh Hashanah, 5773
2012: Ryan Braun hit his 200th career home run today followed by another homer which was his 40th of the year. (At the time, nobody knew that he was doing this with the assistance of banned substances)
2012: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned today that Iran was just six to seven months away from being able to build a nuclear bomb
2013: The Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center is scheduled to co-sponsor “Introduction to Jewish Texts: A Melton Sampler.”
2013: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to sponsor a lecture entitled “Making History: The Proliferation and Impact of Modern Jewish Archives.”
2013(12thof Tishrei, 5774): Eighty-six year old Rabbi Philip Berg, the head of Kabbalah Center International, passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2013: “The Croatian version, of Israeli drama “BeTipul” titled Na terapiji, premiered today Croatian Radiotelevision
2013: “The growth rate of the settler population in 2012 was five percent, which means that the number of Israelis in the West Bank increased at a pace almost three times as fast the nation’s 1.9% growth rate last year, according to numbers released today by the Central Bureau of Statistics” (As reported by Tovah Lazaroff)
2013: “Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US Secretary of State John Kerry last week that he should try to reach a deal with Russia to confiscate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal as an alternative to a threatened US strike on the Assad regime, the Wall Street Journal reported today.”
2014: “Inside the Mind of a Nazi Perpetrator: The Search for the Rosenberg Diary” is scheduled to open in Philadelphia, PA this evening.
2014: TCM is scheduled to present the third in the series – The Jewish Experience on Film – featuring “Hill 24 Doesn’t Answer,” “Sallah,” “A Sword in the Desert” and “Exodus”
2014: The Skirball Center is scheduled to host a discussion with Rabbi David Wolpe the author of David: The Man Behind the Myth