September 17
1394: The Jews were expelled from France Lyons
1394: Charles VI suddenly published an ordinance in which he declared, in substance, that for a long time he had been taking note of the many complaints provoked by the excesses and misdemeanors which the Jews committed against Christians; and that the prosecutors, having made several investigations, had discovered many violations by the Jews of the agreement they had made with him. Therefore he decreed as an irrevocable law and statute that thenceforth no Jew should dwell in his domains ("Ordonnances", vii. 675). According to the "Religieux de St. Denis", the king signed this decree at the instance of the queen ("Chron. de Charles VI." ii. 119). The decree was not immediately enforced, a respite being granted to the Jews in order that they might sell their property and pay their debts. Those indebted to them were enjoined to redeem their obligations within a set time; otherwise their pledges held in pawn were to be sold by the Jews. The provost was to escort the Jews to the frontier of the kingdom. Subsequently the king released the Christians from their debts.
1480: Two Dominican friars, Miguel de Morillo, Master of Theology, and Juan de San Martin, Bachelor of Theology were commissioned to go to Seville and seek out heresy of the Jews.
1482:William III of Luxembourg passed away. During his reign, William, who ruled Thuringia and Luxemburg, minted a silver gorschen (coin) “known as the Judenkopf Groschen. Its obverse portrait shows a man with a pointed beard wearing a Jewish hat, which the populace took as depicting a typical Jew.” [I cannot find a reason for him doing this.]
1485: Pedro Arbues, the inquisitor for Aragon
1609(18thof Elul, 5369): According to the Gregorian calendarJudah Loew ben Bezalel, the “MaHaRal” "Moreinu ha-Rav Loew," ("Our Teacher, Rabbi Loew") who according to legend created the Golem of Prague, passed away today.
1630: Founding of Boston , Massachusetts Boston Israel Boston
1676(10th of Tishrei, 5437):Sabbatai Zevi, one of the most famous of the False Messiahs passed away. Born in 1626, his antics would develop a huge popular following. Their hopes would be dashed when he chose Islam over death at the hands of the Ottomans. For many, many decades accusing a Jew of being a Sabbatean was onerous as accusing an American of being a member of the Communist Party during the McCarthy Period. There are those who saw the rise of the Chasidic movement with its message of joy and hope as the anti-dote to the disillusionment that had come with the failure of Sabbatai Zevi and the slaughter of the Jews during the Cossack uprising.
1727(2nd of Tishrei, 5488): Glückel of Hameln passed away. Born in 1646, she was a Jewish mother, successful mother, German businesswoman and diarist. It was in this latter category that she gained lasting fame. Her writings provided an eyewitness account life in central Europe three and a half centuries ago. In addition to providing a portrait of the daily life of our European forbearers, she also gave us a front seat view of the survivors of the Chmielnicki massacres and the followers of Sabbati Z’vi. Her memories were passed down from generation to generation until they were first published in 1896. Copies of The life of Gluckel of Hamelin Written by Herself and the Memoirs of Gluckel of Hamelin were published in English during the second half of the 20th century.
1764: Birthdate of Berek Joselewicz Polish Jew who was a successful merchant and a colonel in the Polish Army during the Kosciuszko Uprising during which Poles tried to throw off the yoke of Russian occupation. Joselewicz commanded the first Jewish military formation in modern history
1769: Birthdate of New Yorker Benjamin Gomez. The Gomez family was one of the most prominent families of all early Sephardim in America New York America
1787: The Constitutional Convention meeting in Philadelphia , PA United States
1794: Polish General Thaddeus Koscuisco who was leading a revolt against the Russians granted Joseph Aronowicz and Berek Joselowicz permission to form a Jewish legion. Five hundred men volunteered in response to the call to arms that was issued in Yiddish.
1800(27th of Elul, 5560):Fifty-eight year old German Kabbalist Nathan Adler and author of Mishnat Rabbi Nathanhttp://www.hebrewbooks.org/22433passed away.
1803(1stof Tishrei, 5564): Rosh Hashanah
1803(1stof Tishrei, 5564): Rosh Hashanah
1805: In London Sir Isaac Lyon Goldsmid and Lady Goldsmid gave birth to Anna Maria Goldsmid who gained fame for her translation of the sermons of Dr. Gotthold Salomon and her role as a social worker.
1812: A.M. Rothschild signed his revised will.
1819: Birthdate of Jacob Lagowitz, the native of Frankfort-on-the-Oder who came to the United States in 1849 where he made his fortune in the manufacture of traveling trunks and bags before he passed away in 1889.
1831(10thof Tishrei, 5592): Yom Kippur
1835: Sixty-six year old Ernst Friedrich Karl Rosenmüller whose Scholia in Vetus Testamentum formed the basis of most of the exegetical work on the Old Testament in the nineteenth century and who published “a pocket edition of the Hebrew Bible in 1822” passed away today.
1849(1st of Tishrei, 5610): Rosh Hashanah is observed in San Francisco for the first time in a wood-framed tent.
1851: Birthdate of Rabbi Dávid Leimdörfer who served as “a military chaplain in the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1875 to 1883” when he became the rabbi at Hamburg Temple.
1855: When Joseph Moses Levy “re-launched” the Daily Telegraph today he sold it for one-penny as opposed to The Times which cost sevenpence giving rise to his slogan for the paper “the largest, best, and cheapest newspaper in the world".
1856: "The Last Island Calamity" published today reported that 33 bodies have been recovered following the storms that racked the Louisiana island last month of which 18 have been identified including that of a German Jew named Gimble.
1856: Birthdate of Moses Gaster, the Romanian born Anglo-Jewish scholar who served as the leader of the Spanish and Portuguese Synagogue in London.
1860(1stof Tishrei, 5621): As the United States teeters on the brink of Civil War, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah
1861: Judah P. Benjamin completed his service as the Attorney General for the Confederacy.
1861: Judah P. Benjamin began serving as the Secretary of War in the cabinet of Jefferson Davis, the President of the CSA.
1862: Union and Rebel armies clash near Sharpsburg , Maryland Antietam was the bloodiest day of the war with over 22,000 dead Union and Rebel troops. Since Lee retreated back into Virginia Lincoln Lincoln Antietam was General Leopold Blumenberg, of Baltimore Prussia United States Antietam and crippled for life and was subsequently brevetted for his meritorious services. His battlefield bravery earned him appointment as Provost Marshall in Washington Baltimore Har Sinai Cemetery Union . For example over half of the soldiers in the famed 11th New York Regiment, known as "Ellsworth's Zouaves" in honor of the founder James Ellsworth, were Jewish. The 59thRegiment which had been organized by Philip J. Joachimsen who served as a Lt. Colonel lost over 200 men and 8 officers during the carnage in the West Woods near the Dunker Church.
1862: When enrolled at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) today, Moses Ezekiel became the first Jew to attend that state’s military college.
1863: At its meeting today, the Board of Alderman rejected the Report-of Committee on Finance, in favor of adopting resolution that the Comptroller be directed to dispose of the following ground belonging to the Corporation, and located adjoining the Orphan Asylum of the Hebrew Benevolent Society: On Seventy seventh-street and extending from the westerly line or side of said Orphan Asylum to the easterly line or side of Lexington-avenue, being in extent one hundred and thirty-five feet front and rear, by one hundred feet deep, to the said Hebrew Benevolent Society, to be held by the said Society upon the same tenure or conditions as the twelve lots of ground heretofore grunted to the said Society; the grant hereby made to said Society to be sanctioned by the Legislature of the State, at its next or any subsequent session, in order to perfect the title thereto in the aforesaid Society, and to obviate the prohibition contained in the forty-first section of the amended charter of one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in respect to disposing of the property or franchises of the City.
1865: Today's Foreign Items column reported that a synagogue is about to be opened in St. Petersburg. A Jewish Banker named Gusburg the Jewish banker, has given 70,000 rubles towards the completion of the projection..
1865: Today's "City News" column described preparations in New York City for the upcoming observance of “The Jewish New Year.” “Thursday will be the first day of Tishri, the commencement of the year 5,626, according to Jewish chronology. The event will be celebrated by the Jews throughout the world Extensive preparations are being made for its observance in this city. There will be services in the various synagogues, to be followed by festivals, social gatherings, and general merry-makings.”
1867:In New York, the Board of Aldermen accepted an invitation to visit the Hebrew Orphan Asylum today at 1 p.m.
1868(1st of Tishrei, 5629): Rosh Hashanah
1868: Sigmund Shlesinger was among the U.S. soldiers facing force of Arapaho, Cheyenne and Sioux on the first day of the Battle of Beecher Island
1871(2nd of Tishrei, 5632): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1871:An article that had originally appeared in the Jewish Messenger published today provided a summary Benjamin Franklin Peixotto’s service as the U.S. Consul in Bucharest. The mere fact that America’s senior diplomat in Romania is Jewish has given heart to the Jews of Bucharest, Jassy and other towns in their fight against the government’s harsh treatment. Peixotto has effectively represented the position of many in the West that Romania must emancipate its Jewish citizens.
1875(17th of Elul, 5635): Abraham Weisberg, a Jewish peddler was murdered today in Westchester County, NY leaving behind an “estate” valued at $290.
1876: “The Jewish Holidays” published today provides an amazingly detailed account of the origins and customs related to the High Holidays.
1877: During the Russo-Turkish War, it was reported today that “an enterprising Jew from Vienna” has opened an office in the Balkan city of Nikopolis from which he sells newspapers which means that the Russian officers are only 36 hours behind their comrades in arms serving in Bucharest. The sale is limited to newspapers that are not critical of the policies of the Russian government. This means he cannot sale papers from London or Vienna but his customers are happy to read such French and Italian papers as Gaulois and Figaro.
1877(10th of Tishrei, 5638): Yom Kippur
1877: “Ten Fires in Two Hours” published today described the impact of ten fires set between 6 pm and 8 pm in a series of tenements primarily occupied by Jews or that housed businesses owned by Jews including Isaac Cohen’s Crockery Store which sustained $50.00 in damages.
1877: Rabbi De Sola Mendes is scheduled to deliver the Yom Kippur sermon at the Forty-fourth street synagogue in Manhattan.
1877: At Temple Emanu-El in New York City, Rabbi Gustav Gottheil preached a sermon in which he contended that the objection some Israelites have to be called “Jews is an unfounded one, and that the name Jew is one which any person might be glad to bear.”
1877: It was reported today that Harper & Brothers will be offering The Jews and Their Persecutors by Eugene Lawrence which is the latest publication in their popular "Half Hour Series."
1877: At Romny, Poltava, Russia, Abraham Myer Krichefski, the son of David and Rebbeca Kricefski married Mashe Cohen, the daughter of Rachel Cohen.
1878: As the Yellow Fever Epidemic continues to grip the Deep South, New Orleans Mayor Pillsbury received a telegram from Mark Moses, the former Rabbi of the Jackson Street Synagogue who is now living in Providence, Rhode Island, asking for information about his family that lives on Magazine Street. He is worried because he has not received any letters from them in the past several days and has had no reply to telegrams that he has sent.
1878: As the nation responds to the financial needs of Southerners fighting Yellow Fever, the Young Ladies’ Charitable Union has instructed that 40 of the 100 dollars it has collected should be sent to the Hebrew Relief Society of Memphis.
1882(4th of Tishrei, 5643): Since the third of Tishrei fell on Shabbat Tzom Gedaliah is observed today.
1884: In New Haven, Connecticut, the Register published a story that included a remark by Henry B. Harrison in 1857 when, during a trial, he asked the judge, “Your Honor, will you not take the evidence given by 11 Americans in preference to that given by four Jews?” Harrison is running for Governor on the Republican ticket.
1885: In Lithuania, Rabbi and Mrs. Nachum Shraga Revel gave birth to Rabbi Bernard Dov Revel, the first President of Yeshiva College in NYC.
1885: Eighty-five year old Henry Neuwahl, a resident of the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in New York was severely injured today when he was run over by a U.S. mail wagon while crossing at the corner of Broadway and Houston. In his earlier days, he was a successful merchant whose love of fast horse earned him the nickname “Sporting Charlie.”
1886: In Germany, Lewis and Ida Mayer Arnheim gave birth to Leonard Arnheim who would move to the United States in 1868 and eventually represent Doughtery County in the Georgia State Legislature.
1888: In New York City, the audience at Koster and Biali’s Concert Hall laughed like lunatics as they were entertained by Frank Bush “whose imitations of the Hebrew gentlemen of impolite fiction are known from Harlem to Los Angeles.
1890(3rd of Tishrei, 5651): Fast of Gedaliah
1890(3rd of Tishrei, 5651): Sixty year old Rabbi T.A. Moses of New York passed away in Huntingdon, PA after being stricken with apoplexy.
1892: In London, Professor Hechler, the Chaplain of the British Embassy at Vienna, presented a paper at the Internationalist Congress that described a papyrus manuscript discovered a few months ago in Egypt that is supposed “to be the oldest copy…of portions of the…books of Zechariah and Malachi.”
1895: A meeting of anti-Semites held in the Hopfenbluhe Hall tonight “passed a resolution amid cheers asking the Prince Regent of Bavaria not to” show “any clemency to the Jew,” Louis Stern of New York.
1896(10th of Tishrei, 5657): Yom Kippur
1896: Nathan Fischer is locked up in the East 67thStreet Police Station after he attacked Abraham Polak, an usher at Mount Sinai Temple in a dispute over Fischer’s admission ticket.
1897: Today, The Hebrew Standard of New York gave its unqualified support to Seth Low for Mayor of Greater New York (what we now call New York City)
1897: In Glasgow, Scotland, Nechi Surah Wilamowski and Solomon Wolfson and his wife gave birth to Sir Isaac Wolfson, the Scottish businessman and philanthropist.
1897: “Their Second Marriage” published today described the romantic ups and downs of Mathew Sterling Borden, Yale ’95, the son of a Chicago millionaire and Mildred N. Nerbaur, the daughter of a Jewish tailor in New Haven, CT
1898(1st of Tishrei, 5659): Rosh Hashanah
1898: At Temple B’nai Jeshurun, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise delivered a sermon that included references to “the triumphant war against Spain” that was a fight “against injustice and unrighteousness; the hope that the wrong done to Captain Dreyfus would soon be righted; and the view that Zionism would prove to be “a unifying and inspiring force among the ten million” Jews scattered around the world.
1898: At Temple Beth-El, Rabbi Kaufman Kohler delivered a sermon entitled “The Larger Life and Larger Visions.”
1898: At Temple Israel in Harlem, Rabbi Harris delivered a sermon entitled “The Jewish Question.”
1898: At Shearith Israel, Rabbi Pereira Mendez delivered a sermon entitled “The Good and the Evil” based on the words of Amos “Seek ye the Lord”
1898: At Temple Emanu-El Rabbi Gustav Gottheil delivered a sermon entitled “The New Era.”
1898: Jewish soldiers, many of them veterans of the recent war with Spain including Alfred Levi of Cincinnati who served with the 17th Infantry in Cuba, attended services at many of the congregations in New York including Temple Emanu-El where fifty seats had been reserved for their use.
1898: The wealthy Jews living in Hempstead, Long Island and its surrounding villages are planning holding New Year’s services for the first time as part of their long-term plan to build a permanent synagogue.
1898: Herzl meets with the German minister Bernhard von Bülow
1899: “Two thousand residents of Chicago” nearly half of whom were women “assembled at Metropolitan Hall…this afternoon and protested against the verdict of the court-martial in the Dreyfus case.”
1899: In his review published today, Edward Dithmar writes tha “from a strictly critical point of view ‘The Ghetto’ is not much of play. It is slow moving and wordy…It throws no new light on Jewish character while its implied moral is neither very clear nor very valuable.” It will draw because its name will lead people to confuse it with Zangwill’s “Children of the Ghetto.”
1899: “Sunday Labor Legislation” published today traces the history of Sunday labor laws in Massachusetts including the fact that “in 1895 the law as to labor on Sunday was…modified to accord with the religious ideas of the Jews. A statute provided that ‘whoever conscientiously believes that the seventh day of the week ought be observed as the Sabbath and actually refrains from secular business and labor on that day, shall not be liable to the penalties of this section for performing secular business and labor on the Lord’s day, if he disturbs no other person.’”
1899: Reverend W. S. Crowe, the pastor of the Church of the Eternal Hope delivered a sermon on “The Religious Aspects of the Dreyfus Case” in which he condemned the verdict.
1899: In London’s Hyde Park, a few thousand people stood around the seven platforms and hear the speakers condemn the Dreyfus verdict.
1899: In the prelude to his sermon tonight, Reverend Madison C. Peters of the Bloomingdale Reformed Church spoke out against the Dreyfus verdict saying that Dreyfus “was condemned, the innocent for the guilty on the General Staff, and he was condemned solely because he was a Jew.”
1902: Annie Krichefski of Jersey (UK) married Robert Katz.
1904: Birthdate of Edgar Georg Ulmer, the Moravian born American film director whose films included “The Black Cat” and “Detour.”
1908: Birthdate of Russian born violin virtuoso David Oistrakh
1909: Louis Waldman, a founding member of the Social Democratic Federation, and a prominent New York labor lawyer, having left the Ukraine, arrived in New York today where he joined his sisters who were already living there.
1909(2nd of Tishrei, 5670): Max Lewy passed away.
1910(13th of Elul, 5670):Mrs. Golde Schilling passed away.
1910(13th of Elul, 5670): Mrs. Jette Trembe passed away.
1917(1st of Tishrei, 5678): Following the entrance of the United States into World War I, thousands of Jewish soldiers and sailors observe Rosh Hashanah away from home for the first time.
1918: Birthdate of Leah Lenke Roth the native of Sajoszentpeter in northeast Hungary who gained fame as Leah Gottlieb, the woman “who started with a single sewing machine in a refugee camp in the new nation-state of Israel and rose to become one of the world’s most renowned designers of women’s bathing suits.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1918: During WW I, as General Allenby prepares to resume his offensive north of Jerusalem an Indian sergeant crosses into the Turkish lines where he warns them that the British are about to attack. The Turks believe him, but the German general in command does not which means that Allenby will have the element of surprise as he continues the offensive that will ultimately lead to British control over Palestine
1918: Birthdate of Chaim Herzog (חיים הרצוג) sixth President of Israel. Herzog was born in 1918 in
1921: Mr. and Mrs. Julius Rosenwald announced the engagement tonight of their daughter Miss Marion Rosenwald to Alfred K. Stern, the son of Mrs. Max Stern. Mr. Stern had been living in Fargo, North Dakota. No date has been set for the wedding. [Stern would later divorce the Sears & Roebuck heiress and eventually marry Martha Dodd, the daughter William E. Dodd, the first U.S. Ambassador to Germany to serve after Hitler came to power. For more about the Dodds see In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson]
1922: In Canada, Shaar Hashomayim dedicated its new synagogue at the corner of Kensington Avenue and Côte St. Antoine in Westmount. The congregation had acquired the ground in 1920. In 1921, Lyon Cohen, the president of the congregation had laid the cornerstone which had come from Eretz Israel.
1925: Sir Mathew Nathan completed his service as Governor of Queensland.
1926(9th of Tishrei, 5687): Erev Yom Kippur
1926: Charles and Gisèle Lustiger gave birth to Aaron Lustiger who converted to Catholicism in 1940, became the Archbishop of Paris and was ultimately name a Cardinal as Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger
1927: In suburban Philadelphia, PA, Rabbi Philip Reis Alstat spoke at the dedication ceremonies of Ohev Shalom Synagogue Center.
1927: Annie Krichefski and Robert Katz celebrated their silver anniversary in Jersey.
1927: Abraham Myer Krichefski and Mashe Cohen celebrated their golden anniversary in Jersey.
1929: The Jewish community in Palestine is feeling a sense of increasing anxiety over the fact that 45 of 51 Jews arrested in Haifa have been charged with attempted or premeditated murder under the direction public prosecutors in Haifa who are Arabs. In addition to which bail has been denied. The arrest comes on the heels of a wave of Arab violence that included massacres at Hebron and Safed.
1930: Shortstop Jim Levey made his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns.
1933: The National Representation of German Jews (Reichsvertretung der Dutschen Juden) was established "to come to grips with the troubled times..." Rabbi Leo Baeck would be its president.
1934: U.S. premiere of “Young and Beautiful,” a comedy produced by Nat Levine with a script by Dore Schary.
1934: U.S. premiere of “Young and Beautiful,” a comedy produced by Nat Levine with a script by Dore Schary.
1936(1stof Tishrei, 5697): As FDR prepares to face Alf Landon in the Presidential election, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah
1936: “Nazi Penalties Heavier” published today described the decision of the Reich Justice Ministry to instruct “public prosecutors to demand more severe punish for Jewish ‘race defilers’ – Jews convicted of having had relations with ‘German women.’”
1936:The United States must accept a share of blame in the "horrible record of murders and destructive acts" in Palestine, in the opinion of Senators Royal S. Copeland of New York and Warren R. Austin of Vermont, who returned today on the Italian liner Conte di Savoia after an unofficial study of conditions in the Holy Land. In a jointly issued statement the senators said that the United States “government cannot be held blameless until it calls sharply to the attention of Great retain our feeling that the mandate is not being administered as it should be. No matter how pressing may be the demands of a Presidential election, time out must e taken to have the atrocities in Palestine stopped.” The senators descried the security measures as being “lax” and expressed the view that a New York police official backed by 1,000 officers and 200 detectives could reestablish law and order in the wake of Arab violence.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the League of Nations Council, meeting in Geneva, unanimously adopted British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden's plan and decided to send a new Special Commission to Palestine, to consult with Jews and Arabs how best to implement the Royal (Peel) Commission Report's recommendations on the country's partition and fix the future boundaries of both states and of the British enclaves. In the meanwhile the Palestine Mandate of July 24, 19 22
1938: Hank Greenberg hits his fifty first home run of the season which keeps him even with Babe Ruth’s 1927 record breaking pace.
1939(4th of Tishrei, 5700): Tzom Gedaliah
1939(4th of Tishrei, 5700): Nineteen Jews were killed and many more were injured when a train struck a bus halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
1939: The Soviet Union invaded Poland Poland Poland
1941: The Nazis took several thousand Jews taken from their homes in Kovno and locked them in synagogues for three days. They then brought them to prepared ditches and shot them all.
1941: A general deportation of German Jews remaining in the Fatherland began. For those interested in the topic you might want to read The Last Jews in Berlin
1941: “At Wuerzburg, Germany, the Jews were marched through the town carrying their meagre belongings and forced on to trains headed for Nuremberg which would be joined to longer trains headed for “The East” a euphemism for the death camps.
1943: The Russian city of Bryansk was liberated from Nazis. Bryansk was occupied by the Nazis for over seven hundred days. It was the scene of on-going partisan activity. Jews played an active part in this resistance. Before the Nazis left the areas, Jews hiding in the forest around Bryansk were attacked and killed by local forces loyal to the Nazis. The excuse for killing them was that they were “pro-Soviet.”
1943: In Lyon, Fritz Freund, a Jewish veteran of the French Army, went out to buy food for his wife Mathilde and himself. He never returned. Mathilde searched for her husband in vain. She was told by on-lookers that her husband was probably one of those who were shoved into cattle cars by employees of the French national railway company. The cars went from Lyon, to a holding camp in Compiegne before depositing their human cargo at Buchenwald. Yes, the French were willing accomplices to the Nazi final solution. This is the Compiegne where the Armistice was signed in 1918 and where the French cravenly surrendered to the Nazis in 1940
1943(17th of Elul, 5703): Estella Blits- Agsterribe, her six-year old daughter Nanny and two-year old son Alfred were murdered today at Auschwitz. Before marrying Samuel Blits, she was known as Estella Agsterribe, one of the members of the 1928 gold medal winning Dutch ladies Olympic Gymnastics Team.
1944(29th of Elul, 5704): Erev Rosh Hashanah 5705
1944: “Russia Fears Reich May Win Soft Peace” published today described “a growing feeling among the Soviets that the Americans and British may take too easy an attitude toward the Germans after the war.”
1944: As the Red Army approached, the Germans started the evacuation of the Bor labor camp. The first Hungarian death march began. Five thousand people would set off, only 9 would survive.
1944(29th of Elul, 5704): Near Verona, Italy, 23-year-old Rita Rosani, the Jewish leader of an Italian partisan group, is killed in a battle with German troops
194510th of Tishrei, 5706) Yom Kippur: Jews fast on the first Yom Kippur after the end of World War II and the Holocaust.
1947: In the past two years, since August 1945, 347 people had been killed in Palestine under British occupation including 169 Englishmen, 88 Jews, 85 Arabs and 5 listed as “unidentified.”
1948(13th of Elul, 5708): Sixty-seven year old Emil Ludwig (born Emil Cohn) the journalist whose work included interviews with Mussolini, Ataturk and Stalin died today in Switzerland.
1948: Acting in a manner that brought shame to the Jewish people, the Stern Gang assassinated Count Folke Bernadotte, who was appointed by the UN to mediate between the Arabs and Jews during the War for Independence. Bernadotte’s position was viewed as pro-Arab and that was the rational offered for this act. Bernadotte was eventually by Ralph Bunche who would win the Nobel Peace Prize for ending the conflict in 1949.
1950: It was learned today The Jordanian Government has asked the United Nations to suspend Security Council action on its complaint against Israel's occupation of a disputed strip of land at the confluence of the Jordan and Yarmuk Rivers.
1950: In a single sentence communiqué issued in New Delhi by the Ministry of External Affairs, India announced that it was recognizing the Government of Israel effective on this date. The Indians made it clear that the recognition should not be seen as a change in its policy supporting the Arabs in their conflicts with the Jewish state. India has no intention of sending a diplomat to take up residence in Israel. The Israelis will not be sending anybody to Delhi because of a lack of funds and trained personnel.
1951: “Negotiations of a new five-point plan aimed at establishing peace between Israel and the Arab states were delayed while Israeli representative awaited their government’s reaction to the plan” which is the handiwork of the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission. Under the terms of the plan, among other things, Israel would pay the 850,000 Arab refugees for the property they had left behind in what is now Israel, funds would be made available to those countries in which the refugees were now living for economic development, borders would drawn “to avoid friction” and “both sides would renounce all warlike methods and ‘respect the rights of neighbors to security.’”
1955(1st of Tishrei, 5716): Rosh Hashanah
1955: Birthdate of comedienne Rita Rudner
1956: U.S. premiere of “Lust for Life” the movie version of the novel by Irving Stone with a script by Norman Corwin starring Kirk Douglas.
1957: In Tel Aviv, American athletes scored two more victories when “Martin Engel tossed the hammer 192 feet” and 41 year old Henry Laskau won the 3,000-meter walk marking the third time he has won the event.
1966: CBS television broadcast the first episode of Bruce Geller’s “Mission Impossible” starring Steven Hill, “the Orthodox Jew who had to leave the set on Fridays at 4 p.m., Barbara Bain and Martin Landau with a theme song by Lalo Schifrin.
1971: U.S. premiere of “Kotch” starring Walter Matthau with music by Marvin Hamlisch.
1972(9th of Tishrei, 5733): Erev Yom Kippur
1972: First episode of “M*A*S*H” appeared on CBS. The hit show was created by Chicago
1974(1stof Tishrei, 5735): Rosh Hashanah
1978: Conclusion of the first Camp David summit talks hosted by President Carter and attended by Begin and Sadat. The Camp David Accords were signed by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin.
1980: In New York
1982(29th of Elul, 5742): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1982(29th of Elul, 5742): Sam H. Toubin, a merchant in Brenham , Texas
1982(29thof Elul, 5742):Ninety year old David Dubinsky, former president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union and an influential labor leader for more than three decades, died today in Manhattan after a long illness.
1983(10thof Tishrei, 5744): Yom Kippur
1983(10thof Tishrei, 5744): Yom Kippur
1984:B'nai Brith Women denounced a B'nai Brith International resolution to begin admitting women to the previously all-male organization. BBW declared full independence from B'nai B'rith in 1995 and changed its name to Jewish Women International. Today, Jewish Women International focuses on three main issues: domestic violence, the emotional well-being of children, and the expression of Jewish life and values. JWI also still supports many of the organizations that it did while a part of B'nai Brith such as Hillel, The B'nai Brith Youth Organization, and the Children's Home and Group House in Jerusalem
1985(2ndof Tishrei, 5746): Second Day of Rosh Hashana
1985(2ndof Tishrei, 5746): Seventy-eight year Fred Polak, the Dutch futurist and author of The Image of the Future, passed away today.
1989: “New Jewish Group Formed for Interfaith Ties” published today described the formation of “the Jewish Council for International Interreligious Relations.”
1993(2nd of Tishrei, 5754): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah celebrated for the first time during the presidency of Bill Clinton
1995: The New York Times book section includes a review of An Obsession With Anne Frank: Meyer Levin and the Diary by Lawrence Graver.
2000: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including No Good-Byesby Elaine Kagan and From Herzl to Rabin: The Changing Image of Zionismby Amnon Rubinstein
2005: “Mayor Thomas Menino proclaimed today Curious George Day in Boston.”
2005: “The Washington Post reported that Judith Miller had received a "parade of prominent government and media officials" during her first 11 weeks in prison” where she was serving time for civil contempt.
2005: Haaretz reported that construction would begin next year on the first synagogue to be built in Estonia since World War II. President Moshe Ktsav will attend the cornerstone laying ceremony which will be held on the 61stanniversary of the murder of 2000 Estonian Jews.
2006: The New York Times Book Section featured a review of The Greatest Story Ever Sold by the Jewish author and columnist Frank Rich. According to the review Rich “examines the ways the Bush administration has blurred the lines between politics and show business.”
2006:The Washington Post Book Section featured a review of Fritz Stern’s The Persistence of Memoir in which “a great historian offers a memoir about a life marked by the shadow of Nazism.” This is not Stern’s first book about Jews and Germany
2006:The Chicago Tribune Book Section included a review of The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million by Daniel Mendelsohn.
2007: Channel 2 Television Station in St. Louis , MO
2007: Publication of The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World by former Federal
Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in which he “describes the Bush administration as so captive to its own political operation that it paid little attention to fiscal discipline, and he described Mr. Bush’s first two Treasury secretaries, Paul O’Neil and John Snow as essentially powerless.” Greenspan also questions the reason for the war against Iraq
2007: Sport Illustrated Magazine features an article entitled “Toasting Toots” a new film that celebrates the life of Toots Shore and “celebrates a sports bar where real athletes hung out.”
2007: U.S. News & World Report featured an article entitled “The ‘Israel Lobby’ Myth” by former U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz in which he debunks the myth of a conspiratorial Israel Lobby that acts in a way that is inimical to the best interests of the United States
2007: The Tenth Annual Israeli Music Celebration opens in Haifa.
2008: James B. Cunnigham presented his credentials as the U.S. Ambassador to Israel.
2008: “City’s Basketball Hall Welcomes 98-Year-Old Inductee” published today described the basketball career of Lou Bender.
2008: Today, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni won Kadima’s leadership primary over Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter and Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit.
2008: At The Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary, Ilan Stavans discusses Resurrecting Hebrewas part of Schocken's "Jewish Encounters" series.
2008:The owner and a former manager of Agriprocessors Inc. and three other employees pleaded not guilty in Allamakee County District Court to charges of 9,311 child labor law violations.
2009:The National Archives hosts a discussion of the new anthology, The Constitution in 2020,with Jack M. Balkin and Reva B. Siegel, both professors at Yale Law School and co-editors of the book, Robert C. Post, dean of the law school, and moderator Linda Greenhouse, a journalist-in-residence and senior fellow in law, in the William G. McGowan Theater
2009:Beer Sheva Theatre presents "A Comedy of Errors," starring Eyal Rosales and Ron Bitterman. This production is set in Havana, the capital of Cuba, where the comic mishaps of this Shakespeare comedy come to life.
2009: “Wolf Blitzer competed on an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy!, finishing the Double Jeopardy round with −$4,600.”
2009: The 92nd Street Y presents “Ron Arad: Dialogues with Design Legends” moderated by Daniella Ohad Smith.
2009: In an article published today entitled “A Soldiers Voice Rediscovered Paul Vitello described the “The first Jewish religious service broadcast from Germany since the advent of Hitler” and the role Private Max Fuchs played in this momentous event.
2009: As of today Barnet Hospital which was named for Nathan Barnet, the mayor of Paterson, NJ, who founded the institution “is at over 90% capacity with tenants that include pharmacists, hospice care, an adult day-care center, a sub-acute rehabilitation center and group practices that provide primary care.
2010: Today, Freedom by Jonthan Franzen was named as the news Oprah’s Book Club Selection.
2010:Russia still intends to go through with an arms deal with Syria including the sale of advance anti-ship rockets, despite recent attempts by Israeli and US officials to thwart the planned deal, Russian Defense Minster Anatoly Serdyukov said today according to state news agency RIA Novosti. The deal includes the sale of advanced P-800 Yakhont supersonic cruise missiles to the Syrian military. Israel considers this weaponry capable of posing a significant threat to its navy vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.[Editor’s Note – It sounds as if somebody needs to write a sequel to Fobats Over Dimona.]
2010(9th of Tishrei, 5771): Erev Yom Kippur
2010(9th of Tishrei, 5771):Joyce Beber, Creator of Ads for Leona Helmsley, passed away today at the age of 80 (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2010: True to his word Jason Marquis of the Washington Nationals pitched erev Yom Kippur retiring “just one batter against the Phillies, giving up six hits and six runs on the way to his ninth loss of the season.”
2010: True to his word Jason Marquis of the Washington Nationals pitched erev Yom Kippur retiring “just one batter against the Phillies, giving up six hits and six runs on the way to his ninth loss of the season.”
2011: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to sponsor its Annual Trivia Night.
2011: The Israeli Folk Dance Rosh Hashanah Marathon is scheduled to take place this evening at Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street in Manhattan.
2011: A ribbon of more than 2,000 cyclists stretched out along Highway 3 on today, as thousands gathered for a memorial ride to mark the week anniversary of the death of two cyclists, Shalom Grossman and Yitzhak Simon, who were hit and killed during a ride on August 13. Organized by the Israeli Cycling Federation, the ride was a protest against unsafe road conditions and a dangerous Israeli driving culture. Simon and Grossman were killed and five other cyclists were injured when an 18-year-old driver fell asleep at the wheel and swerved into a group of cyclists out for a weekly ride on Highway 3 last week. The driver was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol, but said he was simply tired after spending the night with friends in Ashdod.
2011:Taking part in world-renowned artist Spencer Tunick’s “Naked Sea” art installation early this morning of more than 1,000 nude models from ages 20 to 77 in the Dead Sea was both exhilarating and strangely natural. Tunick, who has organized more than 75 similar art installations of crowds of nude people at well-known landmarks around the world, including an installation in Zocalo Square in Mexico City with 18,000 participants, worked for four years to make the Israeli installation a reality.
2012: The Alexandria Kleztet is scheduled to perform this evening at The Jefferson in Arlington, VA.
2012(1stof Tishrei, 5773): Rosh Hashanah (and that says it all)
2012:Some 150,000 people took advantage of the first day of the new Jewish year to visit Israel's parks, forests and nature reserves today, according to the Jewish National Fund and the Nature and Parks Authority.
2013: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to sponsor a program of “Israeli Dance,” that incorporates Jewish and Israeli culture through choreographed dances set to modern Israeli music.”
2013: Genealogist Sharon Hodges is scheduled to present the first session of “Coming to America in the Early 1900’s: The Immigrant Experience: at the JCC of Northern Virginia.
2013: The Botticelli’s fresco “The Annunciation of San Martino alla Scala” is scheduled to go on display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem
2013: The United States said today an Arab push to single out Israel for criticism over its assumed nuclear arsenal would hurt diplomatic efforts to ban weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East.
2013: The IDF announced today that by the end of next month, it would stop deploying soldiers to protect 22 border communities along the Lebanese and the Gaza-Sinai borders. However, the decision would not affect West Bank settlements, which fall under the Central Command’s jurisdiction, Israel Radio reported. (As reported by Michal Smulovich)
/2014: “The World Knew: Jan Karski’s Mission for Human” an “exhibition that illustrates his mission of courage during WW II and his subsequent life” is scheduled to open at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
2014: The Hebrew Language Table (LCPA) is one of the cosponsors of today’s scheduled screening of “The Trials” with Director Martin Smok.
2014(22ndof Elul): Yarhrzeit Joseph B. Levin, husband of Deborah Levin z”tzl, father of Judy z”tzl, Mitchell and David without whom literally, this blog would never exist and who prophetically told me that someday somebody would pay me write “a simple declarative sentence.”