September 25
275: Marcus Claudius Tacitus appointed Roman emperor by the senate. By now the Roman Empire was in decline and Emperor’s served at the pleasure of the Army. In the case of Tacitus, that meant a mere six months. One of the Emperor’s greatest claims to fame was his relationship to the Tacitus, the famous first century Roman historian. When it came to writing about the Jews, Tacitus (the historian) was not bothered by the facts. He helped to propagate the claim that the ancient Israelites were a group of plague-infested Egyptians who were driven into the desert to die. In his Histories sounded themes that would be the staple of anti-Semites for the next two thousand years. Jewish customs were vile and disgusting. The vileness of their customs were actually the source of their strength. Jews were compassionate and honest when dealing within their own community, but have nothing but contempt for the rest of mankind. He did not see them as a political threat, but saw them as a corrupting influence that would undermine the moral fiber of the empire. For this reason he advocated that they become as far from the imperial capital as possible.
1253: Innocent IV re-confirms “Sicut Judaeis Non” a Papal Bull first issued by Calixtus II in 1120 “designed to provide protection for Jews from assaults by Crusaders” as they crossed Europe on their way to the Holy Land. (I cannot determine if the bull applied to the Jews in Jerusalem who slaughtered by the Christian Noble Knights)
1354: The Jewish communities of Catalonia and Valencia adopted statutes today that made “extermination of informers a public duty” in which “everyone was required to participate to the fullest measure. A similar statute was adopted by the Jews of Majorca. The informer of “moser” was constituted to be the lowest form of life among Jews, which, according to the Jewish Encyclopedia, the Talmud equated the serpent.
1396: Ottoman Emperor Bayezid I defeats a Christian army at the Battle of Nicopolis. The Battle of Nicopolis is referred to as the Last Crusade. The clash was between the Moslem Ottomans and a alliance of Hungarian and French knights. This French connection is ironic considering other events taking place at that time. In 1394, two years before this climatic fight, “Sultan Yildirim Bayezid invited the French Jews who were molested by King Charles VI, to the Ottoman Empire . They were settled in Edirne
1506: Charles V began his reign as Lord of the Netherlands. In 1522, Charles issued a proclamation against Christians who were suspected of being lax in the faith and against Jews who had not been baptized in Gelderland and Utrecht; and he repeated these edicts in 1545 and 1549.
1534: Pope Clement VII passed away. At the time of his death Pope Clement was attempting to free 1200 Marranos that he felt had been unjustly imprisoned by the Inquisitions in Portugal
1669: Events began today that would result in another blood libel in Germany. In the village of Glatigny, near Metz, Whilhelmina, the wife of Giles Lemoine, lost track of her three year old son Didier while she was doing laundry at the fountain in the village square. A search by the villagers proved fruitless. Then Daniel Payer told the searchers he had seen “a Hebrew with a heavy bear mounted on a white horse hurrying toward Metz and carrying in his arms a child about three years old.” The searchers then headed to Metz where they were told by a man who lived near the city gate that he had seen a Hebrew enter the city but he did not have a child. It was finally deduced that the man in question was Raphael Levi, a Jew living in Boulai, a village near Metz. A warrant was then sworn out for his arrest. [see tomorrow’s blog for the next installment of this unfolding tragedy]
1694: Birthdate Henry Pelham who while serving as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom would oversee the passage of the Jew Act of 1753, which allowed Jews to become naturalized by application to Parliament.
1739(22ndof Elul, 5499):Marcus Mordechai Mozes Drukker passed away in Amsterdam.
1740: Nathan Levy who had applied for a plot of ground to be used as a place of burial for his family in 1738 obtained this grant today, and the plot was thenceforth known as the "Jews' burying-ground"; it was the first Jewish cemetery in the city, and was situated in Spruce street near Ninth street; it has been the property of the Congregation Mickvé Israel for more than a century. Levy, who was born in 1704 and died in 1753, was one of the first Jews to live in Philadelphia.
1775(1stof Tishrei, 5536): Rosh Hashanah is celebrated for the first time after the firing of "the shot heard 'round the world"
1779(15thof Tishrei, 5540): Sukkoth
1789: The establishment of religion on a national level was expressly prohibited in the U.S. with the adoption of the First Amendment, the opening words of which read: 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.' This line from the Bill of Rights gave de jure recognition to a concept that has made the American experience different for the Jews than anything else that they had encountered during their centuries of living in the Diaspora. There would be examples of discrimination against Jews in the United States
1794(1st of Tishrei, 5555): As they observe Rosh Hashanah, French Jews can join their countrymen in a sense of a safety following the execution of Maximilien Robespierre and the end of the Reign of Terror
1798(15th of Tishrei, 5559): As Jews begin the observance of Sukkoth, the festival of thanksgiving, English Jews are thankful; for the victory that Lord Nelson has given them at the Battle of the Nile, while French Jews are thankful for Napoleon’s victories in Egypt
1812: Birthdate of Karl Biedermann, the liberal German politician who was an advocate for Jewish emancipation.
1813(1st of Tishrei, 5574): As the American War with Britain grinds into a second year Jews on both sides observe Rosh Hashanah
1817(15th of Tishrei, 5578): Sukkoth
1820(17th of Tishrei, 5581): Sukkoth Chol Had Moed
1820(17th of Tishrei, 5581):Bezalel ben Joel Ronsburg who served as a rabbi, dayan and rosh yeshiva in Prague who counted Zacharias Frankel as one of his pupils passed away today.
1832(1st of Tishrei, 5593): As English Jews observe Rosh Hashanah most of them are pleased with the recent passage of the Reform Act which created a Parliament more reflective of the changes in British society, but saddened because it did not deal with the issue of Jewish Disabilities.
1832:Jews living in Sydney, Australia gathered at Mr. Rowell's shop on George Street which had been fitted out as synagogue to hold Rosh Hashanah services.
1841(10th of Tishrei, 5602): Yom Kippur
1843(1st of Tishrei, 5604): Rosh Hashanah
1847(15th of Tishrei, 5608): Sukkoth
1860(9th of Tishrei, 5621): Erev Yom Kippur
1860: Representatives of the Hebrew Benevolent were among those attending the meeting of the National Emigrant Benevolent Association which was held this afternoon at the rooms of the German Society.
1861(21st of Tishrei, 5622): Hoshana Rabah
1861:At their meeting this evening, the Board of Alderman in New York adopted the report of the Finance Committee which included a recommendation that $30,000 should be given to the Hebrew Benevolent Society for the erection of a hospital.
1862(1st of Tishrei, 5623): Rosh Hashanah
1862: As the Jews of Louisville, KY, including members of the Brandeis and Dembitz families, observed the Jewish New Year, Union forces led by General Don Carlos Buell began moving into the city. They were part of an army that was moving to stop the advance of Confederate forces under Braxton Bragg. Ultimately Bragg’s “invasion” of Kentucky and Ohio would fail driving another nail in the Confederate’s coffin.
1863: Birthdate of Dr. Moses Hyamson, Senior Dayan or Chief Judge of the Ecclesiastical Court of the United Synagogue of London who would become the rival candidate for the office of Chief Rabbi of Great Britain to which Rabbi Joseph H. Hertz would be chosen. After losing out to Hertz, Hyamson would be named Rabbi of Congregation Orach Chaim in New York Great Britain
1864:“The Jewish Synagogue erected for the congregation, Aderath Eb, was dedicated” this afternoon. “The edifice is situated in Twenty-ninth-street, between Lexington and Third-avenues, built of brick, and capable of accommodating about fire hundred people. The interior fittings are neat and handsome, without being gaudy. The services …were the customary dedication exercises, according to the Hebrew ritual. The sacred scrolls of the law were carried in procession three times around the Synagogue, and the perpetual lamp lighted in front of the arch while the Chazan and the choir chanted the Psalms of David.” Rabbi Morris Raphall and Rabbi Samuel M. Isaacs addressed the congregation. Captain Burdick “and a squad of the Twenty-first Precinct Police, rendered efficient aid in preserving order at the door and keeping out unbidden guests.”
1864:According to an article published today entitled, The Last Copperhead Plot and How it Miscarried, one of the plotters was a Jew named Rosenthal who had settled as a clothing dealer in Sandusky, Ohio about two years ago. He claimed to have been driven out of Richmond for Union sentiments but he is known to be an outspoken Copperhead.
1871(10th of Tishrei, 5632): Yom Kippur
1871: It was reported today that a bill has been introduced in the French Parliament to take away the rights of citizenship granted to the Jews born in Algeria. The proposal was made in response to Moslem uprising in Algeria. A Jewish delegation that included the Chief Rabbi, Albert Cohn and Joseph Cohen testified before the committee that is reviewing the proposal.
1874: As the dispute over the management of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum escalated, Raphael Lewin, the editor of New Era wrote to the New York Times challenging the recently published resolution adopted by the Directors of that institution. The directors claimed that Lewin’s claims of mismanagement which were to appear in his magazine were false and brought with malicious intent. Lewin responded that he stood ready to prove his charges “and the purity of” his “motives” in publishing them.
1874(14th of Tishrei, 5635): Erev Sukkoth and Erev Shabbat are celebrated on the same evening.
1874: Rabbi Isaacs led Sukkoth eve festivals at the 44thStreet Synagogue in New York City.
1874: At Temple Emanuel the prominent Reform congregation on 5thAvenue, a larger than usual crowd attended services which were augmented by the singing of a Choir.
1879: A fire destroyed the business on Main Street in Deadwood, SD including “the wooden huts and muddy streets where the first Jewish inhabitants conducted their business.” The Jewish population had grown to over a hundred during the gold rush that enveloped the area. Reportedly “about one-third of all the early buildings on Main Street were owned or occupied by Jewish merchants. These were mostly traditional Jewish enterprises such as dry goods or those related to clothing.” The fire was probably not a case of anti-Semitic arson. Although no report exists as to the origin of the fire, such outbreaks were a common occurrence in the United States (see Chicago Fire, San Francisco Fire) at a time when there were no building codes and most buildings were wooden.
1881(2nd of Tishrei, 5642): 2nd day of Rosh Hashanah
1881: Samuel Greenbaum presided over tonight’s memorials service hosted by the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in honor of the late President Garfield.
1881: “Echoes From Beyond the Sea” published today described events in Europe and Asia Minor including renewed application by English and German Jews made to the Turkish government for the purchase of land in Syria. Jews would then “emigrate from European countries where life is intolerable” helped along by the construction of roads and railways financed by wealthy Jews living on the Continent and England.
1884: In Philadelphia, David Longsdorf objected to the newspaper reports that treated the marriage of his friend Henry Friedman to Sarah Schuer in the same way as they did the elopement of Victoria Morsini. Friedman, whose father had helped form the Cameron Dragoons which fought with distinction during the Civil War and his bride had known each other for quite some time. The two Reform Jews did elope but were married under a Chupah by Dr. Silberman, an Orthodox rabbi in the presence of a minyan
1885: Congregation B’Nai Jehsurun brought suit today in District Court against the estate of the late Joseph Levy for the amount of $100 - $75 for the religious services including the cost of “watchers” and $25.00 for the grave. Marcus Cohen, president of the congregation, testified that normally the charge is $300 but due to the circumstances of the death, the charges were reduced.
1886: Vanity Fair published a “picture” of Sir John Simon, the Jamaican born Jewish Member of Parliament who spent the last twenty years of his life working to ameliorate the conditions of the Jews of Russia.
1886: “Jew And Catholic” published today reported that the marriage of David Bretzfelder, a 28 year old Jewish letter carrier and Kittie Cannon, a young Roman Catholic has caused a great deal of discussion today in New Haven, Connecticut since it is “the first of its kind that ever took place in this city.”
1886: According to a summary of the annual report of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York published today, “four hundred and fifteen children are now cared for by the society, and its finances are in good condition, although further donations are need to meet the increasing demands of the institution.”
1889(29th of Elul, 5649): Erev Rosh Hashana
1889: In its appeal for funds published today, the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York reported that since opening is doors it has cared for 1,428 children, 560 of whom are currently receiving services.
1889: The Jews of San Diego, California, gathered at Second and Beech Street to greet the Jewish New Year of 5650 and pray in their own house of worship.
1890: It was reported today that “during the last fifteen years” Broadway has become “the principal highway of Jewish mercantile enterprise in America” as can be seen by the fact that business signs have given way to primarily “Hebrew names.”
1891: “Joseph Barondess, the ex-leader of the Cloak-makers’ Union disappeared today while out on bail during his appeal of a conviction for extorting money from the cloak manufacturers.
1891: “The issue of the American Hebrew published today contained a letter from Baron de Hirsch…which shows that he has by no means abandoned the plan of colonizing Russian Jewish refugees in the Argentine.”
1893(15TH of Tishrei, 5654): Sukkoth
1893 During the outbreak of Cholera in Italy, the Chief Rabbi of Leghorn ordered the grand synagogue be closed as a precautionary measure.
1893: It was reported today that “the anti-Semites represented by Dr. Forester and Rector Ahlwardt have developed a parliamentary program” which will put an end to Jews immigrating to Germany. They also seek to “prohibit Jews from owning land” and not to allow “Jews to enteral the medical, legal, editorial or military professions.
1894: “Jews Persecuted In Morocco” published today described the five pound tax they must pay “for passing along the principals highways” and the beatings and plundering to which they are regularly subjected.
1894: In Ireland, Lithuanian-Jewish immigrants Abraham William Briscoe and Ida Yoedicke gave birth to Robert "Bob" Briscoe who was a member of the IRA and Sinn Féin.
1895: It was reported today that the Hebrew Mutual Benevolent Society has paid $2,000 in foreclosure to acquire the property on the west side of Hoffman Street, south of 187th Street.
1895:In Lancaster, PA, Degel Israel an orthodox congregation was formed with about fifty members.
1896: “Olympia Theater Opened” published today described the premiere of Oscar Hammerstein’s new operetta “Santa Maria” the performance of which the critic described as “excellent.”
1897: Birthdate of American author William Faulkner. Faulkner’s works were dotted with Jewish characters starting with a Jewish salesman in “Soldier’s Pay,” his first written novel published in 1926 to Barton Kohl, a Jewish pilot in “The Mansion,” published in 1959. Faulkner’s treatment of Jewish characters changed over time. Alfred J. Kutzik reportedly published one of the definitive articles on anti-Semitism in Faulkner’s early works. For more on this topic, consult “Creative Awakening: The Jewish Presence in 20th Century American Literature” by Louis Harap.
1897: Jacob Aaron Cantor, a successful lawyer and New York political leader, married Lydia Greenbaum. His first wife had passed away 8 years earlier. The couple had three children.
1897: “The Essenes Still Exist” published today described a revelation made by Halevy at the Oriental Congress in which told the attendees about the existence of Abyssinian Jews where part of the same sect of Essenes who had lived at the time of Jews. Numbering about 200,000 they are so strict in their observances that no water could be drawn on the Sabbath.
1897: It was reported today that Dr. Isidore Singer is preparing the Encyclopedia of the History and of the Intellectual Development of the Jewish Race “which will present in alphabetical order the most important publications which have appeared in all times relative to the Jews” and will follow :the format of the Encyclopedia Britannica.
1898(9th of Tishrei, 5659): Erev Yom Kippur
1898: As Jews prepared to observe Yom Kippur beginning this evening, Dr. Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El said of fasting and attending worship services, “It is matter of individual feeling and conscience.”
1898: Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler delivered a sermon to the congregants of Temple Beth El entitled “His Song Is With Me At Night” in which “he contended that religion was the song of God in the night of human selfishness and error.”
1898: On the lower east side a mob of angry Jews gathered in front of Herrick Brothers, the restaurant that advertised it would be open for Yom Kippur in the Forwards in an attempt to shut it down because it was a desecration of the holiday.
1898: “Primitive Christianity” published today provides W.S. Lilly’s view of the early Christians who “were not as yet manifested to world as a Church” but were “a Jewish sect, practicing all the requirements of the Jewish law and nourishing their religious life from the Jews sacred books.
1899:In order to continue "Die Welt", a syndicate in the form of a joint-stock company is founded by the Actions Committee.
1899: “What Anti-Semitism Has Cost France” published today described the negative impact that the Jew-baiters Regis, Drumont and their supports have had on the economy of Algiers. In 1898 there were 83 bankruptcies which has risen to 105 so far this year while the wealthy English and Americans are no longer renting expensive villas.
1900: In New York Temple Trustees
1901: The funeral of Simon Sterne, the noted attorney and “authority on railroad and constitutional law” will take place this morning at 40 W. 59th Street followed by burial in the Salem Fields Cemetery.
1903(4th of Tishrei, 5664): Sixty-nine year old Kilian von Steiner the German-Jewish banker, industrialist and patron of the arts who was ennobled by King William of Wurttenberg passed away today.
1903: Birthdate of Mark Rothko. Rothko was a painter who is often classified as an abstract expressionist, although he vociferously denied being an abstract painter. He was born Marcus Rothkowitz in Daugavpils (Dvinsk), Russia (now Latvia) and emigrated to the United States in 1916.His work concentrated on basic emotions, often filling the canvas with very few, but intense colors, using little immediately-apparent detail. In this respect, he can also be considered to presage the color field painters (see Helen Frankenthaler).Although respected by other artists, Rothko remained in relative obscurity until 1960, supporting himself by teaching art. In 1958, Rothko was commissioned by architect Philip Johnson to paint a series of murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building in New York. This substantial project was completed in late 1959. Ultimately, Rothko was not happy having his paintings as the backdrop to gourmet dining so he gave a set of nine of the maroon and black works to the Tate Gallery, where they are on permanent display in an installation designed by Rothko. In 1967, Rothko again collaborated with Johnson on a church in Houston, Texas, contributing 14 related works in an installation setting. The church has subsequently become known as "The Rothko Chapel". Numerous other works are scattered in museums throughout the world. Rothko's work was secretly supported by the CIA which considered it "free enterprise painting". After a long struggle with depression, Rothko committed suicide by cutting his wrists in his New York studio on February 25, 1970 . After his death, his son edited and released Rothko's novel, An Artist's Reality, which was incomplete at the time of his death, despite decades of work. Following his death the settlement of the Rothko estate became the subject of a famous court case.
1905: Birthdate of Professor Nahman Avigad Israeli archeologist famed for his work at Masada, on the Dead Sea Scrolls, and most important of all the excavation of the Old City starting in 1969. Among his discovries were the great menorah from the Second Temple and the Broad Wall mentioned in the Book of Nehemiah. He passed away in 1992.
1905: Pitcher Moxie Manuel made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.
1905: Fifty-two year old Jacques Marie Eugène Godefroy Cavaignac who while serving as Minister of War refused to join his colleagues in a move to overturn the conviction of Dreyfus even though he knew that the document used to convict him was a forgery, passed away today.
1906: In Philadelphia New York
1909(10thof Tishrei, 5670): Yom Kippur
1909: Four new Jewish schools were reported to have opened in Turkey
1912: Columbia University Graduate School New York
1913: Charlie Chaplin signed his first movie contract for $175. Within three years he would be making $10,000 a week at Amutual Studios. The Little Tramp was no bum.
1914: “Appeal to Jews for Aid” published today described the suffering of the Jews of Austria and their belief that Austro-Hungarian Empire was fighting to protect the rights and improve the lot of the Russian Jews suffering under the rule of the Czar.
1915(17thof Tishrei, 5676): Chol Ha Moed Sukkoth
1915(17thof Tishrei, 5676):2nd Lt Bernard Russell Abinger, the cousin of Midshipman Vivian George Edward S. Schreiber who had been killed while serving aboard HMS Monmouth lost his life while serving with His Majesty’s forces on the Western Front.
1915: Opening of the Battle of Loos, the massive British assault on the Western Front.
1917(9th of Tishrei, 5678): Erev Yom Kippur
1917: At noon today, U.S. soldiers and sailors begin furloughs granted so that they can observe Yom Kippur.
1918: In WW I, “Australian and New Zealand cavalrymen crossed the Jordan River and entered Amman.” From the Mediterranean to the Jordan, Eretz Israel was now under the control of the British who had promised that this would be site of the Jewish home after the end of hostilities.
1919(1stof Tishrei, 5680): Rosh Hashanah is celebrated for the first time after the end of Great War.
1919: President Wilson suffers a stroke and collapses after a giving a speech calling for the ratification of the Treaty of Versailles. Wilson League of Nations . Republicans led by Senator Lodge opposed the treaty and had the votes to block passage. Wilson Wilson United States League of Nations which rendered the international body virtually powerless even before it held its first meeting. Wilson Wilson Wilson
1920 (13th of Tishrei, 5681): On Shabbat, Jacob H. Schiff, banker and philanthropist passed away.
1923(15th of Tishrei, 5684): Sukkoth
1927: Stephen W. Wise is scheduled to officiate at the funeral services for Rabbi Rudolph Grossman being held at the West End Synagogue.
1929: Birthdate of Irving Louis Horowitz, the Rutgers professor who was “an eminent sociologist and prolific author.” (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1926: Birthdate of Mel Mermelstein a Hungarian-born Jew who was the sole-survivor of his family's extermination at Auschwitz. He defeated the I.H.R. in an American court and had the occurrence of gassings in Auschwitz during the Holocaust declared a legally incontestable fact.
1928: Birthdate of Robert Zuckerkandle, who gained fame and fortune as Robert Chandler, the CBS executive who played a crucial role in creating the highly rated and critically acclaimed weekly newsmagazine “60 Minutes,”
1930: Birthdate of humorist and author Shel Silverstein. His works covered a broad range of topics and interests. They ranged from the children's book The Giving Tree to the country hit "A Boy Named Sue."
1931: Birthdate of broadcaster Barbara Walters.
1932: Birthdate of Canadian concert pianist, Glen Gould. Russia America Canada
1933: Rabbi Simcha Solovetchick, who studied under Rabbi Israel Meir HaCohen Kagan, the Chofetz Chaim, helped to lead the memorial services for his mentor which were held at Synagogue Tifereth Israel in Brooklyn.
1936(10th of Tishrei, 5697): Yom Kippur
1936: The Maccabee soccer team of Palestine has gone through its final drill at Yankee Stadium in preparation for its match with the All Stars which will be played in the House that Ruth Built.
1938(29thof Elul, 5698): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1938: In the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, Abe Hoffman whose family lived behind their store at 2309 East Fourth Street was born at Lincoln Hospital
1938: At seven o’clock in the morning Levi Yitzchok Bender “out to Rebbe Nachman's gravesite for a few minutes to recite the Tikkun HaKlali (the "General Remedy" which is customarily recited at the gravesite). He was spotted by another Jewish man known to be a government informer. Bender pleaded with the man not to report him, but as he walked back to his friend's house, he noticed the informer following him. Since he was familiar with all the back roads of Uman, he managed to shake him off his trail.
1939(12th of Tishrei, 5700): Harold U. Hirsch who played football at the University of Georgia from 1900 to 1901, studied law at Columbia University and was the general counsel for The Coca-Cola Company for more than thirty years passed away today. According to some Hirsch was instrumental in the development of the unique shape of the Coca-Cola bottle and the logo in 1913. In 1932, a new building was completed for the University Of Georgia School Of Law, a building named Harold Hirsch Hall in honor of Hirsch.
1940(22ndof Elul, 5700): Forty-eight year old Walter Benjamin killed himself with “an overdose of morphine tablets” tonight as he awaited repatriation to France where he would be turned over to the Nazis.
1941: In Kovno, the Germans gave the Jewish Council 5,000 work passes, placing upon them the burden of choosing who shall work and live, and who shall die.
1942: While sailing from Newfoundland to the United Kingdom the SS President Warfield was attacked by a German submarine 800 miles west of Ireland. The ship evaded the torpedoes and made it safely to port. The SS SS President Warfield would gain fame in 1947 as the SS Exodus.
1942(14th of Tishrei, 5703): Erev Sukkoth
1942(14th of Tishrei, 5703): Four hundred eighty-one French Jews, including Rene' Blum, the brother of the former French Prime Minister were killed in Birkenau.
1942: Despite growing resistance, 2,000 Jews from Kaluszyn were sent to be killed at Treblinka. Kaluszyn was a predominantly Jewish town in Poland Warsaw
1942: Two thousand more Jews were deported from the "show ghetto" at Theresienstadt.
1942: Learning about the impending liquidation of their ghetto, some Jews of Korets, Ukraine sought refuge in the woods while others resist by setting the ghetto ablaze. Resistance is led by Moshe Gildenman.
1942: Swiss police decree that race alone does not guarantee refugee status, thus preventing Jews from crossing the Swiss border to safety.
1942: Seven hundred Romanian Jews, interned at Drancy Auschwitz .
1942(14th of Tishrei, 5703): Abraham Gamzu, chairman of the Jewish Council at Kaluszyn, Poland, is executed after refusing to deliver Jews for deportation. Six thousand of the town's residents are deported to the Treblinka death camp and later killed.
1942: Lian Berkowitz, a member of the anti-Nazi Red Orchestra was arrested and formally charged today in Berlin.
1942(14th of Tishrei, 5703): 475 French Jews are gassed at Auschwitz. One of the victims is ballet director René Blum, the brother of former French Prime Minister Léon Blum.
1942: The SS Warfield, an American coastal ship that had been “lent” to the British avoided being sunk during a U-boat torpedo attack as steamed towards the British Isles. The SS Warfield would enter historyfive years later as the SS Exodus.
1943: The Chief Rabbi of Athens Thessaly where he promoted the Greek partisans, saving some 600 Jews by smuggling them across the Aegean to Turkey Palestine
1943: After two days of selections, only 2,000 out of 10,000 Jews remained in the Vilna Ghetto. They were placed in local labor camps.
1944: BirthdateEugenia Zukerman, the multitalented flutist, author, and journalist.Zukerman was born in Cambridge , Massachusetts Julliard School North America , Europe , and Asia . Since 1998, Zukerman has served as Artistic Director of the international Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado's Rocky Mountains. Zukerman's talent and career cannot be condensed into one area, however. In addition to her musical achievements, Zukerman is an author of two novels and several screenplays, and is also a journalist, reporting as the arts correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning since 1980.
1945: A parade was held at Bergen-Belsen in the British zone of occupied German marking the first Congress for Survivors.
1948:As Dmitri Shostakovich celebrates his birthday today while awaiting arrest by the Soviet secret police, he listens to a performance of “From Jewish Folk Poetry,” a medley of tunes which he had written as sign of solidarity with the Jewish artists being persecuted by Stalin.
1949(2ndof Tishrei, 5710): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1951: New York’s Mayor Impellitteri left Rome today aboard an Israeli government plane which was flying him to Tel Aviv.
1956: A Jordanian patrol crossed the border into Israel and opened fire on a group of women picking olives near the village of Aminadav killing Zohara Umri, an immigrant from Yemen.
1956: The Israeli Cabinet discussed a reprisal mission for the terrorist attacks. Ben-Gurion called for a “vigorous” response in the upcoming night time attack.
1959: Shaaray Tefila dedicated its new sanctuary on the corner of East 79thStreet and Second Avenue.
1959: A summit meeting between Eisenhower and Khrushchev during which the treatment of Soviet Jews is to be one of the topics opens today at Camp David, MD.
1961: Premiere of “The Hustler,” the dark film starring Paul Newman, produced and directed by Robert Rossen for which Eugen Schüfftan won the 1962 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White.
1965: After 220 performances “Do I Hear a Waltz?” a musical with a book by Arthur Laurents, music by Richard Rodgers, and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim closed its initial Broadway run at the 46th Street Theatre.
1967: Following the Six Days War, Kfar Etzion was reestablished by the children of the original settlers. The Kibbutz was destroyed and its defenders (including women) massacred after surrendering in May 1948 during the War for Independence
1967: Birthdate of Noreena Hertz, the daughter of “feminist activist Leah Hertz” and the “great-granddaughter Rabbi Joseph Hertz who The Observer dubbed as “one of the world’s leading young thinkers” and Vogue described as “one of the most inspiring women in the world.”
1970: The PLFP released the Jewish and Israeli hostages it had been holding since the so-called Dawson Field Hijackings. The PLFP had previously released the other hostages on September 11.
1970 (24th of Elul, 5730): Ninety year old Estelle Liebling famed soprano and a member of a prominent Jewish musical family passed away today.
1970 (24th of Elul, 5730): Erich Paul Remarkpassed away at the age of 72. Using the pseudonym of Erich Maria Remarque he gained fame as the German author of “All Quiet on the Western Front.” Writing from his experiences as a German soldier in World War I, Remarque wrote a novel about the folly of war. The novel was later turned into a Hollywood hit movie. The Nazis disapproved of the book and banned and burned copies of it. For the Nazis it was not enough to brand Remarque, a Catholic, as a pacifist. They created the myth that he was a Jew named Kramer and even worse, the Kramers had originally been French Jews. What is worse than being a Jew? Not being a Jew but being branded as one.
1972:“A National Conference on Soviet Jewry National Assembly was convened at B’nai B’rith headquarters in Washington, DC.”
1973: King Hussein of Jordan secretly flew to Tel Aviv to warn Prime Minister of an impending attack by the Syrians. The king said he thought, but was not entirely sure, that the Syrians would not being contemplating this unless the Egyptians were going to attack as well. Mrs. Meir and her advisors including the Defense minister ignored the warnings.
1976(1stof Tishrei, 5737): Last observance of Rosh Hashanah under President Ford.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet was expected to accept a new American plan for the reconvening of the Geneva Peace Conference.
1980(15thof Tishrei, 5741): Sukkoth is observed for the last time under President Carter.
1980: Leonard Bernstein conducts the premiere performance of Divertimento for Orchestra.
1980(15thof Tishrei, 5741): Ninety-year old labor organizer and early champion for the rights of working women Rose Finkelstein Norwood passed away today.
1982: “Peace Now held a mass protest in Tel Aviv in order to pressure the government to establish a national inquiry commission to investigate the massacres, as well as calling for the resignation of the Defense Minister Ariel Sharon.”
1985(10th of Tishrei, 5746): Yom Kippur
1985: PLO terrorists from Force 17 “hijacked an Israeli yacht off the coast of Larnaca, Cyprus” and murdered the three Israelis on board in cold blood.
1986: Third season of “The Cosby Show” co-created by Ed Weinberger began tonight.
1993(10thof Tishrei, 5754): Yom Kippur is observed for the first time under President Clinton.
1995(1st of Tishrei, 5756): Rosh Hashanah
1995:In Atlanta, GA,Dr. Stan Fineman, his head and shoulders draped with a traditional prayer shawl, will raise a shofar to his lips and join with millions of other Jews around the world today in carrying out a tradition that has been used to usher in the Jewish New Year since biblical days.
1995: Barton Gellman reported today on an agreement that would “extend self-rule to more than 1 million Palestinians.
1997:José Joaquín Bautista Arias, the Dominican born right handed pitcher with the Israeli wife, pitched his final major league baseball game for the St. Louis Cardinals.
1997: NBC broadcast “Veronica’s Closet” a sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman for the first time.
1998: In Cincinnati, Ohio, Sabrina and Todd Thalbum give birth to their daughter Gabriella Elizabeth (Gavriella Elisheva) Thalblum
1999(15thof Tishrei, 5760): Sukkoth is celebrated for the last time in the 20thcentury.
2003(28th of Elul, 5763):Franco Modigliani, winner of the 1985 Nobel Prize for Economics, passed away. In 1939, Modigliani was forced to flee from his native Italy
2004(10thof Tishrei, 5765): Yom Kippur takes on a special solemnity as the thoughts of Jews turn to those fighting and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq
2005: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest includingThe Marchby E. L. Doctorow and The Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America by Jonathan Kozol.
2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that a research grant of $5.6 million in the field of bio-defense has been awarded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), to a Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher for the development of a broadly effective drug against a family of toxins called super antigens.
2005 (21st of Elul, 5765): Jewish psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, founder of Head Start, passes away.
2006(3rd of Tishrei, 5767):Tzom Gedaliah
2007: In Washington, D.C., Bloomingdale’s under the leadership of CEO Michael Gould holds a private reception for “local officials and other bigwigs” prior to the public opening of its new store in the Friendship Heights neighborhood. Of the store and its opening Gould said, “We have a lot of faith in this community. This is our best foot forward in Washington Boston
2007: Yuval Baruch, an achaeologist with the Israeli Antiquities Authority, announced the discovery of a quarry compound which provided King Herod with the stones to renovate the second Temple. It houses the Temple Mount Coins, pottery and iron stake found proved the date of the quarrying to be about 19 BC. Archaeologist Ehud Netzer confirmed that the large outlines of the stone cuts is evidence that it was a massive public project worked on by hundreds of slaves.
2007: Jerome “McDonnell hosted John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt to discuss their controversial book The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy on Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ (91.5
2007: The Jewish Film Festival in Dallas, TX comes to a close.
2007: Eighty-year old Brigadier General Felix Sparks “an American military commander who led the 3rd Battalion of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division of the United States Army, the first Allied force to enter Dachau concentration camp and liberate its prisoners” passed away today.
2008: Yehuda Amital officially announced his retirement in the yeshiva, to take effect on the last day of the Jewish month of Tishrei, in the year 5769 (October 28, 2008). He also announced that Mosheh Lichtenstein, the son of his co-Rosh Yeshiva Aharon Lichtenstein, would assume the position as the fourth Rosh Yeshiva on that same day.
2008: Ryan Braun hit his first grand slam home run.
2008: In Montreal, demolition began on Bens De Luxe Delicatessen and Restaurant, a culinary institution opened by Ben and Fanny Kravitz in 1908.
2008: Paul McCartney appears in concert in Tel Aviv “43 years after being banned by the Israeli government.” At the time, Yaakov Sarid, the Education Ministry’s director was blamed for the cancellation. According to Sarid’s son, the concert was cancelled because of a dispute between two Israeli concert promoters, Yaakov Uri and Giora Godik.
2008: At Columbia University’sInstitute for Israel and Jewish Studies, The Sylvia and Joseph Radov Lectures present Amos Oz the renowned Israeli author, Agnon Professor of Hebrew Literature at Ben-Gurion University whose topic for the evening is entitled “Between Israel and Palestine “
2008:Students and visitors at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem will be able to look at the stars through Albert Einstein's long lost telescope starting this evening. University officials said it had been completed renovated after being retrieved from a storage shed. The legendary physicist who theorized the famous relations among energy, speed and mass received the telescope in 1954, the year before he died.
2008:Natural population growth in Israel that was partially canceled out by negative growth in the Diaspora resulted in a net increase in the past year of 70,000 Jews, according to data released today by the Jewish Agency ahead of Rosh Hashana. There are 13.3 million people around the world who define themselves as Jewish and who do not belong to any other faith.
2009: In New Orleans, Touro Synagogue celebrates Shabbat Shuvah with services and a Friday night dinner.
2009: In Jerusalem, Boris and Friends and the Klezmerim appear at the Alrov Mamilla Avenue amphitheater.
2009: Mark Landler provides background about Michael Oren in “Israel Ambassador Draws on American Roots”
2009: The Guggenheim presents “It Came from Brooklyn” a multi-dimensional cultural event that features cellist Yoed Nir and readings from Rivka Galchen.
2009:An Israeli airstrike to night killed three members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement who were on their way to fire rockets into Israel.
2009:Ehud Olmert, the former prime minister of Israel, appeared in court today for the opening of his trial on charges of corruption, a spectacle that could mark a new low in the annals of Israeli public life.
2010:Ed Miliband and David Miliband are two of the Laborite MP’s who are awaiting today’s announcement as to who would be the party’s new leader.
2010(17th of Tishrei, 5771): Shabbat Chol Ha-Moed Sukkoth.
2010: This evening the DC young professional Jewish community is scheduled to lead a tour of DC’s finest sukkahs where they will visit three locations with unique themes: Etrogs & Eggrolls, Lulavs & Leis, and Starlight & Sweets with each location featuring unique food and drinks.
2010:Former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s surprising words of support for Israel’s right to exist and empathy with the tragedies of Jewish history elicited warm words from Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and a letter of thanks from President Shimon Peres. Castro, in a recent interview with The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg, said Israel “without a doubt” has the right to exist, and criticized Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his Holocaust denial, saying Iran should understand the consequences of theological anti-Semitism.
2011(26thof Elul, 5771): One hundred-nine year old psychologist and broadcast personality Helen Faith Keane Reichert, passed away today.
2011: Wolf “Blitzer was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the University of Hartford.”
2011:Israel Police confirmed today that the road accident that killed a man and his infant son near Kiryat Arba on Friday may have occurred after a rock was thrown at their vehicle. Police investigating the death of Asher, who was 25-years-old and his one-year-old son Yonatan Palmer, who were found in their car after it flipped over near the West Bank city, discovered a large rock with signs of blood on it.
2011: Ukrainian police detained dozens of people today protesting against what they called an uncontrolled influx of Jewish pilgrims to the town of Uman, police and the Ukrainian nationalist party Svoboda said. The protest, attended by about 100 people, took place days before the 70th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, the mass killing of Jews by Nazis after the occupation of Kiev in 1941. Uman, a town of 90,000 in central Ukraine, is the site of an annual pilgrimage by tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews who visit the grave of a prominent Jewish cleric, Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Svoboda held the protest rally in Uman to demand stricter legal and sanitary controls on pilgrims. Its activists say the pilgrim influx must be better regulated and presents a security and health risk. "We are not anti-Semites, we do not have anything against Jews," Tetyana Chornomaz, the head of the regional Svoboda unit, told Reuters by telephone from Uman. "(But) we have many questions regarding their (pilgrims') stay in Ukraine." Chornomaz said riot police detained about 20 people following brief scuffles after the rally but it was not clear if they faced any charges. Interfax news agency quoted the Interior Ministry as saying police had detained about 60 people.
2011:The Taba Border Crossing was closed today to Israelis trying to enter Egypt, while anyone carrying a foreign passport was allowed to cross the border as usual. The decision came after the IDF announced that 2 days ago that forces on the Israel-Egypt border had been placed on high alert after threats were received that Hamas was planning terror activity in the area, the IDF spokesman's office stated..
2011: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “The Quest” by Daniel Yergin, “The Sibling Effect” by Jeffrey Kluger, “A Contest For Supremacy: China, America and the Struggle for Mastery in Asia” by Aaron L. Friedberg and the recently released paperback issued of “Great House” by Nicole Krauss.
2011: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “American Dreamers” How the Left Changed a Nation” by Michael Kazin, the son of Alfred Kazin and “The Quest” by Daniel Yergin.
2011: An exhibition at the Jewish Museum in New York entitled “Collecting Matisse and Modern Masters: The Cone Sisters of Baltimore” is scheduled to end today.
http://www.thejewishmuseum.org/exhibitions/conecollectionhttp://www.womanaroundtown.com/sections/playing-around/collecting-matisse-and-modern-masters-the-cone-sisters-of-baltimore
2012: As the family and friends of Gavi Thalublum prepare for Yom Kippur they share in the joy of her natal day.
2012:Security and rescue forces were on high alert and deployed in large numbers in Jerusalem and throughout the West Bank for Yom Kippur, which begins this afternoon and ends tomorrow at dusk. Ahead of the holiday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz ordered a 48-hour closure of West Bank and Gaza Strip border crossings beginning yesterday at 11:59pm and continuing until tomorrow at 11:59pm, the IDF Spokesman's Office said yesterday.
2012:Several mortar shells fired from Syrian territory fell inside the Golan Heights today, marking the first time the ongoing violence in Syria has spilled inside Israel's borders.
2012: The White Sox will play the Cleveland Indians in Chicago starting at 1:10 in instead of 7:10 p.m. thanks in part to calls from fans asking that the game be moved so as not to conflict with Yom Kippur. The change also means that White Sox third baseman Kevin Youkilis will be able to play the game and still keep his record of having never played on Yom Kippur intact.
2012(9thof Tishrei, 5773): Ninety year old Maurice S. Friedman, “Martin Buber’s biographer,” passed away today. (As reported by Paul Vitello)
2012(9thof Tishrei, 5773): In the evening, for the 90th year in a row, members of Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa gather to begin their observance of Yom Kippur
G'mar Chatimah Tovah
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to open in Tunkannock, PA
2013: “The Wiener Library is scheduled to host the UK launch of a new book co-edited by Anny Dayan Rosenman and Fransiska Louwagie. Un ciel de sang et de cendres: Piotr Rawicz et la solitude du témoin (A sky of blood and ashes: Piotr Rawicz and the loneliness of the witness) is a study of Ukrainian-French Holocaust survivor Piotr Rawicz and his novel Le sang du ciel (translated as Blood from the Sky).
2013(21stof Tishrei, 5774): Hoshanah Rabbah
2013: “Larry Ellison's Oracle Team USA defeated Emirates Team New Zealand to win the 34th America's Cup in San Francisco Bay, California.”
2013: A family from New York was the victim of a serious attack by rioting Arabs this afternoon, as they were making their way to pray on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem's Old City. (As reported by Uzi Baruch and Ernie Singer)
2013: “Iranian President Hasan Rouhani today condemned the Holocaust as a crime against humanity in a CNN interview with Christiane Amanpour”
2013: Israeli forensics experts are helping the Kenyan government comb the site of the terrorist takeover of the Westgate Mall in Nairobi, Kenya’s cabinet secretary said on Twitter today. (As reported by Lazar Berman)
2014(1stof Tishrei, 5775): Rosh Hashanah
שנה טובה, כתיבה וחתימה טובה.