OCTOBER 24
51: Birthdate of Titus Flavius Domitianus, who gained fame as the Roman Emperor Domitian. Domitian was the son of Vespasian and the brother of Titus, all three of whom played a key role in the destruction of Jerusalem which was one of the cornerstones of power for the Flavian dynasty. Domitian was even more hostile to the Jews than either of his predecessors as can be seen by his ruthless enforcement of the ban on Romans converting to Judaism and his rigorous efforts to collect the special taxes assessed against the Jews. His death in 96 would not be mourned by the Children of Israel.
69: At the Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius. This victory help paved the way for Vespasian to become Emperor of the Roman Empire. According to Jewish mythology, it was Yoachanah Ben Zachai’s prediction that Vespasian would attain this goal that led to him being able to establish the academy at Yavneh. Vespasian turned matters around Jerusalem to his son Titus who would destroy the Temple within the year.
996: Hugh Capet, King of France who was being treated by a Jewish physician, passed away. The king's decision to use a Jewish doctor gave created the myth (which was believed by many) that the Jews had killed the king.
1273: Coronation of King Rudolf I who in 1286 “instituted a new persecution of the Jews, declaring them servi camerae ("serfs of the treasury"), which had the effect of negating their political freedoms
1492: The Jews were again accused of stabbing a consecrated wafer in Mecklenburg , Germany
1648: The Peace of Westphalia ended the Thirty Years War. While the Jews of Europe were not combatants or participants in the peace talk, this treaty did have far-reaching impact on them. The treaty brought an end to the Holy Roman Empire which meant that the various states of Germany Netherlands New Amsterdam . According to some historians, the treaty marked the end of the religious wars that had gripped Europe (much to the detriment of the Jews) and marked the rise of the modern nation-state system. While anti-Semitism would continue to be part of the European landscape, the Jews of Europe would fare better after 1648 under a system of national citizenship.
1669: William Prynne, a lawyer, author and political leader who opposed re-admitting Jews to England passed way. One of the pamphlets published by Prynne that decried “their ill deportment” and “misdemeanors” found favor with the merchants in London who claimed to oppose the admissions of Jews on religious grounds but who were “jealous of the wealth of the Hebrews” and did not want to compete with them for business.
1764: In Berlin, Moses Mendelssohn and his wife gave birth to their oldest daughter, Brendel Mendelssohn who gained fame as German novelist Dorothea von Schlegel, and the mother of painter Philipp Veit.”
1777(23rdof Tishrei, 5538): Simchat Torah
1784: Birthdate of Sir Moses Montefiore, who in a life time that spend more than a century, proved to be not only a great leader of the Anglo-Jewish Community, but one of the most formidable Jews of the 19th century. There is no way to do justice to this great man’s life in this brief blog. You are encouraged to examine the many sources available about this successful financier, public servant and philanthropist whose generosity was integral source of support for the Jewish settlers of 19th century Palestine.
1795: Third partition of Poland, between Austria, Prussia and Russia. This is an example of the law of unintended consequences. Russia Russia Russia
1811: Birthdate of Ferdinand Hiller the native of Frankfurt am Main who gained fame as composer and director and who founded the Cologne Conservatoire in 1850 where he served as Kapellmeister until 1884.
1826(23rdof Tishrei, 5587): Simchat Torah
1826(23rdof Tishrei, 5587): German actor and theatrical manager Jacob Herzfeld passed away.
1841: Birthdate of Jacob Bettelheim, the Austrian-German author and writer.
1844: Birthdate of Karl Lueger, the Austrian politician who exploited popular anti-Semitism to be elected Mayor of Vienna. There are those who contend that his successful exploitation of anti-Semitism served as a role model for another resident of Vienna - Adolph Hitler.
1845(23rh of Tishrei, 5606): Simchat Torah
1851: It was reported today that "the emigration of Jews is on the increase in consequence of the oppressive ukases of the Emperor."
1852: American statesman and unsuccessful Presidential candidate Daniel Webster who served his country as a Senator and Secretary of State passed away. While serving as Secretary of State in President Millard Filmore’s administration, Webster actively opposed as treaty with Switzerland that would have discriminated against American Jews trying to do business in Switzerland. Webster and the American Jewish community enjoyed a positive relationship as can be seen by the fact that he was asked to speak at the Hebrew Benevolent and German Benevolent Society meeting in 1849 in New York City. He had to turn down the invitation because of ill health but he expressed his “respect and sympathy” who have “preserved through darkness and idolatry of so many centuries.
1853(22nd of Tishrei, 5614): Shemini Atzeret
1853:The New York Times reported that Dr. Raphall, a New York rabbi, will deliver a lecture about Russia at a meeting of the Young Men's Literary Association on October 26. Tickets will cost fifty cents.
1853: When an army of Kurds attacked the city of Al-Jazira
1856: Birthdate of Sir Stuart Samuel, the brother of Sir Herbert Samuel. ”He was educated at Liverpool Institute and University College School, London” and “was a member of the banking firm of Samuel Montagu and Company.” “Sir Stuart…was president of the Board of Jewish Deputies” and “headed the commission of inquiry sent by the British government to Poland to investigate the anti-Jewish excesses in 1919”
1848: Birthdate of Wilhelm Fleiss, the native of Arnswalde who became a noted otolaryngologist and a friend of Sigmund Freud.
1862(30thof Tishrei, 5623): On Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, Abraham Lincoln continues his quest to find winning generals by replacing Don Carlos Buell with William S. Rosecrans for his failure to pursue the Confederates after the Battle of Perryville.
1870: In Algiers under the leadership of Adolphe Cremieux, France granted French citizenship to all Algerian Jews. Prior to this date, citizenship was conferred on individual Jews based on their application. Algeria
1872(22ndof Tishrei, 5633): Shemini Atzeret
1874: According to a travelogue published today, most of the establishments for money changing in Bayonne, France are owned by Jews.
1875: “The Wild Huntsman” published today provides a brief summary of the legend of the Wandering Jew, one of those canards which has helped to fan the flame of anti-Semitism for centuries. This mythic figure supposedly refused the suffering Jesus a drink of water from a horse trough or refused to provide shelter for the Virgin Mary and Jesus when they were fleeing to Egypt. Regardless, “in some countries” he is now seen “as kind of personification of Jews” in general.
1877: “Receiving Stolen Goods” published today described a scheme to buy stolen cloth that has landed Louis Lazarus, the owner of second-hand clothing store and his son in Samuel in the Tombs.
1879: Birthdate of Sydney G. Gumpertz, the native of San Raphael, CA, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor during WW I.
1879: In Providence, Rhode Island, the Unitarians are holding a convention where they are “discussing the subject of Monotheism’ and have concluded that the only true monotheists are the Jews, Moslems and the Unitarians. They feel that the Trinitarian belief of Christians moves them away from true monotheism.
1880: Fifty five year old Oswald Hönigsmann an Austrian lawyer and parliamentarian who spoke out on behalf of the emancipation of the Jewish people passed away today.
1880: In Russia , Ada and Louis Landman gave birth to American Reform Rabbi Isaac Landman who “was editor of the ten-volume Universal Jewish Encyclopedia,” “the first Jewish chaplain in the United States Army to serve on foreign soil” during World War I and a leading anti-Zionist.
1883(23rdof Tishrei, 5644): Simchat Torah
1883: Police arrested Aaron Hammer and Moses Rauch, two Jews whose celebration of Simchat Torah got so rowdy that Bernard Levy felt the need to call the authorities for protection.
1883: Jews throughout the world celebrated the 99th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore.
1883: “Mr. Oscanyan’s Varied Show” published today included a description of that part of the lecture the Turkish born American writer gave about the conditions of “the Jews of the East” with whose persecution he commiserated.
1884: Sir Moses Montefiore celebrated his one hundredth birthday, an event that was marked with celebration throughout much of the world including a letter from Queen Victoria to the successful businessman, philanthropist and humanitarian.
1884: Services are to be held “simultaneously” at four o’clock this afternoon at synagogues in the United States to mark the 100th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore. The speeches delivered during these services will be given to the Anglo-Jewish statesman on November 8 “which corresponds with the 24th of October in the Jewish calendar.
1884: “A Home for Hebrew For Orphans” published today provided a complete description of the newly opened Hebrew Orphan Asylum. The four story building on the corner of 10th Avenue and 136thStreet is designed to accommodate 1,000 children of both sexes and was built at a cost of $60,000.00.
1886: It was reported today that the Wendell Phillips Literary Society is scheduled to “give a dramatic entertainment” at upcoming fundraising event sponsored by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.
1886: The Independent Hebrew Citizens’ Association of the Tenth Ward endorsed “Tommy” Grady who is running for seeking to represent the Eighth District in Congress.
1887(6thof Cheshvan, 5648): Sixty-six year old Charlotte Beyfus the wife of Abraham Oppenheim and the granddaughter of Meyer Amschel Rothschild passed away today.
1887: “The Religion of Humanity” published today provides a summary of the Dr. Kaufmann’s recently delivered addressed entitled “What is Judaism?” Kohler feels that Judaism is a religion of humanity and that “It is the Jew’s mission to stand by that religion of human which teaches the unity of the Cosmos in God, the spirit of truth and the social unity of man as based upon his God’s childship.”
1888: “Starving and Freezing” published today described the plight of the Polish Jewish farmers in Ramsey County, North Dakota. The seventy families who came from Chicago two years ago and settled 18 miles from Devils Lake have lost everything as a result of an early frost that wiped out their Wheat crop this year.
1889: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association began its 16th season tonight with a program at Chickering Hall in NYC.
1889: “Thinks Job A Poetic Myth” published today described a skirmish in the battle between those who read the Bible literally and those who think it is subject to interpretation – a schism that was found in both 19th century Judaism in Christianity. In this case, it was a Presbyterian Minister, E.L. Curtis who “startled his orthodox congregation” by asserted that the Book of Job “was only a parable and the other persons mentioned were but the creatures of poetical fancy.”
1891: In Russia, where the onset of winter has worsened the effects of the famine, two or three riots broke out aimed at the Jews.
1892: After spending three months at A.B. Simpson College “an institution where converted Jews are trained for missionary work thirty three year old Isaac Hertzfeld was baptized today – a an action that he would later publicly renounce.
1892: The New York Times described a change “in the future career” of Baron Hirsh, “who having devoted his youth to accumulating millions is now devoting his old age to philanthropy.” One example of this was the Baron’s decision to donate all of his “turf winnings,” a sum of 14,500 English pounds, to “deserving English charities.”
1893: The will of David James, the well-known Anglo-Jewish actor left £15,000 to various legatees and provided that his widow should receive the interest on the remaining £30,000 with the principle reverting to various Hebrew charities at the time of her death or re-marriage whichever comes first. (Smith’s birth name was Belasco, which he dropped as he developed his acting career)
1893: “Mr. Mansfield As Shylock” published today reviewed the latest New York production of The “Merchant of Venice” which featured Richard Mansfield in the role of Shylock. Unlike Edmund Kean who played Shylock as a Biblical figure, Mansfield portrayed him as a character from the Middle Ages who “loves his daughter” but “hates his enemy with deadly bitterness
1894: Professor Willis J. Beecher delivered a lecture “The Old Testament as a Whole, “ the second in his series on the “Study of the Old Testament.”
1895: “Correct Spelling of Barnato’s Name” published today speculated on the correct spelling of the diamond mine mogul wondering if it was “Barney” or Barnie” a point rendered moot by the fact that his name is “Barnett which is a common surname among Christians and Jews.”
1896: In New York, the Hebrew Institute Literary Society hosted a debate on the abolition of capital punishment tonight.
1896: The teachers and pupils of the Kaminsky Conservatory of Music performed at the Hebrew Institute tonight.
1896(17thof Cheshvan, 5657): Seventy-eight year old Sir Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, the son of David Sassoon, who was a leading merchant in Baghdad who settled in Bombay where his business success reportedly made him “one of the richest men” in the city, passed away today.
1898(8th of Cheshvan, 5659):Daniel Levy Maduro Peixotto died at Guantanamo, Cuba, from the effects of fever contracted during the Spanish-American war.A member of a prominent Sephardic family that had settled in New York, this son of Moses Levy Maduro Peixotto volunteered to join the U.S. Army at the outbreak of the war with Spain serving “with the Third United States Volunteer Infantry, first as first lieutenant and acting quartermaster, and then as captain of Company D. At the time of his death he was military governor and provost marshal of Guantanamo.”
1898: Ralph Disraeli was buried today in Buckinghamshire, UK.
1902(23rdof Tishrei, 5663): Simchat Torah
1902: Herzl had another meeting with Lord Rothschild and an appointment in the British Foreign Office.
1903: It was reported that “The American Jewish Year book for the year 5664 (which began September 22, 1903)…has been issued. This fifth annual volume, which is 316 pages in length, was edited by Cyrus Adler. Ninety-six pages are devoted to the annual report of the Jewish Publication Society. While the volume contains a great deal of information about Jewry there is no description of the Zionist Convention held at Basel or the Pogrom at Kishinev. The former “was held too late to be included. The latter will be covered in a special pamphlet issued by JPS.
1904: Birthdate of producer, director and playwright Moss Hart. Hart achieved success both on Broadway and in films. One of Hart’s most famous cinematic triumphs was “Gentlemen’s Agreement” which he produced. One of his greatest Broadway triumphs came at the end of his career when he served as director for “My Fair Lady.” He was married to Kitty Carlisle. Unbeknownst to many of her fans, the sophisticated Ms. Carlisle was actually Catherine Conn, a Jewess from New Orleans
1905: Birthdate of French Trotskyist leader Pierre Frank.
1908: The New York Times publishes an interview with Israel Zangwill entitled “Israel Zangwill’s Serious Purpose,” in which the Jewish author discusses his views on the literary worlds of the United States and Great Britain and the reaction to his “The Melting Pot.”
1910(21stof Tishrei, 5671): Hoshana Rabah
1910: Birthdate of Yoel Zussman, the native of Krakow who became the fourth President of the Supreme Court of Israel.
1910: The Oscar Hammerstein production Victor Herbert’s “Naughty Marietta” opened its pre-Broadway run in Syracuse, NY.
1913(2nd of Tishrei, 5674): Simchat Torah
1914: Dr. J. L. Manges and Dr. Schmarya Levin are scheduled to address tonight’s meeting hosted by the New York chapter of Hadassah at the Young Women’s Hebrew Association building where they will seek ways to alleviate the threat faced by the Jewish settlers in Palestine resulting from the start of the World War.
1914: The American Jewish Relief Committee was established by Jacob H. Schiff, Louis Marshall, and Felix Warburg. It soon combined with the Central Relief Committee founded by Orthodox leaders and the People's Relief Committee representing labor, into one organization the American Joint Distribution Committee. The “Joint” would become a vital force in providing aid to Jews caught up in the hostilities of World War I which had begun in August of 1914.
1915: In Manchester, UK, Mr. and Mrs. Neville Laski gave birth to English author Marghanita Laski
1915: British High Commissioner, Henry McMahonreached an agreement with Abdulla Hussein of the Hashemi family, trading a revolt against Turkey
1917: As part of the final push to publish the Balfour Declaration, Ronald Graham writes Lord Balfour, “Almost every Jew in Russia is a Zionist, and if they can be made to realize that the success of Zionist aspirations depends on the support of the Allies and the expulsion of the Turks from Palestine, we shall enlist a most powerful element in our favor.”
1918: Sarah Friedman, of blessed memory, the wife of Hyman Friedman is scheduled to be buried today in New York City.
1923: Birthdate of British born American poet Denise Levertov. Her pedigree is of interest since it provides a picture of the fate of European Jews. Her mother was Welsh. Her father was an Anglican parson. In point of fact, he was an immigrant from Germany
1923: In the Bronx, Betty and Dr. Lee Fisher gave birth to Edwin Zalmon Fisher a cartoonist whose work was a regular feature in The New Yorker magazine.
1925: In Brooklyn Max and Beatrice Feldstein gave birth to Albert “Al” Bernard Feldstein “who took over a fledgling humor magazine called Madin 1956 and made it a popular, profitable and enduring wellspring of American satire.” (As reported by Bruce Weber)
1926: Suffering from acute appendicitis and having ignored medical advice that he have immediate surgery, Harry Houdini performed at the Garrick Theatre despite having a fever of 104 °F (40 °C).
1926: Following what be his last performance, Houdini was taken to the Grace Hosptial in Detroit.
1927: At Temple Sinai in Chicago, Rabbi Stephen S. Wise and Clarence Darrow debated “Is Zionism a Progressive Policy for Israel and America? Wise argued the affirmative and Darrow the negative. Darrow, the famous defense lawyer “had many Jewish friends and denounced anti-Semitism” but like so many of his generation (Jew and non-Jew alike) “he never supported a separate homeland for Jewish people.
1929: Birthdate of Daniel Donald Dorfman “a highly visible financial journalist whose televised market reports could send a stock soaring — or plummeting — but whose career was tarnished by accusations of insider trading.” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1929: On what is known as Black Thursday, a record number of shares are traded on the NYSE as stock prices tumble, only to rebound when Richard Whitney steps on the floor and dramatically purchases large blocks of Blue Chip stocks. This provides only a brief respite on the road to Black Tuesday when the bottom fell out of the market marking the start of the worldwide Great Depression with all of its negative consequences including the rise of Hitler. The money for Whitney’s dramatic purchases was provided by the three leading New York Bankers, none of whom were Jewish.
1930:Birthdate of Elaine Feinstein Poet, novelist, short-story writer, playwright, biographer and translator who was born in Bootle, Lancashire. She was educated at Newnham College, Cambridge. She holds an honorary doctorate from the University of Leicester. She has worked variously as an editor for Cambridge University Press (1960-62), as Lecturer in English at Bishop's Stortford Training College (1963-6), as Assistant Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Essex (1967-70), and as a journalist. She contributes to many periodicals, including the Times Literary Supplement, and was Writer in Residence for the British Council in Singapore and Tromsoe, Norway. Elaine Feinstein's first volume of poetry, In a Green Eye, was published in 1966. Her later work has been influenced by the poetry of Marina Tsvetayeva, a poet whose work she has translated from the Russian. She received a Cholmondeley Award in 1990. Her first novel was The Circle (1970), which, like much of her early work, explores themes of female identity seen both inside and outside the family unit. Later novels, such as The Survivors (1982), draw on her knowledge of 20th-century European history and an awareness of her own Jewish heritage. Her most recent novel is The Russian Jerusalem (2008).She is the author of a number of plays for television including “Breath,” televised by the BBC in 1975, and “The Diary of Country Gentlewoman,” a twelve-part series (based on Edith Holden's novel) produced by ITV in 1984. She has also written radio plays, including “Foreign Girls” (1993) and Winter Meeting (1994), and is the author of several biographies, among them studies of the singer Bessie Smith and the writer D. H. Lawrence and a portrait of the late Poet Laureate Ted Hughes, published in 2001. Her book, Anna of all the Russias: The Life of a Poet under Stalin (2005) is a biography of Anna Akhmatova. Elaine Feinstein is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and was elected on to the Council of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007. She lives in London. Her most recent poetry collection is Talking to the Dead (2007), dedicated to the memory of her husband, Arnold.
1930: British Labour Party MP Harry Gosling passed away today opening the way for Barnett Janner to seek this seat in constituency that had a large Jewish population – something did help the Jewish politician in his first campaign but helped him to gain the set in the next general elction.
1933:Nazis pass a law against “Habitual and Dangerous Criminals” that justifies placing the homeless, beggars, unemployed and alcoholics in concentration camps. (Jewish Virtual Library)
1935:Final day for the publication of the American Hebrew and Jewish Tribune.
1935(27th of Tishrei, 5969): Abraham "Abe" Landau, a henchman of gangster Dutch Schultz succumbed to his wounds today.
1935: Mussolini’s Fascist Italian Army invaded Ethiopia. This act of naked aggression helped to make Mussolini a pariah among many Europeans. In turn, this pariah status helped to drive Mussolini into an alliance with Hitler that had disastrous results for Italian Jews. Strange as it may sound, the road to Auschwitz for Italian Jews went through Addis Abba.
1936: Bronislaw Huberman, founder of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra told the Times he had just conferred with Arturo Toscanini on arrangements for the opening concert of the PSO which will be conducted by Toscanini. The symphony has seventy members most of whom are refugees from various European countries where they were leading performers. The concert is schedule for December and is the first of a series of scheduled performances.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Avinoam Yellin, Senior Jewish Education Officer succumbed to his wounds inflicted by an Arab terrorist. The entire Yishuv mourned this outstanding national leader. The Palestine Police offered a £1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Yellin's assassin.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that two Arabs were killed and two others wounded by unknown persons, believed to be Jewish, in Haifa Jerusalem
1937: The second season of the Palestine Symphony Orchestra begins today in Tel Aviv under the direction of Hans Wilhelm Steinberg.
1939: The Jewish Big Band Leader Benny Goodman recorded "Let's Dance"
1939: Jews in Wloclawek , Poland
1940(22ndof Tishrei, 5701): Shemini Atzert
1941: Six thousand work passes were distributed in Vilna. This meant 4,000 Jews without work passes would be sent to their doom in Polna. They were hunted down by the Lithuanians. Among the dead were 885 children.
1941 Sixteen thousand Odessa , Ukraine
1941: Twenty thousand Jews fell into Nazi hands at Kharkov
1941(3rd of Cheshvan, 5702): As part of the Odessa Action, an additional 16,000 Jews were taken from Odessa and sent to Dalnik. In Dalnik, they were all shot in ditches; machine gunned down, or burned alive in warehouses.
1942: The Jews of Lichtenstein were deported.
1945:The UN officially came into existence today upon ratification of the Charter by the five permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories. Whatever one’s view of the UN is, it must be remembered that this organization played a key role in the creation of the state of Israel and unlike its predecessor, the League of Nation, it has not witnessed the start of a World War.
1947: Birthdate of actor Kevin Kline. Kline whose father was Jewish but whose mother was not appeared in such films as The Big Chill and Sophie’s Choice.
1947: Members of the Haganah attacked forty members of the Irgun who were posting “propaganda posters.” Two members of the Haganah were wounded during the fight that took place fifteen miles south of Tel Aviv.
1948(21stof Tishrei, 5709): Hoshana Raba
1948(21stof Tishrei, 5709): Seventy-two year old Rustem Vambery, the jurist who had opposed the Communists and Fascists and was the son of Armin Vambery, the biographer of Theodor Herzl, passed away in New York today.
1948:The IDF launched Operation Hiram and captured the entire upper Galilee, driving the ALA, and Lebanese army back to Lebanon, and successfully ambushing and destroying an entire Syrian battalion.] The Israeli force of four infantry brigades were commanded by Moshe Carmel
1952: The Arab Liberation Movement became the only party in Syria Israel
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the German Chancellor, Dr. Konrad Adenauer, defended the presence of former Nazis in his Foreign Ministry by claiming that they were irreplaceable and indispensable. It was things like this that caused many Israelis and Jews living elsewhere to want to reject any reparation payments by the West German government. As far as they were concerned, the new Germans were the old Germans in disguise.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that the Jerusalem District Court ruled that according to the Nationality Law, a child whose father is Israeli and whose mother rejected Israeli citizenship, for both herself and her child, is nevertheless a citizen of Israel
1954: Birthdate of Congressman Brad Sherman, representing California
1956: As the Israelis, French and British worked on plans for what will become known as the Suez Campaign or the One Hundred Hours War, the British negotiators made it clear to the Israelis that they must move towards the Canal so that the British and French would have an excuse to intervene. The Israelis primary point of interest was seizing Sharm el-Sheik which would open the Straits of Tiran. The Israelis said they would move to take the Mitla Pass
1959: Birthdate of Yakov Kreizberg, the Russian born American orchestra conductor.
1961: Italian premiere of “El Cid,” on which Michał Waszyński served as Executive Producer.
1961: United Artists released “The Manchurian Candidate,” with a screenplay by George Axelrod, the son of a Russian-Jewish immigrant and a score by David Amram.
1966: Birthdate of oil magnate and “Russian Oligarch”, Roman Abramovich.
1970: Birthdate of actor Adam Goldberg who was featured in Saving Private Ryan
1971: Birthdate of Caprice Bourret. Born Caprice Valerie Bourret, she gained fame as an actress and model, including her role in introducing the Wonderbra.
1973: As the Yom Kippur War was coming to an end Israeli troops were 65 miles from Cairo and 26 miles from Damascus. While the Arabs scored major victories early in the conflict, the Israelis turned things around and the aggressors were actually worse off from a military point of view at the end hostilities than they were when the shooting started. However, the military victory did little to heal the aching Israeli psyche or ease the sense of loss over those who fell in defense of the Jewish homeland. The IDF death toll stood at 2,522. These losses were over three times the number suffered during the Six Day War. Furthermore, as Yigal Yadin pointed out, this was the first war in which fathers and sons went into action at the same time. It was also the first time where the IDF casualty list included fathers and sons. The war proved once again that the Arabs nations could fight and lose, time after time and still exist. For Israelis, the wars were beginning to seem interminable and there was no margin for error. All they had to do was lose once and the state would cease to exist. The Yom Kippur War showed just how dependent Israel was on the United States for its military and economic wellbeing. The war further heightened Israel Third World countries caved into the Arab Petro-Power and broke off diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. Strangely enough, the Egyptian ability to cross the Suez Canal would provide Sadat with a sense that he had redeemed his country’s national honor and provide him with the impetus to negotiate the Camp David Peace Accords. At the same time, the sense of malaise that would grip Israel
1973: Colonel Giora "Hawkeye" Epstein “downed three more MiG-21s west of the Great Bitter Lake.”
1974: David Fyodorovich Oistrakh, Ukrainian born violinists, passed away.
1977: Menachem Begin completed his term in office as Communications Minister of Israel.
1976: The cabinet resolved, without prejudging the charges against Asher Yadlin concerning improper conduct in the management of Kupat Holim that it could no longer delay the appointment, and named Director-General of the Treasury Arnon Gafni as governor of the Bank of Israel
1977: The political party founded by Yigal Yadin joined the government formed by Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Begin had won an upset victory over the Labor Zionist who had governed the country since 1948. Yadin believed that by joining the new government he could help fashion a much need policy of social reform and play a key role in future negotiations with the Arabs. He based this second hope on the key role he had played in negotiating the cease fire with the Jordanians in 1948. Much to his bitter disappointment, Yadin would find that his plans for social reform would fall victim to Ariel Sharon’s need for money to finance his plan for an expansion of settlements in the West Ban.
1977: The Democratic Movement for Change (DASH), which had won 15 Knesset seats in the last election, joined Menachem Begin in a new coalition with Meir Amit, the retired Major General, serving as minister of transport and communication. He would resign within a year.
1976: FirstJewish film & TV festival
1978(23rdof Tishrei, 5739): Simchat Torah
1980: The first national US tour of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” started today in Washington, D.C.
1981: Birthdate of American fashion designer Zac Posen. As a child Posen reportedly stole yarmulkes to use as materials for dresses he made for dolls.
1986(21stof Tishrei, 5747): Hoshanah Rabah
1983: Following a lengthy and intense debate within the Conservative movement, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) faculty senate voted 34-8 to admit women to the
1986: In Toronto, Sandi Graham (née Sher) who was Jewish and Dennis Graham gave birth to Canadian rapper, songwriter, and actor Aubrey Drake Graham who “was raised by his mother in Toronto's predominantly Jewish area of Forest Hills (and attended Forest Hills P.S. and Forest Hills Collegiate)
1993: The Art Institute of Chicago presents the work of Israeli photographer Michal Rovner
1993(9th of Cheshvan, 5754): “Two IDF soldiers, Staff Sgt. (res.) Ehud Rot, age 35, and Sgt. Ilan Levi, age 23, were killed by a Hamas Iz a-Din al Kassam terrorist squad.
1994: A revival of “Mother,” the teleplay by Paddy Chayefsky was featured on the PBS Great Performances series today
1997(23rdof Tishrei, 5758) Simchat Torah
1999: Bruce Fleischer won the EMC Kaanapali Classic.
1999: The New York Times includes reviews of the following books by Jewish authors: The Play Goes On: A Memoir by Neil Simone and In Search of American Jewish Culture by Stephen Whitfield, one of
2001: Benefit Premiere for the NYC Theatrical Release of the controversial movie “Trembling Before G-d” at Film Forum.
2002: Premiere of “Broken Wings” an Israeli film directed by Nir Bergman.
2004:The New York Timesbook section featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on Jewish topics including Kaufman & Co.: Broadway Comedies by George S. Kaufman with Edna Ferber, Moss Hart, Ring Lardner and Morrie Ryskind, The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenmentsby Gertrude Himmelfarb, Any Place I Hang My Hat by Susan Isaacs and ChroniclesVolume One by Bob Dylan, an autobiography of the life of Robert Zimmerman
2004: Temple Judah Cedar Rapids , Iowa Cedar Rapids
2004: The Jerusalem Post reported that approximately 140,000 Muslim worshippers attended Ramadan prayers on the Temple Mount on the previous Friday afternoon. Considering the violence of the Intifada, it is rather amazing that Israel
2005 (21 Tishrei 5766): Hoshana Rabbah
2005: “The Luddite from York University” published todaydescribed the antics of David Noble, who teaches at Canada’s third largest university. (As reported by Steven Plaut) [This item is an example of the anti-Semitism that has cropped up on college campuses in North America.]
2006:In her first weekly column which is called "Breaking the Sound Barrier" Amy Goodman wrote, "My column will include voices so often excluded, people whose views the media mostly ignore, issues they distort and even ridicule]
2006(2ndof Cheshvan, 5767): Eighty-seven year old Sally Lilienthal the peace activist who founded Ploughshares Fund passed away today. (As reported by Patricia Sullivan) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/26/AR2006102601603_pf.html
2006(2ndof Cheshvan, 5767): Eighty-eight year old “ Benjamin Meed, a leading advocate for Jewish Holocaust survivors who in the decades after the war gathered them together by the tens of thousands, reuniting people with friends, neighbors and family members presumed to have been lost forever, died today at his home in Manhattan. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2007: “Third World Love” celebrates the release of its fourth album, “New Blues,” with a performance of Jerusalem’s Yellow Submarine.
2007: Terrorists went on a shooting spree in an attack on the West Bank in and around the Ariel junction, seriously wounding one IDF soldier. Hamas and Fatah both claimed they were each responsible for the attack.
2008: Opening of Fall Chavurah (SLIID), hosted by CeRTY of Central Reform Congregation, in St. Louis
2008:At New York University Etgar Keret joins Todd Hasak-Lowy, professor of Hebrew Language and Literature at the University of Florida
2008(25 Tishrei, 5769): Sixty-five year old “ Rabbi Moshe Cotel, an acclaimed pianist and composer whose works were often infused with themes emanating from his deep Jewish roots, a weave of influences that only later in life led him to the pulpit, passed away today at his home in Manhattan. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2008:Gottschalks, a department store chain founded by German Jewish immigrant Emil Gottschalk in 1904 as a dry goods store in downtown Fresno, California, “was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange. NYSE officials stated that the value of the stock was too low to continue to be listed, and that its average global market capitalization had remained below $25 million for 30 straight trading days.”
2009(6th of Cheshvan, 5770):Norma Fox Mazer, an award-winning novelist for young people whose work helped illuminate many dark corners of adolescence, exploring subjects like poverty, betrayal, abandonment and loss, passed away at her home in Montpelier, VT at the age of 78.
2009: At the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival a program entitled “SLAM! An Evening of Spoken Word Poetry” featuring Jake Marmer who “merges poetry and performance into philosophically viral mixtures like existentialist dancehall, talmudic jazz poetry and personalized bop apocalypse.”
2009: In Jerusalem, Khan Theatre presents "Happiness," a comedy written and directed by Michael Gurevich.The show won two Israeli Theatre Awards for 2004: Best Director and Best Choreography.
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including My Year of Flops: The A.V. Club Presents One Man’s Journey Deep Into the Heart of Cinematic Failure by Nathan Rabin and The False Friend by Myla Goldberg
2010: The Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington is scheduled to conduct “A Walking Tour of Old Town Alexandria” that will enable participants to learn about the long and storied Jewish history of this Virginia’s city, from the 1850s to today including the sites of two former synagogues and several Jewish businesses along King Street-including some that show traces of past Jewish owners.
2010:Max Weinreich Center at YIVO along with Hunter College and the Posen Foundation are scheduled to present: A Conference on the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Simon Dubnow. Dr. Brian Horowtiz of Tulane University is scheduled to be one of the presenters.
2010(16thof Cheshvan, 5771): Ninety-eight year old “Joseph Stein, the Tony Award-winning author of “Fiddler on the Roof” and more than a dozen other Broadway musicals, died today in Manhattan. (As reported by Anita Gates and Bruce Weber)
2011: A Dramatic Reading entitled “The Civil War at 150 United By Faith, Divided by War: Jews and the Civil War” is scheduled to take place tonight at the Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival at the Washington DC JCC.
2011:A new memorial honoring 14 Jewish chaplains who died in the service of the United States is scheduled to be dedicated at Arlington National Cemetery.
2011: In a tale of two Jews in the city of Chicago, incoming Cubs president of baseball operations Theo Epstein arrived at Wrigley Field this morning to meet some of the team's employees and check out his new digs while Mayor Rahm Emanuel was forced to defend the decision to arrest two nurses who remained in Grant Park after the 11 pm closing time as part of the Windy City’s local version of the national protest against economic inequality.
2011:An IDF soldier was arrested by Military Police today on suspicion of leaking information to right-wing elements over military activities in the West Bank.
2011: In “Ruth Weiss: Beat ‘Goddess’ True Innovator of Poetry & Jazz” Lourdes Acevedo described the life and impact of the beat generation poetess.
2012: The Northern Virginia Hebrew Congregation is scheduled to sponsor a lecture by Thomas E. Mann entitled “It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: The Clash Between Our Constitutional System and Political Extremism.”
2012:Professor Stefanie Schüler-Springorum (Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technical University, Berlin) is scheduled to deliver a lecture, “The Witness and the Holocaust - Oral Testimonies and Historical Knowledge” in London, UK.
2012: The Annual Conference of the Program Directors of Reform Judaism that has been meeting in Denver, CO, is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Today, Pesident Shimon Peres accused Palestinians of using aid donations to fund their rocket campaign against Israel.
2012: More than 60 rockets and mortar shells fired from Gaza have hit southern Israel in the last 24 hours, striking several homes and injuring three.
2012: The Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia are scheduled to host a lunch where attendees can question Tim Kaine, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate from Virginia about his views and policies
2013: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to co-host the Chicago book launch of Against A Tide of Evil by Dr. Mukesh Kapila.
2013: The Center for Jewish History is scheduled to present Fritz Stern and Elisabeth Sifton, authors of No Ordinary Men who will lead a discussion about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Hans Von Dohanyi.
2013: The RAC is scheduled to observe Food Day with a webinar that will feature special guests, Seth Goldman, President and TeaEO of Honest Tea; and Rabbi Mary Zamore, editor of "The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic,” discussing the various challenges within our global food system, and how we can apply our Jewish values to conscious eating, and the concept of “food with integrity.”
2013: Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon said today that a "civil war" has erupted in Lebanon between Hezbollah and Global Jihad elements that have attempted to drag Israel into the conflict (As reported by JPost Staff)
2013: Los Angeles premiere of “The Pin,” a love story about two Jewish teenagers hiding in a barn in Lithuania during WW II.
2013: IDF Chief of Staff, Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz announced that Colonel Rasan Alian has been appointed to commander the Golani Brigade making him the first Druse officer to hold the position.
2014(30th of Tishrei, 5775): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
2014: The Eden-Tamir Music Center is scheduled to host a piano recital by Tom Zalmanov as part of its “The Future Generation Series.”
2014: Temple Judah is schedule to host its first Musical Shabbat of the season along with addition of the Caster/Barnum baby naming as another generation makes its first appearance on the pulpit.
2014:Nick Kotz is a former reporter for The Washington Post and The Des Moines Register is scheduled to discuss The Harness Maker’s Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise Of South Texas at the Hyman S & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival.