OCTOBER 29
539 BCE : On the secular calendar, Babylon Israel Second Temple
969: Byzantine troops occupy Antioch which was then part of Syria but would become part of Turkey in the 20th century. Antioch is one of the oldest cities in the world having been founded in the 4th century BCE by one of Alexander the Great’s generals. Over the centuries, control of the city changed hands many times. The Arabs had conquered the city during the 7th century and held it until the Byzantine returned in the 10th century. At one time, Antioch would appear to have had a thriving Jewish community. However, Emperor Pochas tried to force the Jews to convert to Christianity in the first decade of the 7th century and when the Jews resisted most of them were either killed or forced into exile. Little is heard about them until the latter part of the 12th century when Benjamin of Tudela reported that there were approximately ten Jewish families living in the city, most of whom were engaged in the glass making industry.
1422: Charles VII of France becomes king in succession to his father Charles VI of France, the monarch who had banished the Jews from France.
1462: Jews were expelled from Mainz, Germany.
1486:Obadiah ben Abraham of Bertinoro, who had served as the rabbi in Bertinoro and Castello, left Italy and began the journey that would lead him to Jerusalem two years later. He was a student of Joseph Colon Trabotto and authored a commentary on the Mishnah.
1741: Handel completed the third and final act of his oratorio “Samson” which was based on the tale told in chapter 16 of the Book of Judges.
1831: Birthdate of Leopold Sonnemann the “publisher and editor of the Frankfurter Zeitung” and founding member of the German People’s Party.
1833: All Jews except for peddlers and petty traders were granted civic equality in the Germanic domain called Hesse-Cassel. The remainder of Germany
1843(5th of Cheshvan, 5604): Sixty-nine year old Nathan Rubino, the son of Minkel and Ruben Moses Rubino passed away.
1844: In Vienna Charlotte and Anselm von Rothschild gave birth to the youngest child Albert Salomon von Rothschild nicknamed “Salbert.”
1845: Israel Beer Josafat, a native of Kassel, Germany, “moved to London, where he called himself Joseph Josephat.” By the end of the next month he would be known as Paul Julius Reuter, the founder of Reuters News Agency.
1850: In Dubrouna, Alexander Sender Frumkin and his wife gave birth to Israel Dov Frumkin who moved to Jerusalem at the age of 9 where he became a Hebrew author and journalist.
1851(3rdof Cheshvan, 5611): Rebbe Yisrael of Ruzhin passed away. He was the leader of the Sadigur Chassidus.
1854: Birthdate of Samuel Sale, the native of Louisville, KY who served as the rabbi for Congregation Shaare Emeth in St. Louis for 32 years.
1862: The New York Times reported that at Harper's Ferry Provost-Marshal Howe has “seized a gang of counterfeiters and one hundred and thirty gallons of whisky, and turned out fifty-eight Jew traders during the last week.”
1857: Birthdate of Konrad Haebler the German born linguist and librarian whose works included studies on early Hebrew printers and Hebrew books.
1863: When the Superior Court heard the case of Richard Escott vs. John J. Crane et al a civil suit involving an opera company and whether it had performed at the level expected “a gentleman of the Hebrew persuasion, experienced in music and old clothes, enlightened the jurors in regard to the value of the wardrobe and voices of the members of the troupe, all of which he pronounced to be second class. While Jews could be maligned as “Chatham Street peddlers,” they also could be called as “expert witnesses” in breach of contract litigation.
1863: The New Jewish Orphan Asylum published today described the efforts to build a new Jewish Orphan Asylum in New York which “has been constructed under the auspices of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, into which the German Hebrew Benevolent Society was merged in 1859.” Construction of the asylum, which is almost completed, began in August of 1862 and the cornerstone was laid on September 30 of that year. The building is located on 77thStreet and can accommodate 200 orphans. The fifty thousand dollars required to construct the asylum was raised by the Building Committee whose membership included Messrs. M. Rossman, Philip Frankenheimer, Samuel Hackes, Jacob Goldsmith, Henry Lewis, H.B. Herts, Jr., S.M. Cohen, M. Cooper, W. Heller and Seligman Adler. The pride felt by the Jewish community can be seen when looks above the doorway and sees an arched slab bearing the inscription, "Hebrew Orphan Asylum;" and in the centers of each of the projecting gables is a Mogen David, or David's shield, of double triangles, with the date "1862"
1863: During the Civil War, the 15th Kentucky Cavalry that had been formed a year ago under the command Lt. Col. Gabriel Netter, a Jewish supporter of the Union, was mustered out of service.
1864(29th of Tishrei, 5625): Sixty-three year old Simcha Pinkser the orientalist who deciphered the Karaite Manuscripts belonging to Abraham Firkowitz and who was the father of Judah Leib Pinsker passed away today in Odessa, Russa.
1872: In Brussels, a meeting is scheduled to be held today in local synagogue that will discuss ways of dealing with the plight of the oppressed Jews of Romania. The Israelite Alliance in Berlin had called for such a meeting which has attracted delegated from Belgium, Great Britain, German, Holland, France and Austria. Among those attending are Sir Moses Montefiore and Adolphe Crémieux. Among the proposed solutions would be support for wholesale immigration of Romanian Jews to “civilized countries.”
1875: It was reported that John Morrisey, the anti-Tammany Hall candidate for the New York State Senate had addressed a crowd of more than 400 people “at the head-quarters of the Hebrew Ant-Tammany Club of the Fourth Senatorial District.” [In the rough and tumble world of New York City politics, Jews could be found supporting the Tammany Democratic Party Machine and opposing it. Some like Morrisey who was Irish, began as Tammany supporters and then switched to other side. The important thing is that Jews were involved in all aspects of the political process which is one of the things that separates the American Jewish Experience from the earlier history of the Wandering Jews.]
1879: In New York City, the Commissioners of Emigration received a letter from the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society offering to provide for the Curriak children, the offspring of Polish Jew who has already arrived in the United States. While the oldest boy is now with his father, the other children are so covered with sore that the medical authorities at Castle Garden said it will take two months to cure them. [This was one of the first public acts by the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society which had been formed in September of 1879. The officers and workers were all Jewish women; most of whom might be called Uptown Jews. The Society had been formed to protect the poor Jewish children of the city, many of whose parents could not provide them with the basics of life.]
1879: Birthdate of Leon Trotsky. Born Lev Davidovich, Trotsky would turn his back on his Jewish background and became the number two man in the Communist Revolution. As the father of the Red Army he saved the Communists from defeat by invading armies as well as the Whites who supported the Czar. Trostky would lose out in to Stalin for the role as Lenin’s successor. He would be forced to flee the Soviet Union ending up in Mexico where Stalin would have him murdered in 1940.
1880: Birthdate of Soviet physicist Abram Ioffe.
1881: Justice Flammer is scheduled to hear more evidence in the case of Mrs. Amelia Goldberg who claims that she is the wife of John A. Goldberg. The destitute Mrs. Goldberg was found wandering the streets. John Goldberg, a successful businessman from England said he had been married to her but that he had received a divorce decree from a rabbinic court in UK based on charges of adultery
1881: It was reported today that “no Conservative or Anti-Semitic candidate received enough votes” in the first round of voting for members of the Reichstag to advance to the second ballot. Herr Ernst “Henrici, the notorious Jew-baiter, only received 800 votes out of a possible 40,000 votes.
1882: “Wished To Buy Heavenly Bliss” published today recounts the case of Harris Udovitch and Louis Cohen, two Jews living in Troy, NY. Udovitch has been jailed on charges having struck Cohen’s wife during a dispute stemming from “Cohen’s refusal to sell his credit with heaven to Udovitch for $150.” The term “credit with heaven” is normally interpreted to mean “Good deeds that buy the future world.” There are some “ignorant orthodox Jews” who believe they can “buy the benefits of another man’s good deeds.”
1883: It was reported today that in the last 17 months the Board of Relief of the United Hebrew Charities have provided assistance to 12,000 individuals. The organization has helped 1.047 settle in other parts of the United States at a cost of $8,247.26 and spent $3,413.13 to bury 450 individuals.
1883: “Cohen and Aaron” published today described recent events in a London courtroom where Lewis Cohen convinced a judge to excuse him from serving on a Coroner’s Jury because “he was a lineal descendant of the original Aaron, the great high priest of the Jews. While the Judge offered no explanation as to why he believed the claim, concern has been expressed that Jews in England and the United States will invoke this claim as a way to avoid all forms of public service.
1884: Birthdate of Fred Lazarus, Jr. The grandson of a rabbi who began a small retail establishment in pre-Civil War Cincinnati, Lazarus parlayed his family’s commercial ventures into the retail giant known as Federated Department Stores. The only Jew who had a greater impact on the celebration of Christmas in the United States
1885: The annual meeting of the United Hebrew Charities of the City of New York took place tonight at 58 St. Mark’s Place.
1886: It was reported today that Henry George, the social reformer and author of a “single tax plan” delivered a lecture on “Moses” to a group of Jewish supporters.
1888: The meeting of the United Hebrew Charities of New York was held at Temple Emanu-El tonight.
1888: “The Glory of the Jew” published today described a lecture by Rabbi Leon Harrison at Temple Israel where his subject was “Is It A Misfortune to be a Jew?” --- which he answers in the negative since “according to Disraeli” the Jew is “the true conqueror of the world.”
1889: “A Splendid Exhibit” published today included a summary of the work of the United Hebrew Charities which disbursed $35,000 in relief in 1879 but was able to disburse $72,000 in relief in 1889.
1889: George B. Herzig presided over a meeting of the Alumni Association of Ahavath Chesed, located at 55th Street and Lexington Avenue.
1889: Sir Julian Goldsmid, the prominent Anglo-Jewish leader, was the center of attention at a dinner held in his honor at Delmonico’s in New York City.
1889: “The Broadway Theatre” published today provided a review of new production of “The Merchant of Venice” starring Edwin Booth as Shylock. “Booth’s Shylock is a well-known performance of the character and the best that this generation has seen or is likely to seek.” Shylock’s most famous scene centers around his encounter with Venetians and “here Booth depicts the conflicting passions of the Jew with greater force and mare variety of expression…than any other actor of our time.”
1890: It was reported today that given the “anti-Semtic feeling of the government and the public the existing regulations” aimed at the Jews “will be applied with the utmost vigor” while the nation awaits further anti-Semitic laws.
1891: At Temple Beth-El in New York, President Henry Rice, who is also Chairman of the Executive Committee, presided over the seventeenth annual meeting of the United Hebrew Charities which opened with him reading “the reports showing the work of the various departments of relief in 1891.”
1891: As of today, the Russian Refugee Fund has grown from $28,000 to $58,000 of which $5,000 has been spent on bringing needy Russian Jews to the United States for whom the United Hebrew Charities has secured jobs.
1891: Hungarian Jewish immigrant Rose Stern and Charles Borach, New York saloon owners gave birth to their third child Fania Borach who gained fame as “Fanny Brice.” In 1908, she dropped out of school to work in a burlesque review. She is best known for her association with Florenz Ziegfeld, and headlined his Ziegfield Follies starting in 1910 and continuing into the 1930s. During the late 1930s, she had her own radio show which featured her as a bratty toddler known as "Baby Snooks". The multitalented entertainer passed away in May of 1951.
1892: Abram L. Levy of the Hebrew World was elected vice president of Metropolitan Press Club which was formed by 14 young editors who gathered for the first time at parlor 22 of the New York Hotel.
1893: “The First Woman Rabbi” published today provided a portrait of Miss Rachel or Miss Ray Frank, the California native who is studying at Hebrew Union College who plans on “becoming the first woman rabbi in the world.”
1893: “Biblical Romance” published today provides a brief review of The Son of A Prophetin which George Anson Jackson develops a story that revolves around Eleazar Ben Shammah which portrays love as it was displayed “in the age of Solomon.”
1893: “A Memorial For Rebecca Gratz” published today described $100,000 bequest from the late Hyman Gratz to Congregation Mikve Israel in Philadelphia that is to be used “for the establishment and support for a college” to be operated by the Sephardic congregation in memory of his sister Rebecca Gratz.
1893: It was reported today that Charles Frohman, the Jewish impresario, has canceled any further performances of “The Younger Son” which opened last week.
1893: Richard Mansfield’s portrayal of Shylock in the Merchant of Venice appearing at Hermman’s in New York is described by reviewers as “one of his most artistic efforts” and “assuredly” one of his most “popular.” (The role of Shylock became one of Mansfield’s signature Shakesperian character portrayals.)
1894: The anti-Semitic newspaper La Libre Parole appeared with the headline: “Arrest of the Jewish Officer A. Dreyfus. The editor of the paper, Edouard Drumont, would fill subsequent editions of the paper with lurid “facts” detailing the “confirmed evidence against the Jewish traitor.”
1894: Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler opened tonight’s meeting of the United Hebrew Charities with a prayer followed by an address by Henry Rice, the president of the organization which was celebrating its 20th anniversary. The high point of the evening was an address by Seth Low, the President of Columbia who would eventually be elected Mayor of New York City.
1894: The first “open meeting” of the Monte Relief Society, an organization designed to aid poor Jews was held tonight at the Terrace Garden.
1894: Major Mercier du Paty de Clam showed “the entire text of the bordereau to Dreyfus, and then he made him copy it” which the accused to deny that the document was a product of his handwriting.”
1896(22nd of Cheshvan, 5657): Twenty year old Abraham L. Fox who like his mother Ernestine Fox suffered from consumption passed away today at his home on Madison Avenue in Manhattan.
1898:The Zionist Delegation sets out for Jerusalem.
1898: “More Help For Dreyfus” published described the public response to Alphonse Bard’s “report to the Court of Cassation” with some saying the report “clearly set forth the truth and proved the innocence of Dreyfus” while others insist that the report was merely a pleading in favor of the prisoner.”
1898: “Outside a small Rothschild funded Jewish agricultural settlement, Herzl publicly awaited the Kaiser on his way to Jerusalem. The Kaiser’s and his cortege stopped to speak briefly with Herzl. It was the first public acknowledgement of Herzl as the leader of the world Zionist movement by a major European power.”
1902: Herzl's health deteriorates. After the Annual Conference, Herzl finds himself in a state of collapse, incapable of writing a single line. He reports himself sick to the office of the Neue Freie Presse and goes for a rest cure to Edlach a little village at the foot of the Rax Alpes, south of Vienna
1903: Birthdate of Alexander Steiner the Hungarian Jewish grain merchant who was the husband of Klara Fejer and the father of Agnes Leah Steiner who survived the Holocaust and made Aliyah in 1949.
1903: Three one-act plays by Arthur Schnitzler – “the Last Masks,” “At the Sign of the Green Parrot” and “Literature” – were performed tonight at the German theatre in Irving Place (NYC).
1903(8th of Cheshvan, 5664):Hillel Noah Maggid, “a Russian-Jewish genealogist and historian who was the author of a biography of David Oppenheim, the rabbi of Prague,” passed away today.
1906: In Lüdenscheid, Germany Hermann Süskind and Frieda Kessler gave birth to Walter Süskind, “a German Jew of Dutch parents who helped about 600 Jewish children escape the Holocaust.”
1909: Alliance
1910: Ten men and two women established Degania Alef, the first Kibbutz on the shore of the Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee).
1911: Joseph Pulitzer passes away. The life of this Hungarian born Jew who served in the Union Cavalry during the Civil War, reminds one of a colorful novel more than the life of an American newspaperman who built what we would call today a media empire. After his death in Charleston , SC
1912: Oscar Straus who is running for governor of New York New York East Side and Brooklyn .
1913:Birthdate of Oliver Louis Zangwill, an influential British neuropsychologist who was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1977.
1914: “Austria Feeling War’s Disasters” published today described the reverses suffered by the Austro-Hungarians which, among other things, has resulted a wave of refugees arriving in Vienna including a large contingent of Jews from Galicia which “further complicates the life of the city.”
1914: “Addressing the members of the United Charities at their annual at Temple EmanupEl tonight, Jacob H. Schiff asserted that thousands and thousands of Jews in New York were ‘dodging’ their duty’ toward the poor and suffering in this city while contributing liberally to funds for the relief of war sufferers in Europe.”
1915: Birthdate of Dr. William Berenberg, an American physician, Harvard professor, and pioneer in the treatment and rehabilitation of and cerebral palsy. He was a member of the Board Of Advisors of New England Sinai Hospital Center when he passed away in 1995.
1916(2nd of Cheshvan, 5677): Sixty-six year old Maurice Ephrussi the French banker and Thoroughbred breeder passed away today.
1918: Birthdate of Bernard Gordon, an American writer and producer who was a victim of Hollywood’s blacklist.
1919: Birthdate of Dorothy Dorfman, eldest daughter of Vera and Nathan Dorfman, a proud graduate of the University of Chicago who become Deborah Levin, wife of Joseph Levin.
1920: Premiere of “The Golem: How He Came Into the World” a silent movie filmed by cinematographer Karl Freund that “begins with Rabbi Loew” in the Jewish ghetto of Prague.
1920: Birthdate of “Dr. Baruj Benacerraf, an immunologist who received a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work in exploring why diseases like multiple sclerosis affect some people but not others…” Born in Caracas, Venezuela, he was the son of Sephardic Jews. His father, born in Morocco, was a textile importer; his mother, born in Algeria, was a homemaker. (As reported by Denise Gellene)
1922:Isa Kremer made her United States debut at Carnegie Hall in NYC.
1925: In Poland,“Issachar Feiner, a chocolate salesman, and Rivka Herzberg, a housewife” gave birth to Haim Feiner who would gain fame Israeli songwriter, poet and author Haim Hefer.
1925: Birthdate of Klaus Roth German-born British mathematician who was awarded the Fields Medal in 1958. His major work has been in number theory, particularly the analytic theory of numbers. He solved in the famous Thue-Siegel problem (1955) concerning the approximation to algebraic numbers by rational numbers (for which he won the medal). Roth also proved in 1952 that a sequence with no three numbers in arithmetic progression has zero density (a conjecture of Erdös and Turán of 1935).
1926: Dr. Chaim Weismann, President of the World Zionist Organization arrived in New York tonight from England on the Cunard line Berengaria. His was on a mission to gain support from American Jews for the creation of a Jewish Home in Palestine
1927(3rd of Cheshvan, 5688): Forty-five year old German mathematician and philosopher who was a co-founder of The Internationaler Sozialistischer Kampfbund ("International Socialist Militant League") passed away today.
1928: Lord Melchett, who was a Jewish businessman named Alfred Moritz Mond appeared on the cover of today’s Time magazine.
1929: Major Alan Saunders, the man who had served as acting commandant of police at the times of riots spent six hours on the witness stand answering question before the British Commission of Inquiry investigating the riots at the Western Wall. He was questioned about the lack of preparation by the police and the decision to disarm British-Jewish constables in the face of threatening behavior by the Arab population.
1929: On "Black Tuesday," the New York Stock Market crashed, triggering the "Great Depression." Like millions of their countrymen, the Jews suffered great financial hardships. Many newly arrived immigrants who were just beginning to make progress up the economic ladder found themselves on relief. As the economy soured, social unrest increased and there was a rise in various forms of anti-Semitism. The coming of the New Deal would prove a boon to many Jews. Besides providing relief through a variety of federal programs, the New Deal opened up career opportunities for many newly educated first-generation American Jews. For example, many young lawyers and accountants who found themselves locked out of the Christian only banks and law firms got their first jobs and gained valuable career experience working for the myriad of new federal agencies. These men (yes most of them were men) went to become part of a core of dedicated civil servants who really served the public good.
1929: Jewish financier Felix Warburg and Lord Melchett, each donated five hundred thousand dollars to start a financial concern aimed at helping development in Palestine.
1932: Birthdate of Charlotte Knoblock, president of Germany’s Jewish community and one of only about 100 surviving Munich residents who returned to the city after World War II.
1932: In a letter to Louis Strauss, President Herbert Hoover reaffirms support for the Balfour Declaration on the 15th anniversary of the issuance of this seminal document in Jewish History.
On the occasion of your celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which received the unanimous approval of both Houses of Congress by the adoption of the Lodge-Fish resolution in 1922, I wish to express the hope that the ideal of the establishment of the National Jewish Home in Palestine, as embodied in that Declaration, will continue to prosper for the good of all the people inhabiting the Holy Land. I have watched with genuine admiration the steady and unmistakable Progress made in the rehabilitation of Palestine which, desolate for centuries, is now renewing its youth and vitality through the enthusiasm, hard work and self-sacrifice of the Jewish pioneers who toil there in a spirit of peace and social justice. It is very gratifying to note that many American Jews, Zionists as well as non-Zionists, have rendered such splendid service to this cause which merits the sympathy and moral encouragement of everyone.
1933(9thof Cheshvan, 5694): Seventy nine year old Lativan-American mathematician Lipman Bers passed away in New Rochelle, America.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the High Commissioner, General Sir Arthur Wauchope, announced his wish to retire from office.
1937: The Times of London claimed that the present Arab disturbances were inspired by secret societies in Syria Britain Palestine
1937: Two Arab gun men fired on Jewish drainage workers who had been working at Herod’s Gate and were getting on a truck to go home. One Jew was seriously wounded by the gunman who had climbed on to the truck.
1937 (24th of Cheshvan, 5698): Erev Shabbat, Aaron Alkabat, a 32 year old Jew from Morocco was shot to death and two other Jews were seriously wounded this evening when they were fired on as they returned from praying at the Western Wall.
1938: “You Can't Take It with You,” a comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart which had premiered at the Booth Theatre in 1936 was performed for the last time at the Imperial Theatre before continuing its Broadway run at the Ambassador Theatre.
1939: Birthdate of Australian barrister Aaron Ronald “Ron Castan” whose human rights advocacy resulted in the creation of The Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University which named in honor of Sir John Monash the Jewish engineer who was the country’s leading soldier in WW I.
1939: Birthdate of Ralph Bakshi. Born in Haifa, Bakshi is a director of animation and occasionally live-action films. As the American animation industry fell into decline during the 1960’s and 1970’s Bakshi tried to bring change to the industry by creating and directing a number of animated feature films that were aimed at adults instead of children. His most famous effort centered Fritz the Cat, the first animated feature film to get an X- Rating. Bakshi is also reported to be the inspiration for the Comic Book Guy, a character in the weekly cartoon program, The Simpsons.
1941(8th of Cheshvan, 5702): The SS and Lithuanian police carried out the brutal massacre of those Kovno Jews who were not "selected" the prior day for work. In groups of a hundred, Jews were stripped naked, marched to the edge of ditches, and then fired upon. Most were killed instantly. Many were left to die slowly of their wounds. Einsatskommando reported the killing of 2,008 men, 2,920 women and 4,257 children.
1942(18th of Cheshvan, 5703: Eliyahu Rozanski of the Jewish Fighting Organization assassinates Jakub Lejkin, the new commander of the Jewish police in the Warsaw ghetto. Soon after an additional 13 Jewish police who were very involved with the Warsaw
1942: Written comments by Winston Churchill excoriating Germany London Canterbury
1942(18th of Cheshvan, 5703: The Nazis murdered 3230 thousand Jews from Sandomierz, Poland at the Belzec extermination camp.
1942(18th of Cheshvan, 5703: The Nazis killed 16,000 Jews in Pinsk, Russia.
1942: Leading clergymen, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, and political figures held a public meeting to register outrage over Nazi Germany's persecution of Jews. This expression of outrage did not include a meaningful demand that the British government lift the ban on Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel. This would have meant that Jews who escaped from Nazi control would have a place of refuge.
1944: The Big Red One, the U.S. Army’s fabled First Infantry Division, took an added distinction. One of its GI’s, Private Max Fuchs who had been fighting since he hit the beaches of Normandy on D-Day, served as the volunteer cantor for a brief service held at Aachen, Germany. The service which was broadcast live by NBC radio, was billed as the first public Jewish service to be held on German soil since the rise of Hitler. Captain Sydney Lefkowitz, a Chaplain who had also been fighting since landing on Omaha Bulge, served as the Rabbi.
1944: Agnes Steiner, who had been living in “a Jewish safe house in Budapest was sent by her grandfather to live at the Red Cross Children’s home in Buda on Orso Utca because he feared for her safety.
1945: The first ballpoint pen went on sale at that Jewish emporium, New York’s Gimbels Department Store.
1945: Anna Rosenberg became the first woman to receive the Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award offered by the United States. In 1947 she would be the first woman to be awarded the United States Medal for Merit. In 1950 she was appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense, the highest position ever held up until that time by a woman in the United States military establishment. Her main task as Assistant Secretary of Defense was to coordinate the Defense Department's manpower, which had been divided among many different agencies. In the 1930s Rosenberg served in the New Deal administration as a regional director for the National Recovery Administration (1935) and on the Social Security Board (1936-1943), becoming a trusted advisor to both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. She also advised and coordinated several Democratic congressional campaigns. Before being appointed Assistant Secretary of Defense, she was President Roosevelt's personal assistant in Europe. She has been acclaimed for her talents as a labor mediator, diplomat, adviser, troubleshooter, and administrator. She was also involved in many Jewish causes, including serving as the director of the Women's Division of the Joint Distribution Committee and the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies.
1946: “Jameal el Husseini, acting head of the Arab Executive Committee of Palestine…denied reports that the committee intended to demand that King Ibn Saud…cancel American oil rights in his kingdom as a result of President Truman’s reiterated support for substantial Jewish immigration to Palestine”
1946: British authorities held “Zionist extremists” responsible for destruction of an Army jeep that was blown up by an electrically detonated land mine in the Plain of Sharon north of Tel Aviv. Two soldiers were wounded as a result of the attack.
1947: Birthdate of actor Richard Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss has enjoyed a long and successful career playing everything from college bound students, to police undercover agents to music teachers.
1947: While giving a speech in Tel Aviv tonight, “David Ben-Gurion, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine said …that he had asked Sir Alan G. Cunningham, the British High Commissioner, for some preliminary arrangements to help the inhabitants of Palestine to carry on the administration prior to the British withdrawal but that the suggestion had been turned down as ‘premature.’” In the same speech, the future Prime Minister of Israel said that he welcomed what he described as a recent statement of peace by King Abdullah of Trans-Jordan. [This speech was given exactly one month before the UN was to vote the issue of partition. The British government was opposed to the creation of a Jewish state and they would provide aide to the Arab Palestinians but not to the Jewish Palestinians. Ben-Gurion’s comments about the King of Jordan were either disingenuous or wishful thinking. Abdullah wanted Palestine and especially Jerusalem for his kingdom. He offered the Jews protected status if they would just give up their notion of an independent state.]
1947: At a ceremony held on Mount Scopus
1948: Prior to the launch of Operation Hiram, tonight, Israeli aircraft flew 13 missions, dropping 21 tons on the villages whose capture was part of the goal of an operation intended to ensure that the upper Galilee would be in Jewish hands when the next UN ceasefire began.
1948: As part of Operation Hiram, the Israeli Seventh occupied Qaddita, Meirun, Safsaf and Jish. The village of Safsaf was defended by the Arab Liberation Army's Second Yarmuk Battalion. The battle lasted through the night with both sides suffering serious casualties.
1948: Operation Hiram continues with a pitched battle at the strong of Jish which is the same place as Gush Halav where the Jews had fought the Romans 2000 years ago. The difference is that this time the Jews are the victors.
1952: The Jerusalem Post’s editorial commented on the recent unrest of new immigrants in ma’abarot. While it was a pity that the current, mostly Communist agitation in camps turned the immigrants’ mind aside from the achievements of the government and the Jewish Agency in absorbing the massive immigration under difficult conditions, it was high time that the conscience of the entire Israeli people to be aroused to a nationwide effort to integrate the ma'abarot residents into the life of the country by a practical and abiding personal interest in their problems. Ma'abarot was the name given to the large, temporary camps constructed for newcomers to Israel. The first one was built in 1949 and hundreds more would be built to take care of the influx of immigrants. They were obviously not a perfect solution but they were the best the struggling state could do under the circumstances. Today there is a company that markets a variety of agricultural products including baby food and pet food under the name Macabre Products.
1955: Operated Egged, an attack on the Egyptian military post at Kuntilla in the Sinai came to an end.
1956: The Sinai Campaign known in Hebrew as the Mivtza Kadesh began. It lasted 8 days; it was coordinated with both France England Gaza Israel Gulf of Aqaba which denied the Red Sea shipping routes to Israeli ships or the ships of other nations that would be bring goods to Israel Egypt Suez Canal . While Israel Gaza United States Israel Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping. As Chief of Staff, Moshe Dayan masterminded the lightning campaign that swept across the Sinai Peninsula . The man with eye patch became an international symbol for the “new Jew,” a resourceful fighter, the citizen soldier building and defending the ancient Jewish state. The Suez Campaign actually lasted for about 100 hours. The lightning quick victory gave rise to a number of jokes among comedians in the United States
1956: Four Israeli propeller-driven P-51 fighters cross into the Sinai. Flying at 12 feet above the ground, they use their propellers to cut the telephone lines connecting the Egyptian air force and army communication centers. The Egyptians have the larger force. It is well supplied by the Soviets with the latest in equipment. But the Israelis have the “advantages” of audacity and desperation. This was followed by a drop of less than 400 hundred paratroopers at the eastern end of the Mitla Pass. Mitla Pass
1956: Border Police platoon shot and killed 48 unarmed Arab civilians in the village of Kafr Kasim
1956: “A regiment of paratroopers under the command of Rafael Eitan (Raful), lands near the eastern entrance of the Mitla Pass. The rest of the brigade forces move through the Sinai desert, capturing on their way several Egyptian strongholds after swift battles. Rafael Eitan's regiment deploys near the dropping zone and waits for the rest of the brigade to join.
1957(4th of Cheshvan, 5718): The MGM producer and movie mogul Louis B. Mayer died at the age of 71. More than one person claimed to have attended Mayer’s funeral just to make sure he was dead.
1957: A blast from a hand grenade or a bomb in the Knesset wounded David Ben Gurion and four cabinet ministers. Moshe Carmel suffered a broken arm as a result of the attack.
1958: Birthdate of David Remnick, Pulitzer Prize winning writer and editor of the New Yorker Magazine.
1960: “Wildcat,” the Cy Coleman (born Seymour Kaufman) opened in Philadelphia for a pre-Broadway run that earned it a “glowing review in Variety.”
1963: Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg, Senator Abraham Ribicoff and Senator Jacob Javits, met with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin but failed to effect any policy changes after “challenge him regarding Moscow’s treatment of Jews.”.
1964: The town of Carmiel in the Galil is established. Carmiel is “twinned” with Baltimore , MD.
1970: The life of the great English sleuth is brought to the screen by two Jews as “The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes,” a creation of I.A.L. Diamond and Billy Wilder which premiered in the United States.
1971: In Olmstead County, Minnesota, Cynthia Palmer and Michael Horowitz gave birth to Winona Laura Horowitz who gained fame as actress Winona Ryder “who has described herself as Jewish.”
1972: “Nearly 8 weeks after the Munich Massacre, a Lufthansa jet was hijacked by two Black September members, who demanded the release of the three” surviving terrorists.
1972: Jamal Al-Gashey, Adnan Al-Gashey, and Mohammed Safady the 3 surviving Munich terrorists twere released in exchange for the hostages onboard hijacked Lufthansa Flight 615 and travelled to Libya, where they went into hiding.
1974: Shlomo Hillel completed his Internal Affairs Minister of Israel.
1974: Yosef Burg began serving as Israel’s Internal Affairs Minister.
1982: In Monmouth County, NJ, Rabbi Jerome Malino, the immediate past president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis, was the guest speaker at the formal dedication of the new sanctuary which was named in memory of Rabbi Aaron Lefkowitz.
1987(6thof Cheshvan, 5748): World War I Veteran and Medal of Honor Winner Phillip Carl Katz passed away.
1993(14th of Cheshvan, 5754):Chaim Mizrahi, resident of Beit-El, was kidnapped by three terrorists from a poultry farm near Ramallah. He was murdered and his body burned. Three Fatah members were later convicted of the murder
1998:Hurricane Mitch the most powerful hurricane of the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season makes landfall in Honduras. (If you know the name of the guy who does this, you will understand how this storm rates a mention in a Jewish history blog.)
2000: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interesting includingGhost Light: A Memoir by Frank Rich and Susan Sontag:The Making of an Icon by Carl Rollyson and Lisa Paddock.
2002: Random House published David Blaine's Mysterious Stranger: A Book of Magic
2004:In Toronto
2004: At the Municipal Building in New York Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz married Anya Schiffrin of Columbia University.
2004: Newspapers and sports programs continued to sing the praises of Theo Epstein, the young, Jewish, General Manager who played a key role in Boston Red Sox’s first World Series victory since 1918.
2006:Benjamin "Ben" Weider announced his retirement as President of the International Federation of BodyBuilders
2006: As the investigation into allegations of sexual harassment continued, Moshe Katsav was advised to step down from his position of President of Israel.
2006: The seventh International Poetry Festival opens at Jerusalem
2006: The Washington Post book section features Haim Watzman’s review of Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew Across the Middle East Divide by Jeffrey Goldberg.
2006: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interesting includingJourney to a Revolution: A Personal Memoir and History of the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 by Michael Korda and the paperback version Wickett’s Remedy by Myla Goldberg.
2007: The Bank Leumi hosts a West End Gala as part of the UK Jewish Film Festival sponsoring a showing of the The Band's Visit.
2007:Jon Entinediscusses his new book, Abraham's Children: Race, Identity, and the DNA of the Chosen People, as part of a book forum at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington , D.C.
2007(17th of Cheshvan, 5768): St.-Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ehud Efrati, a 34-year-old father of three and the IDF's third casualty in Gaza Gaza
2007(17thof Cheshvan, 5768): Sixty-six year old Israeli comedian and actor Yisrael "Poli" Poliakov who was a member of “HaGashash HaHiver” passed away today
2007:Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
2007(17th of Cheshvan, 5768): Israel “Poli” Poliakov, actor, singer and member of the legendary comedy trio Hagashash Hahiver (The Pale Scout) died of cancer at Petah Tivkva’s Rabin Medical-Beilinson Campus at the age of 66.
2008: In Montreal, the demolition of Bens De Lux Delicatessen & Restaurant continued as the “vertical red Bens sign, that was visible for several blocks, was taken down.”
2008:The "Nextbook" series and the D.C. Jewish Community Center present a reading and discussion with Israeli writer David Grossman, author of The Yellow Wind, the novel Someone to Run Withand the newly-published Writing in the Dark: Essays on Literature and Politics, at American University Washington , D.C.
2008: “The First Basket,” a documentary about Jews and basketball opens in New York City
2008: The Twenty-Third Israel Film Festival opens in New York US Israel
2008(30th of Tishrei, 5769): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
2008: The 2008 Chicago Festival of Israeli Film opens tonight with the debut screening of "Waves Of Freedom."
2008:Plans for a Jerusalem museum dedicated to tolerance and coexistence got the final go-ahead to from Israel's Supreme Court, which rejected an appeal by Muslims who complained the site covers part of an ancient Muslim cemetery.
2009: David Sax comes to Manny’s Deli in Chicago to discuss the fate of Jewish delicatessen and promote his new book Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect Pastrami, Crusty Rye, and the Heart of Jewish Delicatessen. One question that might come up is can a Jewish delicatessen really be Jewish if it is not Kosher?
2009:The Greater Washington Council of NA'AMAT USA is hosting its Annual Book and Author Luncheon at Temple Emanuel in Kensington Md., featuring journalist Naftali Bendavid, author of "The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution," Barbara Graham, editor of "Eye of My Heart: 27 Writers Reveal the Hidden Pleasures and Perils of Being a Grandmother" and Washington Postwriter Steve Luxenberg, author of the memoir "Annie's Ghosts: A Journey Into a Family Secret."
2009: In Houston, TX, Heroes & Legacies presents a Kinky Friedman Cigar Event, featuring a visit by Texas’ greatest living Jewish iconoclast, Kinky Friedman.
2009: The New York Times featured a review of Eating:A Memoir by Jason Epstein
2010:Tamar Eisenman is scheduled to perform at the BAMcafe in Brooklyn NY
2010:Two packages addressed to Chicago-area synagogues containing explosive devices that were shipped from Yemen were intercepted today. Officials have not yet identified the synagogues but they have said that “ neither was addressed to the synagogue across the street from President Obama's Hyde Park home, where he is expected to spend part of the weekend while in Chicago.”
2010:The Jewish Museum in New York is opening a new exhibition, “Houdini: Art and Magic,” today and curator Brooke Kamin Rapaport says the entrance gallery will feature a replica stage projecting a life-size image of the great Jewish magician performing his water torture act.
2010: Dwight Garner reviewed “Must You Go? My Life With Harold Pinter” Antonia Fraser’s fond and affecting new memoir of the late playwright with whom she spent the last decades of his life.
2011(1st of Cheshvan): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
2011: Nathan Abramoff is scheduled to be called to the Torah as a Bar Mitzvah at Agudas Achim in Iowa City, Iowa.
2011: The Best of Chamber Music – Woodwinds Fest featuring Esti Hfafa (flute) Tibi Zeiger (clarinet), Miki Zohar (oboe), Alon Reuven (horn) and Mauricio Paez (bassioon) is scheduled to take place at the Tamir Music Center, Ein Kerem-Jerusalem
2011: The Hyman S & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival is scheduled to present an evening with Ursula Hegi, whose newest novel “Children and Fire “is set in the fictional town of Burgdorf, Germany in the early days of the Third Reich”
2011: 55th anniversary of the Sinai Campaign, Israel’s first successful major military operation against an Arab state dedicated to her destruction.
2011: 67th anniversary of the broadcast of a Jewish service at Aachen, Germany which was described as the first Jewish service to be held publicly on German soil since the rise of Hitler.
2011: The IAF struck an Islamic Jihad training camp today in southern Gaza Strip, killing a commander of the Palestinian faction and four of its munitions experts, officials on both sides said.
2011: Some 20 rockets and mortar shells were fired from Gaza into southern Israel today, killing one man and wounding four others.
2011:Some 20,000 people gathered tonight for a social protest at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, almost two months after the largest protest in Israel's history took place.
2012: Swedish Ambassador Hans Magnusson is scheduled to deliver a lecture entitled “Raoul Wallenberg, 100 years: will the riddle ever be solved?” at the Wiener Library in London.
2012: As Hurricane Sandy made its way up the East Coast of the United States the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington and area day schools were closed today as were the offices of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia.
2012(13th of Cheshvan, 5773):Jessie Streich-Kest, 24, who worked as a high school teacher in New York City, and Jacob Vogelman, a student at Brooklyn College were killed tonight “in Brooklyn by a falling tree during superstorm Sandy. (As reported by March Oster)
2012:U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Martin Dempsey was in Israel today to discuss a joint missile defense drill that began a week ago.
2012: Twenty Kassam rockets were fired into southern Israel early this morning, shortly after the Israeli Air Force struck terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip.
2013: The 25th annual Kosherfest is scheduled to open in Secaucus, NJ.
2013: The Arava Insitute Hazon Israel Bicycle Ride is scheduled to begin at Jerusalem.
2013: J.J. Abrams is scheduled to release S, a novel by Doug Dorst.
2013: Members of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and conductor/violinist Julian Rachlin are scheduled to return to New York for a jubilant one-night benefit engagement at Alice Tully Hall.
2013: At Temple Solel, Naomi Ragen is scheduled to discuss her latest novel, The Sisters Weiss.
2013: Signs purporting to be from the Israeli government were placed on dozens of military graves at the Mount Hertzl cemetery in Jerusalem today, in protest of the impending release of 26 Palestinian prisoners later today. (As reported by Gavriel Fiske)
2013: As Israel prepares to release 26 more terrorist prisoners as a "gesture" to the Palestinian Authority, Arutz Sheva presents a partial list of those slated for freedom.
2014: “Gett, the Trial of Vivian Amsalem” is scheduled to be shown at the Sydney Opening Night of the Jewish International Film Festival.
2014: The opening reception for “L’Chaim – To Life!” is scheduled to take place today in Portland, Oregon.
2014: The Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to host “Jewish Food For Thought” “featuring animated shorts and graphic novels by Hanan Harchol.
2014: The Center For Jewish History is scheduled to host “The Lost Jewish Music of Belarus.”
2014: The Wiener Library for the Study of the Holocaust & Genocide is scheduled to host the launch event for “The 1984 Anti-Sikh Pogroms Remembered.”
2014: The Tulane University Jewish Studies Department under the leadership of Dr. Brian Horowitz is schedule to host a “Panel on the Jewish Life in the Mississippi Delta” with Michael Cohen, Carol Mills and Anny Bloch-Raymon.
2014: In Washington, DC, the annual Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival is scheduled to come to an end.
2014: 85th Anniversary of the Stock Market Crash that trigged the Great Depression