January 17
395: Emperor Theodosius I passed away in Milan. During his reign he instituted several laws that directly impacted his Jewish subject. One “dealt with the obligation of Jews and Samaritans to acts as shipmasters over goods being transported.” A second law “gave the Jewish patriarchs the right to judicial autonomy in their communities…” A third law enacted in 393 forbade the destruction of synagogues. (As reported by Daniel O. McClellan)
1287: King Alfonso III of Aragon invades Minorca, making Minorca a part of Spain, a status that has survived into the 21st century, despite a brief period of British rule in 18th century. Judah Bonsenyor, Notary-general of Aragon, whose language skill enabled him to serve as an interpreter, was among those who accompanied the king during the invasion. Minorca has had a large Jewish population The Letter on the Conversion of the Jews by a fifth century bishop named Severus tells of the conversion of the island's Jewish community in AD 418. A number of Jews, including Theodore, a rich representative Jew who stood high in the estimation of his coreligionists and of Christians alike, underwent baptism. An act of conversion brought about, in fact, within a previously peaceful coexisting community by means of the expulsion of the ruling Jewish elite into the bleak hinterlands, the burning of synagogues, and the gradual reinstatement of certain Jewish families after the coerced acceptance of Christianity and its supremacy and rule in order to allow survival for those who had not already perished. Many Jews remained within the Jewish faith while outwardly professing Christian faith. Some of these Jews form part of the Xueta community. When Minorca became an English possession in 1713, the English willingly proffered an asylum to thousands of Jews from African cities[citation needed]. A synagogue was soon erected in Mahon.
1377: Pope Gregory XI, the prelate who had ordered the burning of Jewish books a year earlier, ended the Avignon Papacy when he moves the Papacy back to Rome from Avignon.
1449: In Toledo, Spain, 14 Conversos are put on trial and deprived of their offices because it is believed that their conversion to Christianity was not sincere and that they still cling to their Jewish ways. (Editor’s note – This was a common complaint among Christians who were upset that the Jews who adopted Catholicism were successful and in some instances supplanting them.)
1463:Ernest, Elector of Saxony and his wife Elisabeth gave birth to Frederick ii, the Elector of Saxony who protected Luther during that period from approximately 1514 to 1523 during which the Christian Reformer spoke positively of the Jews as can be seen from condemnation of the doctrine of “Servitude of the Jews and the essay “That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew.”
1466: King John of Sicily gave formal permission to Benjamin Romano to establish a Jewish University in medicine and law at Syracuse. The idea was not acted upon and 1492 the Jews were expelled by order of the Spanish crown including the 5000 Jews of Syracuse which was approximately 40% of the town’s population.
1504: Birthdate of Antonio Ghislieri, who as Pope Pius V expelled the Jews from Imola, Italy including its most famous citizen, Gedaliah ibn Yahya ben Joseph. Born in 1526, Gedaliah, studied under Jacob Finzi, Israel Rovigo and Abraham Rovigo, the noted Kabbalist and wandered around Italy after his expulsion until finally settling in Alexandria where he died in 1587.
1565: “Æquum reputamus” (We consider it equal) was issued by Pius V, the Pope who restored all of the anti-Semitic bulls of his predecessors, persecuted the Jews throughout the Christian world under his influence and eventually banished them from the dominions under his direct control.
1658: Birthdate of Samson Wertheimer. Born at Worms he would become chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt. He would gain fame as an Austrian financier, court Jew and Shtadlan to Austrian Emperor Leopold I. He passed away in Vienna in 1724.
1670 In Metz, Burghers of the city decided that it was financially beneficial to expel the Jews, and so concocted a ritual murder libel. Raphael Levy, a respected member of the community, was arrested, tortured and burned alive. The Royal Council later called it "Judicial Murder" and the Jews were not expelled.
1706: Birthdate of Benjamin Franklin who wanted the great seal to of the United States to depict the Israelites crossing the Red Sea and who responded to a fundraising request from Mikveh Israel with a contribution of £5. Like many of his contemporaries Franklin was a Deist who had his doubts about all organized religions but covered his bases by responding to charitable requests from various Philadelphia religious organizations.
1747: Birthdate of Marcus Herz, the native of Berlin who was a pupil of philosopher Emmanuel Kant before becoming a prominent German physician and lecturer who was appointed physician at the Jewish Hospital shortly after earning his MD in 1774.
1763: Birthdate of John Jacob Astor, fur trader and one of early America’s most successful businessmen. There is some question as to whether or not Astor was Jewish or just of "Jewish stock."
1789: At Göttingen, Emmanuel Mendel and his wife gave birth to David Mendel who converted and gained fame as “German theologian and church historian August Neander.”
1797: Birthdate of “Austrian physician and writer” Gideon Brecher, “the uncle, by marriage, to Austrian bibliographer and Orientalist Moritz Steinschneider” known for commentary on the "Cuzari" of Judah ha-Levi.
1812: Isaac Isaac who was born in Amsterdam in the 1740’s took the family name of Pampel and became Isaac Isaac Pampel.
1815(6th of Shevat, 5575): Sixty year old Isaac Simon passed away in Jamaica was interred a Jewish cemetery “located at Hunts Bay, across the harbor from Port Royal and midway between Kingston and Spanish Town.” The cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery on the island. (As reported by Irwin M. Berg)
1766: Birthdate of Amsterdam native Bele Salomon Kalman Asser Shochet,
1841: Birthdate of German banker and member of the Hamburg Parliament Siegmund Hinrichsen
1842: West London Synagogue of British Jews, the U.K.’s oldest Reform congregation, is opened.
1847: The board of Congregation Shangarai Chasset met at the Conti Hotel Street in New Orleans under the Presidency of L. A. Gunst. The board unanimously chose Dr. Hermann Kohlmeyer to serve as the congregation’s rabbi. Kohlmeyer would later give up his pulpit for a career in education, becoming professor of Hebrew and Oriental Literature at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University). The congregation was founded in 1827 as an Orthodox synagogue. In 1881 it merged with Nefutzot Yehudah to form Touro Synagogue, one of the Crescent City’s leading Reform Congregations.
1851: In Cayuga County, NY, where Albert Baham is on trial for the murder of Nathan Adler, a popular Jewish peddler, the prosecution completed its summation. The judge delivered the charge to the jury which then adjourned to begin its deliberation. By six o’clock the jury had found the defendant guilty as charged.
1852: The New York Times reviewed Disraeli's Life of George Bentick. "It is amusing to see that Disraeli does not forget to do homage to the Hebrew race in his new book, albeit nobody can tell what it has to do with the biography...He still affirms...that the greatest men, past and present are and were Jews. To do him justice, he tries hard to prove it by living examples --whether they are valid or not let the readers of the book determine."
1853(8thof Shevat, 5613): Samuel Jesi, the Milan born engraver whose first work was “The Abandonment of Hagar” completed in 1821 passed away today in Florence.
1863: Birthdate of Constantin Stanislavski, the Russian creator of “method acting” who assisted Nahum Zemach in the creation of Habima Theatre.
1863: Birthdate of David Lloyd George. Lloyd George was the British Prime Minister from 1916 through 1922. This meant that he led Britain to victory during World War I and was the leader of the peace negotiations. In this latter role he signed the Treaty of San Remo that officially ended the war with Turkey. Under the terms of the treaty “Palestine was declared a mandated territory” to be administered by Great Britain under the terms of the Balfour Declaration. Lloyd George agreed to this despite a great deal of anti-Zionist pressure some of which was generated by American missionary educators with interests in the Middle East.
1867: Birthdate of Minna Luise Ascher (nee Schneider) the wife of dental surgeon Dr. Hugo Ascher and mother of German artist Fritz Ascher who was a protégé of Max Lieberman.
1867: Birthdate of Karl Lämmle, the native of Württemberg who gained fame as Carl Laemmle one of the creators of the American cinema industry and the founder of Universal Studios.
1871: A Jewish peddler named Frank who has been plying his ware throughout Queens County was shot this evening while driving from Flushing to his home in Columbusville. The wounded Frank arrived at his home but nothing is known as to who might of shot him.
1876: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Charities, “an organization which embraces all the Hebrew charitable associations…and which cares exclusively for Hebrews” is the fifth leading charity in New York City. The association, with a central office at 238 East 5th, provides money, medicines, medical treatment, clothing, shoes and coal to needy Jews.
1882: Aletta Jacobs the first Dutch female physician opened her office. Yes, Jacobs, who was also a champion for the rights of women, was Jewish.
1882(26thof Tevet, 5642): Sixty –two year old Hungarian born Austrian journalist Simon Szanto who was the co-founder and editor of the weekly journal "Die Neuzeit," passed away today.
1883: John G. M’Kendrick delivered a paper today to the Philosophical Society of Glasgow in which he described the Lippmann electrometer “a device for detecting small rushes of electric current and was invented by Gabriel Lippmann in 1873.” (Lippmann was Jewish; M’Kendrick was not)
1885: Alphonzo Taft wrote to Secretary of State Frelinghuysen from the U.S. Legation at St Petersburg regarding reports that the Russian Minister of the Interior had ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Odessa and other cities “holding foreign passports” unless they had “permits of residence” which the government readily gives to non-Jews but rarely give to Jews.
1889(15thof Shevat, 5649): Tu B’Shevat
1890: (20th of Tevet, 5650):Salomon Sulzer passed away at the age of 85. While his name is known to few today, in his time he was a famous cantor and composer. “Born in 1804 in Hohenems, Austria, to a family of rich manufacturers, he was appointed cantor at the main synagogue in his hometown when only 16. He studied music in Vienna where he was chief cantor of the new synagogue from 1825 to 1881. His baritone voice attracted non-Jewish as well as Jewish admirers, among them Schubert, Schumann, and Liszt. In 1868 he was appointed knight of the order of Franz Josef. Sulzer's synagogue compositions became the models upon which congregations based their services throughout the year. His Schir Zion appeared in two volumes and while his music and innovations won only limited acceptance in Eastern Europe, they became standard in central Europe.”
1892: “Ancient Beliefs in Immortality” published today provides a summary of Reverend T.K. Chenye’s Rebuttal to former Prime Minister Gladstone’s contention that the Psalms which he says were written by David offer proof that the ancient Israelites believed in an afterlife. Chenye counters that the Psalms were probably written during the Babylonian exile and that the verses Gladstone attributes to a promise of heaven are actually a promise of a return to the homeland. (Editor’s note – This entry is fascinating for many reasons. First, that a Prime Minister would be engaged in a scholarly debate on such a topic and second the respect with which both of these Protestant leaders show for Jewish faith and traditions)
1892: It was reported today that the police still do not know the whereabouts or fate of David Blumenthal a wealthy Jewish businessman who disappeared in April, 1891. Before his disappearance, Blumenthal had been an inmate at the insane asylum at Amityville. At that time, his older son Henry took him from the asylum, went to the banks where his money was deposited and withdrew it all. The two men then boarded a steamer bound for Bremen where they appear to have disappeared.
1893: A.E. Greenwald and Chapman Raphiel visited President Grover Cleveland at the White House and invited him to attend the charity that was being hosted by the Jews of Philadelphia on the last day of January. Cleveland responded that he would “make a special effort to be present.”
1893: President Rutherford B. Hayes passed away. Born in 1822,Rutherford Hays was the first President to designate a Jewish ambassador for the purpose of fighting anti-Semitism. In 1870, he named Benjamin Peixotto Consul-General to Rumania. President Hays also was the first Chief Executive to assure a civil service employee her right to work for the Federal government and yet observe the Sabbath. (Not working on Friday nights and Saturday?)
1894: Birthdate of Hugo Chaim Adler the native of Belgium who became a successful German cantor and composer whose service in the Kaiser’s Army did not save him from being imprisoned by the Nazis for a year after which he fled to the United States.
1895: Dreyfus began his “trip” to French Guiana tonigt when he “was taken from the prison of La Sante and was transferred by rail to La Rochelle where he was then moved to the military prison on the Island of Re.
1895: Edward Lauerbach represented “the Hebrew Charities” at a conference in New York City prior to the announcement of what payments would be made to various charities by the city government.
1896: The first version of Herzl’s Judenstaat (The Jewish State) was published in the Anglo Jewish Newspaper, The Jewish Chronicle.
The Jewish Chronicle in London had a world scoop with a lengthy article on a “Solution of the Jewish Question” by Theodor Herzl. This was 2 days before Herzl finally secured a contract in Vienna for publication of the Judenstaat. Readers of the Jewish Chronicle were the first to have his ideas set out in print and they were cautioned by Herzl that “in this rapid account I run the risk of being misunderstood. My first and incomplete version will probably be scoffed at by Jews. ...I am introducing no new idea; on the contrary it is a very old one. It is a universal idea. …It is the restoration of the Jewish State.” Asher Myers, editor of The Jewish Chronicle had met Herzl a few weeks earlier at a dinner of the Maccabeans, a London club of Jewish professionals and establishment figures. He had been so impressed by Herzl’s views that he encouraged him to write them up for his newspaper. By the end of 1895, Herzl had completed his book and extracted a summary for The Jewish Chronicle. In an editorial entitled “A Dream of a Jewish State” Myers pointed at “the remarkable communication from Dr Herzl, adding that “we may safely assert that this is one of the most astounding pronouncements that have ever been put forward on the Jewish Question.” However, the editorial questioned whether the project would ever be realized. It concluded that Herzl had been prompted by a belief in the inevitability of spreading anti-Semitism. “Foreseeing coming storm all over the civilized world, there is in his view no possible escape from these catastrophes unless the Jews deliberately determine to remove themselves from the storm-laden atmosphere before the irresistible gloom breaks over them.” The Jewish Chronicle could not share Herzl’s thesis. Its Editor maintained that British Jewry did not see itself as victim of anti-Semitism and was convinced that it could insulate itself from its spread in continental Europe. “We find it hard to accept these gloomy prognostications (of universal anti-Semitism). We hardly anticipate a great future for a scheme which is the outcome of despair.” England consistently played a crucial role in Herzl’s efforts to mobilize support for the Jewish homeland. His success in winning the backing of Joseph Chamberlain, the Colonial Secretary, was of lasting significance. Arguably the British government’s decision to involve itself in the search for a Jewish homeland, even though nothing came of it in Herzl’s lifetime, was tantamount to endorsement of the right of Jews to be treated as a nation and was the first step in a sequence that eventually led to the Balfour Declaration. In stark contrast to Chamberlain as well as the then Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne, Britain’s leading Jewish families remained deeply skeptical, even fearful of Herzl’s project. If anything the gulf in Britain was even larger than in Vienna between assimilated middle and upper class Jews and the poor, more recently arrived immigrants from Eastern Europe clustered in London’s East End and a couple of other cities. Again and again Herzl vainly looked for financial commitments from the British branch of the Rothschilds and their wealthy friends. In the expectation that he could somehow persuade them that the investment was worthwhile, he established the headquarters of the Jewish Colonial Trust in London. Herzl did not only focus on the Jewish establishment. In London he also turned to the East End Jews, addressing mass rallies and deriving strength from their enthusiasm for his project. By drawing attention to them he was also warning that a growing influx of Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe forming distinctly un-British enclaves was bound to provoke anti-Semitism in England. Herzl thought this would graphically reinforce his case for a Jewish homeland. Only by diverting the immigration flow elsewhere could Britain be kept more or less free of anti-Semitism. Herzl met and recruited some of his most loyal collaborators, including Leopold Greenberg and Colonel Goldsmid in England. He courted and was courted by the British aristocracy and he secured the interest of important political figures like Joseph Chamberlain, Lord Lansdowne and William Gladstone and David Lloyd George who would later become the Prime Minister under whose watch the Balfour Declaration was adopted. Herzl also had the rare privilege as a foreigner to give evidence at the 1902 Royal Commission on Alien Immigration. Above all, England became Herzl’s fall-back in the search for territory after the failure of his long drawn-out negotiations with Turkey to secure Jewish settlements in Palestine. The alternatives - Cyprus, El Arish, East Africa - were in the British Empire. Herzl liked England, was comfortable in English society, admired its commitment to liberty and had great respect for the country as a colonial power. At one point he was on the verge of a permanent move to London as correspondent for the Neue Freie Presse.Herzl’s first contact with England actually goes back to 1888, when he went to the Isle of Wight, to Brighton, to the Thames Valley and to London as part of an extended summer trip to write travel sketches for the Neue Freie Presse. Five of his articles about the English summer scene were published. He also improved his English and learned to smoke a pipe instead of the habitual cigars, which he found far too expensive. He felt so much at home in the country that he hoped “if today the ‘Neue Freie Presse’ needed a London correspondent, I believe they would think of me.” However he was not to return to England until 1895 and the question of a London posting for Herzl did not arise until 1901, when the Neue Freie Presse agreed to his request for a transfer. While his wife Julie for once was in agreement, Herzl’s parents refused to move and Herzl promptly changed his mind. Herzl’s stay in England in 1895 was an all-important staging post in his quest for a Jewish homeland and set the scene for much of his future activities in England. Thanks to his close friend, Max Nordau, he had an introduction to Israel Zangwill, a prominent member of London’s Jewish community. He in turn facilitated a meeting with Colonel Goldsmid, with Hermann Adler, the Chief Rabbi and with Sir Samuel Montague. He also secured an invitation for Herzl to speak at one of the Maccabean dinners. Herzl was fascinated by the Goldsmid, a well-connected serving British officer who was an instant convert to the Jewish state and became an ally and collaborator. On the other hand, the Chief Rabbi, though hospitable and prepared to listen to Herzl’s arguments, failed to offer support. Responding to long-lingering criticism that he had cold-shouldered Herzl, the Chief Rabbi insisted in a letter published in The Jewish Chronicle in 1899, that “we gave him (Herzl) a fair hearing, discussed his plan in fullest detail and came to the conclusion that the (Herzl’s) proposal was fraught with serious peril and that its execution was impracticable.” Hermann Adler never changed his mind. Sir Samuel Montague at his first meeting with Herzl was a little more forthcoming than the Chief Rabbi, but claimed old age as an excuse for keeping his distance from Herzl’s project. He also warned Herzl to abandon any thought of seeking Jewish settlements in Argentina. Only Palestine could serve as a Jewish homeland. Argentina was struck from Herzl’s agenda. At the Maccabean dinner, according to Zangwill, it seemed as if “an unknown Hungarian dropped from the skies and gave the world the first exposition of his scheme in an eloquent mixture of German, French and English”. His impact on this sophisticated group seems to have been spell-binding. Herzl’s awareness of his ability to move audiences probably stems from this London experience. In his diary, Herzl noted tersely: “Meine Rede hat Beifall. Sie beraten leise unter sich und ernennen mich einhellig zum Ehrenmitglied. Folgen die Einwendungen, die ich widerlege. Die wichtigste: der Englische Patriotismus”. These assimilated Jews wanted nothing to do with any scheme that risked their acceptance in Britain as loyal British citizens. Herzl’s diaries show that in spite of obvious language difficulties, he had no illusions about the wide gulf between his ideas and the attitudes and beliefs of his new Jewish acquaintances in England. Most of them were practicing orthodox Jews who had no difficulty in reconciling their religion with integration into English society. Herzl on the other hand conceived of Jews as a nation; not as a race or as a religious group and no longer believed that assimilation was a solution to anti-Semitism. Writing in his diary about his discussions with Zangwill, he said “Er steht auf dem Rassenstandpunkt, den ich schon nicht acceptieren kann, wenn ich ihn und mich ansehe. Ich meine nur wir sind eine historische Einheit, eine Nation mit anthropologischen Verschiedenheiten. Das genügt auch fur den Judenstaat. Keine Nation hat die Einheit der Rasse.” After his experience with the Maccabeans, Herzl rightly judged that these English Jews saw him as a trouble-maker capable of undermining the secure position they had carved out for themselves in Britain. This however did not deter him from trying again and again to convince them to look at the larger picture of impoverished and persecuted Jews elsewhere in Europe and in need of a safe haven. The Times and other London newspapers were beginning to take some note of Herzl. They asserted that British Jewry was either indifferent or even sneering at him. The Jewish Chronicle also complained. The Jewish establishment was too insular. They “give no thought to their worse-off brethren”. The Jewish Chronicle, argued that “many English Jews seem (wrongly) to assume that to countenance the idea of a Jewish state meant that every Jew in England would be expected to pick up his wallet and join the pilgrimage to Jerusalem” In reality, what is required from British Jewry is solidarity with other Jews and understanding for the wider horizons of Jewish problems. Interest in Herzl’s ideas came from an unexpected source: In May 1896, after reading Herzl’s newly published Jewish State, William Gladstone, no longer Prime Minister but still a voice that counted in British political life, sent a hand-written letter to Sir Samuel Montague, stressing that he had found Herzl’s ideas “most interesting. (It is) not easy for one outside to form an opinion on it; perhaps even impertinent if it (the state) were formed. I am surprised however to see the misery of the Jews so broadly stated. Of course I am strongly anti anti-Semitic.” A year later, in July 1897, Gladstone came out more strongly in support of Herzl, who at that time was still trying to persuade Sultan Abdul Hamid to permit Jewish settlements in Palestine. In a letter to the Jewish Chronicle the grand old man of British politics wrote that “my inclination would be to favour any reassembling of Jews in Palestine under Ottoman suzerainty and under conditions of absolute religious liberty and equality.” Herzl had just been in London in yet another – vain - attempt to raise money from British Jewry in support of his efforts to win the Sultan over to his cause. Sir Samuel Montague made it clear to him that as long as the Rothschilds – and especially the Paris-based head of the family, Edmond de Rothschild – withheld support, British Jews would remain in the sidelines. But Montague made further near-impossible conditions before any substantial financial commitments would be made: Herzl noted in his diary that he would also be expected to secure “Die Zustimmung der Machte” and “dass der Hirschfond (the foundation set up by Baron Maurice de Hirsch) die disponible Summe, also 10 Millionen Pfund, hergebe.” Montague and some of his friends also cautioned Herzl against addressing a rally of Jews in the East End. “Es sei verfrüht und bedeute eine Aufrührung der Massen.” Herzl was undeterred. “Ich sagte, dass ich keine demagogische Bewegung wolle; aber im schlimmsten Fall – wenn die Vornehmen zu vornehm sein sollten – auch die Massen in Bewegung zu setzen.” The meeting in London’s East End went ahead. The Workingmen’s Club was packed. Herzl spoke for over an hour. They cheered him as a new Moses and Christopher Columbus. “Grosser Jubel, Hutschwenken, Hurrahrufe bis auf die Gasse”, wrote Herzl, adding “es hängt wirklich nur von mir ab, der Führer der Menschen zu werden; aber ich will nicht wenn ich irgendwie die Rothschilds durch meinen Austritt aus der Bewegung erkaufen kann.” Herzl added with evident pleasure that : “Im East End bilden sich spontan Komitees fur die Agitation. Programm: der Judenstaat!” A year later, early in October 1898 Herzl was again in London. His main purpose was to incorporate the Jewish Colonial Bank, the instrument which he hoped would attract sufficient capital to launch the Jewish homeland. But he again ventured into the East End to an audience that included a great many new Jewish immigrants. “Today I tell you: the time is no longer distant when the Jewish people will set itself in motion…Do you believe the Jews will go if we get the land?” “Answer me, answer me” Herzl cried. “Yes, yes,” roared the great crowd. The Jewish Chronicle carried two long and enthusiastic descriptions of the East End rally, and both reporters admonished London’s West End Jews – the Jewish establishment – for staying away from the event and not experiencing “what Jewish enthusiasm can really rise to.” At least 7000 people had turned up, many of them foreign Jews. It was “ a concourse of impoverished aliens led by a modern journalist in evening dress … who spoke in the purest of pure German” to an audience that best understood Yiddish or English. Yet “from the first word to the last he held the audience” and at the end they all rose to cheer him and give “Dr Herzl such a reception as, it is safe to say, no Jew ever received before in this country from his co-religionists.” However the significance of the rally was as much marked by the absentees as by those who were present. It had been “a gathering of the Jewish proletariat; while the upper and middle classes…were scarcely represented at all. The great movement seemed hardly to have caused a ripple on the placid surface of their daily life. It was for them as though the (recent) Congress of Basle and Dr Herzl had not been. Official Judaism waved the invader away and most of the clergy including the Chief Rabbi, kept at a distance.” They would have been wiser to come and learn from Dr Herzl “the much needed lesson that we can do with a few real leaders and that there is an enormous power for all kinds of incalculable good to rise at their bidding when they are found.” Editorial comment endorsed these strictures on the absentee ‘West End’ Jewry: They wanted “all the privileges of Englishness… They are not ready to forfeit what they have gained.” But there were clear signs that leading British Jews were misreading the British establishment. Instead of judging him as a mischief-maker, there was a great deal more interest in Dr Herzl’s message than British Jewry appeared to realise. Leading Conservatives, including the Prime Minister, Lord Salisbury, were taking note. So were senior clerics in the Church of England. There was nothing altruistic about this. It was a matter of self-interest: A Jewish state might indeed be the best way to check a fresh spate of unwelcome poor Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. Such a state, if it could be established in Palestine might curb Ottoman power and serve the strategic interests of Britain as a colonial power in the Middle East. British media interest in Dr Herzl had been growing steadily. Under the headline “Advent of the new Moses” The Pall Mall Gazettein July 1897 carried a lengthy interview with Dr Herzl. And in a prescient article, The Spectator speculated in September 1897, while the Basle Congress was in session, about the practicability of establishing a Jewish homeland: “We have no doubt the Jews desire it; so why should it not become a leading event of the next century? … It would be to the advantage of Europe by solving anti-Semitism.” But the paper also asked whether sufficient numbers of Jews would go, and whether wealthy Jews would find enough money to pay for the development of Palestine. The Times in one of its editorial comments asked: “If a Jewish state is to be founded, what is the guarantee of its national independence?” Herzl probably sensed the British mood more accurately than British Jewry. At any rate he decided to stage the 4th Zionist Congress in London with the obvious goal of using it to generate publicity and making Britain a firm ally for his cause. He was looking for British diplomatic intervention with Turkey, and if Palestine was unattainable for the time being, then perhaps Britain could be persuaded to offer Cyprus as a Jewish homeland. “England the great England, England the Free, England commanding all the sea – she will understand us and our purpose” Herzl told the 400 delegates. During his stay in London Herzl was warmly received in some of London’s great houses, and he made contacts in high places. This continued the following year in 1901, when he was treated as a celebrity both by the British and the Jewish establishment. “I am awfully dinnered” he wrote in his diary in English. “Society is curious about me. I am a sight not to be missed, a dish on the table; one comes to meet Dr Herzl.” There were no immediate dividends. He again failed to raise the millions of Pounds needed to underpin a Jewish state. But in 1902 events at last conspired both to put Herzl onto the national stage in Britain, and to bring about the meeting with the Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain that led to substantive negotiations over Cyprus, El Arish and Uganda/East Africa, and, arguably, was the genesis of the Balfour Declaration. Reacting to growing hysteria over the influx of cheap labour, the majority of them impoverished Jews from Eastern Europe and from Russia, the British government, torn between the same kind of calls for restrictions on immigration that we hear today, and Britain’s traditional open door policy, set up a Royal Commission for Alien Immigration to study the question. Herzl’s British followers proposed him as an expert witness. Lord Rothschild, the only Jewish member of the Commission, tried but failed to prevent the invitation to a man he had openly described as a demagogue and windbag. Rothschild then attempted to instruct Herzl on what to say to the Royal Commission. He should say nothing that might cause the Commission to question the principle of assimilation. Herzl refused to be guided. He would use his appearance to warn Britain that hundreds of thousands of destitute Jews were on the move. Unless they could be found a safe haven, they would move westwards, including England. In spite of this clash, it seemed to Herzl that Lord Rothschild for the first time was taking him seriously. That gave Herzl new hope that Rothschild coffers might after all be opened. On July 7 1902, Herzl appeared before the Royal Commission. Conscious that his broken English was inadequate for the occasion, he told them that the reason why Jews flocked to England and America was “a desire for freedom of life and soul which the Jew under present conditions cannot know in Eastern Europe.” Yet on arriving in their place of exile, Jews often found themselves still as aliens, provoking the very anti-Semitism from which they had fled. Wherever Jewish refugees went, Herzl argued, they created anti-Semitism. The problem could only be solved by finding them a home which will be legally recognized as Jewish. “The solution of the Jewish difficulty is the recognition of the Jews as a people and the finding by them of a legally recognized home, to which Jews in those parts of the world where they are oppressed would naturally migrate…This would mean the diverting of the stream of emigration from this country and America, where so soon as they form a perceptible number they become a trouble and a burden”. Much better to take them “to a land where the true interest would be served by accommodating as many as possible” Once Jews secure “their rightful position as a people, I am convinced they would develop a distinct Jewish cult – national characteristics and national aspirations – which would make for the progress of mankind.” Pressed by the Commissioners whether a policy of assimilation would not be a better solution to the Jewish problem, Herzl described himself as an assimilated Jew. But he went on to argue as much for the benefit of British Jewry as to the Commissioners that history demonstrates that sooner or later every Jew is confronted with anti-Semitism. If immigration continued, it would manifest itself in England too. But were the Jews really a nation, asked one member of the Royal Commission. Herzl’s reply was succinct. A nation – and not only a Jewish nation – is “ a historical group of men of intelligible and visible cohesion held together by a common enemy.” In the case of Jews, “the common enemy is anti-Semitism.” Lord Rothschild, as ever intent on preserving his place in British society, challenged Herzl whether “the fact of a man being a Zionist precluded him from being a good citizen and rendered it imperative that he be excluded from the country (where he has settled)?” Herzl countered that this was a rhetorical question. Rothschild countered: “Therefore the Commission can take it that a Jew or a body of Jews may share your views about Zionism and still be devoted citizens?” Herzl: Yes, and far more so than those who are not Zionists.” British Jewry was not happy with Herzl’s testimony. They felt that he had fanned British fears about the impact of immigration by foreshadowing a mass invasion of destitute Jews. They feared that his remarks had only served to fan anti-Semitism in a country he only understood imperfectly. The Royal Commission led to Britain’s first anti-immigration legislation. More immediately Herzl’s argument that a Jewish homeland would reduce the pressure of immigration helped to persuade Joseph Chamberlain to arrange a meeting with Herzl in October 1902. By then Herzl had reluctantly recognised that the Sultan was unlikely to strike a deal with him over Palestine. Other locations would have to be considered. That first meeting with Chamberlain lasted an hour, and it took Herzl a while to break the ice. Chamberlain’s expression, at first “eine unbewegliche Maske” only lit up after an amusing account of negotiating techniques in Turkey. Then Herzl bluntly turned to territories where England had the power to help – specifically Cyprus, El Arish and Sinai. As Colonial Secretary, Chamberlain was only able to talk with Herzl about Cyprus. And there he expressed immediate reservations. Cyprus had a Greek and Muslim population. They could not be displaced. “Wenn nun die Griechen sich gegen die jüdischen Einwanderen wehrten, wäre die Schwierigkeit fertig” wrote Herzl in his account of the meeting with Chamberlain. “Er (Chamberlain) habe ja nichts gegen die Juden. Im Gegenteil. Und wenn er zufällig einen Tropfen jüdisches Blut in seinen Adern hatte, wäre er stolz darauf. Aber voila; er hatte keinen Tropfen.” Herzl countered naively: Jews, he said, should be invited to Cyprus. Meanwhile a Jewish Eastern Company with a capital of £5million would be established for Sinai and El Arish, and the Cypriots “werden die Lust bekommen, auch den Goldregen auf ihre Insel zu kriegen. Die Mohammedaner ziehen weg, die Griechen verkaufen ihre Landereien gerne und ziehen nach Athen oder Kreta.” Herzl then realized that Chamberlain did not even know where El Arish was located. The ‘Mask’ laughed as they proceeded to look at a map. “Jetzt erst verstand er mich ganz – meinen Wunsch, einen Versammlungsplatz fur das jüdische Volk in der Nähe Palestina zu gewinnen.” Herzl could not detect any warmth in Chamberlain; but nevertheless felt jubilant that he had scored an important goal “Es war wie in einem grossen Trodelgeschäft, dessen Führer nicht ganz genau weiss, ob irgendein absonderlicher Gegenstand in den Magazinen existiert. Ich brauche ein Versammlungsland für das jüdische Volk. Er will mal nachsehen, ob England so was am Lager hat.” “Die kolossale Sache die ich erzielt habe, ist das Joe Chamberlain den Gedanken einer self-governing Jewish colony in der Süd-Ostecke des Mittelmeer zu gründen, nicht a limine abweist.” However having closed the door on Cyprus, Chamberlain decided to pass Herzl on to the Foreign Office to discuss the El Arish option with the Foreign Secretary, Lord Lansdowne. Herzl prepared a detailed memorandum for the encounter. But when they came face to face, Herzl’s English deserted him, and he continued in French. Lansdowne had no particular interest in the Jewish problem, and he made no commitments beyond asking for Herzl’s memorandum which he promised to pass on to Lord Cromer, Britain’s Consul-General – and virtual ruler – in Egypt. Lord Lansdowne wrote to Lord Cromer that he had been “favourably impressed by Herzl. His idea is to get hold of a tract near El Arish and there to establish a colony of carefully selected Hebrews. I suggested, but not with much effect, that they were unlikely to make good settlers and that El Arish was not exactly the spot upon which to dump Jews from the East End of London or from Odessa. He told me that he and his friends were sending out at once to Cairo a Mr Greenberg to collect information…. I think he should be civilly received by the authorities, although it is impossible for me to express any opinion on the merit of the scheme which seems to me very visionary.” A few days later Herzl received the invitation to dispatch a Commission to the Sinai. He described this as an “historic document”, but Cromer felt that Egyptian nationalism was becoming troublesome enough without injecting a fresh element of tension. Moreover experts warned that water supplies would be inadequate and that it would be far too expensive to divert the waters of the Nile to El Arish. Once Cromer set his face against it, the El Arish project faltered and in April 1903 Herzl was back in London to plead with Chamberlain. The Colonial Secretary, having just returned from an extended trip to Africa had a new idea: he had come across a country that would suit Herzl’s project. It was Uganda (the tract of land he had in mind was actually in Kenya). Herzl, writing an account of the meeting quoted Chamberlain: “An der Küste ist’s heiss; aber im Inneren wird das Klima vorzüglich fur Europäer. Sie können dort Zucker und Baumwolle pflanzen. Da habe ich gedacht, das ware ein Land fur Dr Herzl. Aber der will ja nur nach Palestina oder in die Nähe gehen!” Herzl’s first reaction was indeed negative. As a first priority Jews must have a national home in or near Palestine. “Später können wir auch Uganda besiedeln, denn wir haben Massen von Menschen, die zur Emigration bereit sind.” Further reflection of course convinced Herzl that it would be tactically wiser to explore the “Uganda” option as a way of keeping open the door to negotiations with Britain to secure a firmer commitment to the principle of a Jewish national home. But there was even a more pressing reason for considering the “Uganda” option: coinciding with the Kishinev massacre, Herzl felt the need for rescue was so pressing that any offer of a safe haven, even far from Palestine, had to be embraced. There is no need here to go into the bitter controversy that ensued within the Zionist movement. But it is worth noting that they could have spared themselves much grief, given that British settlers in Kenya were in any event so opposed to the prospect of Jewish immigrants that the Britain could not have imposed the scheme. Herzl’s death in 1904 prompted many eulogies in Britain as much as elsewhere. Here I will give The Jewish Chronicle the last word. “It is hard to believe that this imposing figure, who seemed to personify the romance as well as the travails of his people has passed into eternity… Dr Herzl with his great argument had stirred the race as no internal Jewish force had done for many a year…. He gave Jewish solidarity a new meaning. He made people of this earth realize that there is a Jewish question to be solved” His achievement was that “it has become a matter of practical politics which fills the reviews and opens the mouths of reticent statesmen and prompts offers of Jewish colonies. “Has the great movement run its course?” The organ of British Jewry was pessimistic. “Zionism without Herzl seems as illogical and unthinkable as Zionism without Zion, or a monarchy without a throne.” It turned out that they were wrong.1896: Birthdate of Hugo Chaim Adler the Belgian-born American composer, cantor, and choir conductor who was the father of composer and conductor Samuel Adler.
1897: It was reported today that the United Hebrew Charities has had so many applications for assistance that it will run out of money by the end of the month if it does not receive additional contributions.
1897: Rabbi Kaufman Kohler officiated at the funeral of Leon Sternberger, the cantor emeritus of Temple Beth-El. Following the services which were held at Temple Beth El, interment took place at Machpelah Cemetery on Long Island.
1898: At Marseilles, France a crowd paraded through the streets crying “Death to the Jews” and “Shame upon Zola.
1898: During an anti-Dreyfus meeting being held at the Tivoli Vauxhall, “the members of the anti-Semite Committee displayed banners bearing the inscription “Death to the Jews…”
1898: As the “Dreyfus Affair” continued to enflame the French, it was reported that Louise Michel and Sebastian addressed a meeting sponsored by the Socialists during which they denounced the secrecy surrounding the recent trial of Count Esterhazy. (He, not Dreyfus, was the French spy who betrayed secrets to the Germans.)
1898: It was reported today that during 1897, 699 children ranging in age from 9 to 17 have been admitted to the Sabbath School operated by the Hebrew Technical School for Girls.
1898: It was reported today that William Lloyd Garrison has sent a letter to the President of the Immigration Restriction League criticizing a bill that has been introduced by Senator Lodge that would sharply limit immigration to the United States. (This was one of several attempts to put an end to immigration that would be introduced over the next twenty years. These proposals struck an sensitive chord among the Jewish community which was split on the issue.)
1898: Funeral services were held this morning forLazarus Straus, a New York merchant and philanthropistat Temple Beth-El. Dr. Kaufman Kohler delivered the eulogy, and Dr. Silverman served as the cantor.
1899: Birthdate of Robert Maynard Hutchins no nonsense educator and civil libertarian. When asked about the role big time athletics on the college campus, Hutchins is reported to have replied, athletics is to a college education what bull fighting is to agriculture. Hutchins was not Jewish. But as a major intellectual figure of his time, he presents an interesting paradox in understanding Jewish relations with the non-Jewish world. On the one hand, Hutchins was praised in an article in the Chicago Jewish Historical Society’s publication “Chicago Jewish History” for his willingness to sponsor and hire German Jewish intellectuals fleeing Hitler in the 1930’s. At the same time he was an active member of the anti-war and anti-Semitic America First Movement. As a leader of America First, Hutchins was one of those who dismissed testimony about the savagery of the Germans as lies and Jewish propaganda.
1904:Herzl leaves for Italy where his travels will take him to Venice, Florence and Rome.
1909: Dr. Stephen S. Wise the Rabbi of the Free Synagogue, delivered a speech this morning advocating the acceptant of the million dollar bequest by the late Louis Heinsheimer. The bequest was conditional on the formation of a federation of Jewish charities, a move that Wise supported because he thought that it would improve the quality and quantity of services provided to those in need.
1909: New York State Supreme Court Justice Irving Lehman addressed the annual meeting of the New York Hebrew Infant Asylum at Tuxedo Hall. Lehman called for additional support of the asylum which is caring for 153 Jewish orphans. Due to a lack of an adequate facility this means that 450 Jewish orphans under the age of 5 are being cared for by Catholic and Protestant institutions. Charles Dittman was re-elected as the President.
1911: Birthdate of Moshe Carmel, the native Minsk who made Aliyah in 1924, helped to establish Kibbutz Na’an and commanded the Carmeli Brigade during the War of Independence before pursuing a political career.
1915: “The Jewish Race” published today provides Joseph Jacobs’ review of Jewish Life in Modern Times by Israel Cohen.
1917: In Hoxter, Germany, “Dr. Leo Pins a veterinarian and his wife Ida Lipper” both of whom would be murdered at the Riga Ghetto in 1944, gave birth to Israeli woodcut artist and art collector Jacob Pins who was a protégé of Jacob Steinhardt another German born artist forced to flee from the Nazis.
1917: Birthdate of Czech-born Canadian composer Oskar Morawetz.
1920: Birthdate of Nora Koreff, the Brooklyn born ballerina known as Nora Kay who married violinist Isaac Stern in 1948.
1921: T.E. Lawrence (known as Lawrence of Arabia) told Winston Churchill that Emir Feisal ‘agreed to abandon all claims of his father to Palestine’ since the British had agreed to Arab sovereignty in Baghdad, Amman and Damascus.
1925: Today, “in order to resolve socio-economic difficulties of the Russian Jews and promote agricultural labor among them, the CPSU formally created a government committee, the Komzet, and a complementary public society, the OZET.”
1926: Birthdate of Yitzhak Moda'I, the native of Tel Aviv who graduated from the Technicion beforge starting a long political career.
1926: Nine year old violinist Yehudi Menuhin appeared in a recital in New York
1927(14th of Shevat, 5687):Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted passed away. Born in 1853, he was the founder of Shell Transport and Trading Company which later became Royal Dutch Shell.
1928: In Hammersmith, London, Sephardi Jews Betty and Jack Sassoon gave birth to Vidal Sassoon, who to most people was the noted hairdresser and businessman. But for Jews he is also the 20 year old who in 1948 went to Palestine, joined the Haganah and fought during the War for Independence. “He describes the year he spent training with the Israelis as ‘the best year of my life. When you think of 2,000 years of being put down and suddenly you are a nation rising, it was a wonderful feeling. There were only 600,000 people defending the country against five armies, so everyone had something to do.’ Sassoon's dark brown eyes are on fire when he talks of his war memories. ‘We took a hill and attacked at four in the morning, took them by surprise. It was a hill overlooking a main road where the Egyptian heads of the army were heading. If they had passed this spot they would have been in Tel Aviv in a few hours but we took them.’” (As reported by Chirssy Iley)
1932: In Brooklyn, celebration of the 25thanniversary of the founding of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association
1933: Media mogul and right-wing political leader who thought he could use the Nazi Party to his own advantage met with Hitler today.
1934(1st of Shevat, 5694): Rosh Chodesh Shevat
1934: Birthdate of Shari Lewis. Lewis would gain fame as a ventriloquist and puppeteer who created Lamb Chop.
1935: The American committee responsible for the selection of the United States teams that will compete in the Second Maccabiah announced the schedule for the trials which will be held in New York City and Newark, NJ next month. Pincus Sober chairs the committee selecting the track and field team. Charlotte Epstein chairs the committee selecting the swimming team. Ernest Koslan chairs the committee selecting the tennis team.Ben Levine chairs the committee selecting the boxing team. Nat Osk chairs the committee selecting the wrestling team.
1936: “Rabbi Moshe Avigdor Amiel of Antwerp was today formally inducted as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and Jaffa in the presence of an assemblage of about 100 rabbis of this all Jewish city and vicinity.” (JTA)
1938(15thof Shevat, 5698): Tu B’Shevat
1938: The Palestine Post reported that a passerby was injured when a missile was hurled at the Workers' Cooperative restaurant on Jaffa Road, shattering all windows.
1938: The Palestine Post reported that the Soviet government ordered the immediate closing of the Meyerhold State Theater in Moscow as being an institution "alien to Soviet art." Vsevolod Meyerhold, the director, was accused of showing "alien mentality." Meyerhold’s family origins were German Jewish although Meyerhold himself was a Lutheran. In the world of Stalin, Meyerhold could have fallen out of favor because he was “German,” “Jewish” or “both.”
1939: Felix Frankfurter was confirmed as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court by a voice vote of the U.S. Senate today.
1939: The Nazi government issued a decree regarding the expiration of permits for Jewish dentists, veterinarians and pharamicists.
1940: “A strong desire for economic cooperation between the Arabs and Jews of Palestine to overcome common difficulties was demonstrated today when Arab and Jewish citrus farmers and traders met in Petach Tikvaah. The meeting was the first of its kind since the start of the Arab uprising in 1936. The Jewish Farmers Federation sponsored the meeting which was attended by 700 Jews and over 100 Arabs “who represented orange-growing belt of Palestine.” The Arabs included a wide range of political views who were united in a willingness to work with the Jews in “presenting the citrus growers’ grievances to the” British government. “The conference elected a delegation of nine Jews and nine Arabs to meet the High Commissioner. The delegation will go to London if the local government meetings do not bring about meaningful improvement.
1941: When German planes were bombing Tel Aviv tonight, they dropped “a large projectile in an orange grove behind Tel Aviv where it caused a deep crater and other damage.”
1943: Berlin Bishop Konrad Graf von Preysing, the only top German Catholic prelate who consistently opposes the German government's Jewish policies, threatens Pope Pius XII, saying he will resign unless the collaborative behavior of the other German bishops comes to an end.
1943: In Italy, the Battle of Monte Cassino, which was filmed by a Polish military unit that included Michał Waszyński, began today.
1945: The Red Army entered Budapest and the remaining 120,000 of the original 470,000 Jews would now be safe from any further disaster.
1945: Final roll call is taken at Auschwitz: 11,102 Jews remain at Birkenau; 10,381 women in the Birkenau women's camp; 10,030 at the Auschwitz main camp; 10,233 at the Monowitz satellite camp; and about 22,800 in the remaining factories in the surrounding region;
1944: The Nazis used the guillotine to behead Max Sievers, one of those non-Jews who opposed their regime
1945: The Soviets arrest Raoul Wallenberg, whom they cynically suspect is using his humanitarian efforts for the Jews to cover his collaboration with the Germans or the Western Allies (the War Refugee Board was sponsoring him)
1945: The SS Dornau which became known as the "slave ship" after the SS and Gestapo transported 540 Jews from Norway to Stettin, from where they were taken by train to Auschwitz, set sail from Oslo today bound for Drøbak – a journey that she did not complete because she was blown up by explosives planted on the ship by saboteurs.
1945: SS guards at the Chelmno, Poland, death camp play "William Tell" by shooting at bottles placed on the heads of Jewish inmates who have been engaged in demolishing the camp's crematoria. In the evening, the remaining Jews are led from their barracks in groups of five and shot. One of the prisoners, Mordechai Zurawski, stabs an SS guard and escapes despite suffering a gunshot wound to the foot. A second inmate, Shimon Srebnik, also survives after being shot through the neck and mouth and left for dead. Forty-seven other Jewish prisoners at Chelmno, aware that the SS will shoot them before fleeing west ahead of the Soviets, take refuge in a building that is then set afire by the SS. Jews who run from the blaze are machine-gunned; only one of the original 47 survives. The SS abandons the Chelmno camp later in the day.
1945: The Soviet Army entered Warsaw. Only 200 Jews of more than a half a million had survived
1945: SS began killing the special Commando group of Jews at Chelmno that was used to help dismantle the camp over the past three months. Forcing them to wear bottles on their heads, the SS took target practice.
1945: Birthdate of David Pleat “an English football player turned manager and sports commentator.”
1945: The Nazis began the evacuation of the Auschwitz concentration camp as Soviet forces approached. Elie Weisel describes this event in his first book Night.
1948: The British brought the mutilated bodies of the 35 Jews to the Etzion bloc where they were to be buried in a common grave. The dead were the members of a platoon of volunteers that had been sent from Jerusalem to reinforce the beleaguered Etzion fighters.
1949: The Goldbergs, starring Gertrude Beg as Molly Goldberg, moves from radio to television as it premiers on the CBS television network.
1949: Birthdate of Andy Kaufman. An actor and comedian, many would come to know him as Latka Gravas in the sitcom Taxi.
1950(28th of Tevet, 5710): Mrs. Aaron (Annie) Goldberg, the paternal grandmother of Sir Martin Gilbert passed away at the age of 78. Born in Poland when it was part of the Russian Empire, she arrived in Great Britain in the last decade of the 19th century.
1951 (10th of Shevat, 5711):At a gathering of Chassidim marking the first anniversary of the passing of the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, the late Rebbe's son-in-law, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, delivered a Chassidic discourse (maamar) entitled Basi L'Gani ("I Came into My Garden"), signifying his formal acceptance of the leadership of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.
1952: While serving his second term as Prime Minister, Winston Churchill addresses a joint session of the U.S. Congress during which he proudly reminds those in attendance of his long support of the Zionist cause and the creation of a Jewish state.
1955: Submarine USS Nautilus began the first nuclear-powered test voyage. This marked a major milestone in Admiral Hyman Rickover’s vision of a nuclear-powered Navy.
1959: Birthdate of Susanna Hoffs lead singer with “The Bangles.”
1962: Dancer Melissa Hayden premiered the role of Titania in Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, a part created especially for her.
1963: It was reported today that “a Soviet newspaper has confirmed that Solomon Mikhoels, noted Yiddish actor and director was murdered by Soviet Secret Police. At the time of his death, it the Communist regime claimed that he had been killed in an automobile accident. In fact, his death was the precursor to a Stalinist ant-Jewish purge that claimed the life of several hundred Jewish writers including David Bergelson. At the time of his murder, Mikhoels was working on a production of “Prince Reubeini” a play by Bergelson that depicted the expulsion of the Jews by the Ferdinand and Isabella.
1965: His Eminence Pierre-Marie Paul Gerlier, Cardinal Archbishop of Lyonwho was named aRighteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1981 passed away today.
1966: Simon and Garfunkel release their second album, Sounds of Silence, on Columbia Records.
1966: Zvi Dinstein begins serving as Deputy Minister of Defense.
1970 (9th of Shevat, 5730): The writing of the "Sefer Torah for the Greeting of Moshiach," initiated at the behest of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in 1942, was concluded 28 years later at a special gathering convened by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Friday afternoon, the 9th of Shevat, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak's passing.
1974(23rd of Tevet, 5734): Retired department store executive Ernest E. Ellman, the wife of Adele Heiman a leader of the Arkansas Jewish community and the widow of Jesse Heiman, passed away today.
1978: “The offices of the Federation of Jewish Societies, an association of small social and cultural organizations, were damaged by an explosion” today in Paris.
1978: Janet Maslin reviewd “Operation Thunderbolt” a film about the Entebbe Raid.
1978: The Jerusalem Post reported that US Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who arrived in Jerusalem to participate in the deliberations of the Egyptian-Israeli political committee, had brought with him a jointly agreed agenda which included the declaration of principles which would govern the negotiations for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East. The agenda was to provide a guide for negotiations relating to the issues of the West Bank and Gaza (the Hebrew version read "Judea, Samaria and Gaza") and included the elements of peace treaties arrived at by Israel and its neighbors, in accordance with Security Council Resolution 242. Vance had also proposed a plan for a transitional period which would eventually lead to something more close to the "self-determination" of the Arabs in Palestine.
1980: “Suite of Dances” (from Dybbuk Variations), a ballet made by New York City Ballet balletmaster Jerome Robbins from his 1974 Dybbuk ' premiered at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center;
1982(22ndof Tevet, 5742): Ninety-three year old “Yetta Zwerling, an actress and comedian of the Yiddish theater” passed away today.
1985: Canada made Raoul Wallenberg its first Honorary Citizen today.
1985: Canada designated this date as Raoul Wallenberg Day.
1986: Samuel Hadas was named as Israel’s Ambassador to Spain as Israel and Spain establish diplomatic relations today.
1987: Two Israeli helicopter gunships strafed Lebanese guerrillas today who had just overrun a position of the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army, the police said. Israeli gunners then showered the newly occupied post with about 70 mortar bombs, they said. A South Lebanon Army source in Tel Aviv said the army had repelled an attack by dozens of Party of God fighters near Taibe, which is close to Alman. But it was unclear if the militia source was referring to the same fighting. The reported capture of the post was the latest in a series of attacks by Shiite guerrillas against Israeli and Lebanese troops in Lebanon
1988: Birthdate of actress Nikki Reed.
1988: An article entitled “Retracing Jewish History In Austria,” by Paul Hoffman is published on the 330th anniversary of the birth of Samson Wertheimer.
1990: Simon & Garfunkel were inducted into Cleveland's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
1990:The United States criticized Yitzchak Shamir today for his call for a ''big Israel'' to absorb a flood of immigrants from the Soviet Union.
1991:Israel declared a state of emergency early this morning, minutes after word reached here of the American attack on Iraq. The authorities advised all Israelis to stay in their homes, open their chemical warfare kits and make their gas masks ready for immediate use. Iraq has said that it would retaliate against Israel for any allied attack on Iraq.
1991: Iraq fired 8 SCUD missiles on Israel. Israel had agreed that it would not respond and leave the destruction of the SCUD launchers to the Coalition Forces fighting Iraq. This marked the first time in Israel’s history that it relied on others for its defense.
1992: In a “Festival of New Voices From A Changing Israel,” published today, Jennifer Dunning waxes poetic over “Israel: The Next Generation” which she describes as “a festival with a difference.”
1993: The Dance Library of Israel will present its annual Documents of Dance Award to Dame Alicia Markova, the English prima ballerina, today at Tavern on the Green. The late Gower Champion will also be honored, with his son Gregg accepting the award. The event, including a reception, followed by a dinner and entertainment, will benefit archival and educational projects of the library in Tel Aviv.
1997: Israel handed over its military headquarters in Hebron to the Palestinians as part of the peace process that began with the Oslo Accords. The entire Jewish population had been forced to abandon its homes in Hebron in 1936 because of Arab violence. In 1968, the Jews returned to this ancestral city. While the Israeli government may have surrendered sovereignty, the Jewish settlers remained.
1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Language and Solitude:Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma by Ernest Gellner, Ben Shan:An Artist's Lifeby Howard Greenfeld, The Way of the World: From the Dawn of Civilizations to the Eve of the Twenty-first Centuryby David Fromkin and Snowwritten and illustrated by Uri Shulevitz.
2000:Syrian-Israeli negotiations that had been scheduled to resume on Wednesday, January 19, in the United States were canceled today. Apparently the cancellation was the result of conflict between Syrian President Asad and PLO leader Yassar Arafat.
2003: According to reports published today the Toronto Raptors terminated the contract of the rookie center Nate Huffman, saying he had failed to inform the team of a history of knee problems. The 7-foot-1 Huffman signed a three-year, $5.1 million contract with the Raptors over the summer after playing for the Israeli League champion Maccabi Elite Tel Aviv last season.
2003:Two Palestinian gunmen attacked an isolated Jewish settlement near the embattled city of Hebron tonight, killing one Israeli and wounding three others. One of the attackers was killed while the other escaped. In the attack tonight, the two gunmen knocked on the door of what was described by Israeli radio as a trailer home on an isolated hilltop in the Givat Harsina settlement just north of the settlement of Qiryat Arba, known for its strongly Zionist views. An Israeli military spokesman said nine people were inside at their Sabbath dinner around 7:30 p.m. The man who answered the door shot and killed one of the the assailants, but fell dead in the exchange of gunfire. The family's 4-year-old daughter and two other people were wounded. The army said a second assailant escaped and apparently managed to flee into the nearby Palestinian city of Hebron.
2004: “This Day In Jewish History” which was started as a supplement to the Jewish History Class at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, first appeared on this date with this single, solitary, entry. “1945: Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, credited with saving tens of thousands of Jews, disappeared in Hungary while in Soviet custody on January 17, 1945. As we will learn when we study about the Jews and World War II, nobody really knows what the Soviets did with Wallenberg or why they did it. What we do know that he was a Righteous Gentile. We know that he was a Swedish diplomat who went to Hungary during the closing months of World War II who used everything from bribes, to threats, to old fashioned Chutzpah to keep boxcar after boxcar filled with Jews from reaching Auschwitz. It is ironic that he should have survived the Nazis and their Hungarian allies only to perish at the hands of the Soviets who were part of the Anti-Nazi coalition. Regardless of why he did what he did and the fate he suffered, he is living that people could have at least slowed down the German killing machine. He is also living proof that one person can make a difference. Because of what he did for the Jews, we must do as he did and stand up for those whom known one else will stand up for. As we will see, studying Jewish history is not just about the dead past, it can be call to action for present and future generations”
2005: In London, survivors of the Lodz Ghetto gathered in London to view the unpublished photographs that Henry Ross had taken of the ghetto. Ross was the official of the photographer of the Jewish Council. Ross hid over three thousand negatives when the Germans liquidated the ghetto and shipped the survivors to Auschwitz. Ross survived the war and moved to Israel where he died in 1991. His son gave the collection of photos to the Archive of Modern conflict in London in 1997. One hundred of the images were published in 2004 in the Lodz Ghetto Album.
2006: Haaretzreported that this year will mark the first time in history that there will be as many Jews living in Israel as in the United States, according to statistics presented at a Jewish Policy Planning Institute conference.
2007: Dan Halutz announced his resignation as IDF Chief of Staff.
2007: As part of its “Jewish Season” The Theater for a New Audience in New York City presents The Jew of Malta.
2008:In Jerusalem atSergey`s Courtyard in the Metunah Auditorium,The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) presents a World Music concert, a combination of original elements with the traditions of different cultures.
2008:Today,the mayor of Berlin and the head of Germany's Jewish Council denounced an attack on five Jewish teenagers by a group of punks.
2008:Today, terrorists in the Gaza Strip fired more than 40 Qassam rockets and two mortar shells at southern Israel, wounding four people.
2008: “November” a play about a sitting president by Jewish playwright David Mamet opened at the Barrymore Theater in Manhattan.
2009: Initial screening of “Zion and His Brother,” a family drama set in Tel Aviv, at the Sundance Film Festival.
2009 (5769): Jews all over the world begin reading Shemot, the second book of the Torah.
2009: Fifth Anniversary of what would become known as “This Day In…Jewish History.”
2010: A memorial service is held for Sylvia Kalnitsky, of blessed memory, at Agudas Achim in Iowa, City. Sylvia Kalnitsky, of blessed memory, is the mother Kathe Goldstein a pillar the Cedar Rapids Jewish Community.
2010:Robert M. Edsel discusses "The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves, and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History" (written with Bret Witter) at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
2010:The Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities and the Department of Scandinavian Studies at Augustana College is scheduled to host a screening of “Good Evening, Herr Wallenberg” in Rock Island, Il. January 17th marks the 65th anniversary of the arrest and disappearance of Raoul Wallenberg, who is credited with saving as many as 100,000 Jews during a remarkable mission to Budapest near the end of World War II.
2010: Sixth Anniversary of what would become known as “This Day In…Jewish History.”
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime co-authored by Mark Halperin.
2010: The Los Angeles Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including '36 Arguments for the Existence of God: A Work of Fiction' by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein.
2010: The Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Game Change: Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime co-authored by Mark Halperin.
2010: The 10th annual Atlanta Jewish Festival is scheduled to present a screening of “The Wedding Song,” a film about “two teenage girlfriends, a Muslim and a Jew, who bond intensely during the Nazi occupation of the North African nation of Tunis.”
2010: The 139h annual New York Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to present the New York premiere of “The Axe of Wandsbek,” a film that was “adapted from the 1947 novel by Arnold Zweig.” Set in 1934, the movie “follows a man who is paid by the Nazis to serve as a public executioner and goes on to be rejected by his community” and forces the viewer to consider “the role that common citizens played in Nazi crimes.”
2010:Pope Benedict XVI said church authorities played an active role in saving Jews during the Holocaust, though "often hidden and discreet." Today, Italian Jewish leaders welcomed Pope Benedict XVI to Rome's main synagogue for a visit they said would help strengthen relations between Jews and Catholics
2011: Limmud NY which has been meeting at Hudson Valley Resort, Kerhonkson, NY is scheduled to come to a close.
2011: “Strangers No More”, a documentary about students at an “exceptional school” in Tel Aviv is scheduled to have its New York Premiere at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2011:Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak abruptly announced today that he was leaving the Labor Party — dividing the movement that dominated Israeli politics for decades and setting off a chain reaction that cast new doubts over already troubled peace efforts with the Palestinians
2011:Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog and Minorities Affairs Minister Avishay Braverman all submitted their resignation letters to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu today, ending speculation about whether any of the eight remaining Labor MKs would remain in the coalition.
2011(12thof Shevat, 5771)Seventy-six year old“Don Kirshner, the music publisher of Brill Building hits like “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin,’ ” who later served as a deadpan Ed Sullivan for Kiss, the Ramones and others with his 1970s television show, “Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert,” died today in Boca Raton, Fla., where he lived. (As reported by Ben Sisario)
2011: András Schiff joined 7 other Hungarian intellectuals and artists “
2011: Primary Stages, an Off Broadway theatre company announced today that its 2011-2012 season will open with “Olive and the Bitter Herbs,” a work by Charles Busch in which “the title character, Olive, finds herself reluctantly hosting a seder for the neighbors in her apartment building while contending with what she thinks is a ghost that she sees in her mirror.”
2011: Seventh anniversary of what is now known as This Day…In Jewish History
2012: Martin Menelsohn, the former counsel to Simon Wiesenthal and the Counsel to Holocaust Survivors in the Trial of John Demjanjuk is scheduled to deliver a noon-time address entitled “Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals in 21st Century Germany” in Washington, D.C.
2012: “Three Promises,” a documentary that uses the family photographs of sisters Breda and Matilda Kalef take viewers into the world of Sephardic pre-World War II Serbia and the dramatic story of their flight to safety is scheduled to have its world premiere at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2012:Frank Lautenberg & Thane Rosenbaum as scheduled to appear “In Conversation” at the 92nd St Y in Manhattan
2012: Eighth Anniversary of what is now known as “This Day…In Jewish History” which began with one item about the Soviets arresting Raoul Wallenberg in 1945.
2012:A recent string of cyber-attacks against Israeli credit card companies, banks, and government websites was aided by thousands of Israeli computers operated by remote assailants, a top Israeli software security expert said today.
2012:A nuclear-armed Iran could deter Israel from going to war against Tehran's guerrilla allies in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, a senior Israeli general said today.
2013: “Killing Them Softly” is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Southern Jewish Historian Janice Rothschild Blumberg is scheduled to deliver an address entitled “Prophet in a Time of Priests: Rabbi ‘Alphabet’ Browne”
2013: The Red Sea Jazz Festival is scheduled to open at Eilat.
2013: Canada is scheduled to release a postage stamp today honoring Raoul Wallenberg. (As reported by JTA)
2013: The JCCNV is scheduled to host “The Insider’s Briefing” which will prepare attendees for the trip to the state legislature in Virginia known as Jewish Advocacy Day. Currently the most powerful politician in Virginia is Eric Cantor, the lone Republican Jewish member of the House of Representatives who is House Majority Leader and a driving force in the Tea Party.
2013: “Skokie Invaded, But Not Conquered,” a film that “examines the personalities and issues connected to the attempted neo-Nazi March in Skokie in the late 1970s” is scheduled to be shown for the first time at the Illinois Holocaust Museum.
2013: Ninth Anniversary of what is now known as “This Day…In Jewish History” which began with one item about the Soviets arresting Raoul Wallenberg in 1945 and has continued to grow on a daily basis year in and year out. It originally was created to meet the needs of an Adult Education Program at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The current format is the creation of Deb Levin who is a one-woman tech support group for this endeavor. I really do appreciate all of the comments, questions and suggestions that you have sent over the years. And now it is time to get to work on the start of year ten.
2013:“A rare journal written by an unknown Jew in the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising there was unveiled this morning at a ceremony at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum in the presence of President Shimon Peres. In the diary, the writer, a 37-year-old Jewish lawyer, describes life in the ghetto, the Jewish underground fighters who were active there and his march to deportation.”
2013(6thof Shevat, 5773): Ninety-four year old Pauline Phillips, known as the creator of the advice column “Dear Abby” passed away today. (As reported my Margarlit Fox)
2014: The Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Hadassah is scheduled to sponsor their annual Tu B’Shevat Seder prior to Shabbat Evening Services at Temple Judah.
2014: “White Panther,” a film about the rebellion of Russian immigrant boys when their father dies while serving in the Israeli Arm, is scheduled to be shown in Jerusalem today.
2014(16thof Shevat): Yarhrzeit of century Hebrew novelist Perez Smolenskin and century Reform leader Aaron Bernstein two 19th century intellectuals with diametrically opposite views on how to solve “the Jewish problem”
2014: Students in the southern city of Ashdod whose schools are unprotected from rockets will stay home today, in light of fears of continued rocket fire out of Gaza. The decision was made following a second straight night of rocket attacks. The closure will affect approximately 3,500 students. (As reported by Joshua Davidovich)
2014: Tenth Anniversary of what is now known as “This Day…In Jewish History” which began with one item about the Soviets arresting Raoul Wallenberg in 1945 and has continued to grow on a daily basis year in and year out. It originally was created to meet the needs of an Adult Education Program at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The current format is the creation of Deb Levin who is a one-woman tech support group for this endeavor. I really do appreciate all of the comments, questions and suggestions that you have sent over the years. And now it is time to get to work on the start the second decade.
2014:Professor and scientist Daniel Schectman, who teaches at The Israel Institute of Technology, announced that he is running for president of Israel today on Channel 1 news.
2015: The Moroccan-Israeli superstar Emil Zrihan is scheduled to perform at Symphony Space.
2015: “The Mystery of Happiness” and “Paris is Burning” are scheduled to be shown at the New York Jewish Film Festival.
2015: The Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host a performance of “Rabbi Sam” about a cleric “who wants to reinvent American Judaism.
2015: Eleventh Anniversary of what is now known as “This Day…In Jewish History” which began with one item about the Soviets arresting Raoul Wallenberg in 1945 and has continued to grow on a daily basis year in and year out. It originally was created to meet the needs of an Adult Education Program at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The current format is the creation of Deb Levin who is a one-woman tech support group for this endeavor. I really do appreciate all of the comments, questions and suggestions that you have sent over the years as well as all of the sites that carry this blog and the editors at SEGULA who have provided a monthly format for highlights from the daily publication.