August 10 In History
1778: Gotthold Lessing, while having trouble sleeping, comes up with the inspiration for his play, “Nathan the Wise.”
1824: Under Czar Alexander I, all foreign Jews were prohibited from settling in Russia. Alexander I, after an initial period of liberalism, reverted to the anti-Jewish proclamations of his predecessors. It began with forbidding Jews to have Christian servants. After that came the prohibition of settlement. The culmination of his policies came just before when all Jews were banished from the larger villages in the Mohilev and Vitbesk districts.
1868(22nd of Av, 5628): Approximately three months after her last performance, Adah Isaacs Menken passed away while living in Paris. The cause of death was most likely peritonitis, tuberculosis, or the combined ravages of both. She was buried in the Jewish section of theMontparnasse cemetery in Paris
1888: The Immigration Committee chaired by Congressman Ford met today at the Westminster Hotel. While Ford and Congressman Guenther tried to paint a picture of an invasion of immigrant paupers, they were stymied by testimony of at least one Jewish witness. When Ford asked, “Do all the immigrants have the means of subsistence when they reach here?” the response was “If they have not, they are cared for by relatives and friends here. Certainly they do not become a charge upon the public. The records of the state Board of Charities will not show that a single Jew has been cared for by public charity.” (This sounds painfully familiar to those who have been listening to the current debate about immigration in the United States)
1893: James O’Mara and William Davison sole the pack of a Jewish peddler went he entered Patrick Devitt’s saloon in Brooklyn. Two policemen arrived and arrested the thieves.
1893(28th of Av, 5653): Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin passed away today in Warsaw. Born in Mir, Russia, in 1816, he “was also known as Reb Hirsch Leib Berlin, and commonly known by the acronym Netziv.” Berlin “was…dean of the Volozhin Yeshiva and author of several works of rabbinic literature in Lithuania.”
1895: “A score of charitable” people from Brooklyn who are spending the summer at Tannnersville, NY, hosted a fund raiser for the benefit of the Hebrew Santitarium.
1919(14th of Av, 5679):The Ukrainian National Army massacres 25 Jews in Podolia Ukrane
1938:Nuremberg
2010: The first public screening of “A Film Unfinished” is scheduled to take place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
2010: While testifying before the Turkel Committee today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak “placed the blame” for the botched flotilla raid “on the IDF, which he said was responsible for warning the government if ‘the mission cannot be carried out.’ In the case of the flotilla the IDF did not warn, Barak said.
2011: The DC Premiere “Maya” is scheduled to take place at this evening’s WJFF (Washington Jewish Film Festival) Friend-raiser Screener and Party
2011: Philip Levine was named today as the new poet laureate of the United States. Levine has an MFA through the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. His works include a "continuous examination of his Jewish immigrant inheritance.
612 BCE : Sinsharishkun, King of the Assyrian Empire was killed and his capital city of Nineveh was destroyed. This is the same Assyria that destroyed the Northern Kingdom and laid siege to Jerusalem Nineveh
70: According to sources, this is the date on the secular calendar when the Second Temple was destroyed.
117: Start of the reign of Hadrian as Roman Emperor. At first Hadrian seemed to be a friend of the Jews. He executed the anti-Jewish governor of Judea and promised to rebuild Jerusalem as a Jewish city. For some unknown reason, he turned against the Jews banning circumcision throughout the Empire and announcing the decision to build a major temple to Jupiter in Jerusalem. The Jews responded with what has become known as Bar Kochba's Rebellion. The fighting was intense on both sides and resulted in the complete desolation of the land by the Romans. Hadrian banned Jews from Jerusalem and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. He even had a copy of the Torah burned on the Temple Mount. Antonius Pius, Hadrian's successor repealed many of Hadrian's anti-Jewish decrees including the bans on Torah study and circumcision. But it was too late to save the Jewish community of the Promised Land.
1267: Birthdate of King James II of Aragon.James would prove to show greater toleration towards his Jewish subjects than his grandfather James I had. . He permitted Jewish refugees from France to settle in Barcelona. In recognition of Jewish financial support for his equipping his fleet, the King released many Jewish communities from paying their taxes for a period of several years. James also protected the Jews from popular anti-Semitic uprisings. In Barcelona in 1285, Berenguer Oller, announced that he planned to kill the local nobles and the Jews following which he would plunder their homes. The King intervened to prevent the violence. Whether he was more concerned about the well-being of the nobility or the Jews is unknown.
1391: The anti-Semitic rioting came to an end with Barcelona with an untold number of Jews converting at the point of the proverbial sword.
1391: Massacre of the Jews in Gerona, Spain.
1397: Birthdate of Albert II, who as Holy Roman Emperor Agreed to accept 900 gulden from the city of Augsburg in return for allowing them to expel their Jews.
1492: A large group of Jews from Spain, thousands strong, arrived in the Port of Naples. Jews from Sardinia soon joined them.
1675: The Portuguese-Jewish synagogue opens in Amsterdam.
1762: Birthdate of Joshua Montefiore, an English lawyer, soldier, and journalist who would eventually move to the Unites States where he “edited Men and Measures, a weekly political journal” before finally settling in St. Albans, Vt.
1778: Gotthold Lessing, while having trouble sleeping, comes up with the inspiration for his play, “Nathan the Wise.”
1794: Birthdate of Leopold Zunz also known as Yom Tov Lipmann Tzuntz, "the German Reform rabbi and writer who was the founder of what has been termed the "Science of Judaism" (Wissenschaft des Judentums), the critical investigation of Jewish literature, hymnology and ritual.
1810: Birthdate of Count Camillo di Cavour, the Italian statesman who was part of the triumvirate that created the modern Italian state. Cavour worked with Baron James de Rothschild who secretly provided the funds with which the Piedmont nobleman was able to fight the Austrian. Cavour enjoyed good working relations with members of the Jewish community, including “Isaac Arton, his confidential secretary and ‘faithful lieutenant’.”
1815: In an attempt to attract non-Hispanic Europeans to Cuba and Puerto Rico, the Spanish government issued the Royal Decree of Graces which allowed non-Spaniards to own land on the islands. While Jews did settle in the islands, the decree really did not work to their advantage since only Catholics were allowed to own land.
1818: In Bavaria, Suesel Schloss and his wife gave birth to Moses Schloss who would move to New and become a successful dry goods merchant.
1819: Anti-Semitic riots continue for a second day in Frankfort.
1821: Missouri becomes the 24th state to join the Union. Jewish immigrants, many from Germany, had settled in the area since its territorial days. The first known Jew settled in St. Louis in 1807. The first Jewish lawyer settled in St. Louis in 1817.
1824: Under Czar Alexander I, all foreign Jews were prohibited from settling in Russia. Alexander I, after an initial period of liberalism, reverted to the anti-Jewish proclamations of his predecessors. It began with forbidding Jews to have Christian servants. After that came the prohibition of settlement. The culmination of his policies came just before when all Jews were banished from the larger villages in the Mohilev and Vitbesk districts.
1854: The Jewish Theological Seminary of Breslau opened today.
1858(30th of Av, 5618): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1859: The New York Timesreported that “there has recently arrived in this City an eminent Jewish traveler, a Mr. Benjamin, the object of whose life hitherto has been to explore the interior of the Asiatic and African continents for the purpose of ascertaining the condition, occupations, hopes, of his Hebrew brethren.”
1861: The New York Times reported that “The past week Mr. J.J. Benjamin, a Moldavian traveler and Jew, has been in this city from California. This gentleman's ruling passion appears to be to find out the "Ten Lost Tribes," to accomplish which purpose, he states that he has already traveled over a great portion of the civilized and the uncivilized world. He thinks he has discovered a clue to those missing tribes in Northern Africa and in Asia. Whether or not any such clue exists in this Great Basin, the world will, perhaps, be informed of in due time.
[Editor’s Note: Mr. Benjamin and J.J. Benjamin are the same person. J.J. Benjamin was a Rumanian born Jewish businessman who became historian. Reportedly he modeled himself as modern day version of Benjamin of Tudela, the famous twelfth century Jewish traveler. He signed many of his writing as Benjamin II.]
1862: In a letter written to President Lincoln today, August Belmont persisted in his advocacy of a negotiated peace with the Confederates.
1868(22nd of Av, 5628): Approximately three months after her last performance, Adah Isaacs Menken passed away while living in Paris. The cause of death was most likely peritonitis, tuberculosis, or the combined ravages of both. She was buried in the Jewish section of the
1868: Birthdate of Paul M Warburg, the scion of a German banking family, who came to New York and became a partner in Kuhn, Loeb & Company and an advocate of a “central bank” that took form as the Federal Reserve Board.
1873: A group of Jewish teachers met at #142 East 40th Street in New York today and formed a committee to develop an organizational plan for a Jewish Teacher’s Association. The plan will be submitted at a future meeting the time of which has not been established.
1873: It was reported today that Anshey Chesed has decided to hire Dr. Isaac M. Wise of Cincinnati to serve as it rabbi. The congregation has just completed the building of sanctuary on the corner of Lexington and 63rd at cost of $250,000.
1874: Herbert Hoover, future President of the United States Iowa Hoover Iowa United States Europe .
1874: Sherrif Honscheidt of McClean County, Illinois, wrote a letter today addressed to George Walling, the Superintendent of the Police in New York City containing information about the murder Benjamin Nathan. According to the Sherriff, a German Jew named Levy came to his house and confessed that he had killed Nathan. He gave the address of the crime; described the murder weapon; and claimed that the motive was robbery. Levy says he had an accomplice whose name he will only reveal once he is back in New York. He claims that he has confessed because “he has had no rest nor peace of mind since he committed the crime.” The Sheriff is not sure if Levy is telling the truth if he is just some “humbug” looking for a free trip to New York. (Nathan was a prominent Jewish member of the business community. His shocking murder provided a great deal of scandal, but never produced a perpetrator)
1875(9th of Av, 5635): Tish'a B'Av
1875: The New York Times reported that “the anniversary of the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem will be celebrated throughout the world to-day by the conservative Jews, as a day of mourning.”
1877(1stof Elul, 5637): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1879: According to reports published today, there eight societies in Great Britain devoted to converting Jews to Christianity and a dozen more in continental Europe devoted to the same purpose. Together, these organizations have a half million dollars to spend and employ 250 in this work. The London Society for the Propagation of Christianity Among the Jews is the oldest and most prominent of these groups headquartered in London. The society has 34 offices encompassing those cities in Europe, along the Mediterranean and in Abyssinia that have large Jewish populations. [These societies had little success. Based on anecdotal evidence, most conversions took place in western Europe and Britain for purposes of social and economic progress.]
1879: It was reported today that the Jews play an activity role in the philanthropic activities in London since the synagogues of that city have give $3,460 to the hospital fund which is supported by donations from all denominations, “except perhaps the Catholics.”
1879: As various hotels and resorts began excluding Jews one merchant published an ad today designed to further their inclusion. “Although the Jews have been excluded from Manhattan Beach, they are not probhibted on account of their religious principles from buying Humphrey’s Parisian Diamonds. They are for sale only at Humphrey’s Jewelry Store…Price list sent free.”
1881: Over 2,500 people attended the corner-stone laying ceremony for the Home for the Aged and Infirmed in Yonkers. Joseph E. Newberger gave the opening remarks on behalf of the B’Nai Brith and was followed by Norton Otis, the May of Yonkers.
1883: “The Outrages in Hungary” published today described the violent anti-Semitic reaction to the acquittal of Jews who have been standing trial at Nyireghyhaza on charges of ritual murder i.e. killing a young Christian girl. Joseph Scharf, the father of Moritz Scharf, has been attacked several times because his son’s testimony during the trial. There have been several outbreaks of arson aimed at the Jewish population of the town in which the dead girl lived.
1883: August Rholing, notorious slanderer of Jews and the Talmud brought charges of defamation against Rabbi Joseph Samuel Bloch of Vienna
1883: The escape by Theodore Hoffman, who was convicted of murdering Zife Marks, a Jewish peddler, was thwarted today.
1884: It was reported today that Jews in England are seeking to have their government intervene on behalf of their co-religionists in Romania who have been harmed by “the new hawking law.”
1884: It was reported today that Novoje Vremya, “the chief Jew-baiting organ in Russia” has received a warning from the authorities to cease its attacks on Jews.
1884 During today’s Earthquake in New York City, Jews living on Ludlow Street threw their furniture out of their windows and fearfully ran out of their houses carrying trunks, valises and mattresses.
1887: The Sanitarium for Hebrew Children are providing another free excursion today for the poor children of the Lower East Side.
1886(9thof Av, 5646): Tish’a B’Av
1888: The Immigration Committee chaired by Congressman Ford met today at the Westminster Hotel. While Ford and Congressman Guenther tried to paint a picture of an invasion of immigrant paupers, they were stymied by testimony of at least one Jewish witness. When Ford asked, “Do all the immigrants have the means of subsistence when they reach here?” the response was “If they have not, they are cared for by relatives and friends here. Certainly they do not become a charge upon the public. The records of the state Board of Charities will not show that a single Jew has been cared for by public charity.” (This sounds painfully familiar to those who have been listening to the current debate about immigration in the United States)
1890: Dr. Cyrus Adler is scheduled to deliver a lecture sponsored by the Jewish Theological Seminary at Cooper Union entitled “The Bible and Modern Discoveries with Special Reference to the Geography of Egypt and Palestine”
1890: “Waiting for A,B,C” published today relied on information that first appeared in the Edinburgh to traces the history of written alphabets including a listing of ancient inscriptions, one of which is “the Hebrew text…known as the Siloam inscription” which “is very clearly of the age of Hezekiah” approximately 700 BCE.
1890 It has been determined that the group of Polish Jews who fell ill yesterday in Pittsburgh were not victims of food poisoning. They had all drank coffee deliberately poisoned by Mrs. Levy, the wife of a second-hand clothing proprietor. No reason has been given for her action. As to the victims, Jacob Schmidt and Jacob Levenson will recover but two of the mothers and their daughters are still in danger. The mass poisoning was made possible by the fact these Jews cook and eat a communal meal at the Sabbath.
1891: “A Rabbit At Chautauqua” published today described the incredulity of some Christians that Rabbi Gustav Gottheil is scheduled to speak before this organization.
1891: “Caring For Jewish Immigrants” published today described plans that leaders of the Jewish Alliance of America have to help their co-religionists arriving in this country including helping them to settle in several states, find work for those “who are skilled mechanics or laborers” and “to purchase cheap arable lands for those” who want to farm.
1893: James O’Mara and William Davison sole the pack of a Jewish peddler went he entered Patrick Devitt’s saloon in Brooklyn. Two policemen arrived and arrested the thieves.
1895: “A score of charitable” people from Brooklyn who are spending the summer at Tannnersville, NY, hosted a fund raiser for the benefit of the Hebrew Santitarium.
1895: Lucian Sanial spoke first tonight at the mass meeting in Union Square sponsored by several Jewish organizations held “express sympathy with the locked-out hat and cap makers.”
1895: During the mass meeting at Wlhalla Hall on Orchard Street, it was announced that the strike by the tailors, most of whom are Jewish has come to an end.
1896(1st of Elul, 5656): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1896: “Education in Germany” published today provided a statistical analysis by religion of the Germans “attending the universities and other higher educational institutions. For every 10,000 Protestants, 50 of them are students; for every 10,000 Roman Catholics, 32 are students: for every 10,000 Jews, 333 are students. “These figures testify to the extreme value set on a university education by Jews in Germany and explain how it is that young Hebrews are pressing into all the learned professions in far greater proportion than their ratio to the entire population of the country would warrant.” (While the Jews may have been elated about this, many Germans thought the progress of the Jews had to be part of some evil plot which, however irrationally, fueled the flames of anti-Semitism)
1897(12thof Av, 5657): Moses Schloss, a native of Bavaria who has been a successful merchant in New York for the past 50 years passed away today which was his 79thbirthday.
1898: In Wellington, Nevada, the sheriff is about to close down the Occidental Colony Company which was organized and operated by Jewish immigrants from Russia.
1902: Birthdate of Canadian Oscar winning actress Norma Shearer who converted to Judaism in 1927 when she married movie mogul Irving Thalberg.
1903: The New York Times features a review of a compendium of the writings of Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler entitled Studies in Jewish Literature.
1905: The Russians and the Japanese begin peace talks at Portsmouth
1900: Birthdate of Philip Levine, the Russian born American pioneer in the research “of serums and antibodies who discovered the Rh factor in human blood.” (As reported by Peter B. Flint)
1907: At Cowes, Lord Rothschild is one of the notable guests aboard the famed yacht Margaritta one of only two vessels of interest at this fabled nautical event.
1911: Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor, headed a delegation of men interested in labor publications who appeared before the Congressional commission on second-class mail matter to protest against the raise in the rates.
1913: The Second Balkan War comes to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Bucharest. As a result of the war, the final boundaries for the modern Greek state were finally established. This led to an end of the “protected status” many Balkan Jews had enjoyed under Ottoman rule as they became citizens of Greece.
1914: Samuel Prince, a former Assemblyman from the east side and a labor agitator passes away and includes a bequest of fifty dollars to Samuel Gompers for use in supporting strikers in Colorado
1916: Chief Rabbi of Salonica received a telegram from the Minister of Interior stating the government has taken steps to ensure tranquility for the Jews on Corfu , after a blood libel accusation arose.
1919(14th of Av, 5679):The Ukrainian National Army massacres 25 Jews in Podolia Ukrane
1920: The Turkish government renounced its sovereignty over Palestine and recognized the British mandate.
1920: Birthdate of Basketball coach William Red Holzman When he retired, Red Holzman was the second winingnest coach in NBA historywith 696 victories in regular season play, mostly with the New York Knickerbockers. His Knick teams won NBA championships in l970 and l973. Red was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach in 1986. Incidentally, the only man ahead of Holzman on the all-time win list was another Jew, Red Auerbach of the Boston Celtics.
1923:In Carslbad, Dr. Glickson, a delegate to the Thirteenth Zionist Congress denounced the policy of the British administration in Palestine toward the Jews of the country and toward the Zionist movement. He declared that "the Government hinders the upbuilding of the Jewish national home."
1923: The American delegation to the Thirteenth Zionist Congress cabled the newly installed U.S. President, Calvin Coolidge, “a message of greeting” including wishes for a “successful administration. The Zionists…recalled that the President has on various occasions expressed his admiration of the effort to re-establish Palestine as the Jewish homeland.
1923: JTA does not publish its daily news bulletin today because it is the National Day of Mourning in memory of President Warren G. Harding.
1925: More 30,000 members of the ILGWU held a rally today at Yankee Stadium. The Union was dominated by Jewish members and leaders including Morris Sigman the president from 1923 to 1928
1926(30th of Av, 5686): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1928: Birthdate of Eddie Fisher. Fisher’s early fame came as “crooner” and teen-age heartthrob in the 1950’s. He gained a certain level of infamy when he dumped Debbie to marry Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor
1930:The fourth world congress of the Zionist Revisionists opened in Prague
1933: In Amsterdam, 225 German-Jewish children, chiefly from the Rhine region, arrived to stay with Dutch Jewish families.
1933: Der Ernes, the Yiddish language newspaper published in the Soviet Unon, reported that a farmer named Leiser Kabakoff, had been expelled from his collective in the Crimea for his efforts to get other farmers to refrain from working on the Sabbath.
1937: At the historic plenary session of the 20th Zionist Congress, held in Zurich Palestine
1937: The Weizmann policy on the partition of Palestine
1938: A group of Arabs carried out a daring day time robbery of the Barclays Bank at Nablus. The proceeds of the action are thought to be a source of funding for the on-going wave of Arab terror and violence which claimed more Jewish victims today when a car filled with Jewish workers approaching an orange grove near Hadera struck a land mine and a Jewish cart driver was wounded by sniper fire as he drove along the road from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
1938: Three Hebrew language dailies, including Davar, published editorials condemning violence that was traced back to the Revisionists wing of the Zionist movement.
1938:
1940: The government of Rumania
1942: This was the first of thirteen days when over 40,000 Jews were shipped from Lvov Lvov
1943(9th of Av, 5703): Tish'a B'Av
1943(9th of Av, 5703): Twenty-seven more Jews were found in the ‘Aryan' portion of the ghetto in Warsaw and were shot.
1948: In another example of how a Jew helped to create American pop culture, Allen Funt's "Candid Camera" TV debuted on ABC . Long before “reality t.v.” hit it big, Funt showed the world how to laugh with ordinary people doing ordinary things while the whole world (which was much smaller then) watched.
1948: A concert was held in Tel Aviv attended by Ben Gurion, Golda Meir and Moshe Sharett.
1959: Birthdate of actress Rosanna Arquette.
1972(30th of Av, 5732): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1981(10th of Av, 5741): Seventy-five year old Yeruham Cohen, an Arabic-speaker of Yemeni origin who was “an early Israeli undercover soldier” passed away today. He was a top aide to the commander of Israel's underground forces during the country's war for independence in 1948 and also belonged to a unit whose members disguised themselves as Arabs to infiltrate enemy lines. Mr. Cohen is most famous for his acquaintance with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, whom he met in 1948 during the Israeli war for independence while Israeli forces encircled Egyptian troops the southern Negev. According to historical accounts, Mr. Cohen saw the future President while watching the Egyptians retreat, shouted and ran toward him, and they shook hands warmly.
1981: Pitcher Bob Tufts made his major league debut with the San Francisco Giants.
1983(1stof Elul, 5743): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1989: Birthdate of Ben Sahar, Israeli born football (soccer) star.
1990: Eighty-two year old Martha Dodd Stern, the daughter of William Dodd, FDR’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany, who became an anti-Nazi, passed away today. (As reported by Glenn Fowler)
1993: Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme court. Thus she became the second woman, and the first Jewish woman, to serve on the Supreme Court. Ginsburg replaced retiring justice Byron R. White. “Born in Brooklyn on March 15, 19 33Harvard Law School Oklahoma Columbia Law School New York Columbia Columbia U.S. Columbia Columbia District of Columbia North America , pointing proudly to Judaism's eternal pursuit of justice, the promise of America
1997: The New York Times book section featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Secret Channels: The Inside Story of Arab-Israeli Peace Negotiationsby Mohamed Heikal and Faith or Fear: How Jews Can Survive in a Christian America by Elliott Abrams
2000:At the U.S. Indianapolis , Indiana
2003: The Sunday New York Times book section includes reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including When the Chickens Went on Strike: A Rosh Hashanah Tale,Erica Silverman’s adaption of a story by Sholom Aleichem illustrated by Matthew Trueman, Lay Back the Darkness, a collection of poems by Edward Hirscha Midwestern man with a Jewishheritage and Ronit Matalon's novel Bliss translated by Jessica Cohen that “focuses on Israel's two pains: the kind it suffers and the kind it inflicts”
2006(16th of Av, 5766):IDF Staff Sergeant Kobi Idan, 26, from Eilat was killed and at least 16 other soldiers were wounded, nine of them seriously, in the clashes with Hezbollah.
2006: During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, Israeli authors, David Grossman, Amos Oz and A.B. Yehoshua spoke at a press conference calling upon the government to agree to a ceasefire as a basis for talks toward a negotiated solution, describing further military action as "dangerous and counterproductive" and expressing particular concern for the Lebanese government. [Editor’s note - Two days later, Grossman’s 20-year-old son Uri, a staff sergeant in an armoured unit, was killed by an anti-tank missile during an IDF operation in southern Lebanon shortly before the ceasefire.]
2007: The Indianapolis Colts placed tight end Mike Seidman on the injured reserved list
2007 (26 Av): On the secular calendar commemoration of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson’s, the third Rebbe of the Chabad dynasty, popularly known as the "Tzemach Tzedek," departure from Petersburg after having successfully prevented the government's disruption of traditional Jewish life.
2008(9th of Av, 5768): Tish'a B'Av
2008:The New York Times book section featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest includingThe Challenge:Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and the Fight Over Presidential Power by Jonathan Mahler, My Sister, My Love by Joyce Carol Oates,American Priestess: The Extraordinary Story of Anna Spafford and the American Colony in Jerusalemby Jane Fletcher Geniesse and Kingmakers:The Invention of the Modern Middle East by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac.
2008: TheJerusalem Post reported that the Jewish Agency has released a statement that some 200 Jews living near the town Gori, on the South Ossetia border, were advised to evacuate to the Georgian capital after the outbreak of hostilities with Russia two days ago.
2008(9th of Av, 5768): Howard G. Minsky, a former Hollywood talent agent and the producer of the movie “Love Story,” passed away today at the age of 94. Mr. Minsky began his career during the silent-film era and sold reels of film door to door before breaking into the Hollywood scene. He worked as an executive for 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures and as a talent agent for the William Morris Agency. In the 1960s he left the agency to produce the romantic drama “Love Story,” written by one of his clients, Erich Segal. Released in 1970, it became a blockbuster, winning five Golden Globes, including best picture, and an Academy Award for music.
2009:The exhibit, Bagels & Barbeque: The Jewish Experience in Tennessee which documents the history of Jewish immigration to Tennessee opened at Chattanooga State, the College on the River.
2009: Opening of the Tzfat [Safed] Klezmer Festival
2009 (20th of Av): On the Jewish calendar, Yahrzeit of Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson, father of the seventh and last Chabad-Lubavitch Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. A brave and educated soul, he after being imprisoned by the Soviets for thwarting the Communists attempts to wipe out Jewish civilization.
2009: Israeli aircraft bombed tunnels early today along the Gaza Strip border with Egypt, Hamas officials and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the predawn raid against targets in the town of Rafah. The Israeli military had no immediate comment. Israel has frequently attacked tunnels it says are used to smuggle weapons or materials to build weapons into Gaza from Egypt. The bombings may also have been response re-newed mortar and rocket attacks by terrorists in Gaza.
2010(30th of Av, 5770): Rosh Chodesh Elul
2010(30th of Av, 5770): Eighty-two year old David L. Wolper, who changed America’s view of race and slavery with “Roots”, passed away today. (As reported by Richard Severo)
2010: The first public screening of “A Film Unfinished” is scheduled to take place at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City.
2010: While testifying before the Turkel Committee today, Defense Minister Ehud Barak “placed the blame” for the botched flotilla raid “on the IDF, which he said was responsible for warning the government if ‘the mission cannot be carried out.’ In the case of the flotilla the IDF did not warn, Barak said.
2011: The International Master Course for Violinists which has been taking place amid the scenic mountains of the western Galilee at Kibbutz Eilon is scheduled to come to an end today.
2011: The DC Premiere “Maya” is scheduled to take place at this evening’s WJFF (Washington Jewish Film Festival) Friend-raiser Screener and Party
2011: Philip Levine was named today as the new poet laureate of the United States. Levine has an MFA through the University of Iowa Writer's Workshop. His works include a "continuous examination of his Jewish immigrant inheritance.
2011: The Romanian Academy said today that it will change its definition of an anti-Semitic slur in a dictionary to make it clear the word is pejorative.
2011:The International Master Course for Violinists which is taking place at Kibbutz Eilon is scheduled to come to an end.
2012: Rookie right tackle Mitchell Schwartz is scheduled to start in the Detroit Lions’ first exhibition pro-football game.
2012: The Russian Olympic basketball team coached by Israeli-American David Blatt is scheduled to play Spain today in the semifinals.
2012: Victor Lieberman is scheduled to lead Shabbat eve services at B’nai Israel in Grand Forks, ND
2012: Ben Sarasin will help lead Shabbat eve services at Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, as part of his “Bar Mitzvah Weekend.”
2012: Shai Wosner is scheduled to perform at Lincoln Center
2012:New Zealand Jewish sailor Jo Aleh and her partner Polly Powrie won the gold medal in the women’s 470 regatta. Aleh, 26, whose parents are dual Israeli-New Zealand citizens, skippered the pair into the lead from the start of the gold medal race today at the London Olympic Games
2012: Israeli rhythmic gymnast Neta Rivkin leapt to the finals after her ribbon routine in the individual qualifiers today at the London Games.
2012: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have “almost finally” decided on an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear facilities this fall, and a final decision will be taken “soon,” Israel’s main TV news broadcast reported this evening.
2013: “Dancing in Jaffa” and “Gideon’s Army” are scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2013: Kol HaOt is scheduled to sponsor “The Sounds of Elul” featuring Yehuda Katz.