August 1
30 BCE: Mark Antony died. Following the victory of Octavian and Antony over those who had murdered Julius Caesar, Antony became ruler of the Eastern half of the Roman Empire. Antony did name Herod as ruler of Judaea. But when his lover Cleopatra let it be known that she wished to recreate the Ptolemy rule over the area, Antony partially reversed himself by giving the Queen Jericho and numerous other towns in Judaea. None of this had anything to do with Antony’s feelings about the Jews but rather reflected his passion for Cleopatra. In the end none of this matter since Octavian defeated Antony and control of the Jews passed to the man who became Caesar Augustus.
10 BCE : Birthdate of Claudius 4th Roman emperor. Claudius reigned from 41 through 54. Regardless of how the PBS television series portrayed, for a Roman Emperor, Claudius was a plus for the Jews of his time. He repealed the anti-Jewish edicts of his predecessors. He held the Samaritans responsible for the attacks on Jews in Judea and befriended the Jewish King, Agrippa. At one time he did exclude Jews from the city of Rome. But this appears to have been a matter of dealing with civil unrest sparked the early Christians living in the imperial city.
388: The synagogue located on the Euphrates in Callinicum was looted and burned by Church officials. St. Ambrose (one of the four Latin doctors of the Catholic Church) defended the action. He reprimanded Theodosius the Great for ordering the local Bishop to pay restitution, even though expropriation was illegal under Roman law. St. Ambrose offered to burn the synagogue in Milan on his own.
527: Justinian I also known as Justinian the Great becomes the Byzantine Emperor. For gentiles, Justinian might be considered “Great” but he was an enemy of the Jews. Justinian’s celebrated code contains the following about his policy towards his Jewish subjects. “They shall enjoy no honors. Their status shall reflect the baseness which in their souls they have elected and desired.” “The principle of servitus Judaeorum (‘servitude of the Jews’) was established, and the hitherto uneven pattern of persecution was systemized for a Christian civilization march towards its age of faith.” Justinian banned the recitation of the Shema because its declaration of the Oness of God was at odds with the Trinity. In response to demands of his Bishops, Justinian banned the public reading of the Torah. He also forbad the observance of Passover in the years when it preceded Easter on the calendar.
1098: Fifty-three year old Adhemar of Le Puy, the French bishop who was a leader of the First Crusade which proved so devastating to the Jews of the Rhineland and the Holy Land died today at Antioch.
1137: King Louis VI passed away and is succeed by his Louis VII who will launch the Second Crusade. Louis VII’s reign was not “Jew friendly.” Following the logic of the time that it made no sense to go to Palestine to fight those holding on to the Christian Holy Sites and leave the defilers of Christianity at home alone, in 1144 Louis VII would expel all the Jews who had converted to Christianity and then returned to Judaism. In 1171 the first Blood Libel in France took place in Blois.
1291: The Swiss Confederation is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter. The original Jews settled in what is now Switzerland during the days of the Roman Empire. Records of the Jewish community officially date back to the 13thcentury, with Jews having settled in Basel in 1213, seventy years before the confederation was formed. Jews from France and Germany settled in Bern by 1259, St. Gall in 1268, Zurich in 1273, Schaffhausen, Diessenhofen, and Luzerne in 1299. But anti-Semitism is almost as old as the confederation itself since in1294 in when many Jews living in Berne of the city were executed and the survivors expelled under the pretext of the murder of a Christian boy.
1298: Although assisted by humane Christian citizens, the Jews of Nuremberg were overpowered and butchered today. Among the victims was Mordecai ben Hillel, a pupil of Jehiel ben Asher, with his wife and children.
1431: “King Sigismund assured the Jews of Worms that all edicts annulling the outstanding debts owed them would be declared invalid upon the payment by each Jew of an indemnity.”
1520: In Cracow, Poland, Sigismund I the Old and Bona Sforza of Milan, the niece of the Holy Roman emperor Maximilian, gave birth to Sigismund II Augustus, the Polish King who allowed “Jews to settle in Vilna without restriction” and who issued “the ‘Magna Cara of Jewish Self-Government’’ “which permitted Jews to elect their own chief rabbi and judges.”
1580: Evard Mercurian, the fourth Superior General of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) passed away. The first three leaders of the order had been Spanish and there was concern that they might be Coversos or at least have Jewish blood. So Mercuvian, a native of Luxemburg got the job because Pope Gregory XIII wished to dispel an connotation of a Jewish connection.
1626: In Izmir, Mordecai and Clara Sevi gave birth to Sabbatai Zevi, the most famous the False Messiahs.
1670: As a result of a proclamation by the Emperor, as of today, all the Jews had left Vienna.
1658: Coronation of Leopold I who borrowed large sums of money from banker Samuel Oppenheimer to fight the “Great Turkish War.
1753: The Imperial Court rescinded the order confiscating copies of the prayer book and Talmud because they were found not contain derogatory statements about Christianity.
1776(16thof Av, 5536): Twenty nine year old Francis Salvador, the member of a prominent Sephardic South Carolina family and an ardent Patriot, was killed while fighting the Tory and Indian supporters of the British.http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Salvador.html
1787: In the UK, Hannah Montefiore, the daughter of Moses Montefiore and Esther Hannah Racah, married Moses Acona with whom she had five children – “Leah, Judah, Moses Montefiore, Esther and Sarah.”
1789(9th of Av): Rabbi Abraham Isaac Castello, the native of Ancona whose works included "A Memorial Sermon on the Death of Francis I. of Germany", written in Spanish, and translated by Castello's son Joseph Castello into Italian passed away in Leghorn, Italy.
1797: Two Jews named Bromet and DeLemon were elected members of the Second National Assembly of Holland today
1798: The British Fleet under Nelson defeats the French Fleet in the Battle of the Nile. Nelson’s victory left the British in control of the Mediterranean. Napoleon’s army had already landed before the battle. Although the French leader would score victories in Egypt and Syria, crossing through Eretz Israel, his victories would mean little since the French army could not be sustained. Among the lesser known consequences was the end of promises Napoleon had made during the siege at Acre to create a Jewish homeland.
1819: Birthdate of American novelist Herman Melville who was the special subject of study of Viola Sachs who “conducted research and studies for the decoding of Melville’s master works” and who survived the Holocaust by living in Brazil along with her husband, economist Ignacy Sachs
1820: Hannah Joel, a widow who had died at “Jews Hospital” was buried today at the Brady Jewish Cemetery.
1830: Today Isaac and Hannah Solomon were married at the Western Synagogue.
1833: On a second reading a bill designed to free Jews from all civil disabilities which would open the world of politics to them, was defeated.
1841: Birthdate of Dr. Isidor Cohnstein the native of Gnesen and gynecologist who married Ida Cohnstein.
1844: Birthdate of Aaron E. Greenewald, the husband of Sallie Gimbel Greenewald.
1846: Max-Théodore Cerfberr, a colonel in the French Army and president of the Consistoire Central Israelite de France “was reelected to the Chamber of Deputies today.
1852: In Brighton, Dr. Loewe, the Oriental Linguist to the Duke of Sussex and first Principal of Jews’ College London and his wife gave birth to James H. Loewe, the “manager of the East-end branch of the International Bank of London, Ltd., founder and first President of the Finsbury-park Synagogue and of the North London Beth Hamedrash.
1852: This afternoon, the new Jewish Synagogue in Eighth-street, between North First and North Second-streets, was dedicated by appropriate ceremonies of the Jewish religion. There were Hebrew chant and lectures by Rabbi, Max Lilienthal, Rabbi Samuel M. Isaacs and Rabbi Morris Raphall. Dr. Barnard officiated as Rabbi to the congregation. The Synagogue is to be known as the "House of Israel." There were many Gentiles present to view the ceremonies.
1855: Castle Garden opened as the immigrant process center in New York.
1856: Lauritz Weidemann, one of he framers of Norway’s constitution whose opposition to Jewish citizenship was expressed somewhat incoherently when he wrote “"The Jewish nation's history proves, that this people always has been rebellious and deceitful, and their religious teachings, the hope of again arising as a nation, so often they have acquired some remarkable fortune, led them to intrigues and to create a state within a state. It is of vital importance to the security of the state that an absolute exception be made about them" passed away today
1859: The Report of Sir Moses Montefiore to the London Committee of Deputies of the British Jews on the subject of his mission to Rome in the Mortara Case was published today. While Sir Moses was thankful for those who assisted in him arranging meeting with Vatican officials, the Church refused to acknowledge any error in the case. The conversion stands and the Jewish child stolen from his parents will be raised as a Catholic.
1859: An editorial published today expressed disappointment at Rome’s refusal to yield on the issues in the “Mortara Case” while expressing relief “that such an enormity as the abduction of the Mortara child cannot be repeated even by Rome.” The Times also points out the horrible conditions under which the Jews of Austria, a patron and protector of the Pope, are living. “The case of the Israelites…bad as it is in Rome, is still worse in Austria.” Jews are restricted in the vocations they may pursue and are banned from “many of the higher vocations of trade.” They are limited in their right to move to different parts of the empire and they need a special license if they want to leave the country altogether. In some parts of the empire, there is a limit on the number of Jewish marriages “so that a young man must await the death of his parent before he can enter the state of matrimony. This hideous and demoralizing law is but one of the many horrors which Austrian persecution has designed for the Israelites living in Austria, and who are kept by the brutal system, in a state of ignorance which the condition of Jewish populations in free countries proves to abnormal with that portion of the human family.” [All of this will change with a stroke of a pen after Austria loses its war with Prussia and is forced to reorganize as the Austro-Hungarian Empire.]
1862: In an interlude between the Siege of Corinth and the Second Battle of Corinth, Jacob C. Cohen of the 27th Ohio Infantry wrote to the Jewish Messenger to describe what life was like as they bivouacked at Camp Clear Creek just outside of the Mississippi town.
1864: Birthdate of South Carolina Senator “Cotton Ed” Smith a supporter of the immigration quota system who wanted to exempt Jews from the quota system” because “their thrift, their economy and their love of learning” appealed to him. (As reported by Henry L. Feingold)
1864: Today, following the end of the Schleswig War, Prussia, under the leadership of Bismarck who relied on his banker Gerson Bleichröder for financial advice took possession of the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein.
1865(9th of Av, 5625): Tisha B'Av
1865: It was reported today that “the Israelites in this city and throughout the world solemnized in sorrow and in sadness, in tears and in lamentation, in fasting and in prayer, the annual fast of Ab, founded on the destruction of the Temple, and the overthrow of the national government. Although nearly 2,300 years have elapsed since the first Temple was destroyed, and eighteen centuries since the construction of the second Temple, both occurrences taking place on the same day of the month, the fast is still continued from Monday evening to Tuesday night, in accordance with the Jewish ritual, and in consonance with Israelitish feeling. The fast is inaugurated with reciting the lamentations of Jeremiah, and, after the morning service, several hours are employed in the synagogues in chanting in plaintive tones the compositions of the saints of antiquity, and imploring the God of Israel to remove the rod of chastisement from Israel, and again to resume the light of other days, by the reestablishment of their Temple and restoration of their government to its original splendor.”
1868: In Montgomery, Alabama, “Jacob and Bella (Mayer) Jonas gave birth to banker Nathan S. Jonas, the husband of Jennie Strauss who pre-deceased him.
1869: Birthdate of Moishe Hillkowitz, the native of Riga, who gained famed as New York labor lawyer and Socialist political leader, Morris Hillquit.
1870: Birthdate of Rabbi Tuvia Geffen who gained fame as “The Coca Cola Rabbi.”
1870: A rumor swept New York today that the police had apprehended the murder of Benjamin Nathan – a plumber who with a lacerated face who was caught with a stolen watch belong to the deceased.
1870: “The Jews in Romania” published today reported that there were 176 synagogues serving 400,000 Jews in Romania.
1870: Di Post, the first Yiddish periodical to appear in the United States was published for the first time today in New York City
1870: Benjamin Nathan, the prominent Jewish New York businessman who was murdered in his own home, was buried today at the Jewish Cemetery, Shearith Israel at Cypress Hill. His brother-in-law, Rabbi J.J. Lyons had officiated at funeral that was held at the deceased’s resident.
1873: It was reported today that the last person to see ten year old John Henry Lance was “a Jew peddler in Williamsburg.”
1875: In London, Rebecca and Michaelis Hallensein gave birth to Percy Hallenstein, the brother Emile and Henri Hallenstein who changed his named to Halsted, was the husband of Enid Miriam Gotthelf and passed away in New Zealand.
1875: “The Jews of Italy,” published today described the conditions of the Jews living in this newly reunited nation. It focused on the deplorable conditions of many of the Jews living in the old ghetto of Rome along the Tiber, the improved condition of Jews living outside of the capital and the annual ceremony at St. John the Lateran set aside to baptize any Jew who has converted during the past 12 months. However, no Jew has participated in the ceremony in the last twenty years, despite the best efforts of the Church.
1876: Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state. The largest number of Jews began arriving in Colorado as part of the gold rush activities in 1859. Jews helped supply the miners in many of the camps that later became small towns throughout the state. Hyman and Fred Salomon, two Jewish brothers from Prussia, were leading members of the Denver community by the time statehood was declared. In addition to their business ventures, they helped organize the Colorado Pioneer Society, the Denver Public Library and the Denver B’nai Brit Lodge.
1876(11th of Av, 5636): Lewis Wormser, the native of Stuttgart who moved to Ireland in 1821 where he became such a successful businessman and leader of the Jewish community that he was waiting to begin serving as Lord Mayor of Dublin when he passed away today. Had he lived, he would have been the first Jew to hold that position and honor that would fall to Robert Briscoe eighty years later.
1877: Three weeks before her 40th birthday, in the UK, Sarah Ellis, the daughter of Abraham Ellis, married fifty year old Israel Levy.
1878: Birthdate of Alfred W. Fleisher who would be buried in Mount Sinai Cemetery at Philadelphia when he passed away on Christmas Day, 1928.
1878: The Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society of the City of Brooklyn was incorporated today under the leadership of President Ernst Nathan.
1879: Following the Russo-Turkish War, Czar Alexander II today awarded Joshua be Aaron Zeitlin “ a medal in recognition of his services” as “a contractor for the victorious Russian Army
1879: As reported in the Jewish Messenger, "...About twenty, mostly young men, have formed themselves into a congregation under the name of 'Orach Chaim', Path of Life, their objective being to hold Divine service every day, morning and evening, as well as on Sabbath and holidays on strict orthodox principles, as it has been handed down to them by their fathers."
1880: “A Christian Woman Becomes a Jewess” published today described the conversion ceremony of Mrs. Morse that took place last month in Rochester, NY.
1881: No reason was given today when it was reported that the excursion of Athletic Society of Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem has been postponed until later this month.
1881: Birthdate of Otto Toeplitz, the third generation German mathematician who would seek refuge in Palestine after the rise of the Nazis.
1881: Birthdate of Fritz Spira, the Viennese actor who played Austrian Emperor Franz Josef in the 1926 film The Third Squadron but whose fame did not keep him from being arrested by the Nazis and dying ignominiously at the Ruma Concentration Camp in 1943.
1882: Henry Robinson married Mary Pillischer today at the Brighton Synagogue.
1882: Birthdate of Jacob Benjamin Salutsky, the Russian immigrant who gained fame as the J.B.S. Hardman a prominent socialist who serve as Education of Director of the Amalgamated Clothing Workers after having left the Communist movement in apparent disgust.
1882: As the Freight Handler’s strike continued the Russian Jews had been replaced by Germans as workers at Pier Number 39 of the Pennsylvania Railroad.
1883: Birthdate of Amsterdam native Isidore Goudeket the “Dutch gymnast who competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics” was murder at Sobibor in 1943.
1885: John T. Robeson, the U.S. Consul-General in Beirut sent a telegram to the governor-general of Syria protesting the order expelling Mordecai Yitzhak Lubowsky and his brother. The two Jews were American citizens and the diplomat pointed out that expelling them was a violation of the treaty between the Porte and the United States since it discriminated based on religion.
1885: A well-attended memorial service in honor of the late Sir Moses Montefiore, who was buried on Friday in Ramsgate, England, was held today at the Montefiore Home for Chronic Invalids, on the corner of Eighty-fourth-street and Avenue A in New York.
1887(11th of Av, 5647): Issac Margolis, the Russo-Polish rabbi who was a descendant of Yom Tov Lippman Heller of Prague who came to the United States in 1884 and assumed the leadership of Congregation Anshe-Kalvariya passed away in New York.
1887: Today, on his 18th birthday, Morris HIllquist joined the Socialist Labor Party of America.
1888: Birthdate of Rene Marx Dormoy, the friend of fellow socialist Leon Blum in whose government he served as Minister of the Interior and defeated the attempt of the right-wing La Cagoule to overthrow the Third Republic before WW II. Dormoy did not turn his back on Blum after the cowardly capitulation of the French and the rise of Vichy – a loyalty that cost him his life.
1889: New York Mayor Hugh Grant received a letter today from Henry M. Leipziger, Director of the Hebrew Technical Institute concerning an exhibit for the upcoming World’s Fair.
1889: Nine year old Samuel Ehrenstein and five year old Lazarus Ehrenstein were left with Coroner Levy in New York. A letter said that they were orphans and should be sent to a charitable institution for care
1890: “The British House of Commons” published today describe activities in Parliament including Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Sir James Fergusson’s reassurance that he has no proof that the Russian government plans on enforcing any edicts aimed at reducing the rights of Russian Jews.
1890: “In the House of Lords…the Marquis of Salisbury…said he could not confirm reports…of any anti-Jewish edicts by the Russian government.”
1890: New York Congressman Charles Baker asked the Committee on Foreign Affairs to consider “a resolution protesting ‘in the name of humanity, against such inhuman and barbarous acts as the enforcement by Russia of the edict of 1882, against the Jews, requesting the President to transmit, through our representatives in Russia, this protest to the Russian Government.”
1891: It was reported today that U.S. government believes the fact that nothing has been heard from Dr. J.M. Crawford the United States Consul General in St. Petersburg “for a long time past” is “convincing proof” that the Russian government is not contemplating any action to enforce the edicts aimed at depriving the Jews of their rights.
1891: Simon Wolf and Lewis Abraham of Washington, DC, representing the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, wrote to the Secretary of the Treasury concerning the immigration Russian Jews to the United States.
1891: Secretary of Treasury Charles Foster wrote to Simon Wolf and Lewis Abraham assuring them that the immigration laws would be enforced “efficiently” but “humanely.
1891: Birthdate of Eliyahu Lulu, who would gain fame as a member of the First Knesset under the name of Eliyahu Hacarmeli.
1891: “The Czar Changes Bankers” published today attributed the Russian government’s decision to move its accounts from the London branch of the House of Rothschild to Messrs. C.J. Hambro & Son to that country’s “attitude toward the Jews.”
1892: Emma Goldman was among those attending the meeting of anarchists held tonight at 193 Bowery.
1892: At a meeting of anarchist of Newark, NJ the speaker praised Alexander Berkman, who had attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick during the Homestead Steel Strike, by saying “I trust that in the near future we may all become Berkmanns.”
1893: Birthdate of Rossien, Lithuania native Alexander Sachs who joined his brother Joseph in 1904 in the United States where he was educated at CCNY, Columbia and Harvard and became an influential economist and banker best known for delivering the “Einstein–Szilárd letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt” in October of 1939 which led to the Manhattan Project and the birth of the Atomic/Nuclear Age.
1893(19thof Av, 5653): Joseph Korman, “an educated Russian Jew” who came to the United States about a year ago and who had been “a successful merchant at one time” passed away today after being for six months leaving behind a destitute widow and four children.
1893: Today is the deadline for all the Jews living in Lifland to sell their property and move into the Pale.
1893: It was reported today that Archbishop Dionysius Latas, a prominent Greek prelate, said that if the subject comes up during his visit to Chicago he intends to express his opposition to the persecution of the Jews.
1893: The body of 76 year old Solomon Heyman who passed away yesterday in Long Branch will be brought to New York City today for burial.
1894: “East Side Roof Gardens” published today described the growth of these popular venues including one that “the young men of the Hebrew Institute” have established at the building on East Broadway and Jefferson Street. From 9 in the morning until 8 in the evening mothers and their “babes in arms” can sit under the big awning on the roof in attempt to stay cool during the summer heat.
1894: The trial of Jeremiah J. Levy a Jewish policeman who has been charged with bribery continued today.
1895: Birthdate of Béla Zsolt, the native of Komárom, Hungary who survived Bergen-Belsen, rode to freedom on the “Kasztner Train” and wrote Nine Suitcases a Holocaust memoir that would later be turned into a one act play.
(For more information about the Kasztner Train see http://www.killingkasztner.com/)
1895: “In The Real Estate Field” published today described the sale of a lot on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and 77th Street by the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Society for $87,500.
1895: “The Clothing Industry” published today attributed the success in New York of the “industry for manufacturing clothing” to “cheap labor.” This labor “has not been made cheap through any effort or design of the manufactures” but is the result of vast number of Russian and Polish Jews who have “forced down the price” of labor.
1896: It was reported today that the Jewish Colonization Company will pay the expenses of 800 Jews to return to Russia from Argentina because they know nothing about farming and are not able to work on the Hirsch colonies that have been established in that country.
1896: Thirty year old Chaim Silberman, a Hebrew school teacher who arrived in the United States last January told the authorities about his harrowing trip to the United States during which 6 of his fellow passengers died of suffocation in a case of “criminal neglect.”
1896: Colonel Eugene Levy and thirty –six year old Marie Melanie Simikins a former school teacher who converted from Catholicism to Judaism were married today at the mayor’s office.
1898: A case involving that pits the Moses Montifiore Congregation of Hoboken against David Engler who claims to own the lot on which the synagogue sits and who is trying to force the congregation to move its building is scheduled to be hear in The Chancery Court in Jersey City, New Jersey today.
1898: The body 53 year old Elias Jacobs who had passed away at his country home in Forest, PA was brought to New York City where his funeral will be held.
1898(13thof Av, 5658): Ephriam W. Sells, of Sells Brothers Circus, passed away today in Columbus OH.
1899: “The Jews in Babylon” by William Rainey Harpert was published in Volume 14 of The Biblical World.
1899: Mordecai is scheduled to run in the Sixth Race at Brighton Beach. (No word as to Haman or Esther)
1900(6th of Av, 5660): Forty-eight year old “German physiologist” Immanuel Munk, the brother of Hermann Munk, passed away today in Berlin.
1903: Birthdate of Helena Nordheim, one of five Jewish members of the Dutch ladies’ gymnastics team, which won the Olympic title in Amsterdam in 1928. Forty years later, Helena Kloot- Nordheim, her husband Abraham and her 10-year old daughter Rebecca were gassed at Sobibor.
1904: Birthdate of Edward Satz, a native of what was then Lwow, Poland, who gained fame as Eli Mintz who made the transition from the Yiddish Theatre to Broadway playing “Uncle David” in “Me and Molly” and was the brother of Ludwig Satz.
1905: In the United Kingdom, the Star published “Jewish Literary Societies” today.
1905(29thof Tammuz, 5665): Less than a month before his 47th birthday Leo Abram Errera a distinguished Belgian botanist who all wrote Les Juifs Russes: Extermination ou Emancipation?" passed away today in Brussels.
1910: Birthdate of composer and arranger Walter Scharf, “the son of Yiddish theatre comic Bessie Zwerling” who worked with everybody from George Gershwin, to Rudy Valle, to Al Jolson to Elvis Presley.
1911: Jews in Peoria, Illinois contribute one thousand dollars to Jews in Turkey suffering from the aftermath of major fires in that country.
1912(18thof Av, 5672): Eighty-one year old Abraham Benjamin passed away today at St. Kilda, Melbourne.
1912: The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Camden, NJ was incorporated today.
1913: A day after she had passed away, Jennie Leuria, the daughter of Bertha and Henry Leuria, was buried today at the “Belfast Jewish Cemetery in Northern Ireland.”
1913: Birthdate of multi-talented composer Jerome Moross whose most famous works may be theme music for the western television series “Wagon Train” and the big screen western “The Big Country.”
1913: In Buffalo, NY, “Berith Israel (Anshe Sfar) was “rededicated” today.
1914: Germany declared war on Russia in WW I. The Jews of German fought valiantly for the Kaiser in defense of the Fatherland. But the Iron Crosses they earned would not save them or their progeny from the "Austrian Corporal’s Final Solution." According to Hitler’s Jewish Soldiers by Bryan Rigg, “About 10,000 volunteered for duty, and over 100,000 out of a total German-Jewish population of 550,000 served during World War One. Some 78% saw front-line duty, 12,000 died in battle, over 30,000 received decorations, and 19,000 were promoted. Approximately 2,000 Jews became military officers and 1,200 became medical officers.”
1914: The British Ambassador to France “was to have dined with at Edmond de Rothschild Boulogne-sur Seine villa tonight but they have to dine in Paris instead because “all of his horses and automobiles have been appropriated” by the government as part of the mobilization for war.
1914: In Saint Petersburg, Russia, Alexander Govorkovski and Ester Goverkovsky gave birth to Ella Govorkovski who became Ella Drori when she married Amnon Drori.
1915: It was reported today that with 25,000 Jews already serving in the military, the British War Office has made serious efforts “to meet all of their religious requirements” including wherever possible making arrangements for them “to return from the firing line for Passover and for the Feast of Weeks.”
1915: “The Jews were driven out of Brest-Litovsk” today “by order of the Russian High Command.
1915: It was reported today that the officers of the “New Synagogue” the recently formed “liberal Jewish congregation” on New York’s West Side are Morris Rothschild, Chairman; Jerome Wile, Treasurer and J.L. Frankel, Secretary who will be supporting a professional staff consisting of Rabbi Ephraim Frisch and organist Clarence Adler.
1916: In talking to the press today about the impact of Britain’s attempts to limit food supplies coming into Germany, Filed Marshall Von Batocki, “Germany’s food dictator” noted that “Polish Jews…who largely subsisted on fish were suffering intensely as a result of England’s economic pressure on neutrals particularly in the matter of dish exports to and through Germany.”
1917: In Manhattan, Martha Schallek and Joseph S. Wallenstein gave birth to Herbert Joseph Wallenstein, the Republic political leader who served as Assistant State Attorney General for 20 years starting in 1959.
1917: Harvey B. Franklin, of Stockton, CA is scheduled to begin serving as the Rabbi of Temple Sinai, Oakland, CA.
1917: Eighteen year old Lawrence Valenstein “borrowed $100 from his mother” and today “opened a tiny headquarters” of which would become the Grey Advertising Agency, “one of the country[s leading advertising companies.” (As reported by Suzanne Daley)
1917: Based on information supplied by Ottis A. Glazebook, the U.S. Consul in Jerusalem who left that city for Switzerland after the U.S. entered the war on the side of the Allies, it was reported today that “there are now in Palestine 500 Jewish-American citizens” all of whom had “been given permission to leave” but preferred “to remain” where they were.
1918: Birthdate of Abraham Brauner, the son of timber wholesaler in Łódź, Poland, who gained fame as movie producer Artur “Atze” Brauner, the husband of Theresa Albert with whom he had four children and the kinsman of 49 people who died during the Shoah including 12 murdered at Babi Yar.
1918: During World War I, while serving in France a member of the Overseas Commission of the Jewish Welfare Board, Dr. Hyman Gerson Enelow wrote from Beaune, France today “that there is work for everybody who wants to be helpful, that the Jewish soldiers “are very happy to see me” because it makes them “feel like they are not forgotten and that in addition to his official duties, he has spent several hours at the hospital trying to help “our doctors and nurse who are terribly overworked” and providing comfort to the wounded, especially those close to death.
1918: Decree issued “securing the title of the Chestnut Street Cemetery” in Cincinnati, Ohio.
1918: Abraham Schrameck, begin serving as Governor-General of Madagascar.
1918: Joseph Schlossberg, General Secretary Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America and Abraham Epstein, President Workmen's Circle were among the leaders of a meeting of a Conference of Trade Unions, Branches of the Workmen's Circle, and other Progressive Labor Organizations of Greater New York scheduled to be held be held in Webster Hall, 119 East 11th Street, for the purpose of organizing the workers into a permanent central body for aiding all persons prosecuted who are in need of help, and of arousing public opinion against the further suppression of constitutional rights and liberties. The Conference will be held under the auspices of the Liberty Defense Union, and has been endorsed by the United Hebrews Trades and the National Executive Committee of the Workmen's Circle.
1919: As The Hungarian Soviet Republic came to an end, Bela Kun “fled as Romanian troops approached Budapest.”
1919: Hungary limited the number of Jews in commerce, law, medicine, and banking. The new definition of a Jew is someone who converted after August 1, 19 19
1919: “The Jewess of Toledo” “a silent historical drama film directed by Otto Kreisler an adaptation of the 1872 play The Jewess of Toledo by Franz Grillparzer which was based on the relationship between Alfonso VIII of Castile and Rahel la Fermosa in 12th Century Spain” was released in Austria today.
1919(5th of Av, 5679): Seventy-one year old businessman, theater impresario and composer Oscar Hammerstein I, the grandfather of lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II, passed away today.
1920: Birthdate of Israeli politician Michael Dekel, the native of Pinsk who fought with the Soviet and Polish armies during WW II before making Aliyah in 1949.
1920 The Zionist Actions Committee decided “to entrust the Jewish National Fund with the duty of carrying out a plan for a Nordau Garden City in Palestin
1921(26thof Tammuz, 5681): Seventy-three year old “French economist and statistician Alfred Neymarck, the son of Mayes and Henritte Neymark, the husband of Jeanne Neymarck and “vice-president of the International Congress of Societies for Lawsuits and of the International Congress for Landed Property” passed away today.
1922(7thof Av, 5682): Sixty-three year old mechanical engineer Donát Bánki the son of a Hungarian Jewish physician who helped to invent “the carburetor for the stationary engine.”
1924: In Dąbrowica, Poland, Anna (Szapiro) and Maurice Charpak gave birth to Georges Charpak, the French physicist who won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1992.
1924: Birthdate of Michael Stuart Rubin who as Michael Stewart was one of stable writers who got their start writing for Sid Caesar and who went on to became the Tony Award winning creator of “Bye Bye Birdies” and “Hello, Dolly!”
1925: The (Turkish) Palestine Citizenship Ordinance went into effect. It said that any "Turkish subject" in Palestine as of August 1, 19 25
1926: At Constantinople it was announced that the Jews of Turkey formally renounced their rights as minorities. They would for now on be considered full citizens with equal rights as all citizens have.
1926(21st of Av, 5686): Israel Zangwill passed away. The Russian born, Anglo-Jewish author, Zionist and champion of social justice is best known for two of his works - a novel entitled Children of the Ghetto: A Study of a Peculiar People a highly successful play entitled The Melting Pot. Among those who saw and enjoyed this was President Theodore Roosevelt.
1928(15thof Av, 5688): Tu B’Av is celebrated for the last time during the Presidency of Calvin Coolidge.
1929: In Manhattan, Eva and Stanley Garfinkel gave birth to Howard Morris Garfinkel who changed the nature of basketball with his recruiting service and instructional camps. (As reported by Vincent M. Mallozzi)
1930(7th of Av, 5690): Forty-eight year old Jack Zuta, an accountant for mobsters in Chicago was shot by unknown gunman while hiding out in Wisconsin.
1930: “The Cabinet of Doctor Larifari,” a comedy with music by Franz Waxman and filmed by cinematographer Otto Heller was released today in German.
1930: “Grumpy” directed by George Cukor, co-starring Paul Lukas and filmed by cinematographer David Abel was released today in the United States.
1931: “Tabu” a silent film set in the South Seas with music by Hugo Riesenfeld was released today in the Unites States.
1931: Birthdate of Elliott Charles Adnopoz, who became famous as Ramblin' Jack Elliott
1931: Eduard Strauch who would murder over 10,000 Jews from Riga in the Rumbula Forest joined the Nazi Party and the SA.
1932: Birthdate of Meir Kahane, founder of the Jewish Defense League.
1933: The Deutsche Modeamt, a newly-formed Nazi fashion office, announces that Jewish firms will not be permitted to exhibit in the exhibition of men's and women's wear.
1933: Fritz Rosenfelder, leader and founder of the sports club at Saanstaat, Wurtenberg, commits suicide because he was expelled from the club; in a final letter to his former club colleagues, he wrote: "I am leaving with no hatred. My only wish is that Germany should be restored to reason . . . How more beautifully could I have given my life for my Fatherland."
1933: The Commissariat for Medical Associations issues a decree prohibiting non-Jewish physicians from having any professional contact with Jewish physicians; non-Jewish medical
men must not serve as consultants, and must not treat patients recommended to them by Jewish physicians.
1933: The Dutch Society of Sculptors and Artists responds to an appeal on behalf of Jewish refugees from Germany by donating many objects of art which will be used in a lottery sanctioned by the Government.
1936: The report of the Peel Commission was discussed today in Geneva, home of the League of Nations. Poland, Romania and other East European countries, debating the Peel Report on the proposed partition of Palestine, demanded that Great Britain continue to fulfill her obligations under the Mandate. The Arab leadership argued that the rights of the people of Palestine could not be contested and that any partition scheme was contrary to Articles 20 and 31 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. In a contradiction of facts the Arabs did not deny the rights of the Jewish minority in Palestine, and were even prepared to furnish guarantees in this respect, but they unanimously opposed the country's partition and demanded immediate, total independence. But part of the rights of the Jewish community under the terms of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate was to a Jewish Homeland, not citizenship in an Arab country. In South Africa General J.C. Smuts, vice premier and minister of justice, expressed his grave misgivings about the partition scheme in general, and the smallness of the proposed Jewish state in particular. A total rejection of the partition was also the subject of letters written by Colonel J.C. Wedgwood, MP (Member of Parliament), and addressed to the British and world press.
1936: Following the arrival of Rabbi Stephen S. Wise in Geneva, the organizations committee of “The World Jewish Congress” which is opening in Geneva on August 8 announced today that it “will devote one special session to the present situation in Palestine”
1936: In Detroit, “Prosecutor Duncan C. McCrea said tonight that a chemist questioned about a reported Black Legion typhoid epidemic plot” aimed at Jews living in the area “has declared a high ranking legion officer inquired also how to make hand grenades and how to kill people with poison gas and hypodermic needles.”
1936: Birthdate of Leonard Steinberg, Baron Steinberg of Belfast, founder of Stanley Leisure Ltd and found and first President of the Northern Ireland Friends of Israel
1936: The Olympics open in Berlin.
1937: Karl-Otto Koch, who would have the strange misfortune of being executed by the SS for mismanaging a concentration camp, today “was given command of the concentration camp at Buchenwald.”
1937: Among the passengers on board the French line De Grasse which arrived in New York today was scholar and author Dr. Joachim Prinz and his wife who are scheduled to “tour American cities on behalf of the United Palestine appeal which is seeking to raise $4,500,000 for the settle of Jews from Poland, Silesia and Germany in Palestine.”
1938: At the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans which had been purchased by Seymour Weiss in 1934, “the Main Bar” later known as the Sazerac Bar, opened with its famous “mahogany bar, walnut paneled walls and Paul Ninas murals.”
1938(4thof Av, 5698): Eighty-two year old of New York native Albert Arnstein, the graduate of Packards Business College and the holder of an LL.B from St. Lawrence University who settled in St. Louis where he was President of the United Jewish and Charitable Associations passed away today.
1938: In Austria, on “rent day” another of the Nuremberg Laws went into effect under “which it is sufficient for a single ‘Aryan’ in a block of flats to object to Jewish tenants for the Jews to receive notices” ordering them to vacate the premises – a move which is expected to lead to Jews being able to only live in flats where all of the other residents of the building are Jewish.
1938: “Virtually all Jewish-owned cafes on Vienna’s famous Ring Boulevard were ordered today to close their doors” while all other cafes were ordered to post signs saying “Jews Not Wanted.”
1940: In Tel Aviv, journalist Theodor Loevy and his wife Elisa gave birth to television director and writer Ram Loevy.
1940: Antonio Origo and Iris Cutting Origo an Anglo-Irish writer who helped to save Jewish children through the kindertransport including the painter Frank Helmut Auerbach gave birth to their second child, and first daughter, Donata.
1940: The Nazis begin the expulsion of the Jewish population from Cracow, Poland. One-third would be sent to Warsaw and other Polish towns.1942: The first "reliable report" of the Nazi plan to murder all the Jews reached the West. The U.S. State Department suppressed the report for several weeks, until Jews living in the United States heard about the report from other sources.
1941: Heydrich informed Himmler, “that in the future there will be no more Jews in the annexed Eastern Territories." Every day in every village and town, Jews would be hunted down, molested, tortured, and executed.
1941(8th of Av, 5701): Another 1,000 Jews were shot in the city of Kishenev.
1941: The Nazis established The Bialystok Ghetto.
1942: In Danbury, CT, Annette and Lazarus Heyman gave birth to Abigail Heyman “a photographer whose stark portraits of women at work, at home and at weddings gave a visual concreteness to feminist doctrine of the 1970s about the oppressiveness of traditional female roles.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1942 (18th of Av, 5702) Rabbi Shlomo Chanoch Rabinowicz, last Rebbe of the Radomsk dynasty, educator, a director of the Kesser Torah organization, member of the religious council in the Warsaw ghetto was murdered with his family in the Warsaw ghetto
1942: Benjamin Sagalowitz, press secretary of the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities phoned Gerhard Riegner with information from an unimpeachable source, a non-Jewish German industrialist, that Hitler had decided to have all European Jews exterminated by means of poison gas by the end of the year.
1943: In Poland the final liquidation of the Bendzin Ghetto began today as the first batch of what would total 8,000 prisoners were deported today.
1943: When the Nazis began their final liquidation of Bendzin Ghetto they are met with unexpected “armed resistance in several bunkers” led by young Jews that “hampered” the Germans forcing them to spend two weeks on this latest venture in murderous cruelty.
1943: Rabbi Louis Werfel, a graduate of Yeshiva College and RIETS “was sent to North Africa, where he served as Chaplain with the 12th Air Force Service Command, where his area of operations included Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Sicily.
1943(29thof Tammuz, 5703): Twenty year old Lydia Litvyak a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II with twelve solo victories, four shared kills over a total of 66 combat missions, over about two years of missions, who was the first female fighter pilot to shoot down an enemy plane, the first of two female fighter pilots who have earned the title of fighter ace, and the holder of the record for the greatest number of kills by a female fighter pilot was shot down near Orel during the Battle of Kursk as she attacked a formation of German planes today.
1943(29thof Tammuz, 5703): Sixty-eight year old Ismar Elbogen the German rabbi and historian who wrote Jewish Liturgy: A Comprehensive History which has been updated many times since its first publication in 1913, passed away in New York City.
1944: Sixty-six year old Manuel L. Quezon, the President of the Commonwealth of the Philippines who willing resettled Jews fleeing the killing grounds of Europe despite local opposition which was part of the theme of the movie “An Open Door” and for which he was posthumously honored by the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation passed away today.
1944: Anne Frank writes the last entry in her diary.
1944: Rose Valland, the French art historian and member of the Resistance “learned that the Germans were planning to ship out a last five boxcars full of art” most of which had been looted from French Jews and notified the Resistance “who prevented the train from leaving Paris.
1944: Future Nobel Prize winner François Jacob who fought with Free French 2ndArmored Division “returned to a liberated Paris.”
1944: Fourteen months after the Warsaw Ghetto, the Polish underground rises against the Nazis in Warsaw. Jewish fighters came of hiding to participate in the fight. However, those who could not come to the aide of the Jews in 1943 would now find out what it felt like. The Soviet Army waited outside the city and did not come to their aid. Instead, they let the Nazis slaughter the Poles and then they entered the city as liberating heroes
1945: Birthdate of Douglas Dean Osheroff, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1996. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lithuanian.
1945: Former Senator Guy M. Gillette of Iowa today announced his acceptance of the presidency of the American League for a Free Palestine and the post of chief political adviser to the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation.
Declaring that he considers the "so-called Jewish problem not as a Jewish or a Hebrew question, but as an urgent problem of the United Nations and of the decent portion of mankind," Gillette urged that the Allied Control Commission in Europe recognize the "Hebrew national status" and permit "stateless or Axis Jews" to decide their own status as Hebrew nationals, or stateless, or nationals of Germany, Rumania or Hungary. He also recommended:
1. Freeing of all Jews from Axis concentration camps.
2. Extension of UNRRA relief operations to the Balkan countries where, he charged hundreds of thousands of Jews in Rumania and Hungary, particularly, are starving and have not yet received any UNRRA aid.
3. Addition of Jewish representatives to the United Nations War Crimes Commission.
4. Consideration by the Reparations Commission now meeting in Moscow of the "claims and rights" of surviving Jews, and inclusion of compensation for the losses of the Jewish people.
Gillette said that every Jew in Europe should be authorized "to apply to the nearest British consulate and receive his first papers of Palestinian citizenship." He also suggested the creation of an Anglo-American-Russian committee with adequate powers to effect the speediest repatriation of all such applicants to Palestine. These steps, Gillette asserted, are "essential for the commencement of a solution of the entire problem." Annulment by the new British Government of "discriminatory laws against Jews in Palestine" was likewise demanded by Gillette. (As reported by Jewish Telegraph Agency)
1945: The final Little Boy was assembled and ready to be dropped on Japan.
1946(4th of Av, 5706): In Miskol, Hungry industrial workers stage a pogrom. Two Jews are lynched. This is an example of the post-war anti-Semitic violence that led approximately 4,000 Jews to leave Hungary for Palestine during the next two years.
1946: In San Jose Rodolpho Liberman and his wife gave birth to businessman Luis Liberman Ginsburg, who became Second Vice President of his native Costa Rica.
1948: IAF volunteer pilot Leo Nomi took a 25 minute truck ride to Netanya where he flew patrol in a D-114 with three other pilots including Ezer Weizman.
1948: “Syd Antin and Red Finkel flew a pair of S-199s on patrol today, out of Netanya.
1948: Birthdate of Avi Arad the native of Ramat Gan, son of Holocaust survivors from Poland and veteran of the Six Day War who “became the CEO of the company Toy Biz in the 1990s, and soon afterward became the chief creative officer of Marvel Entertainment, a Marvel director, and the chairman, CEO, and founder of Marvel Studios.”
1948: Birthdate of Aline Goldsmith, Kominsky-Crumb, the Long Beach, NY native who “reshaped” the world of comics.
1949: “Mr. Soft Touch” a crime movie directed by Henry Levin was released today in the United States by Columbia Pictures.
1949: Warner Brothers releases a spoof about the movie industry – “It’s a Great Feeling” with a screenplay by Jack Rose and Melville Shavelson based on a story by I.A.L. Diamond, a score by Jule Styne all of which were brought together by producer Alex Gottlieb.
1952: As part of a major cost reduction program at MGM studios, today is scheduled to be the last day of work for Richard Goldstone who has produced nine pictures for the studio over the last three years.
1952: In Manhattan, Dr. Judith P. Sulzberger and Dr. Matthew Rosenschien, Jr. gave birth to Daniel Hays Cohen, the adopted son of Yale educated insurance broker Richard N. Cohen and “great-grandson of Adolph S. Ochs, the family patriarch who bought The Times in 1896, and a first cousin of Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., the company’s current chairman and publisher, and of Michael Golden, the vice chairman. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
1953: Birthdate of British born Jewish historian Martin David Goodman who specialized in the Roman period and whose works included The Ruling Class of Judaea: The Origins of the Jewish Revolt Against Rome, A.D. 66-70
1954(2ndof Av, 5714): Seventy-three year old Dr. Harry E. Isaacs, “founder of the American Jewish Physicians Committee, an affiliate of the American Friends of the Hebrew University and the former Chief of Surgery at Beth El Hospital passed away today.
1954: A group of ten raiders under the command of Meir Har-Zion returned from a raid conducted near Jenin where they “attacked two policemen and took one of them prisoner.”
1955: “The Kentuckian” co-starring Walter Matthau with music by Bernard Hermann was released in the United States today by United Artists.
1958: In Jerusalem, Michael and Shulamit Albeck gave birth to biochemist Amnon Albeck, the grandson of Hanoch Albeck, a “professor of Talmud at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem who was one of the founders of the scientific approach to the study of the Mishna.”
1956: The Salk Vaccine, created by Dr. Jonas Salk, becomes available to the American public.
1960: Ella Fitzgerald began recording what would become an album of the songs of Harold Arlen known as “Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Harold Arlen Songbook.”
1960: Today, Senator John F. Kennedy, the Democratic Presidential nominee issued a statement “paying tribute to Philip B. Perlman, the former United States Solicitor General who died last night” acknowledging his help in drafting “the national platform of” the recently concluded Democratic convention in which “as in everything in his life, he gave unstintingly of his time and effort.”
1963(11thof Av, 5723): Sixty-six year old “Morton J. Baum” the Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and WW I U.S. Navy veteran who became “president of the Hickey-Freeman Men’s Clothing Company and the husband of Margaret Baum with whom he had two children – Morton, Jr and Helen – died today after suffering a fatal heart attack.
1964(23rdof Av, 5724): Parashat Eikev
1964(23rdof Av, 5724): Seventy-six year old Rufus Learsi (Israel Goldberg) author of History of the Jewish People and The Jews in America: A History who with his wife had three children – David, Arthur and Judith – passed away today. (Editor’s Note: I still have my copy of The Jews in America, the text used at the Adas Israel Religious School where, unbeknownst to me this journey through Jewish history began)
https://www.nytimes.com/1964/08/04/rufus-learsi-writer-of-history-of-jews-in-america-dies-at-76.html
1965: Birthdate of English stage and film director Sam Mendes whose father was from Trinidad and whose mother was an English Jew.
1969: In Shaker Heights, Ohio, Nina (née Saul) and Norman Wain gave birth to muti-talented David Benjamin Wain best known for directing “feature films.
1970: Nobel Prize winner Otto Heinrich Warburg passed away. Warburg was part of the famed Warburg clan but he was not Jewish. His father, Emil, had converted to Christianity.
1970: Ensio P.H. Siilasvuo of Finland assumes the role of Chief of Staff United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO)
1971(10th of Av, 5731): Tish’a B’Av observed
1971: “The Omega Man” a sci-fi film directed by Boris Sagal was released in the United States today.
1971: CBS broadcast the first episode in the series “The Six Wives of Henry VII” co-starring Wolfe Morris as the villainous “Thomas Cromwell.”
1973: After opening on Broadway at the Uris Theatre in March, “Seesaw,” a musical with lyrics by Dorothy Fields, music by Cy Coleman and book re-written by Neil Simon transferred to the Mark Hellinger Theatre.
1975: The “Final Helsinki Act” was signed in Helsinki at the summit of 35 nations of Europe, USA and Canada
1976:Natalia Grigoryevna Kushnir and the Russian volleyball team won a silver medal at the 1976 Olympics which closed at Montreal today.
1979: “Melech Epstein Dead at 90” published today provided a brief account of the life of this former Communist and Jewish author.
1979:Alleged violations by Egypt of its peace treaty with Israel were discussed here today by Defense Minister Ezer Weizman and Egypt’s Defense Minister Kamal Hassan Ali who ended his three-day visit to Israel this afternoon. Read more: http://www.jta.org/1979/08/01/archive/israel-complains-to-egypt-about-violations-of-peace-treaty#ixzz2afGP53oc
1979:“Between today and through most of 1985, few merchants were as lavishly praised as Ed Finkelstein,” Isadore Barmash, a former retailing reporter for The New York Times, wrote in his 1989 book, “Macy’s for Sale.”
1979: Following her graduation from rabbinical college in Philadelphia, Linda Joy Holtzman was appointed spiritual leader of the Conservative Beth Israel congregation in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, making her the first female rabbi to head a Jewish congregation in America.
1980: “Jerusalem Storm Just One More in Tortured History” published today described the city’s history in light of the Knesset’s vote this week “affirming Jerusalem as a united city and the capital of Israel.”
1980: “Raise the Titanic,” an adventure film produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment “and featuring Elya Baskin was released today.
1980: “The Final Countdown” a film that combines the attack on Pearl Harbor with science fiction starring Kirk Douglas and produced by his son Peter was released in the United States today.
1980: Egypt said today that it would not suspend the talks with Israel on autonomy for the occupied areas nor would it recall its Ambassador from Israel in response to the passage of an Israeli law formalizing the annexation of Jerusalem.
1980: Two days after the Knesset passed the Jerusalem Law, an article entitled “Jerusalem Storm Just One More in a Tortured History” which traced the history of the city from ancient times to the period following the Six Days War was published. The article includes the following: “During the war that followed Israel’s independence in 1948, Jordan seized the eastern sector of Jerusalem…and the new state won control of the western sector. The Jordanians evicted all Jews from the Old City; from 1948 to 1967 was off limits to Jews and most of the old synagogues there were destroyed.” (Editor’s note – The author, working for The New York Times, writes about an eastern sector and a western sector of Jerusalem as well as the Old City. The term “East Jerusalem and, its concept as a separate city, is apparently a more recent creation.)
1981(1st of Av, 5741): Rosh Chodesh Av
1981: Dr. Donald Payne, the husband of Jessica Savitch, passed away today in Washington, DC.
1981: Abu Daoud, a Black September commander who openly claimed to have helped plan the Munich attack, was shot multiple times by a gunman in a Warsaw hotel cafe. Daoud survived the attack
1981(1st of Av, 5741): Paddy Chayefsky passed away. Born in 1923, Sydney "Paddy" Chayefsky began writing scripts for television during its golden age of drama in the 1950’s. He switched to films where he won three Oscar for writing "Marty", "Hospital" and "Network." (As reported by Colin Campbell)
1985: Birthdate of Benjamin Levin, the son of David Robert Levin
1985(14thof Av, 5745): Ninety two year old Jules Salvador Moch, the son of Captain Gaston Moch and the grandson of Colonel Jules Moch who fought with the Free French at Normandy before becoming a political leader passed away in Cabris.
1986: “Howard The Duck” a sci-fi comedy co-produced by Gloria Katz who also wrote the script and featuring Liz Sagal as “Ronette” was released in the United States today.
1987(6thof Av, 5747): Parashat Devarim and Shabbat Chazon
1987(6thof Av, 5747): Harvey Clurman passed away today and was later buried at the New Montefiore Cemetery in Suffolk County.
1989: Morton Abramowitz began serving as U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
1989(29th of Tammuz, 5749): Fifty-nine year old Hungarian born Canadian director who had survived the Holocuast passed away today.
1991: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir accepted a formula for peace talks in the Middle East.
1991 Publication of Jewish Life in Germany: Memoirs from Three Centuries, edited by Monika Richarz.
1992: In Montclair, NJ, “Stephen Rosenfield, a teacher of stand-up comedy and the founder of the American Comedy Institute in New York City” and actress Katherine Mathilde "Kate" Redway Rosenfield, gave birth to musician and actor Benjamin “Ben” Rosenfield whose most notable role may be have been in the totally amoral drama series “Boardwalk Empire.”
1992: Thirty-four year old producer Scott Rudin “signed a deal with Tri-Star Pictures.”
1993: Showtime broadcast the first episode of Executive Producer Sydney Pollack’s “Fallen Angels” produced by Steve Golin and with music by Elmer Berstein.
1996(16thof Av, 5766): Eighty-eight year old Frank Glassman, the younger brother of Morris Glassman and lineman who played at Wilmington and Bliss College before spending a year in the NFL with the Buffalo Bisons passed away today.
1998: Based on order by the Assassination Records Review Board (AARB) today was the deadline from transferring the Zapruder film of JFK’s assassination from the NARA’s film collection to the John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection.
1999: U.K. premiere of “A Price Above Rubies,” a film about Chasidic Jews directed and written by Boaz Yankin and co-starring Julianna Marguiles.
2000: Moshe Katsav was sworn in as President of Israel making him the first person to be elected to a seven year term and the first person from Likud to be elected President.
2000: “Space Cowboys” a geriatric, galactic buddy-movie co-produced by Andrew Lazar and with a score by Lennie Niehaus was released n he United States today.
2000: James “Jim” Steinberg completed his service as Deputy National Security Advisor under President Clinton.
2001: Rita Levi-Montalcini “was appointed as Senator for Life by the President of Italy.
2002: Premiere of “Yossi & Jagger,” an “Israeli romantic drama film directed by Eytan Fox.
2002: The body Shani Ladani, 27, of Moshav Olash, shot and bound, was found west of Tulkarem, near the Green Line, in the industrial zone where he was employed.
2002: Dalia Rabin-Pelossof, the daughter of Yitzhak Rabin, resigned as Deputy Minister of Defense.
2003: Jill Abramson, the Washington bureau chief of the New York Times was one two people appointed today to serve as managing editor of the Times. She “will be managing editor for news gathering.”
2004: The New York Times book section features a review of'Jerome Robbins': From Stravinsky to the Sharks by Nicholas Fox Weber.
2004: In Aspen, CO, Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, Inc. is the headline speaker at United Jewish Communities (UJC) eighth annual Jewish Leadership Forum (JLF)
2004: Lexington, KY native Jeffrey M. Lacker began serving as the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond.
2004(14th of Av, 5764): Sidney Morgenbesser passed away at the age of 82 from complications of ALS . Morgenbesser was the Emeritus John Dewey Professor of Philosophy at Columbia. He attended JTS and earned a Ph.D. from Penn. He was known for his erudition and his wit. David Shatz of Yeshiva University recounted the story of Morgenbesser chastising a faculty member for hiding his Jewishness: “Oh, I see your model is Icognito, ergo sum.”
2005 (25th of Tammuz, 5765): George Forman, a longtime comptroller of the American Civil Liberties Union, who brought fiscal discipline to a ramshackle organization near bankruptcy in the late 1970s and later helped it develop into a powerful civil liberties conglomerate, died today at the age of 88.(As reported by Lily Koppel)
2005: President George W Bush nominated Roland Arnall to become the U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands.
2005: A political essay written by Russian businessman and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky in his prison cell, titled "Left Turn", was published in Vedomosti, calling for a turn to more social responsible state.
2005 (25th of Tammuz, 5765): Al Aronowitz passed away at the age of 77. He was a pioneering journalist who covered the Beat literary scene and engineered a meeting between Bob Dylan and the Beatles that has passed into rock 'n' roll legend.
2005 (25th of Tammuz, 5765): George Forman, a longtime comptroller of the American Civil Liberties Union who brought fiscal discipline to a ramshackle organization near bankruptcy in the late 1970's and later helped it develop into a powerful civil liberties conglomerate passed away today at the age of 88. "During the years of crisis he was more responsible than any other single person for keeping the program afloat," said Ira Glazer, the executive director of the A.C.L.U. from 1978 to 2001. He explained how Mr. Forman juggled the bills and even earned interest on a deficit operational budget, and recalled visits from officials of Chemical Bank who complained that although the organization was moving around millions of dollars, its average balance was $3.79.,"He was the chewing gum and rubber bands that held the organization together and made the high intellectual and strategic law possible," Mr. Glazer said. When Mr. Forman arrived at the A.C.L.U. in 1968, the organization had two lawyers, one part-time press person and no one in charge of administration and finances, fund-raising or development. By the time he retired in the late 1990's, the organization had a $50 million annual income, more than $100 million in assets and staffed offices in every state. Before joining the A.C.L.U., Mr. Forman was the comptroller of the Noma Corporation, a large, diversified holding company; he became unemployed when Noma merged with a predecessor of Gulf and Western. During World War II, he was an Army officer stationed in Washington, where he fell in love with a woman with whom he had his only daughter but felt he could not marry because she was not Jewish. He graduated magna cum laude from New York University in 1939 and earned a graduate degree in business administration there.
2006(7th of Av, 5766): Sixty-two year art historian Arlene Raven passed away today. (As reported by Elaine Woo)
2006: A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Judge Sweet's decision, holding 2–1 that federal prosecutors could inspect the telephone records of Judith Miller
2006(7th of Av, 5766): Skirmishes with Hezbollah guerrillas in the southern Lebanese village of Ayta al-Shaab left three soldiers, including an officer, of a Paratrooper Brigade unit dead and at least another 25 wounded. The names of the fallen have been released: St.-Sgt. Yehunatan Einhorn, 22, of Moshav Gimzo; First Sergeant Michael Levine, 21, of Jerusalem; and Lieutenant Ilan Gabbai, 22, of Kiryat Tivon.
2006:A number of Jewish-owned stores in Italy had their doors sealed with glue and the shutters nailed down overnight as a response to Israel’s policies in Lebanon
2006: Today, Peter “Gelb became the 16th General Manager of the Metropolitan Opera” following with he “launched…several new productions, including Madama Butterfly, The Barber of Seville, The First Emperor.”
2007: U.S. President George Bush imposed sanctions on Syria today because of the role the Damascus government has played in creating regional instability.
2007: U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice arrives in Jerusalem.
2008: Solomon "Momy" Levy began serving his term as Mayor of Gibraltar.
2008: Solomon Levy began serving as the Mayor of Gibraltar. 2008: In Falls Church VA (suburban Washington, D.C.), Jewish author Benjamin Rosenbaum reads from and discusses his new collection of SF tales, The Ant King and Other Stories
2009: At Temple Judah, a Triple Header:
- Shabbat Nachamu
- Rabbi Todd Thalbum officially takes the pulpit at Temple Judah and reads the Torah portion at his first Cedar Rapids Shabbat Morning Service
- Raoul Wallenberg Sabbath Annual Observance of Raoul Wallenberg Memorial Day (August 4, 2009) which has been proclaimed by the Governor of Iowa for three years in a row.
2009(11th of Av, 5769): A gunman shot dead two people and wounded at least thirteen others in an attack at a central Tel Aviv gay and lesbian center tonight before fleeing the scene
2010: The Skirball Cultural Center show "Monsters and Miracles: A Journey through Jewish Picture Books," is scheduled to come to a close today.
2010: Jake Tapper completed his service as the interim anchor of ABC’s “This Week” – a career disappointment that would help take him to CNN.
2010: Modern Art, Sacred Space: Motherwell, Ferber, and Gottlieb is scheduled to have its final showing at the Jewish Museum,in New York.
2010: President Shimon Peres is scheduled to travel to Egypt today for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
2010: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Telling Times:Writing and Living, 1954-2008by Nadine Gordimer, Running Commentary:The Contentious Magazine That Transformed the Jewish Left Into the Neoconservative Right by Benjamin Balint, Norman Podhoretz: A Biography by Thomas L. Jeffers, High Financer:The Lives and Time of Siegmund Warburgby Niall Ferguson and Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman
2010:The Jewish Community Center in Omaha welcomed nearly 1,000 young Jewish athletes for an Olympic-style competition that will run through August 6. This will be the third time in 19 years that the Maccabi Games have been held at the Jewish Community Center.
2010(21 Av, 5770): Eighty-eight year old Reginald Levy, the airline captain who thwarted the hijacking of his Belgian airliner in 1972, passed away.(As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2010:“Curious George Saves the Day: The Art of Margret and H. A. Rey” is scheduled to be shown for the last time today at the Jewish Museum
2011: A screening of “Bobby Fischer Against the World,” Liz Garbus’s documentary that takes us on Fischer’s journey from Jewish child prodigy to world chess master to virulent anti-Semite, is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Festival.
2011(1st day of Av, 5771): Rosh Chodesh Av
2011: Today, “just seven months after a gunman’s bullet nearly killed her, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the floor of the House of Representatives” to cast her firs vote. (JWA)
2011: Today “on the 5th anniversary ("yarzheit") of Michael Levin's death according to the Gregorian calendar, a flag was flown over the US Capitol in his memory at the request of a man from his local area, Johnson Reynolds, who considered him both an Israeli and American hero. (A native Pennsylvanian, Levin had been killed in action while serving with a Paratroopers Brigaded during the Second Lebanon War.)
2011: Today, for the first time, the IDF unveiled a special guided missile system that has been used successfully in action in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Called Tamuz, the missile is based on the Spike Long-Range Missile developed by Rafael and is operated by Meitar, an elite unit which operates under the Artillery Corps. The missile was opened to foreign exports last year
2011: “Kmo Kulam” (Like Everyone Else) by Elisha Banai and the Forty Thieves was released today.
2011:"Volunticipate," a weeklong encounter that brings together representatives of Jewish and Roma, or Gypsy, youth groups from eight countries begins today in Hungary. The youth are gathering to discuss how to build partnerships, plan joint initiatives, and exchange experiences about minority identity and grass-roots civil activism.
2011:Leaders of the protest for affordable housing who met with President Shimon Peres today found a champion for the cause. Speaking with the social movement's representatives at Beit Hanassi, Peres told them that their protest was legitimate and sincere, and that he would help them in every way possible to change the national agenda.
2011: Haaretz’s board of directors has appointed Aluf Benn as the paper’s editor in chief, effective today. Benn, a veteran correspondent and commentator at Haaretz, replaces Dov Alfon, who has been editor in chief for the past three years and is leaving the paper to establish a new digital enterprise in cooperation with the Haaretz Group
2011: “Just seven months after a gunman’s bullet nearly killed her, Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to the floor of the House of Representatives to cast her vote in favor of a bill to raise the nation’s debt ceiling.”
2011: A Kassam rocket was fired at southern Israel from Gaza tonight “moderately wounding a women in her fifties who was his by shrapnel from the rocket.”
2012: Ninety-two thousand Jews are scheduled to gather in New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium for the 12thSiyum Hashas.
2012:US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is scheduled to arrive in Israel today to gauge Israel’s determination to attack Iran and to try to persuade Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to give sanctions and diplomacy more time. (As reported by Yaakov Katz)
2012: “Best of Tel Aviv,” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Tel Aviv University film school, is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2012: Rabbi Alfredo Borodowski is scheduled to begin teaching “Simply Mordecai M. Kaplan: From Heretic to Prophet of American Judaism” at the Skirball Center.
2012: Yemen Blues, a group organized by Ravid Kahalani and Omer Avital, is scheduled to perform at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.
2012: In Houston, TX, brit milhah for Joseph Levy (Yosef Label) Strauss, son of Abbie and Feivel Strauss.
2012: Barbara Berger, whose brother, David, was on the Israeli wrestling team in 1972, wrote in Haaretz today that families of the 11 victims of a Palestinian terrorist attack at the Munich Olympics would continue to advocate for a formal moment of silence at the Olympics, despite the refusal of the International Olympics Committee to allow such a moment this year, the massacre’s 40th anniversary. (As reported by JTA and The Times of Israel)
2012: In some respects, today was a historic turning point for Israel — the day on which ultra-Orthodox Israelis became officially subject to the draft along with the rest of the country’s Jewish citizens. On the ground, however, things looked less than historic. At the army’s induction center in Jerusalem, in a sleepy religious neighborhood near the central bus station, there was the usual trickle of teenagers in shorts, T-shirts and tank tops eventually headed for the various units of the Israel Defense Forces, accompanied by the usual trickle of teenagers in black coats and hats coming to register for draft exemptions
2012:Yakov Toumarkin today became only the second Israeli swimmer to reach the final of an Olympic event by finishing fifth in the semifinal of the men's 200m backstroke event. He also equaled the Israeli national record that he had set earlier in the day in the heats – 1:57.33 minutes. Later on today, Gal Nevo finished fourth in the semifinal of the men's Olympics 200m individual medley. Unlike Toumarkin, however, Nevo's semifinal time was not enough to reach a place in the finals, and he finished tenth overall.
2012(13th of Av, 5772): Eighty-five year old New York Times editor Gerald Gold passed away. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2012(13th of Av, 5772): Seventy-four year old Esther Kartiganer who played on the undefeated women’s Brandies University basketball team and was a senior producer at “60 Minutes” passed away today. (As reported by Dennis Hevesi)
2013: “Soldier on the Roof,” a documentary about the Jews living in Hebron, is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival today.
2013: “Crossing Delancey” is scheduled to be shown this evening at the “Only In New York Summer Film Series.”
2013: A gag order was lifted today on an espionage indictment filed against a 46-year-old Jerusalemite member of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta Haredi Sect accused of offering to serve as a spy for the Iranian regime. (As reported by Havi Rettig Gur)
2013: The 12th Annual March for Pride and Tolerance took place this evening in Jerusalem
2013(25th of Av, 5773): Sixty-seven year old Igal Brightman the chairman and CEO of the major local accounting firm of Deloitte Brightman Almagor Zohar died when his plane crashed outside of Eilat.
2013: The Los Angeles Time featured a review of Hothouse: The Art of Survival and the Survival of Art at America's Most Celebrated Publishing House, Farrar Straus & Giroux by Boris Kachka
2014: The jury is scheduled to announce the winners in the Sukkah Design contest sponsored by Oregon Jewish Museum at the Mittleman Jewish Community Center.
2014: A weeklong workshop “The Holocaust in Eastern Europe in the Records of the International Tracing Service Digital Archive” at the USHMM is scheduled to come to an end.
2014: Based on announcement by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry a 72-hour unconditional cease-fire between Israel and Hamas is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. local time today.
2014(5thof Av, 5774): Major Benaya Sarel, 26, from Kiryat Arba and St.-Sgt. Liel Gidoni, 20, from Jerusalem both serving with the Givati Brigade were killed today after the cease fire had begun. At the same time 2nd Lt. Hadar Goldin, 23, from Kfar Saba was kidnapped. On August 2, Hadar was declared to have died in today’s attack as well. (In life they were loved and admired. They were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions.)
2014: Twenty-four year old Lt. Eitan Fund “rushed into a tunnel to try and stop the kidnapping of Hadar Goldin who in fact had already been killed by the terrorist – an act of heroism for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal..
2014: Representative Eric Cantor, the Virginia Republican whose last day as House majority leader yesterday, said today that he would resign his seat effective Aug. 18 in hopes that his successor will be able to participate in the lame-duck session after the November elections. Mr. Cantor’s departure means that they are no Jewish Republicans serving in the House of Representatives.
2014: Following his defeat in his party’s primary election Eric Cantor gave up his position as House Majority leader.
2014: Michael Bloomberg’s fellowship, the Genesis Generation Challenge is scheduled to “go live” today.
2015(16th of Av, 5775): Parashat Vaetchanan and Shabbat Nachamu
2015: Today “opposition leader Isaac Herzog issued a call to action against Jewish terrorism, and demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon respond to such acts in the same way as Israel responds to Islamist terrorism.”
2015: Lewis Black is scheduled to appear at the Main State Pier in Portland, ME.
2015: Benjamin Levin, son of David Levin, hits the big Three Oh!
2016: “In the wake of the stabbing attack at the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade in which six people were injured by an ultra-Orthodox man,” “thousands of people attended a number of anti-violence, anti-homophobia rallies across Israel” this evening.
2016: “The Farewell Party” is scheduled to be shown at The Hampton Synagogue Film Series which is now in its 14thyear.
2016: Dani Dayan is scheduled to take office today “Israel’s new consul general in New York.” (As reported by Josef Federer)
2017(9th of Av, 5777): Tish’a B’Av;
(Editor’s Note: As we read Lamentations, we will lament giving control to modern day Herodians and Zealots?)
2017: As Jews commemorated “the Babylonian capture and conquest of the First Temple” “new finds in the City of David” that “confirm the biblical account” of the event were being made public. (As reported by Amanda Borschel-Dan)
2017: The IDF is scheduled to “conduct a 24-hour exercise” that “will include a brisk movement of security and forces and vehicles” “in the vicinity of Nitzana communities and the area of the city of Eilat starting” today.
2017(9th of Av, 5777): Seventy-four year old Jeff Brotman, “a founder of Costco” and the husband of “the former Susan Thrailkill” with whom he had two children, Justin and Amanda, passed away today.(As reported by Sam Roberts)
2017: Marvin Krislov is scheduled to begin serving as the eighth president of Pace University in New York.
2017: In London, on Finchley Road, JW3 is scheduled to host a screening of the “Zookeeper’s Wife.”
2017: Friends and family of Benjamin Levin, the son of David Levin celebrate his natal day.
2018: In Atlanta, MGM is scheduled to host a free screening of “Operation Finale,” a movie “based on the 1960 covert mission of Mossad agent Peter Malkin as he infiltrates Argentina and captures Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi officer who masterminded the transportation logistics that brought millions of innocent Jews to their deaths in concentration camps.”
2018: “The Ancient Law,” a film that tells the story of a rabbi’s son who gains fame as an actor in Vienna, is scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
2018: “The WOW festival with super star Jason Derulo” is scheduled to place “at Rishon Lezion”
2018: And of course, it would not be a true history, it we did not take a personal moment to wish Benjamin Levin the happiest of birthdays.