August 2
1100: King William Rufus, the second son of William the Conqueror who “managed to prevent in England the massacres of Jews that occurred in Rouen, and across France and the Rhineland, in the bloody frenzy the preceded the departure of the First Crusade in 1096” was fatally struck by an arrow which may have been a hunting accident or part of calculated plot to remove him from the throne.
1222: Raymond VI, Count of Toulouse and Marquis of Provence passed away. “He was so sympathetic to the Jews that Pope Innocent III caused him to take an oath ‘that he would deprive the Jews of their offices and that he would never appoint any Jews or in any way favor them.’”
1389: Catholic Archdeacon and Jew hater Ferran Martinez is denied the right to act as a judge or to preach after refusing to follow an order of the Pope. The Archbishop of Seville issued this strong punishment because Martinez refused to issue permits for Jews to build new synagogues, in accordance with the wishes of the Pope.
1492: According to some sources this day marked the beginning of the final expulsion of the Jews from Spain. According to tradition it was Tisha B’Av on the Jewish calendar.
1549: Birthdate of Russian nobleman Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł author of Podróż do Ziemi Świętej, Syrii i Egiptu 1582-1584 (The trip to Holy Land, Syria and Egypt 1582-1584) provided a first-hand description of life in Palestine at the end of the 16th century.
1579(10th of Av): Joseph Nasi, duke of Naxos, passed away.
1589: King Henry III of France passed away. Before he was King of France, as Henry of Anjou he was elected as the first King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. He owed this victory to a Jew named Solomon Ashkenazi who was the principle adviser to the Emperor of the Ottoman Empire.
1675: The "Great Synagogue" was inaugurated in Amsterdam on Rapenburgerstraat. This was a Sephardic synagogue, home to K.K. Talmud Torah, which was a union of Congregations Neveh Shalom founded in 1608 and Bet Yisrael found in 1618.
1696: Birthdate of Mahmud I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. In 1739, Mahmud signed the Treaty of Belgrade that gave citizenship rights to the Ottoman Jews. Austrian Jews were so impressed with the grant of rights that many of them applied for citizenship in Mahmud’s empire.
1784(11th of Av): Rabbi Simcha ben Abraham Calimani poet and linguist, passed away at Venice.
1790: The United States conducts its first census. Out of a population of four million people, there are approximately 2,000 Jews.
1792: In Charleston, Mrs. Nathan married Abraham Jones, “the clerk to the synagogue.”
1795: Birthdate of Austrian Talmudist Aaron Kornfeld who was a native of Bohemia.
1799(1st of Av, 5559): Rosh Chodesh Av
1799(1st of Av, 5559): Golem Levi Marx, the infant son of Samuel and Eva Marx Levi passed away today in Trier.
1812: Hannah Moses and Abraham Braham were married today at the Great Synagogue after which they had five children – Esther, Eliza Rosa, William and Edwain.
1819: An anti-Semitic riot breaks out in the city of Wurzberg. It will be the first in string of such violent actions to plague the Jews of Germany. The violence which lasted until October of 1891 was known as The Hep-Hep Riots taken from the rallying cry of the anti-Semitic rioters. Nobody seems to know the true origin of the term.
1820: Today, Stanisław Staszic, a Catholic priest and government minister, “attempted to subject Polish Jewish books to the severest scrutiny” so that “no Jewish book was to be printed or sold in the land or imported from aboard through sale or subscription without the express permission of the Commission of Religion Denominations and Public Enlightenment.”
1830: As turmoil gripped France, Charles X also known as Charles Phillippe during whose reign Judaism was placed on “an equal footing with other faiths” and the rabbinical college in Metz founded in 1829 “as recognized as state institution and granted a state subsidy” abdicated today.
1846(10th of Av, 5606): Tish’a B’Av observed,
1851: At Hyde Park Square, Kensington, UK, Joseph Mayer Montefiore and Henriietta Francisca Montefiore, the daughter of Salomon and Fanny Sichel, gave birth to Alice Julia Lucas
1853: Samuel Joseph Rubenstein, a Jew who arrived from Russian in 1829, was naturalized as a citizen of the United Kingdom today,
1858: In Mannheim, Germany, Lazarus Morgenthau, the son of Moses and Brunhilda Morgenthau, and Seline Babette Morgenthau gave birth to Julius Caesar Morgenthau
1865: Birthdate of Antoine Targe, the native of Saint-Chamond whose investigation in 1903 during the Dreyfus Affair, “established the fact that several forgeries still existed in the War Ministry's offices, that some documents had clearly been altered, that there were erroneous commentaries, that exonerating documents had been hidden, and that others were "receptacles for every sort of gossip from dismissed servants and malicious concierges." He would ensure that these documents were available to the Court of Cassation when it considered the fate of Dreyfus.
1866: The Aroostook Pioneer is quoted as saying that a religious movement is forming in Maine with the intent of immigrating to Jerusalem. A ship is being fitted out at Jonesport which should be ready to sail by the middle of next month. Land has already been purchased near Jaffa where the immigrants plan on making their home. [Ed. Note - the article does not mention if any Jews were involved or note.]
1869: George Elliot (Mary Ann Evans), an unlikely “champion of Jews and Zionism” and author of Daniel Deronda, began writing her masterpiece, Middlemarch, today.
1870: The report that police had apprehended the person responsible for the murder of prominent New York businessman Benjamin Nathan has turned out to be nothing more than an unfounded rumor. The police are continuing to vigorously investigate the murder but will not take any action against any
individual until they are absolutely sure of their facts.
1873: “Life in Bohemia” published today provides an anecdotal account of conditions in this part of central Europe. The section “The Jews” described the contempt that many of the Bohemians have for the Jews, which the author compares to that which Brian de Bois Guilbert had for Isaac of York and the other Jews of England in the novel Ivanhoe. Conditions are not better for the Jews of the newly created nation of Romania where Jews have been forbidden to take part in the newest commercial ventures.
1878: Mrs. Josephine Lewinski, the wife Phillip Lewinski, a member of the Lowery gang of counterfeiters applied for alimony and legal fees as part of the divorce proceedings she has brought against her notorious husband.
1878(3rd of Av: Shiye Mordecai Lifshits passed away
1879: In Kensington, UK Leopold (Lippmann) Seligmann, the son of David and Fanny Seligman and Julia Levi gave birth to Edward Seligman
1879: “Caring For The Sick Poor” published today traced the history of medical facilities in New York including the founding of Mount Sinai Hospital by the Jews in 1852.
1879: In New York, Detectives Fogarty and Handy arrested a Jew named Louis Pollard because he had some shoes in his possession that matched the description of shoes stolen last September. Pollard first claimed that he had bought the shoes at an auction but later said he got the shoes from a woman named Lena Bezona. She was arrested and Pollard was released.
1879: The Medal of Honor was issued to David Orbansky for “his gallantry in action” at the Battle of Shiloh.
1882(17th of Av, 5642): Austrian born author David Podiebrad who specialized in the history of the Jews of Prague passed away today.
1883: Troops were called out to disperse rioters who attacked the Jews living in Ekaterinoslav, Russia.
1884: Twenty three year old Solomon Rintel, a Hungarian born fresco painter living in New York was seen alive for the last time as he retired to his room at boarding house on 6th Street.
1885: Birthdate of Oskar Blumenthal who in 1941 was transported from Prague to Terezin and from there to Riga in 1942 where he was murdered.
1886(1st of Av, 5646): Rosh Chodesh Av
1887: Birthdate of Nathan David Perlman, the native or Prusice, Poland who came to the United States in 1891 and after having graduated NYU Law School and passed the bar in 1909, pursued a political career that led to him being elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican in 1920.
1887: In Jerusalem journalist Israel Dov Frumkin and his first wife Bielke Frumknn gave birth to Gad Frumkin
1887: Birthdate of Aaron Gedalia Kaletzki, who gained fame as Harry “Fuzzy” Kallet, the All-American End at the University of Syracuse and husband of Kathryn Clifford with whom he “had two sons, Clifford and Richard” who spent 55 years working as “a practicing physician in Syracuse New York.
1888: Poor youngsters and their mothers will have the chance to enjoy a free excursion today sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children
1890: “The Jewish Persecutions” published today described the Marquis of Salisbury, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom speech in the House Of Lords in which he assured those present “that there were no grounds for dreading a wholesale invasion of Great Britain of pauper Jews from Russia.”
1890: It was reported today that New York Congressman Charles S. Baker has expressed his concern for the fate of Russian Jews by asking the Foreign Affairs Committee to report favorably on a resolution calling on the President to intervene on their behalf.
1890: The government in Berlin has sent orders to the frontier customs posts to watch for the threatened migration of Jews from Russia in response to the new edicts promulgated by the Czar’s government.
1891: It was reported today that Hartog Veld who has been serving as a Rabbi in Troy, NY is moving to Montreal to serve another congregation in Canada.
1891: “The Jews In Russia” published today challenges the contention that Russia’s treatment of its Jews has nothing to do with religion and his contention that somehow 4 million Jews are controlling the economic lives of sixty million Russians through their practice of usury.
1891: “Jews Who Plow” published today provides Arnold White’s affirmative response to the question “Has a Jew ever been see to plow” in which he includes descriptions of active Jewish agricultural settlements.
1892: In London, Ontario, “Benjamin Warner, a cobbler from Krasnosielc, Poland (then located in the "Russian" part of Poland known as Congress Kingdom), and his wife, the former Pearl Leah Eichelbaum” gave birth to Jacob Warner, who gained fame as Jack L. Warn who, along with his four brothers founded Warner Brothers, which became a giant in the film industry. Among other claims to fame Warner Brothers produced "The Jazz Singer," the first "talking" motion picture. Some of his stars included Bette Davis, James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Warner was known for his frugality and was not necessarily that well liked. At one point his son and namesake said of his dad, "At times he gloried in being a no-good sonofabitch. If his brothers hadn't hired him, he'd have been out of work."
1892: “Wild Anarchist Talk” published today described a meeting attended by “300 wild-eyed, unshaven, unclean and foul-mouthed men and about a score of hard-featured cigarette-smoking young women” that was addressed by Emma Goldman who, speaking in German praised the man who had attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick.
1892: “This Fellow Praised Berkmann” published today described a meeting of anarchist that met in a Newark, NJ neighborhood “populated almost entirely by Russian Jews…and the lower class of Germans.” (This was one of several meetings held to cheer Alexander Bermkimann, the Jewish anarchist who had attempted to assassinate Henry Clay Frick, the business leader whose exploitative behavior led to the infamous Homestead Steel Strike)
1894: The prosecution completed presenting its case against Jeremiah S. Levy, the Jewish policeman charged with having accepted a bribe from Charles Krumm, “the Chrystie Street concert hall keeper for permitting him to” operate his business “without a license.”
1895: “The Children And The Streets” published today described the visit of Colonel Waring to the Hebrew Institute where he told the immigrant children about the importance of their work in keeping cleaning the streets.
1896: Colonel Eugene H. Levy and his bride Marie have gone to Old Point Comfort for their honeymoon. Levy is a journalist who served with the Confederates during the Civil War. His wife is a former school teacher who converted to Judaism before the wedding.
1896: It was reported today that Morris Lerner and Levi Milrod have retained Stiefel and Lauer to sue the owners of the SS Herman, the German steamship on which their sons Joseph Lerner and David Milrod who died as a result of their mistreatment while sailing to the United States
1897: Birthdate of Karl Otto Koch, the commander of the concentration camps at Buchenwald and Majdanek who was executed by the Nazis in 1945.
1899: “Boers Remain Intolerant” published today described the Volksraad’s decision to reject President Krueger’s proposal to allow Jews and Catholics to have the franchise. (These are the progenitors of the people who created Apartheid in South Africa)
1902: At a mass meeting in Bradford, PA, forty members formed a Rishon L’Zion a new Zionist society
1903: Redcliffe Nathan Salaman, the son of Myer and Sarah Salaman and his wife Nina Ruth Salaman gave birth to Myer Head Salaman.
1903: Opening of the Bank Leumi’s first branch in Turkish Jaffa.
1906: Birthdate of Chicago native Leo, Arnstein, a graduate of the University of Chicago and partner of Arnstein and Lehr who was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1928 and served as a director of the Chicago Bar Association for eight years.
1906: Birthdate of Atlantic City native Edwin Harvey Blum the screenwriter whose work includes “Stalag 17.”
1909(15th of Av, 5669): Two weeks before his 78thbirthday Sir Henry Aaron Isaacs “English businessman and politician” who served as Lord Mayor of London in 1889, passed away today.
1908(5th of 5668): Forty-six year old Benjamin Kohlman passed away today after which he was burined at the Springhill Avenue Temple Cemetery in Mobile, Alabama.
1911: In Great Britain, Alderman Henry Hart completes his jubilee of service on the Canterbury Council.
1912: The Jewish Socialist Federation of America whose purposes included the organization of the Jewish Organization of the Jewish Working Class” was officially formed today with offices in New York City.
1912: The list of the trustees of the newly incorporated Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Camden, NJ published in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer included Benjamin Natal, Joseph F. Kantor, Max Goldich, Philip M. Pinksy, Bertrand Schneeberg, Arnold Weiss, Samuel Heine, Jacob Furer and Israel Heine.
1913: SOCIALISTS CAPTURE FIRE PROTEST RALLY; Rose Schneiderman Turns a Fire Prevention Meeting to Their Purposes published today While a number of well-known men, including Amos R. Pinchot, William Jay Schieffelin, Henry Moscowitz, and the Rev. Percy Stickney Grant, were listed as patrons and possible speakers at a fire-prevention mass meeting held at the north end of Union Square yesterday at noon, they were conspicuously absent from the speakers' platform when the meeting was called to order.
1913: It was reported today that Rabbi Isidor Koplowitz has resigned as the rabbi of Tifereth Israel in Des Moines, IA.
1913: It was reported today that “The World’s Congress of Religious meeting in Paris has protested against the Blood charge against Jews in and the Beilis case in particular.”
1913: Noble prize winning physicist Max Born married Martha E., née Ehrenberg. She had Jewish ancestors on her father’s side but was raised as a Lutheran. This may help explain why born converted to that sect of Christianity in 1914.
1914: In a move that would help push the Ottoman Empire to became a partner with the Central Powers, with all that that would mean for the future of Eretz Israel (among other places) the British seized two modern battleships that were being built in English shipyards for the Turkish navy
1914: In St. Petersburg, the Twelfth International Ophthalmological Congress which Jewish physicians were promised they could attend without any of the usual restrictions on the “length of sojourn” was scheduled to come to an end today
1914: In WW I, German troops began the bombardment of Kalisz, a Polish city in the Russian Empire which would result in “deliberate destruction” of “150 Jewish homes” the death of thirty three Jews in the center of the city.”
1915: “Jewish Deputy N.M. Friedman” began his speech in the Duma today by saying that “In spite of the oppressed condition, in spite of the status of outlawry, the Jews nevertheless managed to rise to the exalted mood of the civil populate and in the course of the last year to participate in the war in a noteworthy manner.
1915: In Methil, Scotland, Janet Gear and Porteous Gear, “a coal miner” gave birth to William Gear, one of the Monuments Men.
1915: “A call was sent out today for a conference of representatives of Jewish societies, congregations, trades unions, lodges and clubs for the purposed of start a campaign for additional funds to aid Jewish war sufferers in Europe.”
1916(3rd of Av, 5676): Seventy-year old historian Martin Phillipson who taught at the University of Brussels because of anti-Semitism in his native Germany and founded the “Society for the Advancement of Jewish Studies” passed away in Berlin.
1916: Twenty five of the leading producers of motion pictures including Jesse Lasky met at the Hotel Claridge today “to approve the articles of incorporation” for the newly formed Associated Motion Picture Advertisers.
1916: Colonel Harry Cutler of Providence, Rhodes Island and the Chairman of the Conference Committee of Jewish Organizations who has just returned from Chicago “issued a statement” today reporting that “substantial progress” has been made in reconciling the differences that will make it possible to convene an American Jewish Congress.”
1917: Birthdate of Brigadier General Felix Sparks who as a Lt. Col. “led the 3rd Battalion of the 157th Infantry Regiment of the 45th Infantry Division of the United States Army, the first Allied force to enter Dachau concentration camp and liberate its prisoners.”
1917: As of now there are approximately five hundred American Jews in Palestine and an additional 150 Americans in Turkey, most of whom are college teachers or university professors.
1918: Birthdate of Irving Harold Franklin, the native of Brockton, MA, who is credited with creating the modern glove worn by major league baseball players when they are at bat. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1918: It was reported today that in London, Mrs. Myer Spielman has been appointed president of the Union of Jewish, succeeding the late Mrs. Nathaniel Louis Cohen who had held the job since the founding of the Union.
1918: It was reported today that “strong efforts are being made to organize the Jewish communities in Batavia and Java, in the Dutch East Indies because the Jewish populations have increased to the size where a viable communal life is possible and necessary.
1918: During a debate in the House of Lords, “the subject of Sir Edgar Speyer’s membership on the Privy Council Sir was brought up by Lord Lincolnshire” who condemned his “brutal and insolent German manner.” [Editor’s Note – Considering what would happen in 30 years, there it is ironic to hear the Jewish Speyer being condemned for being a German.]
1919: Birthdate of Nehmiah Persoff, the Jerusalem native who became famous as an American actor appearing in numerous films and television series.
1919(6th of Av, 5679): Twenty-eight year old Hungarian communist Tibor Szamuely was killed as during the unsuccessful fight to establish the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
1920: Birthdate of Eliyahu Moyal, MK who served as a community leader in his native Sale, Morocco before making Aliyah in 1945.
1922: Birthdate of Eugene Hirsch Kummel,chairman and chief executive of one of the world’s largest advertising agencies, McCann Erickson Worldwide. “Under Mr. Kummel’s leadership, McCann Erickson created memorable television commercials like Coca-Cola’s ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ campaign in the 1970s and, several years later, the Miller Lite campaign, ‘Everything you always wanted in a beer, and less,’ with personalities like George Steinbrenner and Billy Martin arguing, ‘Tastes great, Less filling.’”
1922(8th of Av, 5682): Erev Tish'a B'Av
1922(8th of Av, 5682):Emil Ganz, a businessman and three-time mayor of Phoenix, Arizona., passed away. The son of German Jews, he was a self-professed atheist.
1923: After falling ill, Warren Harding the 29th President of the United States passes away. During his brief tenure, Harding’s record regarding Jews and Jewish issues was mixed. He signed an immigration bill that was based on national origin quotas which put greatly limited Jewish immigration to the United States. On the other hand, he appointed famous Chicago advertising man Albert Lasker as Chairman of the U.S. Shipping Board. Under his tenure, the U.S. Merchant Marine was reorganized and improved. In 1922, Harding signed a congressional Joint Resolution “favoring the establishment in Palestine of a National Home for the Jewish people.”
1923 (20 Av, 5683): Birthdate of Shimon Peres.
1924: A group of 12 settlers of Ashkenazi origin who received a plot of land from Yehoshua Hankin found Magdiel which would merge with Ramatayim, Hadar and Ramat Hadar in 1964 to form Hod HaSharon.
1924: The first issue of the Saturday Review of Literature appeared. This famous literary publication was formed by Amy Lovemean and three colleagues who had worked together on The New York Evening Post. Loveman was listed as an associate editor. She remained at the Saturday Review for three decades, becoming the magazine's poetry editor in 1950. In the first two decades alone, she wrote close to 800 items for the Review. These included editorials, reviews, and answers to readers' questions. Born in 1881, Amy Loveman shaped the literary choices of generations of readers through her work with two important institutions: The Saturday Review and the Book-of-the-Month Club. Educated at Barnard College, where she earned a B.A. in 1901, Loveman's first literary work was as an assistant to an uncle who was revising The New International Encyclopedia. From that job, she moved to the New York Evening Post, where she became a book reviewer and then associate editor of the newspaper's literary review. In addition to her work at the Saturday Review, Loveman played an important role in the Book-of-the-Month Club, where she joined the reading committee soon after its founding in 1926. In 1939, she became head of the Club's editorial department, a job she balanced with her ongoing work at the Review. In this role, she helped to select books for the Club as well as writing frequent reviews herself. In 1951, she joined the Club's editorial board. Loveman's compelling writing style and devotion to literature were recognized by several awards. In 1946, she received both the Columbia University Medal for Excellence and the Constance Lindsay Skinner Achievement Award of the Women's National Book Association. Loveman died in 1955.
1926: The American Jewish Congress cabled a message of condolence to Mrs. Israel Zangwill over the death of her husband. The cablegram was signed by Carl Sherman, Acting Chairman and Bernard G. Richards, Executive Secretary. Dr. Stephen Wise, the President of the AJC is England and is expected to represent the organization at the funeral.
1926: Birthdate of Betsy Bloomingdale of department store fame. Her husband was part of President Regan’s kitchen cabinet and she was a close friend of Nancy.
1926: Leipzig, Yosef and Regina Wahrman gave birth to Rabbi Shlomo Wahrman, an eyewitness to Kristallnacht who escaped to the United States with his family in 1939 and eventually became Rosh HaYshiva of the Hebrew Academy of Nassau County and prolific author writing about Torah and Judaica.
1926: Harry Einstein and his wife gave birth to journalist Charles Einstein the author of The Bloody Spur who was the older half-brother of Albert Brooks and Jacob Einstein
1927: Birthdate of James Milton Young, known simply as “Jimmy” to several generations of congregants at Adas Israel where he served as “caretaker and chief custodian” for 56 years. Rabbis and cantors may come and go, but Jimmy was a rock of reliability who always had a kind word for the kids who were forced to hang around on Sundays when their parents were going to faculty meetings.
1927: “Rhenish Girls and Rhenish Wine” a silent film written by Walter Reisch was released in Germany today.
1929(25th of Tammuz, 5689): Seventy-one year old George W. Seligman, the son of the late Joseph Seligman who was one of the founders of the Seligman banking house, passed away today.
1931: Einstein urges all scientists to refuse military work.
1932: “Lillian Copeland set new world and Olympic records in discus, with a throw of 133 feet, 1 5/8 inches, winning a gold medal.
1932: Birthdate of composer Marvin David Levy the native of Passaic, NJ who overcame prison to restart his career.
1933: In Vilna,Ministry of Education announces that the Yiddish secondary school and the Hebrew gymnasium have been granted equality with the governmental high schools, and will therefore have the right to issue university admission certificates to their students.
1933. The Ministry of Justice announces that Jewish students engaged in the study of law or economics will not be permitted to take the final examinations in Prussia, if they intend to become lawyers or university teachers.
1933: In Manhattan, Lillian (Shapiro) Poses one of “the first women to graduate from NYU Law School” who also “worked for several New Deal Agencies” and Jack I. Poses, “founder and president of the fragrance manufacturer Parfums D’Orsay, a founder of Brandeis University and a vice chairman of the New York City Board of Higher Education gave birth to Barbara Joan Poses who after marrying Dr. Ernest Kafka became known as Barbara Kafka, the award winning “food columnist and cookbook author.” (As reported by Sam Roberts and Matt Schudel)
1933: In a public address to foreign diplomats and journalists Dr. Anzesoria, Bolivian minister to Germany, indicates that his Government is prepared to open its doors to German emigrants, provided the German Government is ready to negotiate the transfer.
1933: Der Angriff, a newspaper owned by Dr. Paul Josef Goebbels, Nazi Minister of Propaganda and Enlightenment carries a story that Jews are organizing themselves into military units to "attack Germany at the first opportunity."
1933 The Breslauer Judengemeindeblatt is closed down by the Nazi state president "in the interest of public security."
1934: Eight-six year old Paul von Hindenburg, the President of Germany passed away. Hindenburg’s death paved the way for Hitler, who was the Chancellor to consolidate power and rule as the Fuhrer. When it became obvious that Germany had lost the World War in 1918 Hindenburg adroitly shifted the responsibility from the General Staff to the civilians who would become the leaders of the Weimer Republic. In this way he helped to create the myth that Germany had not been defeated but had been stabbed in the back by traitors at home including the Jews. This lie help to pave the way for the rise of the Nazis.
1935: “Made Love” a film directed by Karl Fruend, starring Peter Loree, with music by Dimitri Tiomkin was released in the United Kingdom today.
1935: Two months after opening in London, “The 39 Steps” a mystery produced by Michael Balcon, co-starring Lucie Mannheim and with music by Louis Levy was released in the United States today.
1936: In “King Herod Finds a Faintly Sympathetic Biographer” published today, Alfred Kazin provided a review of Herod: A Biography by Jacob S. Minkin.
1936: “Charging that Harold C. Keyes, a former Secret Service operative and at present a private detective of New York City had sought employment with the German Government with the idea of aligning Christian Americans against Jews, particularly in New York, Representative Samuel Dickstein of New York today made public a letter address to Secretary of State Edward J. Flynn requesting that the license of the detective be revoked.”
1937: In Geneva, “the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations decided today to base its examination of the Palestine problem not on the British partition proposal but on the assumption underlying it – that the mandate is unworkable.”
1938: In Berlin, the Nazi issued a new decree announcing the expiration of Jewish Medical Doctor’s licenses on September 30.
1938(5th of Av, 5698):Yakov Mikhaylovich Yurovsky, an old line Bolshevik best known as the man who organized the execution of Czar Nicholas II passed away today.
1939: Eugene Wigner introduced Leó Szilárd to Albert Einstein; a meeting which furthered the cause of getting America to develop the Atomic Bomb ahead of the Axis.
1939: Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt urging creation of an atomic weapons research program. Einstein’s support was critical to getting Roosevelt’s support for what would become "The Manhattan Project." (What a difference eight years can make.)
1939: In Manhattan, Phillip Barber, the director of the New York unit of the Federal Theatre Project and script writer Doris Frankel gave birth to Benjamin R. Barber, the founder and president of the Global Parliament Mayors Project, Walt Whitman Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University and author whose most famous work was Jihad vs. McWorld.
1941(9th of Av, 5701): Parashat Devarim, Shabbat Chazon, Erev Tish’a B’Av
1941: The Jews were ordered expelled from Hungarian Ruthenia.
1941(9th of Av, 5701): Over 200 Jews were shot in Kovno on Shabbat.
1941: The board of the Union of Jewish Communities “achieved the cancellation of the order that Jews wear the yellow badge and other measures, including the creation of ghettos in the cities and mobilizing women to join men in forced labor.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1942: Twelve days after the Nazis began transporting Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto to Treblinka, “the first part of the Ringelblum Archive” was hidden tonight.
1942: After twelve days, approximately 75,000 Jews had been deported to the death camp at Treblinka.
1942: A large group of Jews who were trapped under Spanish and German rule in Morocco sent an eloquent appeal for help to the AJDC in New York. "Gentlemen, please excuse our daring attitude in addressing this pathetical letter to you, in our distressful hour; but it is written in the Talmud, 'when trouble comes upon Israel like a rushing stream, look for someone to help you.'."
1943: Harpers announced that Geoffrey Bles, Ltd will release the English edition of Bella Fromm’s Blood and Banquets: A Berlin Social Diary which was published last year in the United States.
1943: The last major deportation from the Bendzin Ghetto continued for a second day.
1943(2ndof Av, 5703): Sixty-six year old Viennese born actress died at Theresienstadt today. 1943: Led by a small group of prisoners using primitive weapons and pistols, inmates at Treblinka attacked the guards and burned down the barracks. Between 300 and 500 prisoners escaped although most of them were either captured or turned over by Polish peasants. Though the revolt did not stop all activities, the German government decided to liquidate the camp, which it did in October. [Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman, 87-year-old Israelis, are devoting their final years to trying to preserve the memory of those slaughtered at the camp.]
1943: Samuel Willenberg, “a 20-year old Polish Jew from Warsaw was one of the prisoners who” today “stole weapons, set fire to the Treblinka death camp and fled into the surrounding woods.”
1943: Birthdate of English author Rose Treman, the “former Chancellor of the University of Anglia” whose The Gustav Sonata was her first novel “on a Jewish theme” and won both “Hadassah Magazine’s Harold U. Ribalow Prize for Jewish fiction” and “the 2017 National Jewish Book Award for fiction.”
1943: Birthdate of Uzi Landau, the native of Haifa who served with the IDF, graduated from the Technin and earned a PhD from MIT before entering the Knesset and holding several ministerial positions.
1943: “Young Ideas” a comedy directed by Jules Dassin was released in the United States today by MGM. (This entry may seem incongruous when compared to the ones just above. It should give readers an idea of the difference between WW II in the United States and WW II in Europe, Asia and North Africa.
1944: A handful of Jewish survivors of the Kovno ghetto - including Rabbi Efrayim Oshri, author of Responsa from the Holocaust - emerged from hiding. Rabbi Oshri was one of several Rabbis who wrote answers to those with troubling ethical dilemmas growing out of life under the Nazis. To some, such behavior might seem ludicrous when you consider the conditions. To others, it is a tribute to the vitality of Judaism and even a form of resistance.
1944(13thof Av, 5704):Eleazer Silas Kadoorie, known as Sir Elly Kadoorie part of the Kadoorie family, a “tribe” of Jews who made their way from Baghdad, to Bombay to Shanghai passed away after having been freed from the Stanley Internment Camp in Hong Kong.
1944: Felix Nussbaum, the surrealist painter and his wife arrived at Auschwitz.
1945: Birthdate of Alan F. Segal the Ingeborg Rennert Professor of Jewish Studies at Barnard College and author of Life After Death: A History of the Afterlife in Western Religion.
1945: Birthdate of U.S. Army Colonel Jack Howard Jacobs who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions during the Viet Nam War.
1945: Commissioning of HMS Springer and S Class Submarined that would be sold to Israel in 1958 where it was recommissioned as the Tanin or Crocodile.
1945: Birthdate of Alan F. Segal, “a leading scholar known for his comparative studies of how religions view the afterlife.”
1945: The Potsdam Conference, the meeting of the leaders of the Big Three – U.S., U.K. and U.S.S.R. – comes to an end. Among other things the leaders agreed to the complete denazification of Germany and the prosecution of war criminals.
1947: The Runnymede Park, Ocean Vigour and Empire Rival which were carrying the passengers forced off of the SS Exodus arrived at Port-de-Bouc near Marseilles where “the French Government said it would allow disembarkation…only if it was voluntary on the part of the passengers.”
1948: In New York City, Max Prager and Hilda Prager (née Friedfeld) gave birth radio talk show host Dennis Prager.
1948: “The Israeli Government proclaimed the areas of Jerusalem under Israeli control to be Israeli-occupied territory and appointed Bernard Joseph as Military Governor.
1949: Under a plan of the new Israeli government, part of the old city of Beersheba will be flooded as a 500-acre water reservoir for the projected new Negev city on the heights overlooking Beersheba. The reservoir would be formed by damming the Wadi Saba, rocky watercourse through which 10,000,000 cubic meters of rainwater sweep into the Mediterranean every winter.
1951: “Mr. Belvedere Rings the Bell” a comedy directed by Henry Koster and featuring Zero Mostel as “Emmett” was released in the United States by 20th Century Fox.
1951: “As Young As You Feel” a comedy written by Paddy Chayefsky and featuring Marilyn Monroe in one of her early screen appearances was released in the United States today by 20th Century Fox.
1951: Birthdate of Andrew Gold, a musical wizard who played backup with Linda Ronstadt before embarking on career of his own that included recording hits like “Lonely Boy” and “Thank You for Being a Friend.” (As reported by Paul Vitello)
1951: Premiere of “As Young as You Feel,” a comedy written by Paddy Chayefsky.
1956: “Bigger than Life” an early cinematic treatment of drug addiction with a screenplay co-authored by Richard Maibaum, co-starring Walter Matthau and with music by David Raskin was released in the United States today.
1951(29th of Tammuz, 5711):Eighty-two year old Heinrich Loewe a German born journalist, publicist, folklorist, linguist, philosopher, librarian and political figure passed away in Tel Aviv.
1956: “Bigger Than Life” co-starring Walter Matthau, with a screenplay co-authored by Richard Maibaum and music by David Raskin was released in the United States today.
1957:British oil interests were warned today that they might forfeit ownership of their refinery plants in Haifa if they suspended operations in Israel.
1957(5thof Av, 5717): Sixty-six year old Lithuanian born, Brazilian artist Lasar Segal passed away today in São Paulo.
1958: “Badman’s Country” a western film with music by Irving Getz was released in the United States today.
1960: In California, Jane and Gerald Finerman gave birth to Oscar winning movie producer Wendy Finerman.
1960(9thof Av, 5720): Tish’a B’Av
1960: “Young Jesse James” yet another film about the famous outlaw with music by Irving Getz was released today in the United States.
1964: With encouragement from Rudolf Serkin and Alexander Schneider, the second violinist of the Budapest String Quartet, “the new Guarneri Quartet” with Arnold Steinhardt as 1st Violin was launched today “with a concert at Marlboro, VT.
1965(4thof Av, 5725): Seventy-seven year old František Langer a physician who was a general in the Czech Army during WW II who had gained fame as an author and who was the older brother Hebrew author Jiří Langer passed away today.
1967: Birthdate of professional tennis star Aaron Krickstein
1970: Birthdate of Colorado native and PGA tour member Jonathan Andrew Kaye
1971: In Brighton, UK, Harry Lawrence and Sylvia Greybourne, both of whom were computer consultants gave birth to Ruth Elke Lawrnece who gained fame as Ruth Elke Lawrence-Naimark, “the child prodigy in mathematics” who is a “British mathematician and an Associate Professor of mathematics at the Einstein Institute of Mathematics, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a researcher in knot theory and algebraic topology.”
1972(22ndof Av, 5732): Sixty-year old author Paul Goodman
1972: Catcher Bob Yeager made his major league debut with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
1973: With the “ancient observation” that “the deeds of a man are his tombstone,” Yitzhak Navon. the chairman of the Zionist General Council and Deputy Knesset Speaker, rounded off a eulogy today for Louis A. Pincus at his graveside at the end of the shiva period” in the presence of his son’s Allon and David and “a large contingent of top Zionist leaders” including “Knesset speaker Yisrael Yeshayahu.”
1976: Max Rayne, the grandson of “a Hebrew scholar and teacher” and the son of Phillip Rayne, a garment manufacturer from London’s East End who had had been knighted in 1969 was “made a life peer as Baron Rayne, of Prince's Meadow in the County of Greater London today.”
1978: “The Magic of Lassie” a musical about the famous collie written by Robert and Richard Sherman who along with Irwin Kostal were also responsible for the music was released in the United States today.
1979(9thof Av, 5739): Tish’a B’Av
1979: “Gilda Radner Live From New York” opens on Broadway.
1980:Egypt has asked for at least a temporary postponement of the talks with Israel and the United States on autonomy for the occupied areas to give the two countries time to respond to President Anwar el-Sadat's protest...
1980: Eighty-five year old Columbus, Ohio, native Donald Ogden Stewart the Academy Award winning screenwriter who during the 1930’s was Chairman of the Hollywood Ant-Nazi League “the first American anti-Nazi organization that was not overtly linked to American Jews” and that “served as the focal point of the film industry’s anti-Nazism from 1936 through 1939 passed away today.
1981: The funeral of playwright and three-time Academy Award Winner Paddy Chayefsky is scheduled to take place at Riverside Memorial Chapel in Manhattan.
1984: The House of Representatives passed legislation spearheaded by Rabbi Malcolm Stern that would separate the National Archives from the General Services Administration which had already been passed by the Senate and which had the support of the genealogy and historical communities who saw this as a way to protect this valuable research tool from unwarranted cuts by the Republican administration.
1985(15thof Av, 5745): Tu B’Av
1986(26th of Tammuz, 5746): Roy Cohn passed away. Born in 1927, Cohn gained fame (or notoriety) as the counsel for the McCarthy Hearings. He portrayed himself as a rabid anti-Communist. Ironically, it was his high-jinx with David Schine that helped to lead to McCarthy’s downfall and his loss of power.
1988(19th of Av, 5748): Eighty-eight year old Robert Leon “Bob” Berman the catcher whose major league career consisted of playing two games for the Washington Senators in 1918 during which he was part of the battery with the great southpaw Walter Johnson passed away today.
1989: “Parenthood” a comedy produced by Brian Grazer, with a screenplay by Lowell Ganz, music by Rany Newman and co-starring Rick Moranis was released in the United States today by Universal Pictures.
1990: Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to conflict with coalition forces in the Gulf War.
1990(11th of Av, 5750): Lucy Goldschmidt Moses, a philanthropist, passed away today at the age of 103. (As reported by Joan Cook)
1991: Robert S. Strauss began serving as U.S. Ambassador to the now non-existent U.S.S.R.
1992: In East Brunswick, NJ, Barry Eisenberg, a college professor and his wife Amy “who worked as a clown at children’s parties gave birth to American actress Hallie Kate Eisenberg “best known for being ‘The Pepsi Girl.’”
1992(3rd of Av, 5752): French singer and songwriter Michel Berger died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of 44.
1993(15th of Av, 5753): Tu B’Av observed for the first time during the Presidency of Bill Clinton.
1994(25th of Av, 5754): “Yoram Sakuri, 30, of Kiryat Netafim in Samaria, died of stab wounds suffered when a terrorist broke into his home on July 1st.” (Jewish Virtual Library)
1995: Norman Spector completed his services Canada’s Ambassador to Israel – a position some might have felt him uniquely qualified to hold since he was the first Canadian born Jew to hold the post.
1996: Eighty-four year old Michel Debre a member of prominent Jewish who converted to Catholicism who served as the first Prime Minister of the Fifth Republic in France passed away today.
1996: “Emma” a movie version of the 19th century novel starring Gwyneth Paltrow was released today.
1997: “Lady in the Dark,” a musical with music by Kurt Weill, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and book and direction by Moss Hart, is performed for the last time at the Royal National Theatre in London.
1998(10th of Av, 5758): Tish'a B'Av (The 9th of Av fell on Shabbat)
1998(10th of Av, 5758): Television puppeteer Shari Lewis passed away. Born Shari Hurwitz in 1933, Lewis is best remember for her creations – Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse, and the ever-popular Lamb chop.
1998: The New York Times featured a review of A Hope in the Unseen: An American Odyssey From the Inner City to the Ivy League by Jewish author Ron Suskind
2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that an Israeli financial consortium announced that two Spanish companies were joining the group in preparing a bid for a massive desalinization project. The need for new supplies of fresh water is critical to the growth of the Israeli economy and the survival of the Jewish state.
2005: Haaretz reported that Tunisia is the new hotspot for Israeli tourists.
2005(26th of Tammuz, 5765): Ninety-four year old Lou Bernstein (born Judah Leon Bernstein) the harmonica player turned photographer passed away today in Boca Raton, FL.
2006(8th of Av, 5766): Some 210 rockets and missiles were launched toward northern communities - the largest number since the beginning of the fighting. Dave Lalchuk, 52, of Kibbutz Sa'ar, was killed and 16 others were wounded, three moderately, in the attacks, as Jews begin to prepare for the observance of Tisha B’Av.
2006: On the same day that over 200 rockets were launched against Israel, Bella Freud “voiced an impassioned denunciation of Israel's "disproportionately violent aggression" in the 2006 Israel-Lebanon Conflict” during “an appearance on the BBC current affairs program Newsnight” today.
2007(18th of Av, 5767): Frank Rosenfelt, a top movie executive at studios including MGM passed away at the age of 85. One of his proudest moments was the acquisition of the movie rights for “Dr. Zhivago.” One of his biggest disappointments was the failure of the 1976 film “Network” to win the Oscar for Best Picture. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
2008: In Cedar Rapids, at Temple Judah Triple Header Shabbat Morning Service
- Rosh Chodesh Av
- Completion of Bamidbar
- Observance of Raoul Wallenberg Day (actual date is
2008: “The Fly, an opera in two acts by Canadian composer Howard Shore was broadcast by Radio France's station France Musique today.”
2008 “Love, Loss and What I Wore” a play by Nora and Delia Ephron co-starring Linda Lavin was performed for the first time at the Bridgehampton Community House.
2009: Cantor Jacob Chomsky of Tifereth Israel sings the National Anthem as part of Jewish Community Day during a Columbus Clippers’ home game.
2009: The Los Angeles Times features books by Jewish authors and/or special interest to Jewish readers including Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, the Brazilian-Jewish author, by Benjamin Moser
2009: Two Arab families were evicted from Jewish-owned homes in the Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood of Jerusalem this morning. The evictions took place following a Supreme Court ruling in which the court found in favor of Jewish families who claimed ownership of homes in the area.
2009: The Times of London features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Judas by Susan Gubar.
2009(12th of Av, 5769): Seventy-five year old journalist and author Sidney Zion passed away. (As reported by Robert McFadden)
2009(12th of Av, 5769):Seventy-one year old Michael A. Wiener, broadcasting mogul and patron of the arts passed away.(As reported by Geraldine Fabrikant)
2010: “Ahead of Time,” a documentary about author, journalist and photographer Ruth Gerber is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2010:The “First Jewish Women's Music Festival” is scheduled to begin at Falls Village, CT.
2010:A huge explosion destroyed the home of a senior Hamas commander and injured 24, Palestinians reported today. Palestinians said the blast was caused by an Israeli airstrike, but this has been denied by the IDF.
2010:Palestinian militants fired five rockets into the Israeli port city of Eilat with one of them landing in nearby Jordanian city of Aqaba, flaring up tensions in the Middle East anew. Though there were no immediate reports of casualties from the beach resort of Eilat, five persons were injured; four of them seriously, when one of the rockets strayed off course and hit the Jordanian city of Aqaba.
2011: “Sholem Aleichem: Laughing in the Darkness,” “a riveting portrait of the man who transformed Yiddish from a vernacular language into a literary one” and “The Hangman,” a fascinating and complex portrait of Shalom Nagar, a Yemeni Jew, who as a young man worked as prison guard and was the execution of Adolf Eichmann.
2011(2ndof Av, 5771): Einat Tavori, an Israeli traveling during a break from medical school in Hungary, passed away today after she fell off a cliff while hiking in the mountainous Parvati Valley region of northern India.
2011(2ndof Av, 5771): Ninety year old Nobel Prize winning immunologist Dr. Baruj Benacerraf, passed away. (As reported by Denise Gellene)
2011: The 2011 Security Briefing for Jewish Institutions is scheduled to take place at the Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Scheduled presenters included local police commanders and senior FBI security personnel.
2011: The IDF spokesperson confirmed today that the air force attacked several targets in Gaza overnight, including a smuggling tunnel in the southern Strip and a terrorist center in the north.
2011: Today Israel's Supreme Court issued an unprecedented ruling ordering the state to dismantle the largest illegal settlement outpost in the West Bank by April 2012.
2011: A senior officer in the Israeli Navy said today that terrorists groups close to Israel are in possession of missiles capable of hitting all Israeli ports and offshore infrastructure such as oil rigs. Brigadier General Yaron Levi, the Navy's intelligence chief, spoke about the matter on today at a conference in Tel Aviv University that focused on the naval theater
2011: In “Shame on Me, and Your for Taking Pleasure in It,” Dwight Garner reviewed Humiliationby Wayne Koestenbaum.
2012: “The Moon is Jewish” is among the movies scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2012: “Fiddler on the Roof” with Cantor Joel Colman in the title role is scheduled to open in a production sponsored by Tulane University’s Summer Lyric Theatre.
2012: Israel’s Counterterrorism Bureau warned Israeli citizens to leave Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula immediately. “We possess information that Gaza terror groups and others are planning attacks on Israeli tourists in the immediate future,” the government agency said in a statement released today.
2012: Swimmer Yakov Toumarkin provided Israeli sports with a moment of history in an otherwise disappointing day of setbacks at the London Olympics today. The 20-year-old recorded the best ever result for an Israeli swimmer at the Olympics by ending the 200- meter backstroke final in seventh place in a time of 1:57.62 minutes.
2013: “Dancing in Jaffa” is scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2013: “The Bible in the Iberian World: Fundaments of a Religious Melting Pot” is scheduled to come to an at Leipzig, Germany
2013: “Fill the Void” is scheduled to open at theatres in Rochester, Richmond, Spokane and Madison, Wisconsin
2013: A revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” is scheduled to premiere tonight at the Starlighters Theatre in Anamosa, Iowa.
2013: President Obama has narrowed the field for Chairman of the Federal Reserve to a trio of Members of the Tribe – Lawrence Summers, Janet Yellin and Donald L. Kohn
2013: Bank Hapoalim chief economist Leo Leiderman has turned down the nomination for becoming the next Bank of Israel governor, Israel Radio reported this afternoon. In a major embarrassment for Israel, Leiderman's announcement makes him the second nominee to pull out within less than a week.
2014: The Washington Jewish Film Festival is scheduled to continue with its program of Coen Brothers films.
2014: The traditional minyan at Temple Judah is scheduled to honor the Righteous Gentiles on Raoul Wallenberg Shabbat while mourning the deaths of the IDF who have given their lives to prevent another Holocaust.
2014: St. Sgt. Maj. (res.) Omri (full name withheld for security reasons), from the Duvdevan Unit, who jumped on a fellow soldier after a grenade was thrown at the unit in Gaza today protecting him with his body.
2014: “After 16 days of a ground incursion inside the Gaza Strip, the IDF started moving troops out of urban areas to the border area today, amid military estimates that the mission to destroy the 31 known terror tunnels will be completed within 24 hours.” (As reported by Roi Kais)
2014: Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids is scheduled to host its first movie night with a showing of “Noah” preceded by Havdalah services.
2015: The Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center is scheduled to “Family Day at the Museum” complete with a visit from the ice cream truck.
2015: Marisa Scheinfeld whose photographs are on display in “Exhibits from the Borscht Belt” is scheduled to deliver a talk at Yiddish Book Center’s Brechner Gallery.
2015: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Brush Back by Sara Paretsky.
2015: The JCC of Northern Virginia is scheduled to host a screening of “The Age of Love” this afternoon.
2015: The Oregon Jewish Museum and Center for Holocaust Education is scheduled to host a public memorial tour.
2015: “Richard Avedon: Family Affairs” is scheduled to close today at the National Museum of Jewish History.
2015(17thof Av, 5775): Three days after having been stabbed Yishai Schlissel during the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, “16 year old Shira Banki died of her wounds at the Hadassah Medical Center.”
2016: The Historic Sixth & I Synagogue is scheduled to host an “outdoor screening of ‘Back to the Future.’”
2016: The Historic Sixth & I Synagogue is scheduled to a discussion Purity, the fifth novel by Jonathan Franzen.
2017: German prosecutors said today that Oskar Groening “a 96-year-old former Auschwitz death camp guard who was convicted as an accessory to murder is fit to go to prison.”
2017: Today a 19 year old Palestinian stabbed a 47 year old Israeli “at a supermarket in Yavneh.”
2017(10thof Av, 5777): Eighty-seven year old economist and Kremlinologist Marshall I. Goldman, one of the first to predict the downfall of the Soviet Union passed away today. (As reported by Sam Roberts)
2017: In Germany, “Festival Week, a long-time highlight of Yiddish Summer Weimar” is scheduled to begin today.
2017: In Milwaukee, WI, the Jewish Museum is scheduled to host “It Runs In The Family: Art and the Rosenblatts.”
2018: JW3 is scheduled to host the final screening of “Tracking Edith” in London.
2018: “From the East” and “Our New President,” a documentary about the election of Putin, are scheduled to be shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival.
2018: JW3 is scheduled the first and only London screening of “Indignation,” based on the Philip Roth novel this evening.
2018: “The Israeli Jazz Spotlight Festival, curated by Nadav Remez” is scheduled to open at the Cornelia Street Café.
2018: “The Interpreter,” a “film starring Academy Award-winning director Jiri Menzel and Peter Simonischek that brings together an unusual duo: the son of Holocaust victims and the son of the SS officer responsible for their deaths” is scheduled to be shown at the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.