July 30 In Jewish History
762:Caliph Al Mansur founded the city of Baghdad. By the start of the 10th century wealthy Jewish merchants were playing the role of “court bankers” and were reportedly lending funds to the caliphs and his their minister.
1360: A butcher’s license for a carniceria was issued to a Christian named Bernard Arlouin. In
Spain
, Jews were not allowed to have butchers licenses. In other words, they operated butcher shops, but were not allowed to own them. In this case, a Spanish Jew named Jafudenus Amilus operated the shop.
1488: Sixteen Jews were burned at the stake in
Barcelona
.
1492(5252): The entire Jewish Community, numbering 200,000 souls was expelled from Spain.
1729:
Baltimore
,
Maryland
is founded. Jews were already living in the colony of
Maryland
when
Baltimore
was founded. The Jewish community in
Baltimore
is one of the oldest in the country. However, the first building that was built as a synagogue, the Lloyd Street Synagogue, was not constructed until 1845.
1825: Birthdate of Chaim Aronson, a Lithuanian Jew, who was inventor and academic. Aronson's inventions, which included several machines for mass producing cigarettes, a clockwork calculator, a prototype for an early movie camera, and the microdiarama, were, for their time, ground breaking. Aronson, however, is better remembered for a series of memoirs he wrote, published long after his death in the book A Jewish Life Under the Tsars This is an autobiography of Aronson's own difficult life, but it also describes insightfully, the life of ordinary society in Imperial Russia.
1860: The New York Times reported "Yesterday was the fast of the month of Ab, the anniversary of the destruction of the temple of Solomon by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the second temple by Vespasian, among the Hebrew population all over the world; and was fully observed in the synagogues of this City. The fast of Ab is really one of abnegation. No meat is eaten, and but very little bread is broken. The synagogues yesterday were hung with black, and the Book of Lamentation was read in the original Hebrew." (This entry is notable because a secular daily newspaper was fully aware of the pracitice a minor Jewish fast day at a time when the Jewish population was a miniscule part of the American melting-pot.)
1862: During the American Civil War, General William T. Sherman wrote a letter from Union-occupied Memphis, Tennessee stating, "I found so many Jews and speculators here trading in cotton, and secessionists had become so open in refusing anything but gold, that I have felt myself bound to stop it. The gold can have but one use - the purchase of arms and ammunition... Of course, I have respected all permits by yourself or the Secretary of the Treasury, but in these new cases (swarms of Jews), I have stopped it." (Before leaping to the conclusion that Sherman was an anti-Semite remember that he would have several high ranking Jewish officers serving under his command as the war progressed.)
1863: The New York Times reported that “a Jew broker, made his appearance in Westchester, Penn., accompanied by a dozen others, whom he represented as anxious to serve as substitutes, for a consideration. Although some of the men, it is said, boasted of having taken part in the New-York riots, yet they were eagerly caught up by drafted men, and engaged at various prices as substitutes.” [The Times did not report on the ethnic or religious origins of any of the other participants in this scheme. This story was part of a series on the Draft Riots that racked New York in the summer of 1863. Did the Times identify the rioters as “Catholics” or Irish Catholics? ]
1863: Birthdate of American automaker Henry Ford. For Americans, Ford is the man who made the Model-T. For Jews, he is the man who popularized the "Protocols of the Elders Of Zion." Towards the end of his life, Ford apologized for his involvement with this anti-Semitic literature that still infects the world today.
1864: During the American Civil War, Union Army Sergeant Major Abraham Cohn distinguished himself at the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg, VA. Cohn would be awarded the Medal of Honor for his fighting during the Wilderness Campaign and the Siege of Petersburg.
1870: Newspapers carry full accounts of what is called “A Horrible Murder” – the murder of prominent New Yorker Benjamin Nathan – and the so far fruitless efforts of the police to solve the crime.
1871: It was reported today that “the industrious Jews” are “annoying Christians.” In New York, the Alanson M.E. Church on Norfolk Street occupies a building adjacent to a tenement house that is “occupied almost exclusively by” Orthodox Jews. The Jews go to the synagogue on Saturday and work on Sunday. Many of them work as tailors “and the ceaseless whirr of their sewing-machines has proved very annoying to the worshipers in the church.” One of the Jews offered to stop working if the church members would pay him for his lost time. The trustees have declined his offer and are considering taking legal action against the Jewish worker.
1876(9th of Av, 5636): Tish'a B'Av
1876: “A Jewish Festival,” an article published today, reported that Tish’a B’Av, “a Jewish festival” commemorating “the destruction of Jerusalem was begun at 9 o’clock last evening in many of the synagogues” in New York City “and will be generally observed today at the various Jewish temples of worship, notably those of the orthodox Jews. In the churches of the latter, the services will consist of chants and prayers for the re-establishment of the Jewish hierarchy.” In addition to praying and singing, “the festival is…observed…by a fast of twenty-four hours duration.” [Ed. Note – It is worth noting that this brief but detailed description of a minor Jewish fast day appeared in the New York Times.
1878: German elections resulted in the reactionary element having a dominant voice in the Reichstag. This date is considered the birthday of modern German anti- Semitism.
1880: Birthdate of Colonel Robert R. McCormick who gained famed as the editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune in an era when newspapers were the dominant voice of the media in the United States. He was a founder of the American First Committee, a powerful organization dedicated to keep the United States out of World War II which took on a decidedly anti-Semitic viewpoint.
1880: Birthdate of Bernhard Weiss, the German born lawyer who served as a top ranking police official during the Weimar Republic and fearlessly confronted the Nazis.
1880: “Resting at Schooley’s Mountain” published today provided a brief history of this famous New Jersey resort area. The area had become so popular with Jewish vacationers that two of the cottages, Heath House and Belmont Hall, effectively banned Jewish guests. The ban was lifted when the locals saw its negative impact. (This was one of only of series of bans instituted at hotels, etc. following the Civil War.)
1881: “Foreign Topics” published today described the nightly anti-Semitic demonstrations taking place in Hammerstein, West Prussia. The riots are similar to ones that have already taken placed in Baerwald, Pomerania.
1881: It was reported today that troops fired on rioters in Poltava who have been attacking Jews, killing four and wounding two.
1884: Theodor Herzl is admitted to the bar in
Vienna
.
1884: Two New York detectives apprehended Samuel Barnett, a Polish Jew who reportedly has been committing a series of robberies over the last three months in Harlem.
1884: In Nashville, TN, the jury hearing the case of Meyer Moskowitz and “Zeke” White was discharged this evening. Moskowitz, a Jew and White had been charged with murdering Meyer Fried of Nashville. The jury had acquitted White but was deadlocked on the issue of Moskowitz ‘s guilt.
1885: Myer S. Isaacs presided over a meeting of the Board of Delegates of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations which had been called to determine how to respond to the death of Sir Moses Montefiore. The board decided to recommend that all Jewish congregations hold special memorial services on Friday night and Saturday morning in honor of the late philanthropist. Plans will be made a later date for a more formal memorial service to be held in September.
1886: Among the institutions that received money from the Board of Estimate and Apportionment today was the Hebrew Guardian Society in the amount of $2,858.29
1886: “Jew and Gentile Wedded” published today described the elopement of Nellie Goodwin and Meier Weil. Goodwin the 16 year old daughter of Reverend W.R. Goodwin of the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church and Weil, the son of prominent Jewish merchant, have left Jacksonville, Illinois for parts unknown.
1887: “Wealthy Hebrews Worried” published today described Isidor Freedman’s inability to gain membership in the Utopia Club, a social club for wealthy Jews living in New Haven, CT. Freedman, part of the firm of Mendel & Freedman had been blackballed by Isaac Ullmann. (Not exactly the kind of story they taught us in Hebrew School)
1892: Waldemar Mordecai Wolff Haffkine, a Russian born Jewish bacteriologist, reported the results of his tests of his cholera vaccine to the Biological Society in London.
1894:Birthdate of Blanche Wolf Knopf. “Although her name and work have been overshadowed by those of her husband, Blanche Wolf Knopf carved out her own place in the publishing industry as vice-president and president of Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. Blanche Knopf was raised in
New York
, where she met Alfred Knopf in 1911. They were married in 1916; the year after Alfred Knopf launched his eponymous publishing firm. Blanche Knopf was involved in the firm from the start, and in 1921, she became a director and vice-president. In addition to running the office, Blanche Knopf's duties included frequent travel to meet with and recruit new authors for the press. By all accounts, she excelled in establishing relationships with writers on three continents. Under her leadership, Knopf published translations of French writers Albert Camus, André Gide, Simone de Beauvoir, and Jean-Paul Sartre; South American writers Jorge Amado, Gilberto Freyre, and Eduardo Mallea; and the first American edition of Sigmund Freud's Moses and Monotheism. Knopf published American classics, but under Blanche Knopf's urging the firm also published such new American writers as H.L. Mencken, Willa Cather, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. For her work in support of French literature in
America
, she was named a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur by the French government in 1949 and made an officer in 1960. Similarly, she was honored by the Brazilian government in 1950 with the Order of the Southern Cross. In 1957, Alfred Knopf became chairman of the board, and Blanche Knopf took over as president. However, in 1960, the firm was sold to Random House, which maintains the Knopf imprint as an independent entity. Blanche Knopf remained involved at the helm of the Knopf imprint until her death in 1966. Her New York Timesobituary said that her "alertness and perspicacity in recruiting writers ... and her driving energy as an executive contributed immensely to the success of the house of Knopf." In a field dominated entirely by men, in which she was virtually the only woman in her time to take a leading role, Blanche Knopf had a lasting impact on Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., on the world of publishing, and on American letters.
1895(9th of Av, 5655): Tisha B’Av
1905: In Bialystok, during the anti-Jewish riots, physicians were prevented from treating Jewish victims.
1908: Dr. Franz Kafka walked into the building housing the Worker’s Accident Insurance Institute for the Kingdom of Bohemia in Prague and began working as an assistant in the legal department. He would retire in 1922 because of complications from a lung disease.
1918(21st of Av, 5678): Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, the son of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik and author of the Chiddushei Rabbeinu Chaim, a commentary on the teachings of Maimonides, passed away today. Born in 1853, he was known as Reb Chaim Brisker because of the methodology he developed for studying Talmud.
http://onthemainline.blogspot.com/2007/10/reb-chaim-soloveitchik-obituary.html
1921: Birthdate of U.S. Army Alvin David Ungerleider who as a 23 year old lieutenant stormed Omaha Beach during the Normandy landings and helped to liberate the Concentration Camp at Nordhausen in 1945.
1922: Birthdate of Henry W. Bloch, the co-founder and (since 2000) the chairman emeritus of H&R Block. Henry and his brother, Richard Bloch, founded H&R Block in 1955 in Kansas City, Missouri. Bloch was born in Kansas City. He attended Southwest High School, and was an undergraduate at University of Missouri–Kansas City and the University of Michigan, graduating from Michigan in 1944. Through the Army Air Corps he received graduate training at the Harvard Business School. Bloch and his wife Marion married in 1951 and live in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The Henry Wollman Block fountain in front of Union Station in Kansas City is named in his honor, as is The Henry W. Bloch School of Business and Public Administration at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and the Bloch Building, a major addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. Mr. Bloch was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 2001.
1925: Birthdate of Jakob Josef Petuchowski a native of Berlin, Germany. He was brought from Germany to London, in a children's transport, prior to the outbreak of World War II. After receiving a B.A. with honors in psychology from the University of London in 1947, Petuchowski moved to the United States in 1948 and earned his rabbinic ordination, masters degree and Ph.D. from Hebrew Union College in Cincinnati, Ohio. Petuchowski served in the congregational rabbinate in Welch, West Virginia and Washington Pennsylvania. He was also the High Holiday rabbi of Temple B'nai Israel, Laredo, Texas, from 1956 through 1991.
1928: Claims by Frieda and Goldina Rubinson, two sisters born in Hamburg now living in Tel Aviv that they are the authors of the opera now known as “Turnadot” and that Puccini plagiarized the score from them were greeted with scorn and ridicule by sources in New York including William J Guard of the Metropolitan Opera Company and G. Ricordi & Co, the music publishers.
1929: In Zurich, at the second session of the sixteenth Biennial Zionist Congress, statistician and agricultural expert Dr. Arthur Ruppin of Tel Aviv delivers an address in which he described the negative impact that conversion, intermarriage, decreasing birth rate and an unchanged mortality rate were having on the survival of the Jewish people.
1932: The 1932 Olympics opens in Los Angeles. Attila Petschauer a gold medal winning swordsman was part of the Hungarian Fencing Team. The 1999 film Sunshine is a multi-generational study of Petschauer’s family and vividly depicts his death at the hands of the Nazis in 1943. Jewish Gold Medal winners included Istvan Barta, Hungary water polo, Gyorgy Brody, Hungary, water polo; Lillian Copeland, USA, athletics, discus throw; George Gulack, USA,
gymnastics, flying rings; Endre Kabos, Hungary, fencing, team saber; Miklos Sárkány, Hungary
water polo.
1933: “The editor of Der Surmer, Julius Streicher, newly appointed Reich Commissar for Franconia, gave orders that 250 Jewish tradesmen in Nuremberg should be arrested, and ‘set to plucking the grass out of a field with their teeth.’”
1933: Catcher Harry Danning made his major league debut with the New York Giants.
1934: Birthdate of Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball and owner of the Milwaukee Brewers.
1936: The Palestine Post reported on the appointment in
London
of the Royal Commission for
Palestine
, chaired by Earl Peel. Other members were Sir Horace Rumboldt, Sir Laurie Hammond, Sir Morris Carter, Sir Harold Morris and Professor Reginald Coupland. The commission's terms of reference were "to ascertain the underlying causes of the disturbances... to inquire into the manner in which the Mandate was implemented in relation to the obligations of the Mandatory towards the Arabs and Jews... to study legitimate grievances and make recommendations for their removal and for the prevention of their recurrence."
1936: General Franco declared his Fascist government and the Spanish Civil War broke out. During the Second World War,
Spain
officially remained neutral, yet Franco sent troops to fight against the Russians, and
Spain
later served as a refuge for fleeing Nazis.
1937: In Memphis, TN, Lewis Glick and Sylvia Kleinman Glick gave birth to Milton D. Glick, nationally renowned academic leader who served as the 15th president of the University of Nevada, Reno
1939: Birthdate of movie director Peter Bogdanovich.
1939(14th of Av, 5699): Dutch sculptor Joseph Mendes da Costa passed away.
1939: In a private letter Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of Great Britain described
Germany
's jealousy of the Jews' superior cleverness and states: "No doubt Jews aren't a lovable people; I don't care about them myself; but that is not sufficient to explain the Pogrom."
1939: Reacting to German anti-Jewish policies and reflecting the attitude of many other officials in
Great Britain
and
Western Europe
, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain writes: "No doubt Jews aren't a lovable people; I don't care about them myself. But that is not sufficient to explain the pogrom."
1940: Birthdate of producer Stanley Jaffe, the man who gave us Fatal Attracations.
1941(6th of Av, 5701): At Ponar, outside of Vilna, approximately, 150 Jews are shot. Most of the victims are elderly.
1942: German industrialist Eduard Schulte, whose company has mines near Auschwitz, reveals to a Swiss colleague that Hitler and the German Reich have decided to round up the millions of Jews of Occupied Europe, concentrate them in the East, and murder them using prussic acid starting in the fall of 1942. The information is soon communicated to Swiss World Jewish Congress representative Gerhart Riegner.
1942(16th of Av, 5702): German SS kills 25,000 Jews in Minsk, Belorussia
1942:Esther "Etty" Hillesum was transferred to Westerbork.
1942: The U.S. government established the Navy WAVES, or Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service, program. Though Navy women would not be allowed to serve outside the continental
U.S.
, or even to go to sea, the military hoped that the recruitment of 10,000 women, who would work in onshore bases, would free sufficient numbers of men to fight overseas. Although women had served as nurses in the navy as early as the Spanish-American War, and officially in the Navy Nurse Corps since 1908, the WAVES program was by far the largest-scale effort to recruit women to active duty in the Navy. In the WAVES program, thousands of women performed nearly every possible job at over 500 naval stations through the Second World War. As military leaders had hoped, they enabled male officers and enlisted men to staff the ships that were responsible for the Allied victory in the Pacific theatre. Among the earliest group of women to enlist in the WAVES was Miriam Miller. Although her parents felt that military nursing "wasn't the life for a nice Jewish girl," Miller enlisted soon after her graduation from the Wilkes-Barre General Hospital School of Nursing, in
Pennsylvania
. She was assigned first to the Great Lakes Naval Station and then to the
San Diego
Naval
Hospital
. Later, when the Navy relaxed its prohibition on women serving outside the continental
U.S.
, she worked in
Guam
, where she cared for soldiers injured in the battles of
Iwo Jima
and
Okinawa
. Active in veterans' affairs after the war, Miller was elected President of the Jewish War Veterans National Ladies Auxiliary in 1961.
1944(10th of Av, 5704): Since the 9th of Av fell on Shabbat, Tish'a B'Av is observed today.
1944: Three tankers, carrying some 1750 Jews from the Italian-held islands of
Kos
and
Rhodes
, arrive at
Piraeus
,
Greece
, where the Jews are bullied onto trucks and driven to the Haidar detention camp near
Athens
1944: More than 100 Jews are deported from
Toulouse
,
France
, to
Auschwitz
.
1944: Edi Weinstein, his father and his friend Berl Goldberg, all of whom who had escaped from Treblinka were discovered by German soldiers. They killed Goldberg. Weinstein and his father survived and Edi Weinstein actually joined the Polish Army in 1945 helping to fight the Nazis in the waning days of the WW II.
1945: The administration of Germany is assumed by the Allied Control Council.
1946: A three-day pogrom begins in Miskolc, Hungary.
1950: James G. McDonald, the U.S. Ambassador to the state of Israel has submitted his resignation. McDonald is coming to the end of a normal two year posting at Tel Aviv.
1951: The Jerusalem Post reported that more than 1,500 polling stations opened to admit an estimated 880,000 voters for the Second Knesset. There were 17 lists of political parties contesting for the election of 120 Knesset members. About 75,000 Arabs were eligible to vote.
1951: Voter turnout for today’s elections for the 2nd Knesset reaching 75.1%
1951: Birthdate of Indian born, British artist and designer Gary Judah. For a look at his work go to http://www.gerryjudah.com/
1953: Senator Robert Taft of
Ohio
passed away. Most people do not remember Senator Taft. But in his day he was a political power. Known as “Mr. Republican” Taft was considered a “shoe-in” for the Republican nomination for President in 1952. However, his plans were upset by the surprise entry of Ike Eisenhower into the battle for the nomination. Ike won and the rest is history. As a Conservative Republican, Taft opposed most the social legislation that was popular among the Jews of his day. The Taft-Hartley Act was seen as a piece of anti-labor legislation that limited the power of labor and therefore the influence of many Jewish leaders. However, Taft joined Senator Wagner of
New York
(his political opponent on most domestic issues) in introducing a resolution supporting a Jewish homeland in
Palestine
. The resolution was introduced in October of 1945 and demonstrated the changing attitude towards Jews and the increasingly broad support for the Zionist cause among non-Jews.
1965: US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Social Security Act of 1965 into law, establishing Medicare and Medicaid. Wilbur Cohen, a man whose active career ran from the New Deal through the Great Society and was serving as Under Secretary of H.E.W. in 1965 was considered to be the driving force behind this landmark legislation that removed the fear of ill health for senior citizens and their families. Johnson would later name Cohen, the Wisconsin born son of Jewish immigrants, to the position of Secretary of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
1969: Barbra Streisand opens for Liberace at International Hotel,
Las Vegas
1970: Israeli airmen shot down four MIGs flown by Russian pilots over the
Suez Canal
. This marked the first military encounter between Israeli and Russian forces
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported that Britain severed relations with Uganda after Idi Amin's regime failed to provide information on the fate of Dora Bloch, the British-Israeli dual national dragged from a Kampala hospital after her fellow hijacked Air France hostages had been rescued from the Entebbe airport by Israeli commandoes
1980: The Knesset passed the “The Jerusalem Law.”
1983(20th of Av, 5743):
MGM
executive Howard Dietz passed away.
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/C62
1992(29th of Tammuz, 5752): Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman, passed away.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-joe-shuster-1538812.html?printService=print
1997(25th of Tammuz, 5757): Double suicide bombings in Jerusalem claim the lives of 14.
1999: Russian born American conductor led Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in the premiere of Peteris Vasks's Symphony No. 2 at the Royal Albert Hall
2000: The African American/Jewish Coalition for Justice hosted a picnic at
Seward
Park
in
Seattle
,
Washington
.
2000: The New York Times features reviews books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain by Michael Paterniti, Inside the Halo and Beyond: The Anatomy of a Recovery by Jewish born author Maxine Kumin and Millicent Dillon's new novel entitled Harry Gold about Harry Gold, the American Jewish chemist who acted as a spy for the Soviet Union in the 1930's and 40's.
2003(1st of Av, 5763): Rosh Chodesh Av
2006: Jewish golfer Corey Pavin won the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.
2006: The New York Times features reviews books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including the recently released paperback edition of Freud's Requiem: Mourning, Memory, and the Invisible History of a Summer Walk by Matthew Von Unwerth. “This elegantly meandering look at Sigmund Freud's life and the intellectual world he moved in examines an obscure 1915 essay, "On Transience," in which Freud records a conversation with the poet Rainer Maria Rilke and the psychoanalyst Lou Andreas-Salomé.”
2006: Hezbollah fired a record 140 Katyusha rockets at targets in northern Israel today wounding at least eight people, including a Haaretz correspondent.
2006(5th of Av, 5766): Murray Bookchin, American libertarian and socialist, passed away.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/aug/08/guardianobituaries.usa
2007: In Jerusalem, Peretz Eliyahu and Victoria Chana collaborate to perform original music tied to ancient texts about love at a Tu B’Av event.
2007: Victoria Redel, author of The Border of Truth based on the experiences of Jewish refugees aboard the SS Quanza, presents a reading at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, NY.
2007(15th of Av, 5767): Tu B'Av. The 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the second
Temple
period (before the fall of
Jerusalem
in 70 C.E.). Tu B'Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of
Israel
. In its modern incarnation it is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, slightly resembling Valentine's Day in English-speaking countries. There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B'Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying, "There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)…"( Taanit, Chapter 4). The Gemara (the later, interpretive layer of the Talmud) attempts to find the origin of this date as a special joyous day, and offers several explanations. One of them is that on this day the Biblical "tribes of
Israel
were permitted to mingle with each other," namely: to marry women from other tribes (Talmud, Taanit 30b). This explanation is somewhat surprising, since nowhere in the Bible is there a prohibition on "intermarriage" among the 12 tribes of
Israel
. This Talmudic source probably is alluding to a story in the book of Judges (chapter 21): After a civil war between the tribe of Benjamin and other Israelite tribes, the tribes vowed not to intermarry with men of the tribe of Benjamin. It should be noted that Tu B'Av, like several Jewish holidays (Passover, Sukkot, Tu Bishvat) begins on the night between the 14th and 15th day of the Hebrew month, since this is the night of a full moon in our lunar calendar. Linking the night of a full moon with romance, love, and fertility is not uncommon in ancient cultures. For almost 19 centuries--between the destruction of
Jerusalem
and the re-establishment of Jewish independence in the state of
Israel
in 1948--the only commemoration of Tu B'Av was that the Morning Prayer service did not include the penitence prayer (Tahanun). In recent decades Israeli civil culture promotes festivals of singing and dancing on the night of Tu B'Av. The entertainment and beauty industries work overtime on this date. It has no formal legal status as a holiday-- it is a regular workday--nor has the Israeli rabbinate initiated any addition to the liturgy or called for the introduction of any ancient religious practices. The cultural gap between Israeli secular society and the Orthodox rabbinate makes it unlikely that these two will find a common denominator in the celebration of this ancient/modern holiday in the foreseeable future.
2008: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of
Israel
, embroiled in a high-profile corruption investigation, announced that he would resign his office after his party chose a new leader in September elections. In a televised public statement made from his official residence in
Jerusalem
, Mr. Olmert said he would not take part in the leadership election for his Kadima Party, opening the way for the next party leader to try to form a new government.“I have decided not to compete in the primaries in Kadima,” he said. “I will resign from my role as prime minister to allow a new leader to form a new government efficiently and quickly.”
2009:Randi & Bruce Pergament Jewish Film Festival presents a screening of “Max Minsky & Me,” a delightful comedy set in contemporary Berlin in which Nelly, a bookish bat mitzvah candidate, who wants to be on her school basketball team so she can meet her prince charming recruits a reluctant coach who offers her athletic training and ultimately, his respect.”
2009(9th of Av, 5769): Tish'a B'Av
2009: In an interview today the head of the Israel Defense Forces' ground troops during the Gaza disengagement said the decision to evacuate Gaza Strip settlements in 2005 was "utter nonsense." Israel Defense Forces General (Res.) Yiftach Ron-Tal made the comment during an interview on Army Radio, a day before the fourth anniversary of the disengagement on the Hebrew calendar. "Today it is clear to everybody, that what at the time was an argument over a difficult event was utter nonsense from a security perspective," he told Army Radio. "I opposed it from the deepest meaning of the word opposition - from a security aspect, from a religious aspect and from a national aspect." Ron-Tal added, however, that he decided without hesitation to participate in the disengagement. "I suffered and didn't sleep at night, but the decision was completely wholehearted. In my opinion, the alternative for the people of Israel was even worse
2010:A Grad-type Katyusha rocket fired by Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip struck close to an apartment building in a residential area of Ashkelon on today, while two mortar shells exploded in the western Negev just a few hours later. The Katyusha rocket hit the populated neighborhood just after 8:30 A.M., causing some damage to the nearby building and to a number of parked cars. There were no casualties in the incident, but at least two people were treated for shock. Residents said that the Color Red rocket alert sounded prior to the explosion. At around 12:30 P.M., two mortar shells hit the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council in the western Negev.
2010: An Israeli Air Force Boeing aircraft carrying the coffins of six IAF servicemen killed in Monday's Yasour helicopter crash in the Carpathian Mountains landed Friday morning at the Tel Nof air base. The funerals of the fallen soldiers will be held at various military cemeteries throughout the day today. Lt.-Col. (Res.) Avner Goldman will be buried at 12:15 p.m. in Modi'in; Lt.-Col. Daniel Shipenbauer will be buried at 3:00 p.m. in Gdarot; Maj. Yahel Keshet will be buried at 1:00 PM in Sharona; Maj. Lior Shai will be buried at 2:00 p.m. in Hod Hasharon; Lt. Nir Lakrif will be buried at 12:30 p.m. in Haifa; and St.-Sgt. Oren Cohen will be buried at 1:00 p.m. in Rehovot.
2010; It was reported today that the three bidders still in the mix to buy Newsweek magazine, according to the New York Times, are audio equipment tycoon Sidney Harman; tastefully named hedge fund guy Marc Lasry; and Mort Zuckerman chum Fred Drasner. All three are Members of the Tribe. (Harman is thought to be the front-runner.) Some words of wisdom for The Washington Post Company, the current owner of a wonderful magazine: Don’t sell to Drasner. In addition to helping publish Zuckerman’s New York Daily News, Drasner invested a minority stake in Daniel Snyder’s ownership of the Washington Redskins. The following decade has been one of fleeting mini-success that has served only to punctuate steady mediocrity, culminating in last season’s 4-12 catastrophe. Now, granted, the Skins are back on the right track, with a new general manager, head coach, and quarterback, and are poised to go 10-6 and make the playoffs (mark me down!). But Drasner no longer owns any stake—Snyder bought him out—so he gets no credit for this. In fact, in case you didn’t notice, I have just decided to make him my scapegoat for my past ten years of mostly-misery.
2011:Gefen Books is scheduled to release Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, by brothers-in-law Meir Doron and Joseph Gelman, which “tells the story of an Israeli nuclear intelligence agent who found his way into the film business.”
2011(28th of Tammuz, 5771): Yahrzeit of Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum of Uhely, Hungary, author of Yismach Moshe and patriarch of the Hungarian Chassidic dynasties who passed away on the 28th of Tamuz, 5601 (July 17, 1841).
2011: “Blood Relation” and “77 Steps” are scheduled to be shown at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2011: Those who are protesting the spiraling cost of living in Israel are planning to hold five marches tonight, in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Be'er Sheva, Haifa and Nazareth. Each is expected to end in a mass assembly. Organizers expect tens of thousands of people from all over the country to participate.
2011: Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was expected to put together a team to examine the burden of indirect taxes on the public in the coming days, Army Radio reported today. The expected move comes ahead of nationwide protests scheduled to take place Saturday night, the second mass protest in as many weeks. Speaking with Army Radio today, Netanyahu ally Likud MK Ophir Akunis said that "the government is attentive to public sentiment and is working to ease the [financial] burden on the public."
2011: An explosion was reported at a depot along the Egyptian natural gas pipeline in Sinai that normally supplies Israel with gas, Army Radio reported today. The attack on the pipeline was the third this month and the fifth since the beginning of 2011. It also followed a shootout between Egyptian security forces and apparent Islamic militants yesterday.
2011: Hundreds of thousands of Israelis took part in protests held in cities across the country tonight, the largest collaborative protest yet in a popular movement over social issues that has swept the country in the past two weeks.
2012: The Northern California Premiere of “Papirosen” is scheduled to take place at the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival.
2012: “Yossi,” a sequel to “Yossi and Jagger” is scheduled to be shown at the JCC in Manhattan.
