August 20 In History
636: Arab forces defeat the Byzantine Christians at the Battle of Yarmuk. This battle fought only four years after the death of Mohammed opened the road the road to Damascus. After seizing Syria, the Arabs under Khalid bin Walid turned south and took Jerusalem and all of the territory that is now Jordan and Israel. This area had been under control of the Christian Byzantine Empire. The victory at Yarmuk led to the first great wave of Moslem conquest that would sweep across Egypt, North Africa and across the Mediterranean to Spain. Conditions for the Jews improved compared to life under the Byzantines. The Golden Age of Spain was the ultimate high point of this change. But life under Islam was uneven for Jews and they suffered in many different areas depending upon which group of Islamists was in control.
917: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeated a Byzantine army at the Battle of Acheloos. This was a plus for the Jews since Jews had been moving to the Bulgarian Empire since the 7th century to avoid the persecution they were enduring under the Byzantines.
1000: The foundation of the Hungarian state, Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary. Archaeological evidence indicates the existence of Jews in Pannonia and Dacia, who came there in the wake of the Roman legions. Jewish historical tradition, however, only mentions the Jews in
Hungary
from the second half of the 11th century, when Jews from
Germany
,
Bohemia
, and
Moravia
settled there. In 1092, at the council of Szabolcs, the Church prohibited marriages between Jews and Christians, work on Christian festivals, and the purchase of slaves. King Koloman protected the Jews in his territory at the end of the 11th century.
1100: Using the Venetian fleet, Tancred and Daimbert conquer Haifa during the first crusade.
1642: The ashes of Ferdiand Francis, a converted Bohemian Jew whose original name was Chaim or Joachim, were cast into the Danuabe at Vienna. He was alledged to have been the author of “Toldoth Jeshu” for which he was condemned to be hung. Just before he was to die, Francis renounced his conversion to Christianity for which he was horribly tortured before he finally died.
1671: Leopold I revoked the decree he had issued in April expelling the Jews from the portion Hungary controlled by the Habsburgs.
1684: A riotous mob attacked the ghetto of Buda (that's the half of
Budapest
that is on the right bank of the
Danube
, which was joined with
Pest
on the left bank in 1873). During the war between
Venice
and
Turkey
, the Jews were accused of praying for the Turks in their attack on
Budapest
. In actuality, it was the 9th of Av and all the Jews were in the synagogue mourning the destruction of the temple. Soon after, the attack on the Jewish ghetto began. When the gates were opened to allow for an emissary to the duke to leave, the crowd of attackers rushed in. As soon as the authorities heard about the disturbances, an order to forcibly curb them was given. That day of the order became a day of thanksgiving. In gratitude to G-d for being spared serious injury, the Jews celebrated Buda Purim on the 10th of Elul. This date became known as Purim Buda – Buda as in
Budapest
.
1771: Birthdate of Schonche Rothschild, first child of A.M. Rothschild.
1806: The Assembly of Notables presented their collective response to Napoleon’s questions.
1807: Rothschild writes to his son Nathan in
England
that he has sold all the English goods sent to him at a considerable profit.
1833: Birthdate of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States. As President, Harrison had Secretary of State James G. Blaine issue instructions to the American minister to Russia to “exert his influence” to stop Czar Alexander III from implementing his draconian anti-Jewish regulations. In 1891, a Christian minster from Illinois named William E. Blackstone “presented a Memorial to” President Benjamin and his Secretary of State “which called upon them to exert their influence with the powers of Europe ‘to secure the holding, at any early date, of an international conference to consider the condition of the Israelites and their claims to Palestine as their ancient home.’”
1852: It was reported today that "the French counsel is still prosecuting a demand for the satisfaction for the murder of a Roman Catholic priest at Aleppo. It was believed for a long time he was murdered by Jews, but it is now said that the Counsel has evidence that he was murdered by members of the city police for his success in building a Christian church.” The police were Moslems. The Jews were convenient by-standers. During the notorious Damascus Affair, Isaac de Picciotto, was accused of having offered to sell the priest’s blood to Jews living in Aleppo. He was the nephew of Elias de Picciotto, a prominent member of the Aleppo Jewish community and the Austrian counsel. This would be the last involvement of Aleppo with a Blood Libel. In 1875, an Armenian boy went missing and the charge surfaced again. Fortunately, he was found in a nearby village.
1852: It is reported that Lionel de Rothschild is planning to resign from the House of Commons since he has not been permitted to take his seat.
1856: In "English Celebrities" a column published today, the author provides a description of Benjamin Disraeli which includes the following, "Nor is his faithfulness to his friendships less remarkable than his devoted attention to his old and silly wife...as Disraeli says 'I owe her everything. But some men forget these things. Not so Disraeli...at no party is he to be found without fat, middle-age, gray-haired lady, hanging on his arm. But this domestic love is an essentially Jewish trait."
1860: Birthdate of Raymond Poincaré, the philo-Semitic French political leader who served as President of France during World War I.
1871: It was reported today that Rabbi Raphael D.C. Lewin who has served as spiritual leader for Mikveh Israel in Savannah and Temple Israel in Brooklyn, has expressed his displeasure with some of his colleagues in The New Era magazine. According to Lewin, there is more to being a rabbi than “sermonizing…performing marriages, burying the dead and receiving large salaries and handsome presents. Rabbis have a duty to educate their congregants about Jewish literature and beliefs.
1871: According to reports published today the Jewish Times contends that that the Chicago synagogue that fired Rabbi Herzman for eating ice cream had every right to do so. Herzman had been engaged to lead an Orthodox congregation. It was obvious from his behavior that he did not respect these views and the synagogue was well within its rights to remove the hypocrite.
1872: A review panning “The Bells” was published today. “The Bells” is a one act play imported from France that centers around the consequences suffered by the protagonist for having murdered a Polish Jew.
1874: In Indianapolis, Indiana, George C. Harding, editor and proprietor of the Indianapolis Herald fired five shots at Sol Mortiz a prominent Jewish merchant in broad daylight this afternoon. One of the shots shattered his left elbow and another passed through his lung and lodged in his chest. The shooting took place after Harding found out that Mortiz had taken advantage of his 18 year old daughter.
1875: Birthdate of Shaul Tchernichovsky a Russian-born Hebrew poet considered one of the great Hebrew poets, identified with nature poetry, and as a poet greatly influenced by the culture of ancient Greece.
1879(1st of Elul, 5639): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1880: It was reported today that there “an ugly rumor” in England that “a now well-known firm of Hebrew jewelers emerged mysteriously from obscurity to importance in the trade within twelve months” of Lady Ellesmere being robbed while she en route visit the Queen at Windsor Castle. The loss totaled $150,000. (Unsubstantiated claims like this were often more inidicative of ant-Semitism, envy or both)
1882: It was reported today that the Hebrew Union of Raleigh, NC, had contributed five dollars to the fund for the Garfield Memorial Hospital.
1884: Unidentified hooligans tried to burn down a building on Clinton Street that housed the grocery story own by Solomon Ellison. The five story tenement was home to countless Jewish families.
1887(30thof Av, 5647): Rosh Chodesh Elul
1887: It was reported today that “there was tumult” among those who think they have a claim to Julius Weisbaden, the miser who died in Bellevue and was buried without any service. The estate was thought to be worth $40,000 but it may be only worth $2,800.
1893: Sh'chita was banned in Switzerland. (The ban is still in place and the Jewish community gets its meat from several different countries.)
1901: The First Congress of Caucasus Zionists was held in
Tbilisi
. Rabbi David Baazov led Georgian Zionism during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In 1903, Baazov attended the Sixth Zionist Congress in
Basel
.
1903: Herzl arrives in
Basel
.
1904: Birthdate of Judikje Simons, later Judikje Themans- Simons, one the Jewish members of the Dutch ladies’ gymnastic team which won the Gold at the 1928 Olympics. She and her husband, as well as her two children were murdered at Sobibor in 1943.
1912(7th of Elul, 5672): Walter Goodman, British painter, illustrator and author, passed away.
1915(9th of Elul, 5675): Paul Ehrlich, the man who discovered the treatment for syphilis, passed away. Born in Germany in 1854 Ehrlich gained famed for his work in immunology and chemotherapy. He won the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1901. He received numerous honors from the German government. He was 61 at the time of his death.
1915: Leo Frank “was buried” today “in the Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, Queens, New York."
1917(2nd of Elul, 5677): Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Adolf von Baeyer, known as Adolph von Baeyer, the first Jew to ever receive the Nobel Prize, passed away today. “Baeyer was a German chemist, acknowledged in 1905 for synthesizing dye indigo. He was also awarded the Davie Medal by the Royal Society of London in 1881, for his work with indigo. Baeyer was born on October 31, 1835, in Berlin, Germany. Initially, at the Berlin University, Baeyer studied mathematics and physics. Nevertheless, he soon discovered his passion for chemistry and transferred to Heidelberg to study with Robert Bunsen in 1856. Bunsen was a famous chemist, who is best known for perfecting the burner. In Heidelberg, Baeyer studied in the laboratory of August Kekule, a famous organic chemist. In 1858, Baeyer received his doctorate in chemistry from Berlin University. In 1871, he became a Professor at Strasbourg and, in 1875, Baeyer became the Chemistry Professor at the University of Munich. In addition to synthesizing dye indigo, some of Baeyer’s other achievements include the discovery of the phthanein dyes, investigation of polyacetylenes, oxonium salts, and uric acid derivatives. Bayer synthesized barbituic acid in 1864. This acid is used in surgery as a sedative or hypnotic. Baeyer is also renowned for his work in theoretical chemistry, developing the ‘strain’ (Spannung) theory of triple bonds and the strain theory in small carbon rings. Baeyer was also the founder of Baeyer Chemical Co”.
1918:Birthdate of Hanna Poznanskia, who as British psychoanalyst Hanna Segal, Hanna Segal, “helped change child psychology in the United States by explaining and popularizing the play therapy techniques developed by her mentor, the seminal psychoanalytic thinker Melanie Klein.:
1919: Birthdate of Walter Bernstein an American screenwriter and film producer who was blacklisted by the Hollywood movie studio bosses in the 1950s.
1920:
Israel
publishes its first medical journal, "Ha-Refuah."
1921: Leo "Lindy" Lindermann and his wife Clara opened “Lindy’s”, the iconoclastic New York restaurant, at 1626 Broadway, between 49th and 50th Streets
1923: Birthdate of Chicago native Sheldon Bernard Keller, an Emmy-winning comedy writer whose work included “Caesar’s Hour,” one of the jewels of 1950s television” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1927: Birthdate of Stanley Anselm Bosworth a self-described “old wizard” who shaped his own Hogwarts in Brooklyn in the form of Saint Ann’s School, which rapidly gained national prominence for its free-form approach to education and its success in sending graduates to top colleges. Born in Manhattan he was the child of Jewish immigrants from Russia who had changed their name from Boscovitz to better assimilate. (As reported by Douglas Martin)
1928: State Supreme Court Alfred Frankenthaler officiated at the marriage of Jascha Heiftiz and Florence Vidor. The private ceremony uniting the 28 year old violinist and the motion picture actress took place the Mayfair House on Park Avenue in Manhattan. This is his first marriage and her second.
1929: As the Arab riots continued a late-night meeting initiated by the Jewish leadership, at which acting high commissioner Harry Luke, Jamal al-Husayni, and Yitzhak Ben-Zvi were present, failed to produce a call for an end to the violence.
1929: Haganah leaders proposed to provide defense for 600 Jews of the Old Yishuv in Hebron, or to help them evacuate. However, the leaders of the Hebron community declined these offers, insisting that they trusted the A'yan (Arab notables) to protect them.
1930: Dr. Jacob Levitsky, a math teacher in Jerusalem, has won Yale’s annual $2000 prize Sterling Fund. Levitsky is a graduate of Tel Aviv High School and the University of Goettingen
1930: The General Executive Committee of RSFSR accepted the decree that led to the creation of a Jewish administrative territorial unit in the Asiatic portion of the Soviet Union that would come to be known as The Jewish Autonomous Oblast.
1933: Gabriel Terra, President of Uruguay issued a special decree, permitting 500 Jewish families, fleeing from Germany, to enter the country. The Jewish Immigrant Aid Society had petitioned the President on behalf of the country’s Jewish community.
1933: In Montevideo, Vos Hebres (The Hebrew Voice), defended the Jews against attacks which followed permission being given for the immigration of 500 German-Jewish families.
1933: The Jewish National Fund announced that it has reclaimed 300,000 dunams of land (75,000 acres) in the Emek since 1923, and that 10,000 people are settled on it.
1933: The Keren Hayesod (Palestine Foundation Fund) reported that it has collected in the past two years £400,077; of which the United States contributed one-third (£133,545); during the 12 years of its existence, the Fund has raised £4,821,510 of which the United States contributed one-half (£2,409,392).
1933: American Jewish Congress declared a boycott against Nazi Germany
.
1935: The world Zionist leader, Dr. Nahum Sokolow, with almost the first words of his presidential speech tonight shattered reports that the nineteenth biennial Zionist congress would sidestep the situation of German Jews, out of deference to delegates from the Reich, who were among the representatives from forty-three nations.
1938(23rd of Av, 5698): Communist Party loyalist Semyon Dimanstein fell victim to one of Stalin’s purges today. After six months in prison, he was sentenced to death today and then executed. He was rehabilitated two years after Stalin died.
1938: Hank Greenberg hits three homers, bringing his total to 41 which puts him ahead of Babe Ruth’s record breaking 1927 pace.
1939: General debate in the twenty-first World Zionist Congress had to be suspended today after an announcement at the morning's meeting of a decision by the court of the congress to reduce the number of mandates allotted to the Palestine delegations from 133 to 127.
1940: Leon Trotsky is attacked by an assassin in
Mexico City
. Trotsky is hiding from Stalin who has ordered Trotsky’s execution. Trotsky will die of his wounds the following day. According to one version of the story, had moved from a fortress like villa to an unguarded homes because of a dispute over a woman.
1941: A low-rent United States Housing' Authority development in East St. Louis, Il, has been named in memory of Samuel Gompers, longtime president of the American Federation of Labor.
1941: For the next 48 hours about 4300 Jews are sent from
Paris
to
Drancy
, a transit camp in
France
. These are the first of 70,000 Jews who will be deported to
Drancy
and then to extermination camps, primarily Auschwitz-Birkenau
1941(26th of Av, 5701): Several Jews were pulled from their homes in Sabac by the Germans, then brought into the street and shot. The Germans made other Jews come carry the dead bodies through the town, and then hang them from electricity poles. This attacked was the beginning of a series of attacks which lasted for 2 months and resulted in several thousands of Jewish murders.
1942 The ZOB (Jewish Fighting Organization) attempts to assassinate Joseph Szerynski, commander of the Jewish police in the Warsaw Ghetto. Later in the day, other ZOB members set fire to several
Warsaw
warehouses.
1942(6th of Elul, 5702): The Jewish community from Falenica, Poland, is liquidated at the Treblinka death camp.
1942: For the next four days, nineteen thousand Jews of Kielce, Poland, are deported to the Treblinka death camp.
1942: For the next four days gas/disinfectant expert Kurt Gerstein observes gas executions at the Treblinka, one day after witnessing similar deaths at Belzec.
1943(18th of Av, 5703): Three thousand Jews are executed during a revolt at Glebokie, Belorussia.
1944: The United States Army Air Force bombs Auschwitz
III
(oil and rubber plant), three miles from
Auschwitz
I (main camp) and five miles from Birkenau, the
Auschwitz
death camp. 127 bombers escorted by 100 fighters (who face only 19 German planes) drop more than 1300 500-pound bombs. Only one bomber is shot down. This puts the lie to the claim that allied airpower could not have knocked out the rails leading to the death camps or to the crematorium. This had been the plea of many Jewish leaders. The facts of the matter are that allied leaders were not willing to risk planes or men to save Jews. On the morning of August 20, 1944, a group 127 US B-17 bombers, called Flying Fortresses, approached Auschwitz. They were escorted by 100 P-51 Mustang fighter planes. Most of the Mustangs were piloted by Tuskegee Airmen of the 332nd Fighter Group. The attacking force dropped more than 1,000 500-pound bombs on German oil factories less than five miles from the gas chambers. Despite German anti-aircraft fire and a squadron of German fighter planes, none of the Mustangs was hit and only one of the US planes was shot down. All of the units reported successfully hitting their targets. On the ground below, Jewish slave laborers, including 15 year-old Elie Wiesel, cheered the bombing. In his best-selling memoir, Night, Wiesel described their reaction: "We were not afraid. And yet, if a bomb had fallen on the blocks [the prisoners' barracks], it alone would have claimed hundreds of victims on the spot. But we were no longer afraid of death; at any rate, not of that death. Every bomb that exploded filled us with joy and gave us new confidence in life. The raid lasted over an hour. If it could only have lasted ten times ten hours!" But it did not. Even though there were additional US bombing raids on German industrial sites in the Auschwitz region in the weeks and month to follow, the gas chambers and crematoria were never targeted. The Roosevelt administration knew about the mass murder going on in Auschwitz, and even possessed diagrams of the camp that were prepared by two escapees. But when Jewish organizations asked the Roosevelt administration to order the bombing of the camp and the railways leading to it, the requests were rejected. US officials claimed such raids were "impracticable" because they would require "considerable diversion" of planes needed for the war effort. But the Tuskegee veterans know that claim was false. They were right there in the skies above Auschwitz. No "diversion" was necessary to drop a few bombs on the mass-murder machinery or the railways leading into the camp. Sadly, those orders were never given. The decision to refrain from bombing Auschwitz was part of a broader policy by the Roosevelt administration to refrain from taking action to rescue Jews from the Nazis or provide havens for them. The US did not want to deal with the burden of caring for large numbers of refugees. And its ally, Great Britain, would not open the doors to Palestine to the Jews, for fear of angering Arab opinion. The result was that the Allies failed to confront one of history's most compelling moral challenges.
1952(28th of Av, 5712): Yitzhak Sadeh, the founder of the Palmach and a hero of the War of Independence passed away at the age of 62. While a name unknown to most non-Israelis. Yitzhak Sadeh was a brave man who played a key role in the founding of the state of
Israel
. He was the commander for the Palmach units, a soldier, a writer, an educator, and was one of the founders of Tshal. He originally lived in
Russia
, but he moved to
Israel
later in his life. Yitzhak was born in
Lubin
,
Poland
in 1890. He began his military career, by fighting for the Russian army in World War One. Later, he was honored for his bravery in the war. During 1917, 1918, and 1919, Yitzhak Sadeh, with the help of Joseph Trumpeldor, established the foundation of “Ha- Halutz”. “Ha- Halutz”, in 1920, made an aliyah to the
land
of
Israel
. He moved as soon as he heard of his friend, Joseph Trumpeldor’s death. When Yitzhak arrived in
Israel
, he became one of the founders of the “Gdud-Ha-Avoda”. In 1929, Sadeh joined the Hagganah. He was made commander in the Hagganah, in
Jerusalem
, shortly after he joined. During the 1929 riots, he took part in defending the city of
Haifa
. When the 1936 riots started, Sadeh established the “Nodedt” in
Jerusalem
. This organization was the one that confronted the enemy in their villages and in the army bases. Yitzhak introduced a policy for defending settlements by going out to attack the Arab bands, instead of staying behind the fences of their settlements to await the raids. In the summer of 1937, Sadeh founded the “Fosh”. He also commanded the kibbutz of Hanitah. One of the things that Yitzhak Sadeh is most famous for is founding the Palmach. He served as chief commander for the Palmach until 1945. During 1945, he was appointed to be Hagganah’s Chief of General staff. He was also in charge of planning operations against the British forces. Yitzhak planned many operations involving bringing Jewish immigrants to the Promised Land,
Israel
. In the beginning of the Independence War in 1948, Yitzhak Sadeh commanded the defense of the kibbutz, Mishmar Ha-Emek. Kibbutz Mishmar Ha-Emek was attacked by Syrian forces, which were trying to divide the country into two parts. After this, Sadeh was promoted to the job of “Aluf”. When he was promoted, he was able to establish the first armored brigade in the IDF. The Israeli Defense Forces, later, led critical battles for the state of
Israel
. After the War of Independence, Yitzhak participated in the operation, “Khorev”. Also, the Palmach was disconnected. Sadeh left the military services in 1949. After retiring from the army, he wrote many books, essays, and even plays. He would write with the pen name, Y. Noded. Sadeh promoted a lot of sports. He was the wrestling champion of
St. Petersburg
and featured in wrestling performances. He thought of sports being an important part of life and it held important cultural and educational value. He created Hapoel’s slogan, “Alafim and not Alufim”. They wanted many people to take part in sports. Thousands of sports figures and soldiers, to this day, take part in the Run around
Mount
Tavor
, in honor of Yitzhak Sadeh. Yitzhak Sadeh died in Tel-Aviv in August 1952, and was buried in Kibbutz Givat Brenner. He was a very brave man. Kibbutz Nir Yitzhak and kibbutz Mashabey Sadeh were named after Yitzhak Sadeh
1952: Work started on a number of concrete dams, expected to hold back the rainwater accumulating in the
Negev
wadis during the winter. This was part of the Zionist dream to make the
Negev
green.
1952: Birthdate of American singer-song writer Doug Fieger, the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the band the Knack, whose enduring 1979 hit “My Sharona” has become an emblem of the new wave era in rock and a prime example of the brevity of pop fame.” His father was Jewish.
1960: Larry Sherry pitches the Dodgers past the Cards for his 12thwin of the season
1964: President Lyndon Johnson signed an anti-poverty bill that would commit almost one billion dollars to the “War on Poverty.” The measure had the support of numerous Jewish political leaders and Jewish voters. This was an era when Jewish voters were drawn to politicians who supported a society that sought to care for the “widow, the orphan and the stranger in your midst.”
1971: FBI begins covert investigation of journalist Daniel Schorr. Schorr would become a member of Richard Nixon’s infamous enemies list. Earlier in his career, Schoor had been thrown out of the
Soviet Union
for his news broadcasts. This makes him one of the few people to be declared an enemy by both the Soviet Communists and right-wing American Anti-Communists.
1977: Despite the initial rejection by both
Israel
and
Jordan
, US officials were still hopeful that their idea of establishing a joint Israeli-Jordanian temporary trusteeship over the
West Bank
could yet get off the ground.
1977: The French government appeared to be reconciled to a new period of chilly relations after
Israel
rejected its contention that the three new settlements in administered areas hampered peace prospects.
1977: The US Central Intelligence Agency told Congressional investigators that enriched uranium, designed to build atomic bombs, was mysteriously diverted from the privately owned American plant to
Israel
in the middle 1960s
1979: It was reported today that Yigal Yadin, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister rejected Andrew Young’s characterization his government as “stubborn and intransigent” and “pursuing and expansionist policy” when he appeared on ABC’s “Issue and Answers.”
1980: The UN Security Council condemns (14-0, US abstains) Israeli declaration that all of
Jerusalem
is its capital. The UN Security Council never said or did anything about the illegal occupation of the eastern section of
Jerusalem
by
Jordan
that lasted for almost twenty years. During that same time, the UN was equally silent when it came to the fact that Jews were not allowed to enter the Old City or that the Jordanians had systematically dismembered the physical remains of the ancient Jewish Quarter. This lack of equivalent concern is but one of a long list of reasons by why many Israelis and as well as others have lost respect for the United Nations.
1982: During the Lebanese Civil War a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. The Lebanese Civil War was conflict between Christian and Moslem Arabs. It was part of centuries old struggle for power that flared up periodically. The PLO had come to Lebanon after having been thrown out of Jordan where it had attempted to overthrow the government. The PLO was a destabilizing force in Lebanon as its fighters took the side of the Moslems and tried to use Lebanon as a base for terrorist attacks against Israel. The PLO had to go because of its role in destroying the social fabric of Lebanon which had been an oasis of Western progress and civility in among the violent Arab dictatorships of the Middle East.
1985:
Israel
ships 96 TOWs to
Iran
on behalf of the
US
. The TOW missiles were shipped as part of an arms deal that became known as Iran Contra.
1985: The New York Times features a review of Jerusalem: Rebirth of a City by Martin Gilbert, a first rate book by a first rate author and historian. There is no such thing as “a bad” Martin Gilbert book since the works of this author range from very good to great.
1991(9th of Elul, 5751): Lenore Strunsky Gershwin widow of Ira Gershwin passed away. She was 90 years old at the time of her death.
1991:“Approximately 500 mostly young blacks returned to the scene” of the accident in Crown Heights where Gavin Cato had died. “Vehicles were set ablaze, a shoe store was ransacked, and reporters and photographers were beaten.:
1993: After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed. A more public signing ceremony would take place in Washington in September of 1993.
2000: The New York Times book section featured reviews of Touching Peace: From the Oslo Accord to a Final Agreement by Yossi Beilin, Cruel Banquet: The Life and Loves of Frida Strindberg by Monica Strauss and Dream Stuff, a collection of nine short stories by David Malouf, the Australian author with the Lebanese Christian father and the Sephardic Jewish mother.
2001(1st of Elul, 5761): Rosh Chodesh Elul
2002: The Jerusalem Post reported that the
Hebrew
University
archeologist Dr. Eila Mazar's 120-page The Complete Guide to the Temple Mount Excavations has just been translated into English. The new comprehensive guide describes the site's 3,000 years of history.
2004: A Walking tour today styled ''Emma Lazarus and the Jewish Heritage of Washington Square'' passes the former home of Emma Lazarus, the Triangle Shirt Waist Factory and the Hanging Elm of Washington Square Park.
2005(14th of Av, 5765): Abraham S. Goldstein, an influential scholar of criminal law and former dean of the
Yale
Law
School
, died of a heart attack at his home in
Woodbridge
,
Connecticut
. Goldstein taught at the
Law
School
for almost 50 years and was, at the time of his death, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Law and Professorial Lecturer in Law. He was 80.
2005: The evacuation of settlers and their supporters from
Gaza
halted because of the Shabbat. The evacuations which are part of a bold move by Prime Minister Sharon to bring peace to the region while improving the geo-political position of
Israel
is slated to end on Tuesday.
2006: The Sunday New York Times book section includes a review of I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron.
2006: The Chicago Tribunereported that Clara Ambrus-Baire, a woman whose family shielded Jews in
Budapest
hadreceived a “Righteous Among the Nations Award.” The award is presented to people who risked their lives to save Jews during the Holocaust. It is the highest honor bestowed on non-Jews by
Israel
, with 21,310 recipients as of January 2006. Ambrus-Baer was 19 when the Germans invaded
Budapest
in 1944. Her family turned its home into a haven for Jews hiding from the Nazis. "I never expected this," said Ambrus-Baer, 81 and living in
Buffalo
. "I didn't want to get praised for what I did. I took it for normal that somebody saves people's lives."
2006: Kohenet, the Hebrew Priestess Institute launched its first training institute in Accord, NY.(As reported by Jewish Women’s Archiv)
2007: “The Facebook Effect” is Newsweek Magazine’s cover story. The story describes how 23 year old “Mark Zuckerberg has already changed the way millions of us connect. How he’s facing a challenge; how to turn an online obsession into a fixture of he digital age” If the pundits and prophets are correct, Zuckerberg will join the likes of Einstein and Freud as one who has brought a sea change in the course of Western, if not world, Civilization.
2007: In an article favorably evaluating the performance of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, The New York Timesincluded the following. “But to understand Mr. Bernanke’s worldview, one must go back to his hometown,
Dillon
,
S.C.
, which sits athwart Interstate 95 about halfway between
North Jersey
and
South Florida
. Dillon is known as the home of South of the Border, the Tijuana-themed tourist stop and a Mecca of American roadside kitsch. Mr. Bernanke, 53, grew up in Dillon in the 1950s and ’60s, the son of the local pharmacist and a member of one of the few Jewish families in the largely agricultural region. He says his home was the only kosher household in a 50-mile radius. His mother had meat delivered from a butcher in
Charlotte
,
N.C.
, where his parents live now. Being a member of a minority taught him about discrimination and prejudice. “There was more than one request to see my horns,” he said years later. He also watched the struggles of small farmers, who drove mule-drawn carts down the main street of town and had trouble paying their bills even in good years. His father granted credit for purchases at the drugstore, keeping records on small cards he kept in a drawer. Many of the debts were never repaid. As Mr. Bernanke grew older, the textile mills that had supported the area closed and moved overseas in search of cheap labor. Mr. Bernanke worked construction jobs and waited on tables at South of the Border during the summer while an undergraduate at
Harvard
University
. “I was impressed by these experiences,” Mr. Bernanke said last fall at a ceremony in his honor on the steps of the neoclassical courthouse in Dillon, “and I think they were an important reason I went into economics, which a great economist once called the study of people in the ordinary business of life.”
2007: A database with millions of documents from more than 50 concentration camps and prisons - which include books recording Jewish deaths, transportation lists and medical reports - was handed over to Yad Vashem Holocaust Martyrs and Heroes Remembrance Authority and
W