AUGUST 3
8 C.E.: Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats Dalmatians on the river Bathinus. As the stepson of Augustus, Tiberius would become Caesar four years after this victory. Tiberius did appoint Pontius Pilate as the procurator of Judea. On the other hand, he did have the good sense to overrule Pilate when the Jews of Jerusalem complained that he had desecrated the city by bringing inscribed shields into the Jewish capital. Tiberius’ inconsistent treatment of the Jews was consistent with the moody behavior of the Roman ruler who would have much preferred to serve as a general.
435: Byzantine Emperor Theodosius II exiled the deposed Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, to a monastery in Egypt. Nestorianism was a form of Christianity that challenged the orthodoxy of its time and presented a political threat to the Roman Empire. Theodosius, like Constantine used the Christian religion as part of his political power base. Therefore, it is not surprising to note that this is the same Theodosius II who issued Anti-Judaic laws in 438 that “forbade the Jews to accede to any public task,” made proselytism a capital crime and denied Jews the right to build new synagogues or “to embellish the old ones.”
1399: Thanks to the efforts of an apostate named Pesach-Peter a large number of Jews in
Prague
are arrested and imprisoned. Lipmann (Tab-Yomi) of Muhlhaussen, the German scholar versed in Torah, Talmud as well as the New Testament, which he had read in Latin was among the victims.
1492:
Columbus
set sail for the
New World
. There is an entry in
Columbus
' diary noting the expulsion of Jews from
Spain
right before he set sail. He was accompanied by Luis de Torres who is considered to be the first Jew to arrive in the “
New World
.”
1492: Jews depart
Spain
under orders of expulsion from the Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand.
1603: Fra Diogo da Assungao, a Franciscan friar became attracted to Judaism. He was burnt at the stake for refuting the Inquisition, at age twenty-five.
1766: Birthdate Rabbi Aron Chorin, the Hungarian born Rabbi who would become a center of controversy for his non-conformists views about Judaism and support for some of the views connected with the new-born Reform Movement.
1770: Birthdate of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, the reactionary monarch who would undo the reforms of the Napoleonic period and repudiate the Edict of 1812 that had elevated the civil status of the kingdom’s Jews.
1797: The emperor of Bohemia ordered that Jews, who volunteered for army service, should be allowed to marry outside the restricted quota of marriage of Jews.
1806: Joseph David Sinzheim completed answering the questions that had been laid before the Assembly of Notables to the satisfaction of the French government officials.
1856: Birthdate of Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia. In 1905, Deakin appointed Isaac Alfred Isaacs to the position of Attorney General, making him the first Jew to serve in that post. The following year, Deakin scored another “first” for the Jewish people when henamed Isaacs as a Justice to the High Court of Australia,
1857: Today’s “Foreign Correspondence” column reports that the second reading of the Jew Bill has passed by an immense majority.
1857:Lord John Russell’s call for a Select Committee to inquire as to how far a certain act of Parliament that dispensed with the use of the words in the oath which excluded Jews from the House would go was agreed to.
1857: Handbills were posted in Goldsboro ordering all Germans and Jews to leave Goldsboro, NC by August 4, 1857.
1860: Today, in Boston, Louis Goldenberg, a jeweler by trade, informed his neighbors that he was lonely and he was to visit his wife who had gone to the country. Louis Goldenberg aged 55, was a German Jew, born in Russia, who had lived in the United States for the last ten year and had been employed by Currier & Trott as a watch repairer for the last six years. For the last several months Mr. Goldenberg had been engaged in a series of swindles in which at least six prominent jewelers were victimized to the tune of $5,000 in losses.. Mr. Goldenberg’s “visit to his wife in the country” was actually his getaway.
1864(1stof Av, 5624): Rosh Chodesh Av
1870: The Toledo Blade reported that Bennett Scope has been hung after being convicted of murdering a Jewish peddler named Jacob Goodman. Goodman had befriended his co-religionist Scope who had only recently arrived in this country, giving him money and employment. Although Scope protested his innocence to the end, the jury believed that the motive for the murder had been greed. Rabbi Mayer of Cleveland had unsuccessfully appealed to the governor of Ohio to spare his life. Mayer was with Scope at the execution.
1873: An obituary published today entitled “Death of an Eminent Hebrew” memorialized the life of Sir David Salomons the Jewish banker who was leader in the fight for Jews to received full rights of citizenship. The article recounted his struggle which finally led to him serving as the Sheriff of London and sitting in the House of Commons. Described as an able and amiable man who was a generous benefactor to a variety of charities, readers were reminded that Prime Minister Gladstone had advised the Queen to “create him as a baronet,” a hereditary title that now passes to his nephew.
1873: It was reported today, that out of the approximately 320 religious “newspapers” listed in Rowell’s American Newspaper Directory, nine are Jewish as compared with the 47 published by the Methodists.
1878: Solomon Goldsmith of San Francisco received a cable today from Louis Goldsmith of New York stating that Michael Reese, a successful Jewish businessman and civic benefactor had died suddenly while visiting the Bavarian town of Wallerstein. Michael Reese Hospital in Chicago was named in his honor
1879: In keeping with generally accepted practice, a Jew named Adolph D. Pollack sold cigars and neckties to customers in White Plains, NY. His action would lead to litigation challenging the violation of so-called “Blue Laws.”
1882: As the Tisza-Eszlar affair came to a climax, a Hungarian jury acquitted the Jewish defendants of murder charges touching off anti-Jewish riots in Budapest.
1883: The anti-Semitic riots continued for another day at Ekaterinoslav, Russia.
1883: A woman and her two children burned to death in a cabin belonging to Ivan M. Lotowski at the Jewish Colony in Estillville, NJ.
1884: The body of Solomon Rintel, a 23 year old Hungarian Jew who worked as fresco painter, was found today in the room he was renting at 403 Sixth Street in New York. It appears the Rinel took his own life.
1884: Birthdate of composer Louis Gruenberg. Born near Brest Litovsk
Poland
, Gruenberg immigrated to the
United States
. He was one of several Jewish composers, including George and Ira Gershwin, who incorporated African-American themes in their musical works.
1889: In Ulster County, NY, a group of ruffians known as the “Yellowstone Cowboys,” armed with pistols and bowie knives forced their way into a boarding house owned by J. Epstein, Jewish innkeeper in Saugerties, chased out the guests and demanded to be fed dinner. They departed after about an hour.
1895: Third base man Ike Samuels makes his major league debut with the St. Louis Browns.
1910(27th of Tammuz, 5670): The former Chief Rabbi of Turkey, Moise Levy, passed away in Constantinople at the age of 89.
1911(9th of Av, 5671):Tish'a B'Av
1914: During WWI,
Germany
declares war against
France
, while
Turkey
declares itself neutral. During the war, Jews from around the world came to help the French, including 600 Turkish Jews (as well as Jews from other Ottoman territories) signed up with the French Foreign Legion to help in the battle against the Germans.
1916: During World War I, Allied armies defeat the Ottomans at the Battle of Romani. This victory by British led forces helped lead to the liberation of Palestine and the establishment of the Mandate that incorporated the terms of the Balfour Declaration.
1917: Samuel Gompers, speaking on behalf of organized labor in
America
, announced that he and his organization would not be attending the planned conference in
Stockholm
that is called by some a “peace conference.” Gompers is praised by Allied leaders for supporting the war against the Kaiser.
1918: Birthdate of Sidney Gottlieb who was an early and important official with the
CIA
.
1918: The proposal, made by the American Federation of Labor through its President, Samuel Gompers, to the Mexican labor unions, suggesting that conferences be held on the border between President Wilson and President Carranza, has been favorably accepted here. Gompers believes that the meetings will help improve relations between the
United States
and
Latin America
.
1921: Birthdate of Broadway Composer Richard Adler. One of his most famous hits was Damn Yankees.
1922(9th of Av, 5682):Tish'a B'Av
1923: Birthdate of Hannah Golofski who would grow up to become noted fashion designer Anne Klein. Discovering her gift for design while attending Girl's
Commercial
High School
in
Brooklyn
, she found work in the garment industry directly out of high school. Within a year, she was working at Varden Petites where she redesigned the firm's line, introducing a new style of ready-to-wear and sophisticated clothing for young (thin) women that would come to be known as Junior Miss. In 1948 she married clothing manufacturer Ben Klein and became principal designer of Junior Sophisticates, a new company established by her husband. In this role, Anne Klein transformed the type of clothing available for petite women like herself. Junior Sophisticates offered elegant styles to shorter women who previously had to make due with more child-like attire. In addition, Klein was the first designer to follow the example of French designer Coco Chanel, adapting men's clothes (suites, jackets, shirts) for women's use. Klein continued to innovate. During the 1950s, she introduced clothing that was sold as "separates," offering women a range of jackets, blouses, skirts, and slacks that could be bought together and then assembled into many different outfits. When the Klein marriage ended in 1960, so did her connection with Junior Sophisticates. In 1963, she remarried and established her own design studio. She specialized in redesigning the failing clothing lines of other companies. In 1968, Anne Klein and Company opened with Klein as director and half-owner. By the early 1970s, more than 800 American department stores and dress shops carried her creations. Klein won numerous fashion awards. In 1973, she was the only woman invited to participate in a fashion show consisting of five American and five French prominent designers, intended to raise money for renovations at
Versailles
. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York
restaged the American component of this show in 1993. Since the designer's death in 1974, the Anne Klein label has remained a strong presence in retail stores around the world.
1923: Vice President Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as the 30th President of the United States following the death of President Warren Harding. Coolidge was not an anti-Semite but some of his actions had a negative impact on Jews. In 1924, he signed the Johnson Act. This immigration law effectively ended the wave of immigration that had started in 1880. It contained a National Origins Quota System that favored Western Europeans while barring those from Southern and Eastern Europe. This quota system would be in place during the Holocaust and would be used to deny Jews entry into the United States. Silent Cal did speak favorably about the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Finally, as Vice President he wrote a letter to a prominent Jewish leader which read in part, “’Teach the ancient landmarks to the youth of the Jewish race…That learning and wisdom which has been a sustaining influence to the Jewish race through all the centuries must be preserved for the benefit of mankind. The youth of your people can associate themselves for no more patriotic purpose.’”
1924: In New York William and Esther Diamond Kaufman gave birth to Melvyn Kaufman, “a quixotic, unabashedly contentious developer who helped shape Manhattan’s postwar streetscape and is credited with injecting his personal brand of whimsy into the city’s office towers…” (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1924: Birthdate of author Leon Uris. The
Baltimore
native first came to national attention with the publication of Battle Cry,one of a series in what were called “the great American war novels.” Uris based his on his own experiences as a Marine fighting during World War II. He gained greater acclaim for his next major work, Exodus. Exodus is one of those epic works of historic fiction which, in this case depicts the early days of Zionism and the fight to establish the Jewish state despite opposition from the British and the Arabs. The novel was turned into a cinematic box office hit. Uris followed this with several more novels on Jewish themes. Mila 18 recounted the Warsaw Ghetto uprising. QBVII, was based on a lawsuit actually filed by somebody who felt they had been defamed by a statement in Mila 18.
1926: Birthdate of football coach and
Coe
College
graduate Marv Levy.
1929(26th of Tamuz, 5689): Inventor and scientist, Emil Berliner, passed away. Born in German in 1851, Berliner worked in a number of fields. He developed a microphone for the telephone. He developed the prototype for the modern phonograph record which replaced Edison’s original recording cylinders. Until the advent of tape and CDs, his phonograph record was the backbone of the recording and music industries. He also developed a revolutionary lightweight engine which he then put into a experimental helicopter he developed.
1933: The Foreign Office agrees to support a complaint submitted by Polish Jews of German Upper Silesia to the arbitration tribunal at Beuthen, against the prohibition of skechita in the plebiscite area.
1933: In Toronto, Mayor Stewart orders police to investigate theSwastika Club, an organization that has been placarding local beaches with swastikas.
1933: The Government approves movement for settlement of fifty Jewish families in the Macedonian part of Yugoslavia.
1933: Der Stuermer, Nuremberg daily, begins the publication of a black list of German young women seen in the company of Jewish men.
1933: In Wurzburg, All the Jewish student homes are occupied by Nazi storm troops to be used for party offices; the Jewish Student Association is ordered to dissolve.
1933: In Breslau, The Free Students Association, at a mass meeting decides to boycott lectures by Jewish instructors, and asks the Ministry of Education to expel the Jewish teachers remaining in the high schools.
1933: According to reports from Jaffa, three Revisionist Zionists are under arrest as suspects in the murder of Dr. Arlosoroff are formally charged with conspiring to assassinate the Zionist leader.
1934: Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into Führer
1937: The debate over the Peel Commission report continued at the League of Nations meet at Geneva. The Permanent Mandates Commission of the
League of Nations
decided to postpone until September its deliberations of the Royal (Peel) Commission¹s Report on
Palestine
. It set forth, however, in writing, the advantages and disadvantages of such options as the maintenance of the existing Mandate or its modification, the division of
Palestine
into cantons after the Swiss federal system, or a complete partition. It was also open to other suggestions.
1937: At Zurich, during a meeting of the Zionist Congress the Jewish leaders were also discussing the Peel Commission Report. Dr. Chaim Weizmann said that for the past 2,000 years the Jewish people had not been confronted by the necessity to make such an important decision. In the mean time, a Jewish water expert warned that the proposed partition border would deprive the Jewish state of all the most important water sources. Chaim Weizmann and David Ben Gurion led the majority that decided to accept the partition plan in light of the Peel Report. Berl Katznelson, Menachem Ushishkin from Mapai (Labor) as well as the Revisionists and the Orthodox fiercely argued against it.
1940: The government at
Vichy
France
passed anti-Jewish racial laws.
1941: One thousand, two hundred Jews arrested in Czenowitz. Almost seven hundred of them were executed.
1941: One thousand, five hundred fifty Jews were removed from the town of
Mitau
.
1941: In Stanislawow, hundreds of doctors were shot.
1942(20th of Av, 5702): German born chemist Richard Willstätter passed away. Born in 1872, Willstatter won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. In 1924 he left his post a prominent German university because of the overt anti-Semitism he encountered (This is not a typo – it happened ten years before Hitler). He left Germany during the thirties and settled in Switzerland where he died.
1943(3rd of Av, 5703): At Bedzin, a man named Baruch tried to challenge Nazi deportation orders. He was shot for his effort.
1944(14th of Av, 5704): At Strassenhof Camp, 2,400 Jews were marched away never to return. They were all under the age of eighteen and gassed in a makeshift crematorium. Three days later the Red Army liberated the 600 surviving camp members
1949: Founding of the National Basketball Association. Jewish players and coaches had played a major role in professional basketball prior to World War II. Ironically, the establishment of permanent professional league came at a time when Jewish participation had begun to decline. There were still a few stars like Dolph Schayes and Red Holtzman. Red Auberbach would prove to be the dominant coach of the fledgling league and Eddie Gottlieb continued his life time of involvement in professional basketball as the owner of the Philadelphia Warriors.
1951(1st of Av, 5711): Rosh Chodesh Av
1958: The oil pipeline from Eilat to
Haifa
was completed. Since Israeli ships and ships that stopped at Israeli ports were barred from using the
Suez
this joining of
Israel
’s two major seaports was of great economic importance.
1963: Allan Sherman releases "Hello Mudda, Hello Fadda" the musical parody on letters campers sent home to their parents.
1966(17th of Av, 5726): Comic Lenny Bruce passes away from a morphine overdose
1970(1st of Av, 5730): Rosh Chodesh Av
1970: Igal Shohat and Moshe Goldwasser were taken prisoner when their F4-E Phantom was shot down during the War of Attrition. Tragically, Goldwasswer reportedly died while in captivity and Shohat lost his leg. [This is entry is a tragic reminder that the brave, unsung heroes have paid the highest price for the Jewish state of Israel. The least we can do is remember – Zachor – their sacrifice and courage.]
1977: The United States Senate held hearings on MKULTRA. MKULTRA was a study of mind control methods begun at the
CIA
under Allen Dulles. Sydney Gottleib was the director of the project.
1977: The former chief of US Air Force Intelligence, Maj.-Gen. George Keegan (Ret.) accused the Carter Administration of basing its current Middle Eastern policy on quicksand. Keegan charged that the
US
was not disclosing its back-door intelligence which indicated that the real intentions of the Arab desire to destroy
Israel
were still there.
198O: An article entitled “Israel Applying The 'Brakesim' To Foreignisms; Begin Favors Updating of Hebrew Old Language for New Needs” described what some view as “the plague” of invented, non-Hebraic terms that are rapidly being added to what was once viewed as the holy tongue. “Israelis have injected so many non-Hebrew words into ‘the language of holiness’” such as “autonomiya” for the English word “autonomy” or “pluggim” for spark plugs, that “some ultra-Orthodox Hasidic sects which formerly forbade Hebrew speech because it was the language of prayer, have all their members to witch from Yiddish to Hebrew.”
1986: It was reported today that Beatrice Siegel's latest book for young readers is Sam Ellis's Island.
1993: The Senate voted 96-3 to confirm Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
1993: Yakov Kreizbergmade his debut at The BBC Proms conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra today.
1994: A plane piloted by King Hussein of
Jordan
flew over
Jerusalem
. It was the King’s first aerial view of the city and, at the time, seen as harbinger for better times.
1994: Stephen G. Breyer was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice in a private ceremony at Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist's
Vermont
summer home. At this time Jews are less than two per cent of the population and make up twenty two percent of the Justices on the Court.
1994: Hadassah’s 80th Convention, held at the New York Hilton, comes to an end
1997: The Long Island Journal featured a report about
Camp
Wonderland
, part of the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in
Commack
that contains a city-of-Jerusalem-playground which is the newest addition to the Y.
1997: The New York Times features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including One Hundred Years of Socialism: The West European Left in the Twentieth Century by Donald Sassoon who describes himself as a middle Eastern Jew despite having lived in England for forty years, Selected Poems, 1960-1990 by Jewish born Pulitzer Prize winner Maxine Kumin, Our Guys: The Glen Ridge Rape and the Secret Life of the Perfrect Suburb by Bernard Lefkowitz and Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street by Roni Schotter.
1998: Russian composer Alfred Garyevich Schnittke whose father was Jewish and whose mother was not, passed away.
1999(21st of Av, 5759: Eighty-five year old Yitzhak Rafael passed away today. Born in Galicia, he made Aliyah in 1935 and eventually became active in Israeli political life as an MK and Minister of Religions.
2001: 98 U.S. senators express concern about popular anti-Semitism in Russia by sending a letter to then-President Vladimir Putin. The letter asks Putin to take a stronger stance in publicly condemning anti-Semitism, which gained traction from “ideological...
2003: The Sunday New York Times book section features a review of Fabulous Small Jews by Joseph Epstein, a collection of short stories in which “most of the characters are secular Jews who -- like Epstein himself -- are men over 50 who grew up in or around Chicago.”
2004: The United Jewish Communities (UJC) eighth annual Jewish Leadership Forum (JLF) in
Aspen
,
CO
comes to a close.
2005: In a triumph for Israeli scientific and engineering capabilities a “new $250 million desalination plant in Ashkelon began pumping potable water filtered from the Mediterranean Sea” today. “The Ashkelon facility will provide 100 million cubic meters yearly - roughly 15 percent of the total household water consumed in Israel - by the end of the year, and could expand production to 120m. cu.m. per year.
Ashkelon
's desalination plant is the largest and most advanced negative osmosis facility in the world. Negative osmosis is the preferred method of desalination in
Southern Europe
,
South America
and
Israel
due to the low energy input required and resulting affordability, while oil-rich
Persian Gulf
states continue to use evaporation-based technologies. The low cost of negative osmosis is also attracting less water-desperate countries to the benefits of desalination, including
China
,
Australia
, and the
United States
. This project
Israel
is strengthening its position as a world leader in the field. By 2010, five new desalination plants - including
Ashkelon
- will be producing 300 million cubic meters of high-quality water yearly. the only other planned facility of similar size - also set to produce 100 million cubic meters yearly - is being built near Hadera, and will begin operations in 2008. The other three facilities will produce between 30m. to 45m. cu. m. annually each. A smaller reverse osmosis facility in Eilat has been providing around 3.5m. cu. m. of drinking water for the past eight years.” This successful desalinization program lessens
Israel
’s dependency on existing water sources such as the
Jordan River
and its tributaries, thus making it less vulnerable to hostile action by its neighbors. What is doubly amazing is that all of this was accomplished during repeated periods of armed violence and terror.
2006(9th of Av, 5766) Tish'a B'Av
2006: Jews all over the world observe the Fast Day of Tisha B’Av as the IDF battles against Hezbollah and Hamas. A barrage of Hezbollah rockets slammed into northern Israel on Thursday, killing at least eight Israelis. Four people were killed when a rocket crashed directly into a house near the northern town of Ma'alot, and another four were killed when a rocket exploded near their vehicle in Acre. Four people were seriously wounded and two others sustained moderate wounds in rocket strikes in Acre, Hurfeish and Kiryat Shmona. Another 31 people were also lightly wounded in the attacks. Shimon Zaribi, 44, and Albert ben Abu, 41, both of Acre, were killed in the rocket attack on their hometown. Sinati Sinati, Amir Naeem and Mohammed Fouad, all 17-year-old residents of the village of Tarshiha, were killed in the attack near Ma'alot.
2007: Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed Read Abu Ads, the Islamic Jihad commander in Nablus
2008: The Sunday New York Times Editor’s Choice listings included Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists, by Susan Neiman in which the Jewish born author “champions Enlightenment values without any hint of oversimplification, dogmatism or misplaced piety.”
2008: The Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Book of Dahlia by Jewish author Elisa Albert Hitler, The Germans and the Final Solution by Ian Kershaw and Hitler’s Priests: Catholic Clergy and National Socialism by Kevin P. Spicer
2008: At the Jewish Museum in New York, an exhibition entitled Warhol's Jews: Ten Portraits Reconsidered comes to an end. Andy Warhol's Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century(1980) depicts renowned luminaries of Jewish culture: Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Brandeis, Martin Buber, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, George Gershwin, Franz Kafka, the Marx Brothers, Golda Meir, and Gertrude Stein. Warhol referred to this pantheon of great thinkers, politicians, performers, and writers as his "Jewish geniuses." Warhol's iconic portraits attest to the lasting achievements and fame of these singular figures. Originally published as a portfolio of silkscreen prints on paper, Warhol was so pleased with the commercial success of his Ten Portraits that he decided to create additional versions of the series as silkscreen paintings on canvas. The Jewish Museum initially showed three sets of paintings and an edition of prints in the fall of 1980. On view in this exhibition are one of the five complete sets of ten paintings, an edition of the final print portfolio, several sketches, a preparatory collage, and the photographs that Warhol used as source images, offering new insights into their development and historical context.
2009: In Jerusalem, Beit Avi Chai's Music on Monday’s series presents A Groyse Metsie: Jewish music in various styles. The Jewish melodies and instruments take on new forms, blending with a range of modern styles such as rock, hip hop, reggae, and even hard rock, and spiced with superb humor. The group includes Eyal Nisenboym on drums, Shai Perelman playing guitar and vocals, David Adah on keyboards, Oren Tsor onviolin and vocals, Nadav Bachar onguitars and vocals and Ofer Eshed on bass.
2009: About half of Israelis believe that in order to be a "true Israeli," one has to have been born in Israel, so finds the Israel Democracy Institute in its annual Israeli Democracy Index, published today. The report, which this year focused on the integration of Russian immigrants into Israeli society, tested the prevalent notion that the integration was smooth. The findings of the study, however, suggested otherwise. The study revealed that most Russian immigrants feel that they have no power to change their immediate reality, even 20 years after the immigration from the former Soviet Union began. The democracy poll was conducted in March 2009, and included a random sample of adult Israelis. 1,191 people were polled in three different languages: Hebrew, Arabic and Russian. The margin of error is 2.8 percent. The study found that the mood of the Russian immigrants is generally darker, the problems they face are tougher, and that their reactions are harsher than veteran Israelis'. The immigrant sector voices more concern over Israel's security threats, is less connected to Israel, and fewer immigrants say that they would want their children to grow up in Israel. The report found that 77 percent of Russian immigrants support promoting Arab migration from Israel, as opposed to 47 percent of native Jews who say they would support such a policy. 33 percent of the native Jews accept the existence of Arab political parties within the Knesset, while only 23 percent of the immigrants accept this fact. 27 percent of Israelis oppose the statement "a Jewish majority is necessary for fateful decisions for the country" ? in comparison with 38 percent who opposed the same statement in 2003. These figures indicate a growing support for the stripping of political rights from Israel's Arab minority.
61 percent of the Israeli public is dissatisfied with the Israeli democracy, the study also revealed. The Israeli public's faith in the Israel Defense Forces has risen to 79 percent, the trust Israel's public places in the police force has sunk to 40 percent, and its faith in the legal system has risen to 57 percent. The poll found that 89 percent of Israelis think that corruption is prevalent in Israel. 50 percent think that politicians go into politics only for personal gain. Among Israel's Arab population, the beliefs are a little different: 66% of Israeli Arabs don't think that one has to be corrupt in order to succeed in politics. The most pessimistic demographic regarding political corruption is the immigrants, where 47 percent think that one does have to be corrupt in order to succeed. Both native Israelis and Russian immigrants see security threats and economic factors as reasons to leave Israel. However, 81 percent of the immigrants, as opposed to 59% of the native Israelis, view the security situation as the central reason to leave the country. Only 28 percent of the immigrants feel that the aspirations they had prior to moving to Israel have been largely fulfilled. The young immigrants' views in this respect are similar to those of the older generation of immigrants. The immigrant public appears very pessimistic, in comparison to native Israelis both Jewish and Arab, with only a few immigrants expressing hope that their standard of living will improve in the future. Furthermore, 54 percent of the immigrants feel that their education makes them grossly overqualified for their job requirements, as opposed to a mere 24 percent of the native Israelis. The gap between the two demographics on this issue is especially apparent among the younger population. The study finds furthermore that 54 percent of the Israeli public, Jews and Arabs, agree that "only citizens loyal to their country should be eligible for civilian rights" (56 percent of native Jews, 67 percent of Russian immigrants and 30 percent of Israeli Arabs.) 38 percent of the general Jewish population feel that Jewish citizens should have more rights than non-Jewish citizens (43 percent of native Jews as opposed to 23 percent of immigrants). 41 percent of the native Jews believe that "Israel's Arabs are deprived, in comparison to Jews," while 28 percent of Russian immigrants also agree with this statement.
In regard to freedom of speech, it is safe to say that the Israeli public believes in it as a basic value, but most Israelis refuse to allow harsh criticism of its government, the study finds. 74 percent of Israelis support "freedom of speech for everyone regardless of status," while simultaneously, 58 percent agree that "a political speaker must be prohibited from voicing harsh criticism against the state of Israel." This number marks a significant increase since 2003, when the number of Israelis who agreed with the statement was 48 percent.
2009: An American-Israeli crime ring conspired to defraud United States tax authorities of tens of millions of dollars for at least five years, according to Israeli and American court documents filed today. The suspects filed thousands of fraudulent requests for tax refunds in the names of prisoners in federal penitentiaries, without the prisoners’ knowledge, according to an indictment filed in Chicago. They then laundered the money through Israeli bank accounts, the authorities said. Two Americans and seven Israelis went to a Tel Aviv court for a hearing on Monday in connection with the case. Other Americans have been arrested in Chicago and other parts of the United States. The man accused of leading the ring, Marvin Berkowitz, 62, fled the United States for Israel in 2003, according to the Israeli authorities, and has been living in Jerusalem. The American indictment states that the suspects sought to get more than $35 million in federal and state income tax refunds. Israeli investigators say they have found $12 million worth of tax refunds in Israeli bank accounts controlled by Mr. Berkowitz and his accomplices. Mr. Berkowitz is suspected of arranging at least $800,000 in tax refunds to be paid to, or for the benefit of, eight or more members of his family, including two sons who have been arrested in the United States. Federal officials said the men had sought tax refunds using the identities of about 3,300 federal prisoners. Mr. Berkowitz, who was charged with six counts of identity theft, is suspected of recruiting and paying others to travel to federal courthouses to collect personal information about federal inmates, including Social Security numbers. The Israeli case resulted from an undercover investigation that had lasted for months by the Israeli national fraud unit working with American authorities, the Israeli police said Monday. Last month, 11 Israelis were arrested and accused of swindling millions of dollars by calling elderly Americans from an office in Tel Aviv and telling them they had won the lottery and had to pay a preliminary tax.
2009(13th of Av, 5769): Rabbi Aharon Zelig Epstein Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Shaar HaTorah-Grodno, passed away today.
2009: Chabad Lubavitch presented a request today to Yad Vashem to recognize a high-ranking military commander in the Third Reich as a righteous gentile for saving Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef Schneerson, the sixth Chabad rebbe. Admiral Canaris, commander of the Nazi Abwehr, or intelligence, had a central role in securing Schneerson's escape from the Warsaw Ghetto along with members of Schneerson's family and entourage, said Yosef Kaminetzky, a writer who recently completed a book on the escape story. Kaminetzky, along with Kfar Chabad secretary Rabbi Binyamin Lipshitz sent a letter of request to Yad Vashem to consider Canaris as a candidate for righteous gentile status. "He saved the rebbe, why shouldn't he be recognized as a righteous gentile?" said Kaminetzky, explaining why it was important to Chabad. "What makes Canaris even more worthy of praise is the fact that he came from the Nazi leadership." However, Dr. Ephraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel called Chabad's request "problematic." "It smacks of a certain particularism," said Zuroff in a telephone interview. "It is not fair to judge Canaris by a specific good deed when at the same he was in the upper hierarchy of the Third Reich." A Yad Vashem spokesperson said that since they had not yet received an official request they could not comment on the Canaris issue. Chabad's effort was based on new information revealed by historian Danny Orbach, the author of a new book in Hebrew entitled Valkyrie -German Resistance to Hitler. Orbach, a doctoral student at Harvard University of modern Japanese history, said he has devoted the last six years to researching German opposition to the Nazi regime. Orbach said that in 2002 he issued a request to Yad Vashem that was later rejected to recognize Canaris as a righteous gentile. Orbach said that Yad Vashem's rejection of the request was based on two claims: first, that Canaris did not risk his life to save Jews, rather he used his authority as a commander; second that Canaris helped the war effort and did not oppose it. "For the sake of historical justice I believe Canaris should be recognized as a righteous gentile," said Orbach. "I have proof that he did risk his life to save Jews and that he also actively attempted to hurt the Nazi war effort by convincing Franco the Spanish dictator not to join the Nazis." Another request presented by Orbach in 2002 was accepted. Canaris's aide Hans von Dohnanyi, who acted on Canaris's behalf, was named a righteous gentile in 2003. Both Von Dohnanyi and Canaris were executed by the Nazis. Canaris was executed in the last days of the war after it was discovered that he had tried to assassinate Hitler. He was hanged naked by SS guards on April 9, 1945 together with Hans Oster, deputy head of the Abwehr under Canaris, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian who opposed the Nazi regime.
2010: Tzofim Friendship Caravan Family Concert featuring the Israeli Scouts is scheduled to take place at the Washington DCJCC.
2010(23rd of Av, 5770): Israel Defense Forces analysts believe that the Lebanese sniper fire at the Israel-Lebanon border today , which killed Lt. Col. Dov Harari and seriously wounded Captain Ezra Lakia, was in fact an ambush planned by a Lebanese officer who was encouraged by his commanders. The exchange of fire began when Israeli soldiers approached the border in order to trim some bushes that had grown along the fence. The operation had been coordinated in advance with UNIFIL, which in turn informed the Lebanese army. As in previous cases of such Israeli activity, the Lebanese army deployed soldiers to the area. After a round of yelling, unanswered by the Israeli troops, Lebanese snipers opened deliberate fire at the IDF observation post several hundred meters into Israel, the IDF said. Harari and Lakia had manned the observation post, and bot