2012-08-06

August 7

117:  The Roman Emperor Trajan passed away.  Trajan came to think of himself as another Alexander the Great and moved east towards
Babylonia
with the intent of extending the boundaries of the
Roman Empire
.  One of Trajan’s first moves was to conquer

Parthia

and then continue his eastward march towards to the
Tigris
and the
Euphrates
rivers.  Unfortunately for him Parthia refused to remain conquered.  They rebelled against Trajan forcing him turn back and try and subdue them a second time.  The Jews of Parthia, many of whose families had fled the Roman Legions fifty years earlier when

Rome

sacked

Jerusalem

, were active in the revolt since they had no desire to live under Trajan or any other emperor.  If this were not enough reason for Trajan to have no love for the children of

Israel

, the Diaspora Revolts centered, primarily in the Jewish communities of

Egypt

and

Cyprus

broke out in 115, and last until the year of Trajan’s death. These revolts further drew down on the empire’s military might helping to end Trajan’s dreams of glory.

317: Birthdate of Constantius II, Roman emperor who, unfortunately for the Jewish people, followed in the footsteps of his father, Emperor Constantine. “Judaism faced some severe restrictions under Constantius, who seems to have followed an anti-Jewish policy in line with that of his father]. Early in his reign, Constantius issued a double edict in concert with his brothers limiting the ownership of slaves by Jewish people and banning marriages between Jews and Christian women[64]. A later edict (issued by Constantius after becoming sole Emperor) decreed that a person who was proven to have converted from Christianity to Judaism would have their entire property confiscated by the state. However, it should be noted that Constantius' actions in this regard may not have been so much to do with Jewish religion as Jewish business; apparently, it was often the case that privately-owned Jewish businesses were in competition with state-owned businesses. As such, Constantius may have sought to provide as much of an advantage to the state-owned businesses as possible by limiting the skilled workers and the slaves available to the Jewish businesses.”

1106: Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, passed away.  During the period of the First Crusade acted to protect his Jewish subjects giving rise to the notion that rulers of the
Holy Roman Empire
saw themselves as “guardians” of their Jewish subjects.  Henry protected the rights of German Jews to pursue commercial activities.  In opposition to the Pope, Henry allowed any Jews who had been forcibly converted to return to Judaism.  Anyone who harmed “their Jews” was liable to be charged with treason.  The price of this protection was the acceptance of the role as “servi camerae,” i.e. “serfs of the imperial chamber.”

1610: Paul V, issued “Exponi nobis nuper fecistis,” a papal bull concerning the dowries of Jewish women

1705: Rabbi Zvi Ashkenazi sent a letter, co-signed by two other rabbinic judges, “exonerating David Nieto of all charges and the taint of Spinozian heresy.”

1713: A commission in Amsterdam declared that Nehemiah Hayyun was not guilty of heresy and he was returned to the community at public ceremony held at that city’s great synagogue.

1772: In a letter from Jacob ben Abraham Benider to the Earl of Rochford (

Britain

), Jacob tells how he was appointed by the Emperor of Morocco to be the Moroccan Minister to the English Court of King George III.

1789: The United States War Department which would be renamed the U.S. Defense Department by President Truman, is established. The first Jew to hold the title of Secretary of War is Judah P. Benjamin.  But he held the job with Confederates, not the United States.  James Schlesinger, was the first person who was born Jewish to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense.  However, he had converted to Christianity.  Harold Brown, who served under President Carter, was the first Jewish person to ever hold the top civilian military job.

1791: King Louis XVI of France signed into law a bill passed by the Assembly “that the Jew taes should be remitted without an indemnification, and that every tribute, under whatever name – protection money, residence tax,or tolerance money – should cease.”

1812: Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, who supported and aided the Czar's army during the Napoleonic wars, was forced to flee his hometown from Napoleon's forces which were advancing through White Russia in their push toward Moscow. After five months of wandering he finally found refuge in Pyena.

1820: Jacob De La Motta, the Georgia native who served as a surgeon in the U.S. Army during the War of 1812 wrote a letter to President James Madison which he attached to a copy of the remarks he had made at the dedication of the new synagogue in Savannah.  It read in part, “Believing that you have ever been, and still continue to be, liberal in your views of a once oppressed people, and confident that you would cheerfully receive any information appertaining to the history of the Jews in this country, have induced me to solicit your acceptance of a Discourse pronounced on the occasion of the Consecration of the new Synagogue recently erected in our city.” (This stands in stark contrast to anti-Semitic environment Jews were dealing with in post-Napoleonic Europe.  As reported by Jewish Virtual Library)

1830: Following the July Revoltuion, Jean-Pons-Guillaume Viennet a French deputy, proposed that recognition of a state religion should be removed from the constitution.  The proposal met with general approval and was another step towards Jews becoming fully integrated into French society.

1840: As Europeans – Jews and non-Jews – attempted to deal with the Blood Libel in Damascus, a delegation head by Adolf Cremieux and Moses Montefiore arrived in Egypt.

1842(1st of Elul, 5602): Rosh Chodesh Elul

1844: Birthdate of French geologist Auguste Michel-Lévy

1846: Beginning of the dedication of the Eagle Street Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio.

1862: An article entitled "From Central Europe: A Scheme for Paying the National Debt " published today reports from Hanover Germany, that “a leading Jewish banker in Hamburg” has a plan “for defraying the expenses of war in America, raising a revenue, and paying the national debt” which he plans to present to the Secretary of the Treasury.  He proposes to use a lottery based system similar to that used by the Austrians and the Russians to save the credit of the United States. He proposes, on a semi-annual loan of $200,000,000, to issue eighty thousand representative shares at $2,500, which shares are to be subdivided into certificates, twenty-five in number for every share, and bearing the uniform value of $100, to which shall be attached a promissory coupon for two and a half per cent semi-annual interest. Every certificate, numbered for each share successively from one to twenty-five, is to be made payable semi-annually two months after the interest therefore becomes due, and to be taken up each in its regular order. In addition to this, he proposes the distribution of prizes, to be drawn after the manner of lotteries, and allotted to the holders of the drawn and fortunate shares -- every certificate representing a ticket or chance in the semi-annual drawing. These prizes, ranging variously from $200,000 down, are to be one hundred in number, and make a total of $490,000 every, half year. The loans, upon this basis, it is calculated, would cost the Government six per cent.

1862: An article published today entitled “Speculators Proscribed” quotes the following telegram from General Grant:

“To Brif.-Gen. J.T. Quimby, Columbus, Ky.:

GENERAL: Examine the baggage of all speculators coming South, and, when they have specie, turn them back. If medicine and other contraband articles, arrest them and confiscate the contraband article. Jews should receive special attention.

(Signed) U.S.GRANT. Major-General

1865: The New York Times published the following letter from one of its readers who took exception to the use of the term “Jew” in a previous day’s publication along with an “apology from the paper.

To the Editor of the New-York Times:

Being one of a large number of the "Jewish" subscribers and supporters of your journal, I this morning noticed in your paper an extraordinary fact, that a "Jew" was in trouble for selling cigars to make a living, without a license. May 1, as a Jew, ask you why this dreadful crime should call forth from you the fact that the perpetrator was a "Jew?" Was it because you so seldom hear of a Jew being in trouble or committing crime, that it deserved your special mention of the fact that the man was a Jew and not a Catholic, Protestant or of any other denomination? By informing me through your columns, you will much oblige MANY JEWISH SUBSCRIBERS.

We do not know that there is any propriety in giving prominence in a report to the religious persuasion of any delinquent before the courts. Nor do we believe the practice to be a common one. It was done in the instance above complained of, inadvertently. Unless a journal is in the habit of making such insidious distinctions in matters of religion, nationality, and so-forth there is probably little gained by parading a casual grievance of this kind. We don't suppose one in ten thousand readers of the TIMES will have noticed the slip (if such it must be called,) in our report until they read this. Certainly, there is no daily newspaper in the world less chargeable with sectarianism than the TIMES, and no class of our citizens know this better than those in whose behalf our correspondent professes to write. -- [ED, TIMES.]

1873: Birthdate of Alice Lillie Seligsberg, social worker and Zionist who helped to found Hadassah.

1873: John T. Leonard, sent a letter to the Sherriff of Placer County California, in which he claimed to have information as to who had murdered the late Benjamin Nathan of New York City.  The letter was actually addressed to the Superintendent of the New York City Police Department

1873: B.D. Dunman, the Sheriff of Placer County California wrote to Superintendent Matsell of the New York City Police Department that he had a letter from John T. Leonard in which Leonard claimed to have vital information about the unsolved murder of Benjamin Nathan. Dunman said he was enclosing a copy of the letter and would await instructions from Matsell as to what should be done next.  (The Nathan Murder was a major scandal in New York in which suspicion was cast on several people including Nathan’s sons.  The murder has never been solved.)

1874: Late this afternoon, Simon Meyer, a Jew from Poland, entered a saloon at Port Jefferson, New York.  For some unknown reason, Captain Simpson, skipper of the schooner James Owen, “committed a brutal and…unprovoked assault” on the Jewish Peddler.  The crowd of citizens separated the two and Simpson ran off.  But a little while later, he went into a store and attacked Meyer again.  This time Simpson was arrested and made to stand trial for these assaults.

1876: “Sodom and Gomorrah,” an article published today contains a description of Selah Morrel’s archeological expedition in Palestine that include visits to a series of “tel’s”  (mounds) that correspond to various sites mentioned in the Bible.

1877: The New York Times reprinted an article by Alfred Austin that had appeared in The National Review in which the British poet examined the life of Benjamin Disraeli including allusions to the prejudices he faced.  In the end Austin concludes that in terms of Disraeli, “the English people blamed what was blameworthy, distrusted what was untrustworthy, and admired what was admirable. Had not wit ripened into wisdom, had not duty burned ambition pure, he never would have become Prime Minister of England.”

1878(8th of Av, 5638): Erev Tish'a B'Av

1879: The London Truth featured an article that described the relationship between the ancient Temple in Jerusalem and such biblical figures as Haggai, Joshua and Zerubbabel with the Fraternal Order of Masons.

1880: William Daly, the attorney for Gustave Hauser gave notice of his intention to appeal the jury’s decision that B.N. Crane did not have to repay the money his client had paid for the burial of person whom the undertaker had identified as being Jewish.  Hauser contended that Crane knew the deceased was not Jewish and misled the Jewish community so that the burial expenses would be covered.

1881: “A Cemetery for Strangers” published today described an upcoming concert that will be held to raise funds for a Jewish cemetery in Long Branch, NJ.  The concert is the second such fund-raiser held by a group under the leadership of  Joseph Seligman.

1882: By nine o’clock this morning a crowd of more than three hundred Jews had gathered on the sidewalk in front of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society.  The destitute immigrants were seeking aid from the society.

1882: It was reported today that the British Museum has just bought the Judaeo-Persian manuscripts that had been acquired by Dr. Adolf Neubauer

1882: Shortly before noon, a crowd of desperate Jews rushed up the stairs of the offices of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society.  The situation deteriorated and the police were called to quell the commotion.  Mr. Heilprin, the Superintendent of the Society, said the action was understandable because they had been misled by so many agencies in Europe that they no longer trust promises of future help

1883: It was reported today 100 people have been killed or wounded during anti-Semitic riots in Ekaterinoslav, Russia.  The mob has destroyed many of the homes and businesses belonging to the Jews including the liquor stores.

1883: “An Important Discovery” published today reported that the owner of a newly discovered manuscript has offered to sell it to the British Museum for five million dollars. The manuscript, which is nearly 3,000 years old contains a version of the Ten Commandments that differs from the one found in the Book of Exodus.

1884: In Leadville, Colorado, the board of directors Temple Israel approved a contract for the building of a sanctuary at 201 West 4th Street.

1886: “Charitable Work Criticized” published today described a turf war between Jewish agencies.  The President of the Jewish Immigrants’ Protective Society wrote a letter to the President of the United Hebrew Charities asking him to withdraw his organization’s representative from Castle Garden.  The Society was supposed to be taking care of the “resident poor” and most of the arriving immigrants were heading for the American West, thus bringing them under the purview of the Protective Society.

1887: It was reported today the next excursion sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children will be paid for by “a friend.”  This anonymous donor is a woman who has been sponsoring the cruises for the last three years.

1888(30th of Av, 5648): Rosh Chodesh Elul

1898: The second court martial of Colonel Alfred Dreyfus began today.

1903: Herzl arrives in

St. Petersburg

, where he seeks Russian intervention with

Turkey

on behalf of his Zionist proposals to secure Jewish settlement in

Palestine

, and to permit open Zionist activity in

Russia

. He is received twice by Count Wenzel von Plehve, Russian minister of the interior, who is believed to be responsible for the

Kishinev

pogrom. Herzl's most important achievement is Wenzel von Plehve’s acquisition as a supporter of Zionism. Von Plehve would do anything to rid

Russia

of her Jews.

1904: Birthdate of Ralph J Bunche. Bunche was an African-American who hand an unusual career with the

United States

government before going to work with the United Nations shortly after its founding. a founder & UN diplomat (Nobel 1950) Beginning in 1947, he was involved with the Arab-Israeli conflict. He served as assistant to the U.N. Special Committee on

Palestine

, and thereafter as the principal secretary of the U.N. Palestine Commission. In 1948 he traveled to the
Middle East
as the chief aide to Count Folke Bernadotte, who had been appointed by the U.N. to attempt to mediate the conflict. In September, members of the Stern Gang assassinated Bernadotte. Bunche became the U.N.'s chief mediator and concluded the task with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. This was a Herculean task that began with negotiations on the island or
Rhodes
. Bunche had to conclude separate agreements between each of the combatants and

Israel

. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1950

1904: Birthdate of anti-Nazi activist Hanna Melzer.

1904: An attorney living in Solomonville, a town in the southeastern Arizona Territory founded by Anna and I.E. Solomon wrote a letter describing the Solomon family’s preparations for the upcoming wedding of their daughter Lillian. In the same letter, the lawyer lamented the fact that another local attorney and Lillian had been in love with each other but Anna Solomon “raised a big hullabaloo” because “he was not one of the chosen people” and the relationship came to an end.

1906: Birthdate of American philosopher Nelson Goodman

1914: Ludwig Wittgenstein, the 25 year old Austrian philosopher volunteered as a gunner in the Austrian army. Wittgenstein’s story was all too common. His paternal grandparents were Jewish.  His father, a well-to-do industrialist was raised as a Christian and young Wittgenstein followed in the faith of his father, not his grandfather.

1918: The Central Committee began publishing Der Emes (“The Truth”) today in Moscow.  It was the continuation of a short lived publication Di Varhayt

1923: Birthdate of  Liane Berkowitz a member of the German resistance movement who was executed in 1943

1925: Nahum Shtif established YIVO (Yiddish Scientific Institute - Yidisher Visenshaftlikher Institut) as a Yiddish academic institute with its center in Vilna. Its goal was to promote scholarly research in Yiddish, especially on Jewish life and history in
Eastern Europe
. In addition, it standardized Yiddish spelling and gathered thousands of documents on Jewish culture and folklore from over much of
Europe
.

1926: Birthdate of satirist and humorist Stan Freiberg.

1929(1st of Av, 5689): Rosh Chodesh Av

1929(1stof Av, 5689): Victor L. Berger, a founding member of the Socialist Party of America and the first member of the Socialist Party to serve in the United States House of Representatives, died today from injuries sustained in a street car accident.

1929: Berger's views on World War I were complicated by the Socialist view and the difficulties surrounding his German heritage. However, he did support his party's stance against the war. When the United States entered the war and passed the Espionage Act in 1917, Berger's continued opposition made him a target. He and four other Socialists were indicted under the Espionage Act in February 1918; the trial followed on December 9 of that year, and on February 20, 1919, Berger was convicted and sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. The trial was presided over by Judge Kenesaw Landis, who later became the first commissioner of Major League Baseball. His conviction was appealed, and ultimately overturned by the Supreme Court on January 31, 1921, which found that Judge Landis had improperly presided over the case after the filing of an affidavit of prejudice.[12]In spite of his being under indictment at the time, the voters of Milwaukee elected Berger to the House of Representatives in 1918. When he arrived in Washington to claim his seat, Congress formed a special committee to determine whether a convicted felon and war opponent should be seated as a member of Congress. On November 10, 1919 they concluded that he should not, and declared the seat vacant. Wisconsin promptly held a special election to fill the vacant seat, and on December 19, 1919, elected Berger a second time. On January 10, 1920, the House again refused to seat him, and the seat remained vacant until 1921, when Republican William H. Stafford claimed the seat after defeating Berger in the 1920 general election.Berger defeated Stafford in 1922 and was reelected in 1924 and 1926. In those terms, he dealt with Constitutional changes, a proposed old-age pension, unemployment insurance, and public housing. He also supported the diplomatic recognition of the Soviet Union and the revision of the Treaty of Versailles. After his defeat by Stafford in 1928, he returned to Milwaukee and resumed his career as a newspaper editor.On July 16, 1929 Berger was struck by a streetcar at the corner of 3rd and Clarke Streets in Milwaukee. The accident fractured his skull, and he died of his injuries on August 7, 1929. Prior to burial at Forest Home Cemetery his body lay in state at City Hall and was viewed by 75,000 residents of the city.

1933: Birthdate of  Elinor Clair Awan, the daughter of a Jewish father and a Protestant mother who gained fame as Elinor Ostrom, the award winning political economist.

1933: In Springfield, New Jersey, for the second day in a row, an undetified plane flies over an open-air meeting of United Singers Society and scatters German language pamphlets protesting against the decision of the Society to prohibit representatives of the Friends of New Germany from attending its meetings. The Friends of the New Germany was a pro-Nazi organization formed at the behest of Berlin that would morph into the German-American Bund. The United Singers Society was a German organization made up conservatives who are not sympathetic to the Friends of New Germany.  Attendees complained that the noise of the plane interrupted the community sing-along taking place below.

1933: In Germany, an order is issued forbidding Jews to remain in the towns near Nuremberg

1933: The municipality of Nuremberg forbids Jews to use municipal swimming pools and baths.

1933: The Baden Government issued new citizenship regulations declaring that no Jew, no Jewish descendants, and no one married to a person of Jewish blood will be permitted to obtain citizenship; non-Jews applying for citizenship must prove their pure "Aryanism."

1933: The Leipzig Fair Management announces that non-Aryans will be admitted to the exposition; and though there will be a "Brown display" of goods limited to Germans only, Jews will not altogether "be eliminated from the bazaar."

1933:In an interview with Herschel Farbstein, of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Palestine, President Ignacy Moscicki of Poland expressesd his satisfaction with the share Polish Jewry has played in the rebuilding of Palestine.

1933(15th of Av, 5693): The Nazis murdered Felix Fechnebach, a Jewish Editor in Dachau.

1937: Menachem Ussishkin was unanimously elected president of the 20th Zionist Congress, held in

Zurich

.

1937: The debate over the recommendations of the Peel Commission raged on among and between Jews, Arabs and various third parties. Opening the deliberations, Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, proposed to accept the Royal (Peel) Commission's partition plan in principle, but simultaneously declared the present scheme unacceptable. He complained that world Jewry failed to make a massive aliya in the early 1920s. Weizmann urged that the current challenges demand an undivided Jewish front and thought that the eventual emergence of a Jewish state would facilitate the Jewish-Arab understanding. Dr. Moshe Kleinbaum (Sneh) also urged the congress to accept the Jewish state, but sought to empower the Zionist Executive to negotiate different frontiers.

1938(10th of Av, 5698):Tish'a B'Av

1938: In Danzig, a second night of Gestapo raids aimed at Jews frequenting local hostelries and dining establishments.  Several British Jews who vacationing along the Baltic were victimized along with the local Jewish population.”

1938: As Malcolm McDonald, the British Colonial Secretary, visited Palestine he got a firsthand taste of Arab violence when “a settlement near Tel Aviv” was subject to an attack by Arabs armed with heavy weapons including machine guns while another band of Arabs broke into a Jewish mosaic factory near Petah Tikvah and burned it.

1940: The Jews of Algeria lose their French citizenship with the abrogation of the Cremieux Decree.

1941(14th of Av, 5701): The Nazis executed 407 Jews in Zhitomir, Russia

1942: During World War II the Battle of Guadalcanal begins as U.S. Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.  Jewish boxer Barney Ross (he was lightweight, welterweight and junior welterweight champion in the 1930s) had enlisted right after Pearl Harbor even though at age 32 he was well passed draft age.  During the battle of
Guadalcanal
, he was seriously wounded while rescuing injured comrades from a Japanese ambush. His heroism under fire earned him a Silver Star. Other Jewish Marines who served on
Guadalcanal
included Lou Diamond and LeRoy Diamond, model for the film Pride of the Marines

1942: A photograph, a copy of which survived the war, was taken today of Jewish policeman and Germans during an aktion in the Warsaw Ghetto.

http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/august/06.asp

1944: Approximately 68,000 Jews remained in the

Lodz

Ghetto.. This was the largest gathering of Jews outside of the camps left in all of
Europe
. Of this remnant, 67,000 of were told they were to be resettled. Instead they are sent to Birkenau. The shipment of Jews that began on August 7 lasted 23 days, finally ending on August 30. Once there, most of the Jews meet the usual horrific fate - selection, death by gas, and then the cremation of their bodies. Some of the crippled were specially selected by Dr. Mengele. He still had plenty of subjects to use for his medical "studies" and experiments

1945: It is reported that there are eight Rabbis left in Salonica.

1948: Birthdate of Dan Halutz who served as Commander of the Israeli Air Force and Chief of Staff of the IDF.

1950: Birthdate of David Duchovny, the actor best known for his role as Fox Mulder in the“X-Files.” Duchovy’s father Amram, was a writer and publicist who worked for the American Jewish Committee. His mother was not Jewish.

1951: The New York Times reports from Tel Aviv that many prominent United States Zionists who are gathering here for the opening next week of the World Zionist Congress are trying to use their influence to bring about an Israeli coalition government of the Socialist Mapai party and the General Zionists.

1954: Birthdate of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

1952: In its on-going war against Arab terror Israeli police and soldiers caught 37 infiltrators trying to enter the country in the week just ended.

1954: Birthdate of Jonathan Jay Pollard

1955: Bar

Ilan

University

was founded. Since its founding, Bar Ilan has grown to become one of

Israel

’s largest universities. The main campus is located outside of Tel Aviv and currently has 32,000 students with a faculty of over 1,600. For more about the school see its English language website http://www.biu.ac.il/index_eng.shtml.

1960: Birthdate of David Duchovny, award winning star of the X-Files.According to one source his father is Jewish, his mother Scotch and he speaks Hebrew.

1970: A cease fire was declared between

Egypt

,

Jordan

and

Lebanon

on the one hand and

Israel

on the other.

1971(16th of Av, 5731):Rabbi Yitzhak-Meir Levin, an Haredi (ultra-orthodox Jewish) politician passed away. “He had political roles in Poland and Israel. One of 37 people to sign the Israeli declaration of independence, he served in several Israeli cabinets, and was a longtime leader and Knesset minster for Agudath Israel and related parties. Born in Góra Kalwaria (known as Ger in Yiddish) in the Russian Empire (today in Poland), Levin studied at yeshivas, before being certified as a rabbi. A founder of Agudath Israel in Poland, he was elected to Warsaw Community Council as a representative of the organisation in 1924, and five years later was elected to the World Agudath Israel presidium. In 1937 he was elected as one of the two co-chairmen of the organisation's executive committee. Between 1937 and 1939 he was a member of the Sejm, the Polish parliament, representing Agudath Israel. In 1940 became the sole chairman. He was also involved in founding the Beis Yaakov school system for religious Jewish girls.Following the outbreak of the Second World War, Levin helped refugees in Warsaw, before immigrating to Mandate Palestine in 1940, where he became head of the local branch of Agudath Israel.After signing the Israeli declaration of independence in 1948, Levin joined David Ben-Gurion's provisional government as Minister of Welfare. He was elected to the first Knesset in 1949 as a member of the United Religious Front, an alliance of the four major religious parties, and was reappointed to his ministerial role in the first and second governments. After retaining his seat in the 1951 elections Levin rejoined Ben-Gurion's government as Minister of Welfare, but resigned in 1952 in protest at the National Service Law for Women. He remained a member of the Knesset until his death in 1971, but not a member of the cabinet; in his remaining terms, he represented Religious Torah Front -- an alliance of Agudath Israel and its laborer's branch Poalei Agudath Israel.”

1972: Sandy Koufax is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at
Cooperstown
, New York

1977: Wayne L. Horvitz, who President Jimmy Carter had named director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in April 1977, played a behind-the-scenes role in the negotiations between the Communications Workers of America and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company that averted a nationwide strike just before tonight’s  midnight deadline

2005:  Quarterback Bennie Friedman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In the following article entitled “Benny Friedman: Considered NFL’s First True Passer” Seymour “Sy” Brody described the prowess of one the early stars of the NFL.

Benny Friedman was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame today.
After many years of being overlooked, while friends and sports figures campaigned for his induction, it became a reality. Friedman was considered as football’s first great passer. He changed the running game into one of running and passing and, as a result, revolutionized college and professional football. Benny Friedman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1905, to orthodox Jewish parents. He went to high school in Cleveland. Upon graduation, he went to Michigan University where he was a quarterback on the football team. The first three games of the 1924 season found Benny Friedman sitting on the bench. Michigan’s legendary coach, Fielding Yost retired before the season. He convinced Coach George Little that he should start Benny Friedman against Wisconsin. Friedman became an instant star by throwing a 62 yard touchdown pass and running 26 yards for a touchdown. Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan were college football’s greatest passing combinations. Friedman was twice named All-American as a quarterback and as a halfback.. After graduating in 1927, he turned pro and joined the Cleveland Bulldogs of the National Football League. Professional football at this time didn’t enjoy the same attention that it has today. Red Grange and Benny Friedman were the stars of that era. They attracted large crowds for their games. Benny Friedman was named All-Pro for four years and he led the league in passing and passing touchdowns. The Cleveland Bulldogs folded and he moved to the Detroit Wolverines. The New York Giants wanted Benny Friedman so much that they bought the entire Detroit Wolverines franchise so that they could have him. The Giants finished the 1929 season with a 13-1-1 and for the first time made a profit. In 1934, Friedman retired from professional football and became the head coach at City College of New York (CCNY). In 1949, he became the Athletic Director of Brandeis University and was the head coach of the football team. It was his hope to make the Brandeis football team the “Jewish Notre Dame.” Benny Friedman was named one of the 300 Greatest Players of All-Time by Total Sports, the Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. He was elected to the College Hall of Fame, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Paul Gallico, a top football expert and sports writer of his day, said, ”The things a perfect football player must do are kick, pass, run the ends, plunge the line, block, tackle, weave his way through broken fields, drop and place kick, interfere, diagnose plays, spot enemy weaknesses, direct an offensive and not get hurt. I have just been describing Benny Friedman’s repertoire to you.” Forty-two years after Football Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in Canton, Ohio, Benny Friedman got his spot there. David Friedman, a nephew, gave the speech for the family at the induction ceremony. He said, “despite being denied for so long, his uncle would have been very respectful of the honor.”

2005:  Bibi Netanyahu resigned from the Israeli cabinet in protest over the withdrawal from Gaza.  While his followers and those in the settler movement praised him, others saw the resignation at this time as a form of political grandstanding designed to help Netanyahu wrest control of Likud from Sharon

2006(13th of Av, 5766): John Livingston Weinberg the American banker and businessman who ran Goldman Sachs from 1976 to 1990 passed away.

2006(13th of Av, 5766): Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and four others wounded in fierce fighting with Hezbollah militants today in southern Lebanon. Two of them were identified as Major Yotam Lotan, 33 of Kibbut Beit Hashita and Staff Sergeant Malk Moasha Ambao, 22, from Lod.

2007:  The Jerusalem Post reported that swastikas and other Nazi symbols had been painted on at least 100 gravestones the large Jewish cemetery in Czestochowa, Poland and that officials of the Israeli government expressed their anger over the failure of the Polish government to publicly condemn the continuing anti-Semitic rhetoric of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder of Poland's Catholic, nationalist Radio Maryja whose audience is estimated at between 1.5 million and 2.5 million daily.

2007: Today, Poland's chief rabbi and the mayor of a Polish town joined efforts to clean gravestones at a Jewish cemetery that vandals had desecrated with Nazi symbols. Rabbi Michael Schudrich said that he and Tadeusz Wrona, mayor of the southern city of Czestochowa, joined about 20 Polish art students who spent a couple of hours scrubbing black paint off some of 100 gravestones at the city's Jewish cemetery.

2007:

Britain

declared the New West End Synagogue in

London

a national monument putting it in the same category as

Buckingham

Palace

and
Stonehenge
. The decision means the British government will henceforth be responsible for the synagogue's upkeep, and the Jewish community can request state funding for any necessary renovations. Only one other synagogue has been declared a British national monument - Bevis Marks in
East London
, the country's first synagogue, which was built in 1701. New
West End
was built in 1879. "We're happy and excited," said the synagogue's rabbi, Geoffrey Shisler. "Above all, the decision proves that the British government recognizes the Jewish contribution to the kingdom's history." Shisler noted that both Chaim Weizmann, Israel's first president, and Herbert Samuel, who was the first British high commissioner for Palestine, were members of New West End, and plaques mark both of their former seats. The synagogue's first rabbi, Simeon Singer, translated and edited the Authorized Daily Prayer Book, an edition of the siddur (Jewish prayer book) that is still commonly used in Orthodox synagogues throughout the
British Commonwealth
. Today, the congregation numbers some 400 families, and "because of the synagogue's beauty, we are also the most popular place in

Britain

for [Jewish] weddings," Shisler said. Altogether,

Britain

has some 15,000 national monuments and about half a million lower-level historic preservation sites. New
West End
had previously been a historic site, but the Jewish community had asked the relevant government agency, English Heritage, to upgrade its status, and after inspecting the building three months ago, the agency approved the request this week. In its decision, English Heritage wrote that the upgrade was justified by both the synagogue's exceptional architecture and its historic importance. "The New West End Synagogue is the architectural high-water mark of Anglo-Jewish architecture," said Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage. Hannah Parham, the agency's protection adviser, added that "a lot of early 19th-century synagogues tried to follow the styles of their Christian counterparts, but the New West End synagogue celebrated the cultural heritage of the people it served." The synagogue was designed by George Audsley of

Scotland

.

2008: In

Washington
,
D.C.

Kenneth M. Pollack, director of research at the Brooking Institution's

Saban

Center

for Middle East Policy, discusses and signs his new book, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, at Politics and Prose Bookstore

2008:Rep. Steve Cohen was all smiles after resoundingly winning his primary today in

Tennessee

, but it was hardly a pleasant campaign for the freshman Democrat. A white Jewish incumbent representing a predominantly

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