2012-08-07

August 8

117 C.E.:  Hadrian named Emperor of the
Roman Empire
.  He is remembered as the man who accepted the limits of the Roman empire, as can be seen by the construction of Hadrian’s Wall in what is today Great Britain.  It was designed to keep the barbarians out of the empire and was viewed as the greatest engineering feat of the Roman legions.  Hadrian was also seen as a man of culture who a devotee of Greek learning.  Jews remember him as the man who brought on Bar Kochba’s Rebellion.  At the end of this extended but ultimately failed clash of arms. Hadrian made war on Judaism itself.  He sought to build a temple to Jupiter on the

Temple

Mount

.  He hunted down the Jewish sages and created the list of martyrs some of whom we invoke by name each year on the High Holidays.  In Jewish writings he is referred to as “the Wicked or the Evil One.”

1356: The King of Aragon sent his Jewish physician to tend to the wounds of a Muslim who was fighting in the king’s army.

1391:In Barcelona, the citadel where many of the Jews had gone for protection was stormed, by the mob and more than 300 Jews were murdered, among the slain being the only son of Hasdai Crescas.

1488: Makre Dardeke  (Teach of Young Children) was published for the first time in Naples Italy,by Joseph Ashkenazi.  This Judaic glossary was trilingual: Hebrew, Arabic and Italian.  [For more see “A history and guide to Judaic dictionaries and concordances, Volume 3, Part 1” by Shimeon Brisman]

1541: The Jews of Great Poland were authorized by King Sigismund to elect a chief Rabbi

1588: In the war between England and Spain, the Battle of Gravelines comes to an end.  Conventional commentators see it as turning point in history because it marked the end of the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England. Any defeat suffered by Spain, the land of the Inquisition had to be seen as a plus from the Jewish point of view.  More specifically, the end of the Battle of Gravelines meant that the Spanish Armada could not support the landing of Spanish troops in the Netherlands.  Part of the mission of the Armada was to provide support for Spanish forces fighting to impose Catholic rule on the Protestant Dutch.  The Spanish were determined to bring the Inquisition to the Netherlands to punish the heresy of the Protestants and would of course have doomed the future for the Sephardic Jews who had already settled in Holland or would be settling there.  If the Spanish had been successful at Gravelines, the 23 Jews who would sail into New Amsterdam would have found a Catholic government that would have not provided them aid, shelter and a New World in which to settle.  It is not too great a stretch to say that a line can be drawn from Drake’s victory over the Armada at Gravelines to the founding of the Jewish Community in America.  As we have said many times in our studies in Cedar Rapids, you must understand history to understand Jewish history and seeing history through the Jewish prism is not the same as seeing history in its general form.

1654: Jacob Barsimson sailed for New Amsterdam from Holland aboard the Peartree and landed on August 22. Some consider him to be the the first Jewish immigrant to travel to what is now New York City. Other dates have been giving for this sailing. Regardless, the official date of the start of the Jewish community comes later in 1654 when 23 Portuguese Jews landed in
New Amsterdam
.

1655: The Russians captured Vilna. As part of the peace settlement between Chmielnicki and Czar Alexis, the east bank of the
Dnieper
became part of the

kingdom
of
Moscow

. Jews were once again subject to expulsion and murder.

1670: After Leopold I evicted the Jews from

Vienna

; he sold the Jewish quarter for 100,000 florins. The Jewish quarter was then renamed Leopoldstadt in his honor. The Synagogue and the Bet Midrash (study hall) were turned into St. Margaret's Church.

1765(21st of Av, 5525): Elkalah Myers Cohen, the first wife of Myer Myers died at the age of thirty, leaving him three sons and two daughters.

1809: A group of 70 people led by the followers of the Vilna Gaon arrived in Eretz Yisrael.

1846: Second and concluding day dedicatory services for the Eagle Street Synagogue in Cleveland, Ohio.

1850(30th of Av, 5610): Rosh Chodesh Elul

1854: The New York Times reported that all of the people of Jamaica, regardless of religious persuasion, have responded sympathetically to the plight of the Jews living in Jerusalem and other parts of Palestine.  They have raised $2,000 to help alleviate their suffering which includes the effects of a famine brought on by an outbreak of “pestilence” and skyrocketing food prices.  The suffering of the Jewish communities is blamed on Czar Nicholas who has prevented the Jews from receiving financial aid usually sent from Russia.

1868: Baron James Mayer Rothschild purchased a Chateau for 4.4 million francs. The estate became Château Lafite Rothschild. However, Baron James, died just three months after purchasing Lafite and the estate became the joint property of his three sons: Alphonse, Gustave, and Edmond.

1871: The Court of Special Sessions in New York, Judge Shandley presiding heard an usual case today.   Mr. Robert Thomas, a member of the Alanson Methodist Episcopal Church complained that a Jew named Nathan Koyofski was disturbing their Sabbath (Sunday) Services with noise made by his sewing machine. Koyofski lives in a tenement adjoining the building housing the church.  Requests from church members that he stop his work had proven fruitless so they were forced to take legal action.  Koyofski ‘s lawyer contended that any attempt by the state to dictate which days were for work and which were for worship “would be an infringement of fundamental American principles…”  Shandley found Koyofski guilty of violating the law that stated “explicitly that no one should willfully disturb religious worship, of whatever nature it might be…” If anybody disrobed the Jews on Saturday, they would have an equal righ to complain.  The Judge suspended the sentence. But he warned Koyofski that if he were brought before him again on a similar charge, he would have to go to jail.

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

1878(9th of Av, 5638):Tish'a B'Av

1882: “Discontented Russian Jews” published today provided the reasons for the angry outbursts that had taken place yesterday at the offices of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society. After having been subject to indignities in various European cities as they made their way to the United States, several of the Jews felt betrayed when they found out that they would not be receiving 160 acres  and enough financial support to begin life as farmers.  At the same time, their lack of language skills has made them feel they will never be able to earn a living and some are so frustrated that they want to return to Russia.

1882: The Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society was reported to be sending groups of Russian immigrants to agricultural communities near Hartford, CT and Vineland, CO on a daily basis.  The society is planning on sending 25 men to South Orange, NJ next week so that they can start a new colony.(The unprecedented mass migration of Eastern European Jews was already overwhelming available resources in the first of its four decades)

1883: It was reported today that the dinner provided at the recently held conference of Jewish congregations in Cincinnati was a violation of Jewish dietary laws since included Little Neck clams, soft shell crabs and shrimp salad. In response to reports that some “of the conservative congregations would withdraw from the union,” Rabbi Wise disavowed responsibility for the menu since it was paid for by private individuals who could spend their money as they please.  Besides, the rabbi said that “the American Hebrews’ religion does not center in the kitchen or the stomach.”

1883: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Budapest following the acquittal of Jews charged with the ritual murder of Esther Solymose

1884: It was reported today that “The Woskhod, the Hebrew journal, has received a warning from the authorities for violating the press laws.”  (This must be a reference to Voskhod, a monthly founded by Adolph Landau in 1881. http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Voskhod

1885: “The Four Great Moses” published today identifies the leading Jews with that name – Moses of Biblical fame, Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides), Moses Mendelssohn and Moses Montefiore, who “put into practice the teachings of his three great predcessors…”

1888(1stof Elul, 5648): Rosh Chodesh Elul

1889: The funeral of Isaac Phillips is scheduled to take place today at his home in New York City.

1891:Birthdate of German violinist Adolf Busch.  Busch was not Jewish.  But early on, he saw the dangers of the rise of Hitler and moved to Switzerland. When WW II he moved to the United States where he continued his career until his death in 1952.

1892: Birthdate of Solomon Bennett Freehof “a prominent Reform rabbi, posek, and scholar. A native of London, he moved to the U.S. in 1903, received a degree from the University of Cincinnati in 1914 and was ordained by Hebrew Union College in 1915.  He was a World War I army chaplain, a liturgy professor at HUC, and a rabbi at Chicago's Congregation Kehillath Anshe Maarav before moving to Pittsburgh."

Rabbi Freehof served as president of the Central Conference of American Rabbis and the World Union for Progressive Judaism. Beginning in 1955, he led the CCAR's work on Jewish law through its responsa committee. He also spearheaded changes to Reform liturgy with revisions to the Union Prayer Book. For many years, he served as the pulpit rabbi at Rodef Shalom in Pittsburgh, PA.”  According to the congregation, "For more than 35 years, Dr. Freehof's weekly book review series attracted audiences of more than 1,500 Christians and Jews." He retired in 1966 and passed away in 1990. He was a descendant of the Alter Rebbe.

1899: Funeral services for Myer Stern were held in the Temple Emanu-El today forenoon, and many men prominent in business and fraternal circles were present. Rabbi Gustav Gottheil and his assistant, Dr. Joseph Silverman, officiated. In an earnest eulogy Rabbi Gottheil spoke of Mr. Stern's philanthropic character, and of his activities in various organizations. In his brief eulogy Rabbi Silverman said “Myer Stern made the world better for being here. He catered neither to the great nor the strong but follolowed where the principles of truth, right and justice led.”  Mr. Stern was the author of The Rise and Progress of Reform Judaism : Embracing a History Made from the Offical Records of Temple Emanu-El of New York, with a Description of Salem.

1903: Dorothy Levitt drove the Napier motor-boat at Cowes and won the race

1908: Birthdate of Arthur J. Goldberg. Son of Jewish immigrants from the

Ukraine

, Goldberg became a labor lawyer who championed the rights of the workers. President Kennedy appointed him as Secretary of Labor in 1961. In 1962, Kennedy named him as Associate Justice of the Supreme Court to succeed Felix Frankfurter. Goldberg resigned to service as Ambassador to the United Nations under President Johnson. Johnson named Abe Fortas to replace Goldberg on the High Court. Goldberg passed away in 1990.

1909: First Jewish community organization is founded in Santiago, Chile – Sociedad Unon Israelita de Chile.  At the same in Argentinia, a group of Jewish students founded Juventud Israelita Argentina which produce a journal entitled Juventud, which became a favorite among Argentinian Jewish intellectuals.

1910:  Birthdate of actress Sylvia Sydney.  Born Sylvia Kosow to Russian Jewish immigrants,

Sydney

arrived in

Hollywood

after playing leading roles on Broadway just as the talkie era began. She quickly became one of

Paramount

's top women stars along with Marlene Dietrich, Miriam Hopkins and Claudette Colbert. In the 1950’s her career seemed to come to an end.  However, she gained fame toward the end of her life playing in the television comedy “WKRP” and the film Bettlejuice. She passed away at the age of 88.

1911:During the 62nd Congress Public Law 62-5 sets the number of representatives in the United States House of Representatives at 435. There were 5 Jews serving in the House during the 62nd Congress including, Jefferson Levy, Julius Kahn, Victor Berg, Henry Goldfogle, Adolph Sabath. By contrast, the 111th Congress (the session meeting in 2010) there were 31 Jews serving in the House of Representatives; 30 Democrats and one Republican.

1911: Moses Gaster, the Romanian born Jewish scholar who was Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic communities in

England

, writes a letter to the Board of Deputies (the governing body of the British Jewish Community) protesting the wording of an amendment introduced into the Slaughter of Animals Bill before Parliament at the insistence of the Board.

1914: German industrialist Walter Rathenau went to see the Head of the General War Department in Berlin to offer his support to the war effort.  “Rathenau proposed to ‘save

Germany

from strangulation’, and with a few days was put in charge of a specially created War Raw Materials Department.”  His job was to keep

Germany

in the war.  But because he was a civilian and a Jew he was faced with constant hostility from the German General Staff.

1915 (28th of Av, 5675): On a Sunday, Leo Frank, who had been falsely accused of murdering Mary Phagan, was taken out of prison and hanged by a lynch mob. In 1925, Jim Conlay, a Negro who perjured himself in court, was found guilty of the same murder. The Leo Frank Case was a primary motivator in the formation of the Anti-Defamation League.

1918(30thof Av, 5678): Rosh Chodesh Elul

1918: Australian troops under General John Monash spear headed the successful attack of the British army at the Battle of Amiens.  Amiens was the opening round in the great allied offensive that would force the surrender of the German Army.  Monash’s key role would be recognized when he was Knight Commandeer of the Order of the Bath by King George V.

1920: Birthdate of Bernard Schoenbaum, the son of Jewish immigrants, “who in hundreds of cartoons in The New Yorker needled the relatively affluent, the media-conscious, the irony-besotted and the socially competitive.”

1922:Birthdate of Gertrude Himmelfarb, who has made her career as an intellectual historian and has perhaps made her larger mark on the world as a conservative public intellectual. “Raised in
Brooklyn
, Himmelfarb earned her B.A. from

Brooklyn

College

before studying at the

University
of
Chicago

. At

Chicago

, beginning in 1942, she studied with a group of predominantly Jewish, immigrant, and conservative thinkers who were in the process of reformulating Western political thought. Their approach to history and politics profoundly shaped Himmelfarb's own thinking. She earned her Ph.D. in history in 1950, and later published her dissertation, Lord Acton: A Study in Conscience and Politics(1952). Beginning with that dissertation, which focused on a Victorian-era British parliamentarian, Himmelfarb has devoted her scholarly career to studying the Victorians on both sides of the
Atlantic
. As she wrote about

Acton

, she consistently found the Victorian era to be "highly relevant for the post World War II world." In most of her writings, she has advanced the argument that a modern decline in emphasis on personal morality is at the root of political and social problems of the late twentieth (and early twenty-first) century. The Idea of Poverty: England in the Early Industrial Age (1984) favorably examined Victorian treatment of the poor, while Marriage and Morals Among the Victorians (1986) and Poverty and Compassion: The Moral Imagination of the Late Victorians (1991) both described Victorian dedication to traditional social mores as superior to the "value-free" relativism that succeeded it. Himmelfarb believed that the past was superior to the present and she extended this belief to her assessment of historical methodology. When she joined the faculty of the City University of New York in 1965, the "new social history," which emphasized the experiences of "ordinary" people over the traditional political narrative, was just taking hold. The "new social history" also emphasized quantitative methods and borrowed heavily from psychology, sociology, and Marxism. Himmelfarb condemned all of these innovations, arguing that they "belittle[d] the will ... and freedom of individuals." Later, she was equally harsh in her critique of postmodernism and multiculturalism in history.More recently, Himmelfarb has turned her pen more directly to the travails of modern society. In two books, The De-Moralization of Society (1995) and One Nation, Two Cultures(1999), she argues that a lack of moral courage is at the root of modern social ills. In the earlier volume, she contrasts modern

America

to the Victorian age and argues that reinstating social stigmas on out-of-wedlock births and welfare recipients, for example, could help to eliminate dependency and illegitimacy. In the later volume, she argues that the counterculture of the 1960s represented a break with a long-standing earlier social system, and that what she regards as modern social pathology (premarital sex, confessional memoirs, profanity, divorce) has its roots in that break. Her most recent book is The Roads to Modernity: The British, French, and American Enlightenments(2004). Although a New York Times reviewer called One Nation, Two Cultures "not convincing," Himmelfarb has received significant recognition for her work. She has won fellowships from the Rockefeller, Guggenheim, and

Wilson

foundations, and ten honorary degrees. In addition, through essays in Public Interest, Commentary, the Times Literary Supplement, and the New York Times, she has reached a public well beyond the academy. A 1999 New York Times essay on "compassionate conservatism," for example, showcases her voice as an influential conservative public intellectual. Himmelfarb's neoconservative identity is bolstered by her personal connections to husband Irving Kristol, editor for forty years of the journal The Public Interest, and son William Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard. Himmelfarb is currently a professor emeritus at the

Graduate

Center

of the City University of New York.”

.

1922:  Birthdate of Rudi Gernreich.  Born into an Austrian-Jewish family, Rudi arrived in

America

during the rise of Hitler.  He eventually became a famed designer of American fashions for women who created and/or popularized such then daring items as the miniskirt and the topless bathing suit. He passed away in 1987.

1922: Birthdate of Dr. Leon Eisenberg, who “conducted some of the first rigorous studies of autism, attention deficit disorder and learning delays and became a prominent advocate for children struggling with disabilities.” (As reported by Benedict Carey)

1924: Plutario Elias Calles, President-elect of Mexico, spent a few hours in Atlantic City today for the so he could meet with Jewish labor leader Samuel Gompers and the Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, which is in session here at the Ambassador Hotel.

1925:  In one of their largest rallies ever, 40,000 Ku Klux Klansmen marched down

Pennsylvania Avenue

in

Washington
,
D.C.

The Klansmen marched in full hooded regalia and were watched by adoring throngs.  The Klan was not just a Southern organization.  Large groups could be found in such Mid-Western states as

Illinois

,

Indiana

and

Ohio

.  The Klan was anti-Semitic as well as anti-Catholic and opposed to all non-Caucasian races including African-Americans.  Memories of this march help to explain the timidity of the Jews in the 1930’s when it came to pressing the case for opening the doors to refugees from Nazi Europe.

1931: Birthdate of Joshua Matza Israeli political figure and “president and CEO of State of Israel Bonds, a global enterprise that generates more than $1 billion in annual sales. Israel utilizes the funds for economic development projects. Matza was recommended for the post in 2002 by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and then-Finance Minister Silvan Shalom. Matza served 18 years in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, as a member of the Likud party. He was a cabinet minister in the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, holding the portfolio of minister of health. Matza also served 20 years on the Jerusalem City Council, 10 of which were in the capacity of deputy mayor.”

1931: The Arab National Association adopts a resolution indicating that the Arabs do not intend to obey the government's orders to cease agitation against sealed armories and will continue to defy the British government in

Palestine

.

1933: Dr. Daniel Mulvihill, a New Yorker visiting Berlin “was assaulted by a German citizen…apparently because he had failed ‘to salute a Nazi detachment.’”

1933: The police and the Aeronautics Board of the Department Commerce began an investigation today into reports that a an unidentified plane had, for the last two days, been dropping German language pamphlets on a meeting of the United Singers Society protesting the exclusion of the Friends of the New German from its activities.  The Friends of Germany is pro-Nazi while the United Singers Society is a conservative German organization that does not support the Nazis.  The investigation was begun at the behest of Albert F. Frosh, president of the United Singers Society.

1933: In Czernowitz, Romania, the Maccabee sports organization submits a claim for 100,000 lei as compensation for cancelling the Maccabiade, international meet of Jewish athletes, forbidden by Rumanian Government, owing to fears that Lord Melchett, head of Maccabee World Union, would be molested by anti-Semites. Lord Melchett was Sir Alfred Moritz Mond, the son of Ludwig Mond.  He was a leading British businessman, politician and supporter of Zionism.

1933:The German Government announced that those East European Jews who will be deprived of their citizenship in accordance with a recent decree will be given the status of Staatenlose (men without citizenship in any country); this explanation is accompanied by estimates that 10,300 East-European Jews had been naturalized in Prussia alone since 1922.

1933: The All-German Richard Wagner Association, meeting at Beiruth to arrange for the Wagner Festival, decides to amend its by-laws so as to exclude all "non-Aryans," and to instruct its branches throughout Germany to expel Jewish members. It was actions like this that created the myth that Wagner, who was dead by now, was an anti-Semite.

1933:  In Regina, the Jewish Colonization Association prepares statistics for the World's Grain Exhibition and Conference which show that 557,000 Jews in eight countries engage in agriculture and cultivate 5,410,750 acres of land, and that the Jewish farmers in Canada raise 500,000 bushels of wheat annually. The family of Ekiel Bronfman was one of those Jewish families who did not succeed in its agricultural endeavors.  Thanks to Ekiel’s son Sam, they found another way to make money from grain besides growing it

1933: In Germany, The Ministry of Labor issues an ordinance which provides that no Jewish physician is to remain associated with any sick benefit association, with the exception of front-line war veterans, and establishes an official list of sick fund doctors, from which all Jews are excluded.

1935 (9th of Av): Yiddish poetess Rivka Galin passed away

1936: The World Jewish Congress was convened in

Geneva

. Stephen Wise and Nahum Goldman founded the Congress. Although they organized a boycott of German goods, they felt that a more direct approach would prompt the Nazis "to even harsher policies."

1937: As the debate over the Peel Commission Report continued Rabbi Dr. Stephen Wise, president of the Zionist Organization of America, assailed the partition plan as abandonment of trust, but his rejection did not oppose the very idea of the creation of a Jewish state. He said that

Great Britain

cannot say that it failed as a trustee. It failed to try and, if the whole truth be told, it has tried to fail. David Ben-Gurion refused even to consider the notion that Jews might ever remain a minority in their homeland. He wanted Eretz Yisrael to provide the solution to the entire Jewish problem. Ben-Gurion held that the Jewish state should be proclaimed immediately, as an alternative to the Peel Commission's partition. This will accelerate the country's development and Jews will become a powerful factor in

Palestine

. He firmly believed that Jews and Arabs can live in peace. A decade later Ben-Gurion would take an opposite stance and embrace partition with

Jerusalem

as an international city.  Ben-Gurion was a Zionist.  He was also a realist and statesman.

1937: Birthdate of actor Dustin Hoffman.

1938: Sir Harold Alfred MacMichael, the High Commissioner of Trans-Jordan and Commander in Chief of Palestine issued an appeal for an end to the “ruinous campaign of murder and sabotage.

1938: An Italian newspaper, the Tevere, printed an attack on the Jewish historian Emil Ludwig.  The attack on Ludwig was triggered by comments about  “the race problem” made by Mussolini “in 1932 that are included in his book, Conversations With Mussolini that are in sharp contrast with the views now expressed by the Fascist dictator who has allied himself with Hitler.

1938: Hadassah headquarters in the United States received a cable from the Youth Aliyah offices in Berlin stating that fifty seven Jewish boys and girls fleeing Germany and Austria had arrived in Palestine and that another 110 young Jewish refugees embarked today for the trip to Palestine.

1938: The Nazis opened the Mauthausen-Gusen Concentration camp.

1941: In

Hungary

, enactment of The "Third Jewish Law" which prohibited intermarriage and penalized sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews.

1941: Corporal Hank Greenberg, the all star baseball player now serving with the U.S. Army is placed in charge of a five man anti-tank crew.

1942: Gerhart Mortiz Riegner sent the “Riegner Telegram” describing plans for the Final Solution to Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, the President of the World Jewish Congress. “Have received through foreign office following message from Riegner Geneva STOP Received alarming report that in Fuhrers headquarters plan discussed and under consideration all Jews in countries occupied or controlled Germany number 3½ to 4 million should after deportation and concentration in East at one blow exterminated to resolve once and for all Jewish question in Europe.”

1942: All 2,000 Jews of Szczebrzeszyn refused to gather for a deportation round up. The Germans commenced a search for them. Only 400 were found. They were all killed.

1944: The Frank family and all those who had been hiding with them in attic were taken from their prison cells and sent to the Westerbork Concentration Camp.

1944: After a kangaroo trial in

Berlin

that was overseen by Goebbels, Hitler hung several of the German officers and other conspirators who tried to kill him. They are hung on meat hooks with chicken wire around their necks. The butchery is filmed and sent to Hitler for review. Over the next months many more conspirators would be sent to trial.

1944(19th of Av, 5704): Famed expressionist painter Chaim Soutine passed away. Born in

Belarus

in 1894, Soutine moved to

Paris

in 1911 where he developed his unique style. He flourished in the inter-war years. However, his good times were not to last after the invasion of

France

by German troops at the start of World War II. As a Jew, Soutine had to escape from the French capital and hide in order to avoid arrest by the Gestapo. He constantly moved from one place to another and was sometimes forced to seek shelter in forests, sleeping outdoors. Suffering from a stomach ulcer and bleeding badly he had to leave his safe hiding place for

Paris

in order to undergo emergency surgery, which failed to save his life. Chaim Soutine died of a perforated ulcer just two weeks before the French capital was freed by Allied forces. After his death his vivid colors and passionate handling of paint gained him recognition as one of the foremost Expressionist painters. If Soutine had merely been an Expressionist Painter and not a Jewish Expressionist Painter, he would have probably lived to a ripe old age covered with glory and honors.

1945: First base man Mike Schemer made his major league debut with the New York Giants.

1948(3rd of Av, 5708): Seventy-eight year old Leo Morris Franklin, a leading Reform rabbi who served Temple Beth El in Detroit from 1899 to 1941, passed away today.

1953:  Birthdate of Donny Most who played Ralph in the sitcom Happy Days.

1977: Officials in

Washington

agreed that there was no evidence that more than 8,000 pounds of the lost American enriched uranium and plutonium had ever reached

Israel

.

1977: The Jerusalem YMCA, one of the most beautiful in the world and the only one to have a membership 98 per cent Jewish, celebrated its centenary.

1982: “Where are the Arab ‘brothers' now?” by Daniel Pipes appears in the

Chicago

Tribune.

For more than a month, the Palestine Liberation Organization has sat with its 5,000 to 6,000 fighters in West Beirut, surrounded by Israeli forces, maneuvering desperately to save its political life. Yet it has received virtually no assistance from any Arab state. (The PLO refused the offer of refuge in Sudan, because it would have been placed in an extremely remote part of the desolate Christian south.) After the Syrians withdrew from combat, following several days of disastrous fighting in early June, no other state has offered to help the PLO—no cuts in oil sales to the West, no withdrawals of funds from the U.S., no breaking of diplomatic relations, no demonstrations in Arab capitals. (The Syrians offered only to take the PLO's leadership cadres but not the men at arms.)Indeed, the only public rally calling for an Israeli withdrawal took place in Tel Aviv! No Arab state has offered to take in the PLO fighters; Libya's Moammar Khadafy suggested that they commit mass suicide. The silence has been deafening.It is also surprising. The Palestinian cause has received wide vocal backing for so many years that an outside observer could be excused for thinking the PLO enjoyed the support of all Arab peoples and governments. Why then is no one helping in the PLO's moment of crisis? A PLO spokesman, alluding to criticism within Israel of the siege of Beirut, called the Israeli people "our best ally." Why has it come to this? Deserting the PLO fits a pattern, which goes back 50 years, of extravagant rhetoric but weak action. Though often explained by the Arab love of words, this pattern results from reasons more subtle and complex. The rhetoric goes back to the 1930's when the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine became a real possibility; ever since, the Zionists have served as a lighting rod of Arab passions. In part, the Arabs really wanted to control Palestine; in part, this issue served as a vehicle to create a consensus among a fractious group of states that – and this is the key point – felt they ought to be politically united, if not physically joined as states. Though currently divided into more than 20 states, the Arabic-speaking peoples still feel they should unify. While all concrete efforts in this direction have failed, the conflict with Israel represents an easy way to create the sense of unity, if not the substance. Arab disunity provides some of the reason for the Arab's weak actions, and the PLO's ambiguous place in intra-Arab politics accounts for the rest. The PLO emerged as a major factor in intra-Arab politics after the crushing defeat of the Syrians, Jordanians and Egyptians in June, 1967. With this reversal, the states surrounding Israel gave up the idea of destroying Israel; since then they have limited themselves to getting back the lands they lost in 1967. One state, Egypt, made this explicit; the others have signaled it clearly enough. The withdrawal of these states meant that the tasks of denying Israel's existence passed to the Palestinians, who had limited means at that time: They lacked sovereign rights, international recognition, money and arms. To establish a military and political machine capable of winning some or all of Israel's territory, the PLO leaders used innovative tactics including terrorism (also used against Arabs), the threat of destabilization, the creation of autonomous enclaves, and the shaping of public opinion. Within a few years, the PLO ruled large parts of Lebanon, enjoyed international prestige, built up well-stocked infantry and artillery, and acquired an income of hundreds of millions of dollars a year. All this, however, came at a cost. Controlling Lebanese territory meant displacing the local authorities. Winning recognition as the Palestinians' sole representative meant pushing aside Jordan's claims to the West Bank; and achieving a political monopoly in the West Bank itself meant murdering Arab rivals there. Tacit threats to Saudi Arabia and the other Persian Gulf states brought income, but it came as a kind of ransom money. Cooperation with the Soviets on the wide range of issues was the political price for receiving armaments from them. Along the way, the PLO had violent disputes with most of its backers, starting with the bloody ouster from Jordan in 1970 and including Syria's attack on Palestinian camps in Lebanon in 1976 and then the war between PLO and Iraqi secret agents a few years later. The combination of support on the rhetoric level and animosity in practice relegated the PLO to a curious double life in the Arab world—much acclaimed and widely backed, yet deeply resented. The PLO served a vital function as the symbol of the Arab cause but created no end of problems. Each state cultivated the PLO as a way to protect itself from charges of indifference to the Arab cause, though not one of them truly supported it. At present, the Arab states stand as follows: The Syrian government cares much more about preserving its dominion over the part of Lebanon closest to its borders than about the fate of Yasser Arafat and his men. Iraq is preoccupied with its war with Iran, now more dangerous than ever. The Saudis and the other Persian Gulf rulers fear the radical PLO elements and want them unable to influence intra-Arab politics. Jordan not only remembers the 1970 war with the PLO but is in direct competition with the organization for control over the West Bank, should the Israelis leave it; and hints coming from Israel that the PLO should set its sights on Jordan have not created a warmer relationship between the PLO and King Hussein. For Egypt, the elimination of the PLO offers a better chance for reaching an agreement with Israel on Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank, as the Camp David accords called for. In the end, no country offers the PLO aid or even refuge. If asked publicly for asylum to save the lives of the men trapped in Beirut, no Arab state could deny PLO entry, but it would only do so on the basis of stringent terms which would emasculate the organization.The weeks of confrontation in Beirut have largely obscured the larger implications of this war for the PLO and the Arab states. It probably will not matter much who wins in Beirut (that is, whether the PLO stays or goes), for regardless of that outcome, the fighting almost certainly marks the defeat of the PLO as the embodiment of the idea of destroying Israel. The PLO's loss and abandonment by the Arab world is the likely finale in the effort to destroy Israel and perhaps the prelude to peace in the Middle East.

1988: Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad met with Rev. Jesse Jackson. The two men and their advisers said they discussed a wide range of issues, including the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians; the plight of black Israelis; Israel's relationship with South Africa, and recent friction between blacks and Jews in this country, particularly in Chicago and New York.

1987:Mary Travers, the folk singer, plays Emma Lazarus, as one of a series of radio spots for a a program entitled “Voices of Freedom.”  Ms Travers said her character also had such contemporary relevance. ''She doesn't talk about history as if it's frozen in time,'' Ms. Travers said of Lazarus. ''Her words are valuable not as the words of a woman willing to struggle with inequity in 1883, but as the words of an American willing to struggle with inequity in 1987.''

1987:  ''Yiddish Theater in London, 1880-1987 an exhibition included in this summer's Jewish East End Celebration is scheduled to come to an end.

1987: ''Daughters of the Pale,'' an exhibition that in words and photographs documents the experiences of daughters of Jewish immigrants, is scheduled to come to an end in London

1993: The third in a series of family tours to Israel sponsored by the American Jewish Congress is schedule to begin today.

1993: The Bosnian family sponsored by Temple Beth Am arrived in Seattle, Washington.

1988: Israeli Ambassador Moshe Arad met with Rev. Jesse Jackson. The two men and their advisers said they discussed a wide range of issues, including the conflict between the Israelis and Palestinians; the plight of black Israelis; Israel's relationship with South Africa, and recent friction between blacks and Jews in this country, particularly in Chicago and New York.

1996: Mel Torme, an icon of the American Jazz scene, suffered a stroke which effectively ended his career.

1999: The New York Times includes reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Between Silk and Cyanide: A Codemaker's War, 1941-1945 by Leo Marks, Walter Benjamin: Selected Writings: Volume 2, 1927-1934and Broke Heart Blues by Joyce Carol Oates, the author who discovered late in life her own family's Jewish history: Her grandmother, who immigrated to the United States in the 1890s, kept her religion hidden for fear of persecution.

1999: Avery Corman, the novelist, who has just completed working on a new musical with Cy Coleman, discusses ''The Musical: The American Jewish Theater in Its Heyday'' at

Temple Adas

Israel

on

Elizabeth Street

in
Sag Harbor

2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including The Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peace by Dennis Ross

2005:  Legislation is introduced in Congress that would make it illegal to deny life insurance to people based on their travel habits.  Those traveling to

Israel

, including at least one Jewish member of the House of Representatives have been denied life insurance.  While those pushing the legislation have not accused the life insurance industry of an anti-Jewish bias, one of the non-Jewish supporters of the bill noted that he had never been denied insurance even though he had taken repeated trips to his ancestral homeland,

Ireland

.

2006:Five ambulances donated to Magen David Adom by Canadian Jewry were flown to

Israel

from

New York

by
CAL
Cargo Airlines. The ambulances were donated as a sign of solidarity with the situation in Israel and to help with the treatment of the injured from the conflict in the northern part of the county. "The company is currently doing all it can to give preference to urgently required cargo for the security forces and other state bodies," a statement from
CAL
Cargo said

2006 (14th of Av, 5766): Staff Sergeant Oren Lifschitz, 21, of Kibbutz Gazit and Staff Sergeant Moran Cohen, 21, of Kibbutz Ashdot Yaakov were killed  in battles in the south Lebanon village of Bint Jbail. St.-Sgt. Yesmao Yallao 26, from Or Yehuda and Cap. (res.) and Gilad Balahsan, 28, of Karmiel were killed in clashes with Hezbollah near Leboneh.

2007: The last two concerts The Zimriya - The World Assembly of Choirs are held at 8 P.M., at Einav Cultural Center in Tel Aviv and at Independence Hall on Mt. Scopus. The Zimriya has been held every three years since 1952.

2007(24th of Av, 5767): Melville “Mel” Shavelson, writer, director and producer passed away at the age of 90.

2008:Israeli President Shimon Peres attends the Olympic Games' opening ceremony at the invitation of the Chinese government.  Since the games open on Friday, the Chinese government has agreed as a goodwill gesture to house him in a hotel within the Olympic complex so he will not desecrate the Sabbath.  While

Beijing

and

Jerusalem

seem to be worried about the rituals of Shabbat, they do not seem to have the same concern about the Biblical strictures about caring for the widow, the orphan and the stranger in your midst as can be seen in
Darfur
and

Tibet

.

2008:  In an article entitle

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