September 18 In History
825 BCE: The Jewish people began a 14-day celebration to dedicate the Holy Temple in Jerusalem. The Temple project was initiated by King David, and built by his son, King Solomon. Solomon's Temple was the spiritual center of Jewish life for 410 years, until its destruction by the Babylonians in 422 BCE (As reported by Aish)
31: Sejanus, Roman head of Praetorian Guard was murdered in the periodic intrigue that wracked Roman government at the imperial level. Born in 20
BCE
, Sejanus was in the business of violently dispatching then enemies of the Emperor Tiberias. Sejanus had a reputation as anti-Semite and his patron Tiberius was no friend of the Jews.
53: Birthdate of Trajan who was Roman Emperor when the Jews in the Diaspora revolted in 115. The revolt ended in 117 but Trajan died before the Jews were vanquished.
323: Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in the Battle of Chrysopolis, establishing Constantine's sole control over the Roman Empire. This victory came between the Edict of Milan (313) which legalized Christianity and the Council of Nicea (325) which was designed to bring conformity to Christian doctrine and practice. This victory by the first “Christian Emperor” would help in the drive to make Christianity the only acceptable religion throughout the Roman Empire.
1180: King Louis VII of France died. His reign had not been a good period for the Jews since in 1144 he expelled all the Jews who had converted to Christianity and then returned to Judaism. Also, during his reign I the first Blood Libel in France took place in Blois in 1171.
1180: Philip Augustus became king of France. Immediately after his coronation Philip Augustus ordered the Jews arrested on a Saturday, in all their synagogues, and despoiled of their money and their vestments. In the following April, 1182, he published an edict of expulsion, but according the Jews a delay of three months for the sale of their personal property. Immovable property, however, such as houses, fields, vines, barns, and wine-presses, he confiscated. The Jews attempted to win over the nobles to their side, but in vain. In July they were compelled to leave the royal domains of France (and not the whole kingdom); their synagogues were converted into churches. These successive measures were simply expedients to fill the royal coffers. The goods confiscated by the king were at once converted into cash.” Desperate for money, Phillip reversed his decisions and allowed the Jews to return in 1196. The conditions were humiliating for the Jewish community and exposed the avaricious nature of the French monarch. The King established special accounts to keep track of the financial condition of the Jews to ensure that he collected the maximum amount of money from that that was possible. At a time when serfdom was beginning to disappear, the Jews became the serfs of the King and his nobles. Just as they could dispose of “my lands” in any manner they so fit, so could they treat “my Jews” in any way they chose.
1380: The Cortes of Soria,
Castile
, denies the rights of Jews to judge their own criminal cases. The Cortes also reaffirmed King Enrique II's decree forbidding Jews from serving in the royal administration. These events help fuel the harangues of Ferran Martinez who lead the bloody anti-Jewish events of 1391.
1573: During the Eighty Years War, Spain attacked the Dutch city of Alkmaar. The Dutch forces would withstand the subsequent siege. Their victory proved to be a turning point in the Eighty Years, which when it ended would guarantee that the Netherlands would be an independent nation free from Spanish control. This meant that Holland would continue to be a place of refuge for the Jews of Europe, especially those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, and provide a place where a Jewish community could flourish.
1612 (27 Elul): In Frankfurt, Vincent Fettmilch a former pastry cook and leader of the Guilds", calling himself the "new Haman of the Jews attacked the synagogue while the community was at prayer. Although many tried to organize a defense they were soon overpowered and many took shelter in the cemetery. He was beheaded four years later. His real crime was to turn against the ruling class of
Frankfort
. It was for this for which he lost his head.
1739: The Treaty of Belgrade was signed today ending one of the many wars between the Ottoman Empire and the Habsburgs. As a result of the treaty,
Belgrade
and northern parts of
Serbia
were ceded to the
Ottoman Empire
. This was a positive event for the Jews of the region, many of whom were Sephardim whose progenitors had arrived after the Spanish Inquisition. At this time living under the Ottomans was preferable to life under the Habsburgs. Additionally, it made it easier for the Jews to engage in overseas trade.
1765: Birthdate of Pope Gregory XVI. In 1836 the Jewish community of Rome will send a petition to Pope Gregory XVI begging him to stop the annual Saturnalia abuse of the Jewish community. He will refuse the request saying that, “It is not opportune to make any innovation.”
1810: Under the leadership of Bernard O”
Higgins
,
Chile
declared her independence from
Spain
. It would take
Chile
8 years of effort to finally gain that independence. The new Chilean government would ban the Inquisition which would give
Chile
’s Convsersos a chance to begin practicing their faith in public. O’Higgins enjoyed support among the Convserso Community.
1818: During a period of reaction under King Frederick William III, the Jews of Prussia were no longer allowed to hold any academic positions. This led some Jews, including Heine, to conclude that the only road to real advancement passed through the Baptismal font.
1820(10th of Tishrei, 5581): Yom Kippur
1825:Birthdate of Alexander Abraham de Sola, a Canadian Rabbi, author, Orientalist, and scientist. Originating from a large renowned family of Rabbis and scholars, De Sola was part of family long known for its Rabbis and scholars. He was recognized as one of the most powerful leaders of Orthodox Judaism in the United States during the latter half of the nineteenth century. He passed away on June 5, 1882.
1828(10thof Tishrei, 5589): Yom Kippur
1839(10th of Tishrei, 5600): Yom Kippur
1849(2nd of Tishrei, 5610): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1851: The New-York Daily Times, which will become The New York Times,begins publishing. Adolph Ochs would acquire the Times in 1896. It is true that a Jewish family owns the New York Times. But it has never been “a Jewish newspaper.”
1854: A column styled “Items of German News” published today reported that two dozen Russian Jews have been detained at the Prussian city of Memel. Apparently, “they had smuggled themselves across the border” with Russia and had bordered an English steamer that was about to leave the city when they were discovered. They were detained because they did not have passports. At this time, nobody knows what will be done with them.
1861(14th of Tishrei, 5622): Erev Sukkoth
1862: President Abraham Lincoln signed the commission naming Rabbi Jacob Franklin as the Jewish Hospital Chaplain for Philadelphia, PA which “was becoming ‘a central depository for sick and wounded soldiers’” including many Jewish members of the Union Army. A native of Bavaria, Germany, Frankel had been serving as the rabbi and cantor for Rodeph Shalom, before the Civil War. His appointment made him the first rabbi to be named as a chaplain after the law was changed to make this possible. Frankel served for three years while continuing to function as the leader of the Philadelphia congregation.
1870: In Maryland, a lawsuit was filed in Circuit Court for Baltimore City by members of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation known as the Lloyd City Synagogue, claiming that changes have been adopted in ritual in a manner that violates the articles of incorporation.
1870: It was reported today that the Jews are about to established a Hebrew University in Berlin. The university is expected will adopt the best academic practices of any European university and will be open to Jews regardless of the place of origin.
1871(3rd of Tishrei, 5632): Tzom Gedaliah
1876(29thof Elul, 5636): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1878: Mayor Philips of New Orleans is scheduled to inform Mark Moses, the former Rabbi of the Jackson Street Synagogue who is now in Providence, Rhode Island, that his wife, two sons –Samuel aged 21 and Isaac aged 10 – and his 20 year old daughter Matilda have all passed away this week during the Yellow Fever Epidemic. The only survivor is his 4 year old daughter.
1879(1st of Tishrei, 5640): Rosh Hashanah
1879: An article published today that decried the quality of the butter available today traced the history of the dairy delight back to the days of “the ancient Hebrews’; a little known fact that will come to a surprise to those who think butter is a modern invention.
1880: Religious freedom was granted to the Jews of Morocco. The Moroccan Jewish community was an ancient one. The Rambam had lived at Fez after leaving in Spain. A large part of the Moroccan Jewish community would leave for
Israel
after the creation of the state in 1948.
1880: “Flying Men” published today includes the strange tale an 8thcentury Sicilian magician named Diodorous who converted from Christianity to Judaism. He carved statues for a living including a an elephants made from lava that could still be seen at Catania in the second half of the 19th century. According to legend, this “modern day” Icarus flew from Constantinople to Catina, a trick which led to him being burned at the stake by the local bishop.
1880: It was reported today that based on studies of different religious denominations in Berlin 1 out of every 400 babies born to Jewish parents are deaf-mutes as compared to 1in 3,000 for Catholics and 1 in 2,000 for Protestants. The disparity between the Jews is attributed to the fact that Jews “encourage intermarriage with blood relations” as compared to Catholics who forbid it and Protestants who tolerate it.
1880: According to a review of Byron by John Nichol published today, the poets “Hebrew Melodies which were written in 1814 “are interesting” and from the “force and music that mark the best of them” show Byron’s familiarity with the Bible.
1884: “A Bid For Hebrew Votes published today described the events surrounding the race for Governor of Connecticut. The opponents of Henry B. Harrison have reminded voters of anti-Semitic language he used in a jury summation in 1857; language for which he has apparently never apologized.
1887(29thof Elul, 5647): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1887: “The Jewish New Year” published today reported that the Jewish New Year, 5648, will begin tomorrow, and that it is the most important holiday on the calendar with the exception of Yom Kippur. (What makes this item exceptional is that it appeared in on the nation’s leading secular newspapers, not a Jewish publication.)
1890(4th of Tishrei, 5651): Benjamin Franklin Peixotto, one of the most prominent Jewish leaders of the second half of the 19th century, died of consumption today at his home in New York City surrounded by members of his family including two children. His wife was not with him. She has a fatal heart condition and is lying near death at Baden Baden, where she is in the company of the couples other children. Peixotto’s father had come to New York from Amsterdam to serve as a rabbi. Peixotto was born in New York in 1834. When he was 13, his father died and he moved to Cleveland where eventually wrote for the Cleveland Plain Dealer and studied law. From his earliest days, Peixotto took an active interest in the affairs of the Jewish community serving as a Grand Master of the B’nai B’rith and a director of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of Cleveland, an institution for which he had obtained the original charter from the Ohio State Legislature. He returned to New York in 1866 and then moved to San Francisco in 1867 where he practiced law. President Grant appointed him Consul to Bucharest in 1870, at a time when the civilized world was expressing their disgust at the persecution of the Jews of Romania. He held the position for five years where he effectively represented the interest of the United States while working to ameliorate the worsening condition of his co-religionist. He returned to the United States where he took an active role the campaign to elect Ruther B. Hayes as President. He turned down an offer to serve as U.S. Consul to St. Petersburg (Russia) in 1877 but accepted an appointment as U.S. Consul to Lyons, France, a position he held until 1885 when he returned to New York to resume he practice of law. In 1886, he found Menorah, a monthly publication devoted to topics related to the B’nai B’rith, Jewish literature and the Jewish religion.
1892: In Seattle, Washington, Ohaveth Sholum Congregation opened their synagogue which had been designed by Herman Stenman. It was the second synagogue to open in the state within a four day period.
1902(16th of Elul, 5662): Dr. Isaac (Yitzhak) Rülf who served as a Rabbi in the Prussian city of Memel and who was a Jewish teacher, journalist and philosopher passed away. Born in 1831, he became widely known for his aid work and as a prominent early Zionist – a role that set him apart from many of clerical brethren.
1904(9thof Tishrei, 5665): Erev Yom Kippur
1907(10th of Tishrei, 5668): Yom Kippur
1907: Birthdate of actor Leon Askin was an Austrian actor. Born Leo Aschkenasy into a Jewish family in Vienna, Askin already wanted to be an actor as a child. His dream came true, and in the 1930s he worked as a cabaret artist and director at the "
ABC
Theatre" in Vienna: in this position he also helped the career of the writer Jura Soyfer get off the ground in 1935. Persecuted by the Nazis, Askin escaped to the United States via France, arriving in New York in 1940 with no money and less than a basic knowledge of English. When the U.S. entered the Second World War Askin joined the U.S. Army. While serving in the military he learned that his parents had been killed at Treblinka extermination camp. After the war, Askin went to Hollywood, invariably portraying foreign characters who speak English with a strong accent. He gained wide popularity by appearing as Gen. Albert Burkhalter in the sitcom Hogan's Heroes in the late 1960s.As opposed to other exiled Austrians, Askin never refused to work again in his home country. In 1994 he permanently took up residence in Vienna, where he remained active until his death in cabaret, as well as the Volksoper and Festwochen. He was awarded Vienna's Gold Medal of Honor. Leon Askin died in 2005 at the age of 97.
1913: When the trial of Governor William Sulzer came before the Impeachment Court in Albany today, his defense team was led by Louis Marshall. (Marshall was Jewish; Sulzer wasn’t)
1915(10th of Tishrei, 5676): Yom Kippur
1917(2nd of Tishrei, 5678): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1918: British General Allenby renewed his offensive against the Turks after having sat idle for almost a year following the capture of Jerusalem. Within a week the British will have driven the Turks from Nazareth and the Galilee.
1919: Pitcher Al Schacht made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.
1920: Birthdate of Selma Jeanne Cohen, the Chicago native who sought to make dance scholarship a respected academic discipline
1926(10th of Tishrei, 5687): Yom Kippur
1926: Siegfried Wortman who began his career with Hakoah Vienna National team scored Austria's second and game winning goal in its victory over Czecholslovaki.
1926: Birthdate of Jonah J. Greenspan better known as Bud Greenspan whose cinematic activities have created a whole sub-culture in American sport.
1927: Birthdate of Kurt Sauerquell, the native of Vienna, who would be known as Elliot Welles, a Holocaust survivor who spent the years after World War II as a tireless hunter of Nazis, starting with the man who murdered his mother. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
1927: Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air. Williams S. Paley, a product of the Jewish neighborhood on
Chicago
's
West Side
and the Wharton School of Finance, was already a part owner of CBS. In 1928, he would become its President and later Chairman of the Board. While CBS may be have been "owned and run by a Jew" it was not a Jewish media outlet. On a personal level, Paley was a friend of Chaim Weizmann and a major financial supporter of the Weizmann Institute of Science in
Rehovot
,
Israel
.
1927: Birthdate of Elliot Wells. Born Kurt Sauerquell in Vienna he survived the Holocaust. He “spent the years after World War II as a tireless hunter of Nazis, starting with the man who murdered his mother.”
1929: Western Union announced tonight that normal cable service between Palestine and New York has been resumed.
1929: In its commentary on the recent Arab attacks on the Jews of Palestine, “The Yiddish Communist daily Emes, continued its campaign against Zionism” today when it wrote, ‘Zionism was born on pogroms, existed on pogroms and has died on pogroms.’”
1933: Birthdate of director Roman Polanski. He is best known for such films as Rosemary's Baby and
Chinatown
. He gained notoriety as the husband of the cruelly murdered Sharon Tate and for his sexual dalliance with an underage girl.
1934: Pitcher Syd Cohen made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.
1938: Hank Greenberg hit his 52nd and 53rd home runs of the season putting him ahead of Ruth’s 1927 record setting season. Greenberg still need 7 to tie and 8 to break the Bambino’s record.
1940:Secretary of State Cordell Hull today indicated that the activities of Baron Edgar von Spiege, German Consul General in New Orleans, who has figured in a State Department warning against foreign agents' discussion of American affairs, are still under scrutiny. Hull was not an isolationist and he was certainly not blind to threat posed by Germany and Japan. Possibly reflecting his background as veteran of the U.S. Congress who was not blind to the realities of American attitudes on race and religion, Hull was not supportive of measures to designed to rescue the Jews from Hitler’s Europe. He opposed allowing ships with cargoes of Jewish refugees to land in the United States. He was successful in having those on board the SS St. Louis returned to Europe. However, Mrs. Roosevelt was able to thwart Hull’s desire to have the Jewish refugees on board the SS Quanza turned away from the shores of the United States.
1941: The Nazis massacred the Jewish community of
Shirvint
,
Lithuania
.
1942: Food rations are dramatically reduced for Jews throughout Greater Germany.
1942: Himmler stated in a letter to Autur Greiser that Hitler was demanding that the original Reich and the Protectorate be cleaned out from west to east and be rid of Jews as quickly as possible.'
1942: Reich Minister of Justice Otto Thierack and SS chief Heinrich Himmler agree that Jews and selected other camp inmates will be transferred to SS custody for Vernichtung durch Arbeit (extermination through work); i.e., hard labor until death.
1943: Two thousand Jews were deported to Sobibor where all but 12 die.
1943: Two thousand Jews in
Minsk
,
Belorussia
, are deported to the Sobibór death camp; 80 are selected for forced labor and the rest are gassed.
1943: The Nazis begin the deportation of the Jews of Lida,
Belorussia
to the Majdanek death camp
1943: Hitler orders the deportation of Danish Jews.
1944(1st of Tishrei, 5705): Rosh Hashanah
1944: Five hundred Jews participated in Rosh Hashanah services at the Naval Air Station Keflavik in Iceland. The sefer torah for the service had been flown from the United States.
1944: Fourteen hundred Jewish boys at
Auschwitz
are taken from their barracks to the children's block and are later gassed.
1946: One portion of Emanuel Ringelblum's Warsaw Ghetto diary, which was secretly buried by Ringelblum, is discovered in a ruined house at
68 Nowolipki Street
in
Warsaw
. Born in 1900, Ringelblum was a trained historian having received his doctorate in 1927. He spent many years before the war working in Jewish communal activities especially with those Polish Jews who were exiled from
Germany
in the 1930’s. After the Warsaw Ghetto had been built Ringelbaum was head of the cultural affairs section of the underground Jewish government. He created an archive unit known as Oneg Shabbat which would turn out to be the most complete record of the life of
Poland
’s Jews under the Nazis. Ringelblum hid his archival treasure trove including his diaries in three large metal containers. Ringelbaum took part in the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and later escaped from Trawniki labor camp. Unfortunately, his hideout was discovered and he and his family were murdered on
March 7, 19
44
. According to some literary critics, Ringelblum was the inspiration for the main protagonist in John Hersey’s The Wall .
1947: Hank Greenberg plays in his last major league baseball game.
1948: Ralph J Bunche was confirmed as acting UN mediator in
Palestine
. Bunche would win the Nobel Prize for Peace so successfully negotiating the armistice agreements between
Israel
and the Arab states that had attacked her.
1950: A meeting of the Mixed Armistice commission is held in the Jerusalem No-Man’s Land along the Green Line.
1950: In what appears to be a change of heart, a Jordanian spokesman denied reports that it would withdraw it complaint over what it considers the Israeli invasion of Jordanian territory above the confluence of the Yarmuk and the Jordan rivers.
1950: The Village I Knew, choreographed by Sophie Maslow, was performed for the first time
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that a wide range of Israel-designed gowns, dresses, blouses, shirts and coats was flown to the
US
for a roving exhibition, arranged by the
Bonds Drive
, to promote Israeli exports. In the early days of the state of
Israel
, products marked "made in
Israel
" were not always of the highest quality. After all, it was a pioneer state. In those days, American Jews made a point of buying things stamped "made in
Israel
" as a way of showing solidarity and support for the infant nation.
1970:The following story documents how Israel saved the Kingdom of Jordan from coming under the control of Syria, as President Assad pursued his goal of creating Greater Syria that would include Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.
Today Syria, through the Palestine Liberation Army's (PLA) Syrian branch, whose headquarters were located in Damascus and which was controlled by the government, tried to intervene on behalf of the Palestinian guerrillas. The PLA sent in armored forces equivalent to a brigade, with tanks, some of them allegedly hastily rebranded from the regular Syrian army for the purpose. Other Syrian units were the 5th Infantry Division (with the 88th and 91st Tank Brigades and the 67th Mechanised Brigade with over 200 T-55 tanks) and Commandos. They were met by the 40th Armored Brigade of the Jordanian army. The Syrian air force, under orders of Defense Minister Hafez al-Assad, never entered the battle. This has been variously attributed to power struggles within the Syrian Baathist government (pitting Assad against Salah Jadid), and to the threat of Israeli military intervention. As King Hussein dealt with threats by both Palestinian refugees in his country and Syrian military forces crossing Jordan's border, the king asked "the United States and Great Britain to intervene in the war in Jordan, asking the United States, in fact, to attack Syria, and some transcripts of diplomatic communiques show that Hussein requested Israeli intervention against Syria." Timothy Naftali said. "Syria had invaded Jordan and the Jordanian king, facing what he felt was a military rout, said please help us in any way possible." A telegram indicates that Hussein himself called a U.S. official at 3 a.m. to ask for American or British help. "Situation deteriorating dangerously following Syrian massive invasion...," the document said. "I request immediate physical intervention both land and air... to safeguard sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of Jordan. Immediate air strikes on invading forces from any quarter plus air cover are imperative." Israel, which found the move undesirable, performed mock air strikes on the Syrian column at the Americans' request. Possibly alarmed at the prospect of an armed conflict with Israel, Syria's government ordered a hasty retreat. Its involvement at the time remained a subject for historical debate. Assad told his biographer, Patrick Seale, that Syria's intention in invading northern Jordan was only to protect the Palestinians from a massacre.Whatever the case, the swift Syrian withdrawal was a severe blow to Palestinian hopes. Jordanian armored forces steadily pounded their headquarters in Amman, and threatened to break them in other regions of the kingdom as well. The Palestinians agreed to a cease-fire. Hussein and Arafat attended the meeting of leaders of Arab countries in Cairo, where Arafat won a diplomatic victory. On September 27, Hussein was forced to sign an agreement which preserved the right of the Palestinian organizations to operate in Jordan. For Jordan, it was humiliating that the agreement treated both sides to the conflict as equals.
1971: Birthdate of Jada Koren Pinkett Smith an American actress, producer, director, author, singer-songwriter, and businesswoman who is described as being of Portuguese-Jewish, African-American, West Indian and Creole ancestry. (Only in America)
1972(10th of Tishrei, 5733): Yom Kippur
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported from Washington that US President Jimmy Carter had once again denied that his country supported the concept of a separate Palestinian state. When you consider the general acceptance of this by Israelis today, this item seems like a tempest in a long-forgotten teapot.
1977: The Post reported that Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan who was originally scheduled to fly to the
US
returned unexpectedly from
Brussels
to
Israel
, giving rise to rumors that he had held secret important talks with
Egypt
.
1977: The Post reported that Moshe Shamir, Professor of Islamic History at the
Hebrew
University
, was appointed Prime Minister Menachem Begin's adviser on Arab Affairs at a time when
Israel
's Good Fence aid to
South Lebanon
was well known and highly appreciated, according to Archbishop Maximos Saloum.
1977:Meshulam Riklis, a 54 year old Israeli businessman, married 23 year old Pia Zadora.
1978:
Camp David
Accords were signed between Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister, Menachem Begin and
US
President Jimmy Carter. The accords were based on the principal of total withdrawal for total peace including diplomatic ties, open borders, and trade relations. The agreement led to the formal peace treaty. In recent years there has been criticism of the accords and the treaty which after Sadat’s assassination became a "cold peace". Regardless of the criticism, the accords changed the equation in the
Middle East
. Three decades of violence including three wars, have been replaced by a quarter of a century of peace along the border between the Sinai and the
Negev
. Without Egyptian support, general war against
Israel
became unthinkable, even for those states that did not want to make peace. No matter how cynical one might be, one should never forget the courage of Sadat for making the peace. Nor should one forget that Begin took a big gamble. What would have happened if he had given back the Sinai and then the
Egypt
's had reneged on the deal the way they had after the Sinai Campaign of 1956?
1982(1st of Tishrei, 5743): Rosh Hashanah
1985(3rd of Tishrei, 5746): Tzom Gedaliah
1985: The funeral of Julian Beck, founder of the Living Theatre, was scheduled to be held today in Manhattan
1989: Birthdate of Daniel DeClue, a bright talented student and musician. A proud, practicing Jew, he is a kind, caring, decent human being.
1991(10thof Tishrei, 5752): Yom Kippur
1993(3rd of Tishrei, 5754): Shabbat Shuva
1996: The Drisha Institute for Jewish Education graduated its first class.
1998: The Times of London reviews “Via Dolorosa” a new play about
Israel
by Sir David Hare.
2001(1st of Tishrei, 5762): As Americal mourns the losses of 9/11 including the first successful attack on the Nation's Capital 1814, Jews observe a solemn Rosh Hashanah
2002:Effi Eitam began serving as Minister of Energy and Water Resources.
2002: In the following article entitled “A Quest for a People Who May No Longer Exist,” Richard Bernstein examines the possible existence of one of “the ten lost tribes.”
About 1,100 years ago, a Hebrew-speaking man named Eldad Ha-Dani appeared before the Jewish community of Tunisia and gave it the remarkable news that he belonged to the biblical tribe of Dan, one of the fabled 10 lost tribes of Israel. He lived, he said, in "the fertile and gem-rich `land of Havilah' near `the seven kings of Cush' — the biblical name for Ethiopia" — alongside three other lost tribes, Naphtali, Gad and Asher. For Hillel Halkin, author of "Across the Sabbath River," which is also an amazing tale of a lost tribe, Ha-Dani was the first to give the lost tribes a geographical identity, even if he himself was probably an impostor and the tribes he claimed to live among did not exist. In the centuries that followed, as Mr. Halkin shows in some fascinating background chapters, the lost tribes generated an enormous wealth of claims and speculation. But near the end of the 19th century, critical scholarship put to rest the notion that any of the tribes — sent into exile by the Assyrian king Shalmaneser in the eighth century B.C. — still existed. "Where are the 10 Tribes?" the Jewish Orientalist Adolf Neubauer asked in a book in 1889. "We can only answer, Nowhere." Not so fast, says Mr. Halkin, an American-born Israeli journalist and translator who in his way is a latter-day Ha-Dani, though clearly no impostor and also thoroughly imbued with the spirit of Western skepticism. In this learned book, rich in both geographical and intellectual adventure and spiked with wry wit, Mr. Halkin argues, contrary to his own expectations, that an actual lost tribe might really still exist. The people who deserve this designation — and who energetically claim it for themselves — are the Kuki, a Tibetan-Burmese group that lives in Manipur State in the arm of India between Bangladesh and Myanmar. In fact, the Kuki are one of several groups in Manipur and neighboring Mizoram — the Mizo and the Chin are the main others — who not only believe themselves to be descendants of the biblical lost tribes but believe themselves to be Jews as well. They have a first ancestor, Manasia, whose name, they say, derives from the tribe of Manasseh. They arrived in what is now northeast India after long peregrinations that took them first to China, where, they believe, the emperor forced them to work on the Great Wall and burned their Torah scroll. In recent years, having decided to assert their historical identity, they have built synagogues in which they conduct Hebrew prayers. They have formed organizations with names like Chhinlung Israel People Convention, which has 100,000 supporters and chapters in 280 villages, says its president, Lalchhanhima Sailo. The group has petitioned the United Nations to recognize its lost-tribe status. It also has a spiritual leader, an Israeli rabbi from Jerusalem, Eliahu Avichail, who has spent decades searching remote corners of Asia for descendants of the lost tribes. Mr. Halkin himself started seeking them in 1998 when he accompanied Rabbi Avichail on an expedition to southwest China and northern Thailand, a trip that allows him to demonstrate his flair for evocative travel writing. Continuing with the rabbi to northeast India, Mr. Halkin discovered the communities that have attached themselves to Rabbi Avichail as their mentor and lawgiver and that fiercely long to be accepted as Jews and to enjoy the right of return to Israel. A year later, Mr. Halkin, still reflecting on the people he met in northeast India, went back to write a book about them. "Either a Tibeto-Burmese people in a remote corner of Southeast Asia had a mysterious connection with ancient Israel, or they were the victims of a mass delusion," he writes. "Either way, there was a story to be written." For the most part, Mr. Halkin believes more in the mass-delusion explanation than in any historical connection to biblical Israel. He methodically interviews community leaders and elders trying to see if there is any more than a coincidental similarity between old tribal rites and Judaism. The task is made difficult because 50 or so years ago, most of the Mizos and Kukis were converted to Christianity, so the old rites, belonging to what the local people call the old religion, have fallen into abeyance. Mr. Halkin finds some of the most active purveyors of the lost-tribe idea to be little more than charlatans, and for many of its pages, "Across the Sabbath River" is more a tale of desperate identity search than it is about real lost tribes. For example, he meets with the argument that in Kuki folklore there is a great bird of prey identical to the roc of the "Arabian Nights," and since the roc is not native to Manipur, Mr. Halkin's interviewee maintains, this proves his people come from the Middle East. "As it stood," Mr. Halkin writes well along in his investigation, "I was one more unsuccessful Lost Tribe hunter." Then, when he was about to give up, he met Khuplam Lenthang, a doctor who had spent decades collecting local folk tales and collating them into a single volume called "The Wonderful Genealogical Tales of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo." Reading that book in translation, Mr. Halkin realized that Dr. Khuplam was an extraordinary figure who had carried out extraordinary ethnograhic research. No "Arabian Nights" rocs here, but rather, strong evidence of old religious practices and terms that seemed unexplainable except by recourse to a lost-tribes theory. But let Mr. Halkin himself provide the persuasive and closely examined details, which come at the end of a book that has many delights, a variegated cast of characters and a conclusion stimulating many thoughts about the persistence of ancient behavior and belief.
2003 (21st of Elul, 5763): Rabbi Emil Fackenheim passed away. He was born in
Halle
,
Germany
in 1916. He graduated from Hochschule für die Wissenschaft des Judentums in 1939 and obtained Ph.D. from
University
of
Toronto
in 1945. He was interned at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp in 1938 and 1939. After becoming a Rabbi, he left
Germany
for
Great Britain
, where he was interned as an enemy alien after World War II began. He was sent to
Canada
in 1940, where he was a rabbi (1943-48), then professor of philosophy (1948-84) at the
University
of
Toronto
. He subsequently moved to
Israel
, where he was associated with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Fackenheim explored the problem of revelation and the relationship of the Jews with God, believing that the Holocaust must be understood as an imperative requiring Jews to carry on Jewish existence and that the existence of the state of Israel is a rebuke to those who view the Jewish people as obsolete or dying. Among his books are God's Presence in History (1972) and To Mend the World (1982). 2003: Emil Fackenheim, author of the 614th commandment - Thou shalt not hand Hitler posthumous victories. To despair of the God of Israel is to continue Hitler’s work for him."- passed away.
2004 (3rd of Tishrei, 5765):Shabbat Shuvah
2004 (3rd of Tishrei, 5765): Norman F, Cantor passed away. Born in Winnipeg, Canada in 1929, Cantor was a historian who specialized in the medieval period. His sound scholarship was embodied in an accessible style with narrative drive, which made his major textbook, The Civilization of the Middle Ages the most widely-read overview of medieval history. Cantor received his docorate from Princeton. He taught at several prestigious universities including Princeton, Columbia, Brandies, and NYU.
2005: Agudath Achim, the Orthodox Congregation in Little Rock, Arkansas, celebrated its one hundredth anniversary with a gala dinner.
2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that some 25 Torah scrolls in the New Orleans area, jeopardized by Hurricane Katrina, were rescued by a number of Jewish groups acting in concert. A makeshift coalition of representatives from the Jewish Federation of Greater New Orleans, national leadership from the Reform movement, rabbis from
Baton Rouge
and
New Orleans
and local law-enforcement officials were responsible for the effort..
2005:The 2005 Lasker Awards for medical research are going to scientists who discovered stem cells, invented genetic fingerprinting and developed a powerful technology that played a crucial role in mapping the human genome.
2005: The Washington Post Book Section reviewed The Lost One: A life of Peter of Peter Lorre by Stephen D. Youngkin. As the review points out Lorre was born Laszlo Loewenstein. He emigrated from his native
Hungary
to
Berlin
from which he fled to
Vienna
in 1933 due to the rise in anti-Semitism. If you can imagine, he was on the same train with the actor Oskar Homolka, director Josef von Sternberg and violinist Jascha Heifitz. When things worsened in
Austria
, Loree was able to escape to
England
due to a strange quirk of fate. He got a paid ticket to
England
to act in Alfred Hitchcock’s first version of the mystery film, The Man Who Knew Too Much. You might want to read the book to find how Lorre, who spoke know English, got the part.
2005: A weekend of events marking the dedication of the Uriah P. Levy Jewish Center and Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy comes to climactic close a new chapel and student center on Sunday named for the nation's first Jewish flag officer, Commodore Uriah P. Levy, a man who fought to serve his country while still observing his faith.
2006 Congregation Beth El, of Missouri City, Texas participated in celebrating the High Holidays with Jewish residents from the Brenham State School and the Richmond State School.
2006: The Winograd Commission - the committee appointed to investigate the management of the war in
Lebanon
- begins its proceedings.
2006: At a debate in Tysons Corner between Republican Allen and Democrat Webb, WUSA-TV's Peggy Fox asked Allen, the tobacco-chewing, cowboy-boot-wearing son of a pro football coach, if his Tunisian-born mother has Jewish blood. The Forward, a Jewish newspaper, reported that the senator's mother, Etty, "comes from the august Sephardic Jewish Lumbroso family" and continued: "If both of Etty's parents were born Jewish -- which, given her age and background, is likely -- Senator Allen would be considered Jewish in the eyes of traditional rabbinic law, which traces Judaism through the mother." The Presbyterian Allen joins public figures Madeleine Albright and John Kerry in discovering his Jewish roots.
2007: U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in
Jerusalem
for a round of talks in
Israel
and the Palestinian Authority to prepare for the
Middle East
peace summit scheduled for the second half of November. Rice is expected to meet se