September 21 In History
19 BCE: Virgil, the classical Roman poet passes away. Eclogue 4, the so-called Messianic Eclogue, is the best known of Virgil’s Eclogues or “Selected Poems also known as Bucolics or “Pastorals.. Written in 40 B.C., during the consulship of Pollio, Virgil's benefactor a year or two previously, it hails the birth of a baby boy who will usher in a golden age of peace and prosperity in which even nature herself will participate. The golden age is the new era of peace for which Augustus was responsible, and the child is thought to be the expected offspring of Augustus and Scribonia (the infant turned out to be a girl). The similarity of language in the poem to that of the Book of Isaiah gave rise to the idea, in the early Christian period, that the fourth Eclogue was indeed a prophecy of the birth of Christ. The similarity may be due to the fact that Jewish ideas spread over Italy in the second half of the first century B.C., and Virgil may have used his acquaintance with them to express the Roman equivalent of a Messianic expectation.
1348: The Jews of Switzerland were charged with perpetuation of the Black Death epidemic. There were riots in Bern Chilon and Zurich. Jews held at Chilion were tortured until they "confessed" to having poisoned wells in the area around Venice, Italy. Many Swiss Jews were burned to death during the riots while others were expelled from their respective cities after the violence had subsided. The Black Death was supposed to have been caused by poisoned wells and the Jews were the responsible for poisoning the wells. Of course the Black Death was really Bubonic Plague, but the ignorant found it convenient to blame the Jews for any inexplicable ill that befell them.
1451: Jews of Arnhem were ordered to wear the Jew-badge by the Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa, the Cardinal for that part of Holland.
1553: The Talmud was confiscated and publicly burned in Rome under the auspices of Cardinal Caraffa, later to be Pope Paul IV, a rabid counter-Reformationist. The Cardinal chose this day specifically because it was Rosh Hashanah so the Jews would feel the grief more strongly. Talmud burning would spread to other parts of Italy.
1558: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, passed. Charles wore two hats, or should we say two crowns. While he was the Holy Roman Emperor he was also King of Spain. As the Spanish monarch he continued to enforce the ban against Jews living in his realm. But as Holy Roman Emperor, his rule over German Jewry was such that they “regarded the emperor as their benefactor and protector against the Protestants.”
1645: The Jews of Mogilev, Russia were attacked during Tashlich.
1676: Innocent XI begins his Papacy. “Innocent showed a degree of sensitivity in his dealings with the Jews within the Italian States. He compelled the city of Venice to release the Jewish prisoners taken by Francesco Morisini in 1685. He also discouraged compulsory baptisms which accordingly became less frequent under his pontificate; but he could not abolish the old practice altogether. More controversially he issued an edict by which all the money-lending activities carried out by the Roman Jews were to cease. Such a move would incidentally have financially benefitted his own brothers who played a dominant role in European money-lending. However ultimately convinced that such a measure would cause much misery in destroying livelihoods, the enforcement of the edict was twice delayed.
1710: Hodel, daughter of Moshe Kikinish of Lemberg, died a martyr's death after falsely confessing to blood-ritual charges in order to save the lives of other Jews.
1731: Jews were granted the right to attend fairs in Smolensk provided that they limit their transactions to wholesale business.
1759(29th of Elul, 5519): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1789(1st of Tishrei, 5550): Rosh Hashanah
1802: Anti-Jewish riots took place in Switzerland. Five centuries have passed since the black plague but the Swiss behavior remained unchanged.
1812(15th of Tishrei, 5573): First Day of Sukkoth
1825(9th of Tishrei, 5585): Erev Yom Kippur
1838: Privileges granted the Jews of Sweden were revoked by the Swedish government.
1842: Birthdate of Ottoman Sultan Murad V. During his reign, Jews migrated to Turkey after the signing of the Berlin Treaty. Also, his Jewish subjects celebrated the 400th anniversary of their arrival from Spain. It took three tries, but Herzl finally got an audience with the Sultan in 1902 during which he makes his case for a Jewish Homeland under the protection of the Sultan.
1850(15th of Tishrei, 5611): Sukkoth
1853: An article published today entitled “Great Britain: London Trade-American Sewing Machines” reported “if the clothing firm of E. Moses and Son has not begun using the sewing machine in its tailoring operation, it soon will, since the firm is always looking for ways to be be more cost effective.” “London clothier Elias Moses was the first to pioneer a retail model of massive advertising and deep discounts to create a high-volume business in low-margin ready-to-wear clothing…The Moses & Son store even looked different, fitted with” the “ then unheard of plate-glass display windows out front and fixed prices on clothing inside. But after the father passed away, and the son retired, the store rather lost is heart. When the son of Moses and Son died in 1884, the Times of London mourned, ‘The large premises at Aldgate and Oxford Street know the name of E. Moses and Son no more.’”
1859: Benjamin Szold arrived in the United States and began serving as the Rabbi for Oheb Shalom in Baltimore, Maryland. He would serve in that capacity until his death in 1902. Szold moved the congregation from Minhag America (Reform) to Minchag Ashekenaz (Traditional). For all of his own accomplishments, his greatest claim to fame may be that he was the father of Henrietta Szold.
1863: At its meeting today the Board of Alderman referred to the Committee on Donations and Charities the Report of Committee on Finance, with resolution that the Comptroller be directed to dispose of the following ground, belonging to the Corporation, and located adjoining the Orphan Asylum of the Hebrew Benevolent Society, on Seventy-seventh-street, and extending from the westerly line or side of said Orphan Asylum to the easterly line or side of Lexington-avenue. being in extent one hundred and thirty-five feet front and rear, by one hundred feet deep to the said- Hebrew Benevolent Society, to be held by the said Society upon the same tenure or conditions as the twelve lots of ground heretofore granted to the Bifid Society; the grant hereby made to said Society to be sanctioned by the Legislature of the State at its next or any subsequent session, in order to perfect the title thereto in the aforesaid Society, and to obviate the prohibition contained in the forty-first section of the Amended Charter of one thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in respect to disposing of the property or franchises of the City.
1867: Birthdate of American statesman, Henry Stimson. By the time he passed away in 1950, Stimson had amassed an incredible record of public service serving Presidents from Teddy Roosevelt to Harry Truman. Stimson served as Secretary of War from 1940 through 1945. This meant that he was the cabinet member who oversaw the Army and Army Air Force in the successful defeat of the Axis military. Towards the end of the war, there were some in the Roosevelt administration who circulating a resolution opposing creation of a Jewish state in Palestine. Stimson came out against this move which helped to smother it at a time when American support for a Jewish state was a hotly debated issue in the halls of government.
1870: According to the Teachers’ Reading Room and Exchange in Manhattan there are 7 Hebrew Schools below 59th Street with a total enrollment of 1,147 and 47 teachers.
1871(6th of Tishrei, 5632): Rabbi Mendel Hess passed away. Born in 1807, at Lengsfeld (now Stadtlengsfeld), Saxe-Weimar he was a German rabbi.He was one of the 1st Jewish theologians to combine a university education with Talmudical training. From 1828 until his death he was chief rabbi of the grand duchy of Weimar, residing first at Lengsfeld and later at Eisenach. Although the measure had aroused great dissatisfaction among the Jews, he strictly enforced the decree of the government (June 20, 1823) ordaining that Jewish services should be conducted exclusively in the German language and that the reading in Hebrew of sections of the Bible should be followed by their translation into the vernacular. The position of rabbi as government official became very unpleasant, as he was required to inform against those who failed to attend the services, a requirement which even the progressive Jews, who approved of the ordinance, condemned. Intermarriages between Jews and Christians being allowed in the grand duchy, Hess officially consecrated such nuptials, notwithstanding the proviso that the off-spring should be brought up in the Christian faith. In the consecration of Jewish marriages he likewise ignored time-honored traditional rabbinical regulations, and it is said that in his disregard of Jewish sentiment he went so far as to attend a theater on the eve of the Day of Atonement ("Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1845, p. 62). Hess was a member of the three rabbinical conferences which (1844-46) convened at Brunswick, Frankfort-on-the-Main, and Breslau, and as such was an advocate of uncompromising radicalism. After 1848 he felt the illiberality of enforced reforms, and petitioned the government to repeal the law which made attendance at the Reform services compulsory ("Allg. Zeit. des Jud." 1853, p. 474). He edited "Der Israelit des Neunzehnten Jahrhunderts" from 1839 to 1847, and, with Samuel Holdheim as coeditor, in 1847 and 1848. Hess also published two collections of sermons and addresses (Eisenach, 1839, 1843).
1873(29th of Elul, 5633): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1874(10th of Tishrei, 5635): Yom Kippur
1874: Birthdate of Joe Levin, a founder of B'nai Abraham Synagogue in Brenham, Texas.
1876(3rd of Tishrei): Tzom Gedaliah
1876: Birthdate of Herman Bernstein, the Russian born American author and diplomat who wrote “History of a Lie,” a book which exposed the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as an anti-Semitic forgery.
1878: As a Yellow Fever Epidemic gripped the Deep South, the officers of Hebrew Hospital Association in Memphis, Tennessee issued the following appeal: “Our funds having been entirely exhausted, and sickness still continuing with unabated fury in our midst, we appeal to our co-religionists through the United States for pecuniary aid. There are orphans to be cared for, in addition to relieving the wants of the sick and the distressed. And our good work must be discontinued unless aid is given us. All remittances should be addressed to David Eiseman, Treasurer of the Hebrew Hospital Association.”
1878: Raphael D.C. Lewin delivered a lecture on the subject of “Life and Character of Moses Mendelssohn, the German-Jew Philosopher of the Eighteenth Century.” The proceeds of the lecture will go to aid those suffering from the Yellow Fever Epidemic.
1878: The Chamber of Commerce Relief Committee dispersed funds to various organizations aiding victims of Yellow Fever including $1,000 to the Hebrew Benevolent Association of New Orleans, $500 to the Association for the Relief of Jewish Widows and Orphans of New Orleans and $500 to the Hebrew Benevolent Association of Memphis, TN.
1878(9th of Tishrei, 5548): Erev Yom Kippur
1879 (4th of Tishrei, 5640): Tzom Gedaliah
1879 (4th of Tishrei, 5640): Rabbi Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel also known as the Malbin passed away. Born in 1809, he ultimately became the Chief Rabbi of Bucharest. He wrote a commentary on the Bible, showing the close relationship between the Oral and the Written Law. He fought strongly against many reformist movements which he likened to modern day Kararites. While not very popular with the "enlighteners," he apparently was quite popular with the common people of the various communities that he served.
1880: It was reported today that the Jewish festival of Succoth or Feast of Booths commenced on Sunday evening and will continue until next Monday night. The first and last days of the festival are only regarded as holy days, the intermediate days being of no special import. His is the harvest of feast of the ancient Jews and is also commemorative of the Israelites dwelling in Succoth of booths during their weary journey through the wilderness.”
1883: It was reported today that while addressing a banquet being held in Grosswardein, the Hungarian Prime Minister said “Jew-baiting affected the honor of the Fatherland, and the Government was bound to protect the lives and property of all citizens regardless of class prejudice.”
1884: Birthdate of Clarence Cleveland Dill, the United States Senator from the state of Washington who was so supportive of Herbert Hoover’s nomination of Benjamin Cardozo to serve on the Supreme Court that, on a radio broadcast he called it “the finest act of his career as President.”
1884: “The English Peers” published today, using information that first appeared in the Fortnightly Review, described the obstructionist role played by the House of the Lords in the past sixty years including their repeated oppositions to bills passed by the House of Commons that would have relived Jews of their “civil disabilities.”
1884: It was reported today that in London, this week’s edition of the Jewish Chronicle contained a letter from Henry Rice, the President of the United Hebrew Society of New York and I.S. Isaacs, the society’s secretary, describing the opposition of Jews in the United States “to the immigration of idle, weak people who expect to live on charity alone and urging that care be taken that none be sent save those able to earn a living.” The Jewish leaders warned that the U.S. government would send back the former. The Chronicle called “the letter harsh and unsympathetic.”
1884: “Heine’s Memoirs” published today provides a detailed review of The Memoirs of Heinrich Heine which include “some newly discovered fragments of his writings” and “an introductory essay by Thomas W. Evans”
1884: It was reported today that unnamed Jewish peddler has been arrested in New Haven on charges that he had split open the head of John Carroll after being teased by a group of boys last night.
1884: The Society of United Hebrew Charities met at Wheatly Hall in Philadelphia to discuss the additional street being place on its limited resources to the huge influx of Russian immigrants.
1884: “Honoring An Aged Philanthropist” published today described the “extensive preparations” being made by American Jews to celebrate the 100th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore on October 24. At four o’clock in the afternoon on that date synagogues throughout the United States will hold services following the special liturgy first developed in the British Empire.”
1890: The funeral of Benjamin F. Peixottto is scheduled to take place today at Temple Israel in New York City. Pall bearers include Julius Bien, Meyer S. Isaacs, Adolph Sanger, Daniel T. Hays, Michael H. Cardozo, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, M.M. Davis and Adolphus Solomons of Washington, D.C.
1900: Fire in Constantinople, left 2000 Jews without shelter. One synagogue was destroyed.
1901: Herzl is granted an interview with British Colonial Minister Joseph Chamberlain.
1903(9th of Tishrei, 5738): Erev Yom Kippur
1906(2nd of Tishrei, 5667): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1909: Birthdate of Kwame Nkrumah, President of Ghana from 1958 until 1966. Nkrumah was President of Ghana when it gained its independence from Britain. Under Nkrumah, Ghana established strong economic and political ties with Israel. Like many other newly independent African states, Ghana saw Israel as a source for training in modern technology that would attempt to establish a pseudo-colonial relationship. Israel saw these joint efforts as a way of off-setting the petro-power of the Arab nations. Among other things, Ghana and Israel formed a joint ocean cargo and shipping line called Black Star. Unfortunately, Nkrumah lost his moral compass and was deposed in 1966l A year later, Israel’s African friends would turn on her and succumb to threats of an Arab led shut off of petroleum following the Six Days War.
1910: “Ezrah,” the first Ashkenazi community organization is founded in Montevideo, Uruguay.
1911: On Thursday evening Joseph H. Hertz is formally installed as Rabbi of Congregation Orach Chayim in Manhattan.
1912)10thof Tishrei, 5673): Yom Kippur
1916: Birthdate of Lea France Gourdji, the daughter of Turkish-Jewish parents who gained fame as Françoise Giroud, whose accomplishments included co-founding influential political weekly L’Express to advance the agenda of French-Jewish politician Pierre Mendès France.
1918(15th of Tishrei, 5679): First Day of Sukkoth
1918: During WW I, British cavalrymen under the command of General Allenby captured the 3,000 man Turkish garrison at Nazareth.
1918: During WW I, as British forces fought to liberate Eretz Israel from Ottoman rule, the RAF and RAAF conducted “the most devastating aerial attack of the war” in which “fifty aircraft bombed and machine gunned the Turks” who were trying to escape from Nablus and cross the Jordan River where they mistakenly thought they would be safe from further attack.
1921: Sir Ernest Joseph Cassel, German-born, British merchant and banker passed away. It was not until he died that most people discovered that Cassel had converted to Roman Catholicism at the behest of his wife.
1922: U.S. President Harding signed a joint resolution of congress expressing approval of the establishment of a national home for the Jewish People in Eretz Yisrael. Passing resolutions was just about all of the support that the Jews would get when it came to support for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. Another element that is often overlooked is the lack of strong support for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. Large segments of Orthodox Jews opposed the Zionists because the movement ran contrary to waiting for the Messiah. And large numbers of Reform Jews opposed it because it ran contrary to their assimilation goals.
1926: Herman Bernstein, the Polish born American author and editor of The Jewish Tribune was inundated with telegrams and letters congratulating him on the celebration of his 50th birthday. The expression of best wishes came from a variety of Jewish and non-Jewish leaders including David Belasco, Colonel Edward M. House, Louis Marshall and Felix M. Warburg.
1926: Birthdate of Donald Arthur Glaser an American physicist and neurobiologist. He won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the invention of the bubble chamber."
1928: Catcher Ike Danning made his major league debut with the St. Louis Brown.
1929: “The Oxford sutdents who defened the Jews in the Arab attack in Jersualem arrived in London from Palestine today in charge of the Rev. Graham Brown principal of Wycliffe Hall. ..The father of one one of tgh students who met them at the ship said that the Jewish community of Tel Aviv presented each with a special memento…The sudents are all young men studying for the ministry…They were pleased at having enorlled in the poice force and at having aided in restoring order in Jerusalem.”
1933(1st of Tishrei, 5694): American Jews observe a New Year living for the first time under The New Deal.
1934: Birthdate of Canadian born singer and songwriter Leonard Cohen.
1935(23rd of Elul, 5695): After a long illness Henry Samuel Morais passed away today at the House of the Incurables in the Bronx, New York. Born in Philadelphia, PA in 1860, he was the son of Rabbi Sabato Morais, a well-known national Jewish leader, Rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel of Philadelphia, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York. Morais attended different private and public schools for his secular education, while he received a traditional religious education from his father. After his schooling he taught for twelve years in the schools of the Hebrew Education Society and in the Hebrew Sabbath-Schools of Philadelphia.He was interested for a time in law but abandoned it to pursue a literary career. He contributed art icles on various subjects to secular and Jewish papers including current matters in Judaism, Jewish literary topics, and other general questions. He wrote for journals all over the United States, although, of course, most of his material was published along the east coast, especially in Philadelphia. In 1887 he was the principal founder of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent, a weekly newspaper that represented a traditional religious point-of-view, and served as managing editor for its first two years. After leaving the Jewish Exponent he joined the special staff of the Philadelphia Public Ledger and became its editor in 1894. He was also the editor of two other journals in Philadelphia during this time: the Musical and Dramatic Standard and the Hebrew Watchword and Instructor. Along with his journalistic activities Morais took active part in the cultural and intellectual life of Philadelphia. He was the founder and president of Doreshe Da'ath Society, a Jewish literary and intellectual group, founder and executive director of the Philadelphia Musical and the Philadelphia Concert Company, and was also involved with the American Jewish Historical Society, along with his father, during its formative years in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Besides his journalistic efforts and the works which he published (see below for an annotated bibliography) Morais used his religious background and education along with his former teaching experience to enter the Rabbinate where he became known as an articulate speaker, as a Jewish educator to both adults and children, and as a communal leader. He was asked quite often by different synagogues to deliver guest sermons on special Sabbaths and the holidays. As a Rabbi, Morais was respected by and appealed to an American-born, English-speaking constituency committed to the ideals of traditional Judaism. Morais himself held strong views against the Reform movement in America and became embroiled in a number of controversies concerning statements which he made against Reform Judaism. Morais was nevertheless unable to find security in the Rabbinical profession and he held numerous pulpits. Morais' first position was in Philadelphia, where he became acting minister in Congregation Mikveh Israel, 1897-1898, upon his father's death. After a brief illness Morais left Philadelphia to accept a position in Congregation Adath Jeshurun, Syracuse, New York, where he served as Rabbi in 1899-1900, and 1902-1903. In 1900-1901 he served as Rabbi to Congregation Jeshuath Israel, Newport, Rhode Island. After leaving Syracuse he came to New York where he remained for the rest of his life. He founded and became Rabbi of Congregation Mikveh Israel in New York City. Successive pulpits for Morais included: Congregation Sons of Israel, Brooklyn, New York; Congregation Derech Emunah, Arverne, Long Island; Congregation Pincus Elijah, New York City, and the Congregation of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, New York. Morais never married; he kept in close contact with his brother and sisters, and maintained a large group of friends with whom he corresponded -- indeed many of these people were major figures within the American Jewish community and their correspondence appears in this collection.
1937: The Palestine Postreported that David Ben-Gurion, Moshe Shertok (Sharett), and Nahum Goldman were present at the opening meeting of the Sixth Committee of the League of Nations in Geneva. In his opening address M. Lange of Norway compared the Palestinian situation to 'the squaring of a circle,' but added that 'humanity owes a debt of gratitude to Jewry.' The Sixth Committee waited for the arrival of British Foreign Minister Anthony Eden to start the Palestine debate.
1937: Catcher Harry Chozen made his major league début with the Cincinnati Reds.
1939: Heydrich, the Chief of the Reich Central Security Office, held a conference in Berlin to discuss the long-term future of Polish Jewry. During the conference, Heydrich stated that there was an ultimate plan for dealing with the Jews, the first step of which called for the concentration. He orders chiefs of Einsatzgruppen to establish, in cooperation with German civil and military authorities, Jewish ghettos in German-occupied Poland. He decrees that all Jewish communities in Poland and Greater Germany with populations under 500 are to be dissolved, so that deportations of Jews to urban ghettos and concentration camps can be accelerated. Further, Heydrich orders the establishment of ghetto Judenräte (Jewish councils). The main goals of the ghettoization process are to isolate Jews, force them to manufacture items for Germany, and provide easy Nazi access for murder and deportation.
1940: Birthdate of Paul Cowan, “a journalist of strong social passions whose book An Orphan in History influenced thousands of assimilated Jews like himself to recover their Jewish heritage.
1941(29th of Elul, 5701): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1942(10th of Tishrei, 5703): Yom Kippur
1942(10th of Tishrei, 5703): Nazis sent over 1.000 Jews of Pidhaytsi (west Ukraine) to Belzec extermination camp.
1942: On Yom Kippur the Germans ordered Konstantynów Jews (Poland) to permanently evacuate Konstantynów and move to the Ghetto - established in Biała Podlaska meant to hold Jews from nearby 7 towns including Konstantynów, Janów Podlaski, Rossosz andTerespol
1942(10th of Tishrei, 5703): In Dunaivtsi, Ukraine, Nazis murder 2588 Jews.
1942: Open-pit burning of bodies begins at Auschwitz in place of burial. The decision is made to dig up and burn those already buried (107,000 corpses) to prevent the fouling of ground water and to hide evidence of atrocities.
1943: In Greece, Rabbi Barzilai was commanded to establish a Jewish Council and to take the necessary steps to carry out the deportation of all the Greek Jews.
1945: Birthdate of Jerry Bruckheimer, movie and television producer. The CSI television series is one of his most famous “television franchises.”
1948: "Texaco Star Theater" with Milton Berle premieres on NBC-TV. Uncle Miltie as he came to be called by his millions of fans was the son of Moses and Sadie Berlinger.
1951: Reuben Shiloah, special adviser to Israel on Arab affairs arrived in Paris this morning bearing a copy of his government’s “offer to sign non-aggression pacts with each of her four Arab neighbors- Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan.”
1951: Maurice Fischer, a minster with the Israeli government presented Israel’s offer to sign a non-aggression pact with her four Arab neighbors to the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission.
1951: “Five Israel soldiers were wounded, three of them seriously, in ambush south of the Dead Sea” that was believed to have been conducted by Arab infiltrators from Jordan.
1952: The Jerusalem Postreported that according to the East German Minister of Agriculture, his country had so far done nothing about compensating Israel for the Nazi persecution, because Jews had made no concrete application. East Germany had 'no basic objection' to discuss an appropriate compensation. East Germany, the Communist side of Germany never did go through a de-Nazification program. Their contention was that by adopting Communism, they had atoned for any sins of the past. In addition to which, they contended that the West German government had all of the former Nazis and their regime was made up of those who had been anti-Nazis. As any honest reading of history would question many of these claims especially when you consider that it was a pact between Hitler and Stalin that gave Hitler the green light for the attack on Poland and the subsequent attacks on the nations of western Europe and England.
1952: Jordan returned, two Israeli soldiers kidnapped in the Latrun area, after three months of captivity.
1957: Birthdate of film director Ethan Coen. He and his brother Joel are the film making duo known as the Coen Brothers.
1959: Birthdate of Leonid Borisovich Nevzlin, a Russian-Israeli businessman
1960(29th of Elul, 5720): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1964: The island of Malta gains its independence from Great Britain. The Jewish presence in Malta probably dates back to when Israelites accompanied Phoenicians on trips across the Mediterranean. There is archeological evidence of Jewish presence dating from the Hellenistic period in the form of carvings of seven-branch candelabrums and inscription written in catacombs. By the time Malta gained its independence, the Jewish community was a shadow of its former self. Today the small community continues to exist observing the Shabbat and holding services led by lay people since there is no rabbi.
1970: Monday Night Football premieres. Monday night football redefined American viewing and social habits for at least two decades. The surpising hit program featured three voices in the broadcast booth, the most unique of which was Howard Cossell. Once again, a Jew played a major role in creating a venue of American pop culture. While everybody thinks of Cossell as the quntessential “New York Jew” he actually was born in North Carolina.
1973: The U.S. Senate confirmed Henry Kissinger as Secretary of State. Kissinger was the first Jewish person to hold the position.
1977(9th of Tishrei, 5738): Erev Yom Kippur
1977(9th of Tishrei, 5738): Ben-Zion Halfon an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1969 and 1977 passed away. “Born in Tripoli in Libya in 1930, Halfon was a member of a Zionist youth movement. In 1947 he attempted to make aliyah to Mandate Palestine via Italy, aboard the Aliyah Bet ship Medinat HeYehudit. However, he was detained by the British authorities and sent to an internment camp in Cyprus. The following year he reached Israel, and joined the Palmach's Yiftach Brigade, with whom he fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. He was involved in helping other Libyan Jews who had made aliyah, and in 1949 he was amongst the founders of moshav Hatzav. He became involved in the Southern branch of the Moshavim Movement, and became the movement's representative in the Labor Party. He served as national co-ordinator of the movement's purchasing organisation and on the board of the Agricultural Bank. In 1969 he was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment list (an alliance of the Labor Party and Mapam), and was appointed Deputy Minister of Agriculture on 22 December that year. He was re-elected in 1973 but lost his portfolio. He lost his seat in the May 1977 elections, and died in a traffic collision near Gedera junction a few months later aged 47. In 2006, the archaeological museum in Nitzana was named after him.
1986: Jewish golfer Corey Pavin won the Greater Milwaukee Open
1987: Three molecular biologists who have helped revolutionize understanding of one of the body's main immune defense systems and a psychiatrist whose research has had profound influence on the medical treatment of depression were named winners of the 1987 Albert Lasker Medical Research Awards yesterday. The winners are Dr. Susumu Tonegawa, a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dr. Philip Leder, chairman of the department of genetics at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Leroy Hood, chairman of the division of biology of California Institute of Technology and Dr. Mogens Schou, director of psychopharmacology research at Aarhus University Psychiatric Institute in Denmark. The awards were funded by Albert Lasker, the successful Jewish advertising executive.
1991: Birthdate of actress Zoe Weisenbaum.
1997: The New York Times book section featured reviews by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Aryeh Lev Stollman's first novel, The Far Euphrates and the latest collection of short stories by Deborah Eisenberg entitled All Around Atlantis.
2000: The Appellate Court of Fars Province announced their decision on the appeal by the imprisoned Iranian Jews convicted of spying for Israel. In the days leading up to the announcement there were strong indications that the appeals court would overturn the earlier decision or release a number of the defendants. Despite these reports, the court only reduced the sentences of the 10 Jewish prisoners but did not overturn the guilty verdicts or release any of the prisoners.
2001: Jewish Women Watching published an advertisement in The New York Times asking Jewish women to hold their community accountable for sexism.
2002(15thof Tishrei, 5763): Sukkoth
2003: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Who Killed Daniel Pearl? by Bernard-Henri Levy; translated by James X. Mitchell, A Mighty Heart :The Brave Life and Death of My Husband, Danny Pearl by Mariane Pearl with Sarah Crichton, An Execution in the Family: One Son's Journey by Robert Meeropol and Sixty-Sixby Barry Levinson
2005: The Jerusalem Postreported that Simon Wiesenthal the famed Nazi hunter who died on Tuesday at the age of 96 will be buried in Jerusalem on Friday. During the 1950’s the non-Jewish world (some in the Jewish world as well) wanted to forget or ignore the Holocaust. Wiesenthal would not let the world forget what had happened. At times it seemed as if he were working almost single-handedly to bring those who had murdered six million Jews to Justice. When the world was ready to remember, Wiesenthal was there with the facts, figures and information.
2006: Today, “Alan Hevesi admitted that he used Nicholas Acquafredda as a state employee to drive and aid his ailing wife. Hevesi claims that in 2003 the State Ethics Commission decided that he would pay back the entire cost of driving around his wife unless it is for specific safety purposes. A spokesperson from the State Ethics Commission denies such a decision was made.”
2007: The top ten billionaires on Forbesmagazine’s list of the 400 richest Americans includes five Jews holding down four of these coveted positions: at number 3, Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson; at number 4, Larry Ellison CEO of Oracle Corp; tied for fifth Sergey Brin co-founder of Google; tied for tenth, Oil barons Charles and David H. Koch.
2007(9th of Tishrei, 5768): Erev Yom Kippur
2008: Israel’s TV industry was a big winner, if only indirectly, when this year’s Emmy award winners were announced today at the annual red carpet event in Los Angeles. Dianne Wiest, already a two-time Oscar winner, added an additional statuette to her collection by winning the best supporting actress award for “In Treatment,” HBO’s largely faithful adaptation of the hit 2005 Israeli drama “BeTipul.” The American version of the show features Wiest as Gina Toll, a therapist originally named Gila Abulafia and played on Israeli TV by stage and film veteran Gila Almagor. Wiest’s victory, over nominees from ABC-TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Boston Legal” and “Brothers and Sisters,” marked the second Emmy for the Israeli-inspired series. The win followed “In Treatment” performer Glynn Turman’s victory in the guest actor category
2008: In Washington, D.C., Darin Straus reads from his new novel, More Than It Hurts You.
2008: The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research presents “Nusakh Vilne Yizker and Memorial Lecture,” a program marking the 55th anniversary of the founding of Nusakh Vilne, and the 65th anniversary of the liquidation of the Vilna ghetto. Opening remarks are made by Dr. Carl Rheins, YIVO Executive Director followed by Guest Lecturer: Michael Bart, author of Until Our Last Breath: A Holocaust Story of Love and Partisan Resistance. Moish Palevsky’s reading of Holocaust literature is followed by a musical program featuring Cantor Victor Wortman of the Bay Terrace Jewish Center in Bayside, Queens.
2008: The New York Timesfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Indignation by Phillip Roth, Left In Dark Times: A Stand Against the New Barbarism by Bernard-Henri Lévy; Translated by Benjamin Moser, Bumping Into Geniuses: My Life Inside the Rock and Roll Business by Danny Goldberg and Hitler’s Empire: How the Nazis Ruled Europe by Mark Mazower.
2008: The Washington Postfeatured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency by Barton Gellman and The Trouble Begins at 8: A Life of Mark Twain in the Wild, Wild West by Sid Fleischman.
2008: Internationally-known performer DJ AM is listed in critical condition, two days after he reportedly saved his life by jumping from a burning plane while it was skidding down a runway in South Carolina Friday.DJ AM, whose real name is Adam Michael Goldstein, was airlifted from the scene suffering from serious burns. The plane reportedly skidded off the runway and crashed through a fence, crossing a highway before stopping on the side of the road. Goldstein was joined on the plane by his close friend, Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker who is also listed in serious condition. Goldstein and Barker were the only survivors of the six passengers aboard the Lear jet. Goldstein, a Philadelphia native, has built a devoted following internationally, and is a fixture on the L.A. club scene. He also became a gossip column fixture during the two years he dated celebrity heiress Nicole Richie.
2008: Bernard Lewis came to Tulane University in New Orleans to speak about the dangers to the world of the present regime in Iran. He claimed that the unpopular regime there would use its nuclear arms because it does not fear “mutual assured destruction,” believing that we are already at the end of days. The 91 and a half year-old scholar amazed everyone with his analysis, wit, and erudition, although his message was frightening for the Big Satan—the USA-- and for Little Satan—Israel.
2008, In an "epithet-laden" performance at Theater J of the Washington DC Jewish Community Center, Sandra Bernhard warned Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin that she would be gang-raped by Bernhard's "big black brothers" if she visited Manhattan
2009 (3 Tishrei, 5770): Fast of Gedaliah
2009: The Center for Jewish History and Center for Traditional Music and Dance present a lecture entitled "The Multi-Ethnic Music Cultures of Moldova" in which Walter Zev Feldman discusses the cultural history of this area of ethnic transformation and his recent expedition which discovered musicians of mixed ancestry still performing traditional Jewish music in his father's hometown of Edinets.
2009: The DCJCC presents a screening of “Holy Land Hardball,” a film that tells “the story of an unlikely group of players and executives who attempted to create Israel’s first professional baseball league in the summer of 2007. Boston bagel-maker Larry Baras’ idea for Middle East baseball was met with incredulity, dismissal and even hostility, but he attempted it anyway. Among the ballplayers swept up in this unlikely quest: were a 41-year-old father of three with a Peter Pan complex; a 34-year-old father-to-be whose own father, now deceased, fought for Israel's independence in 1948; and a 22-year-old African-American who was told by a preacher at a young age he would one day ‘play in front of God's people.’”
2009: Israel's Davis Cup team returned home today with mixed emotions, but already focused on next years competition. Despite the disappointment of losing 4-1 to Spain in the semifinals of the competition, the players and captain felt they gave their all in Murcia and were proud of reaching the last four of the prestigious competition for the first time in Israeli history.
2010: The Center for Jewish History and Jewish Women's Archive are scheduled to present Remembering Grace Paley: A panel discussion, with excerpts from Lilly Rivlin's new film
“Grace Paley: Collected Shorts”
2010: “Seven Minutes In Heaven” is scheduled to be shown at the 14th Annual Jewish Film Festival of Dallas (TX).
2010: Hundreds gathered in the rain in Riga’s Old City today for a ceremony to mark the partial opening of the Riga Ghetto Museum, which will commemorate the thriving Jewish community that was wiped out in the Holocaust.
2011: Former President George W. Bush is scheduled to speak at Beth El Synagogue today. The fundraising event at the Conservative synagogue in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, is being billed as “An Intimate Evening with the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush.” The audience will be limited to 250; ticket prices start at $1,250. Bush’s speaking fee is reported to be between $100,000 and $150,000. No press will be allowed to cover the event, according to an Aug. 22 letter from Beth El president Gil Mann.
2011: Jewish News One (JN1), the world’s first Jewish global 24hr news channel "that offers a new vision of current affairs," is scheduled to begin broadcasting today via satellite and will be available in Europe, America and the Middle East. A launch and presentation event is scheduled to take place in Brussels on the same day. The channel owners are Igor Kolomoisky and Vadim Rabinovich, respectively President and Vice President of the European Jewish Union (EJU), a body dedicated to promote Jewish life in Europe. Jewish News One will have news bureaus in Tel Aviv, Brussels and Kiev. In the coming months the channel is planning to open further bureaus in Washington, Paris and London
2011(22nd of Elul): Yahrzeit of Joseph B. Levin – if it weren't for him, in more ways than one, none of this would exist proving that there is more than one way "to be inscribed in the book of life."
2012: Team Israel is scheduled to play either France or Spain in its second game at the World Baseball Classic which “is considered to be the premier international baseball tournament”
