2012-09-25

September 26

1348: Pope Clement VI issued a Bull contradicting the libel against the Jews stating that they were suffering just like the rest of
Europe
. Other rulers issued like denunciations but with little effect or no effect.

1350:Coronation of King John II of France, The Jews had been banished from France so there were no Jews living in his kingdom when he took the throne.  Thanks to the King’s folly, the Jews would return during his reign.  During the Hundred Years War, King John II was captured the English after the defeat at Battle of Poitiers.  The English demanded a substantial ransom from the impoverished and impotent French Dauphin, the future Charles V.  To raise funds, Charles enticed the Jews to return to France with a liberal charter of rights.  He then levied heavy taxes on them which helped to free the king. A wiser monarch than King John might have avoided the crushing defeat at Poitiers which meant that the Jews would have continued to be exiled from a large portion of western Europe.

1629: Rabbi Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller returned to Prague after having finally been released from prison.  The terms of his release included payment of large fine and being deprived of the right to serve as a Rabbi any place in the
Holy Roman Empire
. He took to his bed, a broken man, for three months.  Friends succeeded in having the sentence reduced and helped him obtain a position in

Russia

.  The tragedies that befell this sage were not brought on by the gentiles. Rather, it was his fellow Jews in

Bohemia

, who felt that they had been, taxed unfairly who went to the civil authorities and lodged charges against him.  Then, and only then, did the Emperor become involved.

1669: Today marked a continuation of events that had begun on September 25, 1669 in what can only be described as another blood libel. After a warrant had been sworn out for the arrest of Raphael Levi in the matter of the disappearance of 3 year old Christian child, the Jews of Metz (Germany) convinced him to surrender to authorities.  The Jews were animated by what they sensed was a growing threat to their safety.  Levi was a fifty-six year old merchant of medium height with a long, black beard who had traveled to the Levant, Italy, Germany and Holland on personal and Jewish communal business.  Currently, he lived at Boulai, a village near Metz, where he was the leader of the synagogue. Levi told authorities that he come to Metz to buy a shofar for the upcoming holiday, oil, wine and fish.  He arrived in Metz at 10 in the morning, left the city about one in the afternoon and arrived at Boulai by four in the afternoon.  The prosecution decided that he must have seen the child around 1 p.m., grabbed him and taken him home. Of the eighteen witnesses called, five claimed to have seen a Hebrew enter the city but only one of them identified Levi as being the person they had seen.  One witness “declared that he did not think” Levi “was the man he had met. Regardless, the court found Levi guilty and sentenced him to death.  Levi appealed to a higher court which granted him the right to call his own witnesses.  In the mean time, Levi was held in jail awaiting the determination of his final fate. [More will follow on this sad, but all too typical tale of European anti-Semitism]

1673:At a conference held in Wischaw, Moravia, today, between representatives of the government and of the Jews it was agreed that 250 Jewish families might return to Vienna and occupy fifty business places in the inner city on payment of 300,000 florins and the former yearly tax of 10,000 florins. In view of the hopelessly depleted treasury, the royal exchequer considered this offer a "remarkable piece of good fortune."

Read more: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=76&letter=V&search=Albert#ixzz1YvBPfL2D

1699: Birthdate of Anglo-Irish actor Charles Macklin who revolutionized the portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice

1762: Birthdate of Moses Schreiber, known to his own community and Jewish posterity as Moshe Sofer, also known by his main work Chasam Sofer, (trans. Seal of the Scribe and acronym for Chidushei Toras Moshe Sofer), (1762 - 1839), was one of the leading Orthodox rabbis of European Jewry in the first half of the nineteenth century. He was a teacher to thousands and a powerful opponent to the Reform movement, which was then making inroads into many Jewish communities in Austria-Hungary and beyond. As Rav of the city of Bratislava, he maintained a strong Orthodox Jewish perspective through communal life, first-class education, and uncompromising opposition to Reform and radical change.

1794(2nd of Tishrei, 5555): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah

1832(2nd of Tishrei, 5593): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah

1832: In an article entitled “The New Year’s Eve and Day of the Sons of Abraham,” the Sydney (Australia) Monitor reported that “the Jews of the colony assembled at the Jews' Synagogue held over Mr. Rowell's shop in George Street which is elegantly fitted out as such on Monday evening, being the last night of the year, according to the ancient chronology of the tribe of Judah, when prayers were said. On Tuesday morning and again in the evening, other meetings took place and worship was again performed.

The congregation formulated detailed rules of conduct. A committee member not attired in decent and respectable manner was to be fined a guinea for each such offence. No person could officiate at a service without permission from the president. No conversation must take place during services; and "those Gentlemen being the junior branches of their families will take special care they behave themselves in a manner becoming a place of Divine Worship". The order of service and religious principles of the congregation were to be those laid down by the Chief Rabbi of London.

1843(2ndof Tishrei, 5604): Rosh Hashanah

1849(10thof Tishrei, 5610): Yom Kippur

1849: Fifty Jews gathered in San Francisco for the first observance of Yom Kippur in that city.

1854: An article styled "Jamaica” published today reported that sermons are still being preached on the island in an attempt to get additional funds to support the destitute Jews in Jerusalem and its environs.  Despite the depressed economic conditions on the island, almost four thousand dollars has been collected which will be forwarded to Sir Moses Montifiore.

1860(10th of Tishrei, 5621): Yom Kippur

1860: The Cattle Markets column published this evening attributes some of the sluggishness in sales at the cattle yards on 44th street to the fact that the Jewish buyers were not there to make purchases because they were observing the Fast of Yom Kippur.

1860: Today's General News column included an item styled, “Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement’ that reported, “From sunset last evening until sunset to-day is observed by the Jews as the most solemn fast in their calendar. It is the "Day of Atonement," and during the time specified they abstain entirely from food and drink. According to Hebrew tradition, the Yom Kippur, even before the giving of the law, was a Day of Atonement and pardon. It is customary in the evening for parents to bestow their benediction on their children. If any quarrel or dispute exists between the Jews, it is obligatory on them to become reconciled. The moral influence of such a day, when all Jews, rich or poor, meet together in the synagogues and unite in the prayers, must necessarily be great... The origin of the fast is found in Leviticus, chapter xxiv., verse 26, which is as follows: "And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say, also on the tenth day in the seventh month is the day of atonement: it shall be a holy convocation unto you. And ye shall afflict your souls, and offer a burn offering unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement to atone for you before the Lord your God. And every soul that shall not be afflicted on the same day, He will cut off from among His people. And every soul that does work on that same day, that soul will I destroy from among His people. Ye shall do no manner of work; this is a statute for ever unto all your generations, and throughout all your dwellings. It shall be unto you, the first among your Sabbaths, and ye shall afflict your souls, on the ninth day of the month at even; from even to even shall you celebrate your Sabbath."

1861(22ndof Tishrei, 5622): Shemini Atzeret

1861:An article entitled “Benefit to the Jewish Hospital” reported that the will of Henry Hendricks has been admitted to probate and leaves $1,000 to the Jew’s Hospital and “$500 to Rev. J.J. Lyon, the Minister of the Congregation of the Shearith Israel.” Hendricks was the member of a prominent Sephardic family.  Hendricks is an anglicized form the Spanish name Henriques.

1861: Jews and Christians alike took part in a national day of “fasting, humiliation and prayer.” Jews filled their synagogues as the people of New York ceased from commercial activity in a manner not even seen on the Sabbath.

1862(2ndof Tishrei, 5623): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah

1870(1stof Tishrei, 5631): Rosh Hashanah

1870: All of the 27 synagogues in New York City were filled with Jews celebrating their New Year.

1870: Chatham Street, the Bowery “and the various other streets” where the Jews conduct their business were as devoid as empty as they would be on the weekly day of rest.

1874(15th of Tishrei, 5635): Sukkoth

1874: “Chag Hassakoth” published today described the observance that began yesterday evening of the “Jew Festival of ‘Succoth,’ more familiarly known as the Feast of Tabernacles.”  “The attendance at the synagogues and temples was not large, in consequence of the holiday following so close on the New Year.”

1875:It was reported today that there are 19 Jewish congregations in New York

1878: Several cases were heard in Part II of the Court of General Sessions (NYC) in which the defendants were charged with violating laws that banned keeping live fowl in dwellings.  The accused were all Jews who claimed that Jewish law required them to keep live fowl in their possession for three days before they could be killed. Since a religious defense was being used by the defendants, the prosecutor insisted that no Jews should serve on the jury.  After the jury had been seated, one of the jurors was excused because he looked like a Jew.  It turned out that the juror was the brother of a Christian minister.  The jury acquitted all of the accused.

1879(9thof Tishrei, 5640): Erev Yom Kippur

1879: An article entitled “The Jewish Feast of Atonement” reported that “this evening the solemn fast of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement, the most important observance in the Jewish ritual will commenced by the Jewish throughout the world.  The fast lasts from sundown on Friday evening until sunset on Saturday” a time during which “the devout Israelite does not permit either or drink of any kind to pass his lips.”  The article noted that Orthodox Jews observe the fast strictly while some Reform congregations in the United States have abolished the practice. “The services…consist chiefly of repeated confessions of the sins which have been committed during the past year and prayers for forgiveness.”

1881: This evening, Mr. Samuel Greenbaum, President of the Young Men's Hebrew Association presided over the Association's memorial service honoring the late President Garfield.  Among the dignitaries who attended the service was Mr. R.J. de Cordova who gave an eloquent eloquent eulogy.  Congressman Einstein concluded his remarks by saying. "Garfield needs no granite shat to mark his grave; he will live forever in the hearts of his countrymen."

1881: Birthdate of Ernst Gräfenberg, the German born American physician who developed the IUD. Gräfenberg literally owed his life to Margaret Sanger who ransomed him from a Nazi prison and brought him to the United States.

1884: “Defending Mr. Friedman” published today gave David Longsdorf’s account of the events surrounding the elopement of Sarah Scheuer and his friend Henry Friedman.  Longsdorf contends that the two had known each other for almost a year; that contrary to the claims of the bride’s father, he had known the groom since the first of the year.  The two lived within a block of each other and the groom’s sister had helped the bride with preparations for a New Year’s party in 1884.  The real objection to Friedman stems from the fact that while he could provide Sarah with a comfortable life-style, her father opposed the marriage because Friedman could not provide her with the lavish lifestyle of her father.  (Yes, this is the stuff of which news was made long before Entertainment Tonight, etc.)

1884: The Jews of New York City are scheduled to hold the first in a series of mass meetings to protest the refusal of the School Superintendent to allow children to be excuse  from class for Yom Kippur.

1888:  Birthdate of the famed, influential poet, T.S. Eliot.  Was the author of “The Wasteland” and “The Love Song J. Alfred Prufrock” an anti-Semite as some have alleged?  For at least one answer read T. S. Eliot, Anti-Semitism, and Literary Form by Anthony Julius.

1889: Birthdate of famed German intellectual, Martin Heidegger. Heidegger joined the Nazi Party on
May 1, 1933
, before being appointed the rector of the university in
Freiburg
. He resigned from the position in February 1934. During this time Heidegger's former teacher Husserl, who was Jewish, was denied the use of the university library at
Freiburg
because of the racial cleansing laws issued by the Nazi Party. Heidegger also removed the dedication to Husserl from Being and Time when it was reissued in 1941. Heidegger later claimed that this was due to pressure from his publisher, Max Niemeyer. Additionally, when Heidegger's Introduction to Metaphysics (originally published in 1935) was reissued after the war, he declined to remove a reference to the then current Nazi Party of Germany, choosing instead to add a parenthetical explanation about a confrontation between technology and man, stating the "inner truth and greatness of this movement [i.e., national socialism] (namely, the contact/opposition of planetary technology and modern man)" still existed. Many readers came to interpret this ambiguous remark as evidence of his continued belief in extreme right-wing political movements; although Heidegger himself refused to associate the comment with the former failed Nazi regime. The Nazi swastika symbol The National Socialist German Workers Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ...May 1 is the 121st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (122nd in leap years). ...National socialism may refer to: Nazism, the political ideology of the German Nazi Party of the 1930s to 1940sCritics further cite Heidegger's affair with Hannah Arendt, when she was a doctoral student of his at the

University
of
Marburg

. This affair mostly went along in the 20s, sometime before Heidegger's involvement in Nazism, but it did not even end when she "fled" from him and moved to Heidelberg to continue with Karl Jaspers, and she later spoke on his behalf at his denazification hearings. Jaspers spoke against him at these same hearings, suggesting he would have a detrimental influence on young German students because of his powerful teaching presence. Arendt, who was Jewish, resumed their friendship, if extremely cautiously, after the war, despite or even because of the widespread contempt that Heidegger was held in for his political sympathies, and despite his being forbidden from teaching for a number of years.

1889(1st of Tishrei, 5650): Rosh Hashanah

1889: Possible birthdate of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira known as the Baba Sali or the "Praying a leading Moroccan rabbi and kabbalist who was renowned for his alleged ability to work miracles through his prayers. He was one of the leaders of the Aliyah of Moroccan Jewry to Israel, which saw the transfer of nearly the entire population of that community to the Holy Land. He passed away in 1894.  His burial place in Netivot, Israel has become a shrine for prayers and petitioners. The confusion about his birthdate comes from the fact that he was reportedly born on Rosh Hashanah 5650.  But he is also reported to have been born in 1890.  Rosh Hashanah in 1890 corresponds to 5651 on the secular calendar.

1891: The New York Times reports Kaiser Wilhelm II has reversed his policy of not providing financial help to

Russia

and has permitted to Jewish banking houses in

Berlin

to open subscriptions for a new Russian loan.

1891: Solomon Hirsch, the United States Minister to

Turkey

sailed with his family on voyage that will take him back to

America

for a vacation that he hopes will last until December.

1896: Sara and Jacob Adler give birth to their son Jay Adler, the American actor.  Adler’s parents were thespians as were their other two children Jacob and Sara Adler.

1898(10th of Tishrei, 5659): Yom Kippur

1898: Dr. Joseph Silverman of Temple Emanu-El is scheduled to give a sermon today entitled “A Pure World.”

1898: An article entitled “Yom Kippur Observance” reported that “At sundown yesterday Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, the most solemn of all Jewish days of religious observance, began for Jews of both the orthodox and reform churches, to end at sundown to-day. These twenty-four hours are specially dedicated to fasting and prayer, and serve the purpose of reconciling the soul of the devout Jew to his God.”

1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calenda1898: Birthdate of composer George Gershwin.  Born Jacob Gershowitz in
Brooklyn
to Russian Jewish immigrants, GershwinFreiburg city from Schlossberg Freiburg im Breisgau is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, in the Breisgau region, on the western edge of the southern Black Forest (German: Schwarzwald) with about 200,000 inhabitants. ... wrote most of his works together with his elder brother lyricist Ira Gershwin. Gershwin composed both for Broadway and for the classical concert hall. Some of his works included Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and Porgy and Bess.

1902 (24th of Elul, 5662):  Levi Strauss, the man who put America in Blue Jeans, passed away.

1902: “Mercedes” was legally registered as a brand name for one of the automobiles manufactured by DMG.  The car was named for Mercedes, the daughter of Jewish businessman Emil Jellinek.

1902: An item in the Jewish Chronicle of London focused on the consecration of a Sefer Torah and shofar in addition to several large barrels of apples and small containers of honey, all to be used by Jewish immigrants sailing shortly for South Africa. The short piece stressed that these items were needed since "the immigrants will be on the high seas during the ensuing festivals."

1907: New Zealand gains dominion status in the British Empire. Jews first arrived in Zealand in the 1830’s.  By the turn of the century, the Jewish population had reached about 1,300 souls which was less than one per cent of the population. Most of the Jews lived in Auckland and Wellington, home of Beth El Synagogue.

1912(15thof Tishrei, 5673): Sukkoth

1917(10th of Tishrei, 5678): Yom Kippur

1917: During services at the B’Nai Israel in Bay Ridge, congregants contributed $10,000 to a fund for constructing a new synagogue.  Rabbi Solomon Goldman officiated at the service.

1917: Congregants at Temple Emanu-El responded to the appeal of Louis Marshall contributing $20,000 and pledging another $30,000 to the fund that has been set up to provide financial assistance to the Jews trapped in the European war zone.

1917: Congregants at Temple Beth-El, which is served by Rabbi Samuel Schulman contributed between $9,000 and $10,000 to the fund that has been set up to provide financial assistance to the Jews trapped in the European war zone.

1917: Congregants as Ohav Zevek, the largest Orthodox synagogue in New York, contributed more than $17,000 to the fund that has been set up to provide financial assistance to the Jews trapped in the European war zone.

1917: Congregants at the Pincus Elijah Synagogue in New York City pledged close to $15,000 to the fund that has been set up to provide financial assistance to the Jews trapped in the European war zone.

1917: On Yom Kippur, Dr. Maurice H. Harris delivered a sermon at Temple Israel in New York entitled “Religion and Education.”

1918: Near Eclisfontaine, France, U.S. Army Sergeant Phillip Katz voluntarily crossed  “an area swept by heavy machinegun fire,”  advancing “to where the wounded soldier lay and carried him to a place of safety."  This bravery earned him a Congressional Medal of Honor

1919: The Hahambashi of Turkey was granted an audience with the Shah of Persia, who paid tribute to the patriotism of Jews of Persia. The Shah attributed the progress of civilization to the Alliance Israelite Universelle schools.

1920: In response to the death yesterday of Jacob Schiff “Personal tributes to his philanthropic instincts and the humanitarian work” poured in from a variety of sources including such  Jewish leaders such as Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler, Dr. Cyrus Adler and Judge Mayer Sulzberger as well as leaders from the secular society including famed statesmen Elihu Root and George Baker of the Grover Cleveland Association.

1925: Second baseman Buddy Myer made his major league debut with the Washington Senators.

1927(29thof Elul, 5687): Erev Rosh Hashanah

1928: Following the attempt by the police to remove the mechitza at the Wall on Yom Kippur, a delegation consisting of Colonel Frederick H. Kisch, Dr. Joshua Thon, Chief Rabbis A.H. Kook and Jacob A Meir, and Mssrs. Kalvarsisky and Meyuchased met with Acting High Commissioner H.C. Luke for two hours today to discuss the need to discipline those responsible for the action taken against the worshippers and a way in which problems at the Wall could be avoided in the future.  The police officials explained that they had removed the “screen” to avoid violence since the Moslems threatened to stone the Jews if the mechitzah remained in place.

1935: Slugger Hank Greenberg declared that his Tigers were the best team in baseball; better even than the Chicago Cubs who think they will make it into the World Series.

1936(10thof Tishrei, 5697): Yom Kippur

1937: The Palestine Post reported that another wealthy Christian landowner was murdered by Arab terrorists in the Maloul village, near

Nazareth

. [Editors Note: One of the unreported stories has been the departure of the Christian Arabs from PLO controlled territory.  Other ancient Christian communities have felt the pressure of Arab and/or Islamic groups including those in Iraq, the Sudan, Lebanon and Nigeria.]

1937:  The Palestine Post reported that the Polish government published warning posters against disturbances of any kind and arrested large numbers of hooligans who took part in the recent anti-Jewish excesses. A Polish delegation which visited

Madagascar

reported that there were there large areas of potentially fertile lands for a possible Jewish settlement.

1938(1stof Tishrei, 5699): Rosh Hashanah

1938: Plans were made for Levi Yitzchok Bender and his wife  to escape the clutches of Soviet authorities  because he had visited  the grave of Rebbe Nachman at Uman in defiance of the government’s ban on such religious observances.

1940(23rd of Elul, 5700): Official date of death for Walter Benjamin, the German-Jewish intellect whose endeavors covered a myriad of fields.  Benjamin actually committed suicide the evening before after finding out that the Franco government was going to force him return to France where he faced certain imprisonment by the Nazis.

http://www.xtimeline.com/evt/view.aspx?id=137556

1940: The Center of Jews (UHU) was founded in Slovakia to organize Jewish life. The UHU was a government apparatus to determine the fate of Jews in that country. UHU disbanded all 175 Jewish organizations in

Slovakia

.

1941(5th of Tishrei, 5702): The SS shot 412 men, 615 women and 581 children in Kovno. The Jews were described as sick people and carriers of epidemics.

1941(5th of Tishrei, 5702): Jews of

Swieciany
,
Lithuania

, are massacred in the nearby Polygon Woods. Several hundred young Jewish men manage to escape

1941: In

Ejszyszki
,
Lithuania

, the killing of Jews that had begun on Rosh Hashanah came to an end.  Almost four thousand Jews were killed.  About 300 Lithuanians voluntarily participated in the killing "actions" undertaken by Einsatzgruppe A in the Baltic region, which annihilated about 90 percent of the Jewish population. Only 30 Jews from Ejszyszki survived the war.

1942(15thof Tishrei, 5703): Sukkoth

1942: Instructions were issued to the Swiss Police stating, "Refugees on the grounds of race alone are not political refugees". This meant that thousands of Jews would now be sent back from the border.  Swiss behavior regarding the Nazis and the Jews paints a peculiar picture.  The supposedly neutral Swiss would be more or less or responsive to Nazi requests based on what was happening on the battlefields of
Europe
.  In 1942 the Germans were in control of
Western Europe
and were blitzing their way across

Russia

so a ruling like this is not surprising.  The Swiss would not surrender most the money deposited by Jewish refugees until a half century had gone by; and then only after litigation and political pressure.

1942: SS Lieutenant General August Frank advises camp administrators that jewelry and other valuables seized from Jews should be sent to the German Reichsbank, and that razors and other practical items should be cleaned and delivered to front-line troops for sale to them. Proceeds will go to the Reich. Further, confiscated household items are to be distributed to ethnic Germans.

1942: Brussels Jewish leader Edward Rotbel is deported to Auschwitz. Several hundred Dutch Jews are gassed there

1942: German railway officials meet in

Berlin

for two days to plan track upgrades and additional trains in order to hasten deportations of Jews.

1942: For three days search parties of German and Ukrainian police capture 1000 of 2000 Jews who escaped from the Tuchin (

Ukraine

) Ghetto on September 24. Some Jews would be taken to Tuchin's Jewish cemetery and shot, while most are killed where they are found in the forest.

1943: Following the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto, Abba Kovner led his resistance group on a dangerous trip through gutted buildings and dank swamps to the forests of

Poland

where they could continue the fight against the Nazis and their Estonian allies.

1943: One day after official instructions arrived ordering the deportation of the Jews of Rome the Nazis demanded that Ugo Foa, president of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities, have the Jews hand over 110 pounds of gold within 36 hours or 200 Jews would be deported.

1943: At the Novogrudok,

Belorussia

, labor camp, Jews complete secret work on a tunnel dug under the wire. Of the 220 Jews who use the tunnel to attempt escape, 120 are killed or captured.

1943: Mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia warned the Jewish community in his regular Sunday broadcast that the price of whitefish, which will be in greater demand for the Jewish holidays beginning next Thursday, was likely to be increased to $1 or $1.25 a pound, according to trade information.

1944(9thof Tishrei, 5705): Erev Yom Kippur

1944:  Operation Market-Garden ends in failure.

Montgomery

advocated this plan to slice through

Holland

and seize the bridges over the

Rhine

River

.  The idea was folly and best and certainly was beyond

Montgomery

’s capability since it required rapid movement of his troops.  Implementing the plan drew supplies away from the rapidly advancing forces of George Patton.  Failure prolonged the war and increased the number of Jews who perished in the Holocaust.

1944: On this day of Yom Kippur, 1000 young boys are assembled at
Auschwitz
in the presence of Dr. Josef Mengele. Any boy whose head does not reach a board Mengele has nailed to a post is set aside for gassing.

1944: Archibald Maule Ramsay, a former British Army officer and Member of Parliament who was an out-spoken anti-Semite was released from custody today. He had been arrested in 1940 under regulation 18B which allowed the government to detain Nazi sympathizers.  Following his release he returned to his seat in the Commons where he attempted to have the Statue of the Jewry, a piece of anti-Semitic law dating back to the time of Longshanks, reinstituted.

1948: Prime Minister Ben Gurion met with his cabinet to discuss plans for the Galilee if fighting should be renewed.

1949(3rdof Tishrei, 5710): Tzom Gedaliah

1950: On the eve of the Maccabiah games which open tomorrow, five hundred Jewish athletes from twenty countries are living in the Maccabiah Village (a converted army camp) as they prepare to compete in the first “Jewish Olympics” held since 1935.  The games began in 1932 under the sponsorship of the Maccabee sport organization.  Among the competitors are two Olympic champions from the United States – Henry Wittenberg, light heavy-weight wrestler and Frank Spellman, middleweight weightlifter.

1952: It was reported today Alex Traub, who has designed engines for tanks and automobiles in the United States  and Europe will be coming to Israel in January to act as an advisor on automobile engineering.

1952: It was reported today that the new professors coming to work at the Institute of Technology in Israel include aeronautical experts Dr. Hirsch Cohen of PSU and  H. Jerome Shafter of Princeton as well as “ a specialist in the solvent extraction of petroleum, Dr. Jacob M. Geist.’ (MIT)

1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that two Jews, a soldier and a farmer, were murdered by terrorist infiltrators near the Egyptian border.

1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that a second group of urban workers who decided to return to the land, under the auspices of the town-to-the-village movement, settled in
Upper Galilee
, northwest of Ma¹ayan Baruch.

1952:  The Jerusalem Post reported that after more than four months of protracted negotiations, Yitzhak Kariv, a local Mizrahi Bank manager, was elected mayor of

Jerusalem

by a right-wing coalition.

1956: Moshe Dayan and Shimon Peres drove to the headquarters of Colonel Ariel Sharon the officer commanding the paratroops who had been instructed to carry out an attack in reprisal for Arab attacks including those of September 23 and September 25 that had cost five non-combatant deaths among the Israelis.

1956: The IDF reprisal raid commanded by Ariel Sharon successfully attacked the Jordanian outpost at Wadi Fukin.  The Jordanians lost 37 soldiers and two civilians at a cost of ten IDF dead.

1957(1stof Tishrei, 5718): On the first day of Rosh Hashanah Mitchell Levin chants Samuel for the first time.

1957: Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story opens on Broadway.  The Jewish musician takes Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and converts into a musical set among the gang culture of mid-twentieth century

New York City

.

1958: Release date in the United States of the cinematic version of “Damn Yankees,” featuring lyrics and music by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross.

1961: Bob Dylan, the musical voice of the counter-culture makes his debut. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman, Dylan even made a bar mitzvah before assuming the role of musical rebel

1963:According to reports published today, “Jack Benny, who left the National Broadcasting Company 15 years ago to pick up a quick $2,260,000 at the Columbia Broadcasting System, will return to N.B.C. next fall.”

1963: Pitcher Larry Yellen made his major league debut with the Houston Colt .45’s.

1968(4th of Tishrei, 5729: Israeli physician Ben Shlomo Lipman-Heilprin passed away.  Born in Bialystok in 1902, he studied medicine in Germany before making Aliyah in 1934.  His accomplishments were of such merit that he was the first recipient of the Israel Prize for medicine.

1969: Opening of the trial of the Chicago Seven.  The accused leaders of the riots on the streets of Chicago during the 1968 Democratic Convention included the requisite number of Jews.  Ironically, the Judge in the case was also Jewish.  At one point it was Abbe Hoffman versus Judge Hoffman.

1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Menachem Begin warned Gush Emunim not to implement its plan for an immediate establishment of 11 new settlements in
Judea
and

Samaria

, without the Ministerial Committee on Settlement¹s proper authorization. One of the on-going challenges for the Israelis over the last quarter of a century has been the willingness of some of the leader the "settlers' movement" to disobey or disregard the law.  This challenge transcends issues of Israeli security and goes to the heart of the nature of Jewish and not just Israeli values.

1977:  The Jerusalem Post reported that Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan argued in

Washington

that

Israel

had agreed only to a 'symbolic' reconvening of the Geneva Middle East Peace Conference.

Israel

, Dayan said, would refuse to negotiate at any forum which might include the PLO.  A quarter of a century later, this whole issue has become meaningless in the sense that the Israelis have negotiated with the PLO since the days of the Oslo Accords.  This does serve to show that the Israelis have been willing to shift their stance and deal with the Palestinians In a political venue.  The fact of the matter is that the other side has still not matched this.

1982(9thof Tishrei, 5743): Erev Yom Kippur

1985: Opening of “Bernstein: The Television Work” at the Museum of Broadcasting in New York City.

1988:15th of Tishrei, 5749): Sukkoth

1988:15th of Tishrei, 5749): Forty-eight year old, journalist, author and ‘returning Jew’ Paul Cowan passed away today. (As reported by Joseph Berger)

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/09/27/obituaries/paul-cowan-village-voice-writer-and-author-of-5-books-dies-at-48.html

1995(2ndof Tishrei, 5756): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah

1999: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Trust: The Private and Powerful Family Behind The New York Timesby Susan E. Tifft and Alex S. Jones, Hitler’s Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII by John Cornwell, The Spectator: Talk About Movies and Plays With the People Who Make Them by Studs Terkel and An Affair of State: The Investigation, Impeachment, and Trial of President Clinton by Richard A. Posner.

2001(9th of Tishrei, 5762): Erev Yom Kippur

2002(20th of Tishrei, 5763): During Sukkoth, Rabbi Zerach Warfhaftig, the native of Volkovyski who made Aliyah in 1947 passed away.  During WW II, he worked with Japanese Vice-Consul in Kaunas Lithuania, Chiune Sugihara, the courageous diplomat who defied his government by issuing visas that saved the lives of thousands of Jews.  Warfhatig was one of the signatories of Israel’s Declaration of Independence and served in the first 9 Knessets.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/zerach-warhaftig-a-founder-of-national-religious-party-dead-at-96-1.33043

2003(29th of Elul, 5763): Erev Rosh Hashanah

2003: It was reported today that Prime Minister had implied that Ariel will be included in the security barrier being constructed to protect Israelis from suicide bombers.

2004: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Just Enough Liebling by the legendary New Yorker Writer by A. J. Liebling, The Divine Husband by Francisco Goldman. Joy Comes in the Morning byJonathan Rosen, Lying Together: My Russian Affair byJennifer Beth Cohen, The Flawed Architect: Henry Kissinger and American Foreign Policy<s

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