September 27 In History
0070 The walls of the upper city of Jerusalem were battered down by the Roman army
1331: Polish forces under Wladyslaw and his son Casimir defeated the Germanic Knights at the Battle of Plowce. From a military point of view the battle may have been a draw but it was a political victory for the Poles since it enabled them to assert their national identity. For the Jews, this has to be viewed as a positive event since when Casimir assumed the throne he treated the Jews in a favorable fashion and welcomed them as they fled Germany where they had been accused of causing the Black Plague.
1480: The Catholic Kings of Spain Ferdinand and his wife Queen Isabella ordered a tribunal in their kingdoms to study cases of heresy. This is the start of what would soon be known as the Spanish Inquisition.
1481: In Medina del Campo.Miguel de Morillo and Juan de San Martín were named, as the first two inquisitors of the Spanish Inquisition.
1540: The Society of Jesus known as The Jesuits was founded by Ignatius Loyola The first Jesuits were Spanish Christians who began their work at a time when the reconquest of Spain from the Moslems was but recently accomplished, and persons with Moorish or Jewish ancestry were under suspicion. It is accordingly much to their credit that the Jesuits were firmly opposed (particularly under Ignatius and his first three successors as Superior General of the Jesuits) to ecclesiastical anti-Semitism and to the Inquisition's persecution of suspected Jews. When Ignatius was accused of having partly Jewish ancestry, he replied, "If only I did! What could be more glorious than to be of the same blood as the Apostles, the Blessed Virgin, and our Lord Himself?"
1601: Birthdate of King Louis XIII. Louis was king of
France
for 33 of his 43 years. He and his son Louis XIV were the two monarchs who ruled the dominate European power for almost the entire 17th century. When Louis came of age and began ruling in his own right he reaffirmed the ban on Jews living in
France
that had been in effect since the fourteenth century, despite the fact that his mother had brought a practicing Jew to
France
to service as Louis’ doctor when he was a child. On at least two occasions, Louis let economic necessity overcome the anti-Jewish policy. When the French acquired the city of
Metz
, Louis allowed the Jews to stay in the city since they were an integral part of the city’s economic well-being. The Jews of Martinique were left alone to help build this new outpost in
France
’s colonial empire.
1777: During the American Revolution,
Lancaster
,
PA
is capital of the
United States
for one day.
Lancaster
was approximately 60 miles west of
Philadelphia
. “A Jewish burial plot had been set aside there as early as 1747. Jewish religious services were conducted in the home of Joseph Simon. Simon was the father-in-law of Michael Gratz, part of
Pennsylvania
’s most prominent Jewish family. Simon was one of the leading traders on the frontier and supplied the Continental Army with large amounts of muskets, ammunition and other supplies. After the Revolution, the smaller
Lancaster
community was absorbed by the larger
Philadelphia
Jewish community. The Jewish community would reappear in
Lancaster
in the years preceding the Civil War as evidenced by the establishment of a synagogue in 1856.
1791: The National Assembly grants civil rights to the Jews of Alsac and Lorraine completing the process of emancipation for French Jews.
1791: In
France
, Jews were granted full rights and declared citizens. Some sources contend that this was the first time that Jews were declared full citizens of any country since the
Roman Empire
. However, this contention is not wholly accurate. Jewish in the
United States
were full citizens from the time of the country's birth. This point was driven home by the Anti-Establishment clause of the First Amendment. The Jews were never declared citizens because nobody was. In fact the first time that such a declaration would take place would be at the time of the Civil War with the ratification of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. Jewish women would share in the same disabilities as non-Jewish women and would not become fully participating citizens until they were guaranteed the right to vote by the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1792: Birthdate of George Cruikshank the British caricaturist who illustrated Oliver Twist for Charles Dickens. His drawing of “Fagin in his cell” is an example of the work the did for this anti-Semitic novel. Cruikshank later claimed that he had created much of the plot for the novel, a claim that Dickens denied.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cruikshank_fagin_cell.jpg
1794(3rdof Tishrei, 5555): Shabbat Shuvah; fast is put off until Sunday.
1810: Rothschild and his elder sons drew up a new irrevocable partnership agree replacing the 1796 agreement.
1812(21stof Tishrei): Hoshanah Rabah
1825(15thof Tishrei): Sukkoth
1826: Birthdate of Julius Bien. Educated at the Academy of Fine Arts, Cassel, and at Städel's Institute, Frankfort-on-the-Main, he moved to New York where he established a lithographic business in 1850. He was president of the National Lithographers' Association from 1886 to 1896, and was a member of numerous scientific societies. Bien was twice president of the order B'nai B'rith.
1836: Birthdate of Isaiah Luzzato, the son of S.D. Luzzato, who practiced law in his native Padua, Italy.
1839(19th of Tishrei, 5600): Fifth day of Sukkoth
1839(19th of Tishrei, 5600): Manis (Morris) Jacobs passed away. Born in 1782 at Amsterdam, he moved to New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was a co-founder and president of Congregation Shangarai Chasset. Jacobs served as the congregation’s first rabbi even though he had not been formally ordained. This was not an unusual situation in the United States since there was no school for training clergy at this time and most European rabbis were reluctant to come to a place they consider hostile to Jewish way of life. In 1881 Shangarai Chasset would merge with Nefutzot Yehuda to form Touro Synagogue a Reform congregation located on St. Charles Avenue.
1843(3rd of Tishrei, 5604): Tzom Gedaliah
1850(21st of Tishrei, 5611): Hoshanah Rabah
1854: Frederick Catherwood, an English artist and architect passed away. Catherwood was not Jewish. He was one of several artists who visited Palestine and provided the West with depictions of “the Holy Land.” During his visit to Jerusalem in 1833, he may have been the first Westerner to survey the Temple Mount.
1858: The New York Times reported that Samuel Morris, a thirty year old “Hebrew” has been arrested for stealing clothing from two of the boarding houses at which he has resided. Mr. Morris has also been charged with being a bigamist having begun marrying a series of women starting in July, 1856 and acquiring a new wife at the various boarding houses he has inhabited in the last two years.
1860: It was reported today that the cattle market in New York has been “sluggish” (low prices for sellers) because of the “superabundance of poor cattle” and the absence of the Jewish butchers from the market due to the celebration of their holidays.
1860: It was reported that “Joseph and his Brethren” is playing at Barnum’s little theatre in New York. The opening portion of the play is based on the biblical narrative but it then moves on to flights of fancy that include Babylonians and large numbers of Jews and Egyptians.
1861(23rd of Tishrei, 5622): Simchat Torah
1862(3rdof Tishrei, 5623): Shabbat Shuvah so the fast is put off for one day.
1870(2ndof Tishrei, 5631): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1870: It was reported today that there are 27 synagogues in New York City.
1870: It was reported today that yesterday that Chatham Street, the Bowery and the other places “where the chosen people do business presented a Sunday appearance” because the Jews were in their houses of worship observing their New Year. “Not a solitary store belonging to the Israelites was open…”
1871: Birthdate of Martin Henry Glynn, the first Roman Catholic to serve as Governor of New York. In 1919 he wrote an article entitled “The Crucifixion of Jews Must Stop!” that described the conditions of the Jews living in post War Europe. Considering the tenor of the times, it was a courageous act for a man in the political arena.
1872: The funeral of Mrs. Hannah H. Leo, the wife of Henry Leo was scheduled to place today. Mrs. Leo was active in many Jewish communal organizations including the “Auxiliary Society of the Mount Sinai Hospital of which she was President at the time of her death.
1874(16th of Tishrei, 5635): Second Day of Sukkoth
1874(16th of Tishrei, 5635): Rabbi S. M. Isaacs delivered the sermon at Gates of Praise Synagogue on 44th Street, between Broadway and Sixth Avenue in NYC. He told the congregation that “the festival was meant to remind them that their ancestors had once dwelt in tabernacles and to teach them that, whether in adversity or prosperity, they should always with gratitude remember God.”
1876(9thof Tishrei, 5637): Erev Yom Kippur
1876: “Jewish Day of Atonement” published today provides a brief but accurate of “the celebration of the fast of Yom Kippur.” It includes the fact that “in Orthodox synagogues the supplicants will wear shrouds to remind them of the grave. Reformed Jews, though joining in the fasting and praying, discard the shrouds.”
1878(15thof Tishrei, 5548): Sukkoth
1878: The New York Times featured a review of “The Writer Heine Loved Most: Lessing” by James Sime.
1879(10thof Tishrei, 5640): Yom Kippur
1879: Birthdate Hans Hahn an Austrian mathematician who made contributions to functional analysis, topology, set theory, the calculus of variations, real analysis, and order theory
1880: It was reported today that the last issued of the National Quarterly Review contains an article by David Ker entitled “The Political Future of the Jews.” He thinks that the probability of this “outlawed race” returning to Palestine, “the land of their fathers” “rests upon more durable grounds that the visions of fanatical zeal or of patriotic enthusiasm
1881: The SS Egypt arrived today from Liverpool carrying 48 Jewish immigrants who were met at Castle Garden by the newly formed committee that will help will advise and aid them as they adjust to their surroudnings.
1883: It was reported today that rioting in the Ukrainian town of Nowomoskowk has left 200 Jewish families homeless and that only one synagogue and three homes belonging to Jews “escaped demolition. The riot began because Jews were blamed for the plundering of a Russian Church.
1884: Abraham Jacobs and Jacob Jacobs (no relation) ended up being arrested after an altercation at the door way to the Covenant Hall on Orchard Street. The two combatants actually went to the police station together to file complaints against each other. When the desk sergeant was told that there were no witnesses he locked them both up until the matter was sorted out.
1891: The New York Times published reports from its foreign correspondents describing the desperate plight of the Jews of Russia. Two to three thousand Jews are attempting to leave the famine strapped Southern part of the empire, but this exodus “has no real effect on the hideous pressure of congested Jews inside the Pale.”
1899(23 of Tishrei, 5660): For the final time in the 19th century, Jews celebrated Simchat Torah
1905: Albert Einstein published the paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?" in Annalen der Physik. This paper revealed the relationship between energy and mass. . [If you have any questions about his work, I suggest you consult Dr. Joe Rosen, the only person I know who understands this sort of thing.]
1905: Third baseman Phil Cooney made his major league debut with the New York Highlanders (the modern day Yankees).
1905: In Philadelphia, Dr. Cyrus Adler married Miss Racie Friedenwald at the home of Mrs. Jane Friedenwald, the bride’s mother in a ceremony conducted by Rabbi Leon H. Elmaleh of Congregation Mikvah Hisrael. Dr. Adler was a native of Van Buren, a town in Crawford County, Arkansas.
1911: Birthdate ofwriter and humanitarian Ruth Gruber. Gruber, who had earned bachelor's and master's degrees by age 19 and a Ph.D. by 20, dedicated her life to helping relieve the oppression suffered by Jews worldwide. At the age of 21, Gruber began her career as a journalist, reporting on global politics. In 1944, Gruber was asked by the
US
Secretary of Interior Harold Ickes to conduct a secret mission to escort 1000 Italian Jewish refugees to
America
. This brief break in the nation's otherwise restrictive immigration policy allowed the refugees to be "guests" of President Roosevelt throughout the war. Throughout the mission, Gruber was aggressively hunted as a foreign spy by Nazi seaplanes and U-boats. In her writing of the experience of the refugees that she accompanied, Gruber drew attention to the plight of European Jews. After World War II Gruber returned to journalism and began reporting on the Jewish migration to
Palestine
. Her reports helped advance the dissolution of Displaced Person camps in
Africa
,
Europe
, and the
Middle East
. Throughout the 1940s Gruber worked to ensure the success and growth of
Israel
through her work as an activist and by sparking global attention through her news reports. Gruber continues to advocate for Jews worldwide and, for many, is herself a symbol of Jews' rescue from oppression. Gruber has written thirteen books, seven of which focus on the subject of
Israel
and the
Middle East
from the end of World War II to the present. Her book, Destination Palestine: The Story of the Haganah Ship Exodus 1947, was used as source material for the movie and book Exodus. Gruber's memoir, Ahead of My Time: My Early Years as a Foreign Correspondent,was published in 1999, and her life was the subject of Haven, a 2001 CBS miniseries.
1911(5th of Tishrei, 5672: Sixty-seven year old Auguste Michel –Lévy, the French geologist who became inspector of mines and director of the Geological Survey of France, passed away.
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9877-levy-august-michel
1913: Birthdate of Albert Ellis. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania he is a psychologist whose Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), is the foundation of all cognitive and cognitive behavior therapies. REBT is a comprehensive theory of personality and psychotherapy which holds that one's personal beliefs, evaluations, and personal philosophy control one's feelings. Thus, it is not external events that causes emotional disturbance, rather it is a person's own beliefs about events or adversity that produce it. Ellis proposed that the way to improve well being is to change ones thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. It was this principle that he first formally expressed in the early 1950's that became the basis of all cognitive psychotherapies.
1917: Birthdate of Rear Admiral Maurice H. Rindskopf who was the youngest submarine commander in World War II
1917:An article published today in New York entitled “Jews Give $350,000 for War Suffers” reported that When Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, came to a close at sunset yesterday more than $350,000 had been contributed within twenty-four hours in all the synagogues and temples of the city to the $10,000,000 relief fund which is being raised for the relief of Jewish war suffers in Europe.” The New York appeal was part of a nationwide movement designed to raise $10,000,000 for the Jews trapped in war-torn Europe and Palestine.
1917: Jacob Billlikopf, Executive Director of the American Jewish Relief Committee, said that yesterday’s Yom Kippur for funds to help relieve the suffering Jews trapped in war-torn Europe was separate from the Jacob Schiff’s campaign for funds that will begin on the first of December.
1917: The furloughs granted to U.S. soldiers and sailors so that they could observe Yom Kippur came to an end today.
1918(21st of Tishrei, 5679): Hoshanah Rabah
1918:General Allenby’s victorious cavalry rode across the Golan Heights into Syria, heading for Damascus.
http://jwa.org/thisweek/sep/27/1919/emma-goldman-arrested
1920: For the first time since 1492, the Spanish government formally recognized the Jewish community, according to it all privileges of other religious bodies.
1922: Birthdate of Arthur Hiller Penn, the American director and producer who was the younger brother of fashion photographer Arthur Penn.
1927(1st of Tishrei, 5688): Rosh Hashanah
1928: Birthdate of Lester Donald Shubin, the Philadelphia native who was among the U.S. troops that liberated Dachau. While working for the Justice Department, he developed one of the most effective bullet proof vests of the 1970’s.
1929: Birthdate of Leonard Jerome Harris, the Bronx native who became arts and theater critic for New York’s CBS television affiliate
1930: When the Yiddish talking film “The Jewish Mother,” an American production was presented for the time tonight at the Mograbi Theatre in Tel Aviv a mob of several thousands of Jews gathered outside the theatre shouting ‘Down with Yiddish! Hebrew is our language. Several young men, members of the ‘Army for the Defense of the Hebrew Langue,’ broke into the theatre and threw tear bombs. They also hurled ink bottles at the screen. Policemen immediately were sent to the scene and found it almost impossible to force their way through the huge mob. They finally succeeded in arresting about a dozen of the ringleaders and dispersing the mob. The show was then continued, but soon afterwards an even larger mob again gathered and the authorities found it necessary to order that the show be discontinued. Even then the crowd refused leave until all the lights in the theatre were out.”
1935(29th of Elul, 5695): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1936: The Maccabees of Tel Aviv, the soccer champions of Palestine are scheduled to play their first game against a team of the New York State Football Association at Yankee Stadium.
1937: Birthdate of Sir Kurt George Matthew Mayer Alberti who has served as the President of the Royal College of Physicians and the National Clinical Director for Emergency Access in the United Kingdom.
1938(2nd of Tishrei, 5699): On the second day of Rosh Hashanah Jews are barred from practicing law in Germany.
1938: As Rosh Hashanah came to an end Reb Levi Yitchok Bender made their clandestine escape by train from Uman to Kiev where an informer turned him over to the local police. After interrogation, he was released because he convinced them that he had been in Khrysthnivka and not Uman. The leader of the Breslov Chasidim would spend the war in Siberia before making Aliyah in 1949. He died forty years later.
1939: Berlin issues a command to establish Jewish ghettos in Poland on the same day that formal Polish military resistance collapses.
1940(24th of Elul, 5700: Walter Benjamin died by his own hands today. He was a German Jewish Marxist literary critic and philosopher. Benjamin committed suicide in Port Bou at the Spanish-French border, while attempting to escape from the Nazis, when it appeared that his party would be denied passage across the border to freedom. The rest of the group was allowed to cross the border the next day, possibly because their desperation was made clear by Benjamin's suicide. A completed manuscript which Benjamin had carried in his suitcase, possibly his "Arcades Project," disappeared after his death and has not been recovered.
1941(6th of Tishrei, 5702): The two day massacre of the Jews began at Babi Yar. Over 30,000 Jews gathered in
Kiev
, still believing that they were being resettled. They were brought to the ravine at
Babi Yar
, where they are ruthlessly shot down by machine gun. By the hundreds, men, women and children fall into the ravine, as they were riddled with bullets. In a strange twist of fate one woman, gave birth in the middle of the slaughter
1942(16th of Tishrei, 5703): Second Day of Sukkoth
1942(16th of Tishrei, 5703): An additional 897 French Jews were killed at Berkenau
1942(16th of Tishrei, 5703): Several hundred Belgian Jews were killed at Berkenau
1942(16th of Tishrei, 5703): Three hundred cold and hungry women and children, part of the 1000 Jews still at large following a September 24 escape from the ghetto at Tuchin, Ukraine, return to the city under German promises of safe repatriation. All 300 are shot. Of the 700 Tuchin Jews who remained at large, only about 20 will survive the war.
1942: The ghetto at Parysow, Poland was liquidated when it 3,500 inhabitants were shipped to Treblinka.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/september/11.asp
1943: Ugo Foa, head of the Jewish community in
Rome
approached the
Vatican
in hopes of getting a Papal loan for the fifty kilograms of gold the SS was demanding if the Jews were to avoid deportation to the death camps. In a rare act designed to save Jews, Pius XII approved the request. Funds were never released since the Jews, acting in desperation, raised the funds on their own.
1944(10th of Tishrei, 5705): Yom Kippur
1944: Delivery date of the “Benjamin Peixotto", a Liberty ship named after the 19th century American Jew who was a served both his country and his co-religionists with distinction.
1944: At Birkenau the Jews were reminded that the "Goebbels Calendar" still was in effect. The Goebbels Calendar referred to the Nazi custom of emptying sick wards on Jewish holidays and shipping these people to the death chambers. On this Yom Kippur, 2000 boys would be told that extra bread would be given to them on their Day of Atonement. Instead, 1000 would be chosen by Dr. Mengele to be sent to the gas chamber. In this instance the selection method was based on height. The shorter boys would be killed. Elsewhere thousands of Jews would be sent to their deaths this day.
1945: Birthdate of pianist Misha Dichter. Born in
Shanghai
, where his Polish parents had fled at the outbreak of World War II, Mr. Dichter came to
Los Angeles
with his family at the age of two and began his piano studies a few years later. While still a student at Juilliard, he launched his international career with a stunning triumph at the 1966 Tchaikovsky Competition in
Moscow
. Interestingly enough, on the Dichter's website, he is identified as Polish and his wife as being Brazilian-Polish. Dichter is part of a long line of Jewish Pianists including Arthur Rubenstein and Vladimir Horovitz.
1945 Birthdate of Jack Goldstein, Canadian born artist.
1947: The House Un-American Committee (HUAC) subpoenaed 24 "friendly"...and 19 "unfriendly" witnesses (mostly Jewish) summoning them to Washington.
1950:“The Third Maccabiah, Jewish equivalent of the Olympic Games, opened today at the new stadium in suburban Ramat Gan, where about 30,000 persons watched a parade of athletes from twenty countries…Today’s ceremonies, featuring 500 Jewish athletes, including a team of forty-three from United States, were the first of their kind to be held in Israel and were the most colorful this state has seen…The only sad note of another otherwise gay afternoon was the Yizkor ceremony, when the flag was lowered to half staff, and trumpets sounded notes of mourning for those who died since the last games in 1935.”
1951: Second baseman Al Federoff made his major league debut with the Detroit Tigers.
1951: Vincent Richard Impellitteri, Mayor of New York is made a citizen of
Haifa
.
1951: The negative reaction of the Arab countries to the latest UN peace proposal is tantamount to rejection as can be seen in the statement that appeared today in Le Jour the Beirut newspaper which comes close to being the voice of the Lebanese Foreign Office. In referring to the proposal by the UN Conciliation Commission, the paper said, “Let us say at once this is a plan based on the demands of the Zionists and which does not take into serious account the demands of the Arabs. What the representatives of the United Nations proposed is a solution in accord with the desires of Israel and with its interests. The United Nations is only interested in bringing the Arabs to bow before Israel.”
1962: In Canada, Herb Gray began serving as a Member of Parliament for Essex West.
1962: The
United States
sold Hawk anti-aircraft missiles to
Israel
. As useful as the military equipment was, the sale of the missiles was even more important as a sign of the Kennedy Administration's commitment to the defense of the state of
Israel
.
1969(15thof Tishrei, 5730: Sukkoth
1970: Following a Syrian supported attack on Jordan that was thwarted by the threat of Israeli intervention, King Hussein was still 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. It also meant that Jordan would serve as a base of operation for Palestinian terrorists.
1970: Birthdate of Canadian sports journalist Elliotte Friedman.
1977(15thof Tishrei, 5738): Sukkoth
1978: The Knesset approved the Camp David Accords with 84 affirmative voted, 19 opposed and 17 abstentions.
1981:The official Yugoslav press agency Tanjug reported that A hijacked Yugoslav jetliner with 101 people aboard landed in Cyprus early today after Israel refused to let the plane land in Tel Aviv as the hijackers had demanded. The Israelis had no idea what the terrorists were planning to do once they landed.
1982(10th of Tishrei, 5743): Yom Kippur
1984(1stof Tishrei, 5745): Rosh Hashanah
1989:In an article entitled “Rosh Hashanah Journey To Hasidic Master's Tomb,” which is quoted in its entirety below, Ari L. Goldman describes the Rosh Hashanah pilgrimage of Bratslav Chassidim to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav.
Shortly before his death in 1811, Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, a Hasidic master known for his mystical teachings, asked his followers to come and pray at his grave each year on Rosh ha-Shanah, the Jewish New Year. The custom was carried on at his tomb in the Ukrainian city of Uman until the Russian Revolution in 1917. Since then only a few of his followers could make the pilgrimage. They are known as the ''Dead Hasidim'' because they follow a deceased leader rather than a living one. With the opening of the Soviet Union in the last year, however, the dream of many Bratslav Hasidim is being realized. One thousand are planning to make the trip to be in Uman for Rosh ha-Shanah, which begins at sundown Friday. About 100 Bratslav Hasidim left on a Pan American World Airways flight from Kennedy International Airport last night amid joy and expectation. 'Imagine the Anticipation' ''It's like a person who hasn't seen his father in 40 years,'' said Noah Steinberg, a lawyer who lives in Brooklyn. ''Imagine the anticipation we feel.'' Accompanying Mr. Steinberg was his 6-year-old son, Nachman, who is named in honor of the movement's founder. The boy's mother and younger siblings stayed home; the trip was for males only. ''They call us 'the dead,' but we are alive and well,'' said Lieb Berger, executive director of the World Bratslav Organization. ''And with us lives Rav Nachman, whose writings and teachings we follow always.'' Mr. Berger said there are some 3,000 to 5,000 Bratslav Hasidim worldwide, most in Israel. About 300 live in the United States and Canada. They differ significantly from the dozens of other Hasidic groups, each of which is centered around a single living charismatic leader, known as the Rebbe. A Rebbe's followers, known as Hasidim, visit the leader for advice on both personal and religious matters and try to spend the major holidays with him. The leadership position of Rebbe is usually handed down from father to son or other male relative.
Most Hasidic groups, which draw their names from towns in Europe where their ancestors settled, consider themselves disciples of the 17th-century founder of Hasidim, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, known as the Baal Shem Tov. He founded a Jewish revival movement that stressed joy in prayer and religious experience. Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav was the great-grandson of the Baal Shem Tov. Rabbi Nachman taught that God was inherent in everything in the world, including evil. Thus, he said, even the man steeped in evil could easily find the Creator and repent. Hope in Melody and Dance In his writings, he said the world was essentially a dangerous place where hope could be found in melody, dance, constant self-criticism and communication with the Rebbe, even in the grave. Rabbi Nachman died at the age of 38. His modern followers are among the most mystical and spiritual of Hasidim since they have no temporal leader. Among the followers are Jews who once experimented with the mysticism of Eastern religions. Mr. Berger, the director of the Bratslav organization, said the Soviets helped to arrange the trip, freely issuing visas and helping to insure that the travelers would arrive before the start of Rosh ha-Shanah. Most of the visitors will be sleeping on Soviet Army cots set up dormitory-style in an abandoned factory within walking distance of Rabbi Nachman's tomb. While some Hasidim brought their children, one, 35-year-old Aaron Pinter, brought his father. While the son was dressed in the black garb of the Hasidim and had a long red beard, the father was in a gray suit and was clean-shaven. The senior Mr. Pinter would not give his age, but said that he fled Poland as a young man and lived for eight years in Siberia before coming to the United States. ''I never thought I would be going back,'' he said. ''I am not a Hasid, but it took Rav Nachman to bring me back.''
1992: The Jerusalem Post reported that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin warned that peace with Syria would not be possible without ceding some territory on the Golan Heights. He added, however, that he and his government opposed a total withdrawal.
1992: The Jerusalem Post reported that President George Bush was expected to send his proposal for $10 billion in loan guarantees for
Israel
to Congress. The request was part of a package deal designed to move this request through the legislative process as soon as possible.
1992: The Jerusalem Post reported that remains of a large Roman sport stadium from the Herodian period were discovered at the site of the ancient town of
Caesarea
.
Caesarea
is on the
Mediterranean
. It was built in Roman times because the Romans could not stand the heat of
Jerusalem
. Its famous amphitheater has survived to this day. The modern town of
Caesarea
is fashionable seaside place complete with seaside restaurant.
1995(3rd of Tishrei, 5756): Tzom Gedaliah
1995: Peggy Charren received a Presidential Medal of Freedom acknowledging her almost 3 decades of advocacy. Frustrated with the educationally anemic cartoons filling her children's afternoons, education advocate and founder of Action for Children's Television (ACT), Peggy Charren began to push television stations and law makers to demand and develop more diverse and stimulating children's programming throughout the industry. Charren began her career in television as the director of the film department at station WPIX-TV in
New York City
, but she became concerned about the lack of educational children's programming after the birth of her two daughters. In 1968 Charren founded ACT as a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging the development of a more diverse range of children's educational programming. Responding to the efforts of ACT, Congress passed the Children's Television Act in 1990, which required each station to provide programs created specifically to educate children.
1998: The New York Times book section featured reviews by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Bridges Across Broken Time: Chinese and Jewish Cultural Memory by Vera Schwarcz, Marc Chagall: 1887-1985 by Jacob Baal-Teshuva and From the Ashes of the Old: American Labor and America's Future by Stanley Aronowitz
2000:John Patrick Kenneally (born Leslie Jackson) VC passed away today. Born in 1921, he was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Soldier who deserted from the Gunners, joined the Irish Guards and won the Victoria Cross with them during the Tunisian campaign for repulsing an entire company of Panzer Grenadiers with a Bren gun. John Patrick Kenneally was an assumed name. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy Jewish textile manufacturer in Manchester. His mother was an 18-year-old un-married daughter of a Birmingham pharmacist, who was disowned by her family. She changed her name to Jackson, and had her son christened Leslie.
2001(10th of Tishrei, 5762): Yom Kippur
2001:On Yom Kippur, Shawn Green sat out a game for the first time in 415 games, to honor the most significant holiday and donated his day's pay of $75,000 to a charity for survivors of the New York 9/11 terrorist attacks.
2003(1stof Tishrei, 5764): Rosh Hashanah
2003: In an article entitled “Temple Treasured Traditions: Jewish community has always been a part of Dubque” The Telegraph-Herald traces the history of the Jewish community in Dubuque which dates back to 1833 when Alexander Levi immigrated from France. During the 1880’s Dubuque had as many as 150 Jewish families, today 26 families belong to Temple Beth El, a small but vibrant outpost of Judaism on the banks of the Mississippi River.
2004: An article entitled “Chinese city embraces long-exiled Jewish community” by Mark Magnier published today described the return of the Jews to Harbin after a half-century exile. The city is so eager to have the Jews return that it is spending 3.2 million dollars to refurbish the city’s main synagogue.
2004: In Tel Aviv as part of the annual, global City in Pink lighting campaign for the breast cancer struggle, the City Gat Ramat Gan was lit completely in bright pink light.
2005: The Jerusalem Post reported that the California-based West Coast Chabad's annual star-studded telethon had made a special appeal for victims of Hurricane Katrina. The lineup of stars asking for donations includes Academy Award-winning actor Jon
Voight
,
California
Governor
Arnold
Schwarzenegger and former Los Angeles Lakers basketball legends Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Earvin "Magic" Johnson. The telethon raised six million dollars last year. The annual event which is now in its 25th year brings together
Hollywood
celebrities including non-Jews as well as Jews. This year, donors are being given the opportunity to earmark a portion of their donation for Hurricane Relief. Chabad has a long, proud tradition of nonsectarian crisis intervention. That tradition of service includes drug-rehab centers, soup kitchens, and aid for the homeless, Chabad day schools and counseling for state prisoners.
2006: The International Forum “Let My People Live!” will be held this afternoon, at the Shevchenko National Academic Opera and Ballet Theatre of Ukraine in Kiev.“The forum will follow the official ceremony in remembrance of Babi Yar’s victims at the Babi Yar Memorial.”
2006:Jerusalem District Court sentenced a Jewish settler to four consecutive life sentences plus an additional 12 years in prison for murdering four Palestinian men.
2006: Avner Shalev, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate will speak at the Let My People Live! International Forum a two-day commemorative even marking the 65thanniversary of the massacre of the Jews at Babi Yar.
2007: Rachel Feller gives a talk on the book that she and Steve Feller wrote: Silent Witnesses: Civilian Camp Money of World War II at Clark Alumni House Coe College. The book is on money of the Holocaust.
2007: Publication of Fire in the Blood by Irene Nemirovsky
2007(15th of Tishrei, 5768): First Day of Sukkoth
2007: Rabbi Avraham Elkanah Kahana Shapira. “Shapira was one of the founders of an organization that declared that handing over parts of the land of Israel to gentiles, even with a peace agreement, contradicted halacha and was therefore forbidden” (This ruling is confusing since Solomon, the king noted for his wisdom did exactly that as described in The Book of Kings.)
2008:Israeli choreographer Noa Sagie brings her new creation, “Breath 22” to the Dumbo Dance Festival 2008 in Brooklyn, New York.
2008: Several Jewish authors appear At the National Book Festival including<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: ital