September 29 In History
480
BCE
: The Greeks defeat the Persian fleet of Xerxes I at the Battle of Salamis. At this time
Judah
and
Jerusalem
were part of the
Persian Empire
. Xerxes reigned from 483
BCE
to 465
BCE
which meant that he was a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah. The campaigns of Xerxes appeared to have little impact on the Jews of Judah and
Jerusalem
. The only Biblical reference to him can be found in the Book of Ezra, Chapter 4; verse 6. While the Jews may have had no interest in the conquest of Greece, they would certainly have been supportive of the Persian ruler since, all things considered, the Jews of Jerusalem and Babylonia fared well under Persian rule during this period of history.
106 BCE: Birthdate of Pompey, the Roman General who was part of the First Triumvirate. Jews remember him as the conqueror of Jerusalem who defiled the Temple by entering the Holy of Holies. But that is only part of the story. Pompey’s conquest was, in part, the product of civil war between two Jewish leaders – Hyrcanus who had the support of the Pharisees and Aristobulus who had the support of the Sadduces. This is only one example of the behavior that reinforces the claim by some rabbis that the Second Temple fell because of the lack of love shown by one Jew for another Jew.
522
BCE
: Darius I of Persia kills the Magian usurper Gaumâta, securing his hold as king of the Persian Empire. The success of Darius was good thing for the Jewish people. From the Book of Haggai, we can infer that the building of the Second Temple was completed in his reign. According to Ezra, Darius supported the claims of the Jews when the Samaritans tried to stop the building of the Temple. After searching his archives for the original text authorizing the construction of the Temple, including King’s promise to supply the funds, Darius re-iterated the order and added the proviso that “in the completed Temple a sacrifice was to be made for the welfare of the king and his sons.” This practice of offering a sacrifice continued after Persian rule ended and lasted until the Great Revolt in 70. “The building of the Temple was completed in the sixth year of Darius’ reign (516/515
BCE
) and was marked by the joyous celebration of Passover (Ezra 6:15-20).”
106 B.C.E: Birthdate Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus who is known to history as Pompey, the failed opponent of Julius Caesar and the man who ripped the veil from the Holy of Holies.
1187: Saladin leads his army into Jerusalem.
1227: Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for his failure to participate in the Crusades. This is the same Pope Gregory who ordered copies of the Talmud be burned. This is the same Frederick who on the one hand carried on favorable correspondence with Jewish scholars while on the other hand denying Jews the right to hold public offices and forcing the Jews of Palermo to live in a ghetto. The excommunication had nothing to do with the Jews. It reflected a power struggle between the monarch and the pope, who was determined to extend the power of the church and wipe out heresy. The mis-treatment of the Jews was merely a knee-jerk reaction for these leaders.
1273: Rudolph I of Germany begins his reign. “Rudolph re-affirmed the statue promulgated by Archduke Frederick the Valiant which protected the Jews “against persecution and murder. “On the other hand…he issued a special decree to the citizens of Vienna which solemnly declared” that the Jews were ineligible to hold public offices.
1349: After an attack on the Jews at Krems, Austria, Albert II forcibly ended the riots.
Austria
was thus one of the few places of relative security in
Europe
at that time.
1560: King Gustav I of Sweden, also known as Gustav Vasa passed away. While there was no Jewish community in Sweden at this time, according to one report, Gustav had a Jewish physician, a common practice among the monarchs of Europe.
1612: Vincent Fettmilch a former pastry cook and leader of the "Guilds", calling himself the "new Haman of the Jews" attacked the
Frankfurt
synagogue while the community was at prayer. Although many tried to organize a defense, they were soon overpowered and many took shelter in the cemetery. He was beheaded four years later because he made the mistake of threatening the well-being of wealthy Christians who really responsible for the impoverishment of the former pastry cook and his supporters.
1688:Governor Elihu Yale founded the Municipality of Madras, composed of a mayor, 12 aldermen appointed for life, and a council of 60 citizens. The mayor was elected by the alderman who consisted of three Company employees, one Frenchman, three Jews, two Portuguese, and two local citizens. This shows the proportional weight of Jewish representation. The first three Jewish aldermen were Bartolomeo Rodrigues, Domingo do Porto, and Alvaro da Fonseca who had arrived from Covalao, India, where they supposedly lived as Portuguese. Upon arrival in Madras, they became openly Jewish. At first they were regarded as interlopers, but over the years they came to own the largest trading company in Madras; it dealt with precious stones, coral, amber, sandalwood and its range was all of India and Burma, Indonesia, China, and the Philippines. Bartolomeo Rodrigues, known also as Jacob de Sequeira was president of the company. An English Jew, he became one of the most prominent citizens of Madras. After his death in 1692, he was replaced by his partner, Alvaro da Fonseca, known also as Jacob Jesurun Alvares. (Some of the Portuguese Jews in Madras used their Portuguese names on their visits to Goa and Saint Tomé that were in Portuguese hands and when the Inquisition was active, and their Jewish names in Madras. Alvaro da Fonseca came from the English Caribbean island of Nevis. Under his management the company became even larger and owned its own ships for transport from Madras to Europe. By the mid-eighteenth century there were almost no Portuguese Jews in Madras. The gravestones of the old Jewish cemetery were moved to the Central Park of Madras in 1934 with the gate of the cemetery on which is written Beit ha-Haim in Hebrew letters, the last vestige of Jewish presence in Madras in the seventeenth century.
1785: The Chasidic sect was excommunicated in Cracow, Poland. This was part of the clash between the Mitnagdim and Chasidim that plagued the Jews of Eastern Europe. It is one of those intra-tribal clashes that has lost its bite with the passage of time but was razor sharp two or three centuries ago
1789(9th of Tishrei, 5550): Erev Yom Kippur
1791(1st of Tishrei, 5552): Rosh Hashanah
1797 (19 Tishrei 5558): Eliyahu ben Shlomo Zalman, otherwise known as Vilna Gaon, passes away. Born in 1720, he was the greatest Talmudic mind of his time. He had mastered the Bible and started on the Talmud at the age of six. Though he preferred to live in seclusion, his reputation grew until he was known as the unofficial spiritual head of Eastern European Jewry. He was a leading opponent of the Chassidic wave that was sweeping
Europe
at that time. He felt they presented a danger because they were anti-intellectual and leaned toward Shabbetianism. He went so far as to issue a ban and excommunicated its followers. The group which opposed the Chasidim became known as the Mitnagdim or Mitnagdim. As a scholar, the Vilna Gaon pointed the way to a systematic study of the Torah in its entirety, not just those sections relevant to practical life. He wrote over 70 commentaries on all aspects of Jewish life.
1800(10thof Tishrei, 5561): Jews the world over observe Yom Kippur for the first time in the 19th century
1810(1stof Tishrei, 5571): An unknown number of Jews in the United States observe Rosh Hashanah. The number is unknown, because the census completed in August of that year did not ask any questions about the religious affiliation of the citizenry making the American experience a unique one.
1812(23rd of Tishrei, 5573): As Jews in England and the United States are divided by the War of 1812, they are united by the celebration of Simchat Torah
1814(15th of Tishrei, 5575): Jews living in Washington, DC, take time from rebuilding their city which was burned by the British a month ago, to observe the first day of Sukkoth
1825: Today’s issue of The National Intelligencer, a newspaper published in Washington, DC, contained a full report of the dedication of Ararat, a city that Mordecai Noah envision as “A City of Refuge for the Jews.”
1839(21st of Tishrei, 5600): Hoshanah Rabah
1850(23rd of Tishrei, 5611): Simchat Torah
1859(1st of Tishrei, 5620): Rosh Hashanah
1859: On the first day of Rosh Hashanah services began at 6 a.m. at the synagogue on Greene Street near Bleecker. Rabbi Morris Raphall preached the sermon. Services ended at noon.
1859: At Temple Emanu-El, Rosh Hashanah services began at 9 a.m. and lasted for three hours. Dr. Samuel Adler preached the sermon.
1861Congregation Beth Elohim was founded today by 41 German Jews at Granada Hall on Myrtle Avenue by former members of Congregation Baith Israel who had become disaffected after they attempted and failed to reform religious practices at practices at what came to be known as the Kane Street Synagogue.
1862(6th of Tishrei, 5623): Paul Johann Heyse’s wife, Margarete, lost her battle with lung illness and passed away today. Heyse was the first Jew to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
1867(29th of Elul, 5627): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1867: Birthdate of Walter Rathenau, “German statesman, industrialist and philosopher.” Rathenau’s life and death epitomize the absurd nature of Jewish life in
Germany
. During World War I, this successful industrialist used all of his acumen and skills to mold the German economy to meet the needs of the military. Despite the British naval blockade, the German economic machine functioned until the last months of the war. But in 1922 he was assassinated by right-wing anti-Semitic army officers because of his work as part of the Weimar government.
1870: It was reported today that a new synagogue has been dedicated by the Jews of Troy, New York. The services were attended by Jewish and non-Jewish members of the community. The contractor was paid $20,000 for his work.
1871(15th of Tishrei, 5632): Jews in Chicago observe their last Sukkoth before the Great Fire which will start at the end of the holiday season
1875(29thof Elul, 5635): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1877(22nd of Tishrei, 5638): Shemini Atzeret
1877: It was reported today that Solomon Voloskie, Abraham Eyet, Pincus Dobbin and Henrietta Helfenstein have all been arrested for operating unsanitary poultry shops. The shops all cater to Polish Jews and are located on or near Bayard Street in New York. All of the shops have “Kosher” signs in their windows.
1878(2nd of Tishrei, 5639): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1882: The Board of Estimate and Apportionment appropriated funds for various institutions that care for children including the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society which received $2,356.57 out of a total of almost $30,000.
1884(10th of Tishrei, 5645): Yom Kippur
1884: “Nominations For Sale” published today reported that Theodore Wilkinson of Plaequemine Parish has accused Adolph Mayer, a wealthy Jewish cotton merchant from New Orleans, of having given $12,000 dollars to “certain party bosses” who would see to it that he won the Democratic nomination for the First Congressional District. Wilkinson, who is running against Mayer, offered no proof.
1884: Lawrence Braham, Hyam Freiwald and Benjamin Levy were among the “the throngs of Hebrews who visited Central Park” this afternoon. The three were taking a shortcut through the park and did not stop when challenged by Samuel Murphy, a Park Policeman. Since he was not in uniform the three did not stop and were arrested after a scuffle. Murphy claimed that the three attacked him without provocation and that was why he arrested them. Murphy offered no reason as to why they would have attacked him.
1887: “Death Of A Danish Poet” published today described the recent passing of Professor Meyer Aaron Goldschmidt, the native of Jutland who graduated from the University of Copenhagen before embarking on a literary career that included the founding of the Corsair, a weekly satirical journal and the publication of several novels including The Jew, “his most noted Romance. His writings, which were translated into English, German and French, made him a continental literary celebrity.
1888: Around two o’clock in the morning Catharine Eddowes, who had been released from police custody earlier in the evening after having been arrested for public drunkenness in London, was found murdered. According to witnesses she was killed by Joseph Hyam Levy.
1901: Birthdate of Enrico Fermi. The Italian born physicist who was not Jewish won the Nobel Prize in 1938. After receiving the prize in
Stockholm
, Fermi continued on to the
United States
with his and family. They sought refuge in
America
because Fermi's wife was Jewish and the anti-Semitic laws passed by the Italian government frightened Fermi.
1902: Impresario David Belasco opened his first Broadway Theater. Belasco was born in
San Francisco
in 1854 the son of Jewish clown who had emigrated from
London
. Belasco passed away in 1931.
1906(10thof Tishrei, 5667): Yom Kippur
1907: Bar Giora, a Palestinian Jewish self-defense organization was formed to protect the Jewish settlements from raiders. Two years later it was reorganized into HaShomer (the Watchman) by Israel Shochat. HaShomer was eventually transformed into the Haganah. Despite opposition from local Jews and the "Baron's" overseers (i.e. Baron Rothschild), they persevered with the idea of Jews taking responsibility for their own defense.
1911: Oscar S. Strauss of New York City who was a member of the Hague Tribunals and a leading member of the American Jewish community appealed to the United States government to extend help in establishing peace between Italy and Turkey.
1911: Henry F. Barnet was elected to the Municipal Council at St. Kilda, which followed
Melbourne
as one of the first Australian communities to have a Jewish congregation.
1912: Birthdate of Gershom G. Schocken, an influential Israeli journalist who was the editor and publisher of the daily newspaper Haaretz for half a century. Born in Zwickau, Germany, he studied economics at the University of Heidelberg and later at the London School of Economics. After the family moved to British-controlled Palestine in 1933, his father, Salman, a businessman and publisher, bought the Tel Aviv newspaper Haaretz. The son soon became its editor and publisher, building Haaretz into a major national voice and leading it until his death. He also headed the Schocken Group, composed of a second daily paper and 13 regional weeklies throughout Israel. The rest of his family soon settled in the United States, where his father founded Schocken Books. The publishing house, owned and operated by the family, brought Franz Kafka and other Jewish authors into American bookstores. It was bought by Random House in 1987. Mr. Schocken, was noted for a fiercely independent spirit. He championed a free, uncensored press, a liberalized, mixed economy and civil rights for both Jews and Arabs. His newspaper at times opposed virtually every Israeli Government for decades. The independent Hebrew-language daily generally refrained from endorsing political candidates and parties, was usually linked with the liberal, educated middle class and tended toward dovishness on security issues. Mr. Schocken repeatedly, and fruitlessly, urged Israelis to adopt a constitution, opposed religious conformism among Jews and battled what he considered to be violations of human rights in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The journalist flirted briefly with politics as a founder of the Progressive Party, which was dominated by German Jewish intellectuals. He represented the party in Parliament from 1955 until 1959, when he quit politics. In 1983, Mr. Schocken was named International Editor of the Year by the American-based World Press Review, which compiles articles from around the globe each month, for his newspaper’s "excellence in coverage of Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982." Amos Elon, an Israeli writer who started his career with Mr. Schocken, said that "He believed fiercely in a press independent of governments." He was a man of great dedication, professionalism and culture who fought for "liberalizing Israel's economy" and opposed "monopoly of power." In the last five years of his life Mr. Schocken came to believe “that Israel must make peace with the Palestinians and those whom the Palestinians consider their representatives and that occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank is a corrupting influence for Israel”
1913: Birthdate of producer/director Stanley E Kramer. Among his many famous productions was On the Beach, the 1960's anti-nuclear war flick starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Anthony Perkins.
1914(9th of Tishrei, 5675): As French Jews hear Kol Nidre, they are breathing a sigh of relief over the German withdrawal following the recently completed Battle of the Marne. Little does either know, that it will be five years before they will chant this in a world at peace.
1915: Birthdate of Dr. Oscar Handlin, the “historian who chronicled U.S. immigration.” According to James Grossman, the executive director of the American Historical Association, “Dr. Handlin changed the way Americans view American history… He reoriented the whole picture of the American story,” he said, “from the view that America was built on the spirit of the Wild West, to the idea that we are a nation of immigrants.”
1916: John D. Rockefeller becomes the first billionaire. Rockefeller was secretly Jewish or the anti-Semites are wrong – the Jews do not have all of the money.
1918(23rd of Tishrei, 5679): Simchat Torah
1918: During World War I, U.S. Army Sergeant Sydney G. Gumpertz charged a machine gun nest near Bois-de-Forges, France and single-handedly silenced the gun and captured the 9 man German crew firing the weapon. His bravery would earn him the Congressional Medal of Honor.
1918: In Zwickau, German Mr. and Mrs. Salman Schocken gave birth to Eva (Chawa) Schocken
1924(1st of Tishrei, 5685): As "Silent Cal" seeks a second term as President of the United States, Jews observe Rosh Hashanah
1927(3rd of Tishrei, 5688):Tzom Gedaliah
1930: Time magazine published the following article entitled “Strap Helmets Tigher!”
With her plump, black-eyed brood, Jewess after rich Jewess scuttled out of Germany last week, filling trains de luxe with wails and confusion. Mother-instinct knew the meaning of Jew-Baiter Adolf Hitler's election victory fortnight ago, when his Fascist "Brown Shirts" leaped fearsomely from ninth to second place among German parties (TIME, Sept. 22). To Jew after rich Jew, staying behind to protect their German properties as best they might, occurred a paradoxical but sound idea. Why not contribute to the "Brown Shirt" party fund? Then, in case fiery Herr Hitler should try another coup d'état (like that which he and General von Ludendorü failed to carry through in 1923) surely Jewish contributors would not find Fascist "thunder squads" crashing in their doors. Last week swaggering Hitlerites boasted scornfully of having been offered such "Jew-cash," would not admit to taking it. "No Putsch!" In his Munich bailiwick Herr Hitler roused a jubilant Bavarian crowd to lusty cheers by announcing a "new slogan" for Brown Shirts:
"AFTER VICTORY, STRAP YOUR HELMET TIGHTER!
"We propose to strike 'Victory' from our banners and replace it with 'Battle!' “ he continued. "We know not only how to move the masses and rule them, but we can also engage in foil fencing on this ground!" As the mob became frantically moved, however, caution returned to Bavaria's Mussolini. Perhaps he recalled spending a year in jail after his attempted 1923 Putsch. Changing tune, he concluded: "Ours is a revolutionary party but what we propose to capture is the German soul! We do not need to make a Putsch to gain control of the government. That is not necessary! Control will come to us in a legal manner. That, my friends, is what our enemies fear!" With these last words Herr Hitler left Munich next day, so he said, for a "needed rest" in the Bavarian Alps. If the German government feared a Putsch, its leaders hid their emotions well. Both President von Hindenburg and his protégé, Prime Minister Brüning (whose Catholic Centre party gained seven seats in the election) ended the week by going off for a rustic, post-election rest. Most significant of all, Berlin's fiery Communist Ammorgen, an enterprising sheet which has sleuthed out several Hitler moves well in advance, purported last week to "expose his black-hearted scheme to seize the German state!" Actually the expose was tame, consisted of stolen Fascist papers which, if genuine, prove: 1) that the 107 new Fascist deputies will enter the Reichstag and "insidiously refrain" from blatant, obstructionist tactics, biding their time; 2) that Hitler agents will begin a secret campaign to proselytize the army and state police for Fascism; 3) finally, after much boring from within the German government by legal means, a sure thing Fascist Putsch will be attempted. Scoffing at the idea of a precipitant Putsch, the well-informed Berliner-Tageblatt said: "The resources of the civil power completely suffice to frustrate such intentions if they should be undertaken." . Because one of Fascist Hitler's most popular platform points is complete repudiation of all reparations payments, German reparation's bonds sold off last week on all exchanges, declining in London to a figure representing an 11% discount. In Wall Street a recession of some five points in common stocks was charged off by fiscal writers to a whisper among the knowing that "there's revolution in Germany right now, but the censor's sitting on the lid." All the big Berlin banks parried long distance calls from U. S., British and French clients, repeated ad nauseam the belief of their officers that a coalition of Centre" Parties will continue for some time to rule Germany, shutting out the extremists on left and right. Said famed Dr. Otto Braun, boss-politician of Prussia and Prime Minister of that state: "Despite the election results, I do not for a moment perceive a menace to the Republican constitution, the public safety or the foreign policy. It is absolutely out of the question that the radical parties that emerged victors at the polls should be given a chance to try out their recipes for government." Assuming that Germany finally goes Fascist, legally or illegally, next week or ten years hence, what do German Jews face from Adolf Hitler, who was born an Austrian, served during the War as an officer in the German army, is not even today a German citizen? The chief Fascist newsorgan, Volkische Beobachter of Munich is explicit: 1) all Jews who have entered Germany since Aug. 2, 1914 would be expelled; 2) the term "Jew" would mean anyone whose ancestors practiced the Mosaic faith after March 11, 1852; 3) Jews would be banned from service in the German army or navy, would pay a special tax by reason of this "exemption"; 4) Jews would not be admitted to schools of higher learning, either as teachers or instructors; 5) sales of land to Jews would be void; 6) Jewish-owned newsorgans would be compelled to state that fact in their front-page headline, printing under it the symbolic Mogen Dovid (Star of David).
1933(9th of Tishrei, 5694): Erev Yom Kippur
1933: Hitler approves the decree forbidding German Jews from the occupation of farming.
1934: Birthdate of Stuart Melvin Kaminsky, “a film scholar-turned-detective novelist who was widely known for his prodigious output, complex characters, and rich evocations of time and place, including Hollywood in its Golden Age.”
1935(2nd of Tishrei, 5696): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1936: In Rochester, NY, David Goldman received word this evening that his father Hyman Goldman, who made a fortune in real estate in Rochester and then made Aliyah in 1926, has passed away at his home in Tel Aviv at the age of 71. Born in Russia, Goldman and his wife came to the United States in 1886. After successfully operating a grocery store, Mr. Goldman went into the real estate business in 1902.
1937: Hitler showed off his Army, Navy and Air Force to Mussolini. Mussolini returned to
Italy
sure that his alliance with Hitler was the right thing despite the anti-Jewish policies that were part of the Nazi regime.
1937: The Palestine Post reported extensively on the murder by Arab terrorists of Lewis Yelland Andrews, the much-decorated and highly respected British official, serving as the district commissioner for
Galilee
. Andrews, who for years took care of the agricultural development of
Palestine
, was shot dead together with his police escort, Constable Peter Robertson, by four masked Arabs, while they both approached the Anglican Church in
Nazareth
.
1938: The Sudentland was about to fall. Bowing to German pressure,
France
and
Britain
agreed to the annexation of this part of
Czechoslovakia
to Hitler as part of the infamous Munich Agreement.
Slovakia
feigned independence but became a satellite of
Germany
. This was one more the events that led up to World War II and one more act of cowardice on the part of the western democracies that emboldened Hitler to follow his bloody path.
1941 (8th of Tishrei, 5702): First day of the two day German killing spree at Kiev which would turn out to be the single most concentrated massacre of World War II.
1941: The Jewish owned newspaper in
Tunis
ceased operation at the order of the government
1942 (18th of Tishrei, 5703): The Nazis killed 685 French Jews killed at Berkinau. They were the first of 4,000 who would die that week.
1942 (18th of Tishrei, 5703): 500 of nearly 800 Jews who attempt to escape Serniki, Poland, are killed by the Germans. Of 279 who reach nearby forests, 102 will perish before the end of the war.
1942: Birthdate of Madeline Kahn. Born Madeline Gail Wolfson in Boston Mass the actress gained fame in such films as Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety. She passed away in 1999.
1943 (29th of Elul, 5703): More than 320 Jews and Soviet POWs on work detail at the Babi Yar, Ukraine, mass-murder site attempt a mass escape. Nearly all are shot down almost immediately, but about 14 find hiding places.
1943 (29th of Elul, 5703): On the day before Rosh Hashanah, Rabbi Marcus Mechior of
Copenhagen
announced that services for the New Year would not be held. Thus began one of the heroic stories of the Holocaust. During the next few weeks almost all of the 7000 Danish Jews were to be hidden and smuggled to
Sweden
. After the war the Danish Government restored all Jewish property to their original owners. George Duckwitz, a German who had been living in Copenhagen since 1928 and who had become a member of the German government in occupied Denmark, warned Danish leaders about plans for the round up of the Jew. In turn, they warned the leaders of the Jewish community. Whatever else one may say about Duckwitz he risked his life to save the lives of the Danish Jewish community.
1944(12thof Tishrei, 5705): Another 1,000 Jews sent from Birkenau to Theresienstadt were gassed.
1944: Fifteen hundred prisoners are deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto in
Czechoslovakia
to
Auschwitz
. Upon arrival 750 are gassed.
1944: Jews gather in liberated
Kiev
,
Ukraine
, to commemorate the third anniversary of the Nazi massacre of Jews at
Babi Yar
,
Ukraine
.
1944: Jewish commercial and residential sections of Jerusalem are under day and night curfew following the fatal shooting of Assistant Police Superintendent T. J. Wilkin who was killed as he was walking to his office at police headquarters” in Jerusalem. The curfew included the closure of all synagogues; a fact that could cause undue hardship since Sukkoth is will begin on the evening of October 1st.
1945(22nd of Tishrei, 5706): Shemini Atzeret
1947: Two ships – the Northalnds carrying 2,045 Jewish refugees and the Paducah carrying 1,551 Jewish refugees - “sailed through the Dardanelles from the Black Sea port of Bourgas tonight” on their way to Palestine. Jewish leaders hope the two ships will be able to avoid the ever tightening British blockade and that the 3,596 refugees can be landed safely in Eretz Israel.
1948:The suggestion made by Dr. Ralph J. Bunche, United Nations Acting Mediator for Palestine, in a report to the Security Council, that Israeli authorities in Jerusalem had been lax in taking security precautions for the protection of Count Folke Bernadotte was vigorously repudiated today by the Military Governor of the Israeli-held areas of Jerusalem, Dr. Bernard Joseph.
1950: While the team of Israeli athletes had the highest total of points in the competition to claim the Weizmann Cup, athletes from other countries scored individual victories at the Maccabiah. Stanley Lampert (shot-put) and Ira Kaplan (100-meter dash) scored victories that set new all time Maccabiah records in their respective sports.
1950:“The Israeli Cabinet announced tonight economic and financial reforms relaxing Government controls on business and making other concessions to free enterprise. The reforms do not alter fundamentally the Government’s Socialist policy but indicate a trend toward liberalization of the state’s planned economy.
1950: The Israeli Cabinet announced plans to raise funds from foreign sources that will aid in the absorption of immigrants over the next three years. The government plans to aggressively seek out loans and foreign investments for this purpose and asking the Knesset to pass legislation that will make this financial activity a reality.
1958(14th of Tishrei, 5719): Erev of Sukkot
1958(14th of Tishrei, 5719): Seventy-eight year old Louis Clinton Mosher, who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor while serving as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army during the Philippine Insurrection.
1960:Mayor Wagner's office said today that all Jewish policemen who wanted to observe Yom Kippur apparently would have "a very, very good chance" of getting off duty under a new work schedule and through exchanges with non-Jewish officers.
1961: The New York Timespublishes music critic Robert Sheldon's review of a performance from little known singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which will lead to Dylan's discovery by Columbia Records representative John Hammond.
1962(1st of Tishrei, 5723): For the first time, Mitchell Levin observes Rosh Hashanah at the Conservative Congregation of New Orleans instead of Adas Israel in Washington, DC
1966(15th of Tishrei, 5727): Sukkoth
1972(21st of Tishrei, 5733): Hoshanah Rabah
1973(3rd of Tishrei, 5734): Shabbat Shuvah
1973: Amy Aronoff, daughter of Gene and Sheila Aronoff, is called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah at Congregation Beth-El in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. She was the congregations first Bat Mitzvah.
1976: Syria drove Palestinian guerrillas out of Lebanon
1977: The new civilian settlement of Tekoa was established just east of
Bethlehem
. It was named a after a biblical town believed to have been located nearby. Yes, this is the Tekoa that was home to the prophet Amos.
1981(1st of Tishrei, 5742): For the first time American Jews observe Rosh Hashanah in the era of “trickle down” economics.
1982: The Begin government gives into popular pressure and creates a board of inquiry headed by Supreme Court Justice Yitzhak Kahan to investigate what happened at Sabra and Chatila.
1985(14th of Tishrei, 5746): Erev Sukkoth
1985:Two bombs exploded in the Israeli port city of Haifa today, one of them wounding five people, a police spokesman said. One bomb exploded in an open-air vegetable market that was crowded with shoppers on the eve of Succoth, a harvest festival that begins this evening. Five people were wounded, none of them seriously, the police said. The police said the bomb had been planted under a vegetable stand. While the police were conducting investigations in the market, another bomb went off a few hundred yards away, the police spokesman said. The second bomb was hidden under a bush in a public park. It caused no casualties or damage. The police spokesman said about 130 people, most of them Arabs, were detained for interrogation
1989(29th of Elul, 5749): Erev Rosh Hashanah
1989(29th of Elul, 5749): Bratslav Chassidim gather at the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav for the first time since the Russian Revolution.
1990(10th of Tishrei, 5751): Yom Kipper
1994: Alfred H. Moses was appointed by President Clinton to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Romania.
1995: Peggy Charren received a Presidential Medal of Freedom in honor of her three decades of campaigning to improve the level of television programming targeted at America’s children.
1997(27th of Elul, 5757): Roy Lichtenstein passes away. In the spacious halls of the
Tel
Aviv
Art Museum
back in the entrance hall is Roy Lichtenstein's "Tel Aviv Museum Mural," which the artist created for the museum in 1989. With its vivid colors and bold style, the two-part mural is spread across the upper wall of the entrance hall.
2000(29th of Elul, 5760): Erev Rosh Hashanah
2002(23rd of Tishrei, 5763): Simchat Torah
2002:The Theatre Garden presents an educational play entitled “Lady of Copper.” The Lady is the Statue of Liberty and features appearances by Emma Lazarus, author of the famous poem inscribed on the statue's base (''Give me your tired, your poor''), and the newspaper magnate Joseph Pulitzer, who helped raise the money for
Liberty
's pedestal.
2002: The New York Times included reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including Militant Islam Reaches America by Daniel Pipes and a biography of a British born Jewish scientist entitled Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of
DNA
by Brenda Maddox.
2003(3rd of Tishrei, 5764):Tzom Gedaliah
2003: An article entitled “The $11 Billion Man Hedge fund guru Bruce Kovner earns giant returns, but doesn't talk--most of the time” which described the business practices of Bruce Kovner, “one of the biggest cats on Wall Street” appeared in Fortune Magazine
2004: Jonathan Sarna’s American Judaism captured the National Jewish Book Award's Book of the Year. Other winners include Frédéric Brenner's photographic account, Diaspora: Homelands in Exile, Daniel Matt’s Zohar translation, and Steve Oney’'s chronicle of the Leo Frank lynching.
2005: A month after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the
Gulf
Coast
, Jewish communities in
Louisiana
and
Mississippi
struggle to re-build. At the same time, Jewish organizations raised large amounts of money for hurricane relief distributed to Jews and non-Jews alike.
New Orleans
’
Temple
Sinai
fared better than many institutions and is up and running. However, the major
Reform
Temple
will not be holding High Holiday Services because so many of its members have lost their homes. The nearby Chabad House at
Tulane
University
also appeared to have escaped relatively unscathed. The Chabad in suburban
Metairie
did not fare as well but will be holding High Holiday services. Other
Temples
and Synagogues in the area suffered water and wind damage. Some lost their roofs and many are now suffering the effects of mold and other forms of rot. “The
Union
for Reform Judaism, whose Disaster Relief Fund has raised close to $2.5 million dollars, has now made $765,000 in grants to disaster relief agencies, Jewish agencies and Reform synagogues. The OU and
Yeshiva
University
have raised between $420,000 and $430,000 for hurricane relief. Chabad has raised one million dollars. The United Jewish Communities, along with the Jewish federations of
North America
, has raised more than $16 million for disaster relief efforts. Henry S. Jacobs, in
Utica
,
Mississippi
, has opened its doors to refugees and rescue workers. Finally, the Israelis have also sent teams of rescue workers to help with rescues and relief efforts.
2005: In
Philadelphia
,
PA.
, the National Museum of American Jewish History received Rabbi Peter Schweitzer’s Judaica Collection. The collection includes 10,000 items collected over the last 25 years.
2006: The IAF struck a building that served as cover for a weapons warehouse, shortly before a full closure of the border with
Gaza
was to go into effect and continue until after Yom Kippur.
2007: Birthday celebration of Denise Novick, premier kosher caterer for the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City Corridor.
2007(17th of Tishrei, 5768): Shabbat Chol Hamoed Sukkoth
2007: In an interview about what it is like to be a new rabbi filling the shoes of long-serving predecessor, Rabbi Aaron Sherman reported that his first goal “was to learn what was going on in the community. I didn’t want to change things too quickly.” He also said that the transition was eased by the fact that the congregation had been looking for a year prior to hiring him.
2008: Time magazine included reviews of Hurry Down Sunshine by Michael Greenberg and Indignation by Phillip Roth.
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