September 9 In History
337: Constantine II, Constantius II, and Constans I succeed their father Constantine I as co-emperors dividing the The Roman Empire between the three Augusti. Constantine was responsible for making Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire. The sons would quarrel but would not reverse the father’s decision.
1087: William the Conqueror, first Norman king of England, passed away. The first verifiable Jewish population moved from
Rouen
in
France
to the
British Isles
in the wake of William’s victory at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Based on the continued acceptance of Jews in the kingdom by William’s son, the Jews were not there by accident. Rather, the new English rulers saw them as a source for developing trade and commerce in their new domain.
1379; The Treaty of Neuberg was signed splitting the Austrian Habsburg lands between the Habsburg Dukes Albert III and Leopold III. According to historian Jacqueline Shields, “The position of the Jews became increasingly precarious during the reigns of Albert III and Leopold III starting in the middle of the 14thcentury and lasting into the early years of the 15th century.
1516: “A Judeo-conversa named María López” and her daughter Isabel were put trial on trial during the never-ending Spanish Inquisition for allegedly performing acts that were tantamount to observing Shabbat and the dietary laws.” (As reported by Renee Levine Melammed)
1553: Under the auspices of Cardinal Caraffa, later to be Pope Paul IV, a “rabid” leader of the counter-Reformation, the Talmud was confiscated and publicly burned in Rome. The Cardinal chose the day of Rosh Hashanah of that year specifically so the Jews would feel the grief more strongly. Talmud burning would soon spread across many other parts of Italy.
1774:Birthdate of Salomon Mayer von Rothschild the founder of the Viennese branch of the “House of Rothschild”. He passed away in 1855 while visiting in Paris.
1796: The National Assembly of the Batavian Republic accorded equal rights to the Jews of the Netherlands.
1812(3rd of Tishrei, 5573): Jews in the UK and the US are divided by war between their two countries but they share in hunger as they observe Tzom Gedaliah
1820(1stof Tishrei, 5581): Two months before Americans elect James Monroe in the least contested Presidential Election in the history of the U.S. Jews celebrate Rosh Hashanah
1828: Birthdate of Russian author, Count Leo Tolstoy. Tolstoy’s attitude towards Jews is a mixed bag. He signed a petition sent to Alexander III protesting pogroms in 1881. He strongly condemned the Kishnev Pogrom writing, “The outrages at Kishinev are but the direct result of the propaganda of falsehood and violence which our government conducts with such energy.” At the same time he blamed Russia’s defeat in the war with Japan on Russia becoming a “pseudo-Christian civilization.” In this civilization “the struggle for money and success in so-called scientific and artistic pursuits” becomes the dominant factor. And it is the society in which “the Jews got the edge on the Christians in every country and thereby earned the envy and hatred of all.” As old age crept up on him he wrote, “I should like to write something to prove how the teachings of Christ, who was not a Jew, were replaced by very different teachings of the apostle Paul, who was a Jews.” But in the end, Tolstoy noted that his physician Dushin Makovitsky would have been a saint except for one flaw – his hatred of Jews.”
1839(1stof Tishrei, 5600): Rosh Hashanah
1839: The Jewish community of Melbourne, whose members had begun arriving in 1835, held their first High Holiday services.
1850:
California
joins the
Union
adding a 33rd star to the
U.S.
flag. A year before
California
joined the
Union
there were enough Jews to hold Yom Kippur Services in
San Francisco
. By the end of the decade there were ten congregations in
San Francisco
and one in
Sacramento
. During this time there were two Jewish associate justices of the state court and at least one Jew was serving in the state legislature.
1850(3rd of Tishrei, 5611):Tzom Gedaliah
1858 (1st of Tishrei, 5619): Rosh Hashanah
1858: The City Items column published today reported “The most important of the annual religious festivals of the Jews, the "Rosh Hashannah," commenced today. It is not only one of the most important, but also one of the most ancient of Hebrew celebrations.” The writer then quoted the verses from Chapter XXII of Leviticus that describe the commands related to the observance of the holiday.
1859: Dr. Maurice Raphall “the most celebrated Rabbi in the United States” delivered the Rosh Hashanah sermon at the Greene Street Synagogue. Dr. Samuel Adler delivered the sermon at Temple Emanu-el. Dr. Bondi, the new rabbi at the Norfolk Street Synagogue, delivered his first Rosh Hashanah sermon in New York.
1861: As the Civil War entered its sixth month reports were published today that “there is a universal stampede of Jews southward, who have been engaged in running goods into the Southern Confederacy, caused by a report that the trains on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad would probably be stopped to-morrow.” This would not be the first, nor the last, attempt to connect Jews with war profiteering. These stories primarily emanated from the western theatre of fighting. The author of this particular item shows an ignorance of the pro-Union sentiment among Jews living in Kentucky as exemplified by Louis Naphtali Dembitz of Louisville who was one of the three men who placed Lincoln’s name in nomination for the Presidency.
1863:Mr. J. L. De Cordova, the humorist and author is delivered his famed lecture, "Fairy Land and the Fairies," at Dodworth's Hall this evening. The proceeds will be given to the Hebrew Free Sunday School Teachers' Association
1864: In Kaschau, Hungary, Henrietta A. Weintraub and Rabbi Albert Bettelheim gave birth to Rebekah Bettelheim who as Rebekah Bettelheim Kohut, the wife of Rabbi Alexander Kohut, became one of the pioneering leaders in the fields of “in the areas of education, social welfare, and the organization of Jewish women” (As reported by Karla Goldman)
1870: In Philadelphia, PA, Rabbi Marcus Jastow was serving as the spiritual leader of Rodeph Shalom, a German Jewish Congregation, which dedicated its new sanctuary on Broad and Mt. Vernon Streets today. It replaced the congregation’s first synagogue that had been located on Julianna Street.
1873: G.L. Fox played Goliath in tonight’s performance of “The Wandering Jew” at the Grand Opera House in New York City. “The Wandering Jew” or “Le Juif Errant” is an opera by Fromental Halevy’s based on the medieval Christian legend that claims a Jew who taunted Jesus at the Crucifixion is destined to wander the world until the Second Coming.
1873: Birthdate of Max Reinhardt. Born Maximilian Goldmann, the famed director is described as being of Jewish ancestry by one source. Regardless of the term “Jewish ancestry” he fled Hitler’s Europe and settled in the United States where he passed away in 1943.
1877(2ndof Tishrei, 5638): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1877: Despite claims that it was too small, the little synagogue in Chatham square in New York City held Rosh Hashanah services in room that could hold anywhere from 300 to 400 people that could be accessed by a four-foot wide stairway which provided a satisfactory route for worshippers to enter and leave.
1881: “Russian Immigrants” published today described plans that are being made by prominent New York Jews to deal with the more than 500 Jewish refugees from Russia that are expected to arrive at Castle Garden in the next three months. It is estimated that it will take more than $50,000 to meet their initial needs.
1883: Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Agram, the city in the Austro-Hungarian Empire which is also known by its Croatian name – Zagreb.
1884: A group of Polish and Hungarian miners from Montana, PA, attacked a Jewish clothier and chased him and his assistants out town after stealing their packs.
1889: “The Jews of London” published today provides a review of Reuben Sachs: A Sketch by Amy Levy.
“Reuben Sachs is a London lawyer whose political aspirations do not include marriage to Judith Quixano, the daughter of a respectable but unexceptional family. But without Reuben, a woman like Judith might have a bleak future in mid-19th century England: a loveless marriage or lifelong dependency are apparently her only options…” Amy Levy was 19th century Jewish author who led what was called at the time “an unconventional life.”
1890: Birthdate of Dr. Kurt Lewin, the German born American psychologist.
1891: It was announced today that Rabbi Solomon Sonnenschein of Temple Israel has resigned because of health problems and will be returning to Germany. He must have recovered his health because in 1905 he was the Rabbi at Temple B’nai Yeshrun in Des Moines, Iowa.
1899: Anti-Jewish riots occurred in
Algeria
.
1905: Birthdate of movie producer Joseph Levine.
1907(1stof Tishrei, 5668): Rosh Hashanah
1910: In Paris, Alice B. Toklas moves into the home of Gertrude Stein. [Do you think these two daughters of Israel kept a kosher kitchen?]
1910: El Desperter a new Ladino newspaper appears in Tetuan. It is the first Jewish newspaper in
Morocco
.
1910: The Turkish government placed a tax on sales of kosher meat by local communities. Proceeds were promised to go to philanthropic purposes. Governors of all vilayets (provinces) informed and directed to assist chief rabbis in enforcing payment
1911: Birthdate of writer and social commentator Paul Goodman.
1911: The first party of Jewish farmers arrived in Salt Lake City Utah, on their way to the Piute Project, to colonize Southern Utah.
1915(1stof Tishrei, 5676): Rosh Hashanah
1916: Second baseman Sam Bohne made his major league debut with the St. Louis Cardinals.
1916: Birthdate of Montague Ullman, the psychiatrist who founded the Dream Laboratory at Maimonides Medical Center.
1917: The New York Times reviewed The Holy Scriptures According to the Masoretic Text: a New Translation and The Story of Bible Translation by Max L. Margolis. Dr. Cyrus Adler chaired the committee that was responsible for the translation and the late Dr. Solomon Schechter played a key role in this effort as well.
1918(3rdof Tishrei, 5679): In the waning days of The Great War, Jews divided by combat were united in the observance of Tzom Gedaliah
1923: Birthdate of David Rayfiel, the native of Corinth, NY a screenwriter who in a long creative relationship with the director Sydney Pollack and Robert Redford collaborated on many of their most successful films, including “Three Days of the Condor,” “Out of Africa” and “The Way We Were. ” (As reported by William Grimes)
1926(1st of Tishrei, 5687): Rosh Hashanah
1926: Thanks to a directive from the Director of Public Safety, Jewish policemen and firemen are to be excused from active duty today because of the High Holidays.
1926: As Jews in New York observed Rosh Hashanah, they contemplated the following message from Governor Alfred E. Smith, who would be the first Catholic to run for President of the United States in 1928.
"The minority of intolerant people in our land are soon hushed by the chorus of disapproval which arises when intolerance and hatred raise their voices. True Americanism does not tolerate anything so un-American and unpatriotic as intolerance of any race or any religion. Once again at the approach of the Jewish New Year, I want to extend to the Jewish citizens of the State my cordial and heartfelt greetings. I appreciate the sacredness of the time and have many memories of the deep solemnity with which my old friends and neighbors observed these Holidays. In our busy lives it is an inspiring thing to set aside days on which we take thought of our actions and our life during the past year and prepared for the future. Communion with God in the deepest spiritual sense is the basis of all true religion. I profoundly believe in the separation of church and State as a basic American principle and I could not believe otherwise. But I do not believe in the separation of religion from daily life. Each of us observes the requirements of his religion in his own way but together we are all children of the one God. The minority of intolerant people in our land are soon hushed by the chorus of disapproval which arises when intolerance and hatred raises their voices. True Americanism does not tolerate anything so un-American and unpatriotic as intolerance of any race or any religion. The Jews are notably a people of peace and in wishing my fellow Jewish citizens of the State of New York a good New Year, I hope that their prayers will join with mine that our Universal Father help us all to strengthen the time-honored American principles of toleration and religious freedom." (As reported by JTA)
1926: The New York Board of Jewish Ministers issued a New Year message, in which it declared:
"With Rosh Hashanah begins Israel's most solemn season of the year, culminating in Yom Kippur, the sacred Day of Atonement. It is a hallowed usage in the House of Israel that this season is a time for noting and estimating the individual and the collective situation."Crowded synagogues will once more attest to the call of the Faith which summons the Jew to scrutinize his soul and take inventory of his spiritual condition. May the Heavenly Father send light and guidance upon the path of every sincere supplicant who implores help from On High. "The celebration of the 150th anniversary of American independence brings vividly to mind the privilege as well as the responsibility with which the Jew has been entrusted in this blessed land. He has shared fully in the life of the nation, from its beginning, having made many sacrifices and received many benefits. Among the patriots who achieved the success of the Revolution, the Jewish names were plentiful, though the Jewish population was meager. The Jew therefore feels thoroughly at home in the land which he has helped to defend in times of war and to upbuild in times of peace. He appreciates the bounties, material and spiritual, which he, together with all American citizens, here enjoys; and with the same fervor that he prays for his personal well being, he prays also for the well being of the United States of America, its civil leaders, its citizens, and its institutions."The collective situation of the House of Israel abroad gives promise of better things for the coming year."The lot of the Jew in Europe and in Palestine is showing measurable improvement. As the European nations regain their composure, the Jew regains his safety. The Peace and Welfare of Israel is intimately bound up with the Peace and Welfare of Humanity. Therefore the Prophetic Proclamation of the Holy Day season, 'Peace, Peace, afar and near,' is Israel's constant prayer."May the wounds of sorrow and suffering everywhere be healed. "May the New Year 5687 bring Peace and Blessing to Israel and to all Humanity."
1926: Establishment of the National Broadcasting Company. NBC (first in radio and then in television) was the network dominated by David Sarnoff, Chairman of RCA. With William Paley owning CBS, this meant that two Jews were at the top of the two major broadcasting networks. Contrary to what the anti-Semites claim, having two Jews at the top did not translate into a Jewish controlled media; one look at the programming of these two broadcasters will tell you that these men aimed most of their programming at middle-brow, Middle America.
1929: “Joseph Absuhdid, one of the Jews wounded in Hebron during the massacre now recovering in a Jerusalem Hospital was taken by the police to Hebron where he identified eighty prisoners as a part of the mob which perpetrated the massacre on August 24.”
1933(18th of Elul, 5693): Hirsch Smulowitz, who although 109 years old only had twenty-seven birthdays because he was born on Feb. 29, died in his sleep at the New York Guild for Jewish Blind on St. John's Avenue today. He was one of the oldest men in the State.
1935: Birthdate of Chaim Topol. Born in Tel Aviv, Topol is best known to American audiences for playing Tevye in the film version of "Fiddler on the Roof."
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the National Arab Congress, attended by delegates from Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Palestine and Egypt, started its deliberations in a small summer resort of Bludan, in Syria. The Palestine Postwas the pre-Independence name of the Jerusalem Post. It was only after the establishment of the state of
Israel
that the term Palestinian came to refer to Arabs.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that the stabbed and mutilated body of a young unidentified Jew was found in the
Yarkon
River
. Another Jew, Willy Weiss, was robbed and killed by five armed Arabs on the Haifa-Nazareth road. His passenger, Michael Dubowsky, was also wounded and robbed, but left alive.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that during the first seven months of 1937, Ha’avara Trust Office transferred 18.8 million marks of Jewish capital from Germany to Palestine. The transfers were about 11m. in 1933-1934, 17.1m. in 1935, 20m. in 1936. Parts of the transfers consisted of goods, machines and raw materials.
1939: Birthdate of Reuven “Rubi” Rivlin, a native of Jerusalem who is a member of Likud and Speaker of the Knesset.
1939: Harry F. Guggenheim and his journalist wife launched Newsday, a tabloid designed to serve metropolitan New York City.
1940: Italian planes bombed Tel Aviv. One hundred seventeen people were killed. The Jews of Palestine posed a threat to the fascists. With much of the Arab world supporting the Nazis, the area controlled by the Yishuv provided a safe area for British forces in the Middle East. The oil refineries at Haifa were of great value to the Allies and were subject to bombing raids by the Italians. At the outset of the war Weitzman had pledged the support of the Yishuv to the Allied cause. Ben-Gurion spoke for many when he said the Jews would fight the White Paper (the closing of immigration) as if there were no war and fight the war as if there were no White Paper.
1940: The Ordinance Judenkodex (Jewish Code) was adopted in
Slovakia
. This was part of a series of law designed to strip Jews of their sources of livelihood.
1942: The Vichy Government (Unoccupied France) ordered the arrest of all Catholic priests who were sheltering Jews.
1942(27th of Elul, 5702): Two thousand Jews were assembled at Kislovodsk, sent to nearby Mineralnye Vody, marched to a ditch and shot dead. There were no survivors among the 2000. Kislovodsk is located in southern
Russia
. In 1987 Kislovodsk took part in a pioneering
U.S.
- Soviet venture in peaceful relations by becoming a sister city to
Muscatine
,
Iowa
. (You have to live in Iowa to really appreciate this one.)
1942: Two thousand Jews are deported from the camp in
Lublin
,
Poland
, to Majdanek.
1944: At the Chelmno Death Camp in
Poland
, an inventory was reported of 775 wrist watches and 550 pocket watches which had been collected since July from the victims of the
Lodz
ghetto cleansing. At one level, the Holocaust was an economic venture with what might be called a reallocation of resources. In other words, the Germans and their allies took the property of the Jews and gave it to themselves. During the 1950's there was great deal of hoopla over the German Economic Miracle - the name given to quick recovery of the West German economy after the devastating defeat in 1945. How much of this "miracle" was actually funded by the wealth confiscated from the victims of the Holocaust remains one of the great unasked and unanswered questions of the post war world.
1944: The U.S.N. Drum (SS-228) began its 11th war patrol that would take it to the enemy controlled Luzon Straits in the Philippines. The submarine was under the command of Maurice H. Rindskopf who would earn the Navy Cross for his gallantry and intrepidity on this patrol. The Jewish “sailor” would rise to the rank of Rear Admiral before his retirement in 1972.
1945(2nd of Tishrei, 5706): Second Day of Rosh Hashanah
1945:Lt. Col. Louis Geffen, a judge advocate in the US Army, led Rosh Hashanah services on a naval transport crossing the Pacific Ocean.
1947: In Camden, NJ, Louis L. Goldman oversaw the ceremonies during which Dr. Max Artz installed Philip L. Lipis as the rabbi at Congregation Beth El.
1950: Gimbel’s began selling sports coats from Tel Aviv this afternoon, making it the first New York Department store to sell clothes designed and manufactured in Israel. The coats cost $98 plus tax.
1951:The draft of a mining law designed to promote oil exploration in Israel by foreign petroleum companies has been drawn up and will be submitted for Government consideration as soon as a new Cabinet is formed. According to a report prepared by U.S. Petroleum engineer Max Ball, three are geological in three different locations in Israel that suggest the presence of oil. The area of greatest interest is in the Negev.
1951: Today Leonard Bernstein married Costa Rican born actress Felicia Montealegre-Cohn; an event which occurred during the same month when he was appointed Professor of Music at Brandeis University, Waltham, Mass.
1951: “A basic reorganization of the United Palestine Appeal and other American Zionist fund-raising agencies is the principal item on the agenda of a forthcoming national conference to be called by the United Palestine Appeal, Rudolf G. Sonneborn, U.P.A. national chairman, announced today upon his return from a two-month stay in Israel. Mr. Sonneborn, who was a delegate to the recently concluded World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem, declared that "the conference which will be convened as soon as possible in Washington, D.C., must implement the basic decision of the Congress to streamline and consolidate the Zionist Funds."
1951: The newspaper Le Monde reported today that of 7,700 newspapers and periodicals published in the Soviet Union in 109 different languages not one is being published in Yiddish.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that
West Germany
approved the terms of The Hague Reparations Agreement. Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and his government hoped that this act, apart from the contribution to the economic recovery of
Israel
will build a bridge of reconciliation. Parliamentary circles in
Bonn
believed that full diplomatic and commercial relations with
Israel
will be necessary to warrant the agreement¹s safe realization.
1954: Birthdate of Dr. Martin Seth Kramer, the Washington, DC who developed an expertise on the politics of Arabs and Islam
1957: Alfred K. Stern and his wife Martha Dodd Stern “were indicted in absentia on espionage charges.” (Martha Dodd’s father was the first U.S. Ambassador to serve in Germany during the Hitler era. She got to see the Nazis up close and this transformative experience shaped the rest of her life.)
1965: While on his way to start his freshman year at Tulane University, David Levin “rides out” Hurricane Betsy in a parked railroad car in Slidell, Louisiana as the storm makes its second landfall near the Crescent City, leaving 76 dead and $1.42 billion ($10-12 billion in 2005 dollars) in damages, becoming the first hurricane to top $1 billion in unadjusted damages
1965: The most famous Jewish player, Sandy Koufax pitched his 4th no-hitter; a perfect game in which the Dodgers beat the Cubs 1 to 0. (Hank Greenberg rates as the second most famous.)
1966: Birthdate of actor and comedian Adam Sandler.
1966:Schocken Books, Inc. is scheduled to publish today "Two Tales" by S.Y. Agnon, the Israeli who has been acclaimed as today's leading writer in Hebrew and has been nominated for the Nobel Prize. It will be the first English translation of a book by Mr. Agnon since 1948, and it will mark 50 years of association between the writer and the Shocken family.
1970: A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular From for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and flown to Dawson Field in Jordan. The names of the Palestinian terrorist groups may change but the goals remain the same; remove western influence from the Arab worlds and destroy the state of Israel.
1972(1st of Tishrei, 5733): Rosh Hashanah
1973(12th of Elul, 5733): Samuel Nathaniel Behrman passed away. Born in 1893 in he was an American playwright and screenwriter, who also worked for the New York Times. In the 1930s and 1940s, he was considered one of Broadway's leading authors of "high comedy", and wrote for such stars as Ina Claire, Katharine Cornell, Jane Cowl, and the acting team of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. Among his greatest Broadway successes were The Second Man (1928), Biography (1932), End of Summer (1936), and No Time for Comedy (1939). His stage adaptation of Enid Bagnold's novel, Serena Blandish, became a success for actress Ruth Gordon. He also adapted plays by Jean Giraudoux and Marcel Achard, and a short story by W. Somerset Maugham. With composer Harold Rome he adapted Marcel Pagnol's Fanny trilogy into a musical comedy for the stage. In Hollywood, he was most noted for his work on screenplays for Greta Garbo, including Queen Christina, Conquest, and her final film, Two-Faced Woman. With Sonya Levien, Behrman co-wrote the screen play for the 1930 film version of Ferenc Molnar's Liliom, starring Charles Farrell and Rose Hobart. His experiences in Hollywood found dramatic form in Let me Hear the Melody (1951). Berhman's comedies repeatedly celebrate tolerance, yet show how tolerant people in their generosity are often vulnerable when confronted by fanatics or ruthless opportunists. In End of Summer, a liberal household is threatened by a devious psychoanalyist who is able to play upon their weaknesses in his desire for wealth and power. Behrman's protagonists often feel inadequate to deal with the evils and injustices in the world. The hero of No Time for Comedy, a successful author of stylish comedies for his actress-wife, feels the need to write a serious play in response to the Spanish Civil War. When he fails at this attempt, he resolves to go to Spain himself and fight. The play asks the question: Is there a place for comedy in a violent and unjust world? Behrman's writing for The New Yorker not only included profiles of such notable figures as composer George Gershwin Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnar, Zionist leader Chaim Weizmann and entertainer Eddie Cantor, but much longer pieces that were collected into books on Max Beerbohm and Joseph Duveen. His autobiographical essays, which also appeared in The New Yorker, later appeared in two volumes, The Worcester Account (1955) and People in a Diary (1972).
1978(7th of Elul, 5738): Jack Warner, founder of Warner Brothers Studio, passed away.
1982: The New York Times reviewed books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Leo Rosten’s Hooray For Yiddish!.
1991(1stof Tishrei, 5752): Rosh Hashanah
1993: Aryeh Gamliel completed his term as Deputy Minister of Housing and Construction.
1993: The Palestine Liberation Organization officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state. Future events would seem to indicate the PLO really did not do this. In point of fact no copy of the PLO’s National Charter has been published without the “many clauses declaring the creation of the state of Israel "null and void", since it was created by force on Palestinian soil calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.”
1995(14th of Elul, 5755): Eighty-nine year old Biblical archaeologist Benjamin Mazar passed away. (As reported by Joel Greenberg)
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/11/obituaries/benjamin-mazar-89-israeli-biblical-archaeologist.html
1995: In Dayton, The Ohio State Korean War Veterans monument which is “adjacent to the Jewish Temple” will be dedicated today. The memorial which overlooks the Great Miami River is the culmination of a six year effort that included the work of innumerable volunteers.
1997(7th of Elul, 5757): Gertude Lookstein passes away at the age of 90. Gertrude S. Lookstein, who with her husband, Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein, was a leader in the New York Orthodox community and was active in a number of organizations. Her maternal grandfather, Rabbi Moses Z. Margolies, was the leader of Congregation Kehilath Jeshrun in
Manhattan
. He was succeeded by her husband, who served also as president, then chancellor, of
Bar-Ilan
University
in
Ramat Gan
,
Israel
, until his death in 1979. Their son, Haskel, succeeded his father in the rabbinate in Kehilath Jeshrun. Mrs. Lookstein was a national board member and
New York
chapter president of Amit Women. She was also involved in fund-raising for the Yeshiva University Women's Organization, the U.J.A. Federation and the Women's Branch of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.
2002: Slovakia marked its first Holocaust remembrance day.
2003(12th of Elul, 5763): Physicist Edward Teller passed away. Teller is known as the "Father of the H-Bomb." With Oppenheimer as the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" and Rickover as the "Father of the Atomic Submarine" it is obvious that the Jews played a primary role in providing the
United States
with the nuclear deterrent during the Cold War.
2004(23rd of Elul, 5764): Award winning composer David Raksin passed away
2005:Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf praised Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as “courageous” for ordering the withdrawal of Jewish settlements from
Gaza
, but doesn’t plan to follow up a recent diplomatic breakthrough between the countries by meeting him at the United Nations this month.
2005: In a manner reminiscent of the American Judicial System, the Israeli justice system seemed to be sending mixed messages concerning the treatment of women. Former defense minister and retired army general Yitzhak Mordechai will not be stripped of his rank, despite his two convictions for sexual misconduct. The three general panel felt he had been punished enough. The government can appeal the decisions. At the same time a” panel of High Court judges ruled Thursday that employers are not permitted to fire female workers for absence from work if this is due to their undergoing fertility treatment.However, the judges decided that the law does not provide women with general immunity against being dismissed for other disciplinary reasons, or if the fertility treatment does not justify absence from work.”
2006: “Riding the Wave,” an
Ashdod
arts festival celebrating the beachside city's 50th anniversary which was held at
Ashdod
's
Monart
Center
came to an end after three days with a singing contest. The 3-day festival focused in particular on art contributed to the city by "waves" of immigrant groups arriving in
Israel
since the founding of modern
Ashdod
. Stage actress Rama Messinger hosted a performance of the Ashdod Symphonic Orchestra as part of the festival's opening event. Artwork and performances by immigrants from
Russia
,
France
,
South America
,
Ethiopia
and
India
were highlighted during the festival.
2007: The Sunday Washington Post book section featured a review of The Indian Clerk by David Leavitt and reported that two of the three books that the Post describes as “the most anticipated books of the season” are the products of Jewish authors – Alan Greenspan and Philip Roth.
2007: The Sunday New York Times book section features reviews of World War IV: The Long Struggle Against Islamofascism by Norman Podhoretz former editor of Commentary, Diane Ackerman’s The Zookeeper’s Wife, which chronicles Antonia and Jan Zabinski’s successful efforts to save three hundred Warsaw Jews during the Holocaust and God’s Harvard: A Christian College on a Mission to Save America by Hanna Rosin a Jewish Israeli born writer who has been covering religious issues for the Washington Post for ten years.
2007: Israeli archeologists announced that they've stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago: the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city's Roman conquerors. The ancient tunnel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem in the days of the second biblical Temple, which the Romans destroyed in the year 70, the dig's directors, archaeology Professor Ronny Reich of the University of Haifa and Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, told a news conference.
2008: An article entitled “A Friend In Deed” published today describes the little known story of the relationship of Lyndon Johnson and the Jewish people; a relationship that stretched from the Hill Country to Capital Hill.
A few weeks ago, the Associated Press reported that newly released tapes from US president Lyndon Johnson's White House office showed LBJ's "personal and often emotional connection to Israel." The news agency pointed out that during the Johnson presidency (1963-1969), "the United States became Israel's chief diplomatic ally and primary arms supplier." But the news report does little to reveal the full historical extent of Johnson's actions on behalf of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Most students of the Arab-Israeli conflict can identify Johnson as the president during the 1967 war. But few know about LBJ's actions to rescue hundreds of endangered Jews during the Holocaust - actions that could have thrown him out of Congress and into jail. Indeed, the title of "Righteous Gentile" is certainly appropriate in the case of the Texan, whose centennial year is being commemorated this year. Appropriately enough, the annual Jerusalem Conference announced this week that it will honor Johnson in February 2009. Historians have revealed that Johnson, while serving as a young congressman in 1938 and 1939, arranged for visas to be supplied to Jews in Warsaw, and oversaw the apparently illegal immigration of hundreds of Jews through the port of Galveston, Texas. A key resource for uncovering LBJ's pro-Jewish activity is the unpublished 1989 doctoral thesis by University of Texas student Louis Gomolak, "Prologue: LBJ's Foreign Affairs Background, 1908-1948." Johnson's activities were confirmed by other historians in interviews with his wife, family members and political associates. Research into Johnson's personal history indicates that he inherited his concern for the Jewish people from his family. His aunt Jessie Johnson Hatcher, a major influence on LBJ, was a member of the Zionist Organization of America. According to Gomolak, Aunt Jessie had nurtured LBJ's commitment to befriending Jews for 50 years. As a young boy, Lyndon watched his politically active grandfather "Big Sam" and father "Little Sam" seek clemency for Leo Frank, the Jewish victim of a blood libel in Atlanta. Frank was lynched by a mob in 1915, and the Ku Klux Klan in Texas threatened to kill the Johnsons. The Johnsons later told friends that Lyndon's family hid in their cellar while his father and uncles stood guard with shotguns on their porch in case of KKK attacks. Johnson's speechwriter later stated, "Johnson often cited Leo Frank's lynching as the source of his opposition to both anti-Semitism and isolationism." Already in 1934 - four years before Chamberlain's Munich sellout to Hitler - Johnson was keenly alert to the dangers of Nazism and presented a book of essays, Nazism: An Assault on Civilization, to the 21-year-old woman he was courting, Claudia Taylor - later known as "Lady Bird" Johnson. It was an incredible engagement present. FIVE DAYS after taking office in 1937, LBJ broke with the "Dixiecrats" and supported an immigration bill that would naturalize illegal aliens, mostly Jews from Lithuania and Poland. In 1938, Johnson was told of a young Austrian Jewish musician who was about to be deported from the United States. With an element of subterfuge, LBJ sent him to the US Consulate in Havana to obtain a residency permit. Erich Leinsdorf, the world famous musician and conductor, credited LBJ for saving his live. That same year, LBJ warned a Jewish friend, Jim Novy, that European Jews faced annihilation. "Get as many Jewish people as possible out [of Germany and Poland]," were Johnson's instructions. Somehow, Johnson provided him with a pile of signed immigration papers that were used to get 42 Jews out of Warsaw. But that wasn't enough. According to historian James M. Smallwood, Congressman Johnson used legal and sometimes illegal methods to smuggle "hundreds of Jews into Texas, using Galveston as the entry port. Enough money could buy false passports and fake visas in Cuba, Mexico and other Latin American countries.... Johnson smuggled boatloads and planeloads of Jews into Texas. He hid them in the Texas National Youth Administration... Johnson saved at least four or five hundred Jews, possibly more." During World War II Johnson joined Novy at a small Austin gathering to sell $65,000 in war bonds. According to Gomolak, Novy and Johnson then raised a very "substantial sum for arms for Jewish underground fighters in Palestine." One source cited by the historian reports that "Novy and Johnson had been secretly shipping heavy crates labeled 'Texas Grapefruit' - but containing arms - to Jewish underground 'freedom fighters' in Palestine." ON JUNE 4, 1945, Johnson visited Dachau. According to Smallwood, Lady Bird later recalled that when her husband returned home, "he was still shaken, stunned, terrorized and bursting with an overpowering revulsion and incredulous horror at what he had seen." A decade later while serving in the Senate, Johnson blocked the Eisenhower administration's attempts to apply sanctions against Israel following the 1956 Sinai Campaign. "The indefatigable Johnson had never ceased pressure on the administration," wrote I.L. "Si" Kenen, the head of AIPAC at the time. As Senate majority leader, Johnson consistently blocked the anti-Israel initiatives of his fellow Democrat, William Fulbright, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Among Johnson's closest advisers during this period were several strong pro-Israel advocates, including Benjamin Cohen (who 30 years earlier was the liaison between Supreme C