OCTOBER 11 In History
1138: Massive earthquake strikes Aleppo, Syria. According to tradition, the Jewish community traces its origins back to the time of King David. This is based on the description of the conquest of the city by Joab found in the Book of Samuel. The Great Synagogue, the most famous Jewish edifice in the city was originally built in the fifth century of the Common Era. The real importance of the community can be traced to the Aleppo Codex,“the earliest known manuscript containing the entire text of the Bible. Tradition states that Maimonides consulted the Aleppo Codex when he set down the exact rules for writing Torah scrolls.” The Codex was copied by the scribe Shlomo Ben-Buya'a over 1,000 years ago. It was deposited with the Aleppo community at the end of the 14th Century and kept in a small vault in the Cave of Elijah under the Joab Ben Zeruiah Synagogue of Aleppo. The community guarded it for over 600 years." Whatever loss the community suffered during the earthquake, we know it survived and thrived since it was visited by Rabbi Petachya of Regensburg (Germany) starting in 1170 and Benjamin of Tudela in 1173. Benjamin’s visit was part of his “round the world tour” which he described in his literary work entitled the Travels of Benjamin.
1285: Following a false charge that the Jews had purchased a Christian child from an old woman and then killed, a mob in Munich attacked the Jews community. Those who escaped the mob took refuge in the synagogue which the mob then burned killing 180 Jews.
1347: Emperor Louis IV, the German ruler who had given Gottfried von Eppstein permission to settle Jews in Eppstein, Homburg and Steinheim in 1335, passed away.
1394: Ordination of Benedict XIII, one of the Avignon Popes whom the Catholic Church classifies as an Anti-Pope. In an attempt to gain acceptance of his Papacy, Benedict attacked the Jews. Not content to adopt oppressive laws at aimed Children Of Israel, he initiated the Disputation of Tortosa in 1413 one of those one-sided debates that the Church loved. As a result of this one, the works of Maimonides were burned and copies of the Talmud were to be confiscated so that they could be censored.
1727: George II and Caroline of Ansbach are crowned King and Queen of Great Britain. King George II was the monarch who gave “the royal assent” to the Jewish Naturalization Act of 1753. Unfortunately, the act was repealed a year later.
1789(21stof Tishrei, 5550): Hoshanah Rabah
1797(21stif Tishrei, 5558): Hoshanah Rabah
1845(10thof Tishrei, 5606): Yom Kippur
1845(10thof Tishrei, 5606): A minyan led by Mayer Klein and Philip Newberg held services in Chicago, Ill, marking the first time that his occurred in “The Windy City”
1850: The University of Sydney, Australia’s oldest university, opened its doors. Percy Marks, described as “Jewish Renaissance Man” was one of its earliest and most famous Jewish graduates. The Australian Union of Jewish Students or AUJS is an on campus organization whose aim is to promote Jewish continuity. Today the University has a Department of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish studies whose website asks and answers the following: “Why enroll in Jewish Studies at the
University
of
Sydney
?? * Challenging: Where else would you find such a stimulating fusion of diverse ethnic and religious groups studying together? Learn about religion and politics in an open and fun environment.
* Educational: Further your knowledge and insights into Jewish Studies. Learn about the issues around assimilation and Jewish civilization and master classical or Modern Hebrew or Yiddish.
* Practical: For undergraduate students, taking one of these courses will count towards qualifications in General Studies or part of your Arts, Arts/Law or Education degrees. It will also enable budding teachers to pursue a career in Modern Hebrew, Jewish Studies and Tanach.
* Unique: Delve into Jewish philosophy, history and politics, delivered by expert lecturers in their fields. There is a Jewish club called AUJS (Australian Union of Jewish Students) which has many purposes, one of which is to promote Jewish continuity!
1851(15th of Tishrei, 5612): Sukkoth
1852: Famed German mathematician Ferdinand Eisenstein passed away at the age of thirty. Eisenstein’s fate was typical of many Germans. His parents were Jewish, but they converted to a Protestant denomination before their son’s birth to gain full entrée into German society.
1853(9thof Tishrei, 5614): Erev Yom Kippur
1863(15thof Tishrei, 5764): Sukkoth
1863: An article entitled “The House of Rothschild” published today based on information from the London Globe provided a fascinatingly detailed contemporary look at this most prominent of Jewish dynasties.
“A few days ago, our Paris correspondent told us that a congress of the members of the illustrious house of Rothschild has been sitting at Paris. The purport of the meeting was nothing less than to rearrange the dominions of the great banking dynasty. In one word, the great object of the Rothschild congress was to reduce the five branches of the house who now rule Europe to four, and following the example of Garibaldi, to strike another sovereign of Naples from the list of reigning monarchs. Henceforth there are to be but four kings of the house of Rothschild, with secure thrones at London, Paris, Vienna, and Frankfort. It is now exactly a hundred years since a poor Jew, called Mayer Anselm, made his appearance at the City of Hanover; barefooted, with a sack, oa his shoulders, and a bundle of rags on his back. Successful in trade, like most of his co-religionists, he returned to Frankfort at the end of a few years, and set up a small shop in the "Jew-lane," over which hung the signboard of a red shield, called in German roth-schild. As a dealer in old and rare coins, he made the acquaintance of the Serene Elector of Hesse Cassel, who, happening to be in want of a confidential agent for various open and secret purposes, appointed the shrewd-looking Mayer Anselm to the post. The Serene Elector being compelled soon after to fly his country. Mayer Anselm took charge of his cash, amounting to several millions of florins. With the instinct of his race, Anselm did not forget to put the money out on good interest, so that, before Napoleon was gone to Elba, and the illustrious Elector had returned to Cassel, the capital had more than doubled. The ruler of Hesse Casse thought it almost a marvel to get his money safely returned from the Jew-lane of Frankfort, and at the Congress of Vienna was never tired of singing the praise of his Hebrew agent to all the Princes of Europe. The dwellers under the sign of the Red Shield laughed in their sleeves; keeping carefully to themselves the great fact that the electoral two million florins had brought them four millions of their own. Never was honesty a better policy. Mayer Anselm died in 1812, without having the supreme satisfaction of hearing his honesty extolled by kings and princes. He left five sons who succeeded him in the banking and money-lending business, and who, conscious of their social value, dropped the name of Anselm, and adopted the higher sounding one of Rothschild, taken, from the sign board over the paternal house. On his deathbed their father had taken a solemn oath from all of them, to hold his four millions well together, and they have faithfully kept the Injunction. But the old City of Frankfort clearly was too; narrow a realm for the fruitful sowing of four millions; and, in consequence, the five were determined after a while to extend their sphere of operations by establishing branch banks at the chief cities of Europe. The eldest son, Anselm, born 1773, remained at Frankfort; the second, Salomon, born in 1774, settled at Vienna; the third, Nathan, born in 1777, went to London; the fourth, Charles, the infant terrible of the family, established himself in the soft climate of Naples, and the fifth and youngest, James, born 1792, took up his residence at Paris. Strictly united, the wealth and power of the five Rothschilds S was vested in the eldest born; nevertheless, the shrewdest of the sons of Mayer Anselm, and the heir of his genius, Nathan, the third son, soon took the reins of government into the own hands. By his faith in Wellington and the flesh and muscle of British soldiers, he neatly doubled the fortune of the family, gaining more than a million sterling by the sole battle of Waterloo, the news of which he carried to England two days earlier than the mail. The weight of the solid millions gradually transferred the ascendancy in the family from Germany to England, making London the metropolis of the reigning dynasty of Rothschild. Like the royal families of Europe, the members of the house of Rothschild only intermarry with each other. James Rothschild married the daughter of his brother Salomon: his son Edmond heir apparent of the French line, was united to his first cousin, the daughter of Lionel, and granddaughter of Nathan Rothschild; and Lionel again-M.P. for London -- gave his hand in 1836 to his first cousin Charlotte the daughter of Charles Rothschild, of Naples. It is unnecessary to say that, though these matrimonial alliances have kept the millions wonderfully together, they have not improved the race of old Mayer Anselm, of the Red Shield. Already signs of physical weakness are becoming visible in the great family. So, at least, hint the French papers in their meager notices about the Rothschild congress at Paris. From all that can be gathered out of a wilderness of canards, thin faces and thick fiction, it appears that the sovereigns of the Stock Exchange met in conference for the double purpose of centralizing their money power and widening their matrimonial realm. In other words, the five reigning kings; descendants, according to the law of primogeniture, of the five sons Mayer Anselm, came to the decision to reduce their number to four by cutting off the Neapolitan branch of Charles Rothschild; while it was likewise decided that permission should be given to the younger members of the family to marry, for the benefit of the race, beyond the range of first cousinship. What has led to the exclusion of the Neapolitan line of Rothschild seems to have been the constant exercise of a highly blameable liberality, unheard of in the annals of the family. Charles, the prodigal son of Mayer Anselm, actually presented, in the year 1846, 10,000 ducats to the orphan asylum of St. Carlo, at Naples, and the son and heir of Charles (Gustavus) has given repeated signs of his inclination to follow in the footsteps of his father. Such conduct, utterly unbecoming of the policy of the house of Rothschild, could not be allowed to pass unnoticed, and, accordingly -- we quote the rumor of Paris journalism -- the decheance of the Neapolitan line has been pronounced. However, Baron Gustavus De Rothschild is not to retire into private life, like famous Charles V., with only a cassock on his shoulders and a prayer-book in his hand, but is allowed to take with him a small fortune of 150,000,000 francs, or about six millions sterling -- a mere crumb from the table of the descendants of poor Mayer Anselm, who wandered shoeless through the electorate of good King George III. It is certain that no romance of Royalty is equal to the romance of the house of Rothschild
1864: Campina Grande was elevated to the status of city in Brazil.
Campina Grande
is in northeast
Brazil
. Based on a recent documentary many Catholics in that region follow various Jewish customs without being aware of their origin, In all likelihood, the region was originally settled by Marranos or Conversos. Their descendants continued practicing rituals such as not eating pork, circumcising new born males, reciting special prayers on the first day of the month and a variety of customs relating to dealing with the dead without being aware of their origins.
1864 The General News column today reported that “In consequence of a Jewish feast occurring yesterday, there were fewer buyers at the yards, and the gentiles had the business of buying and selling to themselves, -- this gave less annimation to the sale yards. It is thought that the Jews will bring in some stock to-morrow, and that there will be considerable business transacted.”
1872(9th of Tishrei, 5633): Erev Yom Kippur
1874(30th of Tishrei, 5635): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1874: During today’s opening session of the Supreme Lodge of the Order of Kesher Shel Barzel, in the Bowery. J.P. Solomon of New York was chosen as Supreme Rosh. Other officers elected were, Deputy Rosh, L.H. Cohen of Ohio and Supreme Sopher, A.T. Jones of Pennsylvania.
1876(23rd of Tishrei, 5637): Simchat Torah
1878(14th of Tishrei, 5639): Erev of Sukkoth
1878: A fire broke out tonight in New York City “in the temporary building erected in the yard at #67 Hester Street for the celebration of…Sukkoth.” The fire took place during services which created panic among the worshippers all of whom escaped without injury
1878: It was reported today that dispatches sent from Berlin by The Pall Mall Gazette (a British publication) say the European Powers are still refusing to recognize the independence of Romania until the government at Bucharest fulfills its treaty obligations granting full rights to its Jewish citizens. The Romanian government has been using a series of legal gimmicks to avoid granting the Jews the civil rights that had been promised during negotiations in Berlin.
1879: Citizens of Bolivar County, Mississippi, meeting at Bolivar Landing passed a resolution denouncing Edward Storm, the Republican nominee for Supervisor as “a dishonest Jew, the servile tool of the slave owner before the war and convenient and abandoned ally of the corrupt carpet-bagger” since the end of the Civil War. (This maybe a reference to Edward Storm, a native of Berlin, Germany who served in the Confederate Army from 1861 until 1865 and is buried in Greenville, MS
1879: It was reported today that there are between six and seven million Hebrews in the world which is about the same number that were alive in the days of King David. This includes 5 million Jews in Russia, 200,000 in Asia, 80,000 in Africa and a million to a million and a half in America. Russia has the largest European Jewish population followed by Austria. There are only about 500,000 Jews living in Germany 45,000 of whom reside in Berlin. Most of the African Jews live in Algeria and Ethiopia. The 13,500 Jews living in Jerusalem constitute over half of that city’s total population.
1883(10th of Tishrei, 5644): Yom Kippur
1884(22nd of Tishrei, 5645): Shemini Atzeret
1884: It was reported today that the funeral of Dr. Adolphus Huebsch, the rabbi who has led Ahavet Chesed since 1866 and passed away suddenly last night will be held on the day after Simchat Torah.
1884: Birthdate of Eleanor Roosevelt. Contrary to what the anti-Semites said, neither FDR nor his wife was Jewish. However, Mrs. Roosevelt certainly had numerous Jewish friends. As a champion of the downtrodden including Jews seeking to escape Hitler’s Europe and those seeking to create a Jewish homeland, she certainly enjoyed a certain kind of celebrity and popularity with Jews living during the middle of the twentieth century.
1884: “Hebrew Charity For Children” published today presented a summary of the annual report of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society. Since its opening in September of 1879, this New York Institution has received applications for admission from more than 600 boys and girls. In addition to maintaining sex segregated facilities for those needing residential assistance, the society provided 7,983 free meals to “poor people and children” not living in one of these facilities. Mrs. P.J. Joachimsen will continue to serve as President for another year.
1884: It was reported today that two Jews named “Ritter and Strochlenski” have been found guilty and sentenced to death in Poland for having “murdered a Christian girl.”
1885: It was reported today that officials had destroyed an illegal still near Newburg, NY, that was reputed to be owned by four Jews who escaped apprehension.
1886: In St. Louis, MO, an inquest was scheduled to be held today to determine the facts concerning death of Josie Martel who was supposed to have been killed by her husband Frank Sandmeyer, a Jewish waiter who took his own life after taking hers.
1887(23rd of Tishrei, 5648): Simchat Torah
1888: Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler’s address at tonight’s meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association was followed by musical program that was conducted by Frederick Brandies.
1893(1st of Cheshvan, 5654): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1896: In Moscow, Osip and Anna Jakobson gave birth to Roman Jakobson, “the father of modern structural linguistics who elaborated sophisticated theories of language and communication that had profound effects on such disciplines as anthropology, art criticism and brain research…”
1902(10th of Tishrei, 5663): Yom Kippur
1906(22nd of Tishrei, 5667): Shemini Atzeret
1906: Birthdate of Charles Revson, Canadian born founder of Revlon Cosmetics.
1912:Louis D. Brandeis addressed some 200 social workers from the charitable and philanthropic organizations of New York and Brooklyn today at a meeting in the United Charities Building. Mr. Brandeis in his speech told the workers they might expect much help from Gov. Woodrow Wilson if he is elected President.
1912: According to reports published today, a special meeting of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society of New York was held to pass a lengthy a resolution marking the recent death of Professor Morris Loeb
1913(10th of Tishrei, 5674): Yom Kippur
1913: Birthdate of Hymie Simon, the son of tailor, who gained fame as Joe Simon the writer and illustrator who crated Captain America. (As reported by Bruce Weber)
1914(21st of Tishrei, 5675): Hoshanah Rabah
1918: Birthdate of film director Jerome Robbins. He is best known for directing Leonard Bernstein’s musical version of Romeo and Juliet called “West Side Story.” He died in 198l.
1925(23rdof Tishrei, 5686): Simchat Torah
1926: Birthdate of major league baseball player Myron Nathan “Joe” Ginsberg.
1927(15thof Tishrei, 5688): Sukkoth
1933(21stof Tishrei, 5694): Hoshana Raba
1936: In article entitled “Life in Tel Aviv, That Sudden Town,” Katherine Woods reviews Spring Up, O Well by Ruth Kahn, a book that describes the Jewish “resettlement of Palestine”
1937: Birthdate of actor Ron Leibman. Born in
New York City
, his portrayal of the union organizer in the film hit Norma Rae won him kudos even if Sally Fields got the Oscar.
1937: The Palestine Post published an extensive report on the deteriorating condition of Jews in
Poland
and German Upper Silesia. According to Alexander Kahn, the vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee in
Poland
, entire Jewish communities in towns and villages were subjected to unspeakable brutalities of local nationalists, anti-Semites and hooligans. There were riots at the Vilna and
Lvov
universities where Jewish students were beaten and, when forced to seat on the left side, preferred to stand instead. The Polish administration welcomed an economic anti-Jewish boycott while trade organizations urged to create "a ghetto" for Jewish tradesmen in the markets. In the
village
of
Mushlatova
a Jewish merchant and his wife were murdered at night, the fifth such crime in that district. Note that these outbreaks took place two years before the Nazis occupied
Poland
. Anti-Semitism was part of the European cultural landscape. It was this reality that helped to make the Final Solution possible. “They did not hear our cries, not because they were deaf, but because they did not want to hear them.” Anon
1938: In Cairo, at the concluding session of the Moslem Congress, the Proposals Committee presented a resolution making nine demands on the British government including nullification of the Balfour Declaration, cessation of Jewish immigration into Palestine, an end to any plans to partition Palestine and end to the mandate which would mirror the earlier end to the British Mandate in Iraq.
1939: President Franklin Roosevelt received a letter signed by Albert Einstein urging that the
United States
begin an urgent program to develop what would become the atomic bomb. It was Einstein’s support that garnered
Roosevelt
’s support for what would be known as the Manhattan Project –
America
’s program to build the Atomic Bomb. At the time, it was viewed as a race which, if won by the Germans, would have cost the Allies the war.
1940(9thof Tishrei, 5701): Erev Yom Kippur
1940: As the deportation of the Jews of Cracow continued a group of un-named Jews were captured at prayer by an unknown photographer.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/october/05.asp
1941: A Jewish ghetto at
Chernovtsy
,
Romania
, is established.
1941(20th of Tishrei, 5702: Sixth Day of Sukkoth; Shabbat
1941(20th of Tishrei, 5702: Thousands of Jews are murdered at Edineti, Romania.
1942(30th of Tishrei, 5703):Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1942(30th of Tishrei, 5703):Over the next 48 hours eleven thousand Jews from Ostrowiec-Swietokrzyski, Poland, are killed at the Treblinka death camp
1943: An article in Time magazine entitled “Quality of Mercy” describes the rescue of the Danish Jews and their trip to
Sweden
. “Across the narrow waters of the Ore Sund word came to Sweden last week that 1,800 Gestapo men sent to
Copenhagen
specialty for the job had broken into Jewish homes and synagogues during Rosh Hashanah, arresting most of
Denmark
’s 10,000 Jews. The reports said the Germans planned to ship their prisoners to the charnel houses of
Poland
. Next day the Swedish government told the German Government that there was immediate, unconditional sanctuary for all Danish Jews in
Sweden
. The Germans ignored the offer. At the end of the week, end upwards of 1,000 wretched Jews from
Denmark
had found their way across the cold Ore Sund to merciful
Sweden
.
1943: One day after rescuing three Jews from the Riga (Latvia) Ghetto by asking guards for Jews to labor on his property, Yanis Lipke rescues additional Jews using the same ruse.
1943: The trains kept rolling to Sobibor. According to Alexander Pechersky – on this day “the crematorium burned longer than usual. Helpless and distressed, we looked at the bodies of our brothers and sisters."New arrivals paniced and ran toward barbed wire, only to be machine-gunned by guards.
1945: According to reports published today, “Fritz Wiedemann, former German consul in San Francisco will be a leading Allied witness in the prosecution of Nazi war criminals” who will be tried according to rules established by the International Court of Justice. Wiederman had been the lover of Princess Stephanie who had spied on top Nazis.
1945: Early this morning, a group of armed Jewish attackers overpowered the guards at the British Army camp at Rehovot and stole a quantity of weapons and ammunition which they loaded into stolen trucks that were used to make a clean get—away.
1946: Rabbi Phillip Bernstein of Rochester, NY, who serves as an adviser to Generals Joseph T. McNarney and Mark Clark” commanders of the American zones of occupation in Germany and Austria is returning to Germany today after meeting with President Truman at the White House. Truman expressed concern for the plight of the Jews and said he wanted more firsthand information. Bernstein said that the “original concept of resettling 100,000 European Jews is untenable” since the number of Jewish displaced persons is closer to 225,000.
1946: One hundred fifty of the four hundred Jews imprisoned at the Latrun detention camp began partial hunger strike in protest over their lengthy detention without ever having been charged let alone tried with any crime.
1946: An organization called the Arab Higher Fighters executed “two Arab land brokers” accused of having sold land to Jews.
1945: The USS President Warfield was struck from the U.S. Naval Vessel Register. This was but one of the many steps that would lead this packet steamer to re-emerge as the Exodus in 1947.
1947: “Twenty British constables armed with Sten guns guarded the American consulate against possible Arab attack today after the United States announced its support of the partition of Palestine…The precautionary measures followed the bombing of the Swedish consulate…by Arabs…which was believed to have been an answer to a speech by the Swedish chairman of the United Nations special committee on Palestine” at the United Nations which is meeting a Lake Success, NY.
1948:At
5 p.m.
, former Gov. Herbert H. Lehman and Dr. Nelson Glueck, president of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, speak in a pre-Yom Kippur broadcast of the American Jewish Committee carried by WCBS and the Columbia Broadcasting System.
1951: Birthdate of Jean-Jacques Goldman a Grammy Awards-winning French singer-songwriter, who is hugely popular in the French-speaking world and since 2003, was the second-highest-grossing French living pop singer, after Johnny Hallyday.
1952: Howie Greenfield knocked on Neil Sedaka’s door and asked him if “he wanted to write songs” with him. Sedaka “didn’t know how to write songs and didn’t have any inclination” to learn how to. Greenfield would convince him to change his mind and Sedaka later said it was a good thing “because we ended up writing over 300 songs together over the next 20 years.”
1953: General Mordechai Makleff, the 3rd Chief of Staff of the IDF, and at 32 the youngest to hold the position, announced his intention to resign after repeated disputes with government leaders.
1959(9thof Tishrei, 5720): Erev Yom Kippur
1959(9thof Tishrei, 5720): Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, the Brisker Rov passed A native of Belarus, he escaped the Holocaust and settled in Jerusalem. A leader of the Haredi community, he advocated completed withdrawal from involvement with the state of Israel. Unlike others, this meant he opposed accepting any financial aid from the state.
1961(1st of Cheshvan, 5722): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1961(1st of Cheshvan, 5722):: One of the Marx Brothers, Leonard "Chico" Marx passed away at the age of 74.
1962: Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council or Vatican II. The Council marked a turning point in improving relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish People.
1963: Popular French singer Edith Piaf passed away. The popular Piaf was accused by some of collaborating with the Nazis while they occupied
Paris
during the war. In her defense, Piaf’s supporters pointed that she helped the Jewish composer Michael Emer escape from occupied
France
. More to the point during the war she carried on an affair with the Jewish pianist Norbert Glanzberg, Okay, so it’s not Schindler’s List or Raoul Wallenberg; but saving Jews is saving Jews.
1973(15thof Tishrei, 5734): Sukkoth
[Editor’s note – the next three entries are incomplete. They are not a catalogue of failure, but a record of very brave men, fighting against great odds, not unlike those members of the RAF who fought so courageously during the Battle of Britain – never have so have so many owed so much to so few)
1973: An F-4E Phantom carrying Kobi Hayun and Uri Arad was shot down by an Egyptian MiG-21
1973: An F-4E Phantom carrying Yonatan Ofir and Eran was shot down by an Egyptian MIG=21
1973: An F-4E Phantom carrying Asher Snir was shot down by a SAM or anti-aircraft batteries.
1973: During the Yom Kippur War, after pushing Syrian troops from the Golan Heights, Israeli troops under General Raful Eitan counterattacked into Syrian territory. During the battle for the Golan, the Syrian army lost approximately 1,100 tanks. Some 3,500 Syrians were been killed, and 370 prisoners taken. At the end of the battle “a special paratroop unit led by a young officer called Yoni, made its way through Syrian-occupied territory, and in a dramatic rescue operation,” evacuated Lieutenant-Colonel Naty Yossi, who had led a gallant tank attack. The Yoni mentioned here is none other than Yoni Netenyahu, the man who will lose his life three years later on the rescue mission at Entebbe. His second in command described the scene, “Yoni attacking, shooting and his leading his men into battle, leading them, not giving orders from behind.” By nightfall, the Israelis were ten kilometers inside
Syria
and literally on the road to
Damascus
. Despite this moment of victory, the fate of the Jewish state still hung in the balance and the situation was quite precarious to say the least.
1975: Debut of Saturday Night Live, produced by Lorne Michaels, or, as he was known when growing up in Canada, Lorne Michael Lipowitz
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan told the UN General Assembly that for the past 10 years, 1967-1977, Israel was committed, but to no avail, to territorial concessions on the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip in return for a genuine peace. There was no sign that Arabs were ready for a settlement. And the same can still be said today.
1984(15thof Tishrei, 5745): Sukkoth
1985: Birthdate of actress Michelle Trachtenberg.
1993: A month after the signing of the Declaration of Principles had taken place in
Washington
,
D.C.
between
Israel
and the PLO, the Israeli Foreign Minister “sent a letter to the Norwegian Foreign Minister in which he confirmed that ‘the Palestinian institutions of
East Jerusalem
and well-being of the Palestinians of East Jerusalem are great importance and will be preserved.’”
1998: The New York Times book section featured a review of Phillip Roth’s novel, I Married A Communist.
2000: Avraham Shochat began serving as Minister of Energy and Water Resources (AKA – Ministry of National Infrastructure)
2000: In addition to his other duties, Binyamin Ben-Eliezer began serving as Minister of House and Construction
2000: Portions of the INS Dakar, the Israeli submarine that sank in 1968, were raised from the floor of the Mediterranean Sea. (They were later placed at the memorial to the sub and its crew located at the National Military and Police Cemetery on Mt. Herzl.)
2001: The Polaroid Corporation filed for bankruptcy marking the end of a company founded on the dream and the genius of Edwin Land and his instant photography.
2003(15thof Tishrei, 5764): Sukkoth
2005: Israeli mathematician Robert J. Aumann and Thomas C. Schelling won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science for their work in game theory, which explains the choices that competitors make in situations that require strategic thinking. Aumann was born in
Frankfurt
in 1930. The family came to the
United States
where Aumann earned a Ph.D. from M.I.T. in 1955. He joined the faculty of
Hebrew
University
in
Jerusalem
in 1957. Hebrew University Professor of Mathematics Robert J. Aumann, who on Monday won the Nobel Prize in economics for his work on using game theory to understand conflict resolution, says he sees no end to the
Middle East
conflict that claimed the life of his eldest son 23 years ago. “This conflict has been going on for 80 years and to my sorrow I believe it will last for at least another 80,” Aumann said in a press conference at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Givat Ram campus, where he resides as a professor emeritus in the
Institute
of
Mathematics
and as a member of Center for Rationality. Aumann, who made aliya from the
United States
in 1956, shares the prize with Thomas C. Schelling of the
University
of
Maryland
. The two were rewarded for “establishing interactive decision [game] theory as the dominant approach to understanding conflict and cooperation between countries, individuals and organizations,” the
Royal
Swedish
Academy
of Sciences said in a statement. Aumann and Schelling will receive the prize on December 10 from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustav and will share the 10 million Swedish kronor prize money, which translates to nearly
NIS
6m. Aumann is the fifth Nobel laureate connected to the
Hebrew
University
and is the first active faculty member to receive the award. He has been working at the university for 49 years, since his arrival in the country. Aumann said the award was a tribute to the many achievements of Israeli science and economics and recognition of the importance of game theory as a field of study. “I feel great and am very glad I got the prize, but it’s not just a personal achievement,” he said. “My work is closely tied to those of others, both in
Israel
and abroad.” In this regard, Aumann added that he felt a third recipient, “the high priest of game theory” Lloyd Chapley, a Professor at UCLA with whom he worked very closely, should have been included in the award. Aumann’s daughter Miriam Aumann Baris told The Jerusalem Post that the family knew he had been a candidate for the award in the past but had not expected it to come this year. Hebrew University President Menachem Magidor, a former student of Aumann’s, said that Aumann’s work was deserving of the prize many years ago. The announcement marked the first time since 1994 that the
Royal
Academy
has awarded the prize to academics who were instrumental in developing game theory. In 1994, the academy passed over Aumann and Schelling in awarding the prize to John C. Harsanyi, Reinhard Selten and John F. Nash, Jr. for their game theory work. Nash’s life and his difficulties with schizophrenia were documented in the 2001 film A Beautiful Mind. Aumann’s and Schelling’s work was “essential” in developing game theory further, the academy said Monday. The award recognized work the two men did in the 1960s and 1970s that had helped defense analysts use models to map out options available to an adversary and to predict what the other side might do in a confrontation. Their work also had economic applications in such areas as pricing and labor negotiations, the academy said. “Robert Aumann was the first to conduct a full-fledged formal analysis of so-called infinitely repeated games. His research identified exactly what outcomes can be upheld over time in longrun relations,” it said. Aumann stressed that, while he received the award for his work on repeated-game theory, this was just one aspect of the broader subjects of game theory in which he was involved. Aumann, 75, was born in
Frankfurt
, where he lived until his family fled Nazi Germany to the
US
in 1938. With the establishment of
Israel
in 1948, he and his