OCTOBER 17 In History
832
BCE
(7 Cheshvan 2928): This is considered the traditional date of the inauguration of the first
Temple
in
Jerusalem
by King Solomon. As far as many Jews are concerned, the dedication is tied to the holiday of Sukkoth and dating schemes such as these are of minimal value. In one of those oddities of the calendar, in 2005, Sukkoth began on the evening of October 17.
539
BCE
: King Cyrus, The Great, of Persia marches into the city of Babylon. This will lead to the return of the Jews to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile.
1532: Pope Clement
VII
issued an apostolical brief halting the Portuguese Inquisition “until further notice.
1448: Second Battle of Kosovo, where the mainly Hungarian army led by John Hunyadi is defeated by an Ottoman army led by Sultan Murad II. Murad is remembered favorably by the Jews since he allowed German Jews who were fleeing persecution and death to settle in Salonica. He also employed Jews as his court physicians. On the other hand, John Hunyadi enjoyed the support of the Italian Monk Jean de Capistrano who had previously convinced King Ludwig of Bavaria to expel his Jewish subjects. These two leaders would meet again a decade later during the siege of Belgrade with a different outcome. [Editor’s note – As you can see, conflicts between Moslems and Christians is not an invention of the 21st century]
1469: Ferdinand II of Aragon married Isabella of Castile. Their marriage led to the unification of Aragon and Castile into a single country, Spain. This rapacious duo would expel the Jews in 1492. While cloaking themselves in the Cross, they filled their pockets with stolen Jewish wealth
1483: Pope Sixtus IV launched the Spanish Inquisition, placing it under joint direction of the Church and state. Despite his previous protest, Pope Sixtus
III
gave into Ferdinand's pressure and extended the authority of the Inquisition to
Aragon
,
Catalonia
, and
Valencia
. This consolidated the Inquisition under one central body under Torquemada. Tomas de Torquemada, 63, was the Grand Inquisitor in charge of removing Jews and Muslims from
Spain
. For those who are studying history in
Cedar Rapids
you will find out that one of the oddities of all this is that all of the major players – Ferdinand, Isabella and Torquemada – descended from Conversos which means that those who led the Spanish Inquisition had Jewish ancestors.
1762(30th of Tishrei, 5523): Rosh Chodesh Cheshv
1762(30th of Tishrei, 5523): Samson Gideon, "one of the outstanding members of the London Jewish Community" and "a leader in the Parliamentary struggle to pass the Jews' Naturalization Act of 1753" passed away today.at the age of 63. The cause of death was dropsy. He left "the huge forutne" of 580,000 English Pound
1768: Birthdate of Israel Jacobson, the native of Halberstadt Germany who was a successful businessman, philanthropist and one of the founders of the Reform Movemen
1781: The Americans, with a lot of help from the French, defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown. This victory ensured the creation of the
United States
. For the most part, the small Jewish population supported the patriot cause. Of course the victory meant that the “last best hope of man” would become a haven for the Jews of Europe
1793: Birthdate of Isaac Noah Mannheimer, the Copenhagen Talmudist and Rabbi who held a variety of posts in Denmark, Germany and Austria. A leader in the Reform Movement, he served as a representative in the Austrian Reichstag.
1794(23rd of Tishrei, 5555): Simchat Torah
1808: With Napoleon's arrival at the Duchy of Warsaw, the new State parliament called for equal rights. Unfortunately this did not include the Jews whose rights “would be postponed for 10 years in the hope of eradicating all their distinctions which set them apart."
1835: Birthdate of Abraham Harkavy (Avraham Eliyahu ben Yaakov Harkavy), the Russian born Jewish historian and author. As an author, he was one of the first to write in Hebrew in modern times.
1843(23rdof Tishrei, 5604): Simchat Torah
1846:On Sabbath Bereshit a Beth-din was established, composed of the following gentlemen: Chief Rabbi Lilienthal, Moreno [Isaac M.] Wise, Rabbi of Albany and Syracuse; Moreno Doctor Felsenheldt, and Moreno Doctor Kohlmayer. Dr. Lilienthal, elected Rosh Beth Din, presented the Dayanim to his congregations, and in a sermon, delivered on that occasion, declared, on behalf of the Beth-din, that their services were ready to be given to every Jewish congregation in America, without claiming any clerical rights or dues.
1850: Anti-Christian rioters pillage Christian neighborhoods in
Aleppo
,
Syria
. Several Christians die during the riot. This serves as a reminder that sectarian violence in the
Middle East
was a fact of life before the birth of the Zionist movement and that this long-standing pattern of violence had nothing to do with the Jews.
1851(21st of Tishrei, 5612): Hoshanah Rabah
1851: A letter was sent to Samuel J. Rubinstein thanking him for his two years of “excellent service” as the treasurer of the synagogue in Dublin, Ireland.
1853(15thof Tishrei, 5614): Sukkoth
1854: Ernestine Rose, a leading early American advocate for women's rights, presided over the Fifth National Woman's Rights Convention in
Philadelphia
which opened on this date. At the
Philadelphia
meeting, Rose declared, "[I]s woman not included in that phrase, 'all men are created … equal'? ... Tell us, ye men of the nation … whether woman is not included in that great Declaration of Independence?"
1858: Birthdate of David Samuel Margoliouth, The son of Ezekiel Margoliouth and the nephew Moses Margoliouth, both of whom were Anglican converts, he was a noted Orientalist and Oxford Don. Among other accomplishments, “He identified a business letter written in the Judeo-Persian language, found in Danfan Uiliq, northwest China, in 1901, as dating from 718 C.E. (the earliest evidence showing the presence of Jews in China).” He passed away in 1940.
1862(23rd of Tishrei, 5623): Simchat Torah
1862: As the Jewish “holiday season” comes to an end with the celebration of Simchat Torah, General U.S. Grant returns to active field service as he takes command of the Department of Tennessee. In that capacity he will issue the infamous General Order Number Eleven that expelled Jews, “as a class” from the district under his command. This regrettable episode would be used by some to unfairly brand Grant as an anti-Semite.
1863(21st of Tishrei, 5764): Hoshana Rabah
1864(17th of Tishrei, 5625): As the Jewish soldiers serving with the Army of Northern Virginia observe Sukkoth Chol Hamoed, General James “Pete” Longstreet, Lee’s good right arm resumes command of troops after having been seriously wounded during the Battle of Wilderness.
1872(15th of Tishrei, 5633): Sukkoth
1875: It was reported today The Hebrew Charity Fair is to take placed in December at New York’s 22nd Regiment Armory. All proceeds from the event will go to support Mount Sinai Hospital. Women from all of the city’s synagogues are actively working to prepare for the event.
1875: According to an article entitled “The Wandering Jew” published today, the first document mentioning this mythic figure are about 650 years old, dating back to the reign of Henry III. The next references to him do not appear until the 16thcentury when he supposedly revealed himself to a weaver in Bohemia. Contrary to the name, the Wandering Jew has nothing to do with Judaism. Rather he is a Christological Character tied to one of the stories relating to the Crucifixion
1875: “The Bible in the Public Schools” published today described the conflict going on at the Board of Education of Union Hill, NJ concerning mandatory Bible readings at the start of each school day.
1877: Herman C. Bush wrote a letter from Cincinnati today addressed to his friend Christopher J. Bush of New York confessing that he had stolen seven piece of cassimere from his employer in New York City. He claimed that he had sold five of the pieces to a Jew on the corner of Baxter and Leonard Streets. Further investigation would establish that this was the address of a second-hand clothing store owned by Louis Lazarus, who had been arrested previously on charges of receiving stolen goods. Lazarus claimed the items in question had been bought by his son who had no idea that they were stolen. Lazarus would later be arrested. There is no word as to the fate or religion of either of the men named Bush.
1877: Dr. F. De Sola Mendez is scheduled to deliver a lecture at the Young Men’s Hebrew Association in New York City, starting at 8 p.m.
1881: “Minor Affairs Abroad” published today provides a statistical snapshot of births in Russia including the fact that Jews accounted for 3 percent of the 8,119 out-of-wedlock births
1881: One hundred thirty two more Jewish immigrants from Russia are expected to arrive in New York City today.
1882: Leo Pinkser published his famous pamphlet "Autoemancipation; A Warning of a Russian Jew to his Brethren." He published it as a result of the Russian pogroms of the previous year. Pinsker advocated establishing a homeland as a cure for anti-Semitism. He thought that a Jewish congress should decide if that homeland should be in Eretz-Israel, the
United States
or some third choice. Only later did he join with the “Lovers of Zion Movement” and acknowledge that Eretz-Israel was the only place for a Jewish homeland. Pinkser died in 1891, six years before the First Zionist Congress. His writings and efforts laid the groundwork for Herzl and others. In 1934, his remains were re-interred on
Mt.
Scopus
.
1882: Mr. and Mrs. Julius W. Kaskel buried their three week old son Asher in the Hebrew Cemetery in Leadville, CO.
1882: It was reported today that the Young Men’s Hebrew Association will be sponsoring a concert at Chckering Hall later this week.
1882: It was reported today that Israel Ettler has been arraigned in the Harlem Police Court for his alleged role in the recent riot at Ward’s Island.
1884: It was reported today that Young Men’s Hebrew Association will be hosting a celebration marking the 100th birthday of Sir Moses Montefiore tomorrow night. (The overwhelming number of centennial celebrations marking the birth of Montefiore attests to his importance to Jews throughout the world and the affection in which he was held. But how many people know who is today/)
1885: The first American Rabbinical Conference was held in Cleveland, Ohio
1885: “Statistics of the Jews” published today used figures provided by The Bulletin of the Geographical Society of Marseilles to present a demographic picture of world Jewry. There are 6,377,601 Jews in the world, 5,407, 602 of whom live in Europe, 245,000 in Asia, 413,000 in Africa, 300,000 in American and 12,000 in Oceania. Of the European countries, Russia has the largest population at over 2,000,000 followed by the Austro-Hungarian Empire with 1,600,000. With a combined Jewish population of 3,000 Norway and Sweden have the fewest.
1885: A law enacted on this date made religious instruction for Jewish children living in Lübeck who were attending public schools compulsory. The city paid an annual subsidy to the synagogue in Lubeck for providing this instruction
1888: “A Jewish Wedding” published today described the wedding ceremony that joined New Yorker Louis H. Rascover to Miss Carrie Thalheimer in Reading, PA which was one of the social highlights of the year. The ceremony was followed by a reception attended by five hundred people from New York and most of the major cities in eastern Pennsylvania. Before her marriage, Miss Thalheimrt “was the acknowledged belle in Hebrew society circles in Reading.”
1891(15thof Tishrei, 5652): Sukkoth
1898: A.C. Wheeler writes a letter to the New York Times in which he takes issue with the surprise expressed by the paper’s London correspondent at the positive and warm reception received by Israel Zangwill during his highly successful lecture tour.
1900: Herzl meets with the Ernest von Koerber, Austrian Prime Minister.
1903: Birthdate of author Nathanael West best known for Miss Lonelyhearts and Day of the Locusts.
1911: In New York Dr. Morris Loeb said today that it was his understanding that his brother, James Loeb, the retired banker, was going to underwrite the expense of translating 200 hundred volumes of the classics into English. The volumes in question were originally written in Latin and Greek.
1914: Birthdate of Jerry Siegel, co-creator of Superman.
1915: Birthdate of Arthur Miller. Two of this American playwright’s noted works were “Death of a Salesman” and “The Crucible.” His other claim to fame was his marriage to Marilyn Monroe.
Monroe
conversion to Judaism was tied to her relationship with Miller.
1916: Eighteen year old Mischa Levitz, famed Russian born concert pianist made his American debut in New York, at Aeolian Hall
1917: Birthdate of Alfred Edward “Fred” Kahn “a leading regulatory scholar who wielded his influence in both government and academia, helped spur a broad movement beginning in the mid-1970s toward freer markets in rail and automotive transportation, telecommunications, utilities and the securities markets.”
1919: Radio Corporation of America (RCA) created. RCA and NBC were inextricably linked with David Sarnoff.
1919: Birthdate of Russian physicist Isaak Markovich Khalatniko
1920: Birthdate of Betty Sarah Wouk, of blessed memory. Born Betty Brown in Grangeville, Idaho, this graduate of USC married Herman Wouk, the great American-Jewish novelist, in 1945. Wouk’s service on the USS Zane gave him two great gifts, Mrs. Wouk and the material for the “.Caine Mutiny.”
1923: Birthdate of Isaac Saba Raffoul, “a Mexican businessman.”
1925: Birthdate of Irwin Silber, “a founder and the longtime editor of the folk-music magazine Sing Out!, who was one of the prime movers behind the folk-music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.” (As reported by William Grimes)
1927(21st of Tishrei, 5688): Hoshanah Rabah
1927: Birthdate of guitarist Barney Kessel.
1930:In Biddeford, ME, Samuel and Leah Osher gave birth to Marion Osher, the future wife of Hebert Sandler her partner in creating Golden West Financial.
1933: Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. Strangely enough, the New York Times story referred to him as a German scientist. I guess the guys at the Times had not figured out that for all of his greatness, he was just another Jew fleeing Hitler’s Germany. When is a Jew in Germany a German and not a Jew? When he wins the Nobel Prize.
1935: When the Belgian steamship Leopold II was unloading 97 tons of cement at Jaffa, “a tin case of cartridges concealed in a barrel” was discovered. According to “unconfirmed reports…from Arab sources…800 rifles and 400,000 cartridges” were also found among the 537 barrels of cement.
1935: “The party of Haj Amin el Husseini, Grand Mufti of Jerusalem asserted” today that the arms discovered yesterday when the SS Leopold II was being unloaded in Jaffa yesterday, “were part of a Jewish plot” and gave rise to the threat of a general Arab work stoppage.
1937: As the Arab Reign of Terror designed to drive the Jews from Eretz
Israel
continued, The Palestine Post reported that the Mandatory Administration at last admitted that the renewed Arab terror and sabotage causes extensive damage. One of the main buildings at
Lydda
Airport
was destroyed by arson and the authorities decided that severe measures would be taken against the town. British women and children living in
Hebron
were evacuated to
Jerusalem
and were accommodated at the YMCA. A Cook's cruise was temporarily suspended and tourist agents reported cancellations. Railway service suffered from frequent interruptions. Jewish buses were shot at and a number of passengers were wounded. One Arab attacker was killed. The Mandatory Government decided to exert a stricter control over the activities of the Wakf (Moslem religious endowment fund).
1937 (12th of Cheshvan, 5698): A band of Arab terrorists shot and killed a ten-year old Jewish boy from Yemeni at Tirath Shalom which is located near Ness Zionah in southern Palestine.
1937 (12th of Cheshvan, 5698): In the wake of renewed Arab terrorism, “Samuel Gutman, a young Jewish theological student studying his Talmud lesson in the shade of a tree in the Schneller quarter of Jerusalem was attacked by an Arab, who stabbed him six times.”
1937 (12th of Cheshvan, 5698): In the wake of renewed Arab terrorism, two buses filled with Jewish workers returning to Jerusalem from the quarry near Motzah were fired on by Arabs. The gunmen escaped having failed to wound or kill any of their targets.
1937: A movement “led by Max Seligman” a lawyer from Cardiff, Wales, now living in Tel Aviv, that is seeking to convert Palestine into a British Crown Colony as a way of ending the fighting between Arabs and Jews files an application with the Palestine Attorney General’s office in attempt o register an organization called “The Palestine Crown Colony Association.”
1937: Late tonight Arab terrorists attempted to blow up a ridge on the road between Jerusalem and Jericho. The bridge was partially damaged but the road remained opened to traffic.
1939: The Nazis deported over one thousand Jews from Moravska Ostrava, of the former
Czechoslovakia
, and sent them to
Lublin
region of
Poland
. There, they were forced to build themselves a labor camp. Adolph Eichmann, now in charge of “Jewish resettlement", greeted the train
1939: With the cessation of hostilities the Nazis finally fixed the Polish-German frontier. At a meeting, Hitler made clear that the policy would be to cleanse
Poland
's towns of Jews, Poles and intelligentsia from all lands falling within the Gerneralgouvernement.Implementation was put in the hands of Henreich Himmler and his SS.
1939: Hitler lectures General Wilhelm Keitel and other top Wehrmacht generals on the need for "Jews, Poles, and similar trash" to be cleared from old and new territories of the Reich.
1940(15thof Tishrei, 5701): Sukkoth
1942: According to reports published in the New York Times, Palestine is filling a dual role in the British war effort. It is home to a key military headquarters called the “Palestine Base and Lines of Communications Headquarters.” It has also become an industrial center that fills many needs of the British military in the Middle East including the manufacture of mines and hand grenades and the repair of British and American tanks and other military vehicles damaged during combat action. Many of the workers are refugees from central and eastern Europe which has given them the capability of producing goods that used to be supplied by “Czechoslovakia, Austria, Germany and other industrialized European nations.”
1942: Over 10,000 Jews were transferred from Buchenwald Concentration camp to Auschwitz.
1942: The Nazis murdered 1600 Jews from Buczacz, Ukraineat the Belzec death camp.
1942: Four hundred and five Jews held in the
Buchenwald
and
Sachsenhausen
,
Germany
, concentration camps are deported to
Auschwitz
. Austrian-Jewish opera librettist Fritz Beda is among those deported from
Buchenwald
.
1943: A Jewish partisan unit commanded by Abba Kovner destroys two rail engines and two bridges near
Vilna
,
Lithuania
.
1943: German Ambassador to the Vatican Ernst von Weizsäcker writes to the German Foreign Ministry that the College of Cardinals has been "particularly dismayed" since the roundup of Jews in Rome is occurring "below the very windows of the Pope." He notes that the Pope continues to do everything he can "not to burden relations with the German government and German agencies in
Rome
."
1944: Adolf Eichmann returned to
Budapest
. He demanded that 50,000 Jews be assembled to be used as forced laborers in
Germany
. He further ordered that they should march there on foot.
1944: At Birkenau, Dr. Mengele began another selection of children to be sent to the gas chambers. Only his small selected group of about 200 twins were continued to be spared his wretched wrath.
1946: King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia sent a letter to President Truman charging that the American leader’s “call for opening the gates of Palestine to more Jews was in ‘complete contradiction’” to what the King said were “presidential assurances to the Arabs.” The King described the Jews as “aggressors from the start” when it came to matters regarding Palestine.
1947: Following a six day trial, Yossef Vavriel and Abraham Katalan, two members of the Irgun, “were convicted of carrying arms in a room of the house at Kiryat Sahul where two British policemen” who had been kidnapped from a swimming pool in June were being held prisoner. The two British policemen had not been harmed by their captors.
1947: David Ben-Gurion called on members of the Irgun and the Stern Gang to disband their organizations and join the Haganah as the Jewish community moved to protect itself from attacks from the Arabs. Ben-Gurion denied that negotiations were being held with the leaders of these organizations since his goal is to have only one military force that will answer to the civilian leaders of the Yishuv.
1947: Mr. Moshe Shertok the head of Political Department of the Jewish Agency, addressed the United Nations, making the case for the creation of a Jewish state as part of the Two State Solution. Moshe Shertok would become Moshe Sharett after the creation of the state of Israel, serving as it first Foreign Minister and second Prime Minister.
1948(14th of Tishrei, 5709): Erev Sukkoth;
1948: Israeli naval vessels shelled Majdal which had been occupied by invading Egyptian troops.
1948(14th of Tishrei) Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, also known as the Maharitz, passed away. Born in 1865 he moved to Jerusalem in 1930. He was the first Rebbe of Dushinsky and Chief Rabbi (Govad) of the Edah HaChareidis of Jerusalem.
1948: During Operation Yoav, Egyptian forces begin withdrawing from the
Negev
after suffering heavy attacks by the Israelis. The Egyptians were retreating from land to which they had no legal or moral claim. Operation Yoav was conducted during the Israeli War for
Independence
. It took place following numerous violations of the UN brokered cease fire about which the international organization did nothing.
1952:The Jerusalem Post reported that the Joint Distribution Committee agreed to defray half the cost of the upkeep and medical treatment of the North African immigration. The forced migration of Jews living in Moslem lands to
Israel
is one of the untold "refugee" stories. Following the creation of the state of Israel Jews from such places as
Morocco
came to
Israel
, in part, because the local Arab population had turned against. This happened despite the fact that Jews had lived there for centuries. It is interesting to compare the efforts of the Israelis to integrate immigrants into their society as opposed to the Arab treatment of their Moslem brethren who had left what would become the state of
Israel
for whatever reasons.
1959(15th of Tishrei, 5720): Sukkoth
1963(29th of Tishrei, 5724): Mathematician Jacques-Salomon Hadamard passed away at the age of 98. Although Hadamard claimed to be an atheist when it came to religion he became an active in support of Jewish causes following the Dreyfus Affair. Part of this may have stemmed from the fact that his wife was related to the wrongly accused French Colonel.
1967: Barbra Streisand starred in "Belle of
14th Street
" a special on CBS television.
1967: Memorial service for Brian Epstein was held at New London Synagogue – The Jewish Connection to the lads from
Liverpool
.
1973: During the Yom Kippur War, the Soviets were landing 70 planes per day crammed with modern supplies at Egyptian and Syrian airports. Egyptian forces failed in their attempts to dislodge Israeli forces from their new positions on the west bank of the
Suez Canal
. At the same time, the Egyptians were not making any progress with the attacks on Israeli positions east of the Canal. As the fortunes of war began to turn against the attacking Arab Armies, the Soviets increased the pressure for a cease fire. The Israelis were unwilling to consider any action that would reward Arab Aggression.
1973: OPEC started an oil embargo against a number of western countries. Supposedly OPEC was using the Oil Weapon to reverse the Arab defeat during the Yom Kippur War. In point of fact, OPEC succeeded in raising the price of petroleum which enriched OPEC, shifted the economic balance and along the way impoverished millions of people living in Third World Nations – untold numbers of Arabs and other followers of Islam living in non-OPEC nations.
1975: The United Nations declared that “Zionism is racism.” This came in the same period when the U.N. General greeted the pistol packing Yasser Arafat with a standing ovation. Arafat was still in the full flush of his victory; having been responsible for the terrorist attack on the Munich Olympics and the slaughter of the Israeli athletes.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported that a prominent, unnamed, West Bank figure, whom the local Arab politicians expected to become a central member of any Palestinian delegation at the renewed Geneva Peace Conference, was seeking an urgent meeting with Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, to check whether Israel would be prepared to negotiate an eventual self-determination for the Palestine Arabs at the conference table.
1979(26th of Tishrei, 5740): Sidney Joseph Perelman passed away. Known as S.J. Perelman, he was born in
Brooklyn
in 1904, raised in
Providence
, where he graduated from
Brown
University
. For almost forty years, Perelman was a true man of letters gaining fame as a cartoonist, author, screenwriter, and satirist. A city boy by birth, Perelman chose to live in rural
Bucks
County
for forty years. During that time he wrote, “A farm is an irregular patch of nettles bounded by short-term notes, containing a fool and his wife who didn’t know enough to stay in the city.”
1983(9th of Cheshvan, 5744): Seventy-eight year old Raymond Aron passed away. Born in Paris, the famed author and social commentator, served in the French Air Force and then fought with the Free French during WW II. While his name may not be a household word, he was a life-long friend and worthy intellectual opponent of Jean-Paul Sartre
http://www.egs.edu/library/raymond-aron/biography/
1984(21st of Tishrei, 5745): Hoshanah Rabah
1984(21st of Tishrei, 5745): Rabbi Levi Arthur Olan passed away. Born in 1903 at Cherkasy, Ukraine, he was Rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Worcester, Massachusetts from 1929 to 1948. From 1949 to 1970 he was Rabbi of Temple Emanu-El of Dallas, Texas.
1988: Today’s announcement that chemist Gertrude Elion had won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine represented the culmination of an unlikely career. The young Elion had known what she wanted to do—but nobody seemed ready to let her do it.
New York
’s
Hunter
College
provided her with a free education during the Depression, but when she graduated at age 19, summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa, not one graduate school would provide her with needed financial aid. Unable to find a laboratory job, she started secretarial school. Supporting herself as a doctor’s receptionist and a substitute high school science teacher, Elion earned a master’s degree in chemistry from New York University in 1941 (she was the only woman in her classes). With more lab opportunities open to women during World War II, Elion found a job at Burroughs Welcome, a pharmaceutical company, in 1944.Elion’s research with her mentor and partner George Hitchings led to the first effective treatment for childhood leukemia and to immunosuppressants that made organ transplants possible. Her anti-viral research led to treatments for many ailments including AIDS. Elion, whose doctorates were all honorary, received the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, together with Hitchings and British scientist James Black. Elion thus joined an impressive list of American Jewish female Nobel Prize winners in science that also includes American-born Rosalyn Yalow (1977), and Gerty Theresa Radnitz Cori (1947) and Rita Levi-Montalcii (1986) who were born and educated abroad. (As reported by the Jewish Women’s Archive.
1989: An army inquiry completed today found that a Syrian
MIG
-23 fighter-bomber was able to penetrate Israeli airspace unchallenged last week because of an error by the air defense officer on duty at the time.
1994: The draft of a peace treaty between Israel and Jordan was finalized. This would prove to be one of the tangible positive by-products of the Oslo Peace Process.
1995(23rd of Tishrei, 5756): Simchat Torah
1998: A Palestinian conducted a grenade assault on the
Beersheba
bus terminal, wounding 67 Israelis, including 24 soldiers.
1999: The New York Times book section features reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jews including Bad Jews And Other Stories by Gerald Shapiro and Galileo’s Daughter: A Historical Memoir of Science, Faith, and Love by Dava Sobel.
2000: At the Library of Congress opening of an exhibition entitled Herblock’s History: Political Cartoons from the Crash to the Millennium that presents works by cartoonist Herb Block, who chronicled the nation’s political history and caricatured twelve American presidents from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton.
2001 (30th of Tishrei, 5762): Israel's tourism minister, Rehavam Zeevi was shot to death in the first assassination of a serving Cabinet minister by Palestinians. Born in
Jerusalem
in 1926, Zeevi served in the Palmach. He enjoyed a very successful thirty year career in the IDF. After retiring with the rank of Major General, he pursued a career in politics. A general in the Israel Army, Zeevi had a distinguished military career before pursuing a political career.
2003(21st of Tishrei, 5764): Hoshana Rabah
2004: The body of Sam Kellerman was found in a Hollywood (CA) apartment. Sam Kellerman was the brother of Max Kellerman an American boxing commentator and sports talk radio host based in Los Angeles. “As a result of the ensuing investigation, former boxer James Butler was arrested and charged with Sam's murder. He later confessed to the murder and was given a 29 year sentence.”
2004(2nd of Cheshvan, 5765): Uzi Hitman “an Israeli singer, songwriter, composer and television personality” passed away. His career began in 1976 and he became a popular Israeli artist during the 1980s and 1990s. He has famously composed a popular melody for Adon Olam in 1976. His most famous songs include Noladati Lashalom (I Was Born for Peace), Ratziti Sheteda (I Wanted You to Know), Todah (Thank you) and Kan (Here), which reached 3rd place during the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest. Hitman also appeared on the 1980s children's programmes Parpar Nehmad and Hopa Hei. He died after a heart attack at the age of 52. He was buried at the Yarkon Cemetery near Tel Aviv. The City of Ramat Gan renamed Kikar Hashoshanim (Roses Square) in his neighborhood of residence to Kikar Hitman (Hitman Square).
2005: Haaretz reported that Kinneret Mendel and Matat Rosenfeld-Adler, 21-year-old cousins from the settlement of
Carmel
, and Oz Ben Meir, 15, from the settlement of Ma'on were murdered by terrorist on Sunday and buried today.
2005(14th of Tishrei, 5766): Erev Sukkoth
2006: Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni called on President Moshe Katsav to resign in response to the police's recommendation to indict him on a number of charges including rape.
2007: Virtuoso Pianist Vladimir Feltsman plays “Music from Poland and Russia” at the Museum of Jewish Heritage-A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. Since his arrival in the
U.S.
from the
Soviet Union
in 1987, world-class pianist Vladimir Feltsman has graced every major concert hall in the country. Feltsman performs music from
Poland
's keyboard master, Chopin, and one of
Russia
's most dramatic piano pieces: Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition."
2007: As an example of the secular power 21stcentury Jews have attained, a photo is taken at 10:13 a.m. of Michael Mukasey, President Bush’s nominee for attorney general chatting with Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman prior to the start of confirmation hearings before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The two Orthodox Jews were classmates at
Yale
Law
School
.
2007: The New York Times features a review of Just Say Nu: Yiddish for Every Occasion (When English Just Won’t Do) by Michael Wex.
2007: A London-based Jewish radio station, Shalom FM, founded by Mike Menoza as a way of providing, "some balanced reporting about the community and Israel" ceased broadcasting at midnight.
2008: In a reversal of cultural roles. The Jerusalem Cinematheque features an American film about an Israeli. The film is “You Don’t Mess with Zohan” an American made film about an Israeli. “Zohan Dvir, a powerful and iniquitous Mossad agent, wants to change professions to hair styling.
2008: Jerusalem mayoral candidate Nir Barkat toured Jewish and state owned lands in an area between the French Hill and the Arab neighborhood of Anata, promising that “In Anata, a new Jewish neighborhood will be established and this will provide a solution to the housing needs of students and the city’s younger generation.
2008 (18th of Tishrei, 5769): Eighty five year old Montreal native Ben Weider who was a founder and longtime president of the International Federation of Body Builders” passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/sports/othersports/21weider.html?_r=0
2009: Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett’s “The Diary of Anne Frank” is performed at Kimmel Theatre on the campus of Cornell College in Mt. Vernon Iowa. The production is based on Wendy Kesselman’s acclaimed new adaptation of the play that makes thoughtful use of recently recovered segments of Anne’s diary to deepen our understanding both of the cultural context of the events and to present a much more complex (and less sentimental) Anne.
2009: At Agudas Achim in Iowa City, Sam Stalkfleet is called to the Torah as a the Bar Mitzvah
2009: At the 14th St Y in Manhattan opening of the LABALMA Exhibition followed by the Y Dance party.
2009(29th of Tishrei, 5770): Sheldon Jerome Segal “an American embryologist and biochemist who spent his entire career working on contraception and made major innovations in the field of long-lasting alternatives, including in the creation of Norplant, the first major development advance in birth control since the birth control pill” passed away.
2009(29th of Tishrei, 5770): Seventy-eight year old novelist Norma Fox Mazer, passed away today. (As reported by Margalit Fox) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/25/arts/25mazer.html
2009: An article published today entitled “A Believer in Heroism, to Jews’ Lasting Gratitude” told the tale of Dr. Tina Strobos and her who hid more than 100 Jews from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/17/nyregion/17metjournal.html?pagewanted=print
2010: The Hyman S. & Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival opened in Washington, DC.
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