OCTOBER 22 In History
362: A mysterious fire destroys the temple of Apollo at Daphne outside Antioch. According to one source,the Christians living in Antioch who were angry with the Emperor Julian for the favor he showed to Jewish and pagan rites, and, outraged by the closing of its great church of Constantine, burned down the temple of Apollo in Daphne. Julian had promised to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem, a promise he was unable to keep due to his untimely and mysterious death. Julian was the last non-Christian emperor of Rome. He opposed the special privileges that his predecessors had granted to Christianity because he thought the road to restoring Roman grandeur lay in returning to basic Roman values which were tied to their pagan religion.
741: Charles Martel passed away. Charles Martel or Charles the Hammer is credited with saving Europe from Islam by defeating the Moors at the Battle of Tours. This effectively meant, that Islamic culture would remain south of the Pyrenees in what is modern day Spain. Although fighting would continue between invading Moslem armies and defending Christian armies, most of
Europe
was destined to be Christian. This division would have profound consequences for the development of Jewish civilizations in various parts of
Europe
,
Africa
and
Asia
. Charles Martel was the grandfather of Charlemagne, the great French leader and effectively the first Holy Roman Emperor. Charlemagne treated his Jewish subjects comparatively well even in the face of pressure from the Catholic Church
1495: Ines Lopez of
Ciudad Real
,
Spain
was accused of heresy. In confessing, she wrote to the
Inquisitional Court
stating she was a 'Christian', but admitted wearing clean clothing on Saturday. In the letter she accused her cousin of teaching her to observe Passover, saying it was good "for her soul." Turning in her cousin satisfied the Inquisition, but they could do nothing as she was safe in
Constantinople
. Soon after this, Lopez was sentenced to life imprisonment, ordered to wear the
San Benito
and was burned at the stake.
1586: Sixtus V issued Christiana Pietas, a papal bull that ameliorated the restrictions placed on Jews by his papal predecessors. Among other things, the papal bull allowed the reprinting of the Talmud and other Jewish books provided that they had properly been censored before publication. The successor to Sixtus would not only reverse this bull, he would promulgate even more onerous restrictions on the Jewish people.
1597: The Roman Curia ruled that a Jewish child baptized without the permission of his parents, as required by canonical law, must be brought up as a Catholic. The ruling required the removal of the child from hits parents.
1668: The Jews of Barbados were forbidden to engage in foreign or local retail trade. Jews were forbidden from purchasing slaves, and were forced into living in a Jewish Ghetto in Barbados. All the discriminatory laws were removed by 1802, by the colonial government of Barbados. In 1820, the British Parliament also confirmed this repeal of the discrimination laws against the Jews.
1688: Birthdate of Nadir Shah of Persia. A member of the Afsharid dynasty, he was positively disposed towards his subjects. Persecution of the Jews resumed after he was assassinated in 1747
1746: The
College
of
New Jersey
, which became
Princeton
University
, received its charter. Like all elite colleges, Princeton has a checkered past when it comes to Jewish students and faculty. Today the university boasts a Jewish Studies Program and a Hillel Chapter. Albert Einstein is probably the most famous Jew to serve at
Princeton
.
1780(23rd of Tishrei, 5541): Simchat Torah
1792: French troops take
Frankfurt
and the tri-color floats above the arsenal located at the north gate to the ghetto. Oddly enough, the Jews of Frankfurt respond as “Prussian patriots” and cheered when the French were to leave a few weeks later.
1806: In London, Nathan Mayer Rothschild married Hannah Barnet-Cohen the daughter of Lydia and Levi-Barent Cohen.
1832: In Prussia, Mr. and Mrs. Heinrich Damrosch gave birth to German American musician and conductr Leopold Damrosch. His father was Jewish and his mother was Lutheran.
1835: During the Texas War for Independence Albert Moses Levy who had come to Texas as a member of the the New Orleans Greys and who had been appointed surgeon in chief of the volunteer army of Texas began his army career which last would less than five months before he transferred to Republic’s fledgling Navy. In 1986, the state of Texas would institute Albert Moses Levy Day to honor Levy and all of his fellow Jews who served during the War for Independence.
1836: Sam Houston is inaugurated first President of the
Republic
of
Texas
. Jews played an active role in the settlement of Texas from the earliest days. Samuel Izaacs was reported to be the first Jew to settle in Texas when he arrived in 1821 with the party led by Stephen Austin. Dr. Moses Levy, a native of
Richmond
,
Virginia
, was the surgeon-in-chief of the volunteers.
Castroville
,
Texas
takes its name from Henri Castro, a French native who provided financial aid for the fledgling republic in return for a large land grant in south
Texas
between
San Antonio
and the Rio Grande Rive.
1843: Birthdate of Moshe Leib Lilienblum
1847: Henriette Herz née De Lemos who was “best known for the "salonnieres" or literary salons that she started with a group of emancipated Jews in Prussia” passed away today. “Henriette Herz had grown up in the Berlin of the Jewish emancipation and had shared tutors apparently with the Mendelssohn's daughters. At age fifteen, she married a physician, twenty years her senior. Dr. Markus Herz had studied medicine at the University of Königsberg, one of only three universities that accepted Jews -- but only in its medical faculty. She was said to be an extremely beautiful woman. After a few years the salon split in two, a science-seminar led by her husband and a literary salon by Henriette herself. Most notable men and women in Berlin were said to have attended her salon. Among her friends and acquaintances were Dorothea von Schlegel, Jean Paul Richter, Friedrich Schiller, Mirabeau, Friedrich Rückert, the Danish Barthold Georg Niebuhr, Johannes von Müller, the sculptor Schadow, Salomon Maimon, Friedrich von Gentz, Fanny von Arnstein, Madame de Genlis. Alexander von Humboldt often visited and even received Hebrew lessons from Henriette. The theologian Friedrich Schleiermacher was another frequent visitor; a fact which for Jews was her undoing. After the death of her husband she came under the powerful influence of Schleiermacher and converted to Protestantism. Strange that the daughter of a Portuguese Jewish family, a family that clung to its faith despite the blandishments of Catholic Princes and the threat of the Inquisition, would surrender to the blandishments of the pseudo-equality of 19thcentury Germany.
1844: Birthdate of actress Sarah Bernhardt. Born in Parish, she was the illegitimate daughter of Judith van Hard who came from a Dutch Jewish family. Since the youngster’s presence interfered with her mother’s way of life she placed in a convent and baptized, but was always conscious and proud of her Jewish origin.” Ms. Bernhardt was an international star of the legitimate stage and the silent silver screen. She passed away in 1923.
1852: A column entitled "Austria" published today reported that a fire had broken out in a synagogue in Kolmed, Galicia where approximately a thousand Jews were attending services. The warning cry of "fire" was first heard in the women's balcony. In the ensuing stampede to avoid the flames thirty-six women were crushed to death as they tried to make their way down the narrow stairway. The fire had been set by a gang of thieves who snatched pearls, diamonds and other jewelry from the women during the confusion.
1860: It was reported today that in New York, the Board of Alderman had adopted report in favor of leasing, at the rate of $1 per year, a plot of ground on the corner of Third-avenue and Seventy-seventh-street, for the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the lease to continue so long as it is used for such purposes.
1861: According to an article entitled "Affairs in Utah" published today Jews were an important component of this Mormon dominated territory. “A new Governor has been talked of for some time, for this Territory, but I believe no such person has yet appeared in this vicinity. As far as I can see, the reappointment of the late incumbent, Mr. Cumming, would meet the views of Jews and Gentiles here perhaps as completely as could be done by selecting any other name. That burly old gentleman somehow had the knack of getting decently along with both the contending elements of this community, though I believe neither could drive him an inch further than he was inclined to budge.”
1864:22nd of Tishrei, 5625): Shmini Atzeret coincided with Shabbat
1864: During the Civil War. Major Alfred Mordecai, Jr. was named Acting Chief of Ordinance for the Department and Army of Tennessee, one of the largest military units in the Union Army.
1866: An article entitled “Singular Discover: A Colony of Jews in the Heart of China” published today described the plight of the Jews living in Kaifeng, the capital of Hunan province, which was one of the Seven Ancient Capitals of China. According to a stone found on the site of the now destroyed synagogue, the Jews had first arrived during the Hon Dynasty (200 BCE-200 CE), this house of worship had been built in 1163 during the Sung dynasty and rebuilt about 300 years ago during the Ming dynasty. There are between 200 and 400 people who identify themselves as Jews living in the city. The last Rabbi, who apparently was the last person to know Hebrew, passed away about 40 years ago. The Jews still knew the names of their holidays but had no knowledge of how to observe them. The Jewish community has suffered serious economic loss as a result of the many years of violence that have racked the area. The synagogue had fallen into a state of disrepair and ruin. There was no money to rebuild it. According to this account, the Jews actually tore the decaying building down with the hope of selling the scrap for money to help to meet their basic needs. Somehow, one of the main stones from the synagogue ended up as part of the local mosque.
1867(23rdof Tishrei, 5628) Simchat Torah
1875(23rdof Tishrei, 5636): Simchat Torah
1874: In New York City, at the Academy of Music, Bayard Taylor gave a lecture on the topic of “Ancient Egypt.” The well-attended event was sponsored by the Hebrew Young Men’s Association. John R. Brady, a justice of the state Supreme Court introduced the speaker. In his opening remarks, Brady, who was not Jewish, said, “…the purpose of the …Young Men’s Hebrew Association…are first, the establishment of a reading room and library; second, the delivery of lectures on historical , scientific and social topics and on Jewish history and literature, and in the third place, entertainments of a social, artistic, literary and musical nature….This is a program so entirely comprehensive that he who cannot be satisfied with any of the several subjects suggest me be extremely unworthy of the designation of an American citizen. The lecture tonight is given on the invitation of the descendants of a race who were formerly bondsmen on the banks of the Nile, who helped build the pyramids, and hence the propriety of commencing a lecture season with a lecture, the subject of which is identified with that extraordinary performance.”
1876: In Baltimore, MD, the new Hebrew Orphan Asylum was dedicated in ceremonies led by Dr, Benjamin Szold. Governor John Carroll and Baltimore Mayor Ferdinand Latrobe were among the dignitaries in attendance. Szold was the rabbi for Temple Oheb Shalom and the father of Henrietta Szold.
1878: Moritz Ellinger has been chosen to run for the position of Coroner by the opponents of the Tammany political machine.
1883: It was reported today that a dispute over the process of selecting officers to lead Ansche Chesed B’nai Kovanah was the cause of the altercation that took place at the synagogue on the Lower East Side after Shabbat had ended last week.
1883: The original Metropolitan Opera House in
New York
held its grand opening with a performance of Gounod's ''Faust.'' The Met was the product of the Metropolitan Opera Association. Two decades after the opening of the Met, Otto H. Kahn took over as head of the association and chaired it for almost three decades until his death.
1884: “Shot For A Robbing A Melon Patch” published today described events surround the fatal shooting of John Henry Wilson. Wilson was shot while stealing melons from a patch guarded by a 19 year old German, Henry Lehr.
1884: It was reported today that Justice McCarthy is “reserving his decision” after hearing the evidence in a suit brought by Sara Rook, an 18 year old Jewess from Poland who has been living with her uncle Jacob Leiman, against her cousin Kever Leiman to whom she claims she is engaged and who wrongfully took back gifts he had given as part of the engagement. Kever’s parents testified that the jewelry belonged to his mother who had lent the items to the young lady and that the event which she claims was her engagement party was in fact the engagement party for Kever’s younger brother. (Yes, this Jewish soap opera actually appeared in a major secular newspaper.)
1886(23rd of Tishrei, 5647): Simchat Torah
1886: It was reported today that Mary Suselinski, the young servant girls who had tried to poison the Ginsburg family, told authorities that she was really a Christian and not Jewish. She had only claimed to be Jewish because she thought it would be easier to find work that way.
1887: In “The Growth of Liberalism,” which was published today, Rabbi Kaufman Kohler defended his decision to begin delivering lectures on Sunday at Temple Beth-El that would replace the traditional Saturday services. He began the practice 14 years ago while in Chicago and states that it is quite popular with the Reform leaders in German. He claims that the young men this congregation are highly supportive of the change and the need to attract younger members to Jewish congregations is one of the many reasons for making the shift from Saturday to Sunday. (Those of you who know about the history of the Reform movement will recognize this as a contemporary account of one that movement’s attempt to create a Judaism that conformed to the world around it,)
1888: It was reported today that the members of the newly formed Hebrew Actors’ Union “are all Socialists and” that they “intend to join the Central Labor Union.”
1888: It was reported today the Centurywill be publishing an article on Assyrian monuments written by Professor Morris Jastrow.
1888: It was reported today that Professor Morris Jastrow “will take charge of the course in Semitic Languages at the University of Pennsylvania while his colleagues are conducting an expedition to Babylonia.
1894: According to reports published today, Jacob A. Cantor has five opponents in his bid to be elected to the House of Representatives from New York’s 15thCongressional District. Cantor’s is the first name on the ballot which bodes well for his chances of being elected.
1902: Meeting with Colonial Minister Joseph Chamberlain: Herzl presents the plan for the colonization of
Cyprus
and the
Sinai Peninsula
, including El Arish: Jewish settlers under a Jewish administration.
1903: Birthdate of Curly Howard. Born Jerome Lester Horwitz, Howard was one of the Three Stooges, along with his brother Moe Howard and Larry Fine.
1905: Birthdate of Hungarian composer Joseph Kosma.
1913: In Duluth, MN, Isadore and Ann Jaffe gave birth to Edward Jaffe. Isadore Jaffe “was a tailor from Lithuania who borrowed the money for a passage to America from a woman acquaintance who assumed he would then send for her and marry her. When he did not, she came over herself, tracked him down in Duluth and got a rabbi to perform the wedding.” Edward Jaffe moved to New York and “became a press agent legendary for his lost causes, chutzpah and angst, who all but made Broadway his alias and held that the best kind of promotion was self-promotion.” (As reported by Ralph Blumenthal)
1913: Birthdate of Robert Capa. Born in Hungary as Endre Ernő Friedmann, Capa was one of the most famous of photographer of his time. He survived the Spanish Civil War and World War II only to die in 1954 while covering the war in Indochina. Capa was in the first wave of troops that hit the beaches at Normandy and his photos are the classic views of the Longest Day.
1915: Birthdate of Aaron Katz, who would spend fifty years of his life seeking to exonerate Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
1915: Birthdate of Sydney Simon Shulemson DFC who “was a Canadian fighter pilot, and Canada's highest decorated Jewish soldier, during World War II… After the war, Shulemson located aircraft and recruited pilots for Israel's growing Israeli Air Force.” He passed away at his home in Florida in 2007
1915: In the village of Ruzhany, Perla and Shlomo Jeziernicky gave birth to Icchak Jeziernicky who would gain fame as Yitzhak Shamir, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel.
1917: The two hundred aged residents of the Home of the Daughters of Jacob in NYC gave $100 to Superintendent Albert Kruger "with instructions of buy a Liberty Bond in the name of the institution. Among the contributors were 109 year old Nissen Rosenstein said to be the oldest man living in NY who gave five dollars and 113 year old Ethel Polansky who contributed one dollar. The residents held a service before making their donations during which they prayed "for the success of the American arms and the coming of an honorable peace.
1919: Birthdate of author and political radical Doris Lessing. Lessing led a colorful life. Born Doris Tayler to English parents living in
Persia
(now
Iran
) her father moved the family to what was then the British Colony of Rhodesia. In 1943, after divorcing her second husband she married Gottfried Lessing, a German Jewish Marxist, in order to give him the protection of citizenship. Strange what some people would do save one Jewish life while others turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the screams of tens of thousands.
1921: Birthdate of Alexander Kronrod, Russian mathematician
1926: In a surprise assault, J. Gordon Whitehead repeatedly punches magician Harry Houdini in the stomach in
Montreal
. The episode contributed to the death of Houdini on Halloween.
1930: Birthdate of Frank Lowy, the European-born Australian-Israeli businessman who is one of the richest people in Australia. He is known for his co-founding and continuing involvement with The Westfield Group, a retail giant that owns dozens of shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and Great Britain.
1931: A codicil to the well of Dr. Arthur Schnitzler, the Austrian physician turned playwright who passed away yesterday, was read tonight. The codicil call for a paupers funeral, forbidding “wreaths, obituary announcements and all accessories to the funeral ritual such as a guard of honor,” Schnitzler wanted the money that would have been used for the funeral to be given to various hospitals. The codicil also forbids eulogies and the wearing of mourning clothes. Finally, he left instructions that a needle be “thrust through his heart to remove any doubt of his death.
1933: Bernard Bergman, the nursing home mogul, received his rabbinic ordination, Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Epstein today.
1934: Birthdate of Tel Aviv native David Libai, Israeli lawyer and politician
1937: The Palestine Post reported that Avinoam Yellin, the senior inspector of education and a prominent Jewish leader, was shot and seriously injured by an Arab terrorist lying in wait at the entrance to his office.
1937: Funeral services were held today for Felix Warburg at Temple Emanuel on New York’s Fifth Avenue.
1937: Warm tributes were paid to the memory of Felix Warburg tonight at a dinner given by the Joint Distribution Committee of which he was an honorary chairman.
1939(9th of Chesvan, 5700): Shimon Yehuda Hakohen Shkop passed away. Born in 1860, “he was a rosh yeshiva ("dean") in the Yeshiva Shaar Hatorah and in the Telshe yeshiva and a renowned Talmudic scholar. He was born in Torez in 1860. At the age of twelve he went to study in the Mir yeshiva, and at fifteen he went to Volozhin yeshiva where he studied six years. His teachers were the Netziv and Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik, with whom he was very close. Shkop married a niece of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon and in 1885 was appointed to the Telz Yeshiva, where he remained for 18 years until 1903. While there, he developed a system of talmudic study which combined the logical analysis and penetrating insights of Rabbi Chaim Brisker with the simplicity and clarity of Rabbi Naphtali Zevi Yehudah Berlin (the Netziv) and which became known as the "Telz way of learning". In 1903, he was appointed Rabbi of Moltsh, and in 1907 of Bransk. A famous pupil of his in Moltsh was Rabbi Yechezkel Sarna who studied under him for a year in 1906, before leaving to the Slabodka yeshiva when Rabbi Shkop himself left. During World War I, the communal leaders urged him to leave before the Germans arrived, but he refused and stayed with his community. Between 1920 and 1939, at the request of Rabbi Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, he succeeded Rabbi Alter Shmuelevitz as Rosh Yeshiva of the renowned Sha'ar HaTorah in Grodno. He raised the level of the institution and transformed it into one of the finest yeshivos in Poland and beyond. Hundreds of young men flocked there from near and far. For many years, Rabbi Zelik Epstein, who was married to a granddaughter of Rabbi Shkop, has headed a successor in Queens. It is known as an exemplary institution. It was there that he taught Rabbi Dovid Lifshitz, the Suvalker Rav.As a young man of eighteen, Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz was invited by Rabbi Shimon to give the third level lecture in the Yeshivah Ketanah in Grodno. At the age of 22, he headed a group of students who transferred from Grodno to Mir. However, his four years in Grodno with Rabbi Shimon had a profound influence on his approach to Talmudic analysis. In 1928 Shkop traveled to the United States in order to raise much needed funds for the Yeshiva. After delivering a lecture at Yeshiva University, he eventually acceded to Rabbi Bernard (Dov) Revel's invitation to serve as a Rosh Yeshiva of Rabbeinu Yitzchak Elchanan (RIETS) in New York. In his absence from Poland, he was greatly missed by Rabbis Yisrael Meir Kagan and Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, who pleaded with him to return. He also received a scathing letter from Rav Yeruchom Levovitz, the mashgiach of Mir, which, according to an eyewitness, he ignored. For family reasons, Rabbi Shkop chose to return to Europe in the fall of 1929. Shkop had a winning personality. He was an active member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudas Yisroel. Many of his students attained distinction, among them Rabbis Elchonon Wasserman of Baronovitch, Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman of Ponevezh and Isser Yehuda Unterman, a future Israeli Chief Rabbi. Dayan Michoel Fisher of London was also a pupil of Rabbi Shkop. Shkop formed close bonds with [the younger] Rabbi Yehuda Zev Segal, the future Manchester Rosh Yeshiva. He would sometimes come to England to raise funds for his yeshiva, and Rabbi Segal took advantage of these opportunities to serve as his attendant, spending one vacation at Rabbi Shimon's summer resort, studying with him and accompanying him on his walks. He published his classic essay titled Sha'arei Yosher (The Gates of Honesty) in 1925 and Ma'arekhet ha-Kinyanim in 1936. Novellae on the Talmud tractates Bava Kamma, Bava Metzia, and Bava Basra were published posthumously in 1947 with a preface by his son, and on Nedarim, Gittin, and Kiddushin in 1952, and on Yevamos and Ketuvot in 1957. Rabbi Shkop's Talmudic novellae are still studied in yeshivos throughout the world today. Sha'arei Yosher is largely concerned with the intellectual principles by which the law is established, rather than with concrete laws, and is stylistically similar to the Shev Shema'tata of Aryeh Leib HaCohen Heller, on which it was partly based.As the Russian army was about to enter Grodno during World War II, he ordered his students to flee to Vilna and he himself died two days later on the 9th of Cheshvan 5700 (1939) in Grodno. Including his death, the Jewish people lost three Rabbis and Torah giants in 10 months: Harav Shimon Shkop, Harav Boruch Ber Leibowitz of Kamenitz and Harav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. He is buried in the Jewish cemetery in the Zaniemanski Forshtat section of Grodno.
1940: The Nazis deported 6,300 Jews living in
Baden
, the
Saar
and the
Palatinate
. Jews had lived in these communities since the 14th century.
1940: Jewish business owners in the
Netherlands
must register their businesses with the occupying Nazis.
1941: Birthdate of Max Apple, author of I Love Gootie: My Grandmother’s Storyand The Jew of Home Depot and Other Stories
1941: The Rumanian command headquarters for the
ODESSA
"ACTION" were blown up. Seventeen Rumanians and four Germans were killed. In reprisal for this apparent act of defiance over 5,000 Jews were rounded up in
Odessa
and shot dead the next day. Considering what the Nazis did to the Jews of the
Soviet Union
, it is always amazing to read about the excuses that were concocted for various mass murders.
1942: The keel was laid for the HMS Totem which would renamed INS Dakar when the Israelis purchased the submarine from the British in 1965.
1942: Icek and Fraidla Dobrzynska, Jewish parents of two children who had been deported from
Poland
's Lódz Ghetto in September 1942, commit suicide
1942: Two parents in the
Lodz
ghetto committed suicide together because their children had been deported.
1943(23rdof Tishrei, 5704): Simchat Torah
1943: Birthdate of violinist Paul Zukofsky
1944:The Federation of Jewish Communities officially reestablished its activities today a few days after the liberation of Belgrade, when its surviving chairman, Friedrich Pops, reopened its office. Fifty-six Jewish communities were reconstructed, and the federation, with the aid of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC), engaged in a variety of welfare projects, including the reopening of the home for the aged in Zagreb, extending material aid to the needy who began to return to their daily lives, etc. It also reestablished its ties with the World Jewish Congress and other Jewish organizations.
1944: As the Soviets closed in on
Budapest
, 25,000 Hungarian Jews were deported and forced to dig anti-tank ditches on the Westward roads. Thousands were shot during the marches.
1946: A transport ship is scheduled to leave Haifa today bound for Cyprus loaded with 800 Jews who been taken off the SS Alma when it tried to run the British blockade designed to keep Jews from settling in Eretz Israel.
1947: In describing the tenuous situation in
Jerusalem
, Zipporah Borowdky, who had just arrived from the
United States
, wrote her parents that “
Jerusalem
is thick with barbed wire and barricades…I still haven’t gotten used to the idea of being frisked every time I go into a public building, even the Post Office.
1948: Israeli naval commandos using explosive boats sank the Egyptian flagship Emir Farouk, and damaged an Egyptian minesweeper..
1948: During the War of Independence, the Third Cease Fire went into effect.
1948: Arab Liberation Army did not feel itself bound by the Third Cease Fire. They “continued to harass Israeli forces and settlements in the north. On the same day that the truce came into effect, the Arab Liberation Army violated the truce by attacking Manara, capturing the strongpoint of Sheikh Abed, repulsing counterattacks by local Israeli units, and ambushed Israeli forces attempting to relieve Manara. The IDF's Carmeli Brigade lost 33 dead and 40 wounded.”
1948: The Arab Liberation Army violated the truce by attacking Manara, capturing the strongpoint of Sheikh Abed, repulsing counterattacks by local Israeli units, and ambushed Israeli forces attempting to relieve Manara. The IDF's Carmeli Brigade lost 33 dead and 40 wounded. Manara and Misgav Am were totally cut off, and Israel's protests at the UN failed to change the situation. [Editor’s note – the more things change, the more they stay the same.]
1952: The complete “Jewish Torah” was published in English for the first time. A collection of oral and written commentary (dating 200 BC to AD 500) on the first five books of the Old Testament, the Torah comprises the basic religious code of Judaism
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported from
London
that Eliahu Elath, accompanied by eight senior members of his staff, presented Queen Elizabeth II with his credentials as the first Israeli ambassador to the Court of St. James
1952: Birthdate of actor Jeff Goldblum.
1956: In a second round of meetings, Israelis led by Ben-Gurion meet with the British and French at
Sevres
,
France
, to make plans for coordinating a triple military attack on
Egypt
.
1973: Security Council Resolution 338 establishing a cease fire ending the Yom Kippur War was officially supposed to go into effect at
7 p.m.
However, combat did not cease. Syrians continued to bombard Israeli positions. Israeli forces on the west bank ceased a major juncture of highway connecting
Suez
with
Cairo
. In
Lebanon
, Fatah, the Palestinian terrorist organization announced it would not accept the cease fire and fired rockets into northern
Israel
. It would be another 48 hours before the facts on the ground would reflect the desires of those on the banks of New York’s
East River
1983: NBC newscaster Jessica Savitch passed away at the age of 36
1986: Albert Szent-Györgyi, Hungarian born physiologist and Nobel Prize laureate passed away. He was an anti-fascist who helped his Jewish friends escape from Hungary
1999: Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy French government during World War II was jailed for crime against humanity. Papon was a senior police official and instrumental in the deportation and murder of large numbers of French Jews. He covered up his crimes for several decades but eventually he was brought to justice
2000(23rd of Tishrei, 5761): Simchat Torah
2000: The New York Times featured reviews of two books by Jewish authors: The Fortune Tellers: Inside Wall Street's Game of Money, Media, and Manipulation by Howard Kurtz and Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik
2002: The Anaheim Angels defeated the Giants in the third game of the World Series. Scott Schoeneweis, whose mother was Jewish, pitched the final two innings of a 10-4 Angel victory -- he allowed no runs, struck out two, and gave up only one hit. The Angels went on to win the series in seven games
2002: Domazlice -- An old Jewish cemetery was desecrated in a southwestern Czech town. Five tombstones were toppled at the cemetery in Domazlice, 94 miles southwest of Prague, and five copper lanterns stolen. Copper plaques with Hebrew inscriptions were removed from two tombstones.
2002: At least 14 Israelis were killed and more than 45 injured when an explosives-laden sport utility vehicle driven by a Palestinian suicide bomber rammed a bus near Hadera in northern Israel. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attack.
2005: What do you do with the Etrog after Sukkoth? According to the Jerusalem Post, Uzi Eli the "etrog medicine man" has created a variety of etrog-based juices, tonics, pastes, and creams that are more than just medicine; they are a way of life. There is evidence that in the Middle Ages the etrog, or as it is called in English, citron, was used as a remedy for seasickness, pulmonary troubles, intestinal ailments and other disorders, according to Fruits in Warm Climates by J. Morton. Jews are not the only ones who believe the curative value of the etrog. In
India
, the peel is eaten to cure dysentery and halitosis, while the distilled juice is given as a sedative. In
China
, the peel is made into a tonic and used as a stimulant and expectorant. In West Tropical Africa, the etrog is used only as a medicine, most often against rheumatism. In
Panama
, etrogim are ground up and combined with other ingredients and given as an antidote for poison.
2006: The Chicago Tribune book section featured reviews of two books about I.F. Stone: All Governments: The life and Times of Rebel Journalist I.F. Stone by Myra MacPherson and The Best of I.F. Stone edited by Karl Weber
2006:
University
of
Chicago Professor
, Norman Gelb’s long-discredited theory on the Dead Scrolls has gained new support based on recent archeological digs at
Qumran
. Rather than being a monastery used by the Essenes,
Qumran
may have been a fortress and then a pottery factory. According to Gelb, the caves were a repository of literature brought from
Jerusalem
at the time of destruction of the
Second
Temple
, placed in clay containers purchased at the pottery factory and then hidden from the Romans in the local caves. This would mean that the Dead Scrolls are not the unitary work of one sect but a collection of literature from a variety of authors.
2006: The Chicago Tribune reported on Dina Babbit’s attempt to reclaim artwork she had created while an inmate at
Auschwitz
. As a teenager Babbit’s life was spared because she was able to draw pictures for Dr. Josef Mengele. Babbit has been trying to claim the paintings since 1973 when she first found out that they had survived the war. A museum at
Auschwitz
has the paintings and despite repeated requests from a variety of sources claims that the only one who could make a claim for them would be Mengele since the work was done for him. Babbit wants the art works as a way to bring some sort of closure to the evil experience she endured with her mother.
2006: Siraly (Seagull in English) the newest nightspot in
Budapest
opened its doors on
Kiraly Street
in the heart of what used to the city’s Jewish ghetto. The three level bar hosted a Hebrew rapper in the theater space, paintings by a young Hungarian Jew and, on the front door, a mezuzah with a playful cartoon of a little girl. The opening is a climactic event in the Jewish gentrification on this formerly Jewish section that was laid waste by the Nazis and smothered by the Communists.
2006: The New York Times features reviews of the following books by Jewish authors and/or that featured Jewish topics including Blood Brothers: Among the Soldiers of Ward 57 by Michael Weisskopf and two books by Lemony Snicket, The End: A Series of Unfortunate Events: Book the 13thand The Beatrice Letters. Lemony Snicket is the pen name of author Daniel Handler, Jewish 33-year-old native of
San Francisco
2007: At the Englert Theater in Iowa City, IA, Ambassador Samuel Lewis, one of Washington's most experienced and respected Old Middle East Hands facilitates a presentation that is part of "US and the World," the ongoing series, which focuses on US policy in the Middle East, past, present and, so far as possible, future. Ambassador Lewis, served 31 years as a career diplomat, including eight years as US ambassador to Israel during the Carter and Reagan Administrations, i.e., the period that included the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty and the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon
. On retirement from the Foreign Service, he served as founding president and
CEO
of the US Institute of Peace.
2007: Zigota, a tiny fringe studio/movement theater ensemble presents its new show “The Passerby” at the intimate Tmumna Theatre in south Tel Aviv.
2007: The New York Times and the Washington Post each featured a review of Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House by Valerie Plame Wilson. Like Madeline Albright, Plame did not find out that she was “part Jewish” until she reached adulthood. At least one great grandfather was a rabbi. Her husband, Joe Wilson, who was part of the “leak scandal”, has two Jewish children from his first marriage.
2007: The
New
Republic
magazine featured a review of Fateful Choies;Ten Decisions That Changed The World, 1940-1941 by Ian Kershaw. Kershaw views the Holocuast as one of these ten decisions. “Kershaw argues that the Nazi program for the ‘Final Solution of the Jewish Question,’ adopted in the summer and autumn of 1941, was for Hitler a strategic decision. In his view the war could never be won unless the Jes were destryoed.”
2008: Simchat Torah, 5769 (The Holiday Season ends)
2008: Award-winning Israeli author Etgar Keret reads from his writing as part of the Raymond Carver Reading series at
Syracuse
University
.
2008: The New Republic includes reviews of Indignation