OCTOBER 8 In History
314: In his quest to consolidate his power, Constantine I, the man who will become the first Christian Roman Emperor defeats his rival Licinius at the Battle of Cibalae. Constantine will officially transform the Roman Empire into an anti-Semitic entity.
1075: Dmitar Zvonimir is crowned King of Croatia. At this point Roman Catholicism was the dominant religion of Croatia. But the King did have Jewish subjects. Some of them might have been able to trace their ancestry to the 3rd century when Jews first arrived in the Balkan principality. Others may have part of the legendary Khazars who lived in the region in the 10th century.
1408: The city of Jassy (Hungarian) or Yas (Yiddish) is mentioned in business correspondence between Prince Alexander the Good (Alexandru cel Bun) and merchants from Lviv then a part of Poland. The Romanian city of Yas would become a center of Jewish settlement as well as the site of the largest massacre of Jews in Romania in World War II.
1573: In what would prove to a turning point in the Eighty Years War, the Dutch score their fist victory when the Spanish siege of the Dutch city of Alkmaar comes to an end. The war would last until 1648. When it was over, the independence of the Netherlands would be a reality. The Dutch Republic would provide a haven for European Jews, especially those fleeing Spain and its inquisition.
1576: The Sultan ordered 1,000 wealthy Jews to move from Safed to Cyprus. The Jews would be requested to take with them their possessions and riches. The firman ordering the moved utilized wording which warned the Turks that they would be severely punished if they accepted bribes from the Jews to have their names removed from the list. A year later another 500 Jewish families would be forced to move from Safed to Cyprus. Population movements like this were not unusual in the Ottoman Empire. It was the Sultan’s way of encouraging economic development throughout the empire.
1713: Birthdate of Yechezkel ben Yehuda Landau who would gain fame as an expert on Halachah, Jewish ritual law
1780(9thof Tishrei, 5541): Erev Yom Kippur
1781: Birthdate of Abraham David, the brother of Jonas Daniel Meijer, the first Jewish lawyer in the Netherlands.
1791(10th of Tishrei, 5552): Yom Kippur
1810(10thof Tishrei, 5571): Yom Kippur
1835(15thof Tishrei, 5596): Sukkoth
1841(23rdof Tishrei, 5602): Simchat Torah
1845: The Sephardic Synagogue of Kingston, Jamaica celebrated taking possession of a new Sefer Torah." The service was conducted by the Isaac Lopes, who served as rabbi for the congregation.
1848: On the day after Yom Kippur Joseph Wile, Samuel Marks, Joseph Katz, Gabriel Wile, Meyer Rothschild, Henry Levi, Jacob Altman, Joseph Altman, A. Adler, Elias Wolff, Abram Weinberg, and Jacob Gans met in Rochester, NY and formed Congregation Berith Kodesh.
1851: A column entitled “Europe” published today told the story of Jewish con artist working in the British Isles. “An old Jew” had advertised in an English country town,” that among other wondrous things he would get into a quart bottle. At the appointed time his room was filled with eager spectators. He came on the stage, and after a deal of preparation, did nothing he had promised. ‘A swindle! A swindle !’ cried one of the cheated company, who had paid his shilling to the door-keeper” who by then had disappeared. “Amid the noise, the Jew came forward, and with imperturbable gravity said, ‘Ladies and Gentlemen; it is a svindle and vat then?’”
1857: In the Recorders Office, Nathan Levins testifies against Israel Steinhardt in a case brought by Levins claiming that Steinhard robbed him of 940 pounds in English Sterling notes. Steinhard then has a chance to rebut Levins’ claims. The story is a tale that takes the court across Europe and involves a variety of convoluted transactions. The story is even harder to understand because neither party speaks English nor testimony has to be translated. Apparently the 20 Jews attending the hearing were not affected by the language barrier since, like the plaintiff and defendant they came from Germany or Hungary. The case was continued until tomorrow.
1862: An article published today entitled "Brooklyn Backs the President" described the support being given Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. The speech by James S. Wadsworth demonstrates how deeply the story of the Exodus from Egypt inspired the Abolitionist Movement showing once again the important role that Jewish ideals and idioms have played in man’s march towards freedom. General Wadsworth told the crowd that “In ancient times, when the Hebrews, escaping out of the house of bondage, stood upon the shores of the Red Sea, with the hosts of Pharaoh hovering on their rear, conservatism shrunk back and feared to wet its sandals in the angry waves. But the Book of Books tells us that the Lord said unto Moses, "Speak unto the children of Israel that they go forward!" They obeyed, and Pharaoh and his his hosts sank like lead in the waters. The age of miracles is past. In our country, vox populi, vox Dei. Our great cause confronts a sea of difficulties, before which timid souls stand appalled. But, the Proclamation reveals to us the land of promise, the Canaan beyond the floods. Let the people, the vox Dei, say unto the President, ‘Abraham, speak unto the armies of the Union, that they go forward!’”
1867(9thof Tishrei, 5628): Erev Yom Kippur
1869: President Franklin Pierce passed away. Pierce was one of those forgettable mediocrities who served in the White House in the decade before the Civil War. His record of dealing with Jews is limited and mixed. Franklin Pierce was the first and maybe the only President whose name appears on the charter of a synagogue. Pierce signed the Act of Congress in 1857 that amended the laws of the District of Columbia to enable the incorporation of the city's first synagogue, the Washington Hebrew Congregation. Washington Hebrew Congregation is one of the oldest and largest Reform Congregations in the Washington Metropolitan Area. But two years before, in November of 1855, Pierce signed a treaty with Switzerland that had been ratified by the Senate. The treaty allowed the Swiss government to discriminated again American citizens who were Jews so that the treatment of American Jews would be consistent with the treatment of Swiss Jews by their government.
1871(23rdof Tishrei, 5632): Simchat Torah
1871: The Great Chicago Fire made its impact felt the area settled by Jews of German origins. It was referred to by some as The Golden Ghetto. This was in contrast to the area where eastern European and Russian Jews settled which was known as just The Ghetto. This area suffered a fair amount of damage in the less famous Fire of 1874.
1873: It was reported today that the Jews of Cleveland, Ohio have raised $800 which they have sent to Shreveport , LA and Memphis, TN to help those suffering from the current Yellow Fever Epidemic.
1875(9thof Tishrei 5636): Erev Yom Kippur
1877: It was reported today that Dr. De Sola Mendez is scheduled to give a lecture on “Young America” at an upcoming meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1879(21stof Tishrei, 5640): Hoshana Raba
1881(15thof Tishrei, 5642): Sukkoth
1882: It was reported today that sometime in the first two weeks of November, Edward Harrigan’s new play, “Modecai Lyons” will premiere at the Theatre Comique. The play tells the story of a Jewish father who forces her to marry a man not of her choosing. The play is “both humorous and dramatic” and portrays a father who loves a daughter who has been touched by misfortune.
1882: “Romance of the Jews” published today provides a detailed review of The Jews of Barnow, a collection of stories by Karl Emil Franzos.
1882: “Songs of a Semite” published today provides a detailed review of Songs of a Semite: The Dance to Death and Other Poems by Emma Lazarus.
1883: Birthdate of Nobel Prize winner, Otto Heinrich Warburg, the son of Emil Warburg who was related to the famous family of Jewish financier. However, Warburg’s father had converted to Christianity as a result of an undisclosed family dispute.
1886: It was reported today that Kaiser Wilhelm has sent the Sultan of Morocco a gift – 12 volumes of the Talmud in Hebrew. (I have no idea why the German Emperor would send the Muslim monarch such a gift.)
1886(9th of Tishrei, 5647): Erev Yom Kippur
1886: “Yom Kippur” published today opens with the following “From sunset this evening until tomorrow at sunset there will be observed by some seven or eight million Israelites scatter all over the globe the…solemn festival of Yom Kippur or Day of Atonement.” In describing the history and customs of the day, J.S. Moore contends that “there is no other religion…that has a similar festival. The great object is…that one a year one day out of the 365 shall be set apart for no other purposed than to commune with God, confess the errors of life and perchance resolve to amend them.”
1886: “Veteran Rosenberg’s Death” published today described the life and death of Joseph Rosenberg, the 102 year old Jewish citizen of New Orleans who was buried yesterday. A native of Baden, Germany, he served with Napoleon’s French Army when he captured Moscow. He came to the Crescent City in 1852 where he raised a family that included 3 daughters.
1886: “A Suicide in the Tombs” published today described how Solomon Goldberg, a Polish Jew, being held in the jail was able to hide a knife from authorities which he then used to kill himself.
1888: “Eating The Old Mare” published today described a dinner hosted by Dr. Rush S. Huidekeper, Chief of the Veterinary School of the University of Pennsylvania during which he told his guests that “the only beef that is properly inspected is that eaten by the” Jews, “which is killed according to their rules.”
1893: Birthdate of Ada Fishman who made aliyah in 1912, played an active role in the development of pre-State Palestine and as Ada Maimon was a member of the first Knesset.
1895: German born American-Jewish inventor/businessman, Emil Berliner founded the Berliner Gramophone Company which was to produce “flat gramophone records” or what would be called phonograph records. He designed the disc model which replaced Edison’s cylinders.
1895: Birthdate of future Laborite MP and death penalty foe, Sydney Silveran.
1896: In Oregon, Joseph Simon was elected to the U.S. Senate, making him the first Jew to represent the Beaver State in the Upper Chamber of Congress.
1898(22ndof Tishrei, 5669): Shemini Atzeret
1900: Birthdate of Serge Ivan Chermayeff, “a Russian born, British architect, industrial designer, writer, and co-founder of several architectural societies, including the American Society of Planners and Architects.”
1900: Herzl met with the Austro-Hungarian Prime Minister, Ernest von Koerber.
1904: Edmonton, Alberta was incorporated as a city today, Jews had been living there for more than a decade. The first Jews, Abraham and Rebecca Cristall - came to what was then an unincorporated community in 1893. George and Rose Cristall were the first Jews born in the town. By the time of incorporation there were 17 Jews living in what would become Alberta’s capital city.
1904: Prince Albert, Saskatchewan was incorporated as a city. By this time two colonies had been established by Baron Hirsch’s Jewish Colonization Society – the second of which was called Hirsch, Saskatchewan founded in 1892. Among the Jews who had come to Saskatchewan and left before the incorporation of Prince Albert were Ekiel and Mindel Bronfman of Seagram’s Whiskey fame. Two years after the incorporation, Jewish immigrants from Lithuania would establish The Edinbridge Hebrew Colony, another of the settlements created by the Jewish Colonization Society
1908: Mr. and Mr. William E. Dodd gave birth to Martha Dodd. Martha accompanied her father to his posting as FDR’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany. A romantic figure, she finally became aware of the danger presented by the Nazi regime
1909(23rdof Tishrei, 5670): Simchat Torah
1912(27th of Tishrei, 5673): Dr. Morris Loeb, Professor of Chemistry and Columbia, who was a noted scientist and philanthropist, passed away today. He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Eda K. Loeb.
1917(22nd of Tishrei, 5678): Shemini Atzeret
1918: During World War I, in France, on the Western Front U.S. Army Corporal charged an enemy bunker that was inflicting severe causalities and using hand-grenades neutralized the enemy position allowing the unit to continue his advance. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his action.
1924(10th of Tishrei, 5685): Yom Kippur
1926: The New York Times reported that Jews in Palestine have called upon the British government not to let Arabs be the ones to repair Rachel’s Tomb.
1927: With Jewish editor Herman Bermstein acting as interpreter Mordachai Golinkin, conductor of the Palestine Opera and former director of the Petrograd Opera, told reporters at the Ansonia Hotel how he, his wife, Lea, lyric soprano, and G. Giorini, dramatic tenor, had been detained on Ellis Island for three days. Golinkin had nothing but praise for the way in which he was treated during the internment and expressed a desire to return to the Island to give a concert. Golinkin is in this country to raise $200,000 to build an opera house in Palestine. Nathan Struas and Herman Bernstein “were greatly impressed by the artistic merits” of Golinikin’s productions in Israel which have included performances of Fause and Aida in Hebrew.
1928: Joseph Szigeti, the Jewish Hungarian violinist, gives the first performance of Alfredo Casella's Violin Concerto.
1928(24th of Tishrei, 5689): Silent screen comedian Larry Semon reportedly passed away. Semon directed, wrote and starred in the silent screen version the Wizard of Oz. There are those who contend that this is not the date of Semon’s death. According to them, Semon was in financial trouble and he faked his death to get away from his creditors. However, they have not been able to come up with alternative date for his death.
1928: Hungarian born Joseph Szigeti performed in the début of Alfredo Casella's Violin Concerto. Szigeti is one more in a long line of Jewish virtuoso violinists.
1928: Several people were injured today and three were arrested in “a clash between Hebraist and partisans of the Yiddish language” at Tel Aviv. “The occasion for the clash was a celebration by the Poale Zion Club commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Czernowitz Conference, where Yiddish was proclaimed as ‘a national language’ of the Jewish people.” G’dud Magginei Ha’saf-fah “a youth organization ‘for the protection of the Hebrew language’ was responsible for the attack. Among the injured was M. Wescher, a Poale Zion leader and member of the Tel Aviv Municipal Council.
1930: In Pittsfield, MA, Harry and Ruth Klein Kaufman gave birth to Donald Kaufman, the Vice President of KB Toys who was responsible for creating “one of the largest and most valuable collections of antique toy cars and trucks in the world.”
1931: The Habima Theater opened in Tel Aviv. Founded by Nahum Zemach in 1917 in Moscow, Habima (Hebrew word meaning “the stage”) was one of the first Hebrew language theatre groups. The group left the Soviet Union in 1926 and went on tour before finally settling in Tel Aviv. Habima was designated as the national theatre in 1958.
1931(27th of Tishrei, 5692): General Sir John Monash, who was the highest ranking Jewish officer to serve in the Australian Army during the World War I and who served with distinction at Gallipoli and on the Western Front passed away.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F60B10FE3F54157A93CAA9178BD95F458385F9
1935(22ndof Tishrei, 5697): Shemini Atzeret
1936: Birthdate of Rona Barrett. Born Rona Burstein, she gained fame as a Hollywood gossip columnist.
1937:The Palestine Post reported that the Franco-Luxembourg-German borders were closed to Jews. All trains arriving at the border were searched and Jews were turned back. Jews seeking to return to Germany were also turned back. In Germany Jews were called to police stations and asked point-blank when they were going to emigrate, or they would face serious consequences.
1938: The Slovak Peoples' Party establishes Hlinkova Garda (Hlinka Guard), an anti-Semitic militia that will collaborate with the Germans.
1938:Jewish composer David Rose marries Martha Raye
1939: Birthdate of Harvey Pekar, the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland, whose autobiographical comic book “American Splendor” would “a cult following for its unvarnished stories of a depressed, aggrieved Everyman negotiating daily life in Cleveland” and would become “ the basis for a critically acclaimed 2003 film.”
1939:The Nazis ordered to the establishment of a Ghetto in Piotrkow, Poland. This was the first of a series of ghettos and camps planned by Heydrich.
1939: The Nazis orchestrated a pogrom against the Jews of Lodz.
1939: Germany annexed Western Poland marking the next level of the downward spiral that would come to be known as the Final Solution.
1940: Dr. Louis L. Mann, the rabbi of Temple Sinai, is scheduled to officiate at the funeral of Henry Horner, the Governor of Illinois. Follow the funeral, the Governor will be interred at Mount Mayriv Cemetery in a grave next to his mother.
1941(17th of Tishrei, 5702: Third Day of Sukkoth
1941(17th of Tishrei, 5702: The Vitebsk (Belorussia) Ghetto is liquidated; more than 16,000 Jews are killed.
1943(9th of Tishrei, 5704):Erev Yom Kippur
1943(9th of Tishrei, 5704):: Three thousand Italian prisoners of war are murdered by the SS and Ukrainian guards at La Risiera di San Sabba, Italy, south of Trieste. Of 1,920 Jews in Trieste, 620 are murdered by the SS.
1943(9th of Tishrei, 5704): On the eve of the Jewish Day of Atonement, several thousand ill or weak Jewish men are gassed at Auschwitz.
1943: Birthdate of R.L. Stine. Born Robert Lewis Stine, the author is known for his science fiction works.
1944(21st of Tishrei, 5705): Hoshana Rabbah
1945(1st of Cheshvan, 5706): Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan
1945(1st of Cheshvan, 5706): Austrian born author, Felix Salten passed away. Born Siegmund Salzmann, Salten is best known as the creator of Bambi. Salten fled the Nazis and spent the last years of his life in Switzerland.
1945: As part of the protest against British treatment of the Jews in Palestine and those trying to reach Palestine Rabbis throughout Palestine are scheduled to add Psalm XX which beings “Let the King hear us when we call” to the daily prayer service.
1945: As part of the protest against British policy in Palestine, 50,000 Jews attended a rally in Tel Aviv and tens of thousands more attended a rally at Edison Hall in Jerusalem where they demanded an end to the White Paper.
1945: In an attempt to spare European Jewish refugees another winter in displaced person camps, Zionist leaders spent two and half hours with the new Colonial Secretary, Arthur Creech Jones, discussing ways to improve British-Jewish relations” in Palestine.
1945: In a sign of Jewish frustration with the continued British enforcement of the White Paper, the Stern Gang reportedly resorted to a new wave of violence tonight with attacks that resulted in the death of two British soldiers and the wounding of scores of others.
1948: In Egypt, “the issuance of export and import licenses to Jewish merchants was forbidden,.”
1948: A group of settlers from Hungary founded Kibbutz Ga’aton in the hill country east of Nahariya. According to some it is named for the Ga’aton River which flows nearby. According to others, it is named for a town thought to have existed in the area before the Babylonian exile. Regardless, the kibbutz fell under immediate attack from Arabs shooting from the surrounding hills.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that Dov Shilansky, Gavriel Lichtman, a taxi driver, and Ya'acov Lotan, a regular contributor to the Herut newspaper, were remanded by police in connection with the attempt to sabotage the Israel-German reparations agreement by bombing one of the Foreign Ministry buildings in Jerusalem's Hakirya.
1959: LA Dodgers beat Chicago White Sox, 4 games to 2 in 56th World Series. The Dodgers team featured two Jewish players who were brothers – the pitcher Larry Sherry and the catcher Norm Sherry. Larry Sherry was a rookie who appeared as a relief pitcher in all four of the Dodgers’ victories.
1962(10thof Tishrei, 5723): For the first time, Tulane freshman Mitchell Levin observed Yom Kippur at the Conservative Congreagation of New Orleans
1973: During the Yom Kippur War, two Israeli attempts to reach the east bank of the Suez were beaten back by Egyptian soldiers equipped with Soviet supplied anti-tank weapons. IDF forces facing Syria were more successful. Although outnumbered, the IDF forces halted the advance of the Syrians into Israel and by the end of the day have driven them back to the 1967 Armistice Lines and beyond.
1973: During the Yom Kippur War, Gabi Amir's armored brigade attacks Egyptian occupied positions on the Israeli side of the Suez Canal, in hope of driving them away. The attack fails, and over 150 Israeli tanks are destroyed.
1973: Buoyed by initial Egyptian and Syrian military success, numerous Moslem and Arab states offered aid and support to the aggressors. The Algerians sent squadrons of planes. The King of Morocco called on soldiers in his army to volunteer to fight with the Egyptians. Idi Amin ordered all Ugandan officers in Egypt to join in the fight. And the Prime Minister of Bangladesh sent telegrams stating the his 75 million countrymen supported the Egyptians and the Syrians “in your just cause”
1973: Israelis were alarmed by news from the front, which was fragmentary and not good. Their fears were heightened when a civil defense spokesperson urged Israelis who did not have a shelter to start digging one and that those who had small shelter should enlarge them. The only good news was Australian volunteers were arriving to perform the work of civilians who had been mobilized and that American Jews had already raised $100 million for the Israeli war effort.
1973: After touring both battle fronts, Maj. Gen. Haim Bar-Lev and Minister Yigal Allon reported to Prime Minister Meir this evening that the Israeli forces' situation is beginning to improve, while the enemy forces are beginning to suffer serious damage."What they achieved today as compared to yesterday is enormous," Allon said. "The front was breached yesterday. If the Syrians had been more daring, they'd have made significant gains."Bar-Lev explained the Egyptian and Syrian successes as being partly due to technological superiority. "Both have the new Soviet tank plus infrared," he said. "They have an advantage there. On the first night we were surprised; we only knew they had it in theory ... Today we know about it and take it into account."
1973: The 17th Battalion of the Golani Brigade moved up the slopes of Mt. Hermon in the opening round of the Second Battle of Mount Hermon.
1973:Tonight, the Israeli missile boats repeated their success of last night off the Egyptian coast, with three Egyptian missile boats sunk and no Israeli vessel hit. For the remainder of the war, neither the Syrian nor Egyptian fleets would venture out again, enabling more than 100 freighters carrying vital supplies to safely reach Israel, which was in the throes of a brutal, two-front ground war.
1973:Kobi Hayun, Micahel Dvir, Shabtai Ben-Shua, Yoram Peled and Boaz Lerner all made it safely back to Israeli lines when their F-4E Phantom Jets were shot down Syrian SAM’s or Egyptian Anti- Aircraft fire.
1973:Yoram Shachar was taken prisoner after his F-4E Phantom Jet was shot down by a Syrian Surface to Air Missile.
1981(10th of Tishrei, 5742): Yom Kippur
1981(10th of Tishrei, 5742): Heinz Kohut an Austrian-born American psychoanalyst best known for his development of Self psychology, an influential school of thought within psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theory which helped transform the modern practice of analytic and dynamic treatment approaches passed away.
1985: The hijackers of the Achille Laurocruise liner surrendered after the ship arrived in Port Said, Egypt. Before surrendering, the hijackers threw Leon Klinghoffer, a wheel-chair bound passenger, over the side of the boat.
1985(23rd of Tishrei, 5746): Simchat Torah
1986: The Providence Journal "Navy Rabbi To Join Iceland Team: Russian immigrant's grandson picked to lead staff services,” a story about the role of Rabbi Arnold E. Resnicoff, the U.S. Navy Chaplain sent to Iceland to lead services during the meetings laying the groundwork for the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit.
1990: Israelipolice kill 17 Palestinian rioters. The riots occurred at the Temple Mount and were part of the orchestrated violence against Israelis now known as the First Intifada. For those of you who like symmetry or have a sense of irony, the Second version of this organized terror would begin in the same place at the same time of the year when Arafat rejected Barak’s peace offer.
1992: Willy Brandt, former Chancellor of Germany, passed away. The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize had opposed the Nazis when he was a youth living in Germany. In 1970, Brandt made a highly emotional visit to Warsaw where he fell to his knees in front of the Memorial to the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. This silent act of contrition spoke volumes to the world about the new Germany and the willingness take responsibility for its past. In writing about the trip Brandt said, “An unusual burden accompanied me on my way to Warsaw. Nowhere else had a people suffered as in Poland. The machine-like annihilation of Polish Jewry represented a heightening of bloodthirstiness that no one had held possible. On my way to Warsaw [I carried with me] the memory of the fight to the death of the Warsaw ghetto.” As moving as these words were then, they are even more so now as another generation of leaders has risen filled with inclination to minimize their personal pasts and the Jewish element that made the Holocaust unique.
1997(7th of Tishrei, 5758): American architect Bertrand Goldberg best known for the Marina City complex in Chicago, Illinois, the tallest residential concrete buildings in the world at the time of completion passed away.
2000(9thof Tishrei, 5671): Erev Yom Kippur
2000: The Sunday New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics related to Judaism including Quarrel & Quandry: Essays by Cynthia Ozick, Einstein In Love: A Scientific Romance by Dennis Overbye, Dream Catcher: A Memoir by Margaret A. Salinger and The Second Coming of Steve Jobs by Alan Deutschman
2000: In an article entitled “Flash Point: Temple Mount is Holy Ground; Muslims Must Recognize Shrine’s Importance to Judaism” Aron U Raskas of the Baltimore Sun wrote “Ten days ago, former defense minister [ARIEL SHARON] had the good fortune to be able to do that which Jews dispersed for centuries in the diaspora could only hope, dream and pray for: On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - the liturgy of which is replete with recollections of [Abraham]'s selfless act on the Temple Mount and with prayers for a restoration of the divine presence to this site - Sharon dared to peacefully tread upon this hallowed Jewish ground. The second lesson is that, even after seven years of delusional thinking by Pollyannaish Israelis, the Palestinian people and their leaders are completely unwilling to recognize the Jewish legacy of the Temple Mount, the historic connection of Jews to that place and their inalienable right to worship on that holy ground.”
2001: Forbes published an article entitled “Riklis Driving” that described how Meshulam Riklis drained assets from Dylex Limited, one of Canada’s largest retailers and funneled them into other companies he controlled.
2004: Haaretz reported that at least thirty-five people were killed and over 100 injured in three separate attacks on holiday resorts in the Sinai Desert that were packed with Israelis celebrating the holiday of Sukkoth. Among the hotels attacked on Thursday was the Taba Hilton. According to reports that appeared in the October 8th edition of the paper, Israeli officials believe the blast at Taba was caused by an explosive laden truck. There were reports of two more explosions at other locations within two hours of the Taba attack. Late reports in the Jerusalem Post raised the toll to 37 dead and 150 wounded. A terror group that nobody had heard of up until now claimed credit for the attack. It said the attacks were in response to the killings of Palestinians and Iraqis. If these attacks are the work of terrorists, it would be consistent with a pattern of attacking on Jewish holidays going back to the original outbreaks of the latest wave of Arab terror that began on Rosh Hashanah.
2004: Fiamma Nirenstein was an official speaker at the Boston Conference of on 'Anti-Semitism, the Press and Europe'.
2004(23rd of Tishrei, 5765): Simchat Torah
2005(5th of Tishrei, 5766): Shabbat Shauvah is observed by Jews all over the world.
2005: Hundreds of Jews lit candles and prayed near the Babi Yar ravine, where the Nazis killed tens of thousands of Ukrainian Jews during World War II, as Jewish leaders expressed concern over recent anti-Semitic acts in the former Soviet republic.
2005: Thanks to Katrina, Rita, OPEC, et al, Americans are confronted with paying record high prices of gasoline and natural gas. Now, American Jews face an additional financial threat. According to The Jerusalem Post, people will be paying record high prices for their lulavs this year. Following Egyptian moves to limit the export of Lulavs, one Israeli importer has “cornered the market” by surreptitiously importing 250,000 Lulavs. Because of his almost complete control of the limited supply, Avi Belali is charging wholesalers five dollars for an item that usually costs one dollar. Retailers claim they will have to charge as much as twenty dollars to break even and that does not include the cost of the Etrog. Unbeknownst to most Americans, the lulav industry is “a pretty shady business” where various tricks are tried each year by dealers looking for a way to make a fast buck. Some Israeli Rabbis are so concerned about profiteering that they have issued a special Halachahic dispensation allowing for the use of branches from the more numerous canary dates may be used for Lulavs. Apparently, the sages don’t just know about the Law of Moses, they also know about the law of supply and demand.
2006: The Washington Post featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including Primo Levi’s Auschwitz Report and Daniel Mendelsohn’s The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million and an essay written by Elie Wiesel under the title “Why Memory?”
2006: The Sunday New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics related to Judaism including The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascoes, Palace Coupsby Ron Rosenbaum and Five Germanys I Have Known by Fritz Stern.
2006: The Israeli Interior Ministry ruled that Valery Dubinin, who had made Aliyah from the Ukraine seven and half years ago, is not a Jew. This case is newsworthy because the Interior Ministry was overruling the Petah Tikva Rabbinical Court which had provided documents attesting to his Jewishness.
2006(16th of Tishrei, 5767