November 9
694: Opening meeting of the Seventeenth Council of Toledo during which the Visigoth Catholic monarch, King Egica publicly charged the Jews with planning to "exterminate and [destroy] their homeland." This charge was the excuse for the enactment of some of the most stringent laws aimed at the Jews of Iberia. The Jews and their property essentially became the possession of the crown, allowing the King to dispose of them as he saw fit. Furthermore, any Christian found helping Jews would be punished. These laws represented the climax of more than a century's worth of anti-Jewish laws. Is it any wonder that the Jews greeted the Moors with open arms when the invaded Spain in 711?
1491: Azriel Günzenhäuser printed “Avicenna Canon” at Naples Italy. Azriel Günzenhäuser was a 15th century German printer who was also known as the “Ashkenazi.”
1494: The Family de' Medici expelled as rulers of Florence. According to Rebecca Weiner, “The fate of the Jewish community was tied to the fate of the Medici family in Florence. Lorenzo il Magnifico defended the Jewish community from expulsions and from the aftermath of vitriolic sermons given by Bernardino da Feltre. A Catholic theocracy was installed in the 1490's under the Dominican friar Girolama Savonarola, who decreed that both the Jews and the Medici family be expelled from Florence. A loan from the Jewish community to the republic postponed the expulsion for a short period of time. The Medicis returned to power in 1512 and the Jewish ban was lifted, until the next Medici expulsion in 1527. Alessandro de Medici regained influence as a duke, in 1531, and abolished anti-Jewish acts. In 1537 Cosimo de’Medici gained power in the Florentine government. He sought the advice of Jacob Abravanel, a Sephardic Jew living in Ferrara. Abravanel convinced Cosimo to guarantee the rights and privileges of Spanish and Portuguese Jews, and other Levantines who settled on his borders. This was the start of the growth of the Sephardic Jewish community in Florence. Refuge was given to Jews from other papal states who left due to Pope Paul IV’s anti-Jewish measures, which were not enacted in Florence. Once Cosimo received the title of grand duke of Tuscany, his policies toward the Jews changed for the worse. He forced Jews to wear badges in 1567, closed the Tuscan border to non-resident Jews in 1569, shut down Jewish banks in 1570 and established a ghetto in 1571
1526: The Jews were expelled from Hungry after being falsely accused of aiding the Turks in the war against Hungary. This is an example of the Jews being caught up in the cross currents of European Religious Wars. Most of Hungary had come under the control of the Turks (yes the Islamic Ottoman Empire penetrated that far into central Europe a fact not lost on radical Islamists today). The Hungarians were all that stood between the Turks and the Germanic Holy Roman Empire. But Charles V, the Emperor was not supplying aide for reasons of his own, so the Jews ended up being scapegoats for the newly enthroned Hungarian King’s inability to dislodge the Turks.
1526: Jews of Pressburg (now Bratislava) were expelled by order of Queen Maria.
1571(21st of Cheshvan): Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Ziimra (Radbaz) passed away
1621: A 16 year old New Christian, Moses Simonson (or Symonson) arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts on the ship Fortune. He came from Leyden, Holland.
1656(21st of Cheshvan): Rabbi Moses ben Isaac Judah Levy, author of Helkat Mehokek passed away
1720: The Rabbi Yehuda Hasid Synagogue in Jerusalem, which later became known as the Hurva Synagogue was set afire. Rabbi Yehuda Hasid and a small group of a few hundred followers arrived in Eretz Israel. The rabbi purchased the courtyard in the Old City for the synagogue, and construction of the facility was started after his death, but was never completed. Due to the non-payment of a loan taken by Jews from Arabs for the construction of the synagogue, Arabs burned down the site, desecrating its 40 Torah scrolls. The destruction wrought at the time became the root of the name of the "Hurva" (ruin) synagogue, and building recommenced in the late 1830s, by Perushim followers of the Vilna Gaon. After its completion in 1864, the Hurva loomed as a cultural and religious symbol in Eretz Israel and Jerusalem. The Hurva retained its status as Jerusalem's leading synagogue, and public gatherings and celebrations were held in it. Among other events, a prayer gathering to mark the coronation of King George V was held at the Hurva. Two days after the Jewish Quarter fell to Jordanian legionnaires during the 1948 war; the Jordanians blew up the Hurva. The Jordanian commander on the scene reported to his superiors: "For the first time in 1,000 years, there's not a single Jew left in the Jewish Quarter, and not a single building that hasn't been damaged. This will make the return of Jews here impossible." After the 1967 Six-Day War, the Hurva became a memorial to the fall of the Jewish Quarter in 1948. A large square was created around the site of the Hurva; and visitors could measure the dimensions of the synagogue which once stood at the locale. An arch was built at the site which rose to about half the height of the destroyed building, which is as high as the top of the synagogue's dome. In 2002, the Israeli government adopted a
NIS
28 million plan to restore the Hurva synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem. The restoration should take four years.
1837: British philanthropist Moses Montefiore, 52, became the first Jew to be knighted in England. Montefiore was a banking executive who devoted his life to the political and civil emancipation of English Jews.
1845: The original Jewish Publication Society was established in Philadelphia today. Abraham Hart was its first president. The society owed its existence to Isaac Leeser. It published eleven works, including two by Grace Aguilar.
1847: Birthdate of Edward
VII
, son of Queen Victoria and King from 1901 to1910. As Prince of Wales, “Bertie” had several Jewish associates and friends including the Rothschilds and the Sassoons. Such friendship did not meet with universal approval of the British aristocracy. Those who thought that Edward’s philo-Semitism was limited to the wealthy were confounded by Edward’s pronouncements on the subject of the Russian Jews. Edward insinuated himself in foreign relations, a field limited to the politicians, by trying to convince Czar Nicholas II to improve the condition of his Jewish subjects. For a man portrayed as vapid, vain and empty-headed, he showed himself to be of stout heart in a matter of major importance to the Jewish people.
1849: Daniel Webster wrote a letter to M. M. Noah today expressing his regrets that he will not be able to attend the anniversary dinner of the Hebrew Benevolent and German Hebrew Benevolent Society to be held later this month in New York City. In the letter he expressed his on-going "respect and sympathy" for the Jewish people whose "scriptures I regard as the fountain from which we draw all we know of the world around us, and of our own character and destiny as intelligent, moral and responsible beings." What Webster did not say in the letter that he was having to turn down the invitation due to health problems.
1855: Rabbi Nathan Adler founded Jew’s College
1858: An article published today entitled “Abduction of a Christian Duty” traces the history of the Mortara Affair in which an Italian Jewish boy was effectively kidnapped by the Pope himself. According to the article, the Pope’s behavior puts him at odds with many of the governments of Europe and jeopardizes the rights of all Protestants (as well as Jews and Moslems) that visit any of the papal domains.
1861: Birthdate of American investment banker, Philip Lehman
1866: Birthdate of Salt Lake City native, Florence Pag Kahn who " became the first Jewish woman to be elected to the U.S. Congress."
1871: Birthdate of Florence Rena Sabin an American medical scientist. As a pioneer for women in science she was the first woman to hold a full professorship at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, the first woman elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and the first woman to head a department at the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. In her retirement years, she pursued a second career as a public health activist in Colorado, and in 1951 received a Lasker Award for this work. She passed away in 1953.
1874(29th of Cheshvan, 5635): Israel Bak, the man who created the first Hebrew printing press, passed away. Israel Bak was a native of Berdichev in the Ukraine who came to Safed in 1831. In his native city, he had published some thirty books. He reestablished his publishing operations in Safed. First off the press, in 1832, was a Sefardi prayer book, the first Hebrew book printed in the Holy Land after a hiatus of 245 years. This was followed in 1833 by the Book of Leviticus, with the commentaries of Rashi and Hayim Joseph David Azulai, a favorite of Sefardi Jews. No traces remain of either Genesis or Exodus, if indeed they were ever published, but it is possible that they were destroyed during the peasant revolt against Muhammad Ali in 1834, in which Bak's press was destroyed and Bak himself was wounded. More likely only Leviticuswas published, the first of a projected five-volume edition of the Pentateuch, because it was the custom to begin instruction of the Chumash in the schools not with Genesisbut with Leviticus. The school year began in the spring, when the Book of Leviticus was being read in the synagogue, and it made good sense to synchronize Bible study in the school with Bible reading in the synagogue. Bak turned to agriculture but continued printing, even after the earthquake of 1837 devastated his shop. The Druze revolt in 1838 destroyed both his farm and press, and Bak departed for Jerusalem where, in 1841, he once again established his press, the first Hebrew press in Jerusalem.
1878(13th of Cheshvan, 5639): Abraham Dob Bär Lebensohn passed away. Born in Vilinius between 1789 and 1794, he was a rabbi known for his poetical works including Shir Habibim. He was the father-in-law of Rabbi Joshua Steinberg, who worked with the Russian government as an educator and who wrote works in English, Hebrew and German.
1879: The service at Temple Beth-El in memory of the late Rabbi David Einhorn began at 4 o’clock this afternoon. The sanctuary was completely filled and late arrivals had to be turned away. Rabbis Kohler, Gottheil, Hirsch and Jacobs delivered eulogies. Einhorn’s funeral had taken place on November 6.
1879: Professor Felix Adler delivered a lecture today entitled “Struggle of Free Religion in the United States” which was “a glowing and eloquent tribute” to the late Rabbi David Einhorn, even though it did not specifically mention the Jewish leader by name.
1879(23rd of Cheshvan, 5640): Abraham Aub passed away. He has served as President of the Orphan Asylum of Cleveland since it was established by the B’nai Brit and is a past President of the Jewish Hospital and Hebrew Relief Association.
1880: At today’s meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment funds were allocated to a variety of charities including $1,898.28 to the Hebrew Children’s Guardian Society
1881: Specifications were filed today at the Bureau of Inspection of Buildings for a new building to be occupied by the Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews.
1881: It was reported today that the Jewish “bears” have lost three hundred thousand francs on speculation surrounding the Union General.
1882: “Co-Operation In Alms-Giving” published today described efforts to promote cooperation among charities in New York City including the participation of all Jewish congregations in the United Hebrew Charities.
1883: “The Duel At Temesvar” published today described the duel fought between Dr. Jules Rosenberger, a prominent Jewish Hungarian lawyer and Comte Etienne de Battyany over the love of a woman – Hona de Schossberger. Rosenberger, the young woman’s husband, mortally wounded his royal rival when the Count refused to end the duel when he was wounded during the first round of gunfire.
1884: A fire broke out today at a building on Cannon Street in Manhattan that house the workshops of several Jewish tailors and cigar-makers
1884: It was reported today that John H. Bird will play Shylock, the Jew, in an upcoming performance of the “Merchant of Venice.”
1885: The Auckland Synagogue was opened.
1886: Birthdate of Ed Wynn. Wynn was one of a long list of Jewish entertainers who enjoyed successively successful careers in vaudeville, film, radio and television. Wynn starred on comedy variety programs during the 1950’s. One of his signature props was a piano that was configured as part of tricycle. Others remember him for his portrayal as one of the zany characters in the Disney film Mary Poppins. He passed away in 1966.
1889: It was reported today that the Harlem Glee Club will be performing at an upcoming benefit concert that is a fundraiser for the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.
1889: It was reported today Professor Edwin R.A. Seligman of Columba College will address an upcoming meeting of the Young Men’s Hebrew Association.
1890: “Austrian society” is impressed by the Prince of Wales’ weeklong visit to Baron Maurice de Hirsch. Given the view of Jews in European High Society, the idea that the heir to the British throne would travel such a great distance to spend a week with a Jew was almost beyond their comprehension. The Baron is the son of a Bavarian banker and is now worth above 20,000,000 English pounds.
1898: Theodore Herzl began his two day journey to Naples aboard the "Regina Margherita".
1903: Birthdate of Dr. Gregory Goodwin Pincus: Father of "The Pill." Dr. Pincus and Dr. M.C. Chiang, his collaborator, developed the first practical oral contraceptive birth-control pill after being persuaded to do so by Margaret Sanger, a leader in the American birth-control movement, and Katherine Dexter McCormick, an heir to the International Harvester fortune.
1905: The National Committee for the Relief of Suffers by Russian Massacres met at the United Hebrew Charities Building to organize relief efforts for those who have suffered during the last ten days of violence in Russia. While most of the victims were Jews, it was decided that aid would be distributed to all who have suffered regardless of their religious affiliation
1909(24th of Cheshvan, 5670): Rabbi Joseph Mayor Asher, Professor at the Jewish Theological Seminary, an “erudite Talmudic scholar” and Rabbi at Or Chayim Synagogue since 1906 passed away at the age of 37
1913: In Vienna, Lemberg born bank director Emil Kiesler and pianist Gertrud Lichtwitz gave birth to Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler who would gain fame as actress Heddy Lamarry
1917: During World War I, Australian and New Zealand forces under the command of General Allenby were within twenty miles of Latrun which is the western entrance to the hills on the road to Jerusalem. Yes, this is the same Latrun that Jewish forces tried to seize during the War for Independence to open the road from the coast to Jerusalem.
1917: British aircraft continued to bomb and strafe Turkish forces retreating from Beersheba.
1917: In London, the British Government made public the letter sent a week earlier which is known as the Balfour Declaration. Herbert Samuel spoke at a thanksgiving rally at Covent Garden in which he finished by intoning, in Hebrew, the age old declaration, “Next Year in Jerusalem.” The declaration was published in the Jewish Chronicle. According to one source, the government had deliberately delayed the public announcement so that it would appear for the first time in a Jewish paper.
1918: As Germany falls into social and political chaos at the end of World War I, Kurt Eisner, Provisional National Council Minister-President, declares Bavaria to be a republic. Kurt Eisner was born at Berlin on May 14 1857, of Jewish parents, his parental name being Kamonowsky. Eisner was the name he took when he began to write, and that name he adopted in his work for Social-Democracy.
1918(5th of Kislev, 5679):Sixty-one year old Albert Ballin, the owner and manager of the Hamburg America Line passed away.
http://jbuff.com/c121505.htm
1922: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awards Albert Einstein the Nobel Prize for Physics.
1929: Birthdate of author and Holocaust survivor Imre Kertesz.
1929(6th of Cheshvan): “Rabbi Joseph Leib Bloch, dean of the Yeshivah at Telz passed away pg 30
1931: Birthdate of Marvin Kessler, the Brooklyn native “who spent more than half a century in basketball as a player, a coach, a scout and, most prominently, a camp instructor who molded young athletes like Patrick Ewing and Stephon Marbury…” (As reported by Richard Goldstein)
1932: One hundred teachers invaded the offices of the Jewish Agency Executive this morning, occupied them, stationed guards at the exits, and announced that they would permit no member of the Executive to leave the building until arrears in salary from May to August were paid
1934: In Brooklyn, Sam Sagan, an immigrant garment worker from Russia and Rachel Molly Gruber gave birth to Carl Sagan, American astronomer and television personality – a man who brought science to the mass American audience.
1936: Birthdate of folk singer Mary Travers. She is the Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary.
1938: British troops and Arabs clashed twice in revolt-torn Palestine today. Two soldiers were killed and five were injured. Arab casualties were not learned. “Troops were ambushed on the Tel Aviv-Haifa road and Arabs staged a surprise attack on a garrison at a village near Tul Karm.
1938: In Great Britain, the Woodhead Report which opposed the creation of independent Jewish and Arab states in Palestine was submitted to Parliament
1938: Hitler mentions to Hermann Göring that he would like to see all German Jews forcibly resettled on the island of Madagascar. Opportunistically chosen by the Nazi leadership, the date of the pogrom is of great symbolic importance. It coincides with two important national holidays, the Nazi Blood Witness Day of November 9 and Martin Luther's birthday of November 10. Blood Witness Day commemorates the Nazi "martyrs" who died for their cause. Martin Luther advocated the destruction of Jewish homes and synagogues as well as the impoverishment, forced labor, exile, and death of Jews.
1938: Ernst von Rath, the third secretary to the German embassy in Paris died from wounds inflicted by Hershel Grynszpan, a seventeen year old Jewish refugee on November 7. Grynszpan's parents were among the 12,000 Polish-Jewish refugees who had been living in Germany who were transported to the Polish frontier a month earlier. The killing was a protest against the harsh treatment of these suffering, stateless Jews at the hands of the Nazis.
1938: Kristallnacht(Night of Broken Glass) occurs across Germany and Austria. Ninety-one Jews are killed; others are beaten. Thirty thousand male Jews are sent to concentration camps, though most will be released in a few weeks. 267 synagogues are desecrated and destroyed (almost all of the synagogues of Germany and Austria). SS Security Service chief Reinhard Heydrich instructs security agencies to burn the synagogues unless German lives or property are endangered. Jewish businesses are looted and destroyed.
1938(15th of Cheshvan, 5699): On what would become known as Kristallnacht, Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda Minister called von Rath's murder "a Jewish conspiracy" and the German government organized a nation-wide pogrom. Fifty thousand Jews were arrested and taken to concentration camps; five hundred synagogues were destroyed, and the Jewish community was forced to pay one billion Reich marks ($4,000,000) for the damage. In point of fact, Kristallnacht was part of the Nazi effort to redistribute wealth in Germany without impacting the German upper classes.
1938: In the following article entitled “Why did Nazis protect rabbi on Kristallnacht?” Nadav Shragai explores the unique story of Rabbi Avraham Kuperstock and an alternative theory as to the origin of Kristallnacht
On the night between November 9 and 10, 1938 - Kristallnacht - while synagogues across the German Reich were set ablaze and Jews and their property became victims of state-initiated pogroms, a strange sight took place in the heart of Berlin. German police rushed to 25 Mintz Street, where they used their bodies as shields to protect the synagogue housing the yeshiva headed by Rabbi Avraham Kuperstock from rioters seeking to harm the rabbi, his family, students or property. This remarkable story was brought to light by Prof. Meier Schwarz, 83, a researcher who lost his entire family in the Holocaust and today runs "Ashkenaz House," a Jerusalem-based organization dedicated to conducting research and preserving the heritage of German Jewry. Kuperstock and his synagogue were saved thanks to the assistance he provided German authorities during World War II. But his story begins much earlier, in 1914 Warsaw, when the city was still under Russian control. The Russians were recruiting young people across the region, Jews and Poles alike. Among those conscripted were some of the rabbi's yeshiva students. Two of them deserted the army, were caught and sentenced to death and were hung by the Russians in the city square to deter other students from following their example. Kuperstock was made to stand beside the gallows while the grim sentence was carried out. The rabbi never forgot the experience and vowed to one day avenge the injustice the Russians had visited upon his yeshiva. As World War II dragged on, Germany fought on two fronts, to the West against the British, Americans, Canadians and their allies and, to the East, against the Soviet Union. The Third Reich diverted the bulk of its resources toward the eastern front, but struggled against the tough topographic conditions and the Russians' sophisticated line of virtually impenetrable fortifications. In 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the German army suddenly penetrated the Soviet lines, smashing through its adversary's fortifications and paving a path to the East. In his research Prof. Meier Schwarz found that Kuperstock, as revenge for the death of his two students, had transferred intelligence to the Germans on the Russian fortification system, including secret pathways allowing the bulwarks to be breached. The revelation was confirmed by Kuperstock's neighbors, who had heard of the arrangement from the rabbi himself. They said in exchange for the information, Kuperstock was granted the status of "protected Jew," and during the darkest days of the Holocaust sold the Germans leaven his community had thrown out during Passover. Additional confirmation came from a relative of the rabbi now living in Australia. What remains unclear, however, is how was Kuperstock able to obtain the Russian documents, and whether he had acted alone. While the war was in full swing, Kuperstock and his students were transferred to East Berlin, where the authorities provided them with accommodations for living, praying and studying on Mintz Street. The rabbi was promised a pension for the rest of his life, German citizenship and financial support of the yeshiva. When President Paul von Hindenburg appointed Adolf Hitler chancellor in 1933, the rabbi's special status was registered. Unlike other Polish Jews residing in Germany, Kuperstock and his students were not transferred to Poland, but in 1941, after the rabbi died, his students were sent to the death camps in the East. Last year Ashkenaz House published a study on the events leading up to Kristallnacht. Key among these was the assassination of German diplomat Ernst vom Rath by Herschel Grynszpan, a 17-year-old German Jew of Polish extraction. The traditional account of the shooting holds that Grynszpan acted after his family and 17,000 other Jewish families with Polish roots were ordered to leave Germany for Poland. However, Prof. Schwarz believes vom Rath was actually killed by an envoy of Adolf Hitler himself. "The Germans, and not Grynszpan, were the ones who murdered vom Rath, but they blamed the Jews. Vom Rath, who seemed to have been seriously wounded, was transferred to hospital, where he was 'treated' by Hitler's personal doctor, who made sure he died," he said. "Kristallnacht had been planned two months before the second week of November 1938."
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/november/05.asp
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/november/04.asp
1938: Al Capp, the Jewish cartoonist of Lil' Abner creates Sadie Hawkins Day.
1939: Five hundred Jewish families were deported from Lublin, Poland.
1939: Lodz was officially annexed to the Reich, a step followed by an intensification of the German terrorization of the Jews and Poles.
1941: A photograph was taken of Jews working in Bakery #3 in the Lodz Ghetto.
http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/exhibitions/this_month/november/07.asp
1941: Having finished murdering the Jews of Minsk on November 6, the Nazis began moving thousands of German Jews into the town.
1941 (19th of Cheshvan): Rabbi Abraham Zevi Kama, head of the Yeshivah of Mir, was among the 1,500 Jews of Mir killed by the Nazis today.
1942: More than 700 Greek born Jews from Salonica living in Paris were deported.
1942: Germans deport Jews from Paris to Birkenau death camp. These Jews were Greeks from Salonica who went to France thinking it would be a safe haven.
1942: The Nazis opened another death camp named Majdanek Four thousand Lublin Jews already deported to two other concentration camps, were sent to open Majdanek. Majdanek joined Chelmno, Treblinka, Sobibor and Belzec as factories of death.
1943: Two hundred Jews from Venice, Italy, are deported to Auschwitz. Four hundred Jews from Florence and Bologna, Italy, are deported to Auschwitz.
1943: At the Theresienstadt, the Council of Elders head Jacob Edelstein and three other Jews are accused of saving 55 of the ghetto's Jews from deportation by falsifying population reports.
1943: U.S. Senator Guy Gillette, Representative Will Rogers, Jr. (son of the great comedian and social commentator) and Representative Joseph Baldwin introduce a resolution into Congress calling upon the president to establish "a commission of diplomatic, economic, and military experts to formulate and effectuate a plan of action to save the surviving Jewish people of Europe." This resolution will serve as the basis of the War Refugee Board (WRB).
1943: Four hundred Jews were deported from Florence and Bologna to Birkenau.
1945: Birthdate of Zevulun Orlev, an Israeli politician and a former leader of the National Religious Party who received the Medal of Distinguished Service in the Yom Kippur War.
1946: “Using the Potomac Shipwrecking Co. of Washington, D.C. as its agent, the Jewish paramilitary organization Haganah bought SS President Warfield from the WSAand transferred control of it to Hamossad Le'aliyah Bet, the branch of the Haganah that organized Aliyah Bet activities.” The Warfield would gain fame as the SS Exodus.
1946: As part of growing wave of terror caused by Britain failing to honor its war time promise to allow Jewish immigration to Eretz Israel and increasing repressive measure aimed at the Jews of the Yishuv, four British policemen were killed when a booby-trap bomb exploded while they were searing a house for hidden explosives.
1948: During the War of Independence Operation Yoav comes to a successful close. Operation Yoav was part of the campaign to secure the Negev from the invading Egyptian forces. Yigal Allon one of the true heroes of the creation of the Jewish state was the commander of the venture.
1948: The IDF launched Operation Shmone to capture the Tegart fort in the village of Iraq Suwaydan. The fort's Egyptian defenders had previously repulsed eight attempts to take it, including two during Operation Yoav. Israeli forces bombarded the fort before an assault. After breaching the outlying fences without resistance, the Israelis blew a hole in the fort's outer wall, prompting the 180 Egyptian soldiers manning the fort to surrender without a fight. The defeat prompted the Egyptians to evacuate several nearby positions, including hills the IDF had failed to take by force. Meanwhile, IDF forces were met with stiff resistance in Iraq Suwaydan itself, losing 6 dead and 14 wounded
1948: Israeli forces ended the Arab siege of Negbah
1949: The biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress opens in New York City
1949: Yaakov Dori completed his terms as the first Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Born Yakov Dostrovsky in the present day Ukraine in 1899, his family emigrated to Ottoman Palestine following the anti-Jewish pogrom in Odessa in 1905. Upon completing high school at the Hebrew School in Haifa, he enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army during World War I. He later joined the Haganah and adopted the underground name of "Dan". In Haganah he was the commander of the Haganah Forces of Haifa. In 1939, Dori was appointed Chief of Staff of the Haganah, a position he held until 1946. As Haganah’s Chief of Statt, it was Yaakov Dori's duty to take the Haganah from a diffuse self defense organization to a model army. From 1946 to 1947 he also headed the Palestinian Jewish delegation sent to purchase arms in the United States. When the IDF was formed, Dori took over as its first Chief of Staff. Yet, despite his good command and organizational skills, he was already suffering from failing health, and had difficulty commanding his troops during Israel's War of Independence, and was forced to rely heavily on his deputy, Yigael Yadin. After he completed his term as Chief of Staff, Dori retired from the military. He was succeeded by his deputy, Yadin. Even after his release from the army, however, he continued to wear the officer's pin he was awarded when he first became a second lieutenant. Upon leaving the IDF, Dori was appointed chairman of the Science Council, attached to the Prime Minister's office. He was later made president of the Technion in Haifa, a position he held until 1965. He passed away in 1973.
1951(10th of Cheshvan, 5712): Sigmund Romberg passed away in New York City. Born Romberg Zsigmond in Hungary, Romberg gained fame as the creator of numerous operettas including The Student Prince and The Desert Song.
http://www.songwritershalloffame.org/exhibits/bio/C69
1952(21st of Cheshvan, 5713): Chaim Weizmann First President of Israel and Zionist statesman passed away. There is no way that any blurb here could do justice to one of the giants of the Zionist cause. Would there have been an Israel had there been no Weizmann? Who knows? The creative chemist pursued Herzl’s dream with unparalleled zeal, playing a key role in the issuance of the Balfour Declaration, creating the Yishuv after World War I and lobbying American leaders including Harry Truman for their vital support of the unborn Jewish state. To paraphrase Shakespeare, while others of his generation were abed enjoying the material rewards of the scientific genius, he was in the field fighting for the creation of Eretz Israel at a time when it was not “the in thing to do.”
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1127.html
1962:”The Came From Everywhere: Two Who Helped Modern Israel” by Robert St. John went on sale today.
1962: In Philadelphia, architect Louis Kahn and Harriet Pattison gave birthdate to filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn whose works include “Two Hands” and “My Architect,” a film about his father.
1964(4th of Kislev, 5725): Felix Weltsch passed away Born in 1884 he was a German-speaking Jewish librarian, philosopher, author, editor, publisher and journalist. A close friend of Max Brod and Franz Kafka, he was one of the most important Zionists in Bohemia.
1965: The New York Times features a review of Biography of An Idea: Memoirs of Public Relations Counsel Edward L. Bernays by Edward L. Bernays.
1970: Charles DeGaulle, former French President and leader of the Free French during World War II passed away. The imperious De Gaulle told the Israelis not strike first against the Arabs in 1967. After the June War, De Gaulle made derogatory remarks about the Jewish state; withheld military equipment from the IDF that Israelis had paid for and pursued an unabashedly pro-Arab line. Those who remembered De Gaulle as the lone French voice willing to stand against the Nazis in World War II shook their collective heads and opined that some men stay in the public eye beyond their days of mental competence.
1972: Avraham Lanir scored his second aerial kill today, downing a Syrian MiG-21 while flying Mirage 72
1973: Ofer Tsidon was killed in action when his F-4E Phantom Jet was shot down by an Egyptian SAM.
1973: Gideon Shefer was taken prisoner today when his F-4E Phantom Jet was shot down by an Egyptian SAM.
1977: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat startled the world by announcing his intention to go to Jerusalem.
1993(25th of Cheshvan, 5754): Salman 'Id el-Hawashla, age 38, an Israeli Bedouin of the Abu Rekaik tribe who was driving a car with Israeli plates, was killed by three armed terrorists driving a truck hijacked from the Gaza municipality, in a deliberate head-on collision
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison: Inside Oracle Corporation by Mike Wilson.
2003: The New York Timesfeatures reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or on topics of special Jewish interest including Right to Exist: A Moral Defense of Israel's Wars by Yaacov Lozowick, The Case For Israel by Alan Dershowitz and Horse People: Scenes From the Riding Life by Michael Korda
2004: Chabad filed its lawsuit against the Russian Federation, the Russian Ministry of Culture and Mass Communication, the Russian State Library, and the Russian State Military Archive, asserting violations of international law and seeking the return of its collection of sacred, irreplaceable religious books and manuscripts.
2004: Today “after Ariel Sharon declined the NRP's demand to hold a national referendum regarding the disengagement, Zevulun Orlev and the party resigned from the coalition and the government, vowing to pursue general elections in an effort to replace Sharon with a right-wing prime minister.”
2005: Amir Peretz, the former chairman of the Histadrut trade union federation, defeated Shimon Peres in the primary elections for the Labour leadership today.
2005: On Election Day voters chose Jewish political leader Loretta Weinberg to serve the remaining portion of Jewish New Jersey State Senator Byron Baer's four-year term of office, which ends in January 2008.
2005: Kristallnacht Remembrance Day.
2005: In New York, Novel Jews monthly literary series presents a Henry Roth Tribute.
2006: The 10th Annual UK Jewish Film Festival comes to a close.
2006: As “Jews throughout Germany mark the 68th anniversary of Kristallnacht” the Munich Jewish community dedicated “a major new synagogue that symbolizes the city’s ongoing effort to realize the elusive goal of normalcy in its relationship with the Jewish community…The synagogue is part of a larger complex of three Jewish communal buildings that includes a Jewish museum and community center, complete with a day school, a library and a kosher restaurant” that will be known as the “Jakobsplatz Jewish Center.” Munich is home to Germany’s second largest Jewish community. German businessman Herbert Burda contributed $1.3 million to building the community center. Burda’s father was a Nazi who profited from “The War Against the Jews.” Herbert Burda has “received the Leo Baeck Prize in recognition of his efforts to repair the wrongs committed by the preceding generation.”
2006: An exhibit of photographs by Julian Voloj, titled “Forgotten Heritage: Uncovering New York’s Hidden Jewish Past” opened at the Bronfman Center for Jewish Life at New York University.
2007: Premier of Joel and Ethan Coen’s ‘No county for Old Men.’
2007: At Temple Judah in Cedar Rapids, Friday Evening services are dedicated to a Remembrance of Kristallnacht with a talk by Fred Rogers a former resident of Frankfurt who was spared from the Shoah. Fred is long time, leading member of the Jewish community. When he speaks we hear the voices of all the Fred Rogers’ who did not survive. When he speaks we hear the voices of all the future Fred Rogers’ who were lost in the smoke of The Night. When he speaks we hear the voice of a mensch. When he speaks, the Loss of the Six Million takes on the dimension of personal loss.
2007: “Birds,” an exhibition of the paintings of Audrey Berner, on display at the Bernard Gallery in Tel Aviv comes to a close.
2007: IDF troops shot two Palestinians who were crawling near the security fence separating the Gaza Strip from Israel on Friday night, apparently planting an explosive device, the army said.
2007: Natavia Lowery is arrested and charged with the killing of Linda Stein, the 62 year old New Yorker who had gone from manager of punk rock musicians to real estate broker.
2008: In New York City, the 92ndStreet Y presents “Neil Gaiman in Conversation with Chip Kidd: Sandman 20th-Anniversary Celebration” during which “The New York Timesbest-selling Jewish born author, Neil Gaiman, discusses Sandman, the acclaimed comic book series widely considered to be one of the most original and artistically ambitious series of the modern age. Sandman is a rich blend of modern myth and dark fantasy in which contemporary fiction, historical drama and legend are seamlessly interwoven. Gaiman is the author of children’s and adult titles including, The Graveyard Book, American Gods, Coraline, Neverwhere and Stardust. (Editors note: Considering the Jewish origins of Superman, one would wonder if the evening’s presentation might include an inquiry to any special relationship between Jews and Comic Books.)
2008: Final Chicago area performance of Jake Ehrenreich’s “A Jew Grows in Brooklyn at the North Shore Center For the Performing Arts.
2008: “God On Trial,” the made-for-TV movie that depicts a trial at Auschwitz in which God is charged with Breach of Contract for allowing the Nazis to torture and murder Jews aired on PBS.
2009: Kristallnacht Remembrance
2009:At the Hudson Institute, Norman Podhoretz, a former editor in chief of the journal Commentary, discusses and signs his newest book, Why Are Jews Liberals?
2009:Israel and Jordan conducted a joint earthquake drill today in the Beit She'an Valley, practicing techniques in evacuation and treatment procedures, according to IDF Army Radio.
2009: The recent decision of Mahmoud Abas not to seek re-election as President of the Palestine Authority was one of the main topics of discussion in today’s meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held at the White House.
2010: The New York Times featured a review of Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine by Robert Coram. Unbeknownst to most people the famous general was the son of Russian Jews. “He lied about this heritage, claiming he was raised an Episcopalian. Perhaps he was only attending to reality. At the time, the author points out, the Marine Corps was “a veritable witches’ brew of racism and discrimination.” But General Krulak went further than he had to, essentially disavowing his parents and family back home in Denver for the rest of his life.”
2010: Toronto’s 30th Annual Holocaust Education Week which began on November 1 is scheduled to come to an end today.
2010: Kristallnacht Remembrance Day is observed at a time when word comes that Samuel Willenberg and Kalman Taigman, 87-year-old Israelis, who are believed to be the last two survivors of the most chillingly efficient killing, machine of the Nazi Holocaust: the Treblinka extermination camp in occupied Poland are now devoting their final years trying to preserve the memory of the 875,000 people who were systematically murdered at Treblinka in a one-year killing spree at the height of World War II.
2010:Yeshiva University Museum and YIVO Institute for Jewish Research are scheduled to present a program entitled “16mm Postcards: Home Movies of American Jewish Visitors to 1930s Poland.”
2010: Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested several suspects charged with defrauding a German government fund that had been established to provide help to survivors of Nazi persecution. Over 16 years, the suspects used fake identification documents, doctored government records and a knowledge of Holocaust history to defraud the fund of more than $42 million, according to an indictment unsealed today by the United States attorney in Manhattan, Preet Bharara. In all, 17 people were indicted.
2011: Ellen Futterman is scheduled to moderate the Fiction Panel at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
2011: The 31st Annual Holocaust Education Week sponsored by Toronto’s Sarah and Chaim Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre is scheduled to come to end. The theme for Holocaust Education Week 2011 has been “Accountability” in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the trial of Adolf Eichmann and the 65th anniversary of the first Nuremberg Trials.
2011: Kristallnacht Remembrance
2011: A conference focusing on Romania's Holocaust-era war crimes in Ukraine and Moldova called on Romania to acknowledge and apologize for the murder of hundreds of thousands of Jews. The conference, which ended today, on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, was convened to bring the full scope of World War II Romania’s fascist state-sponsored genocide to light.
2011: The Palestinian Authority said today that it was weighing its next steps in wake of reports that the UN Security Council has failed to reach consensus on the Palestinian application for membership in the international organization. Some PA officials in Ramallah said they were "not surprised" by the failure of the UN Security Council members to reach agreement on the Palestinian statehood bid, while others expressed anger with the US Administration for scuttling the application.
2011: The Penn State Board of Trustees announced tonight that Graham Spanie