November 5 In History
1370: King Casimir
III
of
Poland
passed away. Born in 1310, he came to the throne in 1333. From the Jewish point of Casimir
III
was seen as a cut above the average ruler. He was favorably disposed toward Jews. On
October 9, 13
44 he confirmed the privileges granted to Jewish Poles in 1264 by Boleslaus V. Under penalty of death he prohibited the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of forcible Christian baptism. He inflicted heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries. Although Jews were living in Poland earlier, Casimir allowed them to settle in Poland in great numbers and protected them as king's people.
1615: Birthdate of Ibrahim I, another of the Sultans who reigned during the seventeenth century, a period of decline for the Ottoman Empire. He did employ at least one Jew in close capacity, Doctor Moshe Raphael Abravanel who changed his name to Hayati Zade.
1655: In New Amsterdam, the government refused to allow Jews to stand guard, requiring them to pay a tax instead. In effect, this made Jews “second class citizens.” Jacob Barsimon and Asser Levy refused to pay the tax petitioned to stand guard. At first they were met with resistance, but Asser Levy performed the guard duties anyway just like any other burgher of the town. He would later be granted full citizenship rights in
New Amsterdam
, the first for a Jew in
North America
.
1685: Congregation Bracha V'Shalom of Surinam was dedicated. It was one of the oldest congregations in the Americas.
1688: William of Orange lands at Brixham marking the start of the Glorious Revolution which was financed, in part, “by the Jewish banker Francisco Lopes Suasso who lent two million guilder and when asked what security he desired, Suasso answered: ‘If you are victorious, you will surely repay me; if not, the loss is mine.’” As King William III he would be the English monarch who knighted a Jew - Solomon de Medina,
1735: In
Mantua
, a town in the Italian
province
of
Lombardy
, a pact between the Jewish community and the local high school was mediated by the Secretary of State. In return for the Jewish community providing liquor, and other gifts to the school on St. Catherine's day, the students would not press their right to throw objects at any Jew who passes the school.
1826(5th of Cheshvan, 5587): Élie Halévy, a French Hebrew poet and author who was the father of Fromental and Léon Halévy passed away. Born in 1760 at Fürth in Bavaria, Halévy moved to Paris, where he became cantor and secretary to the Jewish Consistoire of Paris. His knowledge of the Talmud and his poetical talent earned him the esteem of many French scholars, particularly the well-known Orientalist Sylvestre de Sacy. His first poem was "Ha-Shalom", a hymn composed on the occasion of the treaty of Amiens; it was sung in the synagogue of Paris, in both Hebrew and French, on the 17th Brumaire (8 November) 1801. The poem was praised in Latin verses by Protestant pastor Marron. In 1808 Halévy composed a prayer to be recited on the anniversary of the battle of Wagram; in 1817, with the help of some of his co-religionists, he founded the French weekly "L'Israélite Français", which, however, expired within two years. To this periodical he contributed a remarkable dialogue entitled "Socrate et Spinosa" (ii. 73). His "Limmude Dat u-Musar" (Metz, 1820) is a text-book of religious instruction compiled from the Bible, with notes, a French translation, and the decisions of the Sanhedrin instituted by Napoleon. Halévy left two unpublished works, a Hebrew-French dictionary and an essay on Æsop's fables. He attributes the fables to Solomon (comp. I Kings v. 12-13 [A. V. iv. 32-33]), and thinks the name "Æsop" to be a form of "Asaph".
1828(28th of Cheshvan, 5589): Berr Isaac Beer a French manufacture passed away. Born at Nancy in 1744, he came from “a rich and estimable family; received an excellent education, especially in Hebrew and rabbinical literature—in the latter from Jacob Perle, chief rabbi of Nancy. Inheriting the title of syndic of the Jewish community of Nancy, bestowed upon his father in 1753 by King Stanislaus, he took an active part in the direction of the affairs of the community. In 1789 he was elected by the Jews of Alsace deputy to the States-General, where he was admitted to plead for Jewish emancipation before the Assembly. At about that time he published a pamphlet in which he refuted the anti-Jewish discourse delivered by De la Farre, bishop of Nancy. Berr was appointed successively member of the Assembly of Notables and member of the Sanhedrin; and he cooperated effectively in the organization of Jewish worship in France and in Italy. In his old age he retired, pensioned by the king, to one of his estates called "Turique"—the name of which he added to his own with the royal permission.”
1852: The New York Times correspondent sent a report to from Constantionple ten years ago Smyrna had had a population of 130,000 which included 13,000 Jews. Today the population has grown to 160,000 with percentage of Jews remaining about the same.
1852: The New York Times reported that “the Senate of Frankfort, supported by a resolution of the German Diet, has cancelled the article of the law of 1849 securing equality of political rights to citizens of all persuasions, thus excluding Jews from all share in the elections. New elections will take place immediately,” at which time only Christians will be allowed to vote.
1853: In a column entitled "Australia" published today reported on the wonders of the land down under including a description of Melbourne, a town with streets that were broader than those of New York and filled with a strange medley of people that including Jews, among others.
1853: Birthdate of Marcus Samuel founder of the company which eventually become known as Royal Dutch Shell.
1855: Birthdate of Eugene V. Debs, labor activist, reformer and Socialist Candidate for President of the
United States
. From the Civil War until the Great Depression a majority of Jews tended to vote for Republican Presidential candidates. Debs helped to break that trend. His Socialist views found support among the immigrants from eastern Europe, many of whom were working in the garment industry. When Debs ran for President against the Republican Harding and Democrat Davis he gained 38% of the Jewish vote. This almost matched Harding’s 43% and far exceeded
Davis
’ 19%. The real shift in Jewish voting patterns would be seen in the election of 1928 when Al Smith was the Democratic standard bearer.
1860(20th of Cheshvan, 5621): Birthdate of Sholom Dovber Schneersohn, the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe. There is no way this blog can do justice to this Rebbe who provided leadership through the difficult days of the May Laws and World War I.
1871: It was reported today that the Jewish Messenger has expressed its opposition to the attempt by some Jews to stop observing the Hebrew Sabbath and shift to observing the Christian Sunday. The Messenger takes issue with those who claim that change is allowed since the observance of the Sabbath was intended for a specific place (ancient Israel) and/or that it was to political measure intended to curry favor with the laborers of ancient time. The Messenger claims that there is no basis in fact for these claims. It quotes the commandment to prove its point that the Jewish Sabbath is a blessing to be observed on the seventh day.”The children of Israel shall observe the Sabbath, to keep it throughout their generations for a permanent covenant; it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever.”
1873: An article published today described the origins and current status of the various religious groups found in New York City. The unnamed author reported that the while the exact date of the arrival of the first Jews is not known, the date usually used is 1660 which is four years before the English took control of the city from the Dutch. Regardless of the exact date, the Jews were here before the Roman Catholics or the Episcopalians. The early Jews had to deal with various forms of “persecution” but are now successful members of the community who build not only beautiful houses of worship but have established numerous institutions for the care of the sick, the aged and the helpless. There are approximately 40,000 Jews living in New York, most of whom who have come in the last 25 years. The city has 26 synagogues valued at $2,500,000. The average salary for a Rabbi is $2,200. The lowest paid makes $500 and the highest paid makes $6,000. For a point reference Unitarians earn an average of $5,000 and Lutherans earn an average of $1,800.
1875: Based on information that had appeared in the Times of London, it was reported today that Czar has given a young Jew named Frehmann a commission in the Russian Army. If so, this would make him the first Jew to ever serve as an officer in the forces of the Czar. [This would seem to contradict claims that Joseph Tumpeldor was the first Jewish officer in the Russian Army.]
1877: It was reported today that supporters of Thomas C.E. Ecclesine, a candidate for the New York State Senate have taken advantage of his German sounding name to pass him off as being Jewish in those part of the district that have a large Jewish vote. However, they have also claimed that he is an Irish Catholic in an attempt to garner that segment of the vote. (Since he was married at St. Ann’s Church by Father William Jackson, it is fair to say that his attempt to gain the Jewish vote was not based on fact. The ruse attests to the growing importance of the Jewish Vote.)
1881: It was reported today that the Deutsch Tagblatt, an anti-Semitic newspaper has announced that the Conservative Committee has sent a telegram to Bismarck declaring their continued opposition to the Progressives in the Reichstag.
1881: Based on information that first appeared in the National Zeitung, it was reported today that Chancellor Bismarck has declared that he “would never entertain a proposal to curtail the rights of Jews.”
1881: In response to a request by a an interdenominational committee, rabbis throughout the United States are expected to address their congregations during Shabbat services about the creation of James Garfield Hospital in Washington, DC and solicit their financial support for the creation of this memorial to the late U.S. President. Christian ministers will address their congregations on the subject tomorrow.
1883: It was reported today that the preparations for celebrating the centennial of Moses Montefiore which will take place next year have the added proof of putting to rest doubts among some Englishman that any person has attained the age of 100.
1885(27th of Cheshvan, 5646): Jonas Strauss, the head of the dry goods firm of J. Strauss, Brother & Company passed away today in New York. He was also a partner in Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco. The San Francisco company was a started in 1851 by Jonas, Louis and Levi Strauss (the man who gave us Levi jeans). Twenty-one year old Jonas Strauss stayed in New York and shipped material “around the Horn” to his brothers in California. His prosperity could be measured by his generous contributions to various Jewish charities and not by his life-style which was so simple that he refused to purchase his own horse and carriage.
1885: Birthdate of famed historian Will Durant. Unlike other historians of world civilization like Arnold Toynbee he did not view the Jews in a negative manner. In his volume of The Story of Civilization – The Reformation, Durant wrote, "So prominent was the Jewish role in the foreign commerce of
Europe
that those nations that received the Jews gained and the countries that excluded them lost in the volume of international trade."
1887: It was reported today that the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society for Children will be hosting a benefit performance next week.
1887: Birthdate of Paul Wittgenstein “an Austrian-born concert pianist, who became known for his ability to play with just his left hand, after he lost his right arm during the First World War. He devised novel techniques, including pedal and hand-movement combinations that allowed him to play chords previously regarded as impossible for a five-fingered pianist.The Wittgenstein family had converted to Christianity three generations before his birth on the paternal side and two generations before on the maternal side; nonetheless they were of mainly Jewish descent, and under the Nuremberg laws they were classed as Jews. Following the rise of the Nazi Party and the annexation of Austria, Paul tried to persuade his sisters Helene and Hermine to leave Vienna, but they demurred: they were attached to their homes there, and could not believe such a distinguished family as theirs was in real danger. Ludwig had already been living in England for some years, and Margaret (Gretl) was married to an American. Paul himself, who was no longer permitted to perform in public concerts under the Nazis, departed for the United States in 1938. From there he and Gretl…managed to use family finances (mostly held abroad) and legal connections to attain non-Jewish status for their sisters. The family finances supposedly consisted of the voluntary surrender of all properties and assets in Germany and occupied lands with a total value of about US$6 billion at the time, which may have been the largest private fortune in Europe. Essentially all family assets were surrendered to the Nazis in return for protection afforded the two sisters under exceptional interpretations of racial law, allowing them to continue to live in their family palace in Vienna.” He died in New York City in 1961
1888(1st of Kislev, 5649): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1888: It was reported today that among the books now available in New York are Idylls of Israel and Other Poems by D. J. Donahue and The Wandering Jew, a three volume work by Eugene Sue.
1888: “Government By The People” published today summarized a lecture by Dr. Gustav Gottheil in which he contended that the concept of popular government has its origins in Biblical Judaism. According to the rabbi, “The whole idea of popular government pervaded the law of god and the sentiments of the Jews.”
1899: The twentieth annual meeting of the Directors of the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society was held today. Samuel D. Levy, President of the Board of Trustees, read his annual report, which included the report of the Treasurer for the fiscal year just ended. The income from bequests and membership fees was $102,911.19, and the disbursements $102,725.52.
1902: Herzl's London representative, Leopold Greenberg, met Lord Cromer, British Counsel-General in Egypt, and Egyptian prime minister Boutros Ghali Pasha. He succeeded in winning them over to the Zionist cause.
1909: The Turkish Ministry of Interior asked the Council of State to accelerate the passage of immigration laws. On the same day several hundred Jewish recruits presented themselves for enrollment in the Turkish Army.
1910: It was reported today that Alfred M. Heinsheimer has donated one million dollars to the New York Foundation, a non-sectarian organization he founded “to promote charitable, educational and philanthropic enterprises. The one million dollars had been a bequest from the late Louis A. Heinsheimer, which, according to his will, was supposed to be left to 6 existing Jewish charities if they could come together and form one common federation within two years. When they failed to do so, under the terms of the will, the money then went to Alfred. Alfred was so intent on fulfilling his brother’s wish of creating a Jewish Federation, that he said he would waive his claim to the money if five of the charities would come together. They failed to do so and Alfred acted in a manner consistent with his brother’s generosity.
1911: After declaring war on the Ottoman Empire on September 29, 1911, Italy annexed Tripoli and Cyrenaica marking the end of 350 years of Ottoman rule. There were approximately 20,000 Jews living there at the time. Over the next twenty years, the Jewish population would increase as Italian Jews made their way to this area which is known as Libya. While one source describes this “as a golden age for Libya’s Jews” others note the clashes that took place between the native population and their co-religionists who came with the Italian conquerors.
1912: Woodrow Wilson was elected President, defeating Progressive Republican Theodore Roosevelt and incumbent Republican William Howard Taft.
Wilson
appointed Louis Brandeis to the Supreme Court. Brandeis was the first Jew appointed to the high court.
1914: Great Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire
1914: Publication of The Daybegan in New York City.
1914: Birthdate of Salomon Gluck, the Swiss born French physician who served in the Resistance who was murdered by the Nazis along with the other victims aboard the infamous Convoy 73.
1917: In Buchanan v. Warley,The Supreme Court unanimously agreed to strike down as unconstitutional a
Louisville
KY
ordinance that made it unlawful for any white or black person to move into and occupy as a residence any house upon any block upon which a greater number of houses were occupied by persons of the opposite color. A white property owner challenged the statute on the ground that it impaired his ability to sell his house, which was situated in an exclusively white neighborhood, to a prospective black buyer. The court held that the statute deprived the white homeowner of his right to dispose of his property without due process of law. The Court reasoned that he should be able to dispose of his property to any prospective purchaser, regardless of race.This was the first race case in which the newly-appointed Justice Brandeis participated and it was perceived by the public at the time to represent a fairly dramatic victory for the cause of Civil Right. While African Americans and their supporters were pleased with the outcome, it drew the ire of many whites.
1923: Following the collapse of the German mark, several thousand impoverished German descended upon
Berlin
’s Scheunenviertel district, inhabited principally by Ostjudent (Eastern Jews) and for two days beat hundreds of Jews and ransacked nearly a thousand Jewish shops before police managed to put an end to the violence.
1933: Dr. Judah L. Magnes, Chancellor of the
Hebrew
University
in
Jerusalem
announced a program of expansion which will provide fourteen posts for former German scholars including Professors Torczyner, Guttman, Koebner, Lewy and Fraenkel
1937: The Palestine Post reported that an Egged bus driver and two his passengers were wounded when their vehicle was fired on, at the infamous Kilometer 5 of the Jerusalem-Jaffa road. A lone Jewish lorry driver was shot there and wounded. The Egged Bus Company was founded in 1933. The Hebrew word Egged means “union.” The company was so named because it was formed from the merger of four smaller bus companies. Today, the Egged Bus Company is the second largest transportation company in the world.
1937: The Palestine Postreported that the Arab terror continued when the Iraqi petroleum pipeline was punctured and set on fire. Shots were fired and a bomb was thrown at the Beisan police station
1937: Hitler chairs a secret conference in which he informs the High Command and others of his racial, geopolitical, and military plans to dominate
Europe
. The conference is recorded by Colonel Friedrich Hossbach and called after him. Hitler lays out the core of his policy to his military leaders. "The aim of the German policy was to make secure and to preserve the racial community and to enlarge it. It was a question of SPACE." "
Germany
had the right to greater living space...and its future was whole conditional upon the solving of the need for space." Two countries stood in
Germany
's way:
Britain
and
France
. Hitler details a broad plan for war and preparedness against
France
,
Britain
,
Italy
, and
Russia
, and analysis each country's military and political position. Note that
Italy
, which would become a willing ally of Hitler, was considered as a possible enemy only two years prior to the start of WW II. On the one hand Hitler thought that he could gain most of his goals by bluffing the weak, decadent western powers. At the same time, he knew that he would have to defeat
England
and
France
so that he could then fight the ultimate war against the Soviets without fear of a two front war.
1938(11th of Cheshvan): Yiddish poet Abraham Liessin passed away.
http://archive.jta.org/article/1938/11/07/2844004/abraham-liessin-yiddish-poet-and-editor-dead-at-68
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0012_0_12518.html
1940(4th of Cheshvan, 5701): During World War II, as the Greeks fought against the invading Italians Haham Raphael Joseph Antzelou was killed in the Battle of Kalpaki on the Albanian front. Many Jews of Ioannina, a city in northwest
Greece
, fought on the Albanian front. The chief of staff of the Greek forces said of them, "The Greek Jews fulfilled their duty in full measure."
1941: Birthdate of Kay Leipzig, an ayshis chayel in the truest sense of the word.
1941: Birthdate of singer and songwriter Art Garfunkel.
1941(15th of Cheshvan, 5702): Seventeen thousand Jews are killed outside Rovno, Ukraine.
1942(25th of Cheshvan, 5703): The Nazis deported the last 1,800 Jews from Ciechanow, Poland. Jews had lived in the town since the middle of the sixteenth century. During the deportation an SS man politely asks a Jewish woman to hand him her baby. When she complies, the trooper smashes the baby to the street headfirst, killing it. Some of the deportees took part in the uprising at
Auschwitz
. Approximately 100 people from the town survived the war but they did not try to restore their community.
1942: Jewish men from
Stopnica
,
Poland
, are sent to a slave-labor camp at Skarzysko-Kamienna, while 400 old people and children are shot in the town cemetery. Three thousand others are put on a forced march; many are shot along the way, and survivors are sent to Treblinka.
1942: Peasants in
Siedliszcze
,
Poland
, gather scythes in anticipation of the day's roundup of Jews, for which they'll be paid for each Jew caught.
1942: Six hundred Jews from
Borislav
,
Poland
, are deported naked to prevent resistance.
1942: In
France
, 745 Jews, including 35 residents of the Rothschild Old Age Home, are deported from
Paris
to
Auschwitz
. After arrival, Jews awaiting entry into the gas chamber spy a truck loaded with corpses but continue on to their deaths
1942: Over the next six days, 1060 Greece-born Jews in and around
Paris
are seized and deported to
Auschwitz
1942: Birthdate of Richie ScheinblumBronx-born outfielder for the Kansas City Royals. Scheinblum became the only Jewish switch-hitter (and 7th switch-hitter total) to bat .300 during a full season.
1943(7th of Cheshvan, 5704): Operation "Harvest Festival" continued at Poniatowa as 15,000 Jews were killed in one day. The children of the Siaulia Ghetto in
Lithuania
were deported to Birkenau and perished. The Nazis murdered 17,000 prisoners at Majdanek.
1945: This evening, following a second of anti-Jewish rioting in several Libyan cities, “the British authorities, who had been in control of Libya since the defeat of the German-Italian forces there in 1943, imposed a curfew.” The curfew failed to halt the violence which would continue unabated for at least two more days.
1948: “Ben Gurion reported his cabinet:
Jerusalem
has as yet hardly enjoyed one night of quiet.’”
1948: Israeli forces retake Yad Mordecai from the Egyptians.
1948: The Provisional State Council, the body that temporarily governed Israel until January of 1949, decided that the Constituent Assembly (later called the Knesset) would have 120 members.
1948: Birthdate of Bernard-Henri Levy author of Who Killed Daniel Pearl?
1950: Chaya and Yehezkel Bornstien, have found refuge in the Rosh Pina ma'abara immigrant transit camp. Both are natives of Lodz, Poland; both escaped to the Soviet Union before the Nazis entered their hometown, and managed to survive the Holocaust. Now they are on a quest to find their daughter Lusia whom they had sent the Zionist Coordination for the Redemption of Jewish Children when they were still living in post-war Poland because of economic duress and the outbreak of anti-Semitic violence as typified by the pogrom at Kielce.
1953: Armed Jordanians murdered a guard in a nighttime attack upon a post along the railway track north of Hadera in the coastal plain.
1956: During the Sinai Campaign, British and French troops land at the Suez Canal and move south under the pretext of protecting the canal from the warring Egyptians and Israelis. The Anglo-French force meets a political defeat when the Eisenhower Administration immediately pressures its two NATO allies to promise to remove the troops without delay. At the same time, the Soviets remind the Israelis that they have missiles capable of hitting the Jewish state with nuclear warheads. In trying to evaluate the situation Ben Gurion dispatches Golda Meir and Shimon Peres to see if the French will stand by the Israelis if the Soviets move to intervene. This is another example of Jewish history being played out against a much larger tapestry of world events; in this case the Cold War between the East and the West and the conflict between third world nationalism and European colonialism.
1967: The last of Aden's Jews arrived in Israel marking the end of this ancient Jewish community.
1968: Republican Richard M. Nixon won the presidency, defeating Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and third-party candidate George C. Wallace. From the perspective of Jewish history, Nixon’s shining moment came when he ordered the re-supply of Israeli forces during the Yom Kippur War in 1973. According to some experts, without this, the Israelis well might have been defeated and the state of
Israel
destroyed. Of course, it was the Nixon Administration that had told the Israelis they could not mount a pre-emptive strike or mobilize their forces when intelligence reports provided unquestionable evidence that the Egyptians were on the verge of attack. The massive re-supply effort would not have been needed because the Egyptians would have been crushed before the crossing the Canal and the Syrians would never have acted on their own. On the other hand, Nixon had made begun his rise to political power as part of the right wing of the Republican Party which hid a streak of anti-Semitism behind its domestic Red Hunting policies. Also, Nixon’s voice as captured on his White House tapes portrayed a man haunted by anti-Semitism and a belief in Jewish conspiracies.
1975(1st of Kislev, 5736): Rosh Chodesh Kislev
1975(1st of Kislev, 5736): American author and critic Lionel Trilling passed away at the age of 70.
1979(15th of Cheshvan, 5740): Al Capp the cartoonist who created the comic strip Lil' Abner passed away at the age of 70. The eastern Jew created the imaginary hillbilly community of Dog Patch complete with Ma and Pa Yokum, Daisy Mae, Marryin’ Sam, and the ever popular Schmoos (rhymes with Schmooze and reminds one of the descriptions of manna in the Bible).
1984(10th of Cheshvan, 5745): The Hon. Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu a British filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, film critic, writer, table tennis player and apparent Soviet spy passed away.
1987(13th of Cheshvan, 5748): Elimelekh Rimalt passed away. A native of Galicia, he was an ordained Rabbi who earned a PhD in psychology. He made Aliyah in 13. A member of the Knesset fro Likud, he served as Minister of the Postal Services in 1969 and 1970.
1989 (7th of Cheshvan, 5750): Pianist Vladimir Horowitz passed away at the age of 85.
1989: In an article entitled “The Legends of Kibbutz Country,” Mathew Nevisky describes the role that the
Jezreel
Valley
has played in Jewish History and the efforts that have been made to preserve the history of this unique part of ancient and modern
Israel
. The article reads in part, “Overseen by the brooding heights of
Mount
Tabor
and
Mount
Gilboa
, the
Jezreel
Valley
resonates with memories of ancient Israelite kings and warrior-judges. In modern times, the same area was the scene of the Zionist movement's pioneering efforts in land reclamation, agriculture and self-defense. To Israelis these achievements, and the people of the Jezreel, like Moshe Dayan, have almost mythic significance. Accordingly, the Jezreel is dotted with almost as many museums devoted to the founding of modern
Israel
as it is with archeological sites revealing the biblical past. To the foreign visitor, who too often is shunted around the valley to the flashier tourist sites in
Galilee
or along the coast, the Jezreel heartland offers insight into another aspect of
Israel
.”
1990 (17th of Cheshvan, 5751): Meir Kahane was murdered by an Arab terrorist.
1991(28th of Cheshvan, 5752): Robert Maxwell passed away at the age of 68. Born Ján Ludvík Hoch in pre-war
Czechoslovakia
, Maxwell became a British media magnate.
1996: United States President Bill Clinton defeats Republican challenger Robert J. Dole and Reform party candidate H. Ross Perot to become the first democratic president since Franklin Roosevelt to win a second term in office. Three of the major events of Clinton’s second term centered around Jews. The first was the Monica Lewinsky Scandal. The second was the Camp David Peace initiative that Clinton mounted in 2000. The meetings between Ehud Barak and Yassar Arafat failed to produce a peace treaty; a failure for which Clinton blamed Arafat. The third was the pardon of Marc Rich issued on Clinton’s last day in office. In one of those ironies of life, Rich was represented by Lewis “Scooter” Libby. Libby, who was Jewish would end up being denied a pardon by President Bush for his role in the case of Valier Plame; a denial that would cause a public split between Bush and Dick Cheney.
1997(5th of Cheshvan, 5758): Isaiah Berlin passed away at the age of 88. According to those who know more about this than I do,
Berlin
is regarded as one of the leading intellectuals of the 20thcentury. He is described as a political philosopher and historian of ideas. Born in the Russian Empire in 1909,
Berlin
’s family made their way to
England
after the Red Revolution. He “was the first Jew to be elected to a prize fellowship at
All
Souls
College
,
Oxford
; became the founding president of
Wolfson
College
,
Oxford
; and from 1957 to 1967, served as the Chichele Professor of Social and Political Theory at the
University
of
Oxford
. He was knighted in 1957, was awarded the Order of Merit in 1971, and was president of the British Academy from 1974 to 1978.” Not bad for a Jewish kid from Riga. I do not pretend to understand a mind like Berlin’s. His 1958 essay entitled “Two Concepts of Liberty” distinguished between two kinds of liberty – positive and negative. This was part of the on-going philosophic debated about the relationship of liberty and equality. “In one of his most famous essays, 'The Hedgehog and The Fox' (1953),
Berlin
focused on the tension between monist and pluralist visions of the world and history, and drew the line between different authors and philosophers. As the Greek poet Archilochus said: "The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing." The Hedgehog needs only one principle that directs its life. Typical examples are Plato, Dante, Pascal, Nietzsche and Proust. The Fox, pluralist, travels many roads, according to the idea that there can be different, equally valid but mutually incompatible concepts of how to live. The roads do not have much connection, as is seen in the works of Aristotle, Montaigne, Shakespeare, Moliére, Goethe and Balzac. In Tolstoy, whose view of history inspired
Berlin
to write the essay, he saw a fox who believed in being a hedgehog.
Berlin
's central dichotomy of monists and pluralists and his interest in such Counter-Enlightenment figures as Vico, was later interpreted as an attack on the values of Enlightenment. He was also accused of ultra-individualism.” While
Berlin
is quite quotable, two of his better known witticisms are "
Liberty
for wolves is death to the lambs" and "Philosophers are adults who persist in asking childish questions."
2000: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or about topics of Jewish interest including The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World by Mimi Sheraton
2002: After over 20 years in elected public life, Linda Lingle was elected as
Hawaii
’s first female and first Jewish governor on. Lingle and former Vermont Governor Madeleine Kunin are the only Jewish women governors in
U.S.
history. Lingle, a
St. Louis
native, moved to
Hawaii
after graduating from
California
State
University
at Northridge. She began working as the public information officer for the Hawai'i Teamsters and Hotel Workers Union in
Honolulu
. In 1976, she founded and became publisher of the Moloka'i Free Press, intended to serve Moloka'i's 6,000 residents. In 1980 Lingle was elected to the Maui County Council where she served for ten years. In 1990 she was elected Maui County Mayor, the youngest person and first woman to ever hold that role. Lingle first ran for governor in 1998 but lost by less than 1 percent of the vote. In 2002 Lingle, a Republican won the election by more than 4 percent. As governor, Lingle has worked to balance the state budget and promote tourism, while improving the quality of life by fighting crime and drug abuse and increasing accessibility to quality health care. In May 2004, Lingle signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the state of
Hawaii
and the government of
Israel
to encourage cooperation concerning agriculture and aquaculture research and development. "[Being Jewish has] helped my political career in Hawaii," says Lingle, "because it has given me a better understanding of diversity, which in turn helps me to connect with citizens of varying religious and ethnic backgrounds."
2005: Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post reported that the Secretary General of the United Nations had canceled his upcoming trip to
Iran
. The canceled trip was another manifestation of the international community’s disgust with
Iran
’s call for the destruction of the state of
Israel
. How long this expression of goodwill towards the Jewish state will last is unknown. But for now, at least,
Israel
bashing is not a “cool” thing to do.
2006: The New York TimesSunday book section features a review of David Mamet’s, The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews.
2006: Under the title “His devils made him do it,” Jeffrey Meyers reviewed Isaac B. Singer: A Life by Florence Noiville, translated from the French by Catherine Temerson.
2006: Under the title “The Altered States,” The Times of
London
reviewed American Vertigo: On the Road from Newport to Guantanamo by Bernard-Henri Levy, the biographer of Daniel Pearl.
2006: Opening of The 10th Annual
Dayton
Jewish Book Fair.
2007: Jerome Groopman, a physician at
Harvard
Medical
School
, discusses How Doctors Think at the Sixth &; I Historic Synagogue (formerly Adas Israel Synagogue) in
Washington
,
D.C.
2007: In a Time magazine article entitled “The Genius Who Wanted to Be a Hack” Lev Grossman reviews Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon.
2007: In
Canada
, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal decided that a Jewish hospital must pay $15,000 to female workers denied shifts. Officials at the Jewish General Hospital in Montreal said they haven't decided whether to appeal a human rights tribunal ruling that orders the institution to pay damages for denying full-time work to female employees because of a gender policy.
2008: New York premier of “The Little Traitor.”<span style="mso-sp