This Day, October 15, In Jewish History

OCTOBER 15 In Jewish History

586 BCE (5 Cheshvan 3338): King Zedekiah was blinded and taken into captivity. He was the last king of Judea. Zedekiah’s ("Tzidkiyahu") original name was Matanya. He was torn between the two great powers of Egypt and Babylon. Unfortunately, Egypt under Hopra was no match for Nebuchadrezzar who pushed out the Egyptians and laid siege to Jerusalem. Zedekiah tried to flee from Jerusalem but was captured along with his sons in Jericho. He ended his life in a Babylonian prison.
1655: The Jews of Lublin, Poland were massacred.
1764: Edward Gibbon observes a group of friars singing in the ruined Temple of Jupiter in Rome, which inspires him to begin work on The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. In his classic history of the Roman Empire, Gibbon had the following to say about the Jewish people. (Editor’s Note: This long entry has been included to help decided if Gibbon was an anti-Semite in the sense that we understand that term. Also, by reading Gibbon you will may gain a greater understanding of the variety of views held by English men women when it comes to the Jewish people. After all, this is designed as a learning experience, not just a collection of dates.
In Chapter XVI, Gibbon wrote:
“Rebellious Spirit of the Jews: Without repeating what has been already mentioned of the reverence of the Roman princes and governors for the temple of Jerusalem, we shall only observe that the destruction of the temple and city was accompanied and followed by every circumstance that could exasperate the minds of the conquerors, and authorize religious persecutions by the most specious arguments of political justice and the public safety. From the reign of Nero to that of Antonius Pius, the Jews discovered a fierce impatience of the dominion of Rome, which repeatedly broke out in the most furious massacres and insurrections. Humanity is shocked at the recital of the horrid cruelties which they committed in the cities of Egypt, of Cyprus, and of Cyrene, where they dwelt in treacherous friendship with the unsuspecting natives;(1) and we are tempted to applaud the severe retaliation which was exercised by the arms of the legions against a race of fanatics whose dire and credulous superstition seemed to render them the implacable enemies not only of the Roman government, but of human kind.(2) The enthusiasm of the Jews was supported by the opinion that it was unlawful for them to pay taxes to an idolatrous master, and by the flattering promise which they derived from their ancient oracles, that a conquering Messiah would soon arise, destined to break their fetters, and to invest the favorites of heaven with the empire of the earth. It was by announcing himself as their long-expected deliverer, and by calling on all the descendants of Abraham to assert the hope of Israel, that the famous Barchochebas collected a formidable army, with which he resisted during two years the power of the emperor Hadrian
Toleration of the Jewish Religion: Notwithstanding these repeated provocations, the resentment of the Roman princes expired after the victory, nor were their apprehensions continued beyond the period of war and danger. By the general indulgence of Polytheism, and by the mild temper of Antonius Pius, the Jews were restored to their ancient privileges, and once more obtained the permission of circumcising their children, with the easy restraint that they should never confer on any foreign proselyte that distinguishing mark of the Hebrew race. The numerous remains of that people, though they were still excluded from the precincts of Jerusalem, were permitted to form and to maintain considerable establishments both in Italy and in the provinces, to acquire the freedom of Rome, to enjoy municipal honours, and to obtain at the same time an exemption from the burdensome and expensive offices of society. The moderation or the contempt of the Romans gave a legal sanction to the form of ecclesiastical policy which was instituted by the vanquished sect. The patriarch, who had fixed his residence at Tiberias, was empowered to appoint his subordinate ministers and apostles, to exercise a domestic jurisdiction, and to receive from his dispersed brethren an annual contribution. (5) New synagogues were frequently erected in the principal cities of the empire; and the Sabbaths, the fasts, and the festivals, which were either commanded by the Mosaic law or enjoined by the traditions of the Rabbis, were celebrated in the most solemn and public manner. (6) Such gentle treatment insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the Jews. Awakened from their dream of prophecy and conquest, they assumed the behavior of peaceable and industrious subjects. Their irreconcilable hatred of mankind, instead of flaming out in acts of blood and violence, evaporated in less dangerous gratifications. They embraced every opportunity of over-reaching the idolaters in trade, and they pronounced secret and ambiguous imprecations against the haughty kingdom of Edom.
The Jews Were A People Which Followed The Christians, a Sect Which Deserted the Religion of Their Fathers: Since the Jews, who rejected with abhorrence the deities adored by their sovereign and by their fellow-subjects, enjoyed, however, the free exercise of their unsocial religion, there must have existed some other cause which exposed the disciples of Christ to those severities from which the posterity of Abraham was exempt. The difference between them is simple and obvious, but, according to the sentiments of antiquity, it was of the highest importance. The Jews were a nation, the Christians were a sect: and if it was natural for every community to respect the sacred institutions of their neighbors, it was incumbent on them to persevere in those of their ancestors. The voice of oracles, the precepts of philosophers, and the authority of the laws, unanimously enforced this national obligation. By their lofty claim of superior sanctity the Jews might provoke the Polytheists to consider them as an odious and impure race. By disdaining the intercourse of other nations they might deserve their contempt. The laws of Moses might be for the most part frivolous or absurd yet, since they had been received during many ages by a large society, his followers were justified by the example of mankind, and it was universally acknowledged that they had a right to practice what it would have been criminal in them to neglect. But this principle, which protected the Jewish synagogue, afforded not any favor or security to the primitive church. By embracing the faith of the Gospel the Christians incurred the supposed guilt of an unnatural and unpardonable offence. They dissolved the sacred ties of custom and education, violated the religious institutions of their country, and presumptuously despised whatever their fathers had believed as true or had reverenced as sacred. Nor was this apostasy (if we may use the expression) merely of a partial or local kind; since the pious deserter who withdrew himself from the temples of Egypt or Syria would equally disdain to seek an asylum in those of Athens or Carthage. Every Christian rejected with contempt the superstitions of his family, his city, and his province. The whole body of Christians unanimously refused to hold any communion with the gods of Rome, of the empire, and of mankind. It was in vain that the oppressed believer asserted the inalienable rights of conscience and private judgment. Though his situation might excite the pity, his arguments could never reach the understanding, either of the philosophic or of the believing part of the Pagan world. To their apprehensions it was no less a matter of surprise that any individuals should entertain scruples against complying with the established mode of worship than if they had conceived a sudden abhorrence to the manners, the dress, or the language of their native country.

1821: Birthdate of German poet Moritz Hartmann. Hartmann was as well known for his political activities as for his poetry. He was a liberal and took part in the revolutions that rocked Europe in the 1840’s. “Hartmann's poems are often lacking in genuine poetical feeling, but the love of liberty which inspired them, and the fervour, ease and clearness of their style compensated for these shortcomings and gained for him a wide circle of admirers.”

1844: Birthdate of Friedrich Nietzsche, German philosopher. According to some Nietzsche was an anti-Semite. In reality, his big complaint against Judaism was that it gave rise to Christianity. Nietzsche’s sister and brother-in-law were anti-Semites. Nietzsche did not approve of them or their politics. However, the Nazis misrepresented his beliefs. After Nietzsche’s death, his sister became the keeper of his literary estate and she was only too glad to bend it to fit Hitler’s will.

1874 (5 Chesham 5605): Rabbi Zevi Hersh Kalisher passed away. Born in 1795 in the Polish town of Lissa that had just become part of Germany, Kalisher was unique because he was an Orthodox Rabbi who believed that Jews develop a practical program for returning to Eretz Israel instead of just waiting for the coming of the Messiah. In 1860, he published Derishat Tziyyon , his blueprint for the return to the Holy Land. Almost forty years before the advent of Herzel and Zionism he called for a systematic purchase of land, the development of agriculture, the development of a self-defense force and the need to develop viable businesses to replace the charitable institutions that traditionally supported the Jews in Palestine. The Reform opposed Kalisher because of the nationalist content of the proposal. The Orthodox saw it as a form of blasphemy. One of the practical results of his work was the establishment of Mikveh Israel, a school located near Jaffa, designed to treat the new generation of pioneers the scientific agricultural skills that would enable them to reclaim the land.

1889: In Great Britain the press has reported that Baron Hirsch is negotiating with Lord Cholmondeley for the purchase of Houghton Hall estate. The purchase will probably cost the Baron 300,000 English pounds. Baron Hirsch's desire to purchase the estate in England may have been stimulated by "the snub he recently received from the French Jockey Club."

1892: Kinloch Cooke is named editor of the Pall Mall Gazette following its purchase by the Lowenfield syndicate, which according to unsubstantiated rumors is backed by Baron Hirsch. Furthermore, other rumors include reports of a desire of members of the Jewish community to gain control of this or some other major English publication.

1894: Col. Alfred Dreyfus was first arrested. This marked the start of what would become known as the Dreyfus Affair.

1894: Birthdate of Moshe Sharett, second Prime Minister of Israel. Born Moshe Shertok in the Ukraine, Moshe Sharett emigrated to Palestine in 1908 where his family was one of the founders of Tel Aviv Sharett was the first Foreign Minister of Israel. He was a key figure in establishing the Armistice Agreements that ended with a Jewish victory in the War for Independence. When Ben Gurion resigned as Israel’s fist Prime Minister in 1953, Sharett was the logical choice to succeed him. He was ousted by Ben Gurion in 1956 and he returned to the Foreign Ministry. He passed away in 1965.

1897: Herzl publishes his article "Mauschel" in Die Welt. Die Welt was the name of a weekly publication founded in 1897 by Theodor Herzl in Vienna as organ of the Zionist movement. In the article entitled “Mauschel” Herzl did not deny that the anti-Semitic stereotype of the Jew had a basis in reality. Rather he identified the stereotype with the Jewish opponents of Zionism and used it against them.

1907: Birthdate of Varian Fry, known as the American Schindler for his gallant rescue of those fleeing Hitler and the Nazis. . Some of those he saved were Marc Chagall, Hannah Arendt and Alma Mahler. In 1995 Varian Fry became the first United States citizen to be listed in the Righteous Among the Nations at Israel's national Holocaust Memorial, Yad Vashem (in 2006, fellow Americans Waitstill Sharp and Martha Sharp were added to the list). He was awarded the additional honor of "Commemorative Citizenship of the State of Israel" on 1 January 1998. The film Varian’s War provides a cinematic treatment of Fry’s wartime activites

1911: At the request of David Levontin, Director of the Anglo-Palestine Bank, Jews assemble to pray for the welfare of the Sultan and for victory of the Turkish Army.

1909: Birthdate of American astronomer Jesse Leonard Greenstein.

1915: Birthdate of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzchak Shamir.

1915: Louis D. Brandies of Boston is identified as the attorney leading the opposition to the increase in freight rate charges that the railroads are presenting to the Interstate Commerce Commission.

1935: Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior called for codifying laws that would impose legal restrictions on Jews taking part in trade and industry. The Nazi rise to power and the early days of the final solution were all couched in terms of the German legal code. The Nazis hid their evil behind a façade of laws.

1937: Birthdate of comedic actress Linda Lavin who played the wisecracking waitress on the t.v. hit Alice.

1937: The Palestine Post reported on the end of the temporary cease-fire, and an intense revival of the Arab anti-Jewish and anti-British terror activities throughout the country. Bullets and bombs hit Jewish transport, buses in particular. The Iraqi Petroleum Company pipeline was damaged and the oil flowing from Iraq set on fire near Beit She’an. A passenger train from Haifa and a goods train were derailed. The settlements of Ginegar, Afula, Rosh Pina, and Migdal Tzedek were exposed to persistent firing and 12 Jews were injured. Telephone lines were cut. The authorities closed the Syrian border and imposed a curfew in Jerusalem.

1937: The Palestine Post reported that Jewish students in Warsaw went on strike to protest against the introduction of the so-called "ghetto benches" on the left side of the lecture halls at Polish universities.

1940: The Great Dictator, a satiric social commentary film by and starring Charlie Chaplin, was released. The film was a satiric attack on Hitler, Mussolini and fascism. Chaplin felt so strongly about the need to expose the threat posed by the Nazis and their allies, that he was willing to break his film silence. The Great Dictator was his first “talkie.”

1941: The Nazis began the first mass deportation of German Jews to Eastern European ghettos.

1941: According to a proclamation, Jews caught outside the Polish Ghetto walls could be put to death. I am not sure what this entry really means considering the plight of the Jews of Poland at this time.

1942: An SS Aktion is undertaken against Jews of Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland that would last until October 21. During this time untold numbers of Jews are shot in their homes and 22,000 are deported to the Treblinka death camp.

1942: The Nazis murder 25,000 Jews from Brest-Litovsk, Belorussia. Jewish resistance, led by Hana Ginsberg, attempts to fight back.

1944: Truce talks between the Hungarians and the Allies collapsed. The Arrow Cross, a Hungarian fascist organization regained power through a coup. There are 170,000 Jews still alive in Hungary out of a half million that had been alive at the beginning of the year. After a three month period without deportations to the death camps, this remnant was once again vulnerable as potential fodder for the Nazi killing machine.

1944: The Germans emptied Plaszow Camp at Cracow. Included in the evacuation were 700 of the Jews protected by Oscar Schindler. They were sent to the concentration camp at Gross Rosen. Schindler managed to retrieve these Jews, claiming the essential nature of their contribution to his factory and the war effort. Schindler also fought for release of 300 other of "his" Jews who were sent to Auschwitz.

1944: The Hungarian Fascist group Arrow Cross is installed in power by the Nazis following a request to the Allies by Hungarian leader Admiral Miklós Horthy for armistice terms. A Hungarian Nazi, Ferenc Szálasi, is installed as regent.

1944: French General Paul Beynet met with David Ben-Gurion. Both men are aware of secret British plans to hold on to Palestine after World War II and both men, for their own purposes seek to thwart that goal.

1945: Execution of Pierre Laval former premier of Vichy France. Laval was one of history’s more vile characters. At the same time, he was the fall guy for Vichy. Marshall Petain, the famous French Marshall who was the head of the Nazi puppet state was spared. The French could not bring themselves to punish the hero from World War I.

1946: Hermann Goering Nazi Reichmarshal who had been found guilty at Nuremberg beat his scheduled date with the hangman. He poisoned himself.

1948: An Israeli army unit held Yom Kippur services on Mt. Zion, right outside the [then] sealed Zion's Gate of the Old City of Jerusalem. There they blew the Shofar, the closest place to the Western Wall they could get.

1948: Following numerous vilations of the UN Truce by Egypt. The Israel Army and Air force took the offensive and launched Operation 'Yoav. Since the UN would not act the Israelis felt compelled. In addition to the immediate tactical considerations, the strategic goal of Operation 'Yoav' was to open a corridor to the Negev, cut the Egyptian lines of communications along the coast and on the Beersheba-Hebron-Jerusalem road, isolate and defeat the Egyptian forces, and ultimately to drive them out of the country. On the eve of 15 October, Gaza, Majdal and Beith Hanun were bombed, and part of the Air Force at El-Arish was put out of action. This action kept most of the Egyptian frontline fighters out of the skies and gave the IDF air superiority for the first time.

1956: On the day in which Iraqi troops entered Jordan in what Israel saw as a menacing move, Ben Gurion ordered a partial mobilization of Israeli forces and told the Knesset that “Israel reserves to herself freedom of action.

1965: The Dodgers and Sandy Koufax won the 7th game of the World Series.

1969: Birthdate of game show host Paige Davis.

1973: During the Yom Kippur War, General Arik Sharon led an attack on the Egyptian side of the Suez Canal. Joined by Generals Adan and Magen, within a week the IDF cut off the main road from Cairo to Suez and surrounded Egypt’s 3rd Army. The hold on the West Bank greatly improved Israel's negotiating position with the Egyptians and the morale of the country. Regardless of how one may feel about Sharon’s politics, he was a bold general. His successful cross canal attack completely changed the military equation of the Suez War.

1999: Marquette University Law School Dean Howard Eisenberg delivers a speech entitled “What's a Nice Jewish Boy Like Me Doing in a Place Like This? Some Thoughts on Spirituality, the Legal Profession and Religious Diversity” at a Law School retreat.

2000: The New York Times featured reviews of Bellow: A Biography by James Atlas, Off Camera Private Thoughts Made Public by Ted Koppel and Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach by Martha C. Nussbaum.

2000: Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Konrad Emil Bloch passed away. Born in Germany in 1912, Bloch fled Nazi Germany in 1934. He arrived in where he furthered his education while serving on the faculties of Yale Medical School, Columbia, the University of Chicago and Harvard. He shared the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1964 with Feodor Lynen for their discoveries related to the regulation of cholesterol and fatty acid metabolism.

2003: Golda's Balcony, starring Tovah Feldshuh, opened at Broadway's Helen Hayes Theatre In this one-woman show, Feldshuh plays the role of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. Golda's Balcony is set during 1973's Yom Kippur War. It splits between those events and reflections upon Meir's life, from her childhood in Milwaukee to her role in founding the Jewish state. Golda Meir is certainly not the only dramatic Jewish woman that Feldshuh has played during her illustrious Broadway career. Feldshuh has earned three Tony nominations for best actress, including the title role in Yentl (1975). She has also won four Drama Desk Awards, including one for Golda's Balcony. Her roles on television have included a Czech freedom fighter in Holocaust (1978), a role for which Feldshuh was nominated for an Emmy. She has appeared in a number of movies, including Kissing Jessica Stein (2001) and A Walk on the Moon (1999). Feldshuh is also a supporter of Seeds of Peace, a non-profit organization that helps teenagers from regions of conflict. She is a recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Humanitas Award, the Israel Peace Medal, and the National Foundation for Jewish Culture's Jewish Image Award.

2005: Haaretz reported that dozens of Jewish worshippers attacked the head of the Israel Defense Forces Manpower Branch Major General Elazar Stern at the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem on Friday night. Stern was in civilian dress when he came to pray at the Western Wall, accompanied by his family. Worshippers surrounded him, yelling insults, and attempted to prevent him from reaching the wall. Though police officers immediately surrounded him, the worshippers began throwing stones and other objects in his direction. Stern was not hurt, and a police officer lightly wounded in the head did not require medical treatment The attackers were apparently motivated by Stern's role in Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, completed last month.

2006: The Los Angeles Times book section features a review of The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews by David Mamet.

2006: The New York Times included reviews of Through The Children’s Gate: A Home in New York by Adam Gopnik, Hubris and by Michael Isikoff and David Corn.

2006: Pelech, a unique progressive Torah/Talmud based educational opportunity for women in Israel, marks its 40th anniversary.

2006: Professor Robert (Yisrael) Aumann, the Israeli-American scholar who won the Nobel Prize for economics last year, said this week that Israel may not be capable of continuing to exist in the long-term. "Too many Jews don't understand why they are here," said Aumann, who moved from the United States to Israel in the 1950s and helped found the Center for Rationality at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, an interdisciplinary research body that focuses on game theory. "If we don't understand why we are here, and that we are not America or just a place in which to live, we will not survive," he said in a speech at the College of Judea and Samaria in Ariel on Sunday. "The desire to live like all the nations will sustain us maybe another 50 years, if we are still here." Aumann said one of the primary reasons for the recent war in Lebanon was national fatigue and quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as having said that Israel is tired of wars and sacrifices. "Fatigue, in the State of Israel's situation, will lead to death, as occurs with mountain climbing," said Aumann. "If a mountain climber is caught on the side of a mountain and it starts to snow, if he falls asleep, he will die. He must remain alert." Aumann, who lost his son Shlomo in the first Lebanon war, accused Israelis of being overly sensitive to casualties of war. "We are too sensitive to our losses, and also to the losses of the other side," he said. "In the Yom Kippur War, 3,000 soldiers were killed. It sounds terrible, but that's small change." In addition, said Aumann, last summer's disengagement from the Gaza Strip was a "tactical and ethical mistake" that gave the Palestinians the wrong message and was another factor leading to this summer's Lebanon war. "Looking at the other side is an important element of game theory," he said. "The Arabs' understanding in the wake of the expulsion was that they had succeeded, and that they have to continue on the same path. The expulsion, therefore, brought about the launching of Qassams on Israel and the abduction of the soldiers. The expulsion transmitted the message that we can be moved even from Tel Aviv, and not just from Gush Katif." "Last summer we set back peace and understanding with our neighbors by at least 10 years," said Aumann. "After the expulsion, no words will convince them that we intend to stay here forever."

2007: In Washington D.C., Nextbook Presents: Shalom Auslander, Foreskin's Lament: A Memoir, as part of the Hyman S. and Freda Bernstein Jewish Literary Festival.

2007: The Nobel Prize in economics was awarded to three Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric S. Maskin, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J., and Roger B. Myerson, a professor at the University of Chicago.

2007: Time magazine reviewed Foreskin’s Lament by Sahlom Auslander. “Behind the worst title of the year lurks one its best memoirs.…”

2008: Second Day Sukkoth, 5769