JUNE 23 In Jewish History
79:
Vespasian, the Roman general who was in the process of conquering Judea when he
became Emperor, died.
79:
Titus, the Roman general whom the Jews will always remember for the destruction
of Jerusalem and the Temple succeeded his father Vespasian as tenth Roman
Emperor.
1295:
The newly chosen head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Boniface VIII, entered
Rome and spurned the Torah scrolls offered to him by the Jewish community.
1298:
Massacre of the Jews of Wiener-Neustadt ,
Austria
1608:
Samuel Pallache “a Jewish-Moroccan merchant, diplomat and pirate met stadholder
Maurice of Nassau and the States-General in The Hague to negotiate an alliance
of mutual assistance against Spain.
1696:
Jews of Posen, Poland were saved from a mob set to avenge the murder of a
soldier when a peasant woman who was seized carrying the victim's clothing,
confessed to her son's murder.
1700:
Solomon de Medina was dubbed a knight by William III. He was the first Jew to receive this honor.
Medina was military contractor who would provide invaluable aid to the Duke of
Marlborough during the War of Spanish Succession.
1794:
With the second partition of Poland Ukraine Kiev Kiev
1810
John Jacob Astor organized Pacific Fur Company at what is now Astoria , Oregon
1823:
Mordecai Manuel Noah, an early American Jewish leader who dabbled in politics
and journalism, wrote a twenty page letter to President James Monroe seeking
his support for William Crawford’s candidacy for President of the United
States. Crawford lost his bid which
marked a decline in Noah’s self-appointed role a political king-maker.
1858:
An incident, known as the Mortara Affair, began in Bologna Damascus
1868(3rd
of Tamuz, 5628): Rabbi Morris Jacob Raphall passed away. Born at Stockholm,
Sweden, in 1798, “at the age of nine he was taken by his father, who was banker
to the King of Sweden, to Copenhagen, where he was educated at the Hebrew
grammar-school. Later he went to England, where he devoted himself to the study
of languages, for the better acquisition of which he subsequently traveled in
France, Germany, and Belgium. After lecturing on Hebrew poetry he began to
publish the "Hebrew Review, and Magazine of Rabbinical Literature,"
which he was forced to discontinue in 1836 owing to ill health. For some time he
acted as honorary secretary to Solomon Herschell, chief rabbi of Great Britain.
He made translations from Maimonides, Albo, and Herz Wessely; conjointly with
the Rev. D. A. de Sola he published a translation of eighteen treatises of the
Mishnah; and he also began a translation of the Pentateuch, of which only one
volume appeared. In 1840, when the blood accusation was made at Damascus, he
published a refutation of it in four languages (Hebrew, English, French, and
German) and wrote a defense of Judaism against an anonymous writer in the
London "Times." In 1841 he was appointed minister of the Birmingham
Synagogue and master of the school. He continued in these capacities for eight
years, and then sailed for New York (1849). In that city he was appointed rabbi
and preacher of the B'nei Jeshurun congregation, where he continued as pastor
till 1866, his duties then being relaxed owing to his infirm health. Raphall
was the author of a text-book of the post-Biblical history of the Jews (to the
year 70 C.E.). He received the Ph.D. degree from the University of Erlangen
(Germany).”
1873:
The children under the care of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and Free School are
scheduled to enjoy their first excursion of the summer today. Lewis S. Levy is
the chairman of the committee that has organized the event.
1876:
It was reported today that an unnamed Moor stabbed eleven Jews with a dagger at
Alcassar in the province of Fez, Morocco. Among the victims was Moses Abecasis.
The Moor, who has been arrested, insists that “he was not aware of what he was
doing when he committed the crimes.” The
British and Italian Vice Consuls have insisted that the provincial governor and
the leading citizens of Alcasar “have a
signed a document guaranteeing the lives and property of foreign Jews” living
there.
1877:
At Ahaveth Chesed on the corner of Lexington and 55th in New York
City, Rabbi Adolph Huesbech delivered a sermon based on Deuteronomy X:12, “And
now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee but to fear thy God, to
walk in all His ways, and to love Him and serve the Lord thy God with all thy
heart and with all thy soul.” In the
course of the sermon he spoke about the recent events surrounding the banning
of Jews by Judge Hilton which he referred to as the “grievous occurrences of
the past few days.” While he abhors
boasting, he believes that “the Jewish name must always be held in honor.” He
decried the fact that the Jews “had been placed in a false position” by this member of the nouveau riche who had
used his newly “attained social eminence” to arouse enmity aimed at the
Jews. In the end, the Rabbi said he
would fail. “The Hiltons will die away
but the principle of liberty as embodied in the American Constitution will live
forever.
1877:
Rabbi Samuel Isaacs, the leader of New York’s Gates of Prayer, described the
negative impact that Judge Hilton’s behavior would have on English Jewish
leaders including the Rothschilds and Sir Moses Montefiore who is “personal and
esteemed friend of Queen Victoria.” They
have always viewed the United States as a place where Jews were treated with
the utmost “consideration and courtesy”; a situation similar to the treatment
of Jews in the United Kingdom. If the
Queen can count Montifore among her friends, certainly Judge Hilton could treat
a person like Mr. Seligman with “common civility.” When asked Judge Hilton’s attempt to draw a
distinction between “trade Jews and real “Hebrews, Rabbi Isaacs responded by
recalling the “the words of the late Baron James Rothschild of Paris. ‘When we
are poor and ignorant we Jews; when we are well to do we become Israelites;
when we are rich and influential we are called Hebrews.’” Judge Hilton is
trying to create a distinction that does not exist as a face-saving maneuver.
1877:
A column published today entitled “The Jewish Question” reported that both
sides in the dispute touched off by Judge Hilton’s banning of Jews from the
Grand Union Hotel seemed to hold firm to their previously stated
positions. Various Jewish leaders,
including Mr. Seligman’s attorney have advised against any further public
discussions or meetings on the matter.
They are reassured by the public response and the decision by some not
to do business with the firm controlled by Hilton. Hilton will not change his policy and still
claims that he does not dislike Jews.
After all, the messenger to whom he entrusts thousands of dollars each
day is Jewish.
1878:
“The Jews and Titus,” an article published today, that originally appeared in
the English publication, Fraser’s Magazine reviews events surrounding
the decision of Titus to destroy Jerusalem and the Temple. The article points
out that the Jews had a favorable impact on the western world in the era
between Antiochus and Nero. Among other things the Jews are industrious and
hard working just like the people living “in the American Union are at Salt
Lake.” Even their leaders worked at
“mechanical labor or rustic art.” Even
the Roman historian Tacitus acknowledged the virtues of the Jews. When Titus conferred with his officers about
sparing the Temple, they urged him to destroy it and the rest of the city as
well. Jerusalem had been the source of
“two detestable religions, the Jewish and the Christian, which best be
destroyed by uprooting their original home…”
Despite Roman cruelty and oppression which followed by “Christian
animosity” “the Jews and their religion”
have survived without any deterioration over the centuries. Unfortunately, the article concludes, the
Jews “still have to plead for toleration and from justice Slavonic Europe.”
1879:
The Literary Notes Column reported that “Mr. Nutt, the Librarian of the
Bodleian Library at Oxford University has edited” a manuscript in the library’s
possession that is “a commentary on Isaiah” written “by Rabbi Eleazar of
Beaugency.” Nutt has included a preface
that provides “a valuable account of Bibilical exegesis among the Spanish and
French Jews of the Middle Ages. [Eleazar was a 12th century French
Biblical commentary who lived at Beaugency. He was a “pupil of Samuel ben Meïr,
the eminent grandson of Rashi.”]
1880:
The Young Men’s Hebrew Association of Harlem is sponsoring a strawberry
festival this evening which is designed to raise funds for a gymnasium to be
used by the members.
1882:
Rabbi Levy arrived at the New York office of the Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society
from South Carolina. He told those in charge that the European Jewish refugees “were
unfit” for the work “on Southern Plantations.”
He brought 11 of the 30 refugees who had been placed in his care with
him to New York. He thinks that they
could be successful working on small vegetable farms. [This was part of the
move to create agrarian opportunities for the horde of Jewish refugees fleeing
Eastern Europe.]
1882:
“Is He Sane Or Insane” published today described the travails of Samuel Obright
who has been committed to Middletown Lunatic Asylum. His wife, whom he married only a few days
ago, contends that his family and friends had him committed because Obright who
is Jewish chose to marry a Christian. The judge has ordered him held in the
custody of the Sheriff until the matter can be decided.
1882:
It was reported today that Dr. Julius Goldman had delivered a report to the
Hebrew Emigrant Aid Society entitled “Colonizing the Russian Refugees” and not
Dr. Julius Goodman as stated in an earlier article.
1883: Anti-Jewish riots resumed today in St. Gall,
Switzerland. Dismounted dragoons were
called out to disperse the mob.
1883: It was reported today that those wishing to make contributions to support the upcoming summer excursions sponsored by the Sanitarium for Hebrew Children can be sent to John Davis.
1884(30th
of Sivan, 5644): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1885:
Mr. Julius Bien of New York, President of the B’nai B’rith opened a meeting of
the Jewish organization in Berlin. He was assisted in his efforts by Isaac
Hamburger of New York and Henry Gruenbaum of Chicago.
1886: It was reported today that Harris Cohen had been awarded the Lewis May Award at a reception sponsored by the Hebrew Technical Institute. Samuel Sass won the Carl Schurz Prize for the best essay on technical education.
1887:
Birthdate of Hugo Hermann the Moravian born author, publisher and Zionist
leader who died in Jerusalem in 1940.
1887(1st
of Tammuz, 5647): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1887(1st
of Tammuz, 5647): Joseph Freedman, a Russian-Jew who was a tin peddler died
this evening at P.J. Kelly’s furniture store in New Haven, Conn.
1888:
The Eldridge Street Synagogue was filled with congregants for today’s memorial
service held in honor of the late German Emperor. Rabbi Zinsler of the Henry
Street Synagogue delivered a eulogy in German followed by Coroner Ferdinand
Levy who delivered a eulogy in English.
[This was just one of many such services held by the Jews to honor the
late Kaiser.]
1888:
Emile Hirsch, who serves as the Rabbi at Temple Sinai in Chicago returned to
the Windy City after a brief visit to New Orleans.
1888:
This evening Rabbi Emile Hirsch addressed his congregation in Chicago outlined
his view on inter-marriage, declaring that “Judaism was more than a religion or
a creed…Judaism is a mission and a message of loved and righteousness.”
1889:
“In the Catskill Mountains” published today described the opening of the
various hostelries in this New York vacation venue including the fact that “the
anti-Hebrew crusade is practically a matter of the past.” Generally speaking this movement was confined
to the cottages at Pine Hill where Gentiles and Jews are equally welcome
provided they can afford to pay the fee for entertainment which can be as much
as one hundred dollars a week. [For those who connect the Catskills with the
Borscht Belt, the idea of Jews being banned must seem a little strange.]
1892: The military band of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum played the opening march at the annual reception and commencement exercises of Grammar School Number 43 on Amsterdam Avenue in NYC.
1896: Herzl is received as
a journalist of the Neue Freie Presse. Herzl offers that the Jews would
undertake the regulation of the Turkish finances if they were given Palestine
1899:
The New York Times reported that “a part of the income…of the Baron de
Hirsch Fund allotted to America” will be used to improve conditions in
Brownsville, a section of Brooklyn with a large Jewish population. The project is being spearheaded by Abraham
Abraham, a Brooklyn merchant and A.S. Solomon, the general agent of the Baron
de Hirsch Fund in New York.
1909:
Helen Rosenfield of Portland, Oregon married Rabbi Jonah Bondi Wise. At the
time he was the spiritual leader of Temple Beth Israel She passed away in
1950. He passed away in 1959
1917:
As part of the Allied drive to dislodge the Turks from Palestine, a move
supported by the Zionists, British aircraft bombed the railway station at
Tulkarm, the airfield at Ramleh and the German military headquarters in
Jerusalem, located in the August Victoria church and sanatorium on the summit
of the Mount of Olives
1918:
“Jew Has High Rank In British Army” published today traces the career of Sir
John Monash, the Australian Jew who has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant
General and given command of a British Army Corps.
1919:
“A pogrom took place today at Skvria in which 45 Jews were massacred, many were
severely wounded, and 35 Jewish women were raped by army insurgents. As Whites,
Reds and Cossacks battled for control of Russia during the Russian Civil War a
series of pogroms took place in and around Kiev known as the Kiev Pogroms.
1919:
Birthdate of Nathan Cohen, the Brooklyn born son of a New York publicist who
would gain fame as Lee Solters, “a foxy, flamboyant press agent who cranked up
his raspy Brooklyn-accented voice to hyperbolize about Broadway, Hollywood and
a raft of clients including Frank Sintra, Dolly Parton, Paul McCartney and
Wings, Led Zeppelin, Gregory Peck, Cary Grant, the Muppets, Mae West and
Michael Jackson. When he passed away in 2009, the New York Times would describe
him as, “One of the last surviving links to a Runyonesque era when publicists
would slip items to columnists at 1am over drinks at the landmark Manhattan bar
Toots Shor's, Solters was a prominent press agent – or "flack", as
the Americans call them – during the years when it was routine to
"plant" items about stars in showbusiness columns by such gossip
writers as Hedda Hopper and Walter Winchell. Over more than 40 years the
gravel-voiced Solters handled more than 300 shows, including the Broadway
musicals Annie, Guys and Dolls, My Fair Lady and
Camelot, “major motion pictures including The Graduate and the hit
television series, “Dallas.”
1925(1st
of Tammuz, 5685): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1926:
The College Board administers the first SAT exam. “In 1926, Harvard and other
Ivy League schools began using the SAT test to replace the admissions test on
which urban Jews had performed well.” This was part of an overall attempt to limit
Jewish attendance at these elite schools. “The SAT was grounded in the earlier
Ellis Island and U.S. Army World War I tests in which Jews, among others, had
performed poorly. That the poor performance was largely based on the lower
literacy of the foreigners and their unfamiliarity with English and American
terminology was not perceived to be the principal cause for the poor test
performance. Here was a test that had provided evidence Jews did not perform
well; its use might help bring about the desired results. Moreover, the fact
that some of the SAT questions were developed and tested on Princeton freshman
and Cooper Union students (all scholarship recipients), demonstrated that smart
Gentiles did well on the tests. Ironically, as time passed and Jews became
literate, absorbed American terminology, and learned how to take such tests,
the outcomes completely reversed. But that was in the future and not
anticipated when SAT testing began in 1926”.
1929: Birthdate of Simcha Dinitz “an Israeli
statesman and politician” who “served as Director General of the Prime
Minister's office and political advisor to Prime Minister Golda Meir from
1969–1973, before becoming the Israeli Ambassador to the United States from
1973 to 1979.
1930:
Birthdate of Harvey
Slom Ginsberg, the Bangor, Maine native “a New York book editor who served long
tenures at G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Harper & Row and William Morrow &
Company, and whose most loyal writers included John Irving and Saul Bellow… His
relationship with Mr. Bellow began at Harper & Row with Mr. Bellow’s book
“The Dean’s December,” published in 1981. Mr. Ginsberg subsequently left Harper
for Morrow, and for his next novel, “More Die of Heartbreak,” Mr. Bellow
followed him. Mr. Ginsberg began his long partnership with Mr. Irving on the
novel “The Cider House Rules,” published by Morrow in 1985, and he edited five
other novels by Mr. Irving as well; they continued to work together through
2005 on a freelance basis even after Mr. Irving moved to another publishing
house. His taste was high-minded, but he enjoyed a well-executed popular novel
as well. In 1975 he edited “Black Sunday,” a first novel about a terror attack
at the Super Bowl whose author, Thomas Harris, went on to write novels
featuring the man/monster Hannibal Lecter”
1938:
Four persons were killed and at least a dozen seriously wounded in a series of
shootings in Jaffa today. With heavy police reinforcements, scores were beaten
by police clubs. Many bystanders were roughly handled by crowds. Residents of
Jaffa’s Jewish quarter fled out of fear most of them heading for near-by Tel
Aviv.
1938:
“Three Jewish farmers from the Zichron Jacob mysteriously disappeared this
afternoon. It is believed they were
kidnapped by armed Arabs and carried off to the hills.
1939:
Dutch Jewish diarist Esther "Etty" Hillesum took the first of her
master’s exams in Dutch Law.
1939:
Herman Goering, Hitler’s number 2, led a meeting of Reich Defense Council in
which he told them to prepare for total war. Hitler planned to conscript seven
million soldiers. This means production work is to be given to prisoners and
inmates of prisons and concentration camps.
1940:
Today, Sunday, at 1:30 pm Margret and Hans Rey arrived in Lisbon.
1941: In the evening, German forces enter the
village of Jedwabne, Poland
1941:
The great yeshivot of Slobodka and Telz closed their doors the day after Germany Lithuania
1942:
The first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz take place on a trainload
of Jews from Paris.
1942:
A German convoy deported Jews from Morocco Europe .
1943: Ukrainian police surround a Jewish
school at Czortków , Ukraine
1943:
In Czortkow; Ukrainian police began an "action" that would destroy
the remaining Jewish population of about 600 people.
1943:
By this date 50,000 Jews had been deported from France
1943:
Birthdate of James Levine, conductor of the Metropolitan Opera. Levine was born
into a musical family; his maternal grandfather was a cantor and his father was
a violinist.
1944:
Chaim Barlas, an agent of the Jewish Agency working in Istanbul received a copy
of a 30 page report known as the ‘Auschwitz Protocols’ complied by two Jews who
escaped from the camp that April. The
report made it clear that the camp was a killing ground for the Jews of Europe.
1944: Operations resume at the Chelmno death
camp.
1944: The Allies learn that more than 430,000
Hungarian Jews have been deported to Auschwitz
and murdered since May. There are about 300,000 Jews left alive in Hungary
1944: A Red Cross delegation visits the
camp/ghetto at Theresienstadt ,
Czechoslovakia Hungary
1944:
After intensive search through the Lodz Ghetto for Jews, deportation began and
did not end until July 14. Jews were shipped out at the rate of 3,000 a week
for three weeks. They were told that they on their way to work as laborers in Berlin Leipzig
1952(30th
of Sivan, 5712): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1952:
In a letter to the New York Times, Lessing J. Rosenwald, President of
the American Council of Judaism, an anti-Zionist organization reiterated the
group’s disagreement with the Israeli government’s new policy concerning
citizenships, declaring that nationality and religion are two different issues.
1956:
Gamal Abdel Nasser is elected President of the Republic of Egypt in a landslide
in which 99.95 percent of the voters mark their ballots for him. A secular
pan-Arabist who was the ringleader of the “Colonel’s Revolution” Nasser
reportedly claimed that he did not hate the West because of Israel but hated
Israel because it was of the West.
1967:
Five thousand Muslims prayed on the Haram, including a thousand Israeli Muslims
who had been denied access during the nineteen years of Jordanian rule.
1972:
Birthdate of Actress Selma
1986(16th
of Sivan, 5746): Seventy-four year old classical scholar Sir Moses I. Finley,
author of The Ancient Economy, passed away. Born Moses Israel
Finkelstein in New York City he graduated from Syracuse and Columbia before
taking the name of Finley in 1936. After
teaching at Columbia and City College he was fired by Rutgers when he “took the
5th” when called by Senator McCarthy’s red hunting committee. He and his wife Mary moved to Great Britain
where he pursued his career, another casualty of the Right Wing Red Witch Hunt.
1991:
Tony Randall and Jack Klugman starred in a Broadway Performance of "The
Odd Couple." Two Jewish actors took their television roles of Felix Unger
and Oscar Madison back to the New
York
1992: Maxine Frank Singer,
a leading biochemistry researcher and advocate of science education, was
awarded the National Medal of Science
1992:
Yitzhak Rabin wins the Israeli parliamentary elections and becomes Prime Minister
for the second time. A sabra, Rabin had
begun his military career in the Palmach.
He rose to be Chief of Staff during the Israel’s smashing victory in
1967. Rabin signed off on the Oslo
Accords in a bold attempt to bring peace to the Middle East. Rabin won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize for his
efforts. Unfortunately Rabin was
murdered by a right wing zealot in 1995.
This heinous crime robbed the Israelis of the one leader who might have
been able to move the process forward.
Would things have been different if Rabin had lived? We will never know. Obviously the assassin and his supporters
felt that by killing Rabin they could kill the peace process.
1995(27th
of Sivan, 5755): Dr. Jonas Salk, inventor of the first Polio Vaccine passed
away. Another Jew, Dr. Sabine, invented
the second Polio Vaccine. This is but one of the many contributions that
the American Jewish Community should be celebrating and sharing with our
countrymen during the 350th Anniversary of the Jewish Community in
the United States.
1997:
Anna Halprin received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for
lifetime achievement in modern dance.
2002: The New York Times featured reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest
to Jewish readers including Globalization and Its Discontents by Joseph
E. Stiglitz
2005(16th of Sivan, 5765): Prof. Nahum
M. Sarna, z"l passed away.
2006:
Shlomo Mola becomes the first Ethiopian to be chosen as a top executive of
World Zionist Organization. Mola who now
serves as the Jewish Agency's senior consultant for Ethiopian immigrants, will
head the department for Zionist institutions. According to Haaretz, the nomination is especially significant, since his
confirmation would mark the first time an Ethiopian immigrant has been elected
to a key leadership position within the Zionist establishment that does not
deal specifically with the Ethiopian sector. "It was Prime Minister Olmert's
idea to have an Ethiopian deal with non-Ethiopian issues," said one World
Zionist Organization insider. "It was a way of showing that after 20 years
in Israel
2006:
According to a report published in a scientific journal, ancient beads that may
represent the oldest attempt by people at self-decoration have been identified
from sites in Israel and Algeria,
The beads, made from shells with holes bored into them, date to around 100,000 years ago, some 25,000 years older than similar beads discovered two years ago in South Africa, researchers report in the journal Science. The new find involves just three shells, two from Skhul in northernIsrael Algeria
The beads, made from shells with holes bored into them, date to around 100,000 years ago, some 25,000 years older than similar beads discovered two years ago in South Africa, researchers report in the journal Science. The new find involves just three shells, two from Skhul in northern
2006(27th
of Sivan, 5766: Television producer Aaron Spelling passes away.
2007:
In Cedar Rapids Temple Judah
2007:
The Jewish Culture Festival in Krakow
opens. The city's historic Jewish quarter (called Kazimierz) fills with music,
art, dance, lectures and exhibits - all celebrating the 900-year history of
Jews in Poland
2007: “Pangs of The Messiah” has its English Language World Premiere at
Theatre J in Washington, D.C.
2008: In Washington ,
D.C.
2008: In Cedar Rapids ,
Iowa Temple Judah
2008: Overnight, Palestinian gunmen in the Gaza Strip fired a
mortar shell into Israel – the first breach of the cease fire since it went
into effect five days ago.
2008: Time magazine
reviews “Apples and Oranges” by Marie Brenner
2009: Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 1st day of Tammuz, 5769
2009: Israel released the speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council
from prison today, ending his three-year incarceration. Aziz al-Dweik,
considered a moderate Hamas leader in the West Bank, was one of several
Palestinian leaders arrested after the June 2006 abduction of Israel Defense
Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. Israeli prosecutors failed to persuade a military
court to extend Dweik's prison term during a hearing last Wednesday. Dweik and
dozens of other Hamas politicians in the West Bank in 2006 after gunmen from
the Palestinian Islamist group in the Gaza Strip abducted Shalit in a 2006
cross-border raid. The dragnet paralyzed the Palestinian Legislative Council,
which had been dominated by Hamas since it crushed President Mahmoud Abbas's
Western-backed, secular Fatah faction in a parliamentary election earlier that
year. The Islamists accused Israel of trying to pressure them into freeing the
Shalit. Al-Dweik urged reconciliation and dialogue between Hamas and Fatah and
called for the release of long-time prisoners, asking the Palestinian public to
work toward this goal. "My hand is outstretched to all who want
Palestinian unity," he said. "I thank you and my lawyers and
journalists." Al-Dweik specifically thanked Al Jazeera reporter Guevara
Budeiri, who he said was a source of encouragement for prisoners. The
60-year-old lawmaker was appointed chairman of the Palestinian parliament after
the 2006 elections bringing Hamas to power, in an attempt to project a moderate
message to Israel and the West. In the years before his arrest, al-Dweik worked
on behalf of Hamas in Hebron, focusing on civil, rather than militant,
activities and lecturing at West Bank universities. He was one of several Hamas
leaders Israel deported to Lebanon in 1992, and served for a time as their
English-language spokesman. He has never been convicted of security offenses
and did not become publicly involved in Hamas activities after he returned to
the West Bank. An Israel Defense Forces spokesman said that Dweik, who was
sentenced to three years in prison for his ties to Hamas, would go free when
the term was up, as a bid by prosecutors to keep him behind bars was rejected.
2009: A bankruptcy trustee recommended today that SHF Industries be
allowed to buy most of the assets of Agriprocessors for $8.5 million, in
addition to funds already committed to buy up about $21 million in debt owed
two of Agriprocessors’ largest creditors. SHF is led by Heshey Friedman, the
president of Montreal-based Polystar Plastics, which manufactures packaging for
poultry and other meats. Friedman has two other partners in the venture, Daniel
Hirsch and Mitch Kirschner.
2010: The Yellow Submarine is scheduled to present Hatsai Tzvaim Hatsai
Kolot: Israeli poet Rachel's poetry set to music, and The Naomi Ensemble: a
tribute to Naomi Shemer - a tribute to two of Israel's finest poets.
2010: Beit Avi Chai is scheduled to present "Tel Aviv-New York --
Authentic jazz with a touch of the Mediterranean"
2010: A conference organized by the Humphrey Institute for Social
Research at Ben- Gurion University meeting today dealt with “the political, social and cultural
role of diasporas and their links with their countries of origin or, in the
case of second and third generation diaspora children, the home countries of
their parents and grandparents.”
2011: Sheriff David Clarke will speak on "Security and
Spirituality: Reflections on My Mission to Israel" at meeting sponsored by
the Jewish Community Relations Council in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
2011: A lively presentation
featuring Naama Shefi of the Consulate General of Israel entitled A Food
Lover's Tour of Israel” scheduled to be held at the 92nd St Y will give attendees a
chance to “discover what cutting-edge Israeli chefs
are creating in Israel and learn the history of dozens of the country's most
famous dishes.”
2011: There are widening gaps between poor and
middle class citizens in Israel in the rate of incidences of chronic disease, a
report published today revealed. The report, which was based on information
from four HMOs in Israel, was prepared by the Israel National Institute for
Health Policy and Health Services. The report characterizes poor citizens as
those who receive a full or partial exemption from paying the national health
tax, which is 10.1 percent of people living in Israel. There has been an
increase in the prevalence of diabetics receiving medical treatment in Israel,
the report reveals. The rate of diabetes who have an exemption from paying the
national health tax is 16.07 percent, 4.7 times higher than tax-paying
citizens, whose rate stands at 3.43 percent. These numbers reflect an equality
gap which has increased by 4.3 between 2005 and 2007. In addition to diabetics,
the report also reflected a disparity in rate of poor people diagnosed with
asthma. Out of those exempt from the national health tax in 2009, 2.36 were
diagnosed with asthma, a rate which is 2.5 times the rate of asthma diagnosed
in the rest of the population. Reports reflecting similar inequalities have
been published in the past as well as reports reflecting an inequality in the
health care that is available in the center of the country, versus the
periphery.
2011: The
failure of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to retaliate in the Gaza Strip for
rocket fire after disengagement – as he promised – was one of the major
mistakes made after the 2005 pullout, Dan Kurtzer, who was the US envoy to
Israel at the time, suggested today. Kurtzer, in an interview with The
Jerusalem Post, said that immediately after Israel left the Gaza Strip he
told Washington “to expect a very serious Israeli response to the first act of
violence coming out of Gaza.”Kurtzer, attending the Israeli Presidential
Conference in Jerusalem, said he “was persuaded” by what Sharon said: “That
once the pretext for fighting Israel has been removed, there would be no
argument for [continued violence], and in effect, the Palestinians would have
to learn a lesson for continuing violence.” Kurtzer said his message to the
Bush Administration was to be ready for a sharp Israeli military response to
rocket fire, “and be ready to support it.” The success of disengagement rested
on the aftermath of its implementation so I was very surprised there was no
reaction to the first rocket, second rocket and 15th rocket,” Kurtzer said.Kurtzer, today a professor in Middle East policy at Princeton, said that Sharon
argued that the rockets were landing in fields, “not really that bad,” or were
being fired by dissident elements, and not the Gaza leadership.. “But all of a
sudden people got acclimated to the idea that there can be rocket fire,” he
said. “From there it was just a matter of degree: from one rocket a week, to
one a day; from one a day, to one and hour – so it escalated. By the time
Israel did respond, the provocations were very very significant, and the fabric
of trust in post-disengagement had already been eroded.”Asked whether he
thought the Bush administration would have accepted his recommendations to
support military action, he said, “My guess is the administration would have
said that they don’t see any justification for the attacks, that Israel has the
right to defend itself, and that the Palestinians have responsibility to stop
the rocket fire.” Another lesson to be learned from the 2005 disengagement,
Kurtzer said, was that any future unilateral move needed to be “constructed
differently.” “There was never really any buy-in from the Palestinian side,” he
said. “So even though there were some discussions about handing over certain
assets and coordinating certain moves, it literally turned into locking the
fence and throwing the key back over.”better than it was.”However, he said,
another lesson from disengagement is that “it may not work.”“In fact,” he said,
“if you look at the four times Israel gave up territory – two through
agreements, Egypt and Jordan, and two unilaterally, Lebanon and Gaza – the two
through agreements worked out, and the two done unilaterally have not worked out
at all.”Turning to the present situation, Kurtzer said that at this time it was
incumbent upon Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to present his own plan on how
he wanted to move forward. “American administrations going back 40 years much
prefer to work on the basis of an Israeli initiative,” Kurtzer said, adding
that he thought US President Barack Obama was frustrated that Netanyahu “had
not come up with something.”“He [Obama] tried this idea of starting
negotiations on the basis of borders and security, and Netanyahu clearly
doesn’t like it,” Kurtzer said of the president’s proposal to start negotiation
on the basis of the 1967 lines, with mutual agreed swaps. “I think Obama’s
answer now is, ‘OK I’m not going to be angry, but tell me what you want to do.
I know what you don’t want to do, now tell we what you want to do. And its not
going to be sufficient to articulate more conditions.” Kurtzer said that the
problem with Netanyahu’s two major policy addresses – the Bar Ilan speech in
2009, and the address in the Knesset last month – was that he listed a number
of conditions, “but there is no strategy or process.” “Don’t tell me what the
Palestinian have to do, because that is a precondition,” he said. “Tell me what
you want to do – otherwise there is a vacuum. That is what I mean by an
initiative.”Just as Israel needed to initiate something, so did the
Palestinians, Kurtzer said. He downplayed the significance of the PA’s UN bid,
saying that calling it a “train wreck,” as it has been characterized, was
“silly.”“If they want to go to the UN, let them do it. It is going to fail in
practical terms – they are not going to produce anything,” he said. “This is a
nothingness, because it doesn’t accomplish anything.”Kurtzer said he failed to
understand why the UN gambit was triggering such concern in Israel, saying that
it would be a diplomatic triumph, but nothing else. “Now they will have
embassies, rather than missions; ambassadors, rather than emissaries. They will
have status, marching bands, but it doesn’t mean anything.”
2011: The
Israeli Presidential Conference came to an end.
2011(21st
of Sivan, 5772): Eighty-four year old Gene Colan one of the leading comic-book
artists of the 20th century passed away. (As reported by Margalit
Fox)
2012(3rd
of Tammuz, 5772): 18th Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous
memory simply known as The Rebbe. This
blog cannot do justice to his impact on Judaism or the lives of individual
Jews. One does not have to be a Lubavitcher to have been impacted by the Rebbe
or his corps of “Lamplighters” such as Rabbi PInchas Ciment, who brought the light of Chassidus and
Judaism to some very dark places.
2012:
“Hungry Kite,” the creation of Choreographer Deganit Shemy is scheduled to
perform for the last time at the Chocolate Factory at Long Island City.
2012:
Kulanu Toronto and Congregation Shir Libeynu are scheduled
hold a pre-Pride Karaoke Night after Shabbat.
2012:
Rabbi Meir Soloveichik is scheduled to discuss “Serving
Man and God in the Twilight Zone: Reflections on Judaism and Western Thought,” www.torahinmotion.org
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