JUNE 29 In Jewish History
1096: Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mehr.
1106: Moses Sephardi was baptized at Huseca, Spain
and took the name of Petrus Alphonsi, the noted “physician, writer, astronomer
and polemicist.”
1397: Birthdate of John II of Aragon who reigned
from 1456 until his death in 1479. During John’s reign Conversos and Jews held
positions of power and influence. John even employed a Jew as his personal
physician. Within 13 years of his death,
the Jews would be expelled from the Iberian Peninsula.
1494: A fire broke out destroying part of Warsaw.
The Jews were accused of setting the fire and attacked. King John I ordered
them to leave the city and move to the "suburb" of Kazimierz, which
became the first Polish ghetto. Jews were confined to the ghetto until 1868.
1613: Fifteen years at the copyright was obtained
for the “Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre burned.
1654: In Cuenca, Spain, 57 Marranos were taken to
the auto-da-fe. Ten were burnt to death. One of them, Balthasar Lopez,
announced as he was taken to the stake "I don't believe in Christ even if
you bind me." He had returned recently from Bayonne in order to persuade
his nephew to return to Judaism when he was captured by the Inquisition.
1654: A large auto-de-fe took place in Cuenca where
many were burned to death. One man about to be burned threw the crucifix away
from him. A priest scrambled to retrieve it and managed to talk the man into
holding it again. As the executioner began to do his job, the priest asked if
the man was truly repent, the dying man looked at him and said, "Father…do
you think that this is a time to joke?"
1756(1st of Tamuz, 5516): Schoeneche Moses, A.M.
Rothschild’s mother, dies from smallpox.
1790(17th of Tammuz, 5550): Tzom Tammuz
1852: An article entitled Hospital for the Jews published
today reported that "a number of Jewish citizens have united together for
the purpose" of providing medical and surgical care to their poor
co-religionists. The article provides a long list of names to which
contributions can be sent including Samson Simson, John I. Hart an Benjamin Nathan.
1852: Henry Clay, U.S. Senator from Kentucky and
Secretary of State, passed away. In 1832, Senator Clay had used the term “Jew”
in a manner that Samuel Etting of Baltimore considered a slur on his
people. He wrote to Clay complaining of
his language. Clay wrote back and
apologized assuring Ettinger that he had not intended the use of the word Jew
to be taken in that manner and that he had the utmost respect for the Jewish
people. In 1850, Senator Clay led the
fight in the Senate to reject a treat with the Swiss Confederation which would
have subjected American Jews traveling in Switzerland to the laws of that
country that discriminated against any Jews living there regardless of their
nationality. [When you consider how few
Jews there were living in the United States at this time, let alone in
Kentucky, one cannot assume that Clay’s positive interactions on Jewish matters
was one that he thought would bring him great political gain.]
1853: An article entitled "France," subtitled
"Theatrical and Operatic Intelligence" published today reports from
Paris that "Halevy's opera, "The Nabob" will be produced
in less than a month. It is his first production since the close of
"The Wandering Jew."
1857: The New York Times reported that “both
Houses of Parliament were engaged in consider the Jews’ Oath and Disabilities
bill.” A motion to insert the words “on
the true faith of a Christain” as is found in the current oath was rejected by
a vote of 341 to 201. During the debate,
Lord Palmerston said “that with the passage of the bill there was nothing to
prevent Jews from hold the office of Lord Chancellor or Prime Minister.
1857: The New York Times reported that "In the
House of Commons, Lord Palmerston gave notice that he would a bring a bill to
remodel the Parliamentary oaths - to omit the words 'on the true faith of
a Christian’ and thereby to admit Jews into Parliament. Leave was
given to bring in the bill."
1862(1st of Tammuz, 5622): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz.
1864: Elias Leon Hyneman a trooper in the 5th
Pennsylvania Cavalry was taken prisoner during a raid near Petersburg, VA. Hyneman was captured after he had given his
horse to a wounded trooper whose horse had been shot out from under him and
gave his boots to another wounded comrade who was barefoot. Hyneman ended up the hell of Andersonville
where he died in January of 1865. It was a miserable end for man who had
volunteered at the start of the war and had fought with the Army of the Potomac
from 1862 through the Wilderness Campaign of 1864.
1870(30th of Sivan, 5630): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1872: Jacob Levi, a Jew from Germany, living in New
York, was arrested by Captain Leary on charges of having swindled Alois
Grieshaber out of $545 and Joseph Ruath out of $1,000. He was “committed to the
Tombs” where he will stay until his trial takes place.
1875: Emperor
Ferdinand I of Austria passed away. During Ferdinand’s reign the Jews became
full-fledged citizens of the Empire under the terms of the “Ausgleich”.
1877: Today, Frederick W. Seward, the U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State wrote a letter today to Meyer S. Isaacs, the President of
the Board of Delegates of American Israelites.
The letter was written in response to one that the Board of Delegates
had sent asking that the U.S. government intervene on behalf of the Jews, many
of them who are from Russia, living in and around Jerusalem. The secretary said
that normally protection of the U.S. government is given only to U.S. citizens
living abroad. However, the U.S. has
shown its “sympathy for all the oppressed peoples in foreign countries” so long
as it actions can be taken in accordance with “international courtesy and
diplomatic usage.”
1878: “A Large Furniture House Fails” published
today described the surprising demise of B.L. Solomon and Sons, a 45 year old
concern whose partners included four Solomons – Barnet, Solomon, Judah and
Simon. The company reported that it had
$300,000 in liabilities. The failure was
attributed to the inability to liquidate real estate own by B.L. Solomon which,
if it had been sold, would have been able to provide more than adequate working
capital for the company.[Drop in the real estate market causes business failure
– sound familiar?)
1881: The Board of Estimate and Apportionment
awarded $51,556.42 to a variety of charitable insituions including $2,020.00
for the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.
1882: As the Freight Handlers’ Strike continues to
slow down commercial activity in New York and New Jersey, foreign born
strike-breakers including150 Russian Jews were kept busy at the piers of the
Empire and Star Union Lines. Other foreign born workers including those from
Germany and Italy were work elsewhere on the docks.
1882: The Board of Estimate and Apportionment met in
the Mayor’s office today and awarded $27,427.98 to a variety of charitable institutions
includinh $1,433.81 to the Hebrew Sheltering Guardian Society.
1882: “A Noble Hebrew Charity” published today that
newly opened Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews in Yonkers is the first of its
kind to be built and furnished by the B’nai B’rith. The plan is to build an
orphanage on the same grounds once funds are available. Both facilities are for the use members and
their families. The home has a capacity
for approximately 250 men and women.
1882: According to reports from Odessa (Russia), the
District Court of Tiraspol (Moldavia) has sentenced the “anti-Semites” who
killed one Jew and injured several others during riots at Dubosari (Moldavia)
in April. The guilty parties have been
deprived of their civil rights and transportation (to Siberia) for three years.
1882: It was reported today that the Sultan is about to issue a “firman” granting Jewish refugees the right to settle in parts of North Syria and Mesopotamia
1883: “Pauper Immigrants” published today described
the quandary faced by the Emigration Commissioners in dealing with those
arriving on ships from Great Britain who appeared to be indigent. According to
the Attorney General of New York, those without funds would be admitted only if
they could prove that they had friends who were willing and able to care for
them. The deliberations never mentioned Russian or Romanian Jews, but they
would obviously be affected by the ruling. [Editor’s Note – Immigration policy
disputes are not a 21st
century invention.]
1884: The Mound Street Temple in Cincinnati, Ohio
was the scene of today’s graduation exercises for those who have successfully
completed the course of study at the Hebrew Union College, which describes
itself as the only Rabbinical College in the United States. The class of five was the second to
graduate. All of last year’s graduates
are employed. So far, one member of this
year’s class has been hired by a congregation in Leavenworth, Kansas and the
others expect job offers within the near future.
1887: It was reported today that the Hebrew
Technical Institute on Stuyvesant Street is beginning new classes that will
include instruction in mechanical drawing, word working, clay modeling and
metal working as well as math, physics and English. The full course of instruction takes three
years to complete. [The emphasis on vocational education reflects the need to
provide skills for eastern European Jews who did not know how to compete in the
industrial world of their new home country.]
1889(30th of Sivan, 5649): Rosh Chodesh
Tammuz
1891: In Xanten, Prussia, the libelous charges of
ritual murder were uttered publicly. The rise of anti-Semitism culminating in
this libel resulted in an exodus of Jews from Germany to the United States and
other countries.
1896: Herzl leaves Turkey in possession of the
"Commander's Cross of the Order of the Medjidje" as visible evidence
of the seriousness of the negotiations. On the way back to Vienna, Herzl spends
a few hours in Sofia. He his conducted to the Zionist Society and the synagogue.
Hundreds of people cheer him.
1903: Birthdate of Alan Blumlein, English engineer,
who played a key role in developing electronic equipment for the RAF that was
critical in holding the Germans at bay in the years following the fall of
France in 1940.
1908: Birthdate of Dr. Cyrus H. Gordon, American
Jewish archaeological scholar. Dr. Cyrus H. Gordon was a scholar of Near
East culture and a leading expert on ancient languages. Dr. Gordon was
professor of Near Eastern studies at Brandeis University from 1956 to 1973 and
chairman of its department of Mediterranean studies from 1958 to 1973. He was a
professor of Hebrew studies at New York University from 1973 to 1989, when he
retired. In part, his claim to fame came from his writings on Ugaritic, an ancient
language spoken in part of what is today is modern Syria. Based
on his linguistic and other studies, Dr. Gordon believed that the Greeks
and the Israelites had a common cultural origin. Dr. Gordon passed away
in 2001.
1910:
Birthdate of composer Frank Loesser. Loesser wrote such Broadway hits as “Guys
and Dolls” and “How To Succeed in Business Without Trying.” He won
an Oscar for "Baby It's Cold Outside." He passed away in
1969.
1911:
Joseph Seligman, son of Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Newton Seligman is scheduled to
marry Josephine Knowles of Pensacola, FL, in Massawittie Lodge in North Hatley,
Canada.
1911:
Birthdate of composer Bernard Herrmann.
This son of Jewish immigrants from Russia created the theme music of a
whole host of films. He created the
music for the Orson Wells’ classics, Citizen Kane and The Magnificent
Amberson. He was a favorite of Alfred
Hitchcock for whom provided the theme muic for Trouble with Harry, Vertigo,
North by Northwest and Psycho. He passed
away in 1975. Herrmann is another
example of the Jewish role in creating modern American culture.
1912:
According to today’s
issue of Scientific American, the U.S. Secretary of War selected a
special board of officers to investigate the accident that killed test pilot
Arthur L. Welsh and his passenger, Lieut. Leighton Hazelhurst, officer-aviator
of the U.S. Signal Corps. The investigation would place the blame on Welsh. Investigators reported that Welsh and
Hazelhurst were testing out a new weight-carrying military biplane just
delivered for trial by the Wright Company. They began a climbing test of 200
feet a minute for 10 minutes with a weight of 450 pounds, and fuel for four
hours. The investigation stated that Welsh rose to about 150 feet in order to
dive at an angle of about 45 degrees to gain momentum for a sharp rise. The
report concluded that the reversal occurred too suddenly. The Welsh family did
not agree with the outcome of the investigation. Welsh’s “widow always believed that the War
Department pushed too hard for tests that were sure to fail. On the day of the
crash, not only was Welsh carrying too much of a load, but he also carried his
passenger and was expected to climb too quickly and too high when you consider
the weight. Too much was expected." Regardless of which view one believes,
the final word on Welsh’s career may be been written by General “Hap” Arnold,
the five star general who served in both the U.S. Army Air Forces and the newly
created U.S. Air Force. In a 1930 letter to Welsh's sister, Arnold wrote,
"The pioneers in the aviation game were the ones who took all the risks
and received little in exchange for their daring. Al was one of those
pioneers." In his book Global Mission, Arnold wrote: "He had
taught me all he knew, or rather, he had taught me all he could teach. He knew
much more."
1914:
In McKeesport, PA, Sam and Lena Spiegel gave birth to Herbert Spiegel, the
famous physician who “treated pain, anxiety and addictions by putting people
into a trance.” (As reported by Benedict Carey)
1921:
Dr. Emil G. Hirsh, the Rabbi of Chicago’s Temple Sinai, officiated at the
marriage of Mrs. Edith R. Sulzberger the daughter Mr. and Mrs. Julius Rosenwald
and Edgar B. Stern of New Orleans. This
Stern should not be confused with Alfred K. Stern who is the fiancée of Edith’s
sister Marion.
1923:
Meyer Dizengoff, Mayor of Tel Aviv, addresses a letter to the New York Times
thanking everybody from the Mayor on down for the hospitality shown to him
during his recent trip to New York. He
expressed his hope that the “first Jewish city” would benefit from the things shown
him including the city’s public utility system.
1924: Birthdate of composer Ezra
Laderman. Laderman is a leading 20th
century classical composer. He has won
the Rome Prize and several Guggenheim Fellowships. He has taught at several leading institutions
including Sarah Laurence and has been the visiting composer at Yale.
1926(17th of Tammuz, 5686):Tzom Tammuz
1926: Arthur Meighen returns to office as Prime Minister of
Canada. In 1925, while serving as leader
of the “loyal opposition” he spoke during ceremonies dedicating the new Hebrew
University. Echoing traditional English-Canadian views on the Holy Land and
Jewish restoration, Meighen said, “Of all the results” of World War “none is
more important and more fertile in human history than the re-conquest of
Palestine and the rededication of that country to the Jewish people.” Meighen
went on to express the hope that “Jews in Canada [would] take a proper pride in
this great event and that the sons of generations to come may go back to the
land of their destiny.”
1928(11th of Tamuz, 5688): Morris Rich, founder of Atlanta’s famed
Rich’s Department Store, passed away.
1929:
Birthdate of Edgar Bronfman, Sr. CEO of Seagram’s until 1994
1930: Birthdate of producer Robert Evans
1932: The Dow Jones industrial average dipped to 42
and Roy R. Neuberger married Marie Salant, a graduate in economics from Bryn
Mawr who had gone to work in the research department of Halle & Stieglitz
two years earlier.
1934: Birthdate of Alan Cohen who gained fame as
Corey Allen “an American film and television director, writer, producer, and
actor… be best known for playing the character Buzz Gunderson in Nicholas Ray's
1955 film classic, “Rebel Without a Cause.”
1936: The
Palestine Post reported that a government school was set on fire in Jaffa.
Sniping continued on convoys of buses traveling on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv and
Jerusalem-Hebron roads. The long-awaited reply of the Arab Higher Committee
addressed to the High Commissioner and the Colonial Office stated that the
British government continued to ignore all its undertakings given to the Arab
people.
1938 (30th of Sivan, 5698): Chanting the song of the
Revisionist party and dressed in its uniform, 19-year-old Solomon ben Yosef
steadily walked to the gallows in the troop-surrounded prison at Acre at 8 A.
M. He was sentenced to be hanged by the British for alleged terrorist
activities, which in fact consisted of being part of a group that scared away
Arabs by firing a shot in the air. His last words were "Yechi Jabotinsky
(Long live Jabotinsky); Lamut o Lichbosh et Hahar (To die or take the
mountain)" after which he sang “Hatikvah.” No Rabbi was present since
today was Rosh ChodeshTammuz. In fact, some Jews had hoped that the British
might use this as an excuse for commuting his death sentence. British
airplanes, policemen and troops tonight patrolled a Palestine which had been
made tense by the hanging of the Jewish youth.
1939: Thirteen Arabs were killed and four wounded in shooting outrages in the
early hours of this morning in Southern Palestine. Two of the victims were shot
dead on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. In general, Jewish opinion condemns the
attacks on innocent Arab civilians.
“This evening’s edition of the daily Davar headlines all its news
with this bold type query: ‘Who will put an end to the outrages that sully our
struggle and ruin our population.’” The attacks are seen as a reaction to the
new British land law that “is regarded even by moderates as flagrant breach of
faith on the part of Great Britain to the Jews.”
1939: “Early this morning a boat carrying 742 Jewish
immigrants trying to land clandestinely without visas was apprehended by the
Coast Guard near Gaza”. The passengers
were taken by train to Haifa. If they
are released, their number will be deducted from small quota of “legal Jews”
who will be allowed to enter Palestine.
1941 (4th of Tammuz, 5701): In Jassy, Rumania;
soldiers and police, under the watch of the SS, kill over 260 Jews. 5,000 other
Jews are stripped of all belongings and then placed into cattle cars, (over 100
in each), and sent to Mirteshet. On the way over 600 Jews would die. Once there
another 327 would die. Within an eight-day period, over 2,500 people would die
during the train ride.
1941: Nazis murdered the male Jews of Drobian,
Lithuania.
1942: One-year anniversary of the founding of the
Judenrat in Bialystok. A quote from Ephraim Barash's diary captured
the feelings of the time, "It is lucky that we cannot foresee the
future, for if we could, we would not have lived and reached the present stage.
There is no place for optimism in the ghetto."
1942(14th of Tammuz, 5702): Armed Jewish
resistance takes place at Slonim, Belorussia. The Germans burn Jews to death,
killing nearly 15,000.
1942:
A 13-year-old
girl in Amsterdam who would gain fame as Anne Frank wrote in the diary which
she had received as a birthday present only eight days before: "I want to
write, but, more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie
buried deep in my heart."
1942: A second gas chamber begins functioning
at Auschwitz-Birkenau.
1943 (26th of Sivan, 5703): South of
Warsaw, five Poles are shot for hiding four Jews. The latter also are shot.
1943 (26th of Sivan, 5703): At the
Biala-Waka labor camp near Vilna, Lithuania, 67 inmates are shot as reprisal
for the escape of six Jews to a nearby forest.
1945:
Churchill writes to Weizmann justifying his decision to continue the White
Paper of 1939 by reminding the Jewish leaders that many Conservative MP’s were
opposed to the Zionist cause and that many members of the Labor Party were
adopting the view as well. He urged
Weizmann to stop looking to the British and seek support from the United States
to gain the opening of Palestine to Jewish immigration.
1946:
Birthdate of Zvi (Mickey) Har-Even (Harivan), the son of Sylvia and Aurel who emigrated
from Romania in 1950. He died at the age
of 22 while serving on board the Submarine Dakar.
1946: A scheduled luncheon meeting between Abba
Eban and Moshe Sharett is cancelled amid reports that the British are arresting
large numbers of Zionist leaders.
1947: Birthdate of comedian Richard Lewis.
1947(11th of Tammuz, 5707): Judge Isaac Siegel, a
Republican politician who had represented New York’s 20th District
in the House of Representatives, passed away.
1949: Eighty-seven year old Dr. David Philipson, a
native of Wabash, IN, who became a leader of the Reform movement whose literary
works included The Reform Movement in Judaism and Old European
Jewries passed away today
1949: Birthdate of Micky Arison an Israeli-American
businessman and the Chief Executive Officer of Carnival Corporation, the
world's largest cruise operator, and owner of the NBA's Miami Heat. At one
time, Forbes magazine places Arison's wealth at $6.1 billion, making him
the 94th wealthiest person in the world as of 2006. He is the son of the late
Ted Arison, Carnival Corporation's founder and the brother of Shari Arison reputed
to be the wealthiest woman in Israel.
While Arison is a resident of Miami, he maintains a home in Israel.
1951: The
Jerusalem Post reported that the zone limits scheme, imposed on the public
by the Ministry of Transportation in order to save foreign currency, will
continue. M.S. Tamar, Zim's newest fruit-carrier vessel, was launched in
Holland.
1952: Travel writer Diana Rice describes the
progress being made on constructing the Nordeau Plaza Hotel in Tel Aviv. The hotel is scheduled to open in September.
The four million dollar seaside structure boasts luxury suites, a variety of
shops intended to attract tourists and a banquet hall that will seat 1,000.
1954: The Atomic Energy Commission refused to
reinstate the security clearance of Robert J. Oppenheimer, the “father of the
Atomic Bomb.” This might be seen as a
case of Jew v Jew since Edward Teller
testified against Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss, chairman of the commission,
had pushed for the revocation in the first place.
1955: Haim-Moshe Shapira succeeds
Israel Rokach as Minister of Internal Affairs.
1967: The official reunification of Jerusalem begins
as 8,570 acres of west Jerusalem are united with 18,750 acres of east Jerusalem. It was not only Jews who hailed this
event. Nabil Khoury wrote in the Beirut
weekly al-Hawadith, ‘On June 29, in Jaffa Road, the main street of Jerusalem,
the Hebrew tongue disappeared. On that
day, along the entire length of the street, Palestinian Arabic, in all its
different dialects, was heard.’
1967: In Tel Aviv, David Ben-Gurion told his
supporters that “the re-building of Jerusalem must be at the center of the
national effort.” These words followed
naturally for the man who had fought to keep the road to Jerusalem open during
the dark days of 1947-1948 when so many told him that it could not be done.
1972(17th of Tamuz, 5732): Tzom Tammuz
1976: The Jerusalem Post reported from
Entebbe, Uganda, that hijackers held there more than 250 Air France Airbus
passengers and threatened to blow them all up if Uganda's security forces
intervened. Uganda's President Idi Amin paid a visit to the hijackers. The
Israeli Embassy in Paris was assured that France would do everything it could
to secure the release of all hijacked passengers.
1987:
''Yiddish Theater in London, 1880-1987,'' an exhibition that is part of this
summer's Jewish East End Celebration at Lyttleton Circle Foyer, National
Theater
1990(6th of Tammuz, 5750): Author Irving Wallace
passed away.
1996: “As Marie and Roy
Neuberger celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary today, the Dow
Jones industrial average climbed to 5,704.
Mr. Neuberger later described their time together as “64 wonderful years
together.”
1997: The New York Times featured reviews of books by
Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers including “Handsome
Is Adventures With Saul Bellow: A Memoir”
by Harriet Wasserman, “The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich”
by Michael H. Kater and “A Tale of Two Continents: A Physicist's Life in a Turbulent World, the autobiography of Dutch born Jewish physicist Abraham Pais
by Harriet Wasserman, “The Twisted Muse: Musicians and Their Music in the Third Reich”
by Michael H. Kater and “A Tale of Two Continents: A Physicist's Life in a Turbulent World, the autobiography of Dutch born Jewish physicist Abraham Pais
2003(29th of Sivan, 5763):
Aluf
(Maj. Gen.) Mordechai "Mottie" Hod who “was the Commander of the
Israeli Air Force during the 1967 Six-Day War” passed away today. A sabra born
at the famous Kibbutz Degania, Hod was one of the real heroes who helped to
create and defend the state of Israel.
2004(10th of Tammuz, 5764): Thirty-six year old Sgt.
Alan D. Sherman was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. “Alan Sherman is most
remembered for being a loving and devoted father. A Marine reservist who worked
as a licensed practical nurse when he was not on duty, Sherman spent most of
his time with his two sons, Joshua and Logan. Sherman lived with his parents in
the Wanamassa section of Ocean Township, N.J. His ex-wife, Dolores Sherman,
told The Associated Press that the two had maintained a close friendship and
kept in regular contact even while he was away. Sherman adored his children,
spending as much time with them as he could. Michael Sherman said his brother
had “left [his children] his honorable name, as a hero and as a loving father.”
“He wanted to come home to his boys. But he knew he was doing the right thing.
He wanted to fight for his boys so they wouldn’t have to do it,” Dolores
Sherman said. “He totally believed in what he was doing.” (As reported by The
Forward).
2007: At the Israel Museum in Jerusalem an exhibit
entitled “Yemima Ergas: Hidden Cities” opens. “A new series of drawings by
artist Yemima Ergas depicts fantastical cityscapes reminiscent of the majestic
Modernist architecture of the early twentieth century. In the delicate pencil
and charcoal drawings we see bridges, public buildings, factories, and
stadiums, but a longer look reveals that it is all a fiction – we are in fact
looking at discarded computer motherboards.”
2007: In Jerusalem, the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra performs Berg`s Concerto for Violin and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony
at the Sherover Theater at The Jerusalem Theater
2007: As part of his plea bargain President Moshe
Katsav resigned as President of Israel. Katsav is schedule to be indicted on
Sunday July 1. At the time he is
expected to plead guilty to to three charges, and will receive a suspended
sentence and be ordered to pay compensation to the complainants. While one of the charges will be for a
serious sex related crime, under the terms of the plea bargain he will not be
charged with rape.
2007: Acting President Dalia Itzik replaces Moshe
Katsav and will serve as President of Israel until July 15 when President-elect
Shimon Peres takes office. Ms. Itzik is a 54 year old native of Jerusalem who has enjoyed a long
political career.
2007(13th of Tammuz, 5767): Joel Siegel, Emmy
Award-winning film critic for ABC’s “Good Morning American” passed away at the
age of 63.
2008: In Chicago, the Spertus features “Private Lives of Public Figures: How Moral Do Our Leaders Need To Be?” From King David to contemporary politicians, leaders who engage in
immoral or unethical behavior inevitably face questions regarding their
suitability to govern. What do Jewish sources say about these issues? Should
moral turpitude exclude someone from public office? Are all transgressions the
same? Exactly how moral do our leaders need to be? In this text-based study
session and discussion, facilitated by Jewish leadership scholar Dr. Hal M.
Lewis, participants look at several classical Jewish sources that address these
and related matters. Hal M. Lewis is
Dean of Public Programming and Continuing Education at Spertus, where he also
serves as Associate Professor of Contemporary Jewish Studies. A recognized
authority on Jewish leadership, he is author of Models and Meanings in the History of Jewish Leadership and From Sanctuary to Boardroom: A Jewish
Approach to Leadership.
2008: Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois holds
it annual meeting and presents “Ask the Experts at Temple Beth Israel in
Skokie, Il. www.jewishgen.org/jgsi
2008: The
Sunday New York Times book section features reviews of The Spies of
Warsaw, a novel by Jewish mystery writer Alan Furst, The Hebrew
Republic:How Secular Democracy and Global Enterprise Will Bring Israel Peace at
Last by Bernard Avishai and Maps and Legends: Reading and Writing
Along the Borderlands, Michael Chabon’s first collection of nonfiction as
well as an essay entitled “Cultural Crossroads of the Levant” which describes Ibis
Editions “a boutique Jerusalem Press owned by the husband and wife team of Peter
Cole, a MacArthur award-winning poet and translator, and Adina Hoffman, a
biographer and critic that has published
English translations of works in Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, French, German and
Judeo-Spanish — all relating to the Levant.
2008: The
Washington Post book section features reviews of The Dream by Harry Bernstein and America America
by Ethan Canin
2008: At Congregation
Ansche Chesed on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, One World Symphony presents a
performance of the opera “Adriadne Auf Naxos” by composer Richard Strauss who
was appointed President of the German State Music Bureau by Joseph
Gobbels. In fairness to Strauss he later
resigned the position and is credit with saving “several Jewish lives later in
the war, specifically those of his daughter-in-law and her son.” On the other hand, the true measure of the
man may be found in his 1945 declaration “that the Allied bombing of the
Hoftheater, his favorite opera house in Munich, was ‘the greatest catastrophe
that has ever disturbed my life.
2008: Israel’s government
voted to trade one of the most notorious convicts in its prisons, a Lebanese
murderer, for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers whose cross-border capture led
to and partly motivated its month long war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah
in summer 2006. After a wrenching national debate that drove hesitant
officials, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud
Barak, to accept the deal, the cabinet voted 22 to 3 to trade the prisoner,
Samir Kuntar, along with four other Lebanese, for Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad
Regev, the two Israeli soldiers. Mr. Kuntar was part of a cell that in 1979
raided the northern Israeli town of Nahariya, fatally shooting a civilian,
Danny Haran, while his daughter Einat, 4, watched, then smashing the girl’s
head, killing her as well. Mr. Haran’s wife, Smadar, hid with their 2-year-old
daughter, accidentally suffocating her in an effort to stop her from crying
out.
2008: Veteran
Civil Rights leader John Lewis was honored at a
luncheon on Sunday by New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind and the
black-Jewish Alliance, which was inaugurated in January to address the 25
percent surge in anti-Semitic and racist incidents in the black and Jewish
communities. The luncheon, hosted by Joe Lazar, who is running for City Council
in September 2009, included 40 black and Jewish elected officials and community
leaders. "As blacks and Jews, the wind may blow, the rain may beat down on
an old house, be it a house in Brooklyn, Atlanta, America, Israel or Africa,
but we all live in the same house," Rep. John Lewis, a leader of the civil
rights movement who stood behind Martin Luther King, Jr. on the steps of the
Lincoln Memorial in 1963, told a group of Jewish and black leaders in Brooklyn
this week. "We are one people, one family and we must stay together and
build a society at peace with itself," he added.
2008: United Nations
negotiator Gerhard Konrad informed the Israeli government that according to
Hesbollah, Ron Arad is dead, This claim has yet to be confirmed by the
government
2009: Starting today,
Cantor Jack Chomsky of Congregation Tifereth Israel in Columbus, helps to lead
“Poland to Israel: A Journey Through Time,” in which 100 cantors connect 1,000
years of Jewish History in Poland with 4,000 years of history in the homeland
of the Jewish people.
2009: Bernard Madoff is
sentenced to 150 years. This record
sentence is fitting for the man who engineered the largest Ponzi swindle in
history.
2009: JuliusGenachowski,
a yeshiva student who had studied in Israel, assumed the position of Chairman
of the Federal Communications Comissions (FCC).
2010: Gilad Barkan Trio is scheduled to perform at
55 Bar in New York City
2010(17th of Tammuz, 5770):
Tzom Tammuz
2010: Today forest fires
raged across Israel, destroying over 300,000 trees and burning over 750 acres
of forested and open areas. Arson is suspected in many cases, and conditions
worsened due to Israel's severe heat wave.
2011: The Peltz Center for Jewish Life and Lubavitch
of Wisconsin are scheduled to sponsor “Gimmel Tamuz,” “a community wide event
to mark the anniversary of the passing of the Lubavitcher Rebbe of righteous
memory.”
2011: Tnuva caved in to a nationwide cottage cheese
boycott today and announced that they would be lowering the product’s price to
the recommended retail price of NIS 5.9. Tnuva announced that instead of
selling cottage cheese to stores at the fixed price of NIS 5.2, they will now
sell the cheese for NIS 4.55, thus enabling stores to sell the staple product
at the recommended price. Tnuva guaranteed that they would not raise their
prices at least until the end of 2011.
2011: Today the Zionist Organization of America
(ZOA) sent a letter to Delta Air Lines CEO Richard H. Anderson voicing concerns
that the airliner's new alliance with Saudi Arabian Airlines would lead to
discriminatory practices against Jewish travelers. "We write on behalf of the Zionist
Organization of America (ZOA), the oldest and one of the largest pro-Israel
organizations in the US, regarding Delta Air Lines’ decision to add Saudi Arabian
Airlines to its SkyTeam in 2012..., began the letter. It then proceeded to
outline Delta's and Saudi Arabian Airlines' policies before requesting the
cancellation of the business cooperation between the two. Delta Air Lines came
under fire recently by Jewish and rights groups for adding Saudi Arabian
Airlines to its SkyTeam because Saudi Arabian carriers are known to enact their
country's discriminatory policies against Jews, Christians, other non-Muslims,
and women. In the letter, the ZOA quoted the official website of the Saudi
Supreme Commission for Tourism, "[The website] reflected that it was the
policy of the Saudi Arabian government to deny visas to, among others, (1)
anyone holding an Israeli passport or holding a passport with an Israeli arrival
or departure stamp; and (2) 'Jewish People.'" A US State Department report
on Saudi Arabia was also referenced in the letter. "According to the State
Department, women visitors must be met by an authorized sponsor upon arriving
in Saudi Arabia. A married woman must
have her husband’s permission to leave Saudi Arabia – even if she is a US
citizen and even if her husband does not have Saudi nationality. In addition, homosexuals are not welcome in
Saudi Arabia. They have been imprisoned and even executed in Saudi
Arabia," the ZOA wrote. Delta issued an official statement today assuring
that it does not support discriminatory policies based on race, religion,
gender, nationality, or age. The airline also explained the terms of its
agreement with the Saudi carrier, which do not include flying to Saudi Arabia
or code sharing with Saudi Arabian Airlines, but rather "simply allow
passengers to book tickets on multiple carriers," in the statement. While
acknowledging Delta's explanation of the terms, the Zionist Organization of
America, in its letter, "urge(s) Delta to retract its decision to add
Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam because, quite simply, it is the moral,
ethical and right thing to do."
2011(27th of
Sivan, 5771): Rabbi Chaim Stein one of the Roshei Yeshiva the Rabbinical
College of Telshe passed away.
2011(27th of
Sivan, 5771): Sixty-four year old Larry Bogdanow, the founder of Bogdanow
Partners Architects and restaurant designer whose work included the Union
Square Café, passed away today. (As reported by William Grimes)
2012: Without any
frosting, lace, or chuppahs in our midst, Rabbi Shira Stutman is scheduled to lead
a salon-style Shabbat evening with prayers and conversation about the “rites”
and wrongs of women in Judaism, as well as God’s feminine side at the historic
6th & I Synagogue in Washington, DC.
2012: Israeli cellist
Yoed Nir is scheduled to perform at the Garden Party Festival in Helsinki,
Finland.
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