JUNE 9 In Jewish History
68: The Emperor Nero died in Rome. Nero had
appointed four governors of Judea each of whom was crueler and greedier than
his predecessor. The Jewish Revolt in 66 was caused, in part, by this
succession of disastrous appointments by Nero. Nero had ordered Vespasian to
invade the Galilee and suppress the revolt of the Jews. The political unrest
that followed Nero's death as various parties vied for the throne slowed down
the final defeat of the Jews. In the end, Vespasian was made Emperor thanks to
the support of his legions and he sent his son Titus to conquer Jerusalem.
721: At the Battle of Toulouse, Odo of
Aquitaine defeated the Moors led by Al-Samh ibn Malik al-Khawlani, the governor
of Al-Andalus. Al-Andalus refers to that part of the Iberian Peninsula which
was under the control of the Moslems. While the defeat at Toulouse (in modern
day France) helped to confine the forces of Islam to territory south of the
Pyrenees mountains, it served to reinforce the fact that Spain would not be
ruled by Christians. For a limited period of time, this created what some
called a Golden Age for the Jews of Spain. The reality is a little more
complicated. It would more than seven centuries for the Christians to dislodge
the Moslems from the Iberian Peninsula. Depending on the whims and needs of
various rulers (both Christian and Moslem), Jewish fortunes waxed and waned. It
would all end with the expulsion of 1492.
1171(4th of Tammuz): A few days after decreeing that the 20th of
Sivan should henceforth be a day of fasting and mourning in honor of the 51
Jews burned at the stake Blois, Rabbi Tam passed away.
1595: Birthdate of King Wladislaus IV who was
King of Poland at the outbreak of The Khmelnitsky Uprising and failed to check
it at its inception. This failure contributed to the worst massacre of Jews
until the 20th century and the Holocaust.
1672: Birthdate Tsar Peter I of Russia, known
as Peter the Great. He may have been “great” to the worst of the world but not
so great as far as the Jews were concerned since he banned Jews from his domain
even as he sought to modernize it.
1693(5th of Sivan): Rabbi Gershom Ashkenazi
author of Avodat ha-Gershuni passed away.
1732: James Oglethorpe was granted a charter
to establish the colony of Georgia. The colony was settled in June of 1733. In
July of 1733, “forty Sephardic Jews arrived in Savannah” marking the beginning
of the Jewish community in Georgia.
1753(7th of Sivan, 5513): Second
Day of Shavuot
1787: Birthdate of Sarah (nee Dias Fernandes)
Aguilar the wife of Emanuel Aguilar and the mother of author Grace Aguilar.
1790(27th of Sivan, 5550): Purim of Florence
is celebrated by Florentine Jews because on the 27th of Sivan, 1790 they were
saved from a mob by the efforts of the bishop. The festival is preceded by a fast
on the 26th of Sivan. The details of the occurrence are related in full by
Daniel Terni in a Hebrew pamphlet entitled "Ketab ha-DaṬ," published
in Florence in 1791.
1815: The Congress of Vienna came to an end.
Europe enters into a period of political reaction following the defeat of
Napoleon. “After Napoleon's defeat and the Congress of Vienna, the Germans took
their revenge on the French and the Jews. The Congress of Vienna had provided
for full civil and political rights "to differing parties of the Christian
religion," but the "civil betterment" of the Jews was put off
for further study. The Congress stated that Jews could retain such rights as
they already had, but nearly everywhere in Germany the rights that the Jews had
won were disavowed and rescinded. (Prussia was an exception: only some Jewish
rights were abolished; most were retained.) A period of reaction set in, in
which anti-Semitism was a major component.” Surprisingly enough, Prince
Metternich, the reactionary Austrian Foreign Minister played a positive role
for Jews living in the German cities of Frankfurt, Lubeck and Bremen while the
Congress was in session. When the ruling bodies of those cities attempted to
take away rights previously granted to the Jewish communities, the Jews appealed
to Metternich for help. Metternich interceded on behalf of the Jews because
depriving them of their rights would have been a violation of the guarantees
made by the Congress of Vienna. Metternich was not a philo-Semite. Rather he
was aware of the economic power of these Jewish leaders and he knew that they
would be a force for stability. Also, Metternich based Austria’s foreign policy
on the decisions of the Congress and he was opposed to anything that would
undermine the agreements reached there.
1854: The New York Times reports that
“It is said that there is not a single Jew in the United States engaged in
agriculture.”
1856: Birthdate of Aaron David (A.D.) Gordon,
the founder of Hapoel Hatzair.
1863: During the Civil War, Jacob Ezekiel
Hyneman, a native of Richmond, VA serving with the Union Army was wounded at
the Battle of Brandy Station, the most important clash of cavalry in the east
which help to set the stage for the Battle of Gettysburg.
1870: Author Charles Dickens passed away.
Dickens was considered an anti-Semite by some because of his character Fagin in
Oliver Twist. Dickens defended himself against what he considered a
false claim. In a later work, Our Mutual Friend, Dickens created the
sympathetic Jewish character Mr. Riah who is the victim of a Christian
moneylender. "The Jewish people are a people for whom I have a real regard
and to whom I would not willingly have given an offense...for any worldly
consideration."
1871: It was reported today that French
Banker Jules Mires has passed away.
1871: The three-day long Rabbinical
Conference, a meeting of leaders of the Reform Movement, came to an end in
Cincinnati, Ohio. Twenty-three
congregations were represented at the meeting.
The Conference agreed to provide “a modern prayerbook” which would not
contain any references to a return of the Jews to Jerusalem, the offering of
sacrifices or a personal messiah. It was also agreed that services would be
conducted primarily in English instead of Hebrew. In the field of education,
the Conference approved the establishment of seminary to train rabbis and the
development of a uniform course of study for congregational Sabbath
Schools.
1875: In New York, a large number of Jews met
at Adath Israel to memorialize the passing of the James Gordon Bennett., the
founder editor and publisher of the New York Herald. Those in attendance adopted a series of
memorial resolutions that were to be sent to his widow and son which described
Bennett as “an honest supporter and true
friend” of the Jewish people who “always gave firm and true support to our
creed.”
1876: President U.S. Grant and Thomas Ferry, the
President Pro Tempore of the United State attended the consecration services of
Adas Israel, the new orthodox synagogue in Washington, DC. The service was
bilingual with prayers in Hebrew and an address by Rabbi George Jacobs of
Philadelphia in English. Adas Israel has moved twice since this event but still
remains located in the District of Columbia; its members under the leadership
of Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz, having made the courageous decision not to move to
the suburbs. It is one of the leading Conservative Congregations in the United
States.
1880: In New York City, the Young Men’s Hebrew
Association is scheduled to host a strawberry festival and concert at Lyric
Hall tonight to raise funds for its library.
1880(30th
of Sivan, 5640): Rosh Chodesh Tammuz
1881:
It was reported today that the government is conducting a census among the Jews
living in Kiev with the goal of expelling those from the city who do not have a
right to live their under the restrictive residency laws applied to them.
1882:
“Death After Fasting Seven Month” published today described the death of a
Polish Jew named Adolph Schomger who stopped eating after having been sentenced
to the penitentiary in Nebraska after having been convicted of stealing. Schmoger was transferred to “an insane
asylum” but his starvation tactics continued causing his weight to fall from
150 to 80 pounds to his death.
1886(6th of Sivan, 5646): Shavuot
1886: Final exams are scheduled to be given
at Central High School in Philadelphia, PA despite the face that it is
Shavuot. The principal has refused to
make any accommodation for the Jewish students despite pleas from the city’s
Rabbis.
1887: Dr. Sabato Morais, the rabbi at Mikveh
Israel in Philadelphia, became the first Jew recognized by the University of
Pennsylvania with an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.
1887: In New York, Adolph Reich was convicted
of murdering his wife and sentenced to death.
Court officials said that it was rare for Jews to be charged with murder
since they were “as a rule orderly, law-abiding citizen” and they could not remember
one ever being executed.
1891(3rd of Sivan, 5651): Samuel Adler “a leading German-American Reform rabbi, Talmudist, and author” passed away. He was also the father of Felix Adler, the well-known founder of the Society for Ethical Culture.”
1893: Birthdate of Samuel Nathaniel Behrman,
the Worcester, Massachusetts native, who gained success writing scripts of
stage and screen as well as doing profiles for the New Yorker. Among his
subjects were Chaim Weizman, George Gershwin, Max Beernbohm, Joseph Duveen and
Eddie Cantor.The Worcester Account is an account of his
childhood from 1893 to shortly after he moved to New York City in 1917.
1899(1st of Tammuz, 5659): Rosh Chodesh
Tammuz
1899: The French cruiser Sfax arrived at
Devil’s Island. The ship’s mission was to bring Dreyfus home after four years
and three months of being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.
1902: Herzl's father dies in Vienna. Herzl
goes back to Vienna for the funeral.
1905: Pogrom began in Lodz, Poland
1911: The Jewish community of St. Thomas,
Danish West Indies, publishes a protest against the appeal of the Anglican
Church to raise funds designed to “gather Jews into the fold” i.e. create
proselytes
1921: Birthdate of Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg,
leading Jewish author, philosopher and fighter for civil rights of all. He
passed away in 2006.
1922: Silent film star Beatrice Carpenter and
Herman Axelrod gave birth to George Axelrod. Axelrod’s father was a Russian Jew
while his mother was not Jewish. His breakout work was “The Seven Year Itch”
which was a successful play and film.
1924(7th of Sivan, 5684): Second Day of
Shavuot
1926: Congressman Meyer London’s funeral was
held in New York City with tens of thousands filling the streets in his honor.
1928: Delegates representing 400
organizations are expected to attend today’s’ convention The Hebrew Religious
Protective Association at the Broadway Central Hotel
1930: Birthdate newscaster, author and
educator, Marvin Kalb. Kalb first gained fame as a correspondent with CBS
Television News. Kalb has an equally famous brother, Bernard, with whom he
sometimes shares the lecture circuit much to the delight and enlightenment of
the attendees.
1931: Birthdate of comedian Jackie Mason.
1935(8th of Sivan): Dr. Shermaryahu Levine
passed away
1935: Anti-Jewish riots occur in Grodno,
Poland.
1936: John F. Kennedy, future President of
the United States left Jerusalem for Lebanon and Syria.
1936: Arabs attempted to attack Kfar
Yeheskiel, a Jewish workmen’s settlement in the Jezreel Valley. Jospeh Tavory,
a Jewish truck driver was wounded during the unsuccessful attack.
1937: The Palestine Post reported that
according to French press reports the British government was expected to
propose, at the June 18 session of the Permanent Mandates Commission of the
League of Nations in Geneva, the establishment of a Jewish republic and a joint
Arab Palestinian-Jordanian state under Emir Abdullah.
1937: Chaim Weizmann gave an account of his
dinner of the previous night where he had dined with Winston Churchill and
other Zionist supporters in Parliament to a number of leading Zionists then
visiting London including David Ben-Gurion
1938: The Main Synagogue in Munich was burned
down. Two thousand Jews throughout Germany were arrested and were sent to
concentration camps to do hard labor.
1939: Birthdate of Letty Cottin Pogrebin, who
has become one of the most well-known figures in both the Jewish and secular
feminist movements.
1941: Abraham Pais obtained his doctoral
degree in theoretical physics today, just five days before the deadline. His
was the last Ph.D. issued to a Dutch Jew until after the war. Abraham Pais
1942: Lord Wedgwood opened the debate in the
British House of Lords by urging that the mandate over Palestine be transferred
to the United States, since Britain had reneged on its commitments. He stated
with bitterness: "I hope yet to live to see those who sent the Struma
cargo back to the Nazis hung as high as Haman cheek by jowl with their
prototype and Führer, Adolf Hitler
1942(23rd of Sivan, 5702): When a Jewish
mother at Pabianice, Poland, fights fiercely for her baby during a deportation,
the baby is taken from her and thrown out a window.
1942: A gassing van is sent to Riga, Latvia,
for the execution of Jews.
1942: German criminal police in the Lodz
Ghetto reported that 95 Jews ‘have been hung publicly here.
1943(6th of Sivan, 5703): First Day of
Shavuot
1944: Jewish-Hungarian poet and Jewish-Palestinian paratrooper Hannah Szenes is arrested in Hungary after completing her mission for the British in Yugoslavia. She was attempting to help the Hungarian Jews who were being transported to Auschwitz. Born in Hungary in 1921, Szenes witnessed the rise of anti-Semitism in pre-World War II Hungary. She became a Zionist and moved to Palestine in 1938. By 1941 she had joined a kibbutz and the Haganah. She was one of many European born Jews living in Palestine who joined the British Army and agreed to be dropped behind enemy lines. There purpose was two-fold - to add anti-Nazi partisan forces and to help the Jews facing extermination. Just before her death at the hands of her Hungarian captors Szenes wrote the following poem: “One-two-three... eight feet long, Two strides across, the rest is dark... Life hangs over me like a question mark. One-two-three... maybe another week, Or next month may still find me here, But death, I feel, is very near. I could have been twenty-three next July; I gambled on what mattered most; The dice were cast. I lost." Most Israelis can recite the following lines, "Blessed is the match consumed in kindling flame. Blessed is the flame that burns in the secret fastness of the heart." Her most famous work is one that is often sung in Hebrew and English.
"Lord, my God,
I pray that these things never end:
The sand and the sea,
The rush of the waters,
The crash of the heavens,
The human prayer
1945: Prime Minister Winston Churchill
rejects a written request by Chaim Weizmann for an end to all restrictions on
Jewish entry into Palestine now that the war with Germany is over saying
“”There can I fear be no possibility of the question being effectively
considered until the victorious Allies are definitely seated at the Peace
table.” This statement effectively ended Weizmann’s leadership role. Many
Zionists viewed this as a betrayal by the British in general and by the
supposedly pro-Zionist Churchill in particular.
1949(12th of Sivan, 5709): Eighty-six year old Dr. Moses Hyamon, the native of Russia and distinguished scholar who served as Chief Rabbi of the British Empire before World War I and who had been Rabbi of New York’s Orach Chaim passed away
1949: Mira (Miriam) Shefer left Cyprus on the
SS Sha’ar Yishuv. After having survived
the Holocaust, she traveled from Poalnd, crossed the Alps into Austria before
arriving in Italy where she boarded the SS Kadima. Although the ship was equipped for 400
passengers, this desperate voyage took 800 Jews through the British blockade to
Haifa. Unfortunately for Mira and the
rest of the passengers, the British sent them all to Cyprus where she endured
life in an internment camp until the creation of the Jewish state.
1950: Jefferson Caffery, the United States Ambassador to Egypt, said that “last month’s declaration by the United States, Britain and France on the Middle East was not intended to picture the present frontiers between Israel and her Arab neighbors as permanent borders.”
1950: Israel responded to charges of
mistreatment of infiltrators from Jordan by telling the Arabs to “keep on your
own side of the border.” The Israelis claim that there only responsibility is
to “escort the infiltrators to a point near the border and send them on their
way.” According to the agreement signed at Rhodes in 1949 that ended hostilities
between Israel and Jordan, “neither troops nor civilians could pass into each
other’s territory.”
1951: The last group of Nazis convicted of
war crimes during World War II is hanged in Nuremberg.
1952: The Jerusalem Post reported that
banknotes issued in 1948 by the Anglo-Palestine bank as Israel’s legal tender
had to be exchanged for new notes, in different colors, issued by Bank Leumi
L’Israel. A 10 percent compulsory deduction for a 15-year loan, at 4%, was to
accompany each exchange of the old notes for the new, and a similar deduction
was to be carried out automatically on all bank deposits. The loan was expected
to bring IL 25 million for the Treasury. Three hundred new immigrants marched
in Tel Aviv demanding better housing.
1952: Birthdate of Uzi Hitman, Israeli
singer, songwriter, composer and television personality who died of a heart
attack in 2004 at the age of 52
1961: Birthdate of Aaron Sorkin producer and
writer for television hit, “The West Wing
1962(7th of Sivan, 5722): Second Day of
Shavuot
1962(7th of Sivan, 5722): Madame and bordello
owner, Polly Adler, passed away.
1963: Barbra Streisand appeared on "The
Ed Sullivan Show."
1963: Rabbi Stanley Rabinowitz of Adas Israel
attended the at the ground breaking ceremonies for the Abraham S. Kay Spiritual
Life Center, the American University in Washington, D.C.,
1967: In a change of mind and policy, Defense
Minister Moshe Dayan told Chief of Staff Yitzchak Rabin that the IDF would take
the Golan Heights after all. Rabin began moving forces from the Central Command
to the North. The fighting was tough as the IDF advanced against the
well-fortified Syrian positions. By nightfall, the IDF seemed to be taking
control of the battlefield and there was already talk about advancing on the Syrian
capital of Damascus. The Israelis were concerned about the fate of the 15,000
Jews living in Syria. For years the Syrian government had held them under
virtual arrest, denying any of them the right to leave the country.
1968: In an article entitled “This Piece of Earth,”
Chaim Potok reviewed “Light on Israel” by Maurice Samuel, “The Road to
Jerusalem: The Origins of the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1967” by Walter Laqueur, “Under
Fire: Israel’s 20 Year Struggle for Survival”, edited by Donald Robinson, “The
Resurrection of Israel” by Ann Latour; translated by Maragaret S. Summers and
“The Hand of Mordechai” by Margaret Larkin.
1975: Malcolm Toon is appointed U.S.
Ambassador to Israel.
1977: The Jerusalem Post reported
that, according to US Assistant Secretary of State Alfred Atherton, it would be
"perfectly reasonable" for Israel to seek compensation from the Arab
states for the property left behind by Jewish refugees who came to Israel after
1948. The Prime Minister designate, Menachem Begin, assured the press that his
election wouldn't affect Israeli relations with Germany
1981: Birthdate of actress Natalie Portman.
Born Natalie Hershberg, in Jerusalem, Portman took her grandmother’s maiden
name for her stage name. A 2003 graduate of Harvard she has Queen Amidala in
“Star Wars” and appeared in other major productions including “Cold Mountain”
and “Garden State.”
1982: Units of the Golani Brigade and the
Barak Armored Brigade began their attack on Doha and Kafr Sil, two villages on
the outskirts of Beirut
1987: The trial of Klaus Barbie took a new turn today as historians, led by the niece of Charles de Gaulle, began testifying over the objections of Mr. Barbie's attorney. Genevieve de Gaulle, 66 years old, a survivor of the Nazi Ravensbruck camp, told how gypsy girls were sterilized by X-ray and Polish girls were mutilated in experiments. A historian, Leon Poliakov, 76, said the killing of Jews, gypsies and mentally ill Germans was the cornerstone of Hitler's drive to conquer the world. Countering claims that SS officers such as Mr. Barbie were unaware of the fate awaiting Jews in the camps, Mr. Poliakov quoted Heinrich Himmler, the SS leader, as telling officers in 1943: ''The Jews will be exterminated. It is clear. It is part of our program.'' (As reported by Reuters)
1992: On the 25 anniversary of the 1967
Middle East War, an article, entitled “Voices of Israel: To Many, the Fruits of
the '67 War Taste Bitter,” The New York Times reported on how some
Israelis view the road their country has traveled since that June.
On the 25th anniversary of the 1967 Middle
East War, Israelis are talking about The war, from June 5 to June 10, was the
most significant event for Israel since its war of independence in 1948, a
dazzling victory over neighboring Arab countries that left the Israelis with
far more territory and breathing room but also with many more domestic
divisions and international disputes. The evocations stand in sharp contrast to
the almost total silence about the 10th anniversary of Israel's invasion of
Lebanon, which began in exactly the same period in 1982 and created a quagmire
the Israelis would rather forget. As Israelis observed the anniversary, Clyde
Haberman and Joel Greenberg spoke with people of different backgrounds and
political views. Here are their thoughts about the past and the present:
Shabtai Teveth A historian; 66 years old; author of several books, including
two accounts of the 1967 war and "The Cursed Blessing," on the
occupation of the West Bank and its aftermath. The blessing of 1967 was that
Israel proved again that it was viable and not, as the Arabs imagined,
something that could be wiped off the map without much effort. It was a return
to the land of the Bible. Suddenly, Israel became the Land of Israel. The
Zionist dream and the Biblical return were fused into one reality. Then there
was a change, whose agent was the success of Moshe Dayan's policy in the
territories in the first 20 years after 1967. There was a feeling that the
territories were neither a political nor a security burden, and that we can go
on holding them. We were lulled by our success, and Israelis began thinking
they could reap political fruits from military victory and create conditions
for annexation. This trend was joined by the rise to power of Likud, which
always believed in obtaining Zionist political aims by force of arms. The 1982
Lebanon war testified to this new approach. That war split Israeli opinion, and
later the intifada deepened the split. Over the last 25 years, Israel has lost
its consensus on acts of war. We lost one of the most important things needed
for our existence, for our progress and for our future relations with the
Arabs: That is the national consensus. The curse of the blessing of 1967 is
that we are now a house divided against itself. Zeev Chafets A Government press
officer under Prime Minister Menachem Begin; a writer, now 44 years old; born
in Michigan; emigrated to Israel two months after the 1967 war. Israel in 1967
was still very much dominated by Labor Zionist orthodoxy. It was dominated by
the sabra elite and by an Eastern European parent generation. The parents were
symbolized by Golda Meir and Levi Eshkol. Ben-Gurion was still alive. There was
a correct answer to every issue, from when peace would come, to the right way to
be an Israeli. People put up with that very high-handed, very paternalistic,
very exclusionary elite Government because of the incredible prestige that it
enjoyed. That prestige hit its highest point with the 1967 war. And it was very
difficult for anyone who was outside this "in" crowd -- Oriental
Jews, new immigrants, Orthodox Jews or urban bourgeois types -- to quarrel with
the incredible success that those people had had. No matter what you thought of
them, you had to admit that at least they knew best. All that broke down after
the 1973 war. The prestige of the founders and of the sabra sons' generation
was shattered. We almost lost that war. After 1973 it became clear that they
didn't know what they were doing, or at least that they didn't know better than
anyone else. And that opened the way for all sorts of change. People think
about Israel and they think about the Palestinian question. But what gets
missed is that in the last large numbers of years, the Palestinian problem
hasn't changed very much. All the change has taken place in the unobserved
areas of Israeli life, in things that don't interest people too much but make
up the fabric of the society. Israel today is much more democratic than it was
in 1967. It's much more pluralistic and culturally interesting. It's more
realistic, less utopian, less naive. It's a much more tolerant country than it
was. The notion that this was a little Eden in 1967 and has since degenerated
into this terrible repressive society is utter nonsense. Leah Shakdiel A religious
feminist; 41 years old; running for Parliament as a leader of Hatikva, or The
Hope, a small party urging greater economic and social equality. I was a
high-school student during the Six-Day War, and I remember the incredible
excitement in my family when we heard about the liberation of Jerusalem. It had
profound national meaning, the liberation of our ancestral land. In the early
1970's I was very impressed by the idealism, spiritual values and sacrifices
made by the [ religious nationalist ] Gush Emunim movement. In the mid-70's I
started having doubts. It seemed to me that the people of Israel were being
neglected for the sake of hallowed ground, and spiritual energy was being spent
on the "liberated territories." It was clear as daylight that a revision
was necessary in our traditional positions that identified nationalism with
ignoring the Arabs: We were immersed in our own drama, and they were statistics
somewhere, to be disregarded. Today this is impossible. The talk of
"liberated territories" now looks absurd. Territories aren't
liberated, people are. The Jewish people, while claiming to have liberated
territories, is unable see it is enslaving people in the process. There's a
dual morality. After 1967 people started treating the occupation as a force of
nature that can't be changed. We are in a paradox. On the one hand we have
genuine security concerns, but we can't deal with them as long as we rule
another population. An artificial doubling of territory gives people a false
sense of security and prevents them from seeing problems in their correct
proportions: We're terribly big and strong, but on the other hand we're
terribly weak and threatened. We rule the Arabs, and at the same time we're
scared to death of them. Azmi Bishara Describes himself as a Palestinian
citizen of Israel; from the Israeli Arab town of Nazareth and now living in
East Jerusalem; 35 years old; teaches Palestinians at Bir Zeit University in
the West Bank and works at an Israeli research institute; proposes granting
cultural autonomy to Israeli Arabs. In 1967 we renewed contact with
Palestinians in the territories, and with our cultural, religious and national
continuity. It was a rediscovery of the Palestinian self after an isolation of
20 years. At the same time you discovered what distinguishes the Palestinian
minority in Israel from the Palestinians under occupation: the status of being
a citizen. There were two parallel processes: Palestinization and
Israelization. The Arabs in Israel became Israelis only after 1967. Before that
they were a minority who had been defeated. They wanted to show loyalty, they
were afraid, and so their Israelization was not real. It was not an internal
process. After 1967, two processes began: solidarity with the part of the
Palestinian people under occupation, and at the same time discovering the
distinctions. This is the real Israelization: You are a citizen and they are
not, and this status brings with it some benefits, like freedom of speech and
movement, and economic benefits. There is a contradiction here, and I am living
the conflict all the time. When soldiers came and started breaking chairs on
the heads of my Bir Zeit students, I was not ashamed of "our
soldiers," as my Israeli leftist friends were. I saw the soldiers as the
enemy. It's not my state. I'm a Palestinian, and the state declares itself the
state of the Jews, so I don't have the privilege of being ashamed of it.
Neither the flag nor national anthem are mine. But there are Israeli
intellectuals who are my friends, people I love and care for, like the
Palestinians I care for. It is really my society, but it is not Israeli
society, it is a subculture. The most hostile phenomena to me are Israeli
phenomena, but some of the closest people to me are Israelis. I'm very much a
stranger here, and at the same time I belong here too much. Yisrael Harel A
former newspaper editor; 51 years old; moved to the West Bank settlement of
Ofra in 1976; heads the Council of Jewish Communities in Judea, Samaria and
Gaza. We are full of memories, but maybe we neglect important conclusions from
our past. Everything was written on the wall before the Holocaust, and people
didn't believe it. People went on the trains. They didn't want to believe they
were being taken to concentration camps. It looks to me that in certain ways we
continue it in Israel. Of course we are not facing a Holocaust. But we refuse
to see the signs on the wall. The biggest is the denial of what we can expect
from those who live around us if we do not behave as a people who are in a state
of constant war and an object of constant hatred. Who knows when it's going to
stop, when you have against you people who are able to do all these impossible
atrocities to their own people? The elites in this county -- cultural,
political, academic -- will tell you that if we were greater peace lovers, then
we wouldn't need these defense budgets, that it's only because the Government
doesn't want real peace. When they go on sabbatical or to a conference, they
meet people from a different world and they are asked hard questions: What are
you people doing to Palestinian boys? Then they start to apologize. We Jews in
general, and Israelis in particular, are very concerned about what people think
of us: Do we look nice? But makeup cannot help. We are dealing with basic
questions. Those people who have guilt feelings and don't see the danger, and
are willing to accept Palestinians back from exile, are like a body that's lost
its immunities. They are more concerned about how they look to others, and it
overwhelms their instincts about what has to be done. When it comes to your
existence, the hell with what that professor or diplomat or journalist thinks
of you. Arie Eliav A 70-year-old Labor member of Parliament who chose not to
run this month; directs an educational project in the Negev. The Six-Day War
was a heroic and tragic watershed. Looking back over 25 years, it's become
another Israel. And you balance everything out, it is a worse place, no doubt
about it. The war was a fortune that became a misfortune. Nobody will deny that
from 1948 to 1967, Israel, with all its deficiencies, was a democracy by every
yardstick. But in the 25 years of our rule over the two million Arabs in the
West Bank and Gaza, it's become a nondemocracy. It's a country under military
rule. What we are doing is against the teachings of the prophets -- this
conquest, this rule over minorities, this treatment of the stranger in our
midst. Eventually, continuation of the conquest will make Israel less and less
tolerant. It's inbred. You can't be a tolerant conqueror. Settlements are not
only a hindrance, they are a catalyst for losing our goals, the Jewish,
Zionist, Israeli values. It started with the Labor Government, but it continued
more and more with this Government. What Sharon is doing is sending a curse on
Israel. It's messianic craziness. The settlements are a burden on the army.
Most of the Israeli top generals, past and present, will tell you that they
don't need them for security reasons. They need some observation posts. The army
is our guarantee, and many of the settlements are just a burden for it. Herman
Branover An acclaimed physicist at Ben-Gurion University in Beersheba; 60 years
old; a dissident who emigrated to Israel from Latvia in 1972. There is a great
difference in the motivation of those who came 20 years ago and those coming
from Russia now. Twenty years ago, people had a certain kind of Jewish
motivation. Most could definitely find fulfillment and happiness here, although
not everybody completely agreed with how things were going. In Russia, Jews
were very successful in industry, in culture and arts. There was a stereotype
that anything in Jewish hands is somehow perfect, relatively at least. So here,
they expected management to be perfect, and it upset many of them that it was
far from that. But still many came with a feeling of belonging. Nowadays, it's
just a desire to find a better place. Many new immigrants feel very much like
strangers because they lack any knowledge of the culture, of language, of the
religion. The No. 1 question is employment, and given the incredible task for a
small nation to absorb 10 percent of its population in two years, Israel has
failed to provide everybody a relevant job. Most were in high positions in
Russia, and they are forced to do simple labor like sweeping streets and
washing dishes in hotels. It is difficult for me to imagine how it would be if
I were not religious or not a Zionist. If they do not become involved in Jewish
education, culture and heritage, it will be very hard for them, and I do not
know if they will stay or not. Bella Freund The focus of an emotional debate
last month when she prevented a mob attack on a Palestinian who had stabbed and
lightly wounded an Israeli boy in downtown Jerusalem; a rigorously Orthodox Jew;
40 years old; won both praise and abuse from other Israelis, reflecting the
inherent tensions and the flashes of hope that are part of the last 25 years.
Yes, the Arabs have stabbed children. But still, we as Jews, the chosen people,
have to take a very deep breath before taking the law into our own hands.
People shouted at me after the stabbing, "An eye for an eye!" But
these are crucial matters of life and death that in our history were decided in
a court of scholars. We have to set limits, because violence is so much in the
air. That is a big change that has occurred in recent years. Relations in
general between people in our society have deteriorated, and the Arabs are also
bearing this burden. The loss of respect for human life is there in the careless
driving and serious accidents on the roads, in beatings, drugs and child abuse.
It's a process that has taken years. People are not at peace. There are
tensions, and they extend in every direction. I protected someone because he
was a human being, and found that I had to explain myself. Our people are so
divided, so confused, so politicized. The public is very tired.
1994(30th of Sivan, 5754): Rosh Chodesh Tamuz
1999: Haaretz reported that Israel and
the U.S. are both demanding the immediate release of 13 Jews arrested in Iran
on charges of espionage, saying the charges are trumped-up and may be motivated
by anti-Semitism. The 13 Jews, from Shiran and Isfahan in southern Iran, were
arrested on the eve of Passover and accused of spying for the "Zionist regime"
and "world arrogance" - references to Israel and the United States
respectively. However, the arrests only became public knowledge on Monday.
Those arrested include a rabbi, a ritual slaughterer and teachers.
2000(6th of Sivan, 5760): First Day of Shavuot
2002: The New York Times featured
reviews of books by Jewish authors and/or of special interest to Jewish readers
including “Back Then” by Anne Bernays and Justin Kaplan and “Nuremberg: The
Real Trial of the Century” by William F. Buckley Jr.
2005: Yisrael Meir Lau reinstalled as Chief
Rabbi of Tel Aviv
2007: In Cedar Rapids, Jonathan Chadick
becomes a Bar Mitzvah at Temple Judah.
2007: In an effort to encourage people to get
out of their cars and start riding bikes instead, municipal authority packed
Tel Aviv's Rabin Square with bicycles for riders who wish to spend part of
their day on an urban bicycle trek. A total of 600 street bicycles and 100
bikesfor children above age 6, are offered free of charge to those who want to
get to know Tel Aviv on two wheels and use this opportunity to learn about
bike-riding as an alternate means of transportation. Dr. Moshe Tiomkin, head of
the Tel Aviv Authority for Traffic, Transportation and Parking, explained that
the municipality plans to create a web of paths connecting the entire city, so
residents may ride bicycles from one point to another, "to work and class,
and to run errands on bicycles."
2007(23rd of Sivan, 5767):
Centenarian plus two Rudolf Arnheim, a refugee from Nazi German whose knowledge
of psychology, philosophy and critical
skills were the mark of what used to be called an “educated man” and also made
him an outstanding professor of the psychology of art at Harvard, passed away
today. (As reported by Margalit Fox)
2008: U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates nominated General Norton Schwartz a Jewish 35-year-old veteran with a background in Air Force special operations, as the new Air Force chief of staff. Schwartz, a pilot with more than 4,200 flying hours, served as Commander of the Special Operations Command-Pacific, as well as Alaskan Command, Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, and the 11th Air Force. Prior to assuming his current position, Schwartz was Director, the Joint Staff, in Washington, DC. He attended the Air Force Academy and the National War College, and he participated as a crew member in the 1975 airlift evacuation of Saigon. In 1991, he served as chief of staff of the Joint Special Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. When the Jewish Community Centers Armed Forces and Veteran's Committee presented its Military Leadership Award to Schwartz in 2004, he said he was "Proud to be identified as Jewish as well as an American military leader."
2009: The Foundation for Jewish Studies
Northern Virginia Lunch & Learn presents Paul Forbes, teaching
“Traditional Biblical Stories: Fact or Fiction?” (The archeological evidence
available about the Garden of Eden, Noah’s Ark and Sodom & Gomorrah) at
the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia
2009: U.S. special Mideast envoy George
Mitchell assured Israel today that Washington would remain its close ally
despite differences over West Bank settlements and peacemaking with the
Palestinians. Mitchell said the U.S. commitment to Israeli security is
unshakable, adding, "We come here to talk not as adversaries and in
disagreement, but as friends in discussion." The envoy made the comments
with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side before a meeting with the
premier Tuesday evening.
2009: Jody Wagner won the Democratic
nomination for Lt. Governor in Virginia.
2010: The Uri Gurvich Quartet is scheduled to
perform at the Washington Jewish Music Festival.
2010: Gilad Hekselman Quartet is scheduled to
perform at the Jazz Standard in New York City.
2011(7th of Sivan, 5771): Second Day of Shavuot
2011: The Ivri Lider Electronic Trio,
featuring Ivri Lider – “one of Israel’s biggest selling artists of all time” –
is scheduled to perform at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City.
2011: Carolyn Fine, the valedictorian at a northern California high school is planning to
deliver her graduation address via a pre-recorded audio message in order to
observe Shavuot. Carolyn Fine worked out the arrangement with Vacaville High
School officials, according to The Reporter, Vacaville’s local newspaper. "They
really took good care of me,” Fine told the paper, regarding her school's
administrators. “They've been very understanding." She decided to have her
address recorded so as not to have to use a microphone. Fine intends to walk to
the ceremony on the Second Day of Shavuot to avoid riding on the holiday. Fine,
who says she has gradually become more religiously observant, plans to attend
Yeshiva University’s Stern College for Women in New York in the fall and study
math. This summer she plans to study at Machon Alte, a Chabad-run women’s
seminary in Safed, Israel. (JTA)
2011: Today was the
135th anniversary of the dedication of the the oldest synagogue in the national
capital city. On June 9, 1876, less than the month before the nation's
centennial, Adas Israel Congregation dedicated its first synagogue. Flowers and "festoons of
evergreens" decorated the sanctuary and American flags "drooped
gracefully" over the Ark. The room was filled to capacity and several
latecomers were turned away. President Ulysses S. Grant, the first U.S.
president to attend synagogue services, sat at the front of the sanctuary on a
sofa rented especially for the occasion. He donated $10 to the synagogue's
building fund, the equivalent of $200 today.Grant's attendance reflects the
unique relationship between the Washington, D.C, Jewish community and national
leaders. His presence also held special meaning because, as a Union Army
general during the Civil War, Grant issued General Orders No. 11, expelling
Jews "as a class" from the areas under his command. Grant dodged charges of anti-Semitism
throughout his political career and perhaps attending this dedication was an overture
to the Jewish community.The three-hour dedication ceremony was covered in
several local and national newspapers, including The National Republican, The
Jewish Messenger, and the Washington Chronicle. In fine detail, the articles
described the decorations, prayers, and sermon given by visiting Rabbi George
Jacobs of Philadephia's Congregation Beth El Emeth. [As reported by The Jewish
Historical Society of Greater Washington]
2012: Ufruf of Jacob
Kline and Alice Baker is scheduled to take place at Aguas Achim in Iowa City,
IA.
2012: Ambassador
Princeton N. Lyman is scheduled to deliver a talk entitled “Sudan Twenty Seven
Years after Operation Moses” which will begin with a reminder of the “evacuation
of 9,000 Jewish Ethiopian refugees from Sudan in 1984.”
Copyright; June, 2012; Mitchell A. Levin melech3@mchsi.com
No comments:
Post a Comment