In Jewish History

August 7 In Jewish History

117: The Roman Emperor Trajan passed away. Trajan came to think of himself as another Alexander the Great and moved east towards Babylonia with the intent of extending the boundaries of the Roman Empire. One of Trajan’s first moves was to conquer Parthia and then continue his eastward march towards to the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Unfortunately for him the Parthians refused to remain conquered. They rebelled against Trajan forcing him turn back and try and subdue them a second time. The Jews of Parthia, many of whose families had fled the Roman Legions fifty years earlier when Rome sacked Jerusalem, were active in the revolt since they had no desire to live under Trajan or any other emperor. If this were not enough reason for Trajan to have no love for the children of Israel, the Diaspora Revolts centered, primarily in the Jewish communities of Egypt and Cyprus broke out in 115, and last until the year of Trajan’s death. These revolts further drew down on the empire’s military might helping to end Trajan’s dreams of glory.

1106: Henry IV, the Holy Roman Emperor, passed away. During the period of the First Crusade acted to protect his Jewish subjects giving rise to the notion that rulers of the Holy Roman Empire saw themselves as “guardians” of their Jewish subjects. Henry protected the rights of German Jews to pursue commercial activities. In opposition to the Pope, Henry allowed any Jews who had been forcibly converted to return to Judaism. Anyone who harmed “their Jews” were liable to be charged with treason. The price of this protection was the acceptance of the role as “servi camerae,” i.e. “serfs of the imperial chamber.”

1705: Rabbi Zvi Ashkenazi sent a letter, co signed by two other rabbinic judges, “exonerating David Nieto of all charges and the taint of Spinozian heresy.”

1772: In a letter from Jacob ben Abraham Benider to the Earl of Rochford (Britain), Jacob tells how he was appointed by the Emperor of Morocco to be the Moroccan Minister to the English Court of King George III.

1789: The United States War Department which would be renamed the U.S. Defense Department by President Truman, is established. The first Jew to hold the title of Secretary of War is Judah P. Benjamin. But he held the job with Confederates, not the United States. James Schlesinger, was the first person who was born Jewish to serve as U.S. Secretary of Defense. However, he had converted to Christianity. Harold Brown, who served under President Carter, was the first Jewish person to ever hold the top civilian military job.

1873: Birthdate of Alice Lillie Seligsberg, social worker and Zionist who helped to found Hadassah.

1877: The New York Times reprints an article by Alfred Austin that had appeared in The National Review in which the British poet examines the life of Benjamin Disraeli including allusions to the prejudices he faced. In the end Austin concludes tnat in terms of Disraeli, “the English people blamed what was blameworthy, distrusted what was untrustworthy, and admired what was admirable. Had not wit ripened into wisdom, had not duty burned ambition pure, he never would have become Prime Minister of England.”

1898: The second court martial of Colonel Alfred Dreyfus begins.

1903: Herzl arrives in St. Petersburg, where he seeks Russian intervention with Turkey on behalf of his Zionist proposals to secure Jewish settlement in Palestine, and to permit open Zionist activity in Russia. He is received twice by Count Wenzel von Plehve, Russian minister of the interior, who is believed to be responsible for the Kishinev pogrom. Herzl’s most important achievement is Wenzel von Plehve’s acquisition as a supporter of Zionism. Von Plehve would do anything to rid Russia of her Jews.

1904: Birthdate of Ralph J Bunche. Bunche was an African-American who hand an unusual career with the United States government before going to work with the United Nations shortly after its founding. a founder & UN diplomat (Nobel 1950) Beginning in 1947, he was involved with the Arab Israeli conflict. He served as assistant to the U.N. Special Committee on Palestine, and thereafter as the principal secretary of the U.N. Palestine Commission. In 1948 he traveled to the Middle East as the chief aide to Count Folke Bernadotte, who had been appointed by the U.N. to attempt to mediate the conflict. In September, members of the Stern Gang assassinated Bernadotte. Bunche became the U.N.’s chief mediator and concluded the task with the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreements. This was a Herculean task that began with negotiations on the island or Rhodes. Bunche had to conclude separate agreements between each of the combatants and Israel. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in 1950.

1904: Birthdate of anti Nazi activist Hanna Melzer.

1904: An attorney living in Solomonville, a town in the southeastern Arizona Territory founded by Anna and I.E. Solomon writes a letter describing the Solomon family’s preparing for the upcoming wedding of their daughter Lillian. In the same letter, the lawyer laments the fact that another local attorney and Lillian had been in love with each other but Anna Solomon “raised a big hullabaloo” because “he was not one of the chosen people” and the relationship came to an end.

1914: Ludwig Wittgenstein, the 25 year old Austrian philosopher volunteered as a gunner in the Austrian army. Wittgenstein’s story was all too common. His paternal grandparents were Jewish. His father, a well to do industrialist was raised as a Christian and young Wittgenstein followed in the faith of his father, not his grandfather.

1925: Nahum Shtif established YIVO (Yiddish Scientific Institute   Yidisher Visenshaftlikher Institut) as a Yiddish academic institute with its center in Vilna. Its goal was to promote scholarly research in Yiddish, especially on Jewish life and history in Eastern Europe. In addition, it standardized Yiddish spelling and gathered thousands of documents on Jewish culture and folklore from over much of Europe.

1926: Birthdate of satirist and humorist Stan Freiberg.

1933: The Nazis murdered Felix Fechnebach, a Jewish Editor in Dachau.

1937: Menachem Ussishkin was unanimously elected president of the 20th Zionist Congress, held in Zurich.

1937: The debate over the recommendations of the Peel Commission raged on among and between Jews, Arabs and various third parties. Opening the deliberations, Chaim Weizmann, on behalf of the Zionist Organization, proposed to accept the Royal (Peel) Commission’s partition plan in principle, but simultaneously declared the present scheme unacceptable. He complained that world Jewry failed to make a massive aliya in the early 1920s. Weizmann urged that the current challenges demand an undivided Jewish front and thought that the eventual emergence of a Jewish state would facilitate the Jewish Arab understanding. Dr. Moshe Kleinbaum (Sneh) also urged the congress to accept the Jewish state, but sought to empower the Zionist Executive to negotiate different frontiers.

1941: The Nazis executed 407 Jews in Zhitomir, Russia

1942: During World War II the Battle of Guadalcanal begins as U.S. Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands. Jewish boxer Barney Ross (he was lightweight, welterweight and junior welterweight champion in the 1930s) had enlisted right after Pearl Harbor even though at age 32 he was well passed draft age. During the battle of Guadalcanal, he was seriously wounded while rescuing injured comrades from a Japanese ambush. His heroism under fire earned him a Silver Star. Other Jewish Marines who served on Guadalcanal included Lou Diamond and LeRoy Diamond, model for the film Pride of the Marines

1944: Approximately 68,000 Jews remained in the Lodz Ghetto.. This was the largest gathering of Jews outside of the camps left in all of Europe. Of this remnant, 67,000 of were told they were to be resettled. Instead they are sent to Birkenau. The shipment of Jews that began on August 7 lasted 23 days, finally ending on August 30. Once there, most of the Jews meet the usual horrific fate   selection, death by gas, and then the cremation of their bodies. Some of the crippled were specially selected by Dr. Mengele. He still had plenty of subjects to use for his medical "studies" and experiments

1945: It is reported that there are eight Rabbis left in Salonica.

1951: The New York Times reports from Tel Aviv that many prominent United States Zionists who are gathering here for the opening next week of the World Zionist Congress are trying to use their influence to bring about an Israeli coalition government of the Socialist Mapai party and the General Zionists.

1954: Birthdate of convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.

1952: In its on going war against Arab terror Israeli police and soldiers caught 37 infiltrators trying to enter the country in the week just ended.

1955: Bar Ilan University was founded. Since its founding, Bar Ilan has grown to become one of Israel’s largest universities. The main campus is located outside of Tel Aviv and currently has 32,000 students with a faculty of over 1,600. For more about the school see its English language website http://www.biu.ac.il/index_eng.shtml.

1960: Birthdate of David Duchovny, award winning star of the X Files. According to one source his father is Jewish, his mother Scotch and he speaks Hebrew.

1970: A cease fire was declared between Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon on the one hand and Israel on the other.

1972: Sandy Koufax is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, New York

1977: Wayne L. Horvitz, who President Jimmy Carter had named director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service in April 1977 played a behind the scenes role in the negotiations between the Communications Workers of America and the American Telephone and Telegraph Company that averted a nationwide strike just before tonight’s midnight deadline

2005: Quarterback Bennie Friedman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In the following article entitled “Benny Friedman: Considered NFL’s First True Passer” Seymour “Sy” Brody described the prowess of one the early stars of the NFL.

Benny Friedman was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame today. After many years of being overlooked, while friends and sports figures campaigned for his induction, it became a reality. Friedman was considered as football’s first great passer. He changed the running game into one of running and passing and, as a result, revolutionized college and professional football. Benny Friedman was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1905, to orthodox Jewish parents. He went to high school in Cleveland. Upon graduation, he went to Michigan University where he was a quarterback on the football team. The first three games of the 1924 season found Benny Friedman sitting on the bench. Michigan’s legendary coach, Fielding Yost retired before the season. He convinced Coach George Little that he should start Benny Friedman against Wisconsin. Friedman became an instant star by throwing a 62 yard touchdown pass and running 26 yards for a touchdown. Benny Friedman and Bennie Oosterbaan were college football’s greatest passing combinations. Friedman was twice named All American as a quarterback and as a halfback.  After graduating in 1927, he turned pro and joined the Cleveland Bulldogs of the National Football League. Professional football at this time didn’t enjoy the same attention that it has today. Red Grange and Benny Friedman were the stars of that era. They attracted large crowds for their games. Benny Friedman was named All Pro for four years and he led the league in passing and passing touchdowns. The Cleveland Bulldogs folded and he moved to the Detroit Wolverines. The New York Giants wanted Benny Friedman so much that they bought the entire Detroit Wolverines franchise so that they could have him. The Giants finished the 1929 season with a 13 1 1 and for the first time made a profit. In 1934, Friedman retired from professional football and became the head coach at City College of New York (CCNY). In 1949, he became the Athletic Director of Brandeis University and was the head coach of the football team. It was his hope to make the Brandeis football team the “Jewish Notre Dame.” Benny Friedman was named one of the 300 Greatest Players of All-Time by Total Sports, the Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. He was elected to the College Hall of Fame, the University of Michigan Hall of Honor, the State of Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Paul Gallico, a top football expert and sports writer of his day, said, ”The things a perfect football player must do are kick, pass, run the ends, plunge the line, block, tackle, weave his way through broken fields, drop and place kick, interfere, diagnose plays, spot enemy weaknesses, direct an offensive and not get hurt. I have just been describing Benny Friedman’s repertoire to you.” Forty two years after Football Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in Canton, Ohio, Benny Friedman got his spot there. David Friedman, a nephew, gave the speech for the family at the induction ceremony. He said, “despite being denied for so long, his uncle would have been very respectful of the honor.”

2005: Bibi Netanyahu resigned from the Israeli cabinet in protest over the withdrawal from Gaza. While his followers and those in the settler movement praised him, others saw the resignation at this time as a form of political grandstanding designed to help Netanyahu rest control of Likud from Sharon

2005: The New York Times reported that George Forman passed away at the age of 88. The New York native was the “savior of the ACLU.” He was responsible for creating the financial engine that enabled the organization to carry on the fight for civil liberties. When he joined the ACLU in 1968 it was a rather ramshackle organization with two lawyers, a part time public relations person and nobody in charge of finances. By the time he retired in the 1990’s the ACLU had $50 million in annual income, $100 million in assets and offices that covered the country from coast to coast.

2006: Three Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed and four others wounded in fierce fighting with Hezbollah militants Monday in southern Lebanon. Two of them were identified as Major Yotam Lotan, 33 of Kibbut Beit Hashita and Staff Sergeant Malk Moasha Ambao, 22, from Lod.

2007: The Jerusalem Post reported that swastikas and other Nazi symbols had been painted on at least 100 gravestones the large Jewish cemetery in Czestochowa, Poland and that officials of the Israeli government expressed their anger over the failure of the Polish government to publicly condemn the continuing anti-Semitic rhetoric of Father Tadeusz Rydzyk, founder of Poland’s Catholic, nationalist Radio Maryja whose audience is estimated at between 1.5 million and 2.5 million daily.

2007: Today, Poland’s chief rabbi and the mayor of a Polish town joined efforts to clean gravestones at a Jewish cemetery that vandals had desecrated with Nazi symbols. Rabbi Michael Schudrich said that he and Tadeusz Wrona, mayor of the southern city of Czestochowa, joined about 20 Polish art students who spent a couple of hours scrubbing black paint off some of 100 gravestones at the city’s Jewish cemetery.

2007: Britain declared the New West End Synagogue in London a national monument putting it in the same category as Buckingham Palace and Stonehenge. The decision means the British government will henceforth be responsible for the synagogue’s upkeep, and the Jewish community can request state funding for any necessary renovations. Only one other synagogue has been declared a British national monument   Bevis Marks in East London, the country’s first synagogue, which was built in 1701. New West End was built in 1879. "We’re happy and excited," said the synagogue’s rabbi, Geoffrey Shisler. "Above all, the decision proves that the British government recognizes the Jewish contribution to the kingdom’s history." Shisler noted that both Chaim Weizmann, Israel’s first president, and Herbert Samuel, who was the first British high commissioner for Palestine, were members of New West End, and plaques mark both of their former seats. The synagogue’s first rabbi, Simeon Singer, translated and edited the Authorized Daily Prayer Book, an edition of the siddur (Jewish prayer book) that is still commonly used in Orthodox synagogues throughout the British Commonwealth. Today, the congregation numbers some 400 families, and "because of the synagogue’s beauty, we are also the most popular place in Britain for [Jewish] weddings," Shisler said. Altogether, Britain has some 15,000 national monuments and about half a million lower level historic preservation sites. New West End had previously been a historic site, but the Jewish community had asked the relevant government agency, English Heritage, to upgrade its status, and after inspecting the building three months ago, the agency approved the request this week. In its decision, English Heritage wrote that the upgrade was justified by both the synagogue’s exceptional architecture and its historic importance. "The New West End Synagogue is the architectural high water mark of Anglo Jewish architecture," said Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage. Hannah Parham, the agency’s protection adviser, added that "a lot of early 19th century synagogues tried to follow the styles of their Christian counterparts, but the New West End synagogue celebrated the cultural heritage of the people it served." The synagogue was designed by George Audsley of Scotland.

2008: In Washington, D.C. Kenneth M. Pollack, director of research at the Brooking Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, discusses and signs his new book, A Path Out of the Desert: A Grand Strategy for America in the Middle East, at Politics and Prose Bookstore

2008: Rep. Steve Cohen was all smiles after resoundingly winning his primary today in Tennessee, but it was hardly a pleasant campaign for the freshman Democrat. A white Jewish incumbent representing a predominantly black Christian constituency, Cohen defeated Nikki Tinker by a 4 to 1 margin, despite efforts by his black opponent to insert race and religion into the primary.

2009: In New York, Yoed Nir performs at a Bargemusic Concert in a program entitled “World of Cello” The Six Bach Suites for Solo Cello and Beyond, Part 2.

Posted by melamed&mavin at 4:40 PM