Today in Jewish History

[phkrause]

Shevat 6 

 

In 1393, following a massacre of Jews at Majorca, an edict was issued guaranteeing the Jews protection. (Majorca is one of the Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean Sea.) In just a few short years the protective decree was forgotten; persecution of the Jews began again in 1413. By 1435, the Jewish community had been completely destroyed, with many Jews forcibly converted to Christianity. These forced converts retained Jewish practice in private, but they publicly boiled pork lard in large pots, as a way to appear non-Jewish. (Hence these Jews were nicknamed Chuetas -- "pork lard.")

[phkrause]

Shevat 7 

 

In 1943, plans were finalized to deport the Jews of Athens, Greece. From 1941-1943, Greece was under control of the Italians, who by and large protected the Jews against the Germans. But in 1943, things changed for the worse; as punishment for Greece's fighting against the Axis, freedom of movement was restricted for all Jews. Some Jews fled and hid in the countryside, but most were deported to Auschwitz. Jews had lived in Athens since the 3rd century BCE -- the longest continuous Jewish presence in Europe; the remains of an ancient synagogue were found at the foot of the Acropolis. In the Holocaust, 77 percent of Greek Jewry were murdered -- 60,000 Jews.

[phkrause]

Shevat 8 

 

On this date in 1960, Jonas E. Salk finalized a proposal to build the Salk Institute for Biological Studies near San Diego. Salk (1914-1995) had achieved fame as the physician who discovered the first polio vaccine while working at the University of Pittsburgh. Polio was a widely-feared disease that caused paralysis and oftentimes death. A polio outbreak in 1916 left 6,000 Americans dead and 27,000 paralyzed. (President Franklin Roosevelt had contracted polio at age 39.) In 1952, some 57,000 cases of polio were recorded in the U.S. After the vaccine became available, the numbers dropped by 90% in two years. (Another Jew, Dr. Albert Sabin, developed the first oral polio vaccine.) Since its founding, Salk's Institute has focused on molecular biology and genetics, and has trained more than 2,000 scientists including numerous Nobel Laureates.

[phkrause]

Shevat 9 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Eliezer Silver (1882-1968), who served the Jewish community of Cincinnati for four decades. Rabbi Silver is best known for spearheading efforts to rescue Jews from the Holocaust. As head of the "Agudas HaRabbanim," he tirelessly raised millions of dollars. He used the funds to produce counterfeit documents and pay off smugglers -- in the end directly saving at least 10,000 Jewish lives. In October 1943, Silver organized a rally of 200 rabbis in Washington; the effort prompted President Roosevelt to form the War Refugee Board, which rescued tens of thousands more from Hitler's ''Final Solution.'' After the war, Rabbi Silver traveled to DP camps to help Holocaust survivors start a new life. He also sought out hundreds of Jewish children who had been placed by their parents in Catholic orphanages, to spare them the horrors of the concentration camps. Often, the parents were killed during the war and there was no one to claim them. Rabbi Silver discovered that the priests operating the orphanages were often unable (or refused) to identify which children came from Jewish families. So Rabbi Silver had a solution: He strode into the lunchroom, stood on a chair, and proclaimed in his loudest voice: "Shema Yisrael, the Lord our God, the Lord is One!" Suddenly, the orphanage was filled with children's cries for their mother. Rabbi Silver looked at the priest, and said, "These children are mine."

[phkrause]

Shevat 10 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shalom Sharabi (1720-1777), known by the acronym of his name, Rashash. Sharabi was born in Yemen, traveled through India, and on to Damascus, before finally settling in Israel. He was a master kabbalist, and his prayer book, Nehar Shalom, includes mystical meditations on various prayers and mitzvot. He is buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

Shevat 10 is also the yahrtzeit of Ariel Sharon (1928-2014), IDF General and the 11th Prime Minister of Israel.

[phkrause]

Shevat 11 

 

On this day in 1601, Hebrew books that had been confiscated by Church authorities were burned in Rome. This was an unfortunate theme throughout the Middle Ages: In 1592, Pope Clement VIII had condemned the Talmud and other Hebrew writings as "obscene," "blasphemous" and "abominable" -- and ordered them all seized and burned. Centuries earlier, Pope Gregory IX persuaded French King Louis IX to burn some 10,000 copies of the Talmud (24 wagon loads) in Paris. As late as 1553, Cardinal Peter Caraffa (the future Pope Paul IV) ordered copies of the Talmud burned in the Papal States and across Italy. Yet despite all attempts to extinguish our faith, the light of Torah shines brightly till today.

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Noah Weinberg, the founder and dean of Aish HaTorah. Rabbi Weinberg is widely regarded as the "father of the baal teshuva movement" that has profoundly transformed the Jewish people and the world. He began Aish HaTorah in 1974 with five students in a small apartment in Jerusalem's Old City. Under his tutelage, Aish HaTorah grew to branches on five continents with innovative educational programs like the Discovery Seminar, Jerusalem Fellowships leadership program, Hasbara Fellowships for Israel activism, HonestReporting.com, and of course, Aish.com. His warmth, wit, extraordinary wisdom, sense of responsibility, positive message and love for all people helped tens of thousands get more meaning out of life and experience a relationship with God. Much of his wisdom is encapsulated in the widely-circulated tape series, "48 Ways to Wisdom."

[phkrause]

Shevat 12 

 

In 1945, the Russian army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp. The gas chambers of Auschwitz II (Birkenau) were blown up by German troops in November 1944 in an attempt to hide their crimes. In January 1945 the Nazis began to evacuate the facility; most of the prisoners were ordered on a death march, which lasted for weeks in the cold and snow. In the end, some 7,000 people survived Auschwitz; over one million perished.

[phkrause]

Shevat 13 

 

In 1790, France granted full and equal citizenship to Sefardi Jews. (Ashkenazi Jews gained citizenship a year and a half later.) The French Revolution, born of the ideals of Enlightenment, had become the first society to emancipate the Jews, permitting them to enter the highest levels of government and finance. In 1807, Napoleon created the French Sanhedrin -- a Jewish communal structure sanctioned by the state. (The French Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, following the custom of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem that served as the Jewish supreme court during the times of the Holy Temple.) Despite these liberties, anti-Jewish measures were passed in 1808: Napoleon declared all debts with Jews annulled, which caused the near ruin of the Jewish community. Restrictions were also placed on where Jews could live in an effort to assimilate them into French society. The invective reached a head in the 1940s when the French Vichy regime took the initiative to round up and hand over 61,000 Jews to the Nazis.

[phkrause]

Shevat 14 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (1680-1756), better known as the "Pnei Yehoshua," the title of his brilliant book of Talmudic commentary. Shevat 14 is also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983), an American author and scholar who inspired thousands of Jews to return to Jewish observance. Rabbi Kaplan was a physicist, and applied the same analytical approach to the study of "metaphysics." He possessed an encyclopedic command of Jewish literature, and he produced 50 books on philosophy, Jewish law and kabbalah. The Jewish world mourned his untimely death at the age of 48.

[phkrause]

Shevat 15 

 

Today is Tu B'Shvat, the New Year for the Trees. This is technically the day when trees stop absorbing water from the ground, and instead draw nourishment from their sap. In Jewish law, this means that fruit which has blossomed prior to the 15th of Shvat could not be used as tithe for fruit which blossomed after that date. The custom on Tu B'Shvat is to eat fruits from the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised: "...a land of wheat and barley and (grape) vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey" (Deut. 8:8).

On this date in 1925, the Technion opened in Haifa, becoming Israel's first modern university. Albert Einstein served as president of the first Technion Society. Today, Technion graduates comprise the majority of Israeli-educated scientists and engineers, and Israel is now home to the greatest concentration of high-tech start up companies anywhere outside of the Silicon Valley. High-tech industry accounts for more than 54% of Israel's industrial exports. In Israel, nine out of every 1,000 workers are engaged in R&D, nearly double the rate of the U.S. and Japan. More achievements: The Technion is credited with the birth of fiber-optics. In 1998, the Technion became the fifth university worldwide to successfully design, build, and launch its own satellite. In 2004, two Technion professors received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their research in the protein breakdown in cells.

[phkrause]

Shevat 16 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Shwadron (1835-1911), also known by the acronym of his name, Maharsham. He wrote an 8-volume work of rabbinic responsa, covering 3,800 topics on all areas of Jewish life. He was known for his incredible dedication to Torah scholarship; on his death bed it was revealed that he had studied the entire code of Jewish law, "The Tur," 101 times. (Many rabbis do not manage to complete this book even once.) In addition to his scholarship, Rabbi Shwadron was of exemplary character; he set aside time every morning to go into his yard and throw crumbs to the waiting birds.

[phkrause]

Shevat 17 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Chaim Palagi (1788-1868), a prolific author who wrote 72 books on all topics of Jewish life. The Turkish government accorded Rabbi Palagi the honor due to royalty. When asked to what he attributed his long life, he enumerated 10 acts that bring longevity -- including attending to one's parents, despite their mental infirmity.

[phkrause]

Shevat 18 

 

In 1980, following its peace treaty with Israel, the Egyptian parliament voted to end its economic boycott of Israel. The Arab boycott was formally declared in 1945, stating that Arab countries would not do business with Israel, nor with any company which sold products to Israel. (Officially, the boycott extended its blacklist one step further, to include any company that did business with a company that did business with Israel.) The objective of the boycott was to isolate Israel from the international community, and deny it the ability to build military and economic strength. In 1977, the U.S. Congress passed a law prohibiting American firms from cooperating with the Arab boycott. Companies such as Pepsi, which had long observed the boycott, now began selling in Israel. In recent years, with greater peace overtures between Israel and Arab neighbors, the boycott has withered in strength, though it remains official policy of most Arab countries.

In 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated 73 seconds after the launch of its mission, when an O-ring seal in its right solid rocket booster failed. All seven crew members were killed, including Judith Resnik, 36-year-old Jewish American. Challenger was one of two space shuttles destroyed during a mission, the other being Columbia in 2003 which included Israeli Ilan Ramon.

[phkrause]

Shevat 19 

 

In 1349, Jews in Basle, Switzerland were burned alive in a wooden house, erected specifically for that purpose. The Jewish community of Basel had flourished until 1348, when they were accused of poisoning wells during the Black Plague. This triggered a variety of persecutions: Jewish children were forcibly baptized, 600 Jews were burned at the stake, and the remainder were burned alive in the wooden house. In modern history, Basel became better known as the host of the first Zionist Congress in 1897. Ironically, on this date in 1949 -- exactly 600 years after the massacre in Basle -- the State of Israel elected its first president, Chaim Weizman.

[phkrause]

Shevat 20 

 

In 1523, the first printed edition of Tzror HaMor, a Bible commentary by Rabbi Avraham Sebag, was published in Venice. He had been expelled from Spain in 1492, and made the unfortunate choice of fleeing to Portugal, where he was persecuted and saw his two sons forcibly baptized and taken from him. He buried his manuscripts to save them from confiscation and destruction. (Alas, he never saw them again.) Rabbi Sebag eventually made his way to Africa where he managed to rewrite some of his works. It was this edition of Tzror HaMor that was published in 1523. (source: Abraham Bloch)

[phkrause]

Shevat 21 

 

In 1948, a car bomb exploded in front of the Palestine Post (later the Jerusalem Post) on Havatzelet Street in Jerusalem. A stolen British police pickup loaded with half a ton of TNT pulled up in front of the Post building. Five minutes later, a second car pulled up: Its driver lit the fuse and drove away. Three people were killed and dozens injured. The bomb destroyed the printing press; its aim was to stop the growing international influence of Jerusalem's only English language newspaper. (Further, since most Israeli newspapers were published in Tel Aviv, the Post was the only source of news in Jerusalem during the Arab siege.) The bombing was perpetrated by the Arab militia, assisted by former British soldiers. As an act of ultimate defiance, the Post published an edition the next morning, albeit reduced in size to two pages. Arab violence intensified leading up to Israel's independence: A few weeks later, three trucks carrying explosives blew up on Jerusalem's Ben Yehuda Street, destroying buildings and killing 56 Jews; two weeks later another car bomb blew up at the Jewish Agency building in Jerusalem, killing 13 people.

[phkrause]

Shevat 22 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, Poland (1787-1859), the great chassidic leader known as the Kotzker Rebbe. He was said to be completely uncompromising in the quest for faith, honesty and truth. He abhorred rote piety, and taught his followers that they must renew their quest for self-knowledge and truth on a daily basis. He is known for his sharp wit and catchy phrases, for example: "Where is God? Wherever you let Him in."

[phkrause]

Shevat 23 

 

On this date in 1918, the Jewish Legion left England to join the Allies in liberating Palestine from the Turks. Four years earlier, Zev Jabotinsky had proposed that a Jewish legion be formed, but the British resisted the idea of Jewish volunteers fighting on the Palestinian front; this led instead to the establishment of the Zion Mule Corps. Meanwhile, Jabotinsky pursued his project of a Jewish Legion, which was eventually designated as the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. It included British volunteers, members of the former Zion Mule Corps, a large number of Russian Jews, and later joined by a large number of American volunteers. A few years later, the Jewish Legion was demobilized by the anti-Zionist British Military Administration. Yet it would be remembered as the first organized Jewish fighting force since Roman times, and a precursor to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

[phkrause]

Shevat 24 

 

In 354 BCE, the prophet Zechariah predicted the rebuilding of Zion, as recorded in the biblical Book of Zechariah (1:7). King Darius of Persia had given permission to rebuild the second Holy Temple, and Zechariah rebuked the people for not quickly taking the opportunity to do so.

[phkrause]

Shevat 25 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Salanter (1810-1883), founder of the Mussar (Jewish ethics) movement of spiritual growth. Rabbi Salanter's approach gained popularity in Lithuania, at a time when chassidic influences were growing. The idea of Mussar is to use meditations, guided imagery, and exercises to penetrate the subconscious. In this way an individual can break through the barriers that prevent the soul from expressing its purity. Mussar books such as Path of the Just give a road map to developing traits of humility, alacrity and purity. Rabbi Salanter encouraged people to set a time every day for the study of Mussar, an idea which remains popular until today.

[phkrause]

Shevat 26 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi David HaLevi Segal (1586-1667), better known as the Taz, an acronym of his famous work of Jewish law, Turei Zahav. Now, four centuries later, "Taz" is printed in every standard edition of the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch). The Taz was the son-in-law of the famous rabbi, the Bach. He narrowly escaped when the Cossacks attacked his Polish town. Legend says that 200 years after his death, his grave was accidentally opened and his body was found intact.

[phkrause]

Shevat 27 

 

In 1583, a convert to Judaism named Joseph Sanalbo was burned at the stake in Rome. In the second half of the 16th century, Jews were subject to grave Church-sponsored persecutions: Pope Julius III and Pope Clement VIII condemned the Talmud and other Hebrew writings as "obscene," "blasphemous" and "abominable" -- and ordered them all seized and burned.

[phkrause]

Shevat 28 

 

In 163 BCE, King Antiochus V lifted the siege of Jerusalem. The day was observed in subsequent years as a holiday. Antiochus V was only nine years old when he became head of the Seleucid dynasty, following the death of his father Antiochus IV Epiphanes, the oppressor of the Jews who provoked the Maccabees' revolt.

[phkrause]

Shevat 29 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Noson Tzvi Finkel (1849-1927), better known as the Alter of Slobodka (a town in Lithuania). He was a master at bringing out the potential of every individual, encouraging students to refine their character and become great in both scholarship and ethics. Many of his disciples, who studied at his famed Slobodka Yeshiva, became major leaders of 20th century Judaism -- Rabbis Yitzhak Hutner, Yaakov Kamenetzky, Aaron Kotler, Yaakov Yitzchok Ruderman, Yechezkel Sarna, and Elazar M. Shach. His own son, Eliezer Yehudah Finkel eventually became dean of the famed Mir Yeshiva, today located in Jerusalem and the largest yeshiva in the world with 5,000 students.

On this date in 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia broke up during re-entry, killing all seven crew members aboard, including Israel's first astronaut, Ilan Ramon. During his 16 days in space, Ramon defied gravity by lifting his country from the morass of terror, by making Jews feel connected and proud. Ramon's space luggage included a small Torah scroll that had survived Bergen-Belsen. He also brought along a mezuzah adorned with barbed wire -- symbolizing the Nazi concentration camps -- in tribute to his mother who survived Auschwitz and his grandfather who was murdered there. On board the Shuttle, Ramon ate kosher food and welcomed Shabbat with the first intergalactic Kiddush. And as he passed over Jerusalem, he recited "Shema Yisrael," the age-old declaration of Jewish faith.

[phkrause]

Shevat 30 

 

In 1667, the Jews of Rome ran the humiliating "Carnival race" for the last time. Every year, during Rome's annual carnival, scantily-clad Jews had been forced to race along the main street, while the crowd mocked them, threw trash, and rained heavy blows. (The event often proved fatal.) As further indignity, Jews were forced to contribute financially to the operation of the Carnival. During this time, Jews were confined to living in the Roman Ghetto, a walled quarter with three gates that were locked at night. The Jews were subjected to other degradations, including having to attend compulsory Catholic sermons on Shabbat. Outside the ghetto, Jews were required to wear identifying yellow clothing.