Today in Jewish History

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Av 30 

 

In 1903, the 6th Zionist Congress met in Basle, Switzerland. Herzl presented a British proposal for a temporary Jewish homeland in Uganda, as a refuge for Russian Jews in immediate danger. This settlement would be politically independent, with a Jewish governor and a Jewish administration. Herzl believed that the plan conferred an important stamp of legitimacy upon Zionism. The Zionist Congress approved the plan, and decided to dispatch an exploratory expedition to Africa. However, the idea was met with stiff opposition, and it split the Zionist movement. The Uganda Program was rejected two years later, but later exploratory missions were sent to Iraq, Libya and Angola. One project that gained traction was the Galveston plan which sent 9,300 Jews to Texas. In the end, it was understood that only the Land of Israel, with its deep historical and spiritual connections, would succeed as the Jewish homeland.

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Elul 1 

 

In 1942, the ghetto of Mir, Poland was liquidated by the Nazis. Mir was a center of Jewish scholarship in pre-War Europe, the site of the famed Mir Yeshiva that was founded in 1815. Jews first began to settle in Mir in the 17th century, and by the end of the 19th century, Jews comprised 62% of the town’s population. The Germans captured Mir in June 1941, and executed large numbers of Jews. By May 1942 the remaining Jews were confined to an ancient fortress in the city and murdered. As for the students and staff of the Mir Yeshiva, they had fled to Lithuania with the fall of Poland in 1939. There, they were able to obtain visas from the Japanese consul-general in Lithuania, and made a miraculous escape across Siberia by train, arriving in Shanghai where they spent the remainder of the war years. After the war, new Mir yeshivas were established in New York and Jerusalem, which today is the largest yeshiva in the world with over 5,000 students.

On this same day in 1942, Metropolitan Andrei Szeptycki, a bishop with the Greek Catholic Church in Nazi-occupied Lemberg (Lwow), Poland, issued orders for the clergy in his jurisdiction to shelter Jewish children. Ignoring risks to his position and his life (in Poland there was an automatic death penalty for aiding Jews), Szeptycki spoke out against Hitler, and threatened "with Divine punishment" anyone who "shed innocent blood.” Szeptycki led by example: He hid 21 Jews in his own cathedral, and 183 more in convents and monasteries. (Szeptycki was waging his own battle against the Nazis: Hitler resolved to exterminate Polish culture and identity, and his first step was the elimination of the intelligentsia, including the clergy. Many priests were killed or placed in concentration camps, where an estimated 3,000 Polish clergy died.) Szeptycki was later honored by Yad Vashem as a Righteous Among the Nations.

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Elul 2 

 

In 1555, the first printing of the Rabbi Yosef Karo's Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law) was completed near Tzfat, Israel. Shulchan Aruch is divided into four sections, dealing with daily life, prohibitions, marriage, and monetary law. He wrote the Code in his old age, for the benefit of those who were unable to understand his more comprehensive work, Beit Yosef. Since its publication, Shulchan Aruch has become the gold standard of Jewish law, upon which all subsequent commentaries and responsa are based.

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Elul 3 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Abraham Yitzhak Kook, (1865-1935), talmudic scholar and the first Chief Rabbi of Israel (then Palestine). Born in Latvia, he embodied a unique blend of the mystical and the rational. He saw the Jewish return to Israel as not merely a political phenomenon to save Jews from persecution, but an event of great theological significance. He believed that building up the physical land was laying the groundwork for the messianic redemption. He called for a spiritual renaissance where "the ancient would be renewed, and the new would be sanctified." Over 30 volumes of Rabbi Kook's writings have been published, and he is considered as the philosophical father of the religious-Zionist movement.

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Elul 4 

 

In 1391, the Jews of Barcelona, Spain were victims of a massacre. This was part of three months of deadly riots throughout Spain, which left the Jewish community crushed and impoverished. Incredibly, on this same date 70 years later, a bishop named Alfonso de Espina urged the establishment of the Spanish Inquisition. The Inquisition was designed to uncover those Jews who continued to practice Judaism in secret (called Conversos or Marranos). During the years of brutal Inquisition, an estimated 32,000 Jews were burned at the stake and another 200,000 were expelled from Spain.

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Elul 5 

 

In 1915, the Jewish Battalions of the British Royal Fusiliers was formed, consisting of Jewish volunteers from America, England, and Israel. Their goal was to join the efforts of the British Army in World War I to liberate Israel from Turkish rule. The idea was first proposed by Zev Jabotinsky, and by 1919, some 5,000 Jewish volunteers were participating in the battalions.

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Elul 6 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yom Tov Lipman Heller (1579-1654), author of Tosfot Yom Tov, one of the classic commentaries on the Mishnah. At age 13, Heller went to study in Prague with the famed sage, Maharal, and at 18 he was appointed a member of the Maharal's rabbinical court, a position he held for 27 years. He also authored Tzurat HaBayit, a detailed explanation of the Third Temple as described in Ezekiel, chapters 40-43. He later served as Chief Rabbi of Vienna, and then as Chief Rabbi of Prague. In 1629, some members of the Jewish community -- angry at Rabbi Heller for determining how a federal tax should be paid -- had him framed and thrown in prison. Forty days later he was released, penniless, and was forbidden from practicing as a rabbi. The ban was later lifted and he went on to become rabbi of Krakow, Poland. He is buried in the Krakow cemetery, in the section devoted to the poor and needy.

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Elul 7 

 

In the Hebrew year 2368 (1392 BCE), the parents of Miriam and Aaron -- Amram and Yocheved -- re-married. After Pharaoh had issued a decree that all Jewish baby boys be drowned in the Nile, Amram despaired of bringing more children into the world, and he divorced his wife Yocheved. Since Amram was the leader of the Jewish community, other men follow suit. Miriam argued that Pharaoh's decree was against the males, but to not procreate also went against the females. Convinced by her argument, Amram and Yocheved re-married, and this union produced Moses, the greatest prophet of all-time, who 80 years later would deliver the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt, and on to receive the Torah at Mount Sinai.

ps:I'd like to see where it claims this in the Bible? or even in the writings of EGW!!

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Elul 8 

 

On this date in 1893, kosher slaughter was declared illegal in Switzerland -- a ban that continues until today. That same year, kosher slaughter was prohibited in the German region of Saxony. Today, Norway also bans kosher slaughter, and other European countries such as the UK have taken the matter under consideration. Sometimes these laws are anti-Semitic in nature, but couched in humanitarian terms. The issue is one of great sensitivity for the Jewish community, being that one of the first enactments of the Nazis in 1933 was to outlaw kosher slaughter -- an act of horrible irony that preceded the slaughter of 6 million Jews.

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Elul 9 

 

In 1654, Jacob Barsimson became the first Jewish settler in New Amsterdam (New York), and a few months later a group of 23 Jews arrived from Brazil. At first, Governor Peter Stuyvesant denied Jews the right to engage in trade, own real estate, serve in the military, and conduct public religious services. Barsimson, an observant Jew, filed an appeal to the Dutch West India Company, and succeeded in gaining equal rights for Jews. In one incident, Barsimson was summoned to court on Shabbat and courageously refused to appear. In a landmark decision that extended the limits of religious freedom, the court did not hold him accountable. Barsimson's Jewish pride and pioneering spirit paved the way for generations of Jewish immigrants yet to come.

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Elul 10 

 

In 1991, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, a 7-year-old black child was accidentally killed by a car driven by a chassidic Jew. Within hours, mobs of African American youths took to the streets, setting fires, smashing cars, looting stores, and chanting, "Get the Jews." Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year-old rabbinic student from Australia, was beaten and stabbed by a mob, and later died of his wounds. It took hundreds of police officers three full days to quell the riots. Lemrick Nelson Jr. was convicted for the killing of Rosenbaum, but an appellate court later reversed the decision on technical grounds. In Crown Heights, the incident has come to symbolize long-standing tensions between black and Jewish residents.

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Elul 11 

 

In 1950, Operation Magic Carpet, which secretly airlifted 45,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel, was concluded. Many of the Jews had never before seen an airplane; they likened the ride to a fulfillment of the biblical verse, "And I bore you on eagles' wings" (Exodus 19:4). According to tradition, Jews had lived in Yemen since the 7th century BCE. Upon arriving in Israel they were housed in tent camps; there was very little infrastructure and resources to accommodate them, as the Jewish population of Israel nearly doubled in its first three years. Yet within a short time, the immigrants had been absorbed into the fledgling Israeli society.

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Elul 12 

 

In 1263, King James I of Aragon ordered a Church-sponsored censorship of Hebrew writings. This was an unfortunate theme throughout the Middle Ages: Twenty years earlier, Pope Gregory IX initiated the burning of Hebrew books, and persuaded French King Louis IX to burn some 10,000 copies of the Talmud (24 wagon loads) in Paris. In 1592, Pope Clement VIII condemned the Talmud and other Hebrew writings as "obscene," "blasphemous" and "abominable" -- and ordered them all to be seized and burned. Despite attempts to burn our books, however, the light of Jewish tradition shines brightly till today.

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Elul 13 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad (1834-1909), popularly known by the title of his book, Ben Ish Chai. His parents had been childless for 10 years, and finally his mother made the long journey from Baghdad to Morocco to request a blessing from the renowned Rabbi Yaakov Abuchatzera. The sage blessed her that she would give birth to a child who would one day illuminate the eyes of Jews everywhere. Less than a year later, she gave birth to Yosef Chaim, who grew up to become the famed Ben Ish Chai. Both his father and grandfather served as chief rabbi of Baghdad, and he inherited the position at age 25. (His son later succeeded him in the position.) He became one of the greatest modern-day sages, and till today his rulings are followed religiously by Sephardic communities worldwide. In Baghdad, he delivered a three-hour sermon every Shabbat, for 50 years. He also authored the commentaries Rav Pealim and Ben Yehoyada. He died during a visit to Israel, but is buried in Baghdad.

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Elul 14 

 

In 1729, Congregation Shearith Israel laid a foundation stone in lower Manhattan for the first structure ever designed and built as a synagogue in continental North America. At the time, New York had the only Jewish community in the country; it would be some two decades later before organized Jewish settlement began in Philadelphia, Lancaster and Charleston. Shearith Israel was the only Jewish congregation in New York City from 1654 until 1825, having been founded by Brazilian Jews of Spanish and Portuguese origin. Governor Peter Stuyvesant, known for his anti-Semitic views, had initially denied Jews the right to worship in a public gathering; these Jews fought for their rights and won permission. Today, Shearith Israel occupies a grand structure at 70th Street and Central Park West.

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Elul 15 

 

In 1827, Czar Nicholas I decreed that all Jewish boys be forcibly conscripted into the Russian Army at age 12. Called "cantonists," these boys were kidnapped from their parents' home, and tortured repeatedly with the implication that conditions would improve if they'd accept Christianity. (Many died of their wounds.) The boys were indoctrinated in military prep school until age 18, and thereafter served 25 years in the army. The authorities saw it as a corrective, forced assimilation of stubborn Jews into Russian society, and as a way to undermine the authority of Jewish communal leaders. Some 50,000 Jewish boys were forced into Czar Nicholas' army, and most never returned to the families they had left at age 12. The policy was abolished in 1855, with the death of Nicholas.

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Elul 16 

 

In 1903, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forgery purporting to be the conspiratorial discussions of Jewish leaders plotting to take over the world, appeared for the first time as a serial in the Russian newspaper, Znamia. Protocols gained popularity in anti-Semitic circles, and it was -- next to the Bible -- the best-selling book in the world during the 1920s. In the United States, Henry Ford sponsored its publication. Protocols became a mainstay of Nazi propaganda, and in Mein Kampf Hitler presents it as proof of the alleged "Jewish conspiracy." for which the persecution of Jews is necessary as self-defense. Over the years, dozens of scholars have proved Protocols to be a forgery; it was most likely written by a spy working for the Russian secret police. In recent years, "Protocols" has been widely distributed in the Arab Muslim world.

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Elul 17 

 

In 1935, Nazi Germany passed the Nuremberg laws, a set of racist policies directed primarily against Jews. The Nazis blamed the Jews for poverty, unemployment, and the loss of World War I. Jews were banned from any professional jobs and Jewish stores were boycotted. Anyone with even one Jewish grandparent was stripped of German citizenship, with no basic rights. Within 10 years, the Nazi genocidal machine had swept through eastern Europe, leaving 6 million Jews murdered.

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Elul 18 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yehuda Loew (1525-1609), the famed Maharal of Prague. Maharal was born in Poland, on the night of the Passover Seder, to a distinguished family of rabbis that traced its ancestry to King David. He served as rabbi of Nikolsburg, Posen and then Prague. Maharal embodied a unique blend of classic Talmudic scholarship with deep kabbalistic insights. A prolific author, his works include a major commentary on the Five Books of Moses, volumes on Passover, on exile and redemption, and on character development. Perhaps the most famous legend surrounding Maharal is that he employed kabbalistic incantations to create a Golem, a robot-like being that was to defend the Prague ghetto from anti-Semitic attacks. The account is most likely apocryphal, but it gained popularity and is cited as the source for Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Today a statue of Maharal stands in Prague, and his synagogue in Prague, the Altneushul, is still in use.

On this date in 1952, Israel agreed to accept reparation payments from Germany for losses caused by the Nazis during World War II. As early as 1943, Jewish groups had begun to formulate demands for a postwar settlement that would include billions of dollars of indemnity for stolen or destroyed Jewish property (real estate, art, gold), plus payments for slave labor, and reparations for the loss of Jewish life. The 1945 Paris Conference on Reparations chose to ignore the Jewish demands. However, in 1951, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who viewed Jewish reparations as part of the burden of guilt that Germans needed to confront, offered payments to Holocaust survivors. In Israel, Menachem Begin led the movement against accepting the reparations, arguing that they would somehow "absolve" Nazis of their heinous crimes. Over the years, German companies like Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank and Daimler-Benz have admitted to using slave labor during the war, and set up a fund to compensate workers. In the 1990s, it was revealed that Swiss banks were complicit in the Nazi effort to hide and sell stolen loot, and had engaged in the large-scale theft of deposits made by Jews. After some hesitation, Swiss banks announced their intention to create a fund for Holocaust victims.

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Elul 19 

 

In 1941, Charles Lindbergh, who achieved fame by being the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, delivered an anti-Semitic speech on the radio. Lindbergh became an outspoken supporter of Nazi Germany, even recommending in testimony before Congress that the U.S. negotiate a neutrality pact with Germany. At a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, he made an infamous speech claiming that Jews, "for reasons which are not American, wish to involve us in the war... We cannot allow the natural passions and prejudices of other people to lead our country to destruction." Lindbergh also made an implicit threat against Jews, stating: "Instead of agitating for war, the Jewish groups in this country should be opposing it in every possible way, for they will be among the first to feel its consequences."

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Elul 20 

 

On this date in 1941, a group of Jews in Japan sent a telegram to Jerusalem asking which day is Yom Kippur. Several hundred yeshiva students and their families had escaped from Nazi-occupied Europe and found asylum in Kobe, Japan. Although they did not cross the conventional International Date Line (an imaginary line zig-zagging just west of New Zealand), that dateline was chosen due to convenience, and the Jews in Japan were unsure as to the International Date Line as recognized by Jewish law. Indeed, a 12th-century Talmudic commentary indicates that the line is six hours ahead of Jerusalem (90 degrees east of Jerusalem), running through the Philippines). In actuality today, most rabbis recommend observing the day according to local practice.

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Elul 21 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yonasan Eibeschutz (1690-1764), a great rabbinic commentator. A child prodigy, he headed the yeshiva of Prague at age 21. Eibeschutz was also a kabbalist, and he wrote amulets for Jews who valued their mystical powers. Unfortunately, the Jewish people was just recovering from the tragic era of Shabbetai Tzvi, a false Messiah who wreaked havoc in the Jewish world. Thus, Eibeschutz's kabbalistic leanings came under suspicion, and a number of great rabbis including Rabbi Yaakov Emden sharply criticized him. This dispute between two Torah giants was one of the bitter consequences of the Shabbetai Tzvi era, and it even involved the intervention of the King of Denmark. Still, Rabbi Eibeschutz is revered today for his rabbinic writings, including Urim V'tumim, Ya'arot Devash and Kereisi U'pleisi.

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Elul 22 

 

In 1939, during the Polish September Campaign, the Nazis occupied Krakow, Poland, a thriving Jewish community of 70,000 Jews. Jews were consigned to forced labor, and all Jews were required to wear identifying armbands. Synagogues were ordered closed and all their valuables turned over to Nazi authorities. In May 1940, the Nazis ordered a massive deportation of Jews from the city, leaving only 15,000 behind in Krakow's Jewish ghetto, crammed into 3,000 rooms. German businessman Oskar Schindler came to Krakow to take advantage of the ghetto labor, and subsequently worked furiously to save Jews, as portrayed in the film, Schindler's List. In March 1943, the Nazis carried out the final 'liquidation' of the ghetto.

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Elul 23 

 

On September 11, 2001, Islamist terrorists hijacked four U.S. domestic airplanes, crashing two into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, one into the Pentagon, and the fourth into a rural field in Pennsylvania. Some 3,000 people died in the attacks, the most lethal ever on American soil. It was not long before Hezbollah's al-Manar television concocted a conspiracy theory that Israeli and Jewish employees did not show up for work at the WTC on 9/11, supposedly based on a tip from the Israeli General Security apparatus, the Shabak. In fact, the attacks claimed an estimated at 400-500 Jewish victims, including five Israelis. However, it has been speculated that indeed many Jews may have been late for work that day, since the attack occurred a few days prior to Rosh Hashana, when Jews extend their morning prayers with the "Slichot" service.

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Elul 24 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (1838-1933), popularly known as the Chafetz Chaim, the title of his groundbreaking book on the laws of proper speech. The Chafetz Chaim lived in Radin, a small town in Poland that became a center of attention for world Jewry, given the Chafetz Chaim's saintly stature and active involvement in Jewish affairs. The Chafetz Chaim published over 20 books, including Mishnah Berurah, a monumental commentary on the daily living section of the Code of Jewish Law. The six volumes of Mishnah Berurah took 25 years to complete, and it has achieved universal acceptance as the definitive guide to Jewish law for Ashkenazic Jewry. The Chafetz Chaim was equally revered for his sterling character. The Chafetz Chaim passed away in 1933 at age 95, and is buried in Radin.