Today in Jewish History

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26 Av

In 1809, a group of 70 disciples of the great Lithuanian sage the Vilna Gaon, arrived in Israel, after traveling via Turkey by horse and wagon. The Vilna Gaon set out for the Holy Land in 1783, but for unknown reasons did not attain his goal. However he inspired his disciples to make the move, and they became pioneers of modern settlement in Israel. (A large contingent of chassidic Jews arrived in Tzfat around the same time.) The leader of the 1809 group, Rabbi Israel of Shklov, settled in Tzfat, and six years later moved to Jerusalem where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The early years were fraught with Arab attacks, earthquakes, and a cholera epidemic. Rabbi Israel authored, Pe'at Hashulchan, a digest of the Jewish agricultural laws relating to the Land of Israel. (He had to rewrite the book after the first manuscript was destroyed in a fire.) The location of his grave remained unknown until it was discovered in Tiberias, 125 years after his death. Today, the descendants of that original group are amongst the most prominent families in Jerusalem.

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27 Av

In 1868, the Ku Klux Klan lynched a Jew, S.A. Bierfield, in Franklin, Tennessee. The KKK was created at the end of the American Civil War, and quickly adopted violent methods, murdering some 1,300 people in 1868. Enemies of the KKK included African Americans, Jews, homosexuals and others, scapegoated to explain the lack of economic success among whites. Even today, the KKK lists among its enemies the Jews, who they believe secretly operate the New World Order.

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28 Av

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (1817-1893), a leader of Lithuanian Jewry, known by the acronym of his name, Netziv (which also means "pillar"). Legend says that as a child he was in danger of dropping out of school, but he applied himself diligently to his studies and emerged as the star student. He married the granddaughter of Rabbi Chaim of Voluzhin when he was 14 years old. He was later appointed head of the Voluzhin yeshiva, a position he held for 40 years. The yeshiva became the worldwide center of Jewish scholarship, and it was said that 10,000 students studied there during the Netziv's tenure. Tragically, the yeshiva was forcibly closed by the Russians in 1892. The Netziv then intended to travel to Israel, but his medical condition made this impossible. He spent his final weeks in Warsaw, and is interred in a cemetery there. He wrote Ha'emek Davar, a commentary on the Bible, and other scholarly works that are widely studied today. His oldest son, Rabbi Chaim Berlin, was Chief Rabbi of Moscow, and his youngest son was Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan, after whom Israel's Bar Ilan University is named.

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29 Av

In the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 BCE), Moses carved the second set of Tablets out of sapphire, as recorded in Exodus 34:4. After seeing that the Israelites had made the idolatrous Golden Calf, Moses broke the first set of tablets (Exodus 32:19) and God then instructed Moses to carve new tablets. (The Midrash says that Moses was allowed to keep the extra scraps of sapphire, and from that he became personally wealthy.) The second set of tablets was placed in the Ark of the Covenant, along with the first broken set. This second set symbolizes the ability of every person to make amends and rebuild anew. In fact, it was on the day of Yom Kippur that Moses came down from Mount Sinai holding the second set of Tablets, and it is on every subsequent Yom Kippur day that we have a special opportunity to make amends.

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30 Av

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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1 Elul

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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2 Elul

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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3 Elul

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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4 Elul

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 were 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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6 Elul

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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7 Elul

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.

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8 Elul

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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9 Elul

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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10 Elul

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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11 Elul

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 fledging Israeli society.

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12 Elul

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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13 Elul

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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14 Elul

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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15 Elul

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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16 Elul

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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17 Elul

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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18 Elul

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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19 Elul

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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20 Elul

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.