Today in Jewish History

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10 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yitzhak Alfasi (1013-1103), popularly know by the acronym, Rif. Alfasi was born in Morocco, and studied in Tunisia under the famed Rabbeinu Chananel. Alfasi ushered in the era of "Rishonim" (lit: the first ones), the important rabbinic period which culminated in the 16th century Code of Jewish Law. Rabbi Alfasi wrote Sefer HaHalachot, the first codification of talmudic law and a precursor to the great codes of Maimonides and Rabbi Yosef Karo. Alfasi served for 40 years as head of the Jewish community of Fez, Morocco. At age 75, two informers denounced him to the government on a spurious charge, and he moved to Spain. The most famous of his many students is Judah HaLevi, author of the Kuzari.

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Iyar 11

This date marks the death of Judah P. Benjamin (1811-1884), an American-Jewish statesman. Benjamin was the second Jew to serve in the U.S. Senate, representing Louisiana. When another senator accused him of being an "Israelite in Egyptian clothing," Benjamin, who had married into a prominent Roman Catholic family, replied: "It is true that I am a Jew, and when my ancestors were receiving their Ten Commandments from the immediate Deity, amidst the thundering and lightnings of Mount Sinai, the ancestors of my opponent were herding swine in the forests of Great Britain." Two U.S. presidents (Franklin Pierce and Millard Fillmore) offered to nominate Benjamin as the first Jew to the U.S. Supreme Court, but Benjamin declined. During the Civil War, Benjamin served in the cabinet of the Confederacy – variously as Attorney General, Secretary of War, and Secretary of State. In the aftermath of the war, Benjamin was targeted for his Confederate loyalties; a rumor even surfaced that he had masterminded the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Fearing that he could never receive a fair trial, he burned his personal papers and fled to England under a false name. Benjamin was buried in Paris.

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12 Iyar

In 1967, Egypt blocked the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping. On May 17, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser demanded that UN monitoring forces evacuate the Sinai, a request with which UN Secretary-General U Thant cowardly complied. Nasser began the re-militarization of the Sinai, and concentrated tanks and troops on the border with Israel. On May 22, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping, and blockaded the Israeli port of Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba. The Egyptian blockade violated international law and Israel demanded that it cease. When Egypt failed to act, Israel launched a pre-emptive attack that destroyed 300 airplanes -- nearly the entire Egyptian Air Force -- in a matter of hours. Within days Israel had captured the entire Sinai Peninsula; this would be the bargaining chip for the Israeli-Egyptian Peace Accords of 1979.

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13 Iyar

In 1427, a decree was issued ordering all Jews expelled from Berne, Switzerland. Jews have wandered and settled in over 100 lands on five continents. Throughout the Middle Ages, Jews were subject to frequent expulsions. And amazingly, 90 percent of Jewish families were uprooted in the 20th century -- with mass immigration to America and Israel, and the tragic Holocaust. This is prophesied in Leviticus 26:33: "I will scatter you among the nations..." Yet amidst it all, the Jewish people have miraculously maintained their distinct national identity.

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4 Iyar

In 1960, Nazi leader Adolf Eichmann was captured in Argentina. Eichmann was in charge of implementing the "final solution" to exterminate Jews in the concentration camps. In one seven-week period alone, Eichmann transported 400,000 Hungarian Jews to the gas chambers. Eichmann was captured through the efforts of Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal and the Israeli Mossad (Secret Service). Eichmann was later put on trial in Israel, which was broadcast worldwide and featured the wrenching testimony of many Holocaust survivors. Eichmann was convicted and executed by hanging, the only capital punishment ever carried out in Israel. His body was cremated and ashes scattered at sea, so that no nation would serve as Eichmann's final resting place.

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15 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir Baal HaNeis (second century), a prominent scholar whose opinion is quoted more than any other in Mishnaic literature. Rabbi Meir studied under the great Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yishmael, and was one of five scholars ordained during the persecutions that followed the Bar Kochva revolt. Rabbi Meir's wife was the famous wise woman, Beruriah. When their two sons died, she broke the news gently and comforted him. Rabbi Meir is buried on a hillside overlooking the Sea of Galilee, and today his tomb is a popular place of pilgrimage and prayer. (Some sources list his yahrtzeit as Iyar 14.)

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16 Iyar

In the Hebrew year 2448, Manna fell for the first time in the desert of Sene. This came one month after the Exodus, as the supply of matzah the Israelites took from Egypt had run out. The Manna fell six days a week; a double-portion fell on Friday to include Shabbat. Unlike other miracles that were one-time events, the Manna continued to fall day after day throughout the 40 years of Jewish wandering in the desert.

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17 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yechezkel Landau (1713-1793), a brilliant scholar and leader known popularly by the title of his commentary, Nodeh BiYehuda. Rabbi Landau was born in Poland, and became rabbi of the large and influential community of Prague. He also authored Dagul Mervavah on the Shulchan Aruch and Tzelach on the Talmud. Rabbi Landau interceded with the government on various occasions to counter anti-Semitic measures. In one famous incident, the local bakers of Prague had secretly plotted to poison the bread and sell it only to the Jews. Late one night, there was a knock on Rabbi Landau's door. It was one on the bakers, who decades earlier Rabbi Landau had reached out to help. Out of gratitude, this man revealed the plot, and thousands of Jewish lives were saved.

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18 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (100-170 CE), the great scholar and leader during the Roman period following the destruction of the Second Temple. After criticizing the Roman government, Rabbi Shimon was forced to go into hiding with his son for 13 years. They lived in a cave, studying Torah, and subsisting on carob and water. Rabbi Shimon is credited with authoring many works of Jewish law, including the Zohar, the primary source of Jewish mysticism, which he revealed to his students on his final day. Lag B'Omer -- literally the "33rd day of the Omer" -- is the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shimon and, according to his wishes, is observed as a day of great celebration. Jews throughout Israel light huge bonfires, symbolically illuminating the deeper truths of Torah, as revealed by Rabbi Shimon. The main celebration is at Meiron, the Rabbi Shimon's burial site, where tens of thousands of people gather to light torches, sing and dance in his honor.

Iyar 18 is also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Isserles (1530-1572), known by the acronym Rema. His most famous work was notes on the Code of Jewish Law (Shulchan Aruch); these opinions are regarded as the definitive source for Ashkenazi Jewry. The Rema was born and died in Krakow, Poland, where he served as rabbi of the city. Not only a Talmudic and legal scholar, he was also learned in Kabbalah, and studied history, astronomy and philosophy. He penned a Torah scroll that was preserved for centuries in his synagogue in Krakow, until being destroyed in the Holocaust.

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19 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir of Rotenburg (1215-1293), a great Talmudic commentator and leader of German Jewry, known by the acronym Maharam. When leaving Germany, Rabbi Rotenburg was arrested on false charges, and a huge ransom was imposed for his release. The money was raised, but he forbade it to be paid, on the grounds that it would encourage further hostage-taking of Jewish leaders. At great personal sacrifice, he preferred to remain in prison, in order to save many others from a similar fate. He died in captivity seven years later, however his body was not surrendered for another 14 years, when a Jew named Alexander Suskind gave away most of his fortune to ransom the body -- on condition that he would later have the honor of being buried alongside Rabbi Rotenburg.

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20 Iyar

In 1311 BCE (Hebrew year 2449), the Jewish people left Mount Sinai to go to Israel. If the Jews hadn't complained about the difficulties of traveling in the desert, they would have entered the Land of Israel immediately. As it was, they wandered in the desert for 40 years before entering the land.

On this date in 1800, D.M. Dyte, an English Jew, saved the life of King George III of England. King George was attending a theater presentation, when a lunatic in the audience fired a gun pointblank at the king. Two bullets missed their target, passing harmlessly over the king's head. It was revealed that D.M. Dyte had struck the would-be assassin's arm as he pulled the trigger. As a reward, Dyte asked for (and was granted) a monopoly on the sale of opera tickets.

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21 Iyar

In 1882, the Jewish agricultural settlement of Alliance was founded in New Jersey. Jewish immigrants from eastern Europe proposed this settlement as a utopian experiment, with the thought that through agriculture the Jewish people would become emancipated. Ultimately, the Alliance idea failed, as an industrializing, urban America proved more powerful than the settlers' plan.

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22 Iyar

In 1944, the Nazis began deporting Hungarian Jews to the concentration camps. This would be one of the final tragedies of the Holocaust, as 400,000 Hungarian Jews were taken to the gas chambers in a matter of weeks. Additionally, tens of thousands of Jews died on death marches from Budapest to Austria, and others were shot and thrown into the Danube River. During this time, Raoul Wallenberg, a Swedish diplomat stationed in Budapest, issued thousands of Swedish identity documents to protect Jews from deportation; he is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives.

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23 Iyar

In the Hebrew year 2448, Moses hit a rock in order to provide water for the Jewish people in the desert (Exodus 17:6). This became the Well of Miriam that miraculously accompanied the Jews for the next 40 years.

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24 Iyar

In 1945, Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, one week after Adolf Hitler committed suicide in a Nazi bunker. World War II had engulfed much of the globe and is considered the most costly war in human history. In total, some 50 million people lost their lives -- 20 million soldiers and 30 million civilians.

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25 Iyar

In 1096, Christian Crusaders reached the city of Cologne, only to find the city gates locked by order of the bishop. The Crusaders were en route to liberate the Holy Land from the "infidels," and turned these Crusades into campaigns of slaughter, rape and pillage. This large-scale mob violence, directed primarily against European Jews, served as the model for later pogroms. Muslims were also victims of the Crusaders, which historians believe planted a deep-seeded hatred of the West. In this first Crusade, an estimated 40% of the Jewish community of Europe was slaughtered; only the Jews of Cologne, with their locked city gates, were completely spared.

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26 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto (1707-1747), author of classic works of Jewish philosophy, known by the acronym of his name, Ramchal. He was born in Italy where he quickly became known for his vast Torah knowledge and beautiful literary style. It is said that by age 14, he already knew the entire Talmud and Midrash by heart. Ramchal's Path of the Just, which describes a step-by-step process to attaining spiritual perfection, is a classical work of Mussar (Jewish ethics) that is studied widely today. Other of Ramchal's important works include The Way of God, a systemized study of Jewish philosophy, and Da'at Tevunot, an exposition on kabbalistic concepts. Ramchal moved to Amsterdam where he worked as a diamond cutter, and later to Israel, where he perished in a plague at the age of 40. He is buried next to the famed Rebbe Akiva on a hillside in Tiberias.

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27 Iyar

In 1945, the Theresienstadt concentration camp was liberated. Theresienstadt was not a death camp by the usual definition. It was the center of a Nazi PR ploy -- a mythic, idyllic city that was supposedly built to protect Jews from the vagaries and stresses of the war. The Red Cross was once allowed to visit Theresienstadt, which was spruced up for the occasion; inmates were dressed up and baked goods suddenly filled the shelves. (The Red Cross concluded that the Jews were being well-treated.) In reality, starvation and disease proved rampant. Of the 200,000 people (mostly Czech Jews) who passed through its gates, thousands died of malnutrition and exposure, and others were sent to Auschwitz.

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28 Iyar

In 1967, Israeli paratroopers completed their capture of the Old City of Jerusalem, restoring Jewish control of the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site. Soldiers danced, sang and cried at the Western Wall, the site of Jewish prayers for centuries. A plaza was cleared in front of the Wall, and one week later, tens of thousands of Jews swarmed to the site on the holiday of Shavuot. Iyar 28 is celebrated today as Yom Yerushalayim, commemorating the reunification of the Holy City, which has stood as the capital of the Jewish nation for 3,000 years.

[Naomi]

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29 Iyar

Yahrtzeit of Shmuel (Samuel) the Prophet (930-878 BCE). Shmuel was born to Chana, who had been barren for many years and prayed intensely for a child. Shmuel was raised in an atmosphere of great holiness, and became a leading prophet in Israel. Shmuel's greatest contribution was in anointing the first king of Israel, Saul, and later anointing King David in his stead. (Some sources list Shmuel's yahrtzeit as Iyar 28.)

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1 Sivan

In the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 BCE), seven weeks after the Exodus from Egypt, the Jewish people arrived at Mount Sinai. They spent the next five days in intense purification and preparation to receive the Torah.

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2 Sivan

In 1946, Rumanian leader Ion Antonescu was executed for his role in World War II. Antonescu passed dozens of anti-Jewish laws, and directly ordered pogroms and deportations to concentration camps. Antonescu, whose stepmother and wife were both Jewish, said: "I give the mob complete license to massacre [the Jews]. I will withdraw to my fortress, and after the slaughter, I will restore order." Under his governance, approximately 300,000 Jews were killed in Romania and Transnistria, where many had been deported. Toward the end of the war, Antonescu was arrested and put on trial by the Communist government in Bucharest -- on the primary charge of having supported the German invasion of the USSR. He was sentenced to death and executed.

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3 Sivan

Yahrtzeit of David "Mickey" Marcus (1902-1948), an American Jew who volunteered to fight for the Israeli army in the 1948 War of Independence. Marcus was a tough Brooklyn street kid who attended West Point and then law school. In World War II, Marcus rose to the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army, where he helped draw up surrender terms for Italy and Germany. While serving in the occupation government in Berlin, he was responsible for clearing out the Nazi death camps, and then as chief of the War Crimes Division, where he helped arrange the Nuremberg trials. Seeing the Jewish suffering first-hand, Marcus became a committed Zionist, and in 1947 he volunteered to help secure the Jewish settlements which were under attack from hostile Arabs. Marcus designed a command structure for Israel's new army and wrote manuals to train it. His most famous achievement was ordering the construction of the "Burma Road," a winding mountainous path which allowed Jewish convoys to reach Jerusalem and relieve the Arab siege. Tragically, on the day that the war's cease-fire took effect, Marcus was mistakenly shot by a Jewish guard. His story became the subject of a movie, Cast a Giant Shadow, starring Kirk Douglas, John Wayne, Frank Sinatra and Yul Brynner.

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4 Sivan

In the Hebrew year 2448, Moses wrote the first part of the Torah, from Genesis up until the revelation at Mount Sinai. By the end of his life, Moses had written 13 Torah scrolls -- one for each tribe, and one more to place in the Ark of the Covenant. The existence of multiple scrolls in multiple locations ensured the integrity of the Torah text, as scrolls could be checked against one another for accuracy. Indeed, this method has continued for millennia, and Torah scrolls from Morocco to Russia, Australia to Iraq, all contain the same letter-for-letter text.