Jewish History

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Anonymous letter in Church Times movingly recounts experience of Jewish exclusion

An anonymous letter in the Church Times has provided a moving account of a personal experience of Jewish exclusion. In a letter published on 6th January, the writer, who identifies as “a vicar of Jewish heritage”, recalled: “At a recent diocesan conference, I sat a table with others from...

antisemitism.org

 

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Jews in the Civil Rights Movement | My Jewish Learning

Working to extend America's freedoms.

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Safed Earthquake (1837)
A devastating earthquake struck northern Israel, killing four thousand Jews in Safed and between 700 to 1000 Jews in Tiberias. Many of the survivors migrated to Hebron, rejuvenating the developing Chabad community established there 10 years earlier by the second Rebbe of Chabad, Rabbi DovBer of Lubavitch.

• Mt. Sinai Hospital (1852)
One of the first hospitals in America under Jewish direction, Mount Sinai Hospital, was founded in New York on this date in 1852.

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Chovot Halevavot published (1559)
Chovot Halevavot, the classical work on Jewish ethics, was authored by Rabbi Bachya ben Yosef ibn Paquda (the first "Rabbeinu Bechayei") on or before 1161, and translated into Hebrew from the original Arabic by the famed translator R. Judah ibn Tibbon in 1167. It was first published on the 25th of Tevet of the year 5319 from creation (1559).

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Sicilian Jews Forced to Wear Jewish Badges (1369)
On December 25, 1369 (5129), King Frederick III of Sicily ordered all Jews to wear a badge indicating their heritage. The badge consisted of a piece of red material, not smaller than the largest royal seal; men were required to wear it under the chin, and women on the chest.

 

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Passing of R. Yitzchak Kaduri (2006)
Rabbi Yitzchak Kaduri, known in recent years as "the eldest of the Kabbalists," in the Holy Land, was born in Baghdad, Iraq in 1898. As a youth, he studied under the great "Ben Ish Chai" (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, 1840-1913) and was regarded as an illu (prodigy) by the sages of the venerable Baghdad Jewish community. In 1922, Rabbi Yitzchak emigrated to the Holy Land and joined the ranks of the Jerusalem Kabbalists, even as he earned his living for many years as a bookbinder. Over the years his fame grew, and thousands flocked to him to receive his counsel and blessing.

Rabbi Kaduri passed away on the 29th of Tevet of 2006, age 108. Hundreds of thousands attended his funeral in Jerusalem.

Link: Visit by a Sephardic Leader

• Jews of Tripoli Saved (1795)
In 1793, Tripoli (in what is now Libya) fell under the rule of the cruel Ali Burghul, who took advantage of divisions within the local leadership to take control of the city. Burghul terrorized the city’s inhabitants—especially the Jews—with excessive taxes and unjust executions. Among those executed was the son of R. Abraham Khalfon, the head of the Jewish community.

In 1795, a local Jew helped negotiate an agreement between the opposing factions, and on 29 Teves they succeeded in driving Burghul out of the city. The community celebrated this day each year as a day of rejoicing, and would recite a special hymn recounting the miracle (printed in Se’u Zimrah, pp. 191ff.).

The community of Tripoli kept a similar date of rejoicing one week earlier, on 23 Teves, commemorating the date (in 1705) when a siege that had been placed on the city by the ruler of Tunisia was lifted.

 

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Jewish Chicago Cubs Prospect Joins Team Israel Competing in World Baseball Classic

Chicago Cubs player Matt Mervis. Photo: Minda Haas Kuhlmann via Wikimedia Commons. Chicago Cubs first baseman prospect Matt Mervis will …

www.algemeiner.com

 

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Karl Pfeifer, Journalist Who Documented 20th Century With A Jewish Eye, Dies at 94: A Personal Memoriam

The Austrian Jewish journalist Karl Pfeifer. Photo: Austrian Cultural Forum The death of Karl Pfeifer last Friday marks the end …

www.algemeiner.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Jews of Colmar Expelled (1510)
Three years after the request by the Council of Colmar, Emperor Maximilian I granted permission to expel the Jews of Colmar, Germany (now France). The community exerted every effort to secure the repeal of the decree of banishment. With the help of Rabbi Joselman of Rosheim, the leader of the Alsatian Jews, the enforcement of the decree was postponed until S. George's Day of 1512.

 

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100 years ago, Albert Einstein took his one and only trip to the holy land. This is what happened.

The Nobel Prize-winning physicist would help establish the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, now home to his archives.

forward.com

 

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The Broken Hill Historical Society, housed within the former Broken Hill SynagogueWIKIPEDIA

The Outback’s Jewish Museum

Once it was a synagogue serving Jewish immigrants in a remote Australian mining town. Today, it’s a reminder of a history many have forgotten.

www.tabletmag.com

 

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Arthur Szyk, the Fighting Artist of the Jews » Mosaic

His Haggadah was called one of “the most beautiful of books that the hand of man has ever produced.”

mosaicmagazine.com

 

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The leader of Jewish community in southern Turkey was found dead Thursday afternoon, along with his wife, as search and rescue teams continue to comb the ruins of buildings destroyed in this week’s earthquake for survivors.

Saul Cenudioglu and his wife, Fortuna, were declared missing on Tuesday, amid fears they had been buried in the rubble of their home, which collapsed during the first in a series of massive earthquakes early Monday morning.

Head of southern Turkish Jewish community and his wife found dead | World Israel News

ZAKA confirms that Saul Cenudioglu and his wife Fortuna have been found dead in the ruins of their home Thursday, days after series of devastating earthquakes.

worldisraelnews.com

 

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(I can't believe no one has done this before!)

Gilligan's Island, the enormously popular TV series of the 1960s, was created by Sherwood Schwartz, a Jew born in Passaic, NJ in 1916. Schwartz, who also created The Brady Bunch, became a writer in part because of antisemitism.

He intended to go to medical school but the quota system in place limiting the number of Jews stopped him from being accepted. A friend suggested he change his last name to Black (the translation of Schwartz) and pretend to be a Unitarian to get into med school. Schwartz's response: “I said, ‘Look, I’m Jewish. I’m not ashamed of that. My name is Schwartz and I’m not ashamed of that. I’m not going to be changing anything to get into medical school.’ So as a result I didn’t get into medical school.”

Schwartz thought that his chances of being accepted might be better if he got a second degree, so he went to stay with his older brother Al in California to attend USC, where he got a masters in biological science. At the time, Al was a writer for Bob Hope, so Sherwood submitted a few jokes to the comedy legend - and was hired with a seven year writing contract.

He went on from there to write for comedy series like the Ozzie and Harriet radio show in the 1950s. But all the while, he was developing his own show.

Schwartz described the concept in an interview:

“I thought I had a great idea. And it’s still a great idea. It’s people. Here’s a serious show. It’s serious in that Arabs and Jews have to learn to live together for they’re stuck together. North Koreans and South Koreans, they have to learn. If you don’t learn, you’ll all die. So there’s this philosophic basis — this is not an afterthought, this is in the show. When the show first came on the air I got with regularity bachelor’s degree, master’s degree thesis from people in the theatrical area explaining what’s the basis for Gilligan’s Island. Like I didn’t know. It was carefully thought out, these seven people. That took me like a year to figure out who should be on the island. And it was all with a view towards the respect that people have to learn for each other because nobody is the same as anybody else. ....That’s what the show is about, people learning to live together.”

While the show did not have any overt Jewish themes, it did have two Jewish actresses.

Tina Louise, who played the bombshell actress Ginger, was Jewish, born Tatiana Josivovna Chernova Blacker in New York City in 1934. Her husband Les Crane (Stein) was also Jewish.

Natalie Schafer, who played Mrs. "Lovey" Howell, was also Jewish. She was born in 1900, and was actually twelve years older than Jim Backus, who played her husband.

The Secret Jewish History of "Gilligan's Island"

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.

elderofziyon.blogspot.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• First Jew Granted Residence in England (1657)
On February 4, 1657, Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, issued the first residence permit to a Jew, Luis Carvajal, since the expulsion of all Jews from England by King Edward I in the year 1290. The edict of expulsion had been officially overturned in the previous year, 1656. The re-admittance of Jews into England was partially due to the efforts of the great scholar Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel.

 

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The Fascinating Jewish History of Chocolate | The Nosher

If you made a list of the most Jewish foods, it would likely include dishes like chicken soup, hamin, gefilte ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Audiobook pioneer, Marianne Mantell, dies at 93

Marianne Mantell, a trailblazing woman who helped lay the foundation for audiobooks, has died at 93. Sunday TODAY’s Willie Geist remembers a life well lived.

news.yahoo.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Columbia Tragedy; Israeli Astronaut Perishes (2003)

On the morning of February 1, 2003, the Columbia Space Shuttle, returning from its STS-107 mission, was destroyed upon re-entry, 16 minutes before its scheduled landing. All its crew members perished, including Ilan Ramon, a combat pilot in the Israeli Air Force, who was the first Israeli astronaut. Prior to his departing to space on Space Shuttle Columbia, where his mission included the manning of a multispectral camera for recording desert aeroso, he arranged to take kosher food as well as a Kiddush cup, a Torah Scroll, and a dollar from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory.

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Agadir Eathquake (1960)
Hundreds of Jews, including some students of the local Chabad Yeshivah, were among the thousands of victims to perish in a devastating earthquake that struck Agadir, Morocco on the 2nd of Adar in 1960.

 

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An expressionist masterpiece by Edvard Munch, which a renowned German Jewish art expert was forced to sell less than four months after Hitler came to power, is expected to sell for $15-$25 million when it comes up for auction in London next week.

“Dance on the Beach” is going under the hammer on March 1 as part of an agreement between the heirs of Prof. Curt Glaser and those of Norwegian shipowner Thomas Olsen. Olsen acquired the painting at a sale in Oslo in 1934.

Both Olsen — who stowed the painting in a forest barn after the Nazis invaded Norway six years later — and Glaser were friends and patrons of Munch.



(full article online)

Heirs of Nazi-persecuted collector hail justice in auction of Edvard Munch painting

Prof. Curt Glaser sold 'Dance on the Beach' under duress in the 1930s. Now, the 1906 masterpiece is expected to fetch $15-25 million after a deal was struck with the current owner

www.timesofisrael.com