Jewish History

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The Jewish Agency, which helps Jews immigrate to Israel, stands on shaky ground in Russia, as a Moscow court is set to hold a trial on its dissolution August 19. Even though it’s operating under a cloud of uncertainty, and immigration to Israel has skyrocketed, the Agency continues to operate business as usual, JNS has learned from a government source familiar with the matter.

Since the outbreak of the war on Ukraine in February, 19,100 Russians have immigrated to Israel, a leap from the 7,733 immigrants that came in 2021, according to Jewish Agency numbers. It’s not a stretch to see immigration numbers triple over those of last year by year’s end, assuming the Agency isn’t shut down.

Jewish Agency in Russia soldiers on despite tensions, immigration surge

“The truth is Israel’s government doesn't know what will happen,” says an Israeli government source In the runup to August 19 hearing on the shuttering of the Agency in Russia.

www.jns.org

 

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You may be surprised to learn that fish and chips, though wildly popular in England for what seems like eternity, was actually a specialty of the Portuguese Sephardic Jews who fled the Inquisition in the 16thcentury and found refuge in the British Isles. Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver referred to this recently in an article in the New York Times, adding that, “Dishes evolve, impacted by trade, war, famine and a hundred other forces.”

Among those “other forces” are dishes born of religious ritual. For observant Jews, fish is pareve, a neutral food in kosher terms, thus an easy way to avoid treyf (non-kosher food) and possibly include dairy in the same meal. It was especially important for Marranos, the so-called crypto-Jews, who pretended to be Christian during the Inquisition. They ate fish on Fridays, when meat was forbidden by the Church, and also saved some to eat cold the next day at lunch, to avoid cooking on Shabbat.

Frying was natural for Jewish home cooks — think of latkes and sufganyiot — and as the Jewish community began to flourish in England, it spurred a taste for its beloved fried, battered fish throughout the country. According to Claudia Roden’s The Book of Jewish Food, Thomas Jefferson tried some on a trip to London and noted that he ate “fish in the Jewish fashion” during his visit. Alexis Soyer, a French cook who became a celebrated chef in Victorian England included a recipe for “Fried Fish, Jewish Fashion” in the first edition of his cookbook A Shilling Cookery for the People (1845). Soyer’s recipe notes that the “Jewish manner” includes using oil rather than meat fat (presumably lard), which made the dish taste better, though also made it more expensive.

There’s some dispute about the where and when of “chips” (what we Americans call French fries and the French call pommes frites). Many historians say that deep-fried, cut-up potatoes were invented in Belgium and, in fact, substituted for the fish during hard times. The first time the word “chips” was used was in Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities in 1859: “husky chips of potato, fried with some reluctant drops of oil.”

The official pairing of fish and chips didn’t happen until a few years later, though. Although there are some who dispute it, most authorities say that it is thanks to a Jewish cook, this time a young Ashkenazi immigrant named Joseph Malin, who opened the first British chippy, AKA fish and chip shop, in London in 1863. The shop was so successful it remained in business until the 1970s.

Who could foresee that fearful Jewish immigrants hiding their true religion and practicing in secret would be responsible for creating one of the most iconic dishes in the U.K.? The down-home dish that Winston Churchill claimed help the British defeat the Nazis, the comfort food that George Orwell said helped keep the masses happy and “averted revolution.” The dish, by the way, that was among the only foods never rationed during wartime because the British government believed that preserving access to it was a way of keeping up morale. A dish that continues to be a mainstay of the British diet.

(full article online)

Fish and Chips' Surprising Jewish History | The Nosher

You may be surprised to learn that fish and chips, though wildly popular in England for what seems like eternity, ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Long ago, as prescribed by the Hebrew scriptures, Jewish worship revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. For a thousand years, the Temple was a hub for offering sacrifices of all sorts (peace offerings, thanksgiving offerings, atonement offerings and more) every day of the year. On the three annual pilgrimage festivals — Passover, Shavuot and Sukkot — all Israel was invited to ascend to Jerusalem to offer special sacrifices and celebrate. The Temple also served as an important administrative center of the Jewish people.

All this came to a screeching halt in 70 CE when the Temple was destroyed in a devastating war with the Romans. In its wake, rabbinic Judaism (the Judaism practiced by virtually all Jews today) and its central text, the Talmud, laid the foundation for Jewish ritual and worship in a world without the Temple.

Though the Temple is long gone, it is far from forgotten. The construction of the Temple is described in great detail in the Hebrew Bible, and its practices are meticulously documented and parsed in the Talmud. An entire annual holiday — Tisha B’Av — is given over to mourning its absence from Jewish life. And a piece of the Temple — the western retaining wall of the platform on which it stood, called the Kotel or Western Wall — is today one of the holiest sites for Jews.

Even though remembering the Temple remains a central part of Jewish practice today, it can be difficult to grasp just how central the Temple was to ancient Jewish life. Here are 12 facts that help illustrate what the ancient Temple was really like, and what it has meant to Jews throughout history.

(full article online)

12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem | My Jewish Learning

Long ago, as prescribed by the Hebrew scriptures, Jewish worship revolved around the Temple in Jerusalem. For a thousand years, ...

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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The city of Constantine, built across a steep gorge

In my childhood, there was that terrible day of August 5, 1934.

I was five and a half years old. It was a hot summer day. We were all gathered at my grandfather’s house and Bouchareb, our trusted servant, did the shopping alone, so dangerous was it to go out into town.

Our customary car ride had been cancelled. At the time, I didn’t understand why. To the questions that we children asked – we who were gathered at my grandfather’s house – there was only one answer: “you are too young to understand.”

When we were allowed to play, we felt we had to do it quietly. On August 5, 1934, things puzzled me. What was going on? The front door was never locked: it could be opened only by turning the latch. It was now locked and the iron bar in place. The phone often rang in the hallway. At times, by straining our ears, we managed to catch snippets of adult conversation: basin, blood, throat cut.

Later, when I was old enough to understand, the tragedy was explained to me at length: Jewish families had been slaughtered by Arab rioters. The French government had done nothing to stop the massacre. I had been particularly struck by the murder of an entire friendly family, with the exception of an eleven-year-old child, hidden by his father in the attic of their house. Crouching and dazed in the attic, he witnessed the killing without crying out.

Read article in full (French)

More about the Constantine pogrom

A witness to the Constantine pogrom of 1934 • Point of No Return

It was a hot August day almost exactly 88 years ago that some 25 Jews were killed in a pogrom in Constantine, Algeria. Josy Adida-Goldberg was too young to be told what was happening, but sensed that things were not right. Here is her account, from Morial, the Association representing Algerian...

www.jewishrefugees.org.uk

 

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Gerald Teldon, 97, nicknamed himself “Mr. Lucky,” flying more than 60 missions for the U.S. Army during World War II. What he never received, however, were his service medals.

That changed on July 29, when—surrounded by three generations of his family—the 97-year-old Teldon was decorated with six medals for his service, including an Air Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign with three bronze service stars, National Defense and a World War II Victory medal.

(full article online)

Decades after serving, Jewish lieutenant receives World War II war medals

Gerald Teldon (aka “Mr. Lucky,”) from Long Island, N.Y., joined the service in April 1944. He initially applied for the Navy Air Force, but it was over its “Jewish” quota, so he was denied a spot.

www.jns.org

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Holy Temple Burns (69)
The Romans set the Temple aflame on the afternoon of Av 9 (see yesterday's Today in Jewish History and it continued to burn through Av 10. For this reasons, some of the mourning practices of the "Nine Days" are observed through the morning hours of Av 10 (see "Laws and Customs" below)

• AMIA Bombing (1994)
Arab terrorists exploded a bomb in the the Jewish community center (AMIA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 86 and wounding more than 300, in the most lethal attack against any diaspora Jewish community since the Holocaust.

Link: Terrorism

• Expulsion from Gaza (2005)
More than 8,500 Jewish residents were forcefully expelled from their homes in 25 towns and settlements in the Gaza Strip (including 16 settlements in the flourishing "Gush Katif" belt) and Northern Shomron in the summer of 2005, as part of the Israeli government's ill-fated "Disengagement Plan."

Av 10 was the deadline set by the governments for all Jews to leave their homes in these areas. Two days later, tens of thousands of soldiers and police officers began the forceful removal of the thousands who refused to leave willingly. The removal of all Jewish residents from Gush Katif and the Gaza Strip was completed by Av 17, and from Northern Samaria a day later. The army completed its withdrawal from these areas on the 8th of Elul, after bulldozing all the hundreds of homes and civic buildings in the settlements. The Jewish dead were disinterred and removed from the cemeteries. Only the synagogues were left standing.

The government's hopes that the "disengagement" would open "new opportunities" in relations with the Palestinian Arabs were bitterly disappointed. No sooner had the last Israeli soldiers departed from the Gaza Strip that Arab mobs began looting, desecrating and tourching the synagogues. The vacated settlements became the staging grounds for terrorist attacks against Israel, including the unremitting rocket fire on the nearby Israeli town of Sederot and the cities and settlements of the Western Negev.

 

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  Kfir Arbiv, Israel Antiquities Authority excavation director, cleans a 2000-year-old ballista stone at the Russian Compound excavation site in Jerusalem. (Yoli Schwartz/srael Antiquities Authority)
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  The Russian Compound excavation site in Jerusalem. 2000-year-old ballista stones from the Roman conquest of 70 CE are visible on the ground. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
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  Huge catapult arrowheads that were launched from ballista firing machines in the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in 70 CE, found in the Russian compound excavations. (Kfir Arbiv/Israel Antiquities Authority)
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  The Russian Compound excavation site in Jerusalem. 2000-year-old ballista stones from the Roman conquest of 70 CE are visible on the ground. (Yoli Schwartz/Israel Antiquities Authority)
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  Spearhead from the battle against the Roman army in 70 CE. (Clara Amit/Israel Antiquities Authority)

For the first time in the research of ancient Jerusalem, physical evidence uncovered in recent excavations has proven Jewish historian Josephus Flavius’s account of the 70 CE conquest of the holy city.

Through computer analysis of 2,000-year-old Roman ballistics uncovered in Israel Antiquities Authority excavations in Jerusalem’s Russian Compound near modern Jerusalem’s Municipality building, archaeologist Kfir Arbiv claims he has demonstrated the veracity of Josephus’s narrative charted in his book, “The History of the Jewish War against the Romans.”

“It is extremely exciting to be proving the narrative of Josephus onsite,” Arbiv told The Times of Israel on Sunday, Tisha B’av, the Jewish day of mourning that annually commemorates the conquests of Jerusalem.


(full article online)

Proving Josephus: Research on Roman ballistics confirms Second Temple battle account

Computer calculations of 70 CE Roman arsenal uncovered in excavations in Jerusalem demonstrate veracity of Jewish historian Josephus's report of intense fighting near Third Wall

www.timesofisrael.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Salvation of Baghdad Jewry (1733)
In 1733, the Persian conqueror Nader Shah Afshar laid siege to Ottoman-held Baghdad. Knowing that Persian rule would not bode well for them, the Jewish community prayed for an Ottoman victory. On 11 Menachem Av, an Ottoman force led by Topal Osman Pasha drove away the Persian forces and the siege was lifted. The Jewish community commemorated this day each year, refraining from reciting the penitential prayers of tachanun.

• Passing of R. Hillel of Paritch (1864)
R. Hillel of Paritch was one of the outstanding followers of the second and third Rebbes of Lubavitch, R. DovBer and R. Menachem Mendel Schneersohn. He was an exceptional scholar and served as rabbi of Paritch and then of Babroisk. Additionally, he would make a yearly visit on behalf of the Rebbe to the Jewish colonies in the Kherson region, teaching them Chassidut and inspiring their residents to increase in their observance of the mitzvot.

R. Hillel was known for his scrupulous adherence to every detail of Jewish law. He authored Pelach Harimon, a collection of sermons on chassidic philosophy, and composed a number of heartfelt tunes sung often at farbrengens until today.

 

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Editor’s Note: Olivia Newton-John has died at the age of 73. As a remembrance of her, we are republishing this 2019 article about her Jewish heritage and influences.

In a recent celebrity memoir, the author writes, “In 1933, my Jewish grandfather fled from Germany with his wife, Hedwig, to escape Hitler’s regime. He was not only a brilliant mind but also a humanitarian who helped Jews escape Germany. I’m extremely proud of my peace-loving grandfather.” The grandfather was Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born, one of the founders of quantum mechanics and a longtime friend of Albert Einstein. The granddaughter, which might come as a surprise to some, is Olivia Newton-John.

In fact, the English-born Australian singer/actress has plenty of yikhes to spread around. Her maternal great-grandfather was prominent German-Jewish jurist Victor Ehrenberg; her father was a British intelligence officer who took Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess into custody during World War II; and she also traces her ancestry back to Protestant theologian Martin Luther.


Some of these details are covered in Newton-John’s new memoir, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” named after the title track of her 1976 album (not to be confused with the execrable 1981 hit of the same name by the band Journey). The phrase “Don’t Stop Believin’” is also a concise summary of God’s commandments to the Israelites, although this may not be what Newton-John had in mind when she titled her autobiography.

Newton-John apparently did, however, have some serious Jewish mystical concepts in mind when she recorded her 2006 album “Grace and Gratitude.” The new-agey confection is rife with instrumental interludes with titles including “Yesod,” “Hod,” “Nezah,” “Tiferet,” “Hesud-Gevurah,” “Binah,” “Hochmah” and “Keter” – names corresponding with the divine sefirot, or vessels of divine energy, in the Kabbalistic Tree of Life. Although she doesn’t discuss this in her memoir, she does write about her friendship with fellow pop star/actress Madonna, a self-professed adept of Kabbalah.

(full article online)

The Secret Jewish History of Olivia Newton-John

In her memoir, Olivia Newton-John spoke of how her Jewish grandfather escaped Hitler's regime and she ascribed her restlessness to Max Born.

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120 Jewish Books For Every Age | My Jewish Learning

Reading is a lifelong Jewish practice. Deepen your knowledge of Judaism with a book for every age, from birth all the way to 120.

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Nachmanides' Disputation (1263)
By order of King James I of Aragon (Spain), Nachmanides (Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, 1194-1270) was compelled to participate in a public debate, held in the king's presence, against the Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. His brilliant defense of Judaism and refutations of Christianity's claims served as the basis of many such future disputations through the generations.

Because his victory was an insult to the king's religion, Nachmanides was forced to flee Spain. He came to Jerusalem, where he found just a handful of Jewish families living in abject poverty, and revived the Jewish community there. The synagogue he built in the Old City is in use today, and is perhaps the oldest standing synagogue in the world.

 

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Today in Jewish History​

• Passing of R. Nassan Nata Schapiro (1633)
R. Nassan Nata Schapiro was a saintly scholar who was proficient in both Talmud and kabbalah. He served as rabbi of Cracow, and authored Megaleh Amukos, a kabbalistic Torah commentary.

 

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Betty Boop, the iconic scat-singing cartoon flapper with a giant head and tiny dress, made her debut on Aug. 9, 1930, in the animated short “Dizzy Dishes.” Like many other characters at the time, she heavily reflected the Jewish background of her creators.

She was created by Max (Majer) Fleischer, a Krakow-born Jew from Brooklyn, who together with younger brother Dave founded the Fleischer Studios in 1929. The Fleischers were pioneers of animation and at the time the only major competitors to Walt Disney.

Everything Disney was not​

Fleischer Studios were everything Disney was not. They were based in New York (later Florida, as is Jewish custom), not California. And instead of sweet fairytales, they created cartoons that were modern, urban, scruffy, sardonic, political, often ethnic and occasionally suggestively Jewish.


Rather than cuddly animals and winsome royals, their characters tended to be exaggerated humans like Koko the Clown and Betty Boop, along with comic strip adaptations. It was the Fleischers who gave Popeye super-strength derived from spinach and Superman the ability to fly instead of leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Between 1929 and 1932, Fleischer Studios produced and distributed through Paramount Pictures a series of 42 black-and-white “Talkartoons,” the first animated talkies. They were shown in movie theaters before feature films and were aimed largely at adult audiences.

(full article online)

Just how Jewish is Betty Boop?

Like many Jewish women of her day, Betty Boop was born to an immigrant family on New York's Lower East Side.

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Michael Millenson was puzzled after stumbling on an exhibit about Gen. Julius Klein during a spontaneous visit to the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington, D.C., this spring. The modest museum has devoted a room to Klein as one of its three permanent exhibits: “Major General Julius Klein: His Life and Work.”

The small, wood-paneled room is constructed almost like a shrine. It features a bust of Klein and his personal battle flag. Placards along the walls provide a fawning description of his colorful career.

“Julius Klein was a remarkable individual who achieved great heights as a soldier and a statesman,” the exhibit’s introduction reads.


Millenson, a Chicago healthcare consultant, knew perhaps more than most visitors about Klein. His father, Roy, briefly worked for Klein’s public relations firm in the 1950s and left with a sour taste in his mouth over his boss’s work to help German companies launder their extensive ties to the Nazi regime.

After distinguishing himself as an officer during World War II, Klein spent the 1950s and 1960s as one of the top American lobbyists for the West German government. This work included defending a former top Nazi official, and severely damaged Klein’s reputation at the time, forcing his resignation from the Jewish War Veterans of the United States — the very organization that operates the museum. But the exhibit glosses over this history in a few lines that don’t mention Nazism and attribute the controversy to a simple case of bad publicity — perhaps because the exhibit was essentially a gift of Klein’s estate.

(full article online)

He lobbied for Nazis — why did a Jewish museum honor him?

Michael Millenson was puzzled after stumbling on an exhibit about Gen. Julius Klein during a spontaneous visit to the National Museum of American Jewish Military History in Washington, D.C., this spring. The modest museum has devoted a room to Klein as one of its three permanent exhibits: “Major...

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On this day in history (70): The Roman emperor and former military commander Titus besieged and invaded Jerusalem, destroying the city and the Second Temple. His victory was later commemorated by the construction of the Arch of Titus in Rome, which depicts the conquest, and is now a popular tourist site.

 

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The secret Jewish history of Jethro Tull

Jethro Tull, whose 1971 album 'Aqua-Lung' was designed by a Jewish artist, has some surprising Jewish affinities.

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Today in Jewish History​

• R. Schneur Zalman Settles in Liadi (1801)
The first Rebbe of Chabad, R. Schneur Zalman (known as the Alter Rebbe), served as preacher in the town of Liozna (in present-day Belarus) from 1783 until 1801. In that year, R. Schneur Zalman was imprisoned for a second time in Petersburg, due to trumped-up charges presented by his opponents to the government. After his release, he relocated to Liadi (also in Belarus), where he continued leading his followers and teaching the philosophy of Chabad. He remained in Liadi until 1812, when he and his family fled eastward from the oncoming French forces of Napoleon.

Under the leadership of R. Schneur Zalman’s son, R. DovBer, in 1814 the seat of the Chabad movement was transferred to the town of Lubavitch (in Russia near the Belarussian border). It remained there for over 100 years, until 1915, when the fifth Chabad Rebbe, R. Sholom DovBer, fled from Lubavitch to Rostov in face of the advancing German army during World War I.

 

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Tu B’Av , the 15th Day of Av, is both an ancient and modern holiday. Originally a post-biblical day of joy, it served as a matchmaking day for unmarried women in the Second Templeperiod (before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 C.E.). Tu B’Av was almost unnoticed in the Jewish calendar for many centuries but it has been rejuvenated in recent decades, especially in the modern state of Israel. In its modern incarnation it is gradually becoming a Hebrew-Jewish Day of Love, slightly resembling Valentine’s Day in English-speaking countries.

There is no way to know exactly how early Tu B’Av began. The first mention of this date is in the Mishnah (compiled and edited in the end of the second century), where Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel is quoted saying:

There were no better (i.e. happier) days for the people of Israel than the Fifteenth of Av and Yom Kippur, since on these days the daughters of Israel/Jerusalem go out dressed in white and dance in the vineyards. What were they saying: Young man, consider whom you choose (to be your wife)? (Ta’anit, Chapter 4)

(full article online)

Tu B'Av, the Jewish Day of Love | My Jewish Learning

Tu B'Av, the fifteenth day of the month of Av, is a Day of Love in Judaism.

www.myjewishlearning.com

 

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Vatican cardinal with Jewish ancestry honors Jewish-born nun and saint who was murdered at Auschwitz

Cardinal Czerny noted that his mother’s relatives, despite their conversion to Catholicism, were also persecuted by the Nazis for having Jewish ancestry.

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