History events
1733 — (20th of Av, 5493) A group of 42 Jews who had sailed from London aboard the William and Sarah arrived in Savannah today, “months after the colony’s founding by James Oglethorpe.” “Most of them were Spanish and Portuguese Jews, who had fled to England a decade earlier to escape the Spanish Inquisition. Many of them had been members of the Bevis Marks Synagogue and would be founders of Mickva Israel, Georgia’s oldest Jewish congregation
1820 — (10th of Av, 5580) A small wooden building which had been erected at the northeast corner of Liberty and Whitaker streets Savannah was consecrated by members of Mikveh Israel. This was the first Jewish house of worship to be built in the State of Georgia
1918 — (12th of Av, 5678) In Russia, the revolutionary government that had overthrown the Czar removed the ban on Hebrew and Yiddish periodicals
1931 — (7th of Av, 5691) CBS’s New York City stations began broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the United States. George Gershwin was one of three people to appear on the first broadcast. That’s right – one third of the «cast» of this landmark television show was Jewish. Of course, CBS was owned by Bill Paley adding to the Jewish twist
1938 — (22nd of Tammuz, 5698) Before dawn “a band of Arabs estimated to number 100” attacked “an isolated settlement in the north, Kiriat Hahroesh, where stabbed to death a man, his wife and their 2 year old baby” all living in one hut “before entering another hut where they killed a settler and his 11 year old son.
1941 — (26th of Tammuz, 5701) In Minsk, 45 Jew were ordered to dig a pit. They were then thrown in and Russian prisoners were ordered to bury them alive. The Russians refused. The Germans then shot the Russians and the Jews in the pit
1947 — (4th of Av, 5707) The Exodus, a refugee ship with 4,500 refugees on board, was turned back by the British and returned to Germany. The ship had tried to run the British blockade unsuccessfully: The British forcefully boarded the ship killing 3 Jews and wounding over 100.
1948 — (14th of Tammuz, 5708) David Shaltiel, the district commander of the Haganah in Jerusalem held the last in a series of meetings mediated by the UN with Abdullah el Tell, “the commander of the Arab Legion in the city” where “they signed a formal cease-fire based on the existing positions of their forces.”
People
1718 — (27th of Tammuz, 5473) Shabbethai ben Joseph Bass who was born at Kalisz 1641 and who was the father of Jewish bibliography, and author of the Sifsei Chachamim supercommentary on Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch passed away
1938 — (22nd of Tammuz, 5698) Morris Mitchtom, the Jewish immigrant, who along with his wife “invented the Teddy Bear”, passed away today