History events
1315 — (25th of Av, 5075) Nine years after he had expelled the Jews (1306), King Louis X of France ….. issued an edict that permitted “the Jews to return for a period of twelve years, authorizing them to establish themselves in the cities in which they had lived before their banishment. He issued this edict in answer to the demands of the people. Geoffroy of Paris, the popular poet of the time, says in fact that the Jews were gentle in comparison with the Christians who had taken their place, and who had flayed their debtors alive; if the Jews had remained, the country would have been happier; for there were no longer any moneylenders at all (Bouquet, xxii. 118). The king probably had the interests of his treasury also in view. The profits of the former confiscations had gone into the treasury, and by recalling the Jews for only twelve years he would have an opportunity for ransoming them at the end of this period. It appears that they gave the sum of 122,500 livres for the privilege of returning. It is also probable, as Vuitry states, that a large number of the debts owing to the Jews had not been recovered, and that the holders of the notes had preserved them; the decree of return specified that two-thirds of the old debts recovered by the Jews should go into the treasury. The conditions under which they were allowed to settle in the land are set forth in a number of articles; some of the guaranties which were accorded the Jews had probably been demanded by them and been paid for. They were to live by the work of their hands or to sell merchandise of a good quality; they were to wear the circular badge, and not discuss religion with laymen. They were not to be molested, either with regard to the chattels they had carried away at the time of their banishment, or with regard to the loans which they had made since then, or in general with regard to anything which had happened in the past. Their synagogues and their cemeteries were to be restored to them on condition that they would refund their value; or, if these could not be restored, the king would give them the necessary sites at a reasonable price. The books of the Law that had not yet been returned to them were also to be restored, with the exception of the Talmud. After the period of twelve years granted to them the king might not expel the Jews again without giving them a year’s time in which to dispose of their property and carry away their goods. They were not to lend on usury, and no one was to be forced by the king or his officers to repay to them usurious loans. If they engaged in pawn broking, they were not to take more than two deniers in the pound a week; they were to lend only on pledges. Two men with the title «auditors of the Jews» were entrusted with the execution of this ordinance, and were to take cognizance of all claims that might arise in connection with goods belonging to the Jews which had been sold before the expulsion for less than half of what was regarded as a fair price. The king finally declared that he took the Jews under his special protection, and that he desired to have their persons and property protected from all violence, injury, and oppression.”
1648 — (19th of Av, 5408) Three thousand Jewish children were killed by Chmeilnicki’s hordes in Konstantnow
1849 — (9th of Av, 5609) Emancipation in Hungary
1876 — (7th of Av, 5636) Eduard Lasker secures the passing of the «Austritt-Gesetz,» permitting persons in Prussia to sever connection with any religious community
1895 — (7th of Av, 5655) “Jordan Ceased To Flow” published today includes a summary of an article by Lt. Col C.M. Watson of the Royal Engineers that had appeared in the last quarterly of the Palestine Exploration of London which described “a stoppage in the flow of the River Jordan” that had occurred in the 14th century which bore “a likeness to the miraculous” stoppage “of the river at the time of the…Israelites.”
1909 — (10th of Av, 5669) The cornerstone for Gymnasia Herzliya’s new building on Herzl Street in the Ahuzat Bayit neighborhood of Tel Ave took place. Founded at Jaffa in 1905, it was the first Hebrew high school in what would become the state of Israel
1923 — (15th of Av, 5683) Opera life began in pre-statehood Israel today with the performance of Verdi’s “La Traviata. The performance brought to life the vision of Mordechai Golinkin described in his thesis “The Vision of the Hebrew Art Temple of Opera Work in Palestine.” Since there were opera houses in the new Jewish city, the performance took place in a movie theatre
1937 — (20th of Av, 5697) Kfar Menahem, a moshav that had been abandoned in 1936 during the Arab Revolt “was re-established as part of the tower and stockade program
1939 — (12th of Av, 5699) On the Mediterranean Sea north of Tel Aviv, “authorities detained 373 Jews today as unauthorized immigrants after the British destroyer Imperial halted the Colorado, a vessel flying” the Panamanian flag
1942 — (14th of Av, 5702) Young members of the Warsaw Ghetto establish Zydowska Organizacja Bojowa (ZOB; Jewish Fighting Organization). At this time, the only weapon in the ghetto is a single pistol
1943 — (25th of Tammuz, 5703) Jan Karski, the Polish officer who risked his life to bring first reports of the conditions facing the Jews of Europe, ….. including the mass murders and concentration camps met with President Roosevelt for an hour in the Oval Office. British Foreign Minister had not shown any interest in his report and Prime Minister Churchill was “too busy” to see him. Before meeting with Roosevelt, Karski had met with Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter who said, “I am unable to believe you.´ Karski began by describing the activities of the Polish underground. The president listened with fascination, asked questions and offered unsolicited advice, some of it a bit eccentric — such as his idea of putting skis on small airplanes to fly underground messengers between England and Poland during the winter. But when Karski related details of the mass killings of the Jews, Roosevelt had nothing to say. The president was, as Karski politely put it, «rather noncommittal.»
People
1885 — (16th of Av, 5645) Sir Moses Montefiore, one of the most famous and influential Jew of the 19th century passed away in the 101st year of his long and fruitful life
1964 — (19th of Tammuz, 5724) Yad Vashem decided to recognize Reverend Hermann Maas as one of the Righteous Among the Nations