History events
1317 — (8th of Tishrei, 5078) The Jews of Berlin and Cöln (later incorporated with Berlin) are first mentioned in a law of Margrave Waldemar,” bearing today’s date “which provides that in criminal cases the Jews shall be amenable to the city court of Berlin
1497 — (19th of Tishrei, 5258) Gershon Soncino published one of the first printed editions of “Selihot” in Braco, Italy
1849 — (28th of Elul, 5609) The first synagogue in South Africa, Tikvat Yisrael, was dedicated in Cape Town
1879 — (27th of Elul, 5639) It was reported today that the population of Romania is 4,582,602 of which 270,000 are Jewish
1911 — (22th of Elul, 5671) In New York, publication of the first issue of Dos Naye Land, a Yiddish weekly
1913 — (13th of Elul, 5673) The trial of Melvin Bellis began. Called the “Russian Dreyfus Affair”, the trial is covered by hundreds of journalist from Russia, Europe and the United States
1935 — (17th of Elul, 5695) The anti-Semitic Nuremberg racial laws were passed by the Nazis.
1941 — (23rd of Elul, 5701) The Nazis killed 800 Jewish women at Shkudvil, Lithuania; Eighteen thousand Jews are murdered at Berdichev, Ukraine
1942 — (4th of Tishrei, 5703) The Nazis begin deporting the Jewish community of Kalush, Ukraine, to the Belzec death camp. It will take 48 hours to complete this vile task; The Nazis began the week long process of murdering the Jewish community from Kamenka, Ukraine, at the Belzec death camp; One thousand Jews were deported from Lille, France to Auschwitz
1950 — (4th of Tishrei, 5711) Today, Jordan’s King Abdullah said that if Israel did not remove its forces from the disputed land near the confluence of the Yarmuk and Jordan Rivers within four days, his government would take military action to dislodge the Israelis
1952 — (25rd of Elul, 5712) The Jerusalem Post reported that the government decided to form a Reparations from Germany Purchasing Mission, attached to the Ministry of Finance. The mission undertook that it would purchase and use the received goods exclusively for the development in four fields: agriculture, industry, transportation and power
1957 — (19rd of Elul, 5717) The 5th Maccabiah Games opened today in Tel Aviv
1982 — (27rd of Elul, 5742) Israeli forces began pouring into west Beirut. This was part of an ill-fated attempt by the Begin government to pacify Lebanon and destroy the PLO
1983 — (8th of Tishrei, 5744) Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns
People
1730 — (4th of Tishrei, 5491) Sir Solomon de Medina passed away. ….. A native of Bordeaux Medina was a wealthy Amsterdam Jew who went to England with William III, when he and Queen Anne gained the throne of the United Kingdom. According to Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne “The first Jewish knight, created by Queen Anne, was Sir Solomon de Medina. It was Sir Solomon who provided the supplies, including the food that enabled the British Army under the Duke of Marlborough to win the decisive Battle of Blenheim – a vital turning point in the War of Spanish Succession and a swift kick in the shins to Louis XIV’s aspirations.”
1780 — (15th of Elul, 5540) Birthdate of Jonas Daniel Meijer, the first Jew admitted to the Bar in the Netherlands. As a lawyer, he worked to help the Dutch Jews gain full emancipation
1780 — (15th of Elul, 5540) Jacob Rodrigues Pereira or Jacob Rodrigue Péreire an academic and the first teacher of deaf-mutes in France, passed away. ….. Born Jacob Rodrigues Pereira in 1715 at Peniche, Portugal, “he was a descendant of a Marrano (Portuguese Crypto-Jews) family and was baptized with the name of Francisco António Rodrigues. He returned to Judaism together with his mother. His parents were Magalhães Rodrigues Pereira and Abigail Ribea Rodrigues. After his father’s death his mother fled with her son from Portugal to escape the Portuguese Inquisition and the charge that she had relapsed into heresy, and about 1741 she settled at Bordeaux. Jacob Rodrigue Péreire formulated signs for numbers and punctuation and adapted Juan Pablo Bonet’s manual alphabet by adding 30 handshapes each corresponding to a sound instead of to a letter. He is therefore seen as one of the inventors of manual language for the deaf and is credited with being the first person to teach a non-verbal deaf person to speak. In 1759, he was made a member of the Royal Society of London. A lifelong devotee to the well-being of the Jews of southern France, Portugal, and Spain, beginning in 1749 he was a volunteer agent for the Portuguese Jews at Paris. In 1777, his efforts led to Jews from Portugal receiving the right to settle in France. In 1876 Pereira’s remains were transferred from the Cimetière de la Villette (where he had been buried the year in which that cemetery was opened) to that of the Cimetière de Montmartre. In Bordeaux the street «Rodrigues-Pereire» was named in his honor. His grandsons, the Péreire brothers, Emile Péreire (1800–75) and Isaac Péreire (1806–80), were well-known French financiers and bankers during the second empire who encouraged the construction of the first railway in France in 1835. In 1852, they founded the Société Générale du Crédit Mobilier.”
1913 — (13th of Elul, 5673) Eighty-one year old world traveler and author Ármin Vámbéry passed away today