Tomorrow in history 2/3 -- 19(12th of Adar, 3779): According to some sources today marks the dedication of the Temple built by King Herod the Great at Jerusalem 1112: Ramon Berenguer III of Barcelona and Douce I of Provence marry, uniting the fortunes of those two states. According to archaeological evidence, Jews had been living in both Barcelona and Provence since the first century of the Common Era. “The earliest documentary evidence for the presence of Jews living in Provence dates from the middle of the fifth century in Arles. They were to be found in large numbers in Marseilles at the close of the sixth century.” The Jewish population in certain parts of Provence would grow in the 14th century when the Jews who had been expelled from France found refuge in Provence which at that time was independent from France. A group of these refugees would be referred to as the Pope’s Jews. Berenguer would pass away in 1131 the same year that Sheshet Benveniste, the “philosopher, physician, diplomatist, Talmudist and poet” who become the leader of the Barcelona Jewish community until his death in 1210 was born. 1451: Sultan Mehmed II inherits the throne of the Ottoman Empire. He conquered Constantinople in 1453. The oppressed Jews were relieved to see him occupy the city. He allowed Jews from todays Greek Islands and Crete to settle in Istanbul. Mehmed II’s declaration read as follows: Listen sons of the Hebrew who live in my country...May all of you who desire come to Constantinople and may the rest of your people find here a shelter. Mehmed II invited the Ashkenazi Jews of Transylvania and Slovakia to settle in the Ottoman Empire. The synagogues Ahrida, Karaferya, Yanbol and Cuhadji which were damaged due to a fire were repaired on his order. Based on surviving documents, the Sultan employed at least five Jewish doctors as palace physicians. 1468: Johannes Gutenberg, father of modern printing, passed away. Gutenberg was not Jewish. But the invention of the printing press was a boon to Jewish study and culture. The people of the book had much easier access to the World of Books. 1747: A deed dated with today’s date conveyed a half-acre of land in the Township of Lancaster, Pennsylvania from Thomas Cookson to Isaac Nunus Ricus and Joseph Simons in trust for the society of Jews settled in and about Lancaster, to have and use the same as a burying-ground. “At this time there were about ten Jewish families at Lancaster, including Joseph Simon, Joseph Solomon, and Isaac Cohen, a physician.” The deed is the earliest record of Jewish settlement in Lancaster which was an early and important settlement during the Colonial and post-Revolutionary period of American history. 1749: Sicily, invited Jews to return to the island ending a three hundred year ban. The Sicilians believed that the Jews would restore trade to the island and improve its diminished economic conditions. 1877: Famed explorer Henry M. Stanley, the man who “found” Dr. Livingston, left Cairo to day so that he could join the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition and assume his role as active leader. Emin Pasah had been born into a German-Jewish family who named him Isaak Eduard Schnitzer. 1880: It was reported today that the Russian government is planning to change the law so that Jews have the same rights of other citizens as part of measures to be enacted as part of the Silver Anniversary of the Czar’s coming to the throne. 1906: The American Jewish Committee was formed. It was headed by Judge Mayer Sulzberger, a leader in the fight for liberal immigration laws. Its aims included the protection of civil and religious rights of Jews all over the world. Among its founders were Dr. Cyrus Adler, Louis Theroux and Jacob H. Shiff. 1918: Birthdate of Joey Bishop. Bishops career spans the entire spectrum of a Jewish comics life - Vaudeville, Burlesque, the Catskills, Las Vegas, Movies, and Television. Many remember him as one of ABCs attempts to imitate the popular Johnny Carson Show. The shows only lasting contribution was introducing Regis Philburn to America. His other claim to fame was being part of Frank Sinatras Rat Pack which included another famous Congregation Shaara Tfille/The Jewish Community Center of Saratoga Springs entertainer, Sammie Davis, Jr. 1919: Today, Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist delegation, presented the case for a Jewish homeland together with a map of the proposed entity. The statement supported the creation of a mandate entrusted to Britain and described the Jewish historical connection with the area. It also declared that the proposed borders and resources were “essential for the necessary economic foundation of the country” including “the control of its rivers and their headwaters”. 1921: Birthdate of Ralph Ahser Alpher physics professor at Union College, mathematician and provider of the model for the Big Bang Theory which was the subject of his 1948 Ph.D. dissertation. 1926: Birthdate of Vivien Wax Nearing, the New York attorney who dethroned Charles Van Doren as champion on “Twenty-One” the popular quiz show on NBC. She survived as champion for four weeks. Ms Nearing was one of fourteen contestants who were exposed for cheating during subsequent investigations into the quiz show scandal. 1944: Sydney Shumelson, a 29-year-old junior officer with the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), was part of a Buffalo Beaufighter Squadron that successfully attacked a Nazi convoy off the coast of Norway. On the way back, Shumelson engaged in a running dogfight with a Messerschmitt for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. “Six months later, Sydney participated in another sortie in which he and his comrades sunk two heavily defended warships in the Bay of Biscay. As a result of his service, he received the Distinguished Flying Cross and became the highest decorated Canadian Jewish serviceman in World War II.”
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 01:42:04 +0000
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