B"H Yom Yom B"H Yom Yom from Day by Day in Jewish History by Rabbi Abraham P. Bloch z"l [6 Shvat] Jews of Majorca were guaranteed protection, 1393. This was "forgotten" about 20 years later, when persecution started up again. 20 years after that, the Jewish community was destroyed. [January 13] Emile Zola published "J'Accuse", 1898. Pravda article, 1953, touched off a wave of virulent anti-Semitism throughout Russia. [7 Shvat] Jews no longer required to attend conversionist services, 1430 (sounds good). Fifth Aliya began, 1930. KAF-CHET SAMEI'ACH., 1972. [January 14] The Church burned Hebrew books and manuscripts in Rome, 1601. (It boggles the mind to try to imagine what writings were completely lost to us throughout our history.) Albert Schweitzer's birthday, 1875. [8 Shvat] The period of the Elders (Z'keinim, the contemporaries of Yehoshua) came to an end; marked by an ancient fast day. Jews of Colmar (Northern France, I think) arrested for well-poisoning, 1348. (They were burned at the stake several months later.) Public execution of 9 Jews in Damascus, 1969. ASC b. LIJ, 1980. [January 15] Jews of Switzerland were granted civic equality, 1866. (This came about due to considerable pressure from the United States on behalf of some of its citizens who had been discriminated against.) [9 Shvat] If the following entry (or any others) sounds familiar, it's because it appeared two issues ago under January 4th. When I go through the dates in the book, there are some items that I'll list only under the Jewish date - such as Yahrzeits - and some only under the secular date. Some don't get included at all, and some - the ones I choose to stress - are double-entered. That won't happen in the same issue, of course, but if the Jewish and secular dates are not in the same THU-to-THU range AND if the item is particularly noteworthy, then it will appear twice. In Toulouse, France, there was a Jew who converted to Christianity. He returned to Judaism, B"H. He was subsequently buried in a Jewish cemetery. Rabbi Isaac Males, HY"D, was burned at the stake, 1278, by the Inquisition, for allowing the burial. The severity of his punishment was based on the Church's need to deter those who might feel drawn to Judaism. Yahrzeit of Rabbi Eliezer Silver, leader of American Orthodox Jewry, 1968. [January 16] First hospital in America under Jewish auspices, Mt. Sinai in New York, founded, 1852. The LAMED-HEI, 35 members of the Hagana who betrayed, ambushed, and killed by Arabs in the hills of Hebron, 1948. Prohibition began in the U.S., 1920. [10 Shvat] Seven German Jews were tortured and burned at the stake, 1235. Yahrzeit of the "Previous" (Chabad) Rebbe, 1950. He was the father-in-law of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe (there does not seem to be a big rush to appoint a new one). [January 17] Earliest authorization for the establishment of a university (including medical and juridical departments) under Jewish auspices (sort of an early version of Yeshiva University), Sicily, 1466. Ben Frankin's birthday, 1706. [11 Shvat] The Jews of Colmar (see 8 Shvat) were expelled, 1510. [January 18] Speaking of universities... Judah Touro - American Jewish philanthropist - died, 1854. [12 Shvat] Nazis provoked the first anti-Jewish riots in Amsterdam, 1941. The Jews successfully fought off their attackers. Two years later, 1943, to the day (12 Shvat), Jews in the Warsaw ghetto put up their fist resistance to the Nazi effort at liquidation. We years later, to the day, the Russian army liberated 2819 survivors of Auschwitz. [January 19] 6000 Jews killed in Bucharest riots, 1941. Robert E. Lee b.d. 1807. Edgar Allan Poe's b.d., 1809. [13 Shvat] French National Assembly granted full and equal citizenship to the Portuguese and Avignonese Jews, 1790. France was the first European country to pass such liberal legislation. [January 20] Meeting chaired by Gestapo head Rhinehard Heydrich, discusses the implementation of the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question", 1942. Franco met with Jewish representatives to discuss the legal status of the Jewish community in Spain, 1965. First such meeting since 1492. George Burns b.d. 1898. [The Bo Homepage]
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