B"H
Yom Yom
from Day by Day in Jewish History
by Rabbi Abraham P. Bloch z"l
[16 Menachem Av]
The British government ordered the removal of all illegal immigrants to E. Yisrael to Cyprus, 1946.
[August 17]
The Council of 4 Countries (semi-autonomous congress of Polish Jewry) met for the last time, 1762. It functioned for almost 200 years before the Polish government ordered its dissolution.
Now watch this one: Jews of Budapest, Hungary, received permission from the government, 1787, to conduct religious services in private homes provided no rabbi officiated.
The pope prohibited Jews from admitting Christians into shuls, 1592.
[17 Menachem Av]
120 Jewish families arrived in Buenos Aires, 1889, "giving birth" to the modern Argentinian Jewish community. (The community today numbers between 250,000 and 300,000 Jews, maybe as many as 200,000 in Buenos Aires.)
Arabs attacked Jews throughout Eretz Yisrael, among whom were students of the Yeshiva in Hebron, 1929.
[August 18]
500 Jews were taken by the Nazis from the Kovno ghetto to be killed, 1941.
Queen of Poland granted the Jews of Pinsk all the rights already granted to the Jews of Lithuania - 1533.
[18 Menachem Av]
The Ner Maaravi (the western lamp of the Menora in the Beit HaMikdash) was extinguished during the reign of King Achaz. The date was observed as a fast day.
Tradition is that the Western Lamp never went out. It was used to light the other lamps that were rekindled each evening. The Ner Tamid of our shuls is based on the Ner Maaravi of the Menora. (Rabbi Bloch z"l points out the extra significance in this occurring during the time of Achaz. He had removed the Copper Mizbei'ach from the Beit HaMikdash and replaced it with one modeled after an Assyrian altar. This was not only a desecration, but it removed the source of fire used to relight the Menora if the Ner Maaravi ever went out.
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Kuli, author of Me'Am Lo'ez, 1732.
[August 19]
First printing of Shulchan Aruch, Orech Chaim, 1555 (in Eretz Yisrael). Imagine how inaccessible texts for Jewish life and learning were before the advent of printing.
One of the earliest recorded instances of Christian censorship of Jewish writings, 1263, ordered by King James I of Aragon. (And to think we liked him so much from his role in the Disputation.)
[19 Menachem Av]
200 Jews were killed in the massacre of Beziers (A city of southern France, an ancient Gallic fortress), 1209.
Jews of Mitchenick, Poland were expelled by Russian authorities, 1914. (This was the first of a long series of expulsions that uprooted many Polish and Lithuanian Jewish communities.)
Bar Ilan University was founded, 1955.
[August 20]
Sh'chita was banned in Switzerland, 1893. (The ban is still in place and the Jewish community gets its meat from several different countries.)
A riotous mob attacked the ghetto of Buda (that's the half of Budapest that is on the right bank of the Danube, which was joined with Pest on the left bank in 1873), 1684. In gratitude to G-d for being spared serious injury, the Jews celebrated Buda Purim on the 10th of Elul. continued on page 22
Like the eighth of the eighth of the eighth is doubly blessed. B"H YOM YOM from p.13 [20 Menachem Av]
First printed edition of the Zohar, 1558. This lead to an explosion of interest in the study of Kabala.
Anti-Jewish riots in Zola-Egerszeg, Hungary, 1883.
[August 21]
Italy banned Jews from teaching in public and high-schools, 1938.
England allowed Jews to hold the ancient and important office of Sheriff, 1835.
160 Jews of Chinon, France were burned to death on charges of well-poisoning, 1321.
The execution by the Jewish authorities of an informer led to the repeal of Jewish jurisdiction in criminal cases in Castile, 1379.
[21 Menachem Av]
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk, 1918. Hitler's power became absolute, 1934, when he became head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. (This kind of item would usually be noted under the secular date and not the Jewish date. It is mentioned here to call your attention to the fact that the month of Av is involved.)
[August 22]
Jews of Brno (now a city in the Czech Republic; then a free imperial city of Moravia) were expelled by King Ladislaus, 1454.
Jacob Barsimson, the first known Jew to settle in North America, arrived in New Amsterdam, 1654. (Shmulke Bernstein's had not yet opened.)
[22 Menachem Av]
A violent earthquake rocked E. Yisrael; the city of Acco was completely destroyed, 501.
16 Jews were burned to death in Toledo, Spain, 1488.
[August 23]
Anti-Jewish riots in Bransk, Poland, 1938.
Jews from America, England, and Eretz Yisrael volunteered for the Royal Fusiliers, 1917, although they formed Jewish units, they were not designated as such nor were they allowed to wear Jewish insignias. (But most did anyway.)
[23 Menachem Av]
Pogrom in Zhitomir, Russia, 1905, cost many Jewish lives plus the life of a Russian student who tried to help the Jews.
[August 24]
Jews of Palma were massacred, 1391.
Jews of Cologne, Germany set fire to their homes and perished in the flames, 1349, to escape forced baptism.
Operation Magic Carpet, which brought 45,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel, was concluded, 1950.
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