Today in history -- 11/22/13 1617: Ahmed I, Ottoman Sultan, passed away. During his reign, Ahmed contracted small pox. The treatments prescribed by his physicians proved ineffectual. The widow of Solomon Eskenazi, who had served as a court physician was called in and she saved the Sultan. 1797: In London, Levy Salomons and Matilda de Metz gave birth to Sir David Salomons, 1st Baronet, a leading figure in the 19th century struggle for Jewish emancipation in the United Kingdom who was the first Jewish Sheriff of the City of London and Lord Mayor of London, and one of the first two Jewish people to serve in the British House of Commons. 1813: Today, a codicil was attached to the original will of Benjamin D’Israeli, the grandfather of the Earl Beaconsfield, Great Britain’s first Prime Minister to have been born Jewish. 1858: Denver, Colorado is founded. Jews have been active in Denver from its very beginning. Fred Z. Salomon and his brother Hyman led the first large pack train into the settlement that would become Denver. The two were fifty-niners who were later joined in Colorado by their brother Adolph. A native of Strelno, Posen, Prussia, Fred worked at various trading centers in New Mexico Territory before leading a supply train from Independence, MO to Auraria, the village across the river from the soon to be created Denver. Fred devoted his life to business and cultural ventures in the Mile High City. He started a brewery which the Rocky Mountain News “noted speedily decreased the local consumption of strychnine whiskey and Taos Lightning.” In 1860, Fred and Hyman started what would become the Denver Water Company. Fred “helped organize the Auriaria and Denver Chess Club and literary Society, later the Colorado Pioneer Society the Denver Public Library and the Denver B’Nai Brith Lodge.” In a time when rail travel was critical to commercial success, the elder Salomon helped lead the fight to bring the Denver Pacific and Kansas Pacific railroads to Denver. Fred also found time to serve as territorial treasurer. Such total identification with his adopted hometown stands in stark contrast with the decision of member of the Denver Club - the name of the “chess and literary society head helped found” to bar Jews starting in 1881. Other Jews connected with Denver in its early days were Otto Mears who arrived in Colorado in 1852, and Sam Flax, who after several false starts, meet success in the restaurant and hotel business. 1963: John F Kennedy 35th U.S. President was shot dead in Dallas, Texas. Kennedy enjoyed a great of deal of political support among Jewish voters. He appointed two Jews to his cabinet – Abe Ribicoff to H.E.W. and Arthur Goldberg to Labor. Kennedy would appoint Goldberg to the Supreme Court as a replacement for Felix Frankfurter. 1965: “Man of La Mancha opens” at the ANTA Washington Square Theatre in Greenwich Village. The part of Sancho Panza was played by Irving Jacobson, a veteran of the Yiddish Theatre. 1967: The U.N. Security Council approved Resolution 242 as a result of the Six Day War fought in June of that year. The resolution would provide the basis for Israel’s attempts to trade land for peace. 1978(22nd of Cheshvan, 5739): San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk, who was Jewish, were assassinated in City Hall by a former city supervisor, Dan White. Dianne Feinstein, who was then the President of the San Franciscos Board of Supervisors, was the first to discover Harvey Milks body. Feinstein who was the first female president of the Board of Supervisors was then sworn in as the first female mayor of San Francisco in Moscones stead. In 1979, she was elected to the first of two full terms as mayor. In 1992, she won a special Senate election to replace Pete Wilson who had left his seat to become governor of California. In the 111th Congress, Senator Feinstein assumed the Chairmanship of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, where she oversees the nation’s 16 intelligence agencies – the first female Senator to hold that position. Senator Feinstein is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Appropriations Committee, where she chairs the Subcommittee on Energy and Water. Senator Feinstein also serves on the Senate Rules and Administration Committee, which she chaired during the 110th Congress. In that capacity, Senator Feinstein was the first woman to chair the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, and presided over the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009. 1990: Margaret Thatcher resigns as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Thatcher was seen by many as philo-Semitic and a supporter of Israel. She had been a member of Anglo-Israel Friendship League of Finchley and Conservative Friends of Israel and during her career had five Jewish members of her cabinet.
Posted on: Sun, 24 Nov 2013 23:43:25 +0000
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