This week in Jewish history

July 19, 1921:

Birthday of Rosalyn Yalow, the first American woman to receive a Nobel Prize in Science. She was honored in 1977 for devising the radioimmunoassay, which spurred a great leap forward in medical research and lifesaving disease treatment. She was also the recipient of more than 40 honorary degrees.

July 20, 1897:

Birthday of Tadeus Reichstein, Swiss chemist and endocrinologist who synthesized ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in 1933 by a process that is still in widespread use. In addition, he won the 1950 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his research on steroid hormones produced by the adrenal cortex.

Tamuz 15, 5503 (1743):

Yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim ibn Attar of Jerusalem, a Torah scholar and mystic known by the title of his biblical commentary, Ohr HaChaim. He was born in Morocco and earned his livelihood as a silversmith. Many stories are told of his holiness and miracles.

Eventually, he moved to Italy, and then spent his final few years in Israel. His grave is on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives and is a popular place of pilgrimage and prayer.

July 22, 1920:

Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal), the worldwide fundraising organization for Israel, was founded in London. Its purpose was to provide financial investment for building and developing the Jewish homeland.

Over the years, Keren Hayesod has assisted in bringing three million immigrants to Israel and facilitating their absorption. Keren Hayesod has also helped establish and develop over 800 villages and towns in Israel.

Tammuz 17, 2448 (1313 BCE):

Moshe returned from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments but broke them when he saw that the people of Israel had constructed the golden calf in his absence (Exodus 32:19; Ta’anit 28b). A fast day was established to commemorate this and other tragic events in Jewish history that occurred on this date.

July 24, 1922:

 The 51 member countries of the League of Nations unanimously granted Britain the mandate to administer Palestine, which had been officially under a British military government since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I.

Based on the Sykes-Picot Agreement and the understandings reached at the San Remo Conference, Britain committed itself to oversee the establishment of the Jewish national home in all of Mandatory Palestine per the Balfour Declaration of 1917. Just a few months later, however, Britain decided to use 77% of the land to establish the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan (today’s Jordan).

July 25, 1994:

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, officially ending the state of war that had existed between Israel and Jordan since 1948 and agreeing to start negotiations to achieve an “end to bloodshed and sorrow” and a just and lasting peace. The actual peace treaty was signed on October 26, 1994. 

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