This week in Jewish history: Saladin's crusade, Babi Yar, Binding of Isaac

Elul 24, 5693 (1933):

Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan, revered author of over 30 works on Jewish ethics and laws, including Chafetz Chaim (“he who desires life”) and Mishna Berurah; founder of the Yeshiva of Radin, Talmudist, and moralist. Earning his living as a teacher and shopkeeper, he consistently refused a rabbinical post.

Sept. 29, 1941:

The slaughter of 33,771 Jews by the Nazis took place in a ravine outside of Kyiv, Russia. The two-day massacre is immortalized in Yevgeni Yevtushenko’s poem “Babi Yar.”

Sept. 29, 2000:

Arabs launched a pre-planned campaign of terror throughout Israel, which became known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada. Over the next four years, Palestinian violence – including over 100 suicide bombings targeting restaurants, synagogues, and buses – claimed the lives of more than 1,000 men, women, and children.

Sept. 30, 1928:

Birthday of Elie Wiesel, Romanian-born Holocaust survivor, prolific author (57 books), teacher, and activist; generally credited with coining the term “Holocaust.” In 1985, he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Freedom, and in 1986 the Nobel Peace Prize.

Oct. 1, 1947:

Birthday of Aaron Ciechanover, the Israeli biologist who, in 2004, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for characterizing the method in which cells degrade and recycle proteins using ubiquitin.

Oct. 2, 1187:

Sultan Saladin of Egypt and Syria captured Jerusalem from the Crusaders; Jews were permitted to return to the city after an absence of 88 years.

Tishrei 1, 2085 (1677 BCE):

The biblical Abraham’s supreme test of faith, Akeidat Yitzchak, the “binding of Isaac,” in preparation to sacrifice his son as per God’s incongruous command, is recalled every Rosh Hashanah. Although Abraham did not carry out the act, when his wife, Sarah, heard what he was about to do, she died of shock, at the age of 127. She was buried in the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.

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