Israel - Jewish History & Culture

Year Jewish Agency for Israel Israel Jewish History & Culture 1917 top In February, Mark Sykes (1879-1919), adviser on Middle Eastern affairs to Britain's Prime MinisterLloyd George opens negotiations with the Zionist leaders that are to lead to the Balfour Declaration. The British want to protect their interests in the Suez Canal area by placing the whole Palestine under their control. In April, the Turkish military authorities order the remaining Jews of Jaffa out of the city as they prepare for the British military offensive. The 9.000 Jews flee north, where they suffer from disease and starvation. In July, the original draft of the Balfour Declaration includes three elements: (1) the reconstruction of Palestine as a whole as the Jewish national home; (2) unrestricted Jewish immigration rights; (3) internal Jewish autonomy. The text is later modified as a result of the opposition to Zionism of some British Jews led by Edwin Montagu (1879-1924), who is a member of the cabinet. In August, the British announce the formation of a regiment of Jewish volunteers to fight in the war. Composed primarily of Jews from Britain and former members of the Zion Mule Corps, it is designated the 38th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers. The battalion will be transferred to Palestine in June 1918, where it will be joined by the 39th Battalion of Royal Fusiliers. In October, Turkish authorities uncover the NILI espionage group led by Aaron Aaronsohn. October 31: The British offensive in southern Palestine begins. The British capture Beer Sheva in a diversionary move. November 2: The British Government issues the Balfour Declaration. December 9: The British take control of Jerusalem. Two days later, General Allenby enters Jerusalem in a ceremonial victory march. Jews of the Ukraine are greatly affected by civil war in Russia. Various armies fight in the area: the Ukrainian army under Simon Petlyura (1879-1926); the Red Army; the counterrevolutionary White Army; and independent units commanded by local leaders. All engage in pogroms against the Jews. Sarah Schnirer (1883-1938), a seamstress, recognizing the neglect of religious education for girls, organizes a school in Cracow. A network, known as Beth Jacob Schools, develops. By 1938, in Poland alone there will be 230 schools with 27,000 students. Benny Leonard (Benjamin Leiner, 1896-1943), born in New York's Lower East Side, wins the World Lightweight Boxing Championship, a title he retains until his retirement in 1925. The Jewish Museum in Berlin is founded. It will be confiscated by the Nazis in November 1938. The Yiddish State Theater and Habimah, a Hebrew theater, are established in Moscow. Amadeo Modigliani (1884-1920), Italian painter and sculptor holds his only major one-man show in Paris. It is a failure. It is only after his death that the greatness of his work will be recognized. Modigliani is a member of the Circle of Montparnasse with fellow Jews Chaim Soutine (1893-1943) and Jacques Lipchitz (1891-1973), but his Jewishness never appears directly in his work. HaShomer HaTzair, a Zionist youth movement, is founded in Vienna. Year Jewish Agency for Israel Israel Jewish History & Culture 1918 top March: A Zionist Commissionappointed by the British government, headed by Chaim Weizmann, reaches Palestine. It serves as an advisory body to the British Military government on all matters relating to Jews. Moshe Shertok is appointed secretary of the Department for Land and Arab Affairs, und Yehoshua Hankin. January 2: A meeting attended by 42 delegates from British-held territory in the Yishuv takes place in the office of the Zionist Organization in Jaffa. A representative body - the Provisional Committee - is elected. May: The British permit the formation of a battalion of Jewish volunteers from Palestine. Formed into the 40th Battalion of Royal Fusiliers, it is trained and kept in reserve in Egypt. It will be sent to Palestine to join the 38th and 39th battalions in December, after the armistice with Turkey is signed. Pinhas Rutenberg, David Ben Gurion and Yitzhak Ben Zvi are among American Jewish volunteers who are formed into the 39th Battalion of Royal Fusiliers. June 4: Chaim Weizmann meets Emir Faisal, son of Sharif Hussein of Mecca, the leader of Arab nationalism, at Aqaba. Feisal pledges support of the Zionist aims in Palestine on condition that Arab nationalist aims are met in Syria and Iraq. Feisal fails to achieve support from the Allies on his aims. He considers himself released from his pledges to Weizmann. July 24: 13 foundation stones of the Hebrew University are laid on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Chaim Weizmann initiated the establishment of the university which will open in April 1925. December, 18-22: The Provisional Committee meets in Jaffa. It elects Chaim Weizmann and Nachum Sokolow as delegates of the Jewish community of Palestine to the Peace Conference in Versailles. The photographer Ya'akov Ben Dov shoots the first Hebrew film, "Liberated Judea". Otto Bauer (1881-1938), Austrian Socialist leader, succeeds Victor Adler as Socialist party leader and foreign minister of Austria. He will remain leader of the Austrian Socialists until forced to flee the country in 1934 when the Austrian Republic collapses. Hirsch (Zvi) Perez Chajes (1876-1927) is appointed Chief Rabbi of Vienna. A leading Zionist, in 1921 he will be elected chairman of the Zionist Actions Committee, serving until 1925. Yossele Rosenblatt, famed European cantor who had settled in the U.S. in 1912, rejects the Chicago Opera Association's offer of a large fee to perform as Eleazar in Fromental Halevy's opera "La Juive". Rosenblatt advises that it would be inappropriate for a synagogue cantor to act in opera. Irving Berlin writes and stars in the all-soldier revue "Yip, Yip, Yaphank", which features the famous army song "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning." November 11: World War I ends in Europe. Over 1, 172,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Allied and Central Power forces in World War I, including czarist Russia, 450,000; Austria-Hungary, 275,000; the U.S. 250,000; Germany 90,000; Great Britain 50,000; France 35,000. Over 15,000 American Jewish soldiers and 10,623 German Jewish soldiers were killed. The ratio of the German Jewish dead to the ratio of the Jewish population far exceeds the total German ratio of the war dead. The Allies mobilized 42,189,000 soldiers, and 4,489,000 were killed. The Central Powers mobilized 22,850,000 and 3,132,000 were killed. Over 6,642,000 civilians died in the war. December 15: 400 delegates of the American Jewish Congress meet in Philadelphia and decide to send a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference to secure the rights of Jews in Europe and to cooperate with the World Zionist Organization for recognition of claims of Jewish people in Palestine under the Balfour Declaration. Fritz Haber is awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Year Jewish Agency for Israel Israel Jewish History & Culture 1919 top Chaim Weizmann meets Louis Marshall, head of the American Jewish Delegation to the Peace Conference. January 4: Chaim Weizmann and Emir Faisal meet again and sign an agreement. The Jews are guaranteed free immigration and settlement on the land of Palestine. Arab tenant farmers will be safeguarded on their land and assisted in their economic development. Britain will arbitrate disputes. The agreement is conditioned on the Arabs obtaining independence in Syria. In February, Chaim Weizmann heads the Zionist delegation at the Paris Peace Conference in Versailles, where he urges an international ratification of the Balfour Declaration. In March, Emir Faisal writes to the American Jewish delegation in Paris that the Zionist proposals submitted at the conference were moderate and proper. April 19: The Hebrew Scouts Movement is founded. May 1-5: The rabbis of Palestine hold a first conference. Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak HaCohen Kook is asked to serve as chief rabbi. June: The first commission of inquiry arrives in Palestine - the King-Crane Commission - to assess the situation in the region and recommend future steps June 18: The publication of "Haaretz", a Hebrew daily newspaper, begins in Jerusalem. It will move to Tel Aviv in 1923. It is independent and liberal in orientation. Its literary supplement features the best Hebrew writers and scholars both from Palestine and the Diaspora. June 25-26: The first national conference of the Religious Zionist Organization, Mizrachi, is held. In July, Arab nationalists pass a resolution against the creation of a Jewish commonwealth in the southern part of Syria, known as Palestine. By midyear, Emir Faisal having failed to obtain Arab independence and Zionist assistance in his dispute with the French in Syria, terminates public meetings with Zionists. He becomes disillusioned with his Zionist connection and warns the Zionists to moderate their claims in Palestine and agree to consider Palestine as part of Greater Syria. Louis D. Brandeis and Chaim Weizmann meet for the first time in London. September 10-11: The Provisional Committee chooses October 26 as election day for the Elected Assembly. The religious and ultra-Orthodox oppose the elections, mainly on account of women's right to vote. October 6: Menachem Ussishkin immigrates to Palestine and is appointed head of the Zionist Commission to Palestine. Yosef Trumpeldor returns to Palestine to prepare the immigration of the members of the "Hehalutz" movement in Russia which he heads. December: The situation in the north worsens. The Muslim Arabs oppose French rule and rebel. December 18: The Ruslan arrives at Jaffa from Odessa with 671 returning residents and new immigrants. The event marks the beginning of the Third Aliyah.