Jewish History Moment podcast with Ben Bresky

The Yiddish Cowboys of Argentina

The Jewish farmers who escaped the pogroms in Eastern Europe and Russia rebuilt their lives in Latin America. Learn about Baron Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonisation Association, his connection to Theodor Herzl and the once thriving town of Moisés Ville. Hear excerpts from Alberto Gerchunoff’s famous book Los Gauchos Judíos (The Jewish Gauchos of the Pampas).Thank you to Kehila Latina. Campesinos de Moisesville, provincia de Santa Fe, pionera de las colonias judías, fundada en 1889. Wiki CommonsA Jewish gaucho. Credit: AMIABaron Hirsch synagogue in Moises VilleJewish school in Moises Ville. Credit: FLLL, Wiki CommonsNOTES:Kehila Latina community Jerusalem - Facebook pageKehila Latina: Bringing Jerusalem's Latino immigrants together - Jerusalem PostMoisés Ville wants to be a World Heritage SiteThe Jewish gauchos of the pampas by Alberto Gerchunoff - full textLa MISTERIOSA ciudad JUDÍA de Argentina | Moisés Ville - videoOutpost on Pampas Where Jews Once Found Refuge Wilts as They LeaveOLEI: Tu Aliado en la Aliá y la Integración en IsraelJewish Gauchos’ ‘legacy’: Film Recalls Argentina’s Immigrant ColoniesJewish Charitable Association (formerly the Jewish Colonization Association)

A Blessing for Israel’s First Elections in 1949

Menachem Begin of the Herut party at a campaign speech prior to Israel’s first election. Credit: Hans Pinn, Israeli Government Press Office. Many recited blessings when they voted for the first time in an independent, democratic Jewish State in 1949. Hear memories of the exciting days of Israel’s first elections amid war and learn about the colorful candidates including Rachel Cohen-Kagan of WIZO, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, Amin-Salim Jarjora, the Christan-Arab mayor of Nazareth, former militant Lechi fighter Nathan Yellin-Mor, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon who was arrested by the British for Zionism, Zecharia Glosca of the Association of Yemenis in Israel and a moving memoir by Rabbi Moshe Yekutiel Alpert who wore his Shabbat best to the polling booth.Municipal elections in Israel are February 27, 2024, the new date after being reschedule twice due to Operation Iron Swords. For the official website on how to vote and list of candidates click here: https://bchirot-muni.moin.gov.il/Rachel Cohen-Kagan of WIZO signing Israel’s Declaration of Independence. She later was elected to the first Knesset. Credit: Beno RothenbergRabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon and David Ben-Gurion sign Israel’s declaration of Independence in 1948. Rabbi Maimon was later elected to the first Knesset. Credits: Hans Pinn, GPO.Election posters in Tel Aviv a day before Israel’s first vote, January 1949. Credit Hugo Mendelson, GPO.Election posters at the Great Synagogue of Tel Aviv, January 24, 1949. Credit: Hugo Mendelson, GPONOTES:Diary of a Muchtar in Jerusalem: The History of the Beit Yisrael Neighborhood and its Surroundings in the Writings of Rabbi Moshe Yekutiel Alpert (1938-1952)“The Holiest Day of My Life”: A Personal Account of Israel’s 1st Elections in 1949Israel to Vote Today in First National Elections; Campaign Reaches High PeakIsraeli Electoral History: Elections to the 1st KnessetElection Day Passes Quietly in Israel - JTAISRAEL: Cabinet and elections (1949) - British PatheBritain Recognises Israel (1949) - British PathePALESTINE - ISRAEL ELECTIONS - British Movietone / AP

The Hidden Cemetery of Jerusalem’s Gan Sacher and the victory of the Six Day War

Jerusalem’s Sacher Park by Anatoli AxelrodThe Jerusalem park called Gan Sacher attracts picnic-goers, athletes, and families but back in 1967 it was the planned site of a cemetery for the projected mass casualties of the invading Arab armies. But Israel’s lighting victory in the Six Day War meant a large cemetery was not necessary. Learn about Harry Sacher, the Zionist philanthropist for whom the site is named who helped draft the Balfour Declaration which declared Palestine as a Jewish homeland. Also learn about the little-known cemetery from 1948, above Gan Sacher, created when the Jordanians occupied the Mount of Olives. Today, people still visit the grave of the great Hasidic leader Rabbi Gedalia Moshe Goldman, the Zvhiller Rebbe, who once sacrificed his freedom for a fellow Jew in a Soviet prison.Harry Sacher, Zionist and philanthropist helped draft the Balfour Declaration.Mimouna celebration in Gan Sacher, 1971. Credit: Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office. Snow in Gan Sacher, 2022. Credit: Ben BreskySnow in Jerusalem’s Gam Sacher, 2022. Credit: Ben BreskyRabbi Gedalia Moshe Goldman, the Zvhiller RebbeNOTES:Zionism and the Jewish Future by Harry SacherAuction of copy of declaration establishing State of IsraelTo Save a Friend - Gedalia Moshe Goldman, Rebbe of ZvhilRabbi Gedalie Moishe GoldmanPraying at the grave of the Rebbe of Zvhil in a hidden corner of Jerusalem

Miracle of Moroccan Aliyah

Newcomers on board ship from Morocco at Haifa port. Credit: Fritz Cohen, Israeli Government Press Office Sep. 24, 1954.David Littman never knew his job helping Jewish children in Morocco was part of a secret illegal immigration mission called Operation Mural. He was one of the many who risked their lives helping Jews leave move to Israel after the Moroccan government banned aliyah. Another hero is Yehudit Yehezkeli Galili, a member of the Misgeret, a Jewish underground that ran self defense units and helped Operation Yachin in which tens of thousands of Moroccan Jews escaped persecution for a better life in the holy land. Learn about the 1948 Anti-Jewish riots in Oujda and Jerada, the Bloody Days of Fez, the sinking of the Egoz and the heroism of Sultan Mohammed V who stood up to the .Traditional Moroccan dance during the Mimouna celebration at Gan Sacher in Jerusalem. Credit: Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office April 18, 1971 NOTES:Interview with David Littman, Operation MuralThe Moroccan connection: Exploring the decades of secret ties between Jerusalem and RabatFrench Press Condemns ‘inhuman’ Moroccan Treatment of Jews30,000 Jews Reported to Have Left Morocco Despite Emigration BanJews of the Maghreb on the Eve of World War IILate King Mohammed V of Morocco honored for protecting his country's JewsSultan Mohammed V protected the Jews of CasablancaUnder the nose of the king: the secret operation of the Mossad for the protection of Moroccan Jews

Tu Bishvat Special: History of Israeli Drip Irrigation

Credit: C Nanda Kishore Reddy, WikiCommonsTu Bishvat is the new year for the trees and Israel is a pioneer in creating sustainable agriculture and water management. Meet Simcha Blass who invented modern drip irrigation and built Israel’s first pipeline to the Negev. Learn about his rabbinical family from Europe and the struggle to revive the deforested and arid land through the Netafim company, born in Kibbutz Hatzerim, an agricultural community pioneered by the Tehran Children who escaped the Holocaust via Iran.Click here for last year’s History of Tu Bishvat podcast!Director of Netafim Uri Verber, with drip irrigation inventor Simcha Blass, 1965. Credit: Edna Verber, WikiCommons.Simcha Blass with American Special Representative of the President of the United States Eric Johnston in the Jordan Valley, 1962. Credit: from the book Water in Strife and Action by Simcha Blass.NOTES:Pollution in a Promised Land: An Environmental History of IsraelEinstein Forest to Be Opened on Tu Bishvat“New Year of Trees”, Ancient Festival, to Be Celebrated in PalestineArbor Day Proclaimed As “Afforestation Day” in Israel; to Be Dedicated to HeroesThank This Jew For Inventing Drip IrrigationThe “Tehran Children” and the Jewish Soldiers in "Anders’ Army”Engineer Simcha Blass- Encyclopedia of the Founders and Builders of Israel

Biography of the Baba Sali, Mystical Moroccan Rabbi

Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali. Thousands flocked to the Baba Sali both during his lifetime and on the annual memorial of his passing for miracles of healing and salvation. But the Baba Sali rejected all honor and insisted the miracles came not from him, but through the individual’s faith in God. Learn about Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira and his illustrious family of sages: Rabbi Shmuel Elbaz, the Father of the Carpet, the musical poems of the Abir Yaakov, and the cruel execution of Rabbi David Abuhatzeira during the battles between the French and Moroccans. And finally, the story of the Baba Sali who settled in a working-class desert town in Israel’s south and brought with him a tradition of asceticism and faith.A portrait of the Baba Sali at his memorial ceremony in Netivot, Israel. Credit: Ben BreskyThe Hillula of the Baba Sali. Oud, tambourines, and dancing. The dome shaped tomb in the background. Credit: Nati Harnik, Israeli Government Press Office, February 2, 1987.A Torah on the table in front of the synagogue and tomb of the Baba Sali in Netivot, Israel. Credit: Ben Bresky, 2011NOTES:Interview with Baba Sali assistant David GolanYodu Lecha Rayonai by the Baba Sali - National Library of IsraelYodu Lecha Rayonai by the Baba Sali - Torah-Box

Ethiopian Aliyah – Jewish Ethiopian Struggle to Immigrate to Israel

Ethiopian immigrants disembark from the planes during Operation Solomon, May 25, 1991. Credit: Tsvika Israel, Government Press Office.Operation Solomon, the massive airlift to rescue the Ethiopian Jewish community made history. Learn about the tragedy of the trek through the Sudanese desert, the abrupt halt of Operation Moses and Jewish-Ethiopian community leaders who risked their lives to covertly arrange immigration of thousands to Israel amid famine and political turmoil such as Baruch Tegegne, Ferede Aklum and Yona Bogale. Plus the little-known back-story of Ethiopian Jews and their yearning for the land of Israel which dates back to the 1800s with Abba Mahari and the Ashkenazic Jewish leaders who connected to their struggle such as Dr. Jacques Faitlovitch and Rabbi Azriel Hildesheimer.Credit: Nathan Alpert, Government Press OfficeCredit: Nathan Alpert, Government Press OfficeNational memorial for Ethiopian Jews, Jerusalem, 2018. Credit: Ben BreskyPresident Reuben Rivlin at the memorial for Ethiopian Jewry, Jerusalem, 2018. Credit: Ben BreskyNOTES:Baruch's Odyssey : an Ethiopian Jew's struggle to save his people by Baruch TegegneThe Power of One: The Story of the Man who Opened the Route to Israel via Sudan for the Ethiopian JewsAirlift of 14,000 Ethiopian Jews Accomplished in Just 40 Flights JTA 1991Ethiopian Jews and Israelis Exult as Airlift Is Completed - New York Times 1991Operation Solomon - Jewish Virtual LibraryRedemption Song: The Story of Operation MosesEthiopian National Project

Re-Discovery of Tekhelet and the Significance of the Tallit

The tzitzit tassels on the tallit have great significance in Judaism. The blue fringe, or tekhelet color was thought to be lost but was rediscovered through the efforts of such people as the Radziner Rebbe, whose students fought the , Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog, and Jewish scientists who combed Israel’s beaches looking for the elusive chilazon.Plus, how a tallit saved Israeli soldiers during the Yom Kippur War, the creation of the Israeli flag, and the story of a grandfather who felt compelled to wear the biggest tallit he could find to his grandson’s bar mitzvah.Thank you to the Kehillat Eretz Hemdah tzitzit project, Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins, author of Enveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook, and all others who helped with this podcast.NOTES:Kehillat Eretz Hemdah tzitzit for soldiers projectEnveloped in Light: A Tallit Sourcebook by Dov Peretz ElkinsTalis by Daniel Pinkwater, from the book Fish WhistleTalis by Daniel Pinkwater, from the book Fish Whistle - audio bookIsrael National Symbols: The Israeli FlagWho Designed Israel’s Flag?Spiritual armor for the IDFDemand for religious Jewish garments surges in IDF as soldiers seek spiritual protectionWhy Are Israeli Soldiers Snapping up Tzitzit?Rabbi Eliyahu Tavger - Blue FringesRabbi Eliyahu Tavger - Wikipedia (Hebrew)Rabbi Menachem BursteinIn Search of the Lost ChilazonWhat Color Was Tekhelet?The Dyeing with Murex Extracts, an Unusual Dyeing Method of Wool to the Biblical Sky BlueTo Identify Blue in the TzitzitMessiah’s Snail - Calcalist news articleHistory of Izhbitza Radzin Hassidus - official websiteHistory of Izhbitza Radzin Hassidus - Wikipedia HebrewRabbi Avraham Issachar Englerd of Radzin - ChabadpediaRabbi Avraham Issachar Englerd of Radzin - Wikipedia (Hebrew)Rabbi Shmuel Shlomo Leiner of Radzin - Wikipedia (Hebrew)Rabbi Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin - Wikipedia (Hebrew)Rabbi Isaac Herzog Biologist Henri de Lacaze-DuthiersAzure in the ancient world

Uziel Gal, inventor of the Uzi submachine gun

Uziel GalThe story of Uziel Gal, creator of the Uzi submachine gun, which defended Israel from the 1950s and beyond. Born in Germany, his family fled the Holocaust to a small kibbutz where young Uzi developed an early interest in innovative weapons. Learn about his father, the noted Bauhaus artist Erich Glas who was forced from his job and home by the , his brother the award-winning educator Michael Gal, and a side-note about the film Terminator 2.Female soldiers of the Israel Defense Force with Uzi submachine guns at a parade in the 1960s. Second Lieutenant Avital with steel helmet and Uzi, May 31, 1967. Credit: Micha Han, Israeli Government Press Office.Uziel Gal receiving Israel’s first Security Award from Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.Margalit Dehan of Kibbutz Ein Radian in Israel’s south cleans her Uzi, August 1, 1956. Credit: Fritz Cohe, GPO. NOTES:How a Kid Who Liked to Saw Rifles Became the Inventor of the UziHistory of the Uzi - News 1Inventor Uzi Gal - Washington PostLieutenant-Colonel Uziel Gal - The TelegraphUziel Gal obituary - The GuardianTommy Gun: How General Thompson's submachine gun wrote history Development of the UziUzi Protects Queen of EnglandUziel Gal Wikipedia HebrewUziel Gal Wikipedia English Erich Glas - Bauhaus Artist - official web siteErich Glas Wikipedia GermanErich Glas Wikipedia HebrewMichael Gal Wikipedia HebrewTerminator 2 firearm trainingLinda Hamilton’s Military Training for Terminator 2

Tenth of Tevet, the Holocaust and Soviet Jewry

Memorial service on Mount Zion in Jerusalem for the 6-million who perished through the hands of Hitler. Credit: Hugo Mendelson, Israeli Government Press Office, January 5, 1954The Tenth of Tevet is a Jewish fast day which marks the beginning of the siege on Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. But it also served as Holocaust memorial day before Yom HaShoah and was used to protest unfair treatment of Russian Jews during the Soviet era. Learn about the Chamber of the Holocaust on Mount Zion, Rabbi Mordechai Nurock who initiated Holocaust commemoration in Israel, and how this minor fast day had major implications for keeping memory alive.Memorial plaques for victims near the entrance to the Cave of the Holocaust on Mt. Zion. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPOMemorial Chamber for the victims of the concentration camps in the cave of the Holocaust. Note the 31-branched menorah. Credit: Moshe Milner, GPO. Memorial service for the martyrs of the Ghetto of Warsaw on Mt. Zion, in Jerusalem. Credit: Hugo Mendelson, GPO, January 5, 1954.NOTES:Biography of Rabbi Mordechai Nurock Rabbi Lau at Tenth of Tevet Holocaust Memorial - 2023Memorial Services for -killed Jews Held in Israel - 1950Israel Parliament Fixes Annual Memorial Day for Victims of - 19516,000-10,000 Jews, Non-Jews, Whites, Blacks, Hold Demonstration in Foley Square 1970British Jews Observe Day of Fast; 2,500 Jewish Women in Silent March - 1971The First Yom HaShoahDesecrated Holy Scrolls in Roumania Are Interred at Private Ceremonies - 1928Tenth of Tevet - Asarah B’Tevet - Jewish Virtual Library