July 25, 1994:
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and King Hussein of Jordan signed the Washington Declaration, officially ending the state of enmity between Israel and Jordan. This was the starting point of negotiations to “end bloodshed and sorrow” and achieve a just and lasting peace. The ceremony of the signing of the peace treaty took place on October 26, 1994, in the Arava valley of Israel, north of Eilat, near the Jordanian border. The Kingdom of Jordan was the second Arab country, following Egypt, to sign a peace accord with Israel.
Menachem Av 1, 2447 (1314 BCE):
Egypt was afflicted with the second of the biblical plagues, that of frogs (Seder HaDorot).
July 27, 1922:
Birthday of Norman Lear, American television producer and writer who produced, wrote, created, or developed more than 100 shows, such as the ground-breaking sitcoms All in the Family, Sanford and Son, and Maude.
July 28, 1925:
Birthday of Barry Blumberg, American physician and geneticist who received the 1976 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discovering “new mechanisms for the origin and dissemination of infectious diseases.” Blumberg identified the hepatitis B virus and went on to develop its diagnostic test and vaccine.
July 29, 1881:
The first shipload of Russian Jewish immigrants arrived in New York, following the pogroms of 1881. This was the beginning of a mass immigration to North America from Eastern Europe. It is estimated that more than 2.5 million people arrived through 1924, when quotas were established.
Menachem Av 5, 5332 (1572):
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, known as Ha’ari Hakadosh (“The holy lion”), founder of modern Kabbalistic learning and liturgical poet. Many of his songs are still sung on Shabbat. After seven years in near-total seclusion and meditation, engrossed in the study of the Zohar, at age 36 he moved to Safed. There, his primary student, Rabbi Chaim Vital, collected his lectures into a six-volume work titled Etz Chaim (“Tree of Life”). The Ari died at the age of 38. To this day, his tomb in Safed is a place of pilgrimage and prayer. During his brief life, the Ari revolutionized the study of Kabbalah, which until then had been the province of a select few in each generation. He is universally regarded as one of the most important figures in Jewish mysticism.
July 31, 1949:
El Al, Israel’s national airline, launched its inaugural passenger flight, from Tel Aviv to Paris, with a stopover in Rome. The flight duration was approximately 13 hours. Today, El Al flies to some 50 destinations around the world.
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