NOVEMBER 21/CHESHVAN 20
1916:
Birthday of Sid Luckman, Hall of Fame quarterback for the Chicago Bears.
1945:
Birthday of Goldie Hawn, actress and film producer.
1984:
The first group out of a total of 8,000 Ethiopian Jews were covertly evacuated to Israel via Brussels from refugee camps in Sudan during a civil war that caused a famine. Operation Moses, which comprised a total of 28 covert airlifts on 707's lent by a Belgian Jew, was completed on January 5, 1985.
1985:
Jonathan Pollard was arrested in the U.S. charged with spying for Israel. He was given a life sentence, and despite numerous requests from Israel for clemency, he remained in prison until his release on November 20, 2015.
5781 (2020):
Yahrzeit of Rabbi Lord Jonathon Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth from 1991—2013, international religious leader, philosopher, theologian, university professor, Life Peer in the House of Lords, award-winning author (over 40 books!) and respected moral voice. In addition to 21 honorary doctorates, Rabbi Sacks was awarded the 2016 Templeton Prize in recognition of his “exceptional contributions to affirming life’s spiritual dimension.”
Described by the King of Great Britain as “a light unto this nation” and by former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as “an intellectual giant”, Rabbi Sacks was a renowned public speaker at prestigious academic institutions and venues around the world (his 2017 TED talk was viewed almost two million times).
He leaves behind a legacy as one of the greatest Jewish thinkers of the 20th century, one who bridged the religious and secular world through his remarkable and ground-breaking canon of work.
