History events
-1313 (29 Av 2448 BCE) — In the morning, Moses ascended the mountain with new tablets to meet God. He remained on the mountain for another forty days without food or water, once again studying the entire Torah with the Almighty
501 — (22th of Av, 4261) A violent earthquake hit Eretz Yisrael during which the town of Akko was totally destroyed
1253 — (26th of Av, 5013) The Jews were expelled from Vienne, France by order of Pope Innocent III
1298 — (13th of Av, 5058) Massacre of the Jews of Wurzburg, Germany
1738 (21 Av 5498) — Emperor Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire granted the request of the residents of Breslau and signed a decree expelling Jews from the city
1787 — (8th of Av, 5547) The Jews of Austria were required to take family names
1858 (12 Av 5618) — In England, a law was passed allowing Jews elected to the House of Commons to perform their parliamentary duties without taking a Christian oath.
1865 (29 Tammuz 5625) — A law was enacted in Russia prohibiting any form of land ownership by Jews and Poles, including inheritance and gifts.
1878 (22 Tammuz 5638) — Ha‑Tzfira, a Hebrew‑language newspaper published in Warsaw, reported that “thirty residents of Safed, tired of the bitter bread of charity, signed a memorandum announcing their acquisition of a portion of the land in the village of Jaouni (Gai‑Oni) in order to cultivate the land of Israel themselves”. The settlement of Rosh Pina was established in 1882.
1905 (20 Tammuz 5665) — Pogrom in Kiev
1913 — (18rd of Tammuz, 5673) Arabs attacked the Jewish settlement of Rehovot
1927 — (23rd of Tammuz, 5687) The two weeklong convention of the Palestine Jewish Labor Federation came to a close tonight in Tel Aviv
1936 — (4th of Av, 5696) Arab terrorists threw a bomb at a small religious school (Talmud Torah) in the Yemenite Quarter of Tel Aviv. Nine children were injured
1938 — (24rd of Tammuz, 5698)Jews in Germany are ordered to apply for identity cards to be shown to police on demand
1939 — (7th of Av, 5699) In Budapest, a plan for the partial exchange of populations between Hungary and the United States to solve this country’s «Jewish problem» was reported today to be under consideration by the government” which in which Hungary would send her Jews, numbering almost 400,000, to the United States in exchange for families of Aryan Hungarians already established” in the United States
1941 (28 Tammuz 5701) — The Shoah. In Ozaryntsi (Vinnytsia Oblast), 43 Jews were murdered. The evacuation of Jews from Storozhynets (Chernivtsi Oblast) to the east began.
1941 (28 Tammuz 5701) — The Shoah. Second massacre of Jews in the Lithuanian town of Keidany. Twelve kilometres outside the town, 200 people were killed by Lithuanians.
1941 (28 Tammuz 5701) — Bulgaria enacted the “Law on the One‑Time Tax on Property of Persons of Jewish Origin”. Every Bulgarian Jew was subject to this tax, which included ordinary household items.
1944 (3 Av 5704) — The Shoah. The Nazis completed filming a propaganda film about the wonderful life of Jews in the elite Theresienstadt Ghetto. The film was titled The New Life of the Jews Under the Protection of the Third Reich. The footage showed a lush green park with tennis courts, smiling people in a summer café, cheerful children playing ball, and store shelves full of food and other goods. The Theresienstadt Ghetto was established at the end of November 1941 and liberated on 3 May 1945. During that time, 140 937 people passed through it; 17 247 survived
1944 — (3th of Av, 5704) The Nazis deport 1700 Jews from Rhodes to Auschwitz
1945 — (13th of Av, 5705) In what was their first joint operation after having “resolved to against British rule” a joint unit of Irgun and Lehi fighters, under the command of Yehoshua Weinstein (Benyamin) blew up a railway bridge near the village of Yibne
1948 (16 Tammuz 5708) — Israel. The Supreme Court was established.
1967 (15 Tammuz 5727) — Nasser announced that he was preparing his army to continue the fight against Israel: “We will never capitulate and will not agree to a peace that means capitulation. We will fight for the rights of the Palestinians”.
1968 (27 Tammuz 5728) — PLO terrorists hijacked an El Al flight and landed it in Algeria. Non‑Jewish passengers were released; Jews were taken hostage. The Algerian government aided the terrorists, and only 39 days later, under pressure from the USA and other countries, the hostages were freed.
1984 (23 Tammuz 5744) — Elections to the 11th Knesset, in which neither Likud nor the left‑wing bloc Maarach gained a stable majority. It was decided to form a national unity government, with the prime ministership rotating between the “right‑wing” Shamir and the “left‑wing” Peres
2002 — (14th of Av, 5762) The Knesset approved the Tal Law as an attempt to reach a compromise to the public demand that the Israeli ultra-Orthodox citizens would share an equal extent of obligations which other Israeli citizens are required to fulfill, specifically requiring them to serve in the Israel Defense Forces
2002 (14 Av 5762) — A tonne bomb dropped on the house of Salah Shahade, the Hamas leader in Gaza, destroyed Shahade himself, along with several members of his family and neighbours.
2008 (20 Tammuz 5768) — The “National Library Law” came into force, officially recognising the Library of the Hebrew University (1925–2007) as the National Library of the State of Israel.
2012 (4 Av 5772) — A newly built fire station opened on Yigal Allon Street in Tel Aviv. The new station also received four new fire trucks.
2014 (25 Tammuz 5774) — Operation Protective Edge. The IDF completed the capture of Sajaiya and began eliminating tunnels located in the neighbourhood. Simultaneously, an offensive began in areas of northern Gaza, including Jebaliya and Beit Hanoun. Heavy strikes were also carried out against terrorist targets in Khan Yunis.
2021 (13 Tammuz 5781) — Interior Ministry officials began issuing new inserts for internal identity cards to residents of the former Nazareth Illit, now known as Nof HaGalil. On 7 February 2019, a special government committee approved the Nazareth Illit municipality’s request to rename the city. The request stated that since Israelis had not understood in 62 years that Nazareth and Nazareth Illit are two different cities, the confusion should be ended by renaming the city (Nazareth is an Arab city in the Galilee, in northern Israel; in 2020, its population was 77 445).
2024 (17 Tammuz 5784) — War with Gaza. Day 291. The IDF’s 98th Division returned to the Khan Yunis area. During the offensive, the Air Force attacked 50 Hamas targets, including weapons depots, observation posts, occupied buildings, and tunnel locations.
People
1626 — (10th of Av, 5386) Birthdate (on the secular calendar) of Sabbatai Zevi, the most famous of the Jewish false messiahs. He died in 1676 after converting to Islam and becoming a low-level official in the Turkish government
1884 (1 Av 5644) — A. Warner was born, one of the four brothers who founded the Hollywood film company Warner Brothers. He died in 1967.
1905 (20 Tammuz 5665) — Oved Ben‑Ami was born, one of the first Israeli millionaires, initiator of the Israeli diamond‑cutting industry, and one of the founders of Ashdod. He died in 1988.
1915 — M. Matusovsky, a poet, was born. He died on 16 July 1990.
1931 — V. Korchnoi, a chess grandmaster, was born. He died on 6 June 2016.
1934 — S. Aranovich, a film director, was born. He died on 8 September 1996.
1942 — (9th of Av, 5702) Adam Czerniakow took his own life. ….. Born in 1880, Czerniakow was the leader of the Jewish council of Warsaw, the Judenrat. Czerniakow had held the position for 3 years and kept a diary of over 1000 pages chronicling the formation of the ghetto up to the beginning of the forced transports. The Germans had ordered him to provide them with a list of names for deportation. His response was a list of his own name written hundreds of times. The day before his suicide, the Nazi officer in charge of the deportation procedure threatened to shoot his wife if he didn’t cooperate. In his suicide note he wrote «I am powerless, my heart trembles in sorrow and compassion. I can no longer bear all this.»
1951 — (19rd of Tammuz, 5711) The first immigrant from the U.S.S.R., 73-year-old Tova Lerner from Soviet Bessarabia, arrived in Israel together with 993 newcomers from Romania
1963 (2 Av 5723) — Shlomo Lavi died at the age of 81. He was one of the founders of the movement for collective agriculture and a political figure, leader of the labour movement in the Land of Israel.
1973 — M. Lewinsky, the infamous mistress of B. Clinton, was born.
1976 — J. Polgár, the world’s strongest female chess player, was born