History events
1561 — (14th of Av, 5321) Decree of the Grand Duke of Poland, Sigismund II Augustus, granting Jews the right to brew and sell beer in the Polish cities of Bielsk, Narew, and Kleszczele
1905 — (24nd of Tammuz, 5665) The seventh annual Zionist Congress opened today in Basle, Switzerland. Dr. Max Nordau was elected President at the afternoon session and Rabbi Judah L. Magnes was elected as Secretary of the English-speaking section
1918 — (18th of Av, 5678) Decree of Soviet Russia «On the Eradication of the Anti-Semitic Movement»
1920 — (12th of Av, 5680) Keren Hayesod (Eretz-Israel Foundation Fund) was created in London at the London Zionist Conference. It was intended for education, absorption and the development of rural settlements in Eretz-Israel
1938 — (28th of Tammuz, 5698) Shoah. In Germany, a decision was made to rename all «Jewish» city streets.
1939 — (11th of Av, 5699) Shoah. A branch of the Central Bureau for Jewish Emigration (which operated in Germany and Austria) was opened in Prague; Jews from Bohemia and Moravia were registered as potential emigrants and forced to pay an extremely high «emigration fee,» which for many effectively meant the confiscation of their property.
1941 — (3rd of Av, 5701) Shoah. The murder of Jews began in the village of Zhabokrich (Vinnytsia region). In Chernivtsi (Vinnytsia region), 12 Jews were killed. The deportation of Jews from Hungary to Ukraine was completed; it affected approximately 18,000 people, of whom 11,000 were resettled in Kamianets-Podilskyi.
1942 — (13th of Av, 5702) Shoah. In a single train to Bełżec, about 2,000 Jews from Rava-Ruska, 1,000 from Nemirov, and 500 from Uhniv (Lviv region) were deported. On the same day, 300 Jews were shot in Staryi Chortoryisk (Volyn region)
1948 — (20th of Tammuz, 5708) The first military parade of the Israel Defense Forces took place in Tel Aviv
1951 — (23nd of Tammuz, 5711) The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had asked the UN Security Council to instruct Egypt to open the Suez Canal for Israeli cargoes and shipping «permanently and unconditionally.» Final plans were made for the new Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem, including a 430-bed hospital, a nursing training school and nurses’ home and a medical school
1955 — (8th of Av, 5715) A plane bound for Israel was shot down by Bulgaria. ….. Fifty one passengers and seven crew members were killed. This episode took place at the height of the Cold War when such incidents were not that uncommon. The plane was flying from Vienna to Tel Aviv when Bulgarian fighters forced the El Al plane to land at Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital. As the plane was circling to land, it was shot out of the sky by the Bulgarians. The Israeli government claimed the bodies and buried them in Israel. The episode provided opponents of El Al with an argument for doing away with a national airline as a luxury the infant state could not afford. But the government stuck to its guns. There were no other such incidents and El Al continued to fly
1973 — (27th of Tammuz, 5733) The Mossad mistakenly liquidated a Moroccan immigrant in Lillehammer, having mistaken him for one of those involved in the murder of Israeli athletes in Munich. Additionally, the operation’s participants were caught and convicted.
1977 — (12th of Av, 5737) The Central Synagogue of Paris was desecrated.
1989 — (24th of Tammuz, 5749) Israeli special forces captured Sheikh Obeid — one of the leaders of Hezbollah — in southern Lebanon for an exchange for kidnapped soldiers and navigator Ron Arad, but the Arabs refused to exchange.
2003 — (27th of Tammuz, 5763) The first training tank company equipped with new-generation «Merkava» tanks was formed in the IDF.
2018 — (15th of Av, 5778) Tu B’Av. The Jewish holiday of lovers and love. Celebrated annually on the 15th day of the month of Av. The holiday is not religious but has a long-standing tradition and history.
People
1656 — (16th of Av, 5416) Spinoza was excommunicated in Amsterdam
1671 — (20th of Av, 5431) Abraham de Fonseca ḥakam of the Portuguese community at Glückstadt, and later at Hamburg and author of Ene Abraham” passed away today
1853 — Birthdate of Vladimir Korolenko, “one of the few Russian writers who created positive Jewish images in his works, condemned the Kishinev pogrom” and the trial of Menachem Belis
1885 — B. Zbarsky, biochemist, academician of the USSR Academy of Medical Sciences, and Hero of Socialist Labor, was born. Together with V. Vorobyov, he participated in the embalming of V. Lenin’s body; later he led the laboratory responsible for preserving the leader’s body. Died October 7, 1954.
1891 — V. Parnakh, poet, was born. Died January 29, 1951.
1904 — (15th of Av, 5664) Birthdate of author Isaac Bashevis Singer. Singer won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978. He passed away in 1991
2006 — (2nd of Av, 5766) Terrorist attack. Dr. D. Yaakobi from the settlement of Yakir was killed