History events
-1313 — (15 Iyar 2448) BCE. On Shabbat, the Jews who left Egypt ran out of matzahs made from the dough they had brought out of Egypt. The people grumbled, reproaching Moses and Aaron: «If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and ate bread to the full! But you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger!» And Moses, who had received a promise from God, said to the people: «God will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.» And in the evening, a huge flock of quail, exhausted from migration, descended upon the camp
70 — (15th of Nissan, 3830) According to some, the date on the civil calendar when Pesach is observed for the last time before the destruction of the Second Temple
423 — (15 Nisan 4183) One of the earliest historically recorded blood libels occurred on Purim (April 12-18) in the city of Imnestar near Antioch. The accusation that local Jews had crucified a Christian boy led to a massacre of members of the Jewish community and the destruction of the Antioch synagogue
1451 — (10 Iyar 5211) A Flemish scholar on the city of Fez in Morocco: «Fez is divided into two parts. The old city is quite densely populated, about 50,000 families… The Jewish quarter is surrounded by its own walls. About 4,000 Jews live there… The more money the Sultan needs, the more they have to pay.»
1464 — (4th of Iyar, 5224) A pogrom in Krakow. About 30 Jews were killed. It occurred as a result of the incitement in Poland by the Franciscan preaching monk Giovanni Capistrano, who called for a new crusade against the Turks. The movement never left the walls of Krakow, but as usual, the Jews suffered
1806 — (24 Nisan 5566) The German traveler U. Seetzen visited Jerusalem. He left interesting memoirs and statistics: «The number of inhabitants is 9,000: 4,000 Muslims, 2,000 Jews, 1,400 Orthodox Christians, 800 Catholics…» He also compiled a map of the Dead Sea and described its flora and fauna
1833 — (25th of Nisan, 5593) In Copenhagen, a new synagogue built under the leadership of Rabbi Abraham Alexander Wolff was dedicated today
1886 — (7 Nisan 5646) Military service offices were authorized to subject Jews who had received deferments from service due to frailty or immaturity to sudden re-examination. Documents for the right to trade and engage in crafts were to be issued to Jews only upon presentation of certificates of registration with draft boards, proof of reporting for duty, or proof of final completion of service. The family of a person evading military service was subject to a fine of 300 rubles; a reward of up to 50 rubles was offered for the capture of a draft evader.
1909 — (21 Nisan 5669) In Sejera, a settlement in the Galilee, two workers, I. Korngold and S. Melamed, were killed. On the same day, in the settlement of Meskha, the organization HaShomer, the forerunner of the Haganah, was founded. The early Jewish settlements in Eretz Israel were vulnerable not only due to their small numbers and isolation but also because they employed Arabs for guard duty. As a result, the Arabs gained power over the Jews and used it unchecked. The realization of this dependency led to the creation of HaShomer, which aimed to train a cadre of Jewish guards in the Land
1938 — (11th of Nisan, 5698) The Polish steamer Polonia lands 250 passengers at Tel Aviv, making it the second ship to use the world’s first “Jewish port.”
1941 — (15 Nisan 5701) The Holocaust. An official announcement in the Lodz Ghetto stated that anyone leaving it would be shot.
1942 — (25 Nisan 5702) The Holocaust. The liquidation of Jews unable to work began in Ivano-Frankivsk: over the course of a week, about 2,500 people were shot.
1947 — (22 Nisan 5707) As of this day, the Haganah’s arsenal numbered 10,073 rifles of various models; 1,900 submachine guns, mostly of poor quality; 444 light machine guns; 186 medium-caliber machine guns; 672 two-inch mortars; 96 three-inch mortars; 93,738 hand grenades; and 4,896,303 rounds of ammunition. Not a single heavy machine gun, not a single cannon
1948 — (3th of Nisan, 5708) The Haganah attacked the Arab Liberation Army commanded by Fawzi al-Kaukji at Mishmar Ha-Emek
1951 — (6th of Nisan, 5711) The Knesset passed a resolution setting 27 Nissan as Yom Hashoah or Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yom is the Hebrew word for ‘day’ and Shoah is the Hebrew word for ‘whirlwind.’
2002 — (30th of Nisan, 5762) Six people were murdered when a 17 year old female terrorist detonated a bomb at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem
2006 — (14 Nisan 5766) Over 100 fires broke out in Jerusalem due to residents burning leftover chametz before the Passover holiday. Firefighters managed to extinguish the fires before they posed a serious danger to people, so no one was injured
2013 — (2th of Iyar, 5773) The Defense Ministry released its annual figures of fallen soldiers this morning ahead of Remembrance Day, stating that 92 soldiers had fallen this year and a total of 23,085 have fallen in Israel’s wars since 1860
2025 — (14 Nisan 5785) The Gaza War. Day five hundred and fifty-four. IDF units completed the encirclement of Rafah, seizing the Morag Axis, which crosses the Gaza Strip from east to west in its southern part between the cities of Rafah and Khan Yunis
People
1740 — (26th of Nisan 5500) Rabbi Simhon ben Joshua Moses Morforso author of Shemesh Zedakah passed away
1854 — (14 Nisan 5614) David Pacifico, a merchant and British subject, died at the age of 70. He was a central figure in the Anglo-Greek dispute of 1850, known as the Don Pacifico Affair. In 1847, in Athens, an angry mob looted and burned Don Pacifico’s house, injuring his wife and children. Pacifico, who held British citizenship, demanded compensation from the Greek government. Insisting on upholding his rights as a British subject, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Palmerston, backed the demand for compensation with a blockade of Greece by the British navy. Due to the intervention of France and Russia, Pacifico’s demands were reduced, the blockade was lifted, and Greece agreed to pay.
1878 — A letter from P. I. Tchaikovsky to his patroness N. F. von Meck describing the station in Zhmerynka: «…a mass of dirty Jews with their accompanying repulsive atmosphere everywhere… …the meeting of a huge hospital train filled with typhoid patients, a mass of young soldiers traveling in the same train as us, with scenes of their farewells to mothers and wives at every station—all this poisoned my pleasure at seeing my native and passionately loved country»; another letter from April 23 of the same year: «…Unfortunately, Kamenka as a locality has very few charms. The forest is very far away. Although the garden is large, it is not picturesque. The air is poisoned by the proximity of the factory and especially by the Jewish townlet… However, I am very pleased with my little hut. It is off to one side: the townlet and the Jews are not visible, the view of the village is quite beautiful… I am now finishing a piano sonata»; June 17, 1878: «…Kamenka, which I never loved, now, after Brailov, seems so unattractive, pitiful, and bleak to me… the direct proximity to the Jews, the absence of a nearby forest, the pathetic garden.»
1884 — Otto Meyerhof was born — a German biochemist and physician. Nobel Prize laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1922. He died on October 6, 1951.
1893 — Michael Gold was born — an American communist, publicist, prose writer, and poet. He died on May 14, 1967.
1899 — (2 Iyar 5659) Ze’ev Rechter was born — one of the leading Israeli architects of the mid-20th century. He died on December 18, 1960.
1903 — A daughter, Justine, was born to the family of Rabbi Stephen Wise. She held the post of family court judge in New York for 40 years, with jurisdiction including the protection of children’s rights. She died in 1987.
1912 — E. Kopelyan was born — a theater and film actor. He died on March 6, 1975.
2005 — (3 Nisan 5765) Israeli poet I. Manor died at the age of 64