History events
-537 — (1st of Iyar, 3223) According to the Book of Ezra, the foundation of the Second Temple was laid on this date
73 — (21th of Nisan, 3833) According to some calculations this is the day that Masada fell to the Romans after several months of siege, ending this Jewish Revolt against Rome
1158 — (20th of Nisan, 4818) In Genoa, the name of a Jewish trader, Jusuphus Judeos, appeared for the first time on an official deed drawn up “from the public notary Giovanni Scriba
1753 — (12th of Nisan, 5513) “The Jewish Naturalization Act of 1753” “a bill which permitted “Jewish immigrants to England to become naturalized citizens with receiving the Sacrament of the Lord”s Supper” and had been introduced by George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax” was passed today by the House of Lords
1855 — (28th of Nisan, 5615) In St. Louis, over 400 hundred people attended that cornerstone laying ceremony for the first synagogue constructed in St. Louis and the first synagogue built west of the Mississippi
1871 — (25th of Nisan, 5631) All civic limitations imposed on Jews of the German Empire were lifted. It was thought that this would bring medieval anti-Semitism to a conclusion
1916 — (13th of Nisan, 5676) France and Britain divided up the Middle East in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. France was assured of Syria and the Mosul, with English gaining control of Northern Arabia and Central Mesopotamia. Pre-state Israel was divided with France controlling the Galilee, Britain the Haifa area and the rest of the region to be under some sort of undefined international control
1922 — (18th of Nisan, 5682) Po’al ha-Mizrachi, the religious Zionist labor movement, founded. Unlike many other Orthodox, the followers of Mizrachi were ardent Zionist from the earliest days. They played a vital role in the creation of Jewish Palestine under the mandate and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948
1941 — (19th of Nisan, 3701) German troops and local Muslims looted and destroyed the main synagogue in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
1944 — (23th of Nisan, 3704) The Parczew partisans, fighters in irregular military groups participating in the Jewish resistance movement against Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II “participated in the take over the city of Parczew today
1947 — (26th of Nisan, 5707) The British executed four members of the Irgun – Dov Gruner, Mordechai Alkahi, Hehiel Dresner and Eliezer Kashani – in Acre Prison.
1948 — (7th of Nisan, 5708) А platoon of Palmach soldiers made its way into the city of Safed where the Jewish quarter was under siege from a large Arab force. The appearance of this small but tough group of Israeli fighters stiffened the spirit of the besieged population. With the sanction of the local rabbis, the largely Orthodox population worked to improve the defenses of the Jewish quarter even though the work would interfere with preparations for Pesach. The Palmach arrived just in the nick of time, since the departing British forces turned over the keys to their police fortress and other fortified positions to the Arab military forces; The Harel Brigade, a unit of the Palmach began a relief operation designed to provide relief for besieged Jerusalem
1950 — (29th of Nisan, 5710) A four story building in Jaffa collapsed killing twelve and injuring thirty. Most of the dead were newly arrived immigrants. The cause of the collapse is still under investigation but it is thought to have been the result of the removal of one of the building’s pillars to make room for carpentry equipment being installed in a shop on the ground floor
1951 — (10th of Nisan, 5711) The Beh Sabagahs arrived at the airport at Baghdad where they were greeted by mobs yelling “Rot in Hell” and then were abused by guards before they could board a plane for Israel
1953 — (1st of Iyar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that army engineers had completed a new road, bringing Wadi Ramon within 212 km. of Tel Aviv. The last stage comprised a steep descent of 250 meters along 4.5 km. of the literally vertical wall of the Makhtesh
1978 — (9th of Nisan, 5738) The Jerusalem Post reported that the number of those making Aliya in March, 1978, increased by 35 percent in comparison with that of March, 1977. The majority of the 1,988 new immigrants who arrived in March came from the Soviet Union
2001 — (23th of Nisan, 5761) In response to mounting violence, Israel launched “air, sea and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip” today
People
1203 — (3st of Iyar, 4963) Menahem ben Jacob, poet and teacher at Worms, died
1669 — (15th of Nisan, 5429) Rabbi Jonah Teomim of Metz, France, author of Kikayon de-Yonah passed away
1729 — (17th of Nisan, 5489) Seventeenth and 18th century “German rabbi and Talmudic author” Jacob Eliezer Braunschweig passed away today
1931 — (29th of Nisan, 5691) Rachel Bluwstein Sela passed away at the age of 40