History events
-1313 — B.C.E. (22 Iyar 2448) The Jews who left Egypt, led by Moses, set up camp in Rephidim
1013 — (6 Iyar 4773) Pogrom in Cordoba. It was organized by the Berbers who had taken the city from the Arabs (the Arabs and Jews had defended it together)
1014 — (17th of Iyar, 4774) During a civil war that had broken out between Arabs and Berbers in 1013, the Jews of Cordoba experienced their first massacre today
1281 — (29 Nisan 5041) Pogrom in Mainz. The pretext was a blood libel and rumors about the start of yet another Crusade. 36 Jews were killed
1283 — (21th of Nisan, 5043) Following an accusation of ritual murder (the blood libel) thirty-six Jews were murdered in Mayence (Mainz), Germany
1343 — (24th of Nisan, 5103) A massacre of the Jews in Wachenheim, Germany which had begun before Easter spread to surrounding communities
1506 — (25th of Nisan, 5266) During a service at St. Dominic’s Church in Lisbon, Portugal, some of the people thought they saw a vision on one of the statues. Outside, a newly converted Jew-turned-Christian raises doubts about the «miracle.» He was literally torn to pieces and then burnt. The crowd led by two Dominican monks proceeded to ransack Jewish houses and kill any Jews they could find. During the next few days, countrymen hearing about the massacre came to Lisbon to join in. Over two thousand Jews were killed during a period of three days ending on April 21
1566 — (30th of Nisan, 5326) Pius V issued “Romanus Pontifex. After being in office for three months, Pope Pious rejected the lenience’s of his predecessor and reinstated all the restrictions that Paul IV had placed on the Jews. These included being forced to wear a special cap, the prohibitions against owning real estate and practicing medicine on Christians. Communities were not allowed to have more than one synagogue and Jews were confined to a cramped ghetto
1771 — (5th of Iyar, 5531) Maria Theresa granted two Sovereign Licenses to the Jews of Trieste, licenses that constitute real improvement in their economic conditions
1817 — (3 Iyar 5577) A decree from Emperor Alexander I of Russia required that the number of Jews in any given kahal (community) be reported accurately by its leadership; however, it abolished penalties for kahal leaders for concealing the true number of Jews and for kahals appropriating a portion of collected taxes. Kahals were exempted from fines for incorrect data from previous years’ censuses and from paying back taxes; leaders of kahals arrested for such violations were released
1848 — (16 Nisan 5608) At a public assembly in Pest (Budapest), a resolution was adopted that, alongside demands for workers’ rights, called for the expulsion of Jews who had settled in Pest after 1840 and for their prohibition from joining the national guard. When the crowd, after the rally, headed to the town hall to present their demands, the national guard began to push them away from the town hall, and some Jewish guard member shot one of the demonstrators. With the cry «Jews are hitting us!» the crowd began to loot Jewish homes, with neither the national guard nor the government attempting to resist the looters
1896 — (6th of Iyar, 5656) Herzl’s The Jewish State was published: «Palestine is our unforgettable historic homeland. . . Let me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who will it shall achieve their State. We shall live at last as free men on our own soil, and in our own homes peacefully die. The world will be liberated by our freedom, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.»
1899 — (9 Iyar 5659) Pogrom in Nikolaev. It lasted for three days
1903 — (22th of Nisan, 5663) Riots broke out after a Christian child is found murdered in Kishinev (Bessarabia). The mobs were incited by Pavolachi Krusheven, the editor of the anti-Semitic Newspaper Bessarabetz and the vice governor Ustrugov. Vyacheslav Von Plehev, the Minister of Interior supposedly gave orders not to stop the rioters. The Jews were accused of ritual murder. During the three days of rioting, 47 Jews were killed, 92 severely wounded, 500 slightly wounded and over 700 houses destroyed. Despite a world outcry, only two men were sentenced to seven and five years in prison, and twenty-two were sentenced for one or two years. This pogrom was instrumental in convincing tens of thousands of Russian Jews to leave to the West and to Eretz-Israel. The child was later discovered to have been killed by a relative.
1918 — (7 Iyar 5678) Civil War. Pogroms. Eyewitness account: «In April, the retreat of the Bolsheviks continued, troops passed through Novgorod-Seversk… On April 19, 600 soldiers broke into the city, and within 3-4 hours, the city was looted. 72 killed were registered… Everything of value was taken by the Bolsheviks. The guilty, although well-known, remained unpunished…»
1919 — (19 Nisan 5679) A Jewish scout movement was established in the Land of Israel. Today it unites over 90,000 boys and girls. The center is located in Jerusalem.
1920 — (1 Iyar 5680) In the central Jerusalem prison, a verdict was read to V. Zhabotinsky, who admitted to «being responsible for the creation of a self-defense organization in Jerusalem to protect Jews from attacks.» He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for possession of weapons and conspiracy to commit robbery and murder (see April 7).
1920 — (1 Iyar 5680) The National Committee, the executive body of the Assembly of Jewish Deputies in Mandatory Palestine, began its activities.
1920 — (1 Iyar 5680) The San Remo Conference began — a meeting of the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers and the states allied with them. It determined the distribution of League of Nations mandates for the administration of territories of the former Ottoman Empire in the Middle East. The exact borders of all territories remained undefined.
1934 — (4th of Iyar, 5694) According to a report by Morton Rotehnberg, President of the Zionist Organization of America, 11,000 German Jewish refugees had entered Palestine from April 1, 1933 through January 1, 1934.
1936 — (27 Nisan 5696) An attack by Arabs on Jews in Jaffa marked the beginning of a new wave of Arab unrest. The attack was unexpected, but it was not by local Arabs; rather, it was incited by a crowd of impoverished Syrian peasants from the port area who had come to Jaffa in search of work: someone spread the rumor that Jews had killed three of their compatriots in Tel Aviv. Many Jews who were attacked in Jaffa found refuge with Arab acquaintances. Unrest also began in the area of the present-day city of Beit She’an. Two days later, its Jewish population was evacuated
1938 — (18 Nisan 5698) The ship «Artemisia» left Greece with 128 illegal repatriates and safely arrived at the shores of the Land of Israel after five days. The repatriates were transferred to land by boats.
1942 — (2 Iyar 5702) The Shoah. Several hundred Jews were taken from the small town of (Lviv region) to the Janowska camp in Lviv.
1943 — (14 Nisan 5703) The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began.
1943 — (14 Nisan 5703) The Shoah. Members of the Belgian Resistance stopped a train from the transit camp in Mechelen to Auschwitz. 233 people managed to escape, of whom 118 ultimately survived. The rest were either killed during the escape or soon recaptured. This attack became the only attempt in the history of the Holocaust to free Jews being sent to death camps
1943 — (14 Nisan 5703) The Shoah. An Anglo-American conference (the so-called Bermuda Conference) began to address the issue of refugees from countries under Nazi control. Chaim Weizmann presented a document emphasizing the importance of Palestine in resolving the Jewish refugee problem and called for the lifting of immigration restrictions for Jews into the Land of Israel, imposed by the British White Paper (1939). The only positive decision of the Bermuda Conference was to resume the activities of the intergovernmental committee on refugee affairs, established at the Evian Conference in July 1938, which in no way could halt the extermination of Jews in Europe
1947 — (29 Nisan 5707) The kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot was founded in Western Galilee.
1948 — (10 Nisan 5708) The settlement of Bror Hayil was established in the Northern Negev to provide cover for the road to other Negev settlements
1948 — (10th of Nisan, 5708) Twenty-four armored trucks filled with Jewish veterans who had served with the British Army during WW II, drove to a hilltop “situated less than a mile from the Arab village of Bureir” where the Jews disembarked and established a new settlement called Brur Hayal; Haganah captured Tiberias
1949 — (20 Nisan 5709) In negotiations with Syria, a proposal was made for a full-scale peace treaty with the border in the middle of the Kinneret. Ben-Gurion did not accept it.
1953 — (4 Iyar 5713) The «Jerusalem Post» reported on an incident involving violinist Jascha Heifetz. He was attacked in Israel, and his right arm was injured. The incident occurred after the musician performed works by Strauss and Wagner in Israel. Ben-Gurion expressed his regret to Heifetz regarding what happened.
1955 — (27 Nisan 5715) In northern Negev, about 20 km northwest of Beersheba, the city of Ofakim was founded.
2006 — (21 Nisan 5766) Representatives of the Jewish community of Portugal held a prayer in the center of Lisbon to honor the memory of the Jews who perished in the 1506 pogrom.
2007 — (1 Iyar 5767) The new swimming season opened in Israel. In Ashdod, swimming was officially allowed on the beaches of Mei Ami, Lido, Kshatot, «Separate,» Yud-Alef, and Riviera, which reopened after complete renovation and became the southernmost city beach. All beaches, except for the «Separate» beach, operated daily from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and during the summer months until 7:00 PM. The «Separate» beach had its own special schedule. Men were allowed to swim and sunbathe there on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 8:00 AM to 12:30 PM, and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 1:30 PM to 6:00 PM. Women were allowed during all other hours, except for evening, night, and Saturday hours. Daily from 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM was designated for changing the bathing crowd
People
1306 — (4th of Iyar, 5066) The body of Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch was released by the authorities 13 years after his death so that he could receive a Jewish burial Maharam of Rothenburg
1539 — (1th of Iyar, 5299) Eighty-year old Catherine Zaleshovska was burned at the stake on the order of Bishop Gamrat and with the approval of Queen Bona Sforza for having denied the basic tenants of Christianity after having converted to Judaism. She had been held as a prisoner for ten years before being murdered.
1670 — (29th of Nisan, 5430) Solomon Ben Isaac Marini, “the only rabbi at Padua who survived the plague of 1631” and who wrote a commentary to Isaiah entitled Tikkun Olam in 1652 and who was the brother of Dr. Shabbethai ben Isaac Marini, passed away today
1772 — (16th of Nisan, 5532) Birthdate of economist David Ricardo. Raised as a Sephardic Jew, Ricardo eloped with a woman who was a Quaker. He later converted and became a Unitarian
1776 — (30th of Nisan, 5536) Jacob Emden, German rabbi, died
1881 — (20th of Nisan, 5641) Benjamin Disraeli, former Prime Minster, 1st Earl Beaconsfield and famous novelist passed away. Born Jewish, Disraeli was converted to Christianity by his father. The elder Disraeli was angry with the Jewish community and marched his children to the baptismal font in protest. The elder Disraeli did not convert. Disraeli was proud of his Jewish heritage and certainly suffered many anti-Semitic attacks during his career. In one exchange, he reminded a political opponent that while his ancestors had been drinking blood out skulls, Disraeli’s ancestors had been singing the Psalms of David in the Temple of Solomon.
1892 — H. A. Shain was born — an astrophysicist, founder, and first director of the Crimean Astrophysical Observatory. Died August 4, 1956.
1918 — Aaron Abdy was born in Budapest — an Israeli writer, journalist, and artist. Died May 3, 1979.
1902 — (12 Nisan 5662) V. Kaverin was born — a Soviet writer.
1917 — (27 Nisan 5677) Ilia Abramovich Efron, a publisher, died. (Born in 1847).
1922 — (21 Nisan 5682) Vladislav Bartoszewski was born — a Righteous Among the Nations. He was one of the leaders and activists of the «Temporary Committee for the Assistance of Jews.» He participated in providing Jews with false documents and distributing children to Polish families. Died April 24, 2015.
1943 — (14 Nisan 5703) Gershon Sirota, a synagogue cantor, performer of operatic arias and Yiddish folk songs, died at the age of 69 in the Warsaw Ghetto. He was called the «Jewish Caruso» and is considered a central figure in modern cantorial singing.
2025 — (21 Nisan 5785) War in Gaza. Day five hundred sixty-one. In northern Gaza, Staff Sergeant Galeb Sliman al-Nasras, 35, from Rahat, was killed, and three other soldiers were seriously injured