History events
1654 — (19 Iyar 5414) Expulsion of Jews from Brazil
1655 — (29 Nisan 5415) The Board of Directors of the Dutch West India Company rejected the request of New Amsterdam Governor P. Stuyvesant to exclude Jews from the colony (they had arrived from Brazil, fleeing the Inquisition)
1727 — (16th of Iyar, 5487) Jews expelled from Russia and the Ukraine by Catherine
1737 — (6th of Iyar, 5497) Тhe King of Prussia ordered that the decree limiting the number of Jewish families allowed to live in Berlin be enforced. According to a document entitled “General privilege and regulations to be observed concerning the Jews in his Majesty’s dominions,” issued in 1730, the King had granted the Jews the right to settle 120 families in the capital city. By 1737, the number of Jewish families had risen to 180 and the king wanted these additional sixty families to depart even if it meant a loss of tax revenue
1862 — (26 Nisan 5622) Regulation of the Russian government on the opening of Jewish printing houses for printing Jewish books. Permission was granted to organize them without restrictions, throughout the Pale of Settlement and even in St. Petersburg, with tax paid not per printed sheet, but per printing press. (Before that, printing houses existed only in Vilna and Zhitomir).
1881 — (27 Nisan 5641) (May 7 NS) Pogrom in Kiev. The authorities knew about its approach for a month but took no action. It began in the Podil district. A huge crowd of boys, artisans, and workers marched, throwing stones, breaking doors, throwing everything at hand into the street. A synagogue was ransacked, and a Torah scroll was torn to shreds. Within 24 hours, the rioters destroyed about 1,000 homes and shops, killed and wounded several dozen people, and there were numerous rapes. The authorities only deployed the army the next day. This was the most brutal pogrom of those that occurred in Russia in 1881.
1914 — (30 Nisan 5674) Letter from War Minister V.A. Sukhomlinov to the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Russia, in which he «speaks with complete certainty in favor of stopping the access of Jews to the army.»
1920 — (8 Iyar 5680) A day of fasting and protest by the Jewish population against the arrest of Jabotinsky and participants in self-defense (see April 7 and April 19). The strike was general; however, on this day, news arrived of the Allied Supreme Council’s approval of the British Mandate for Palestine, and the mourning turned into a celebration
1920 — (8th of Iyar, 5680) The San Remo Conference, where delegates had reaffirmed the Balfour Declaration and incorporated it in to the terms of the Mandate over Palestine
1929 — (16th of Nisan, 5689) In Jerusalem, there was a cornerstone laying ceremony to mark the construction of the building designed to house the Jewish National Fund. The building was part of a construction project designed to provide space for several national institutions
1934 — (11th of Iyar, 5694) The third biennial Levant Fair opens in Tel Aviv
1939 — (7th of Iyar, 5699) “The decision to unify” Kibbutz BaMa’ale and Kibbutz BaMifne in Karkur “was made in the secretariat of Hashomer Hatzair” today
1941 — (29 Nisan 5701) The Shoah. French authorities banned Jews from all forms of entrepreneurship (persons with half Jewish blood were also considered Jews).
1944 — (3 Iyar 5704) The Shoah. A ghetto was established in the Hungarian city of Szatmár, where 18,000 Jews from the surrounding area were gathered. In May, most were deported to death camps.
1948 — (17 Nisan 5708) War of Independence. An unsuccessful attempt by the Haganah to dislodge Arabs from the Nebi Samuel height, from which they were shelling Jerusalem. 35 PALMAKH fighters were killed.
1949 — (27 Nisan 5709) Prime Minister of Israel Ben-Gurion informed the Knesset about the absorption of immigrants and the introduction of an austerity regime — rationing of basic food products.
1950 — (9 Iyar 5710) Israel. The Philips company radio plant opened, which also produced electric light bulbs.
1953 — (11 Iyar 5713) On Ben-Gurion’s instructions, the Border Guard (MAGAV) was established. Its first commander was Colonel Pinhas Kopel.
1960 — (29 Nisan 5720) Terrorist attack. Arabs killed a resident of Ashkelon south of the city.
1987 — (27 Nisan 5747) Israel. The first section of the Valley of the Destroyed Communities was opened at the Yad Vashem museum, commemorating the Jewish communities that perished in the Catastrophe
2003 — (24th of Nisan, 5763) Thirteen people were injured during a bombing at the Kfar Saba train station for which the PFLP and Al-Aqsa claimed joint responsibility
People
1774 — (15 Iyar 5534) Death of Moses Lindo, one of the wealthiest planters of South Carolina. He specialized in growing indigo and creating dye from this plant. In 1762, he was appointed to the post of expert and Surveyor and Inspector-General of Indigo, Drugs and Dyes for South Carolina.
1856 — (21 Nisan 5616) Birth of H. Morgenthau, American diplomat and philanthropist. Died November 25, 1946.
1878 — (23 Nisan 5638) Birth of Ben Simon Mosenzon in Crimea, one of the founders of Tel Aviv and one of the first directors of the Herzliya Gymnasium. Died October 21, 1942.
1938 — (25 Nisan 5698) Death in prison of Shmaryahu Yehuda Leib ben Yaakov Medalye, a rabbi and public figure. From 1933, he was the chief rabbi of the Moscow Choral Synagogue. In January 1938, he was arrested, accused of connections with leaders of the Chabad movement exiled from the USSR, and of spreading slander against the Soviet regime. He was shot immediately after the trial
2006 — (28th of Nisan, 5766) Yuval Ne’eman, founder of Israel’s space program and a key figure in Israel’s nuclear program passed away
2008 — (21st of Nisan, 5768): Yossi Harel, who commanded four ships bringing Jews to Israel illegally, died at the age of 90 in Tel Aviv. Harel assisted 24,000 Jews in reaching Israel aboard four ships, including the famed SS Exodus, between 1945 and 1948
2009 — (2 Iyar 5769) The Shoah. Death of Salamo Arouch, a Greek boxer and Auschwitz prisoner, at the age of 86. He was passionate about boxing from his youth and became the Balkan middleweight champion. Soon after, the fascists arrived, and he, along with his family, was sent to a concentration camp in Poland in 1943. His mother and sisters were immediately burned in the gas chamber. Salamo was given a chance to survive because the Germans learned of his sporting past and forced him to fight in the ring for their entertainment; the rules were very simple: if he won, his opponent went to the gas chamber. To stay alive, he could not lose a single match. Arouch survived, lived in Israel after the war, and fought in the War of Independence. The American film «Triumph of the Spirit» was made about him.
2018 — (11 Iyar 5778) In the afternoon, in the Arava Valley, a powerful flash flood from the overflowing Tsafit stream caught a group of pre-military preparatory course students, 17-18 year old boys and girls from across the country, who were taking an excursion along the Tsafit stream bed as part of an educational program. 10 people died.
2025 — (28 Nisan 5785) The Gaza War. Day five hundred and sixty-eight. Platoon commander Ido Volokh and border guard sergeant Neta Yitzhak Kahane were killed in battle
2026 — (9 Iyar 5786) Sergeant Idan Fuchs, 19, was killed in southern Lebanon. Five soldiers were wounded.