History events
-1313 — (3 Sivan 2448) The nation’s preparation for receiving the Torah. On this day, God said to Moses: «Go to the people and let them wash their garments, to be ready for the third day; for on the third day the Eternal will descend upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people; and say: Beware of ascending the mountain or touching its edge; whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.»
1221 — (6th of Iyar, 4981) Honorius III issued “Ad nostram Noveritis audientiam” a Papal Bull obligating Jews to carry a distinctive badge and forbidding them to hold public office
1284 — (12 Iyar 5044) The scribe Yonatan ben Eliezer HaKohen completed copying the book «Shaarei Gemul» (Gates of Reward) by Rashbam in Rome. («And it was completed on the night of Sunday, the 12th of Iyar, in the year forty-four of the sixth millennium. In the great city of Rome.»)
1882 — (10th of Iyar, 5642) Pogroms returned to Ukraine with an outbreak of anti-Semitic violence at Balta in Podolia Province
1893 — (13th of Iyar, 5653) “Bismarck on Anti-Semitism” published today provided a summary of an interview the German leader gave on his views toward the Jews. Based on his education, he said he “was never a friend of the Jews” which helps to explain why he opposed emancipation in 1847. His views changed in 1869 when Jewish leaders supported his programs for national development. The current reappearance of anti-Semitism following the losses suffered during a period of speculation “is natural” because the people confuse “capitalism with Judaism.”
1901 — (10 Iyar 5661) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Budapest.
1933 — (3 Iyar 5963) The Holocaust. Membership of Jewish artists in German arts associations was annulled
1938 — (28th of Nisan, 5698) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Vilna, Poland
1943 — (24 Nisan 5703) The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The surviving Jewish fighters, having by then lost all their commanders, left the ghetto through the Muranowski Tunnel and were deployed in the Michalin forests
1948 — (20th of Nisan, 5708) The War of Independence. From an airfield near Haifa, Haganah agents, through bribery, managed to steal 4 tanks from the British army. These were three Cromwells and one of a newer design. One tank broke down, got stuck in a ditch, and had to be abandoned; the others were towed to workshops. The Haganah captured two Arab villages east of Bat Yam, from which attacks were carried out on Jewish transport on the road to Tel Aviv. Following the evacuation of British forces, the Haganah seized a police station on the Haifa-Damascus highway. The Haganah took control of a bridge over the Jordan River on the Haifa-Damascus highway. An attempt by the Arab Legion to retake the bridge failed
1953 — (14th of Iyar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that according to the planned new legislation, just placed before the Knesset, the exclusive jurisdiction of the Rabbinical Courts was to be limited to marriage, divorce and alimony. A new Tenants’ Protection Bill, altered in several fundamental respects, was also in preparation
1956 — (18 Iyar 5716) Terrorist Attack. Roi Rotenberg from Kibbutz Nachal-Oz fell victim to an Egyptian border patrol that opened fire on him from the Gaza Strip. On the same day, a vehicle hit a mine near the southern border of the Strip. Israel did not react, believing the actions were carried out without Cairo’s knowledge. But a few days passed, and the illusions were dispelled. The Arabs resumed their activities with renewed vigor. Penetrating into Israel from both the Gaza Strip and Jordanian territory, they mined roads, killed civilians, threw grenades into house windows, and fired on buses traveling along highways
2002 — (17th of Iyar, 5762) Cairo columnist Fatma Abduall Mahmoud declared, “With regard to this Holocaust swindle, many French studies have shown that this is nothing more than a fabrication, a lie and a fraud. But, I personally complain to Hitler, even saying to him from the bottom of my heart, ‘If only you had done it, brother, if only it had really happened, so that the world could sign in relief without their evil and sin.’”
2002 — (17 Iyar 5762) A counter-terror operation (mop-up) in Hebron in response to the terrorist attack in Adora on April 27th. 17 militants were arrested
2008 — (24 Nisan 5768) During archaeological excavations near the Western Wall, a shell was found that had been fired 60 years earlier from a «Davidka» mortar. The Davidka mortar was produced in makeshift workshops of the Haganah before the establishment of Israel. It became famous because each shot was accompanied by a terrible noise and howl, terrifying the enemy. After the creation of the Israel Defense Forces, factory-produced mortars were adopted. Several intact Davidkas were placed as monuments in different parts of Israel. One Davidka still stands proudly in the center of Jerusalem in a square named after it, near the intersection of Jaffa and King George Streets.
2009 — (5 Iyar 5769) Hundreds of thousands of Israelis went on nature outings. Forests and parks were completely full.
2021 — (17 Iyar 5781) During the Lag Ba’Omer celebrations on Mount Meron, a deadly stampede occurred, killing more than 40 people and injuring about 150. Mount Meron is the highest mountain in the Galilee, with a height of 1208 m. On the mountain is the tomb of Shimon Bar Yochai, the founder of Kabbalah, and his son Eliezer.
2022 — (28 Nisan 5782) A terrorist attack at the entrance to the city of Ariel in Samaria. An Arab gunman shot from a vehicle, killing a security guard at a checkpoint.
2025 — (1 Iyar 5785) For the first time in U.S. history, one of the states (Arkansas) passed a law mandating the exclusive use of the term «Judea and Samaria» in official documents instead of the «West Bank.»
People
1614 — (20th of Iyar, 5374) Polish Halakhist and Talmudist Joshua ben Alexander HaCohen Falk, author of commentaries on Arba’ah Turim and Shulkhan Arukh passed away today
1793 — (17th of Iyar, 5553) Rabbi Yechezkel ben Yehuda Landau passed away. He was an influential authority in halachah (Jewish law). He is best known for the work “Nodah bi-Yehudah,” by which title he is also known
1801 — (16 Iyar 5561) Abraham Alexander Wolff was born — the Chief Rabbi of Denmark. He made a significant contribution to the construction of the synagogue in Copenhagen (the first one burned down in a fire in 1795). In 1856, he translated the Torah into Danish. He died on December 3, 1891.
1881 — (30th of Nisan, 5641) Antony Samuel Adam-Salomon, French sculptor, died
1885 — Egon Erwin Kisch was born — a German journalist and writer, a communist. He died on March 31, 1948.
1897 — S. M. Shpigelglas was born — a Soviet intelligence officer. He was arrested in 1938 on false charges and shot in 1941.
1912 — (12 Iyar 5662) Moshe Landau was born in Danzig — a jurist. He gained fame in 1961 for presiding over the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. He died on May 1, 2011.
1945 — (16 Iyar 5705) Giora Romm was born — a legendary Israeli pilot. He died on August 11, 2023
1956 — (18th of Iyar, 5716) During a prepared ambush whose perpetrators included “an Egyptian policeman and a Palestinian farmer”, Roi Rotberg, the kibbutz security office at Nahal Oz was shot off his horse, beaten and shot again after which then his body was dragged into Gaza where the post- mortem mutilation included having his eyes gouged out
2024 — (21 Nisan 5784) The war with Gaza. Day two hundred and six. During an inspection of a suspicious house, it exploded, killing Chief Petty Officer Ido Aviv, 28, from Karmiel; Chief Petty Officer Kalkidan Mehari, 37, from Petah Tikva; one soldier was seriously wounded