History events
1391 — (12th of Elul, 5151) In Spain, anti-Semitic mobs attacked the Jews of Lerida, reportedly killing 75. Other Jews were forcibly baptized and were forced to see their synagogue turned into a church
1743 (4 Elul 5503) — Suleiman Pasha, the governor of Damascus, ended the siege of Tiberias, which was ruled by Sheikh Dahir al‑Amr. In honour of this event, the Jews of Tiberias established Purim Tiberias (Tiberias Purim)
1900 — (18th of Av, 5660) The Fourth Zionist Congress convened in London with five hundred delegates in attendance. Max Nordeau gave the opening in address which included an account of the appalling conditions faced by the Jews of Romania and a tribute to the Kaiser for his treatment of the Jews of Pomerania and East Prussia
1903 (20 Av 5663) — Second meeting between Herzl and Plehve (see 8 August). Plehve said: “I do not wish to deny that the situation of Jews in the Russian Empire is not very favourable. Yes, if I were a Jew, I would probably also be an enemy of the government. However, we cannot act differently than we have so far, and therefore it would be highly desirable for us to see the creation of an independent Jewish state capable of accepting several million Jews. At the same time, we do not want to remove all our Jews. Those of high intelligence — and you are the best proof that such people exist among you — we wish to keep for ourselves… But we would like to get rid of Jews of low intelligence and of those who are poor. Those who are able to assimilate, we want to keep. We do not harbour hatred towards Jews as such”
1903 (20 Av 5663) — A rabbinical congress concluded its work in Krakow. The final declaration, written in Hebrew, stated: “We, rabbis from various countries, who have gathered for a congress in Krakow, publicly declare that since the time we left our ancient homeland and dispersed across the countries of the world, we have considered it our sacred duty, in obedience to the precepts of the Torah, to respect the laws of the countries under whose protection we live. A Jew is strictly forbidden to take part in revolutionary movements or in any actions contrary to the existing order. In accordance with our great and wise King Solomon, who said, ‘Fear God and the king in your life’, and based on the strict commandment of the Torah, the congress protests against any anti‑governmental rebellions, both present and future. The participants of the congress unanimously approved the above text and resolved to bring it to the attention of all their co‑religionists”
1920 (29 Av 5680) — Civil War. Pogrom in Bohuslav, Kaniv County. After the insurgents, the Bolsheviks entered the town and stayed from 13 to 26 August. During this period, the Jewish population suffered greatly from looting and requisitions, mainly at the hands of the 6th Ukrainian Soviet Regiment. Then a detachment of the 4th Hundred of the Terek 7th Plastun Battalion arrived. Several dozen Jews were killed, hacked to death, or hanged… For a long time, the population was terrorised by the local peasantry, inspired by the example of previous pogroms
1931 — (30th of Av, 5691) In the wake of a weeklong series of reports of “agitation” in Arab villages and threats of violence in Jerusalem, “today there was a real exodus of Jews who reside in the Arab sections” of Jerusalem
1937 — (6th of Elul, 5697) Four members of a Jewish family, including three children were “shot dead by Arabs who broke into their home in Safed
1939 (28 Av 5699) — The kibbutz Gesher was established using the “Wall and Tower” method.
1941 (20 Av 5701) — The Shoah. In France, Jews were prohibited from owning radio receivers.
1941 (20 Av 5701) — The Shoah. In Uman (Cherkasy Oblast), Sonderkommando 4b shot 80 Jews from among the intelligentsia. Probably on the same day, in Vinnytsia, a unit of Einsatzkommando 6 shot 350 Jews.
1942 (30 Av 5702) — The Shoah. Liquidation of the ghetto in the town of Mir, Grodno Oblast.
1942 (30 Av 5702) — In Shumsk, another 230 Jews were killed. On the same day, about 2 800 Jews were transported from Horodok (Lviv Oblast) to Bełżec.
1942 — (30th of Av, 5702) United States State Department officials and the British Foreign Office decide that the Riegner Cable outlining details of the Holocaust be kept secret
1946 — (16th of Av, 5706) British authorities open detention camps on the island of Cyprus to hold Jewish refugees who have been prevented from entering Palestine due to British restrictions on immigration
1950 (30 Av 5710) — The Knesset passed a law punishing Nazis and their accomplices
1951 — (11th of Av, 5711) A Nahal group from the Ezra movement” Sha’alvim, a religious Kibbutz in central Israel…affiliated with Agudat Israel; Gonen a Nahal settlement which was civilianized in 1952 by a group of Hebrew Scouts was established today in the Upper Galilee
1965 (15 Av 5725) — The IDF’s last battle in the undeclared war with Syria, which had attempted to divert the waters of the Jordan River away from the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret)
2020 — (23th of Av, 5780) Israel and the United Arab Emirates reached a landmark accord sealed by President Trump today
2025 (19 Av 5785) — A new security screening and check‑in complex, covering approximately 3 900 square metres, opened in Terminal 3 of Ben‑Gurion International Airport. It included 22 check‑in desks, modern baggage screening and handling systems.
People
1599 — (2th of Elul, 5359) Johannes Buxtorf II., Christian Hebraist, born
1836 — Michael Jan de Goeje was born, a Dutch scholar and Arabist Orientalist. In 1889, he published the works of the Muslim geographer Ibn Khordadbeh (820/825–913), author of Kitāb al‑Masālik wa’l‑Mamālik (The Book of Roads and Kingdoms or The Book of Routes and Countries, 870), one of the few surviving sources describing the Radhanite Jewish merchants who controlled global trade routes from Europe and Africa to India and China during the Early Middle Ages (7th–10th centuries).
1867 — Ernst Arthur Eichengrün, a chemist, industrialist, and inventor of aspirin, was born. He died on 23 December 1949.
1871 — Karl Liebknecht, a German revolutionary, was born. He was killed on 15 January 1919.
1878 (14 Av 5638) — Arthur Biram was born in Saxony, an educator and philosopher, and an ideologue of school education in Palestine. He died on 5 June 1967 in Haifa.
1907 — Mikhail Isaakovich Mukasey, a Soviet intelligence officer, was born. He died on 19 August 2008.
1912 — Y. Auerbach, a variety artist, storyteller, and People’s Artist of Russia (1991), was born. She died on 28 July 1995
1912 — (30th of Elul, 5692) Franz Kafka met Felice Bauer in Berlin. The relationship between these two had a profound effect on Kafka’s literary output as well as his personal life. One critic recently wrote that Kafka’s correspondence with Bauer “is the most useful key to Kafka’s thoughts and actions during the decisive years of his emergence as a writer.”
1936 — (25th of Av, 5696) Late tonight in Safed, “Arab terrorists” “broke in the house of Rabbi Alter Ungar who was asleep with his family” and threw a bomb that “decapitated the rabbi” and killed an eight year old girl and a six year old boy
1938 — (16th of Av, 5698) As they bicycled from Ramatayim to Petah Tikva Benjamin Babayoff and his wife were shot and killed by gunmen firing from an orange grove and their seven year old daughter who was riding on the handlebars was severely wounded
1940 — Alain Calmat, a French figure skater, physician, and politician, was born in Paris