History events
1349 — (8th of Elul, 5109) Start of pogrom in Cologne known as the “Slaughter of the Jews” when “an enraged mob entered the Jewish quarter” and began killing the Jews in response to the fears over the Black Death
1614 — (28th of Elul, 5374) Today, a day after Vincent Fettmilch of Frankfurt, ….. a former pastry cook and leader of the Guilds, calling himself the «new Haman of the Jews» had attacked the synagogue while the community was at prayer, “1,380 Jews, glad to have saved even their lives, left the city and went to Offenbach, Hanau, and Höchst” after which the synagogue as well as the Torah-scrolls was destroyed, and the cemetery was desecrated
1896 — (14th of Elul, 5656) Herzl meets with Johann Kremenetzky in Baden. ….. Yona (Johann) Kremenetzky’ was an industrialist and electrical engineer. In 1901, Krementzky would become the first chairman of the newly created Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael – the Jewish National Fund which many know today simply as the JNF. Krementzky created a wide variety of tools to educate the Jewish people about Eretz Israel and to raise funds for the purchase and reclamation of the land. He created the first Golden Book of Contributors and began the Zion Stamp series. But his most famous innovation was the “Blue Box” which has survived to this day
1903 — (30th of Av, 5663) The Sixth Zionist Congress convenes in Basel. It is the site of confrontations between Herzl and his supporters and the Zionists of Zion, who reject the plan for settlement in Uganda out of hand
1917 — (5th of Elul, 5677) The Jewish Legion of the British Army was established. ….. It was long championed by Zev Jabotinsky, and was based on the Zion Mule Corps. The 38th Battalion was commanded by Colonel Henry Patterson. A second battalion commanded by Colonel Eleazar Margolin was also formed. Although initially against the idea, most of the leadership of the Yishuv including Ben Gurion and Ben Zvi joined after the Balfour Declaration. Over 2,700 men volunteered for the Legion
1929 — (17th of Av, 5689) After the Mufti of Jerusalem made slanderous and enraging attacks against the Jews, ….. what eyewitnesses described as “severe riots” broke out. The Arabs were told by the Mufti, «Remember that the Jew is your strong enemy, and the enemy of your ancestors since olden times…for it is he who tortured Christ…and poisoned Mohammed….» Rioting and death broke out in towns throughout Palestine with a total of 130 Jews being murdered by the Muslims
1929 — (17th of Av, 5689) Today, which is Friday, thousands of Arab villagers streamed into Jerusalem from the surrounding countryside to pray on the Temple Mount, ….. many armed with sticks and knives. Harry Luke, the acting High Commissioner of Palestine requested reinforcements from Amman. Previously, Luke had ignored warnings from Jewish leaders about the potential for violence Towards 9:30 am Jewish storekeepers began closing shop, and at 11:00 20-30 gunshots were heard on the Temple Mount, apparently to work up the crowd. Luke telephoned the Mufti to come and calm a mob that had gathered under his window near the Damascus Gate, but the commissioner’s impression was that the religious leader’s presence was having the opposite effect. Inflamed by rumors that two Arabs had been killed by Jews, Arabs started an attack on Jews in Jerusalem’s Old City. The violence quickly spread to other parts of Palestine. British authorities had fewer than 100 soldiers, six armored cars, and five or six aircraft in country; Palestine Police had 1,500 men, but the majority was Arab, with a small number of Jews and 175 British officers. While awaiting reinforcements, many untrained administration officials were required to attach themselves to the police, though the Jews among them were sent back to their offices. Several English theology students visiting from the University of Oxford were deputized. While a number of Jews were being killed at the Jaffa Gate, British policemen did not open fire. They reasoned that if they had shot into the Arab crowd, the crowd would have turned their anger on the police. Yemin Moshe was one of the few Jewish neighborhoods to return fire, but most of Jerusalem’s Jews did not defend themselves. At the outbreak of the violence and again in the following days, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi demanded that weapons be handed to the Jews, but was both times refused
1929 — (17th of Av, 5689) First day of the two day event known as the Hebron Massacre. While the numbers vary, according to one report 67 Jews were killed and Jewish homes and synagogues were ransacked; nineteen local Arab families saved 435 Jews by hiding them in their houses even under their own life risk
1929 — (17th of Av, 5689) In the evening, “a band of Arabs armed with rifles attacked the Jewish garden suburb of Talpiot. The Jewish defenders gathered in one of the houses and, armed with a single rifle and a few pistols drove off the attackers
1933 — (1th of Elul, 5693) The Palestine Bureau of the German Zionist Federation ….. officially announces that an agreement has been reached between the Anglo-Palestine Bank and the Reich Minister of Economics under which German-Jewish immigrants to Palestine will be permitted to place their capital in a special account in the Anglo-Palestine Bank, to aggregate not more than three million marks, against which German goods to that value will be shipped to Palestine
1941 — (30th of Av, 5701) In Berlin, Himmler, gave notice of a new Nazi policy. Henceforth, Jews would no longer be permitted to leave German occupied Europe
People
1542 — (11th of Elul, 5302) Joseph Caro completed his commentary on the Tur
1829 — (24th of Av, 5589) Birthdate of German born historian and mathematician, Moritz Cantor whose works included Mathematical Contributions to the Cultural Life of the People and the multi-volume Lectures on the History of Mathematics
1924 — (23th of Av, 5684) Birthdate of Ephraim Kishon, Israeli satirist, dramatist, screenwriter and film director
1936 — (5th of Elul, 5696) Seventeen year old Shoshana Laznicki succumbed to wounds she had suffered at the hands of Arab gunman who had shot at her and a group of friends riding in a car near Tel Aviv on the previous Friday. She was the 76th victim of the latest Arab wave of violence
1957 — (26th of Av, 5717) Two guards of the Israeli Mekorot water company were killed near Kibbutz Beit Govrin
1995 — (27th of Av, 5755) Ninety-six year old Alfred Eisenstaedt, one of the greatest photojournalist of all time passed away