History events
1314 BCE — (1 Elul 2447) — The Plague of Egypt. Egypt was filled with frogs that came out of the river. Unable to withstand the onslaught of frogs, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and begged, «Pray to God that He remove the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let your people go.» But as soon as the frogs disappeared through Moses’ prayer, Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the sons of Israel leave Egypt. This was the second plague (the first, in the month of Av — the waters of the Nile turned to blood), and like all subsequent plagues, it lasted seven days.
70 CE — (10 Av 3830) — The Jewish War. Another fierce battle at the walls of the Temple
135 — (9th of Av, 3895) Betar fell to the Romans
1264 — (11th of Av, 5024) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Arnstadt Germany
1381 — (15th of Av, 5141) Rabbis and communal leaders from Speyer, Worms and Mayence met at Mayence to review and reinforce laws pertaining to marriage and the rights of widows in the wake of the Black Death. One of the rules enacted was Tekanoth Shum which allowed a childless widow to receive a definite portion of her late husband’s property even though she had refused to marry her brother-in-law.
1391 — (4th of Elul, 5151) More than 400 Jews were killed in attacks in Barcelona. Attempts by the city Fathers and Artisans to protect them were of no use. The attacks were instigated for the most part by Castilians, who had taken part in the massacres in Seville and Valencia
1748 — (22th of Av, 5508) Maria Theresa, for an annual consideration of 3,000,000 gulden, suspends for a period of 10 years the edict expelling Jews from Austria
1772 — (6th of Av, 5532) First of the three partitions of Poland begins. The Jews of what had been Poland and Lithuania will end up in the Prussian, Austrian and/or Russian Empires.
1906 — (14th of Av, 5666) Today, eleven English-speaking Jews held a formal meeting in Havana with the intention of founding a congregation and cemetery. At the first meeting Louis Jurick was elected chairman of the Hebrew Congregation of Cuba, and Manuel Hadida was chosen as general secretary.
1933 — (13th of Av, 5693) Archaeologists working for the Palestine Exploration Fund discovered an ancient synagogue, dating from the sixth century C. E near Nahalal
1934 — (24th of Av, 5694) One hundred Jews are killed in an anti-Semitic pogrom at Constantine, Algeria
1938 — (8 Av 5698) — A special resolution was adopted by the Politburo of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), declaring M. Shaginyan’s work «Ticket to History» (published in the journal Krasnaya Nov, 1938, No. 1) «politically harmful and ideologically hostile.» It ordered the confiscation of that issue of the journal and the removal of its chief editor. The Union of Soviet Writers also issued a «severe censure» of M. Shaginyan for attempting to create a «distorted picture of Lenin’s national identity.» The issue was that M. Shaginyan had revealed Lenin’s Jewish roots.
1941 — (12 Av 5701) — Shoah. In Otynia (Ivano-Frankivsk region), 45 Jews were killed. On that day, the Security Police returned 3,000 Jews to Bessarabia via Mogilev-Podolsky.
1941 — (12th of Av, 5701) A three day long slaughter of Jews begins in Pinsk that results in the death of eleven thousand Jews
1942 — (22th of Av, 5702) In the Warsaw Ghetto German soldiers came to collect the 192 (there is some debate about the actual number and it may have been 196) orphans and about one dozen staff members to take them to Treblinka extermination camp. The children were under the care of Janusz Korczak, the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit a Polish-Jewish children’s author, pediatrician, and child pedagogue, known as Pan Doktor (Mr Doctor)….. «One day, around 5th August when I had to take a brief rest from work and was walking down Gesia Street, I happened to see Janusz Korczak and his orphans leaving the ghetto. The evacuation of the Jewish orphanage run by Janusz Korczak had been ordered for that morning. The children were to have been taken away alone. He had the chance to save himself, and it was only with difficulty that he persuaded the Germans to take him too. He had spent long years of his life with children and now, on this last journey he could not leave them alone. He wanted to ease things for them. He told the orphans they were going out in to the country, so they ought to be cheerful. At last they would be able exchange the horrible suffocating city walls for meadows of flowers, streams where they could bathe, woods full of berries and mushrooms. He told them to wear their best clothes, and so they came out into the yard, two by two nicely dressed and in a happy mood. The little column was lead by an SS man who loved children, as Germans do, even those he was about to see on their way into the next world. He took a special liking to a boy of twelve, a violinist who had his instrument under his arm. The SS man told him to go to the head of the precession of children and play – and so they set off. When I met them in Gesia Street the smiling children were singing in chorus, the little violinist was playing for them and Korczak was carrying two of the smallest infants, who were beaming too, and telling them some amusing story. I am sure that even in the gas chamber, as the Zyklon B gas was stifling childish throats and striking terror instead of hope into the orphans hearts, the Old Doctor must have whispered with one last effort, ‘it’s all right, children, it will be all right’. So that at least he could spare his little charges the fear of passing from life to death.» «The Pianist» — Page 96
1942 — (22 Av 5702) — Shoah. Apparently, 3,000 Jews were shot in Rozhyshche (Volyn region)
1944 — (16th of Av, 5704) The Mekfure carrying 394 Romanian Jews seeking refuge in Palestine sank today
1947 — (19th of Av, 5707) Today, as the British returned to work from the three-day bank holiday weekend, they dealt with the reality that anti-Jewish riots and “disturbances had “taken place in Glasgow, Bristol, Hull, London, Warrington. Salfrod where “a crowd of several thousand had thrown stones at shop windows, West Derby “where arsonists set fire to a wooden synagogue,” Liverpool where “workers at Canada Dock found ‘death to all Jews’ painted above the entrance” and Ecles where John Regan, “a former sergeant major” told a crowd of 700 that Hitler was right – exterminate every Jew.”
1948 — (29th of Tammuz, 5708) In light of the realities of the military situation and the failure of the UN to act, the Israeli government explicitly rejected the proposal for an internationalized Jerusalem
1949 — (10 Av 5709) — Terrorist attack. A grenade was thrown into the Menashe Synagogue in Damascus. Twelve people were killed.
1951 — (3 Av 5711) — Israel. A strike by cinema owners. They were protesting an increase in the tax on entertainment venues.
1953 — (24 Av 5713) — The 101st Unit of the Israel Defense Forces was created (or August 28).
1954 — (6 Av 5714) — The beginning of Jewish pogroms in Morocco
1955 — (17th of Av, 5715) The task of marking the border between Israel and Egypt “in the Nitzana/Auja vicinity” was completed today
1981 — (5 Av 5741) — M. Begin presented his second government (the 19th government of Israel) to the Knesset.
2001 — (16 Av 5761) — Terrorist attack. An Arab opened fire near the Ministry of Defense building. Ten people were wounded; the terrorist was apprehended
2009 — (15th of Av, 5769) Tu B’Av — ….. “According to the Talmud (tractate Ta’anit, 30b-31a), Tu B’Av was a joyous holiday in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem: Unmarried girls would dress in simple white clothing (so that rich could not be distinguished from poor) and go out to sing and dance in the vineyards surrounding Jerusalem. One of the happier holidays on the Jewish calendar, the Fifteenth of Av is today considered the Israeli equivalent of Valentine’s Day. Yet another holiday with agricultural origins, Tu B’Av is said to be the day that the members of the twelve tribes were first allowed to marry each other. While often forgotten elsewhere, Tu B’Av is a fairly big deal in Israel. People send cards and give flowers to their loved ones and hold special «Holiday of Love» parties
2013 — (29 Av 5773) — The largest desalination plant in Israel began operating in Sorek.
2013 — (29 Av 5773) — A fully electric bus, the first of its kind in Israel, went into service in the morning on Route 5 in Tel Aviv. The bus began running from the central bus station on Levinski Street to the train station on Arlozorov Street
2014 — (9th of Av, 5774) The Israel Antiquities Authority announced today the discovery of “a hoard of coins from the fourth year of the Jewish Revolt against Rome — minted months before the fall of Jerusalem in 70 CE —“just outside of the Jewish capital city
2022 — (8 Av 5782) — Israel launched the counter-terrorism operation «Dawn» in Gaza, aimed at militants of the Islamic Jihad organization. It ended on August 8.
People
1572 — (26 Av 5332) — In Safed, at the age of 38, Isaac ben Solomon Luria Ashkenazi — the creator of one of the main currents of Kabbalah (so-called Lurianic Kabbalah) — died
1802 — (7th of Av, 5562) Birthdate of Eliakim Carmoly, a French born Jewish scholar and rabbi who would eventually resign from the rabbinate, move to Frankfurt and devote himself to Jewish literature and to the collection of Hebrew books and manuscripts
1856 — (4 Av 5616) — Ahad Ha’am (Asher Ginzberg) — Hebrew writer — was born. He died on January 2, 1927.
1877 — (26 Av 5637) — Hermann Maas — Protestant pastor — was born. In the early 1940s, Maas helped many Jews flee Germany, using his connections to obtain exit visas. In mid-1943, at the instigation of the Nazi regime, the High Church Council of the Baden Church stripped him of his position for his active efforts. In 1944, he was sent to a forced labor camp in France, from which he was later liberated by American forces. On July 28, 1964, Yad Vashem decided to recognize Reverend Hermann Maas as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. Hermann Maas died on September 27, 1970.
1877 — (26 Av 5637) — Max Factor — «the father of modern cosmetics» — was born. He died in 1938.
1908 — Shlomo Pines — Israeli philosopher — was born. He died in 1990
1937 — (28th of Av, 5697) Birthdate of Dan Shomron the Sabra who would play a key role in the 1976 Raid on Entebbe and served as the 13th Chief of Staff of the IDF
1937 — (28 Av 5697) — Amir Drori — Israeli military commander — was born. He died on March 12, 2005
1998 — (13th of Av, 5758) Harel Bin-Nun, 18, and Shlomo Liebman, 24, were shot and killed in an ambush by terrorists while on patrol at the Yizhar settlement in Samaria
2001 — (16th of Av, 5761) Tehiya Bloomberg, 40, of Karnei Shomron, mother of five and 5 months pregnant, was killed when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on the family vehicle between Alfei Menashe and Karnei Shomron. Three people were seriously wounded, including her husband, Shimon, and daughter, Tzippi, 14.
2002 — (27th of Av, 5762) Twenty-nine year old Avi Wolanski and his wife 27 year old Avital Wolanski were murdered “when terrorists” from «The Martyrs of the Palestinian Popular Army” opened fire on their car.