History events
-456 — (1st of Tevet, 3305) Ezra opened convocation on the problem of intermarriage
-333 — (21 Kislev 3429): Alexander the Great appeared at the gates of Jerusalem. High Priest Shimon HaTzaddik went out to meet him, leading a large delegation. He was dressed in sacred vestments, as were the other kohanim who followed him, along with many townspeople. When the king saw the High Priest, he suddenly softened and greeted him with great respect. When his astonished generals asked him to explain this behavior, Alexander replied that the image of this holy man had already appeared to him before. It was he who had repeatedly encouraged him in his victorious wars and promised him victory. Accompanied by the High Priest, Alexander entered Yerushalayim and the Beit Hamikdash. Everything he saw made a great impression on the king, and he promised to allow the Jews living throughout his empire to live according to the laws of their own faith. The service in the Beit Hamikdash made a particularly strong impression on Alexander, and he wished to have his portrait engraved on a stone and placed there. The High Priest replied that the laws of the Torah forbid placing any statue or portrait in the Beit Hamikdash or anywhere else. However, the Jews would immortalize Alexander’s name in a more worthy manner. The High Priest promised that all boys born in the coming year would be named Alexander. This greatly pleased the king
1479 — (28nd of Kislev, 5240) The Jews were expelled from Schlettstadt, Alsace by Emperor Frederick III
1484 — (24nd of Kislev, 5245) At Soncino, Italy, Joseph Solomon Soncino printed the first copy of “Beḥinat ha-‘Olam” ….. (The Examination of the World) by Jedaiah ben Abraham Bedersi a Jewish poet, physician and philosopher. Born in 1270 at Béziers, he was the son of Abraham Profiat, another French-Jewish poet. He passed away in 1340. Beḥinat ha-‘Olam (The Examination of the World), called also by its first words, «Shamayim la-Rom» (Heaven’s Height), a didactic poem written after the banishment of the Jews from France (1306), to which event reference is made in the eleventh chapter. The 37 “chapter” poem concludes with an expression of Bedersi’s admiration of Maimonides
1490 (29 Kislev 5251): In Naples, the printer Joshua Solomon Soncino published the books of Psalms and Proverbs in Hebrew
1505 — (15st of Tevet, 5266) In Ceske Budejovice, Czechoslovakia, ten Jews were tortured and killed after being accused by a local shepherd of killing a local girl. Years later on his deathbed, the shepherd confessed that he made up the whole story
1670 — (9st of Tevet, 5471) The Sephardic Jewish community of Amsterdam acquired the site to build a synagogue
1824 — (21 Kislev 5585): A decree of the Russian government was issued declaring the presence of Jews in the mining factories of Siberia intolerable. By that time, significant groups of Jews lived in the cities of Kainsk (now Kuibyshev, Novosibirsk Oblast), Omsk, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Kainsk, and Nizhneudinsk. In Kainsk, around a hundred Jews lived in 1816; they owned 23 houses and had their own cemetery and prayer house. Thanks to Jewish merchants, Kainsk became a major center of the fur trade.
1882 — (2 Tevet 5643): The founding of Rosh Pina. On December 12, 1882, the settlers went out to the fields for the first time; in the evening, they celebrated the first wedding, at which they decided to consider this day the Founding Day of Rosh Pina
1897 — (17nd of Kislev, 5658) Anti-Jewish violence broke out in Bucharest
1917 — (27nd of Kislev, 5678) Four days after the British arrival in Jerusalem, Dr. Yaakov Thon, convened a meeting of Jewish leaders with an eye toward establishing a City council of Jerusalem Jews
1919 — (20 Kislev 5680): An attack by Arabs on the settlement in Tel Hai; one of the defenders was killed. This happened because, under the Anglo‑French agreement of September 15, 1919, the British army withdrew from the northern part of Upper Galilee to the south of the Rosh HaNikra–Buazia line, leaving the territory to the French. However, the French practically did not take control of it, and the area remained without authority. As a result, four Jewish settlements — Metulla, Hamara, Kfar Giladi, and Tel Hai — were left to face the large, anti‑Zionist local Arab population. On January 1, 1920, Hamara (founded only in October 1919) was abandoned; shortly thereafter, Metulla was evacuated. On February 6, 1920, Aharon Sher was killed while defending Tel Hai
1920 — (1st of Tevet, 5681) The Histadrut Ha-ovdim (General Labor Federation) was founded in pre-state Israel. Its founder, Berel Katznelson, a disciple of Ber Borochov, combined various labor groups to form a federation.
1937 — (8st of Tevet, 5698) The Palestine Post ….. reported numerous assassinations, attempted murders, hold-ups and robberies perpetrated by Arab terrorists all over the country. In Haifa, Elimelech Gromet, 13, the victim of a terror attack in the Hadar Hacarmel quarter, died of his wounds. Sheikh Khatib, an Arab notable, and his bodyguard were murdered in the town’s Arab quarter. In Jerusalem all gates of the Old City, except for the well-guarded Jaffa and Damascus gates, were closed from early in the evening until late the following morning
1940 — (12nd of Kislev, 5701) The Salvador, a ship that set out from Varna, Bulgaria, a month ago, with 350 Jewish refugees aboard sinks in the Sea of Marmora with 250 Jewish refugees, including 75 children being drowned
1941 — (22nd of Kislev, 5702) Нolocaust. In the second action in two weeks, the Germans killed another estimated 12,000 inhabitants of the Riga Ghetto
1941 — (22 Kislev 5702): The Shoah. The “cleansing” of Simferopol continued: units of Task Force D shot more than 3,000 additional Jews. In Novy Dashev and, probably, in Kitaygorod (Vinnytsia Oblast), 165 and several hundred Jews were shot, respectively. In Feodosia, 245 Krymchaks were shot
1942 — (4st of Tevet, 5703) Нolocaust. Jewish prisoners at a labor camp in Lutsk, Ukraine, armed with knives, bricks, iron bars, acid, and several revolvers and sawed-off shotguns, revolt against Germans and Ukrainians. The uprising is crushed
1947 — (29nd of Kislev, 5708) War for independence. ….. The Arab League voted to provide funds, weapons and volunteers for an impending Palestine war designed to thwart the United Nation’s partition vote. An Arab Liberation Army under the command of an Iraqi staff officer named Ismail Safwat Pasha established its headquarters outside of Damascus and gave field command to Fawzi al-Qawujki a veteran terrorist leader of the uprisings during the 1930’s
1947 — (29 Kislev 5708): “Fighting broke out across the entire territory of Eretz Israel,” A. Sharon wrote in his memoirs
1948 — (10nd of Kislev, 5709) Less than two weeks after the signing of the final cease-fire, the ‘Valor Road’ was opened by Ben-Gurion as a secure by-pass for travel from Jerusalem to the coast. The road replaced the famous ‘Burma Road’ and made it possible for Jews to travel the fifteen miles from the Judean hills to the coastal settlements without having to brave Arab sniper attacks.
1955 — (27th of Kislev, 5716) Operation Olive Leaves, under the command of Ariel Sharon came to a successful conclusion with the destruction of all the Syrian gun emplacements attacked by the IDF. Among the casualties were ten wounded including Rafael Eitan and six dead including Yitzchak Ben Menachem, a hero of Israel’s War of Independence “who was killed by a Syrian hand grenade.”
1968 — (21nd of Kislev, 5729) In response to repeated terrorist attacks against Israeli aircraft “a heliborne paratroop force raided Beirut Airport and destroyed Lebanese aircraft today.”
1977 — (2nd of Tevet, 5738) Тerrorist attack. One person was killed and 25 were injured during a grenade attack at Beersheba
1990 — (25 Kislev 5751): After a 25‑year break in relations between Israel and the USSR, the Soviet Foreign Minister Shevardnadze met with Prime Minister Y. Shamir in Washington
1994 — (9nd of Tevet, 5755) Israel and Jordan fleshed out their new peace treaty some more today, opening temporary embassies in each other’s country and saying they would exchange ambassadors next month
2001 — (27 Kislev 5762): Terrorist attacks: in the Gaza Strip and at the entrance to the town of Emanuel, a passenger bus belonging to the Dan cooperative was blown up by a mine and then fired upon. Ten people were killed and more than 30 were wounded.
2007 — (3 Tevet 5768): In the morning, Arabs launched 15 Qassam rockets from Gaza; 10 of them were directed toward Sderot. One rocket exploded on Maccabim Street in the city center. Several people were injured. A 12‑year‑old girl was wounded in the leg by shrapnel; another 4 Qassams exploded in open areas south of Sderot and between two localities in the Sha’ar Hanegev Regional Council.
2011 — (16 Kislev 5772): Jerusalem hosted the first‑ever Night Run around the walls of the Old City. The race route ran from the Jaffa Gate through Hutzot HaYotzer, along Derech Chevron to Jabel Mukaber, and back along the Armon Hanatziv promenade, Derech Chevron, to the Jaffa Gate.
2011 — (16 Kislev 5772): Israeli authorities ordered the closure of the Mughrabi Bridge, which leads to the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City, due to engineers’ warnings about the imminent risk of the bridge collapsing. The decision sparked intense protests by local and foreign Arabs, who believed Israel had no right to make such decisions. The Palestinian Authority demanded the creation of a commission with Palestinian and Jordanian representatives (but without Israelis) to examine the bridge’s condition. PA statements emphasized that the Mughrabi Bridge is considered part of the Muslim Waqf in the Old City
2016 — (12nd of Kislev, 5777) Israel received the first shipment of the advanced F-35
2020 — (26 Kislev 5781): Israel established diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Bhutan.
2021 — (8 Tevet 5782): The Miss Universe 2021 beauty pageant was held in Eilat, with contestants from 79 countries. The final was broadcast live in more than 170 countries worldwide
People
1806 — (1nd of Tevet, 5567) Isaac Leeser, American Orthodox rabbi, born
1881 — (20 Kislev 5642): H. Warner, the eldest of the four brothers who founded the film company Warner Brothers Pictures, Inc., and its first president, was born. He died on July 25, 1958.
1901 — (2 Tevet 5662): G. Feigin, a revolutionary and one of the organizers of the Komsomol, was born. The song “The Eaglet” is dedicated to him. He died on March 18, 1921
1905 — (14nd of Kislev, 5666) Birthdate of Iosif Solomonovich Grossman who gained fame as Soviet author and journalist Vasily Semyonovich Grossman
1927 — (18 Kislev 5688): Mordechai Ben‑Porat, an Israeli military and statesman, was born. He fought in the Palmach during the War of Independence, in the Six‑Day War, and in the War of Attrition; during the Yom Kippur War, he commanded the 9th Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces
1943 — (15 Kislev 5704): Hanan Porat, a rabbi, statesman, and public figure, was born. He participated in the Six‑Day War and the Yom Kippur War, was a leader of Jewish settlers, and one of the founders of the Gush Emunim movement. He died on October 4, 2011. Porat was one of the founders (together with Rabbi Yoel Bin‑Nun) of the settlement Alon Shvut, established in 1970. It is located at an altitude of 950 meters above sea level near Route 60 (Jerusalem–Hebron)
1947 — (29th of Kislev, 5708) War for independence. An Arab gang stopped a BOAC truck leaving Lydda Airport. The Arabs told the Arabs on the truck to run away. The three Jews – Yitzhak Jian, David Ben Ovadia and Joseph Litvak — were then shot dead
1979 — (22nd of Kislev, 5740) Elka de Levie, the only Jewish gymnast of the triumphant 1928 Dutch ladies’ gymnastics team, which won the Olympic title in Amsterdam in 1928 to survive the horrors of the Holocaust, passed away
2001 — (27th of Kislev, 5762) Тerrorist attack. ….. Three terrorists attacked a #189 Dan bus and several passenger cars with a roadside bomb, anti-tank grenades, and light arms fire near the entrance to Emmanuel in Samaria at 6:00 p.m. Ten people, including two teenagers, were killed and 30 others were injured. The victims: Yair Amar, 13, of Emmanuel; Esther Avraham, 42, of Emmanuel; Border Police Chief Warrant Officer Yoel Bienenfeld, 35, of Moshav Tel Shahar; Moshe Gutman, 40, of Emmanuel; Avraham Nahman Nitzani, 17, of Betar Illit; Yirmiyahu Salem, 48, of Emmanuel; Israel Sternberg, 46, of Emmanuel; David Tzarfati, 38, of Ginot Shomron; Hananya Tzarfati, 32, of Kfar Saba; Ya’akov Tzarfati, 64, of Kfar Saba
2002 — (7 Tevet 5763): Corporal K. Yacobi and Sergeant M. Kalfon of the Israel Defense Forces were killed in Hebron.
2023 — (29 Kislev 5784): The Gaza War. Day sixty‑seven. Lieutenant Colonel Tomer Greenberg, 35; Major Roee Meldasi, 23; Major Moshe Avraham Bar‑On, 23; Sergeant Ahiya Daskal, 19; Captain Liel Hayo, 22; Major Ben Shelly, 26; Staff Sergeant Rom Hecht, 20; and Senior Sergeant Oria Yaakov, 19, were killed. Rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza and Lebanon continued. The IDF began pumping water from the Mediterranean Sea into the underground tunnel system in the Gaza Strip. One hundred and ninety‑seven trucks carrying humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip. The new fourth Sa’ar‑6‑class corvette entered service and began combat duty in the Red Sea