December 16

History events
1684 — (19st of Tevet, 5445) The first room for prayer meetings of was opened in Copenhagen which was the home of the newly founded Ashkenazi community
1917 — (1st of Tevet, 5678) During World War I, Naaman Belkind was hung by the Turks as a spy. ….. Naaman Belkind was born in 1889. The nephew of Bilu founder Israel Belkind and the son of Bilu pioneer Shimshon Belkind, Naaman Belkind was born in Eretz Yisrael. Bilu was founded in 1882 and was a pre-Herzl Zionist movement. Bilu is an acronym based on a verse from Isaiah (2:5), «Beit Ya’akov Lekhu Ve-nelkha/Let the house of Jacob go!» BILU’s founders believed that the time had come for Jews not only to live in Israel, but to make their living there as well. He grew up in the Bilu community of Gedera, and was later employed in the wine cellars of Rishon LeTzion. Along with his cousin Avshalom Feinberg and his brother Eytan, Belkind joined the Nili espionage group, which was formed in 1915 to assist the British against the Turkish authorities. The group encountered much opposition to its operations, in part from the British themselves, but largely from the members of the Yishuv, who regarded the espionage as subversive and endangering Jewish settlements. Nili’s independence from mainstream Zionist politics also lent it a controversial nature, but the group maintained its activities. In September, 1917, Belkind set out for Egypt to look into the circumstances regarding Feinberg’s death earlier that year. Caught by Bedouin in the Sinai, he was handed over to the Turks and brought to Damascus. Shortly after, the principal Nili figures were arrested and the group incapacitated. Belkind was convicted of spying and was hanged along with Nili leader Yosef Lishansky. He was later re-interred in Rishon LeTzion
1930 — (26th of Kislev, 5691) Six Jewish laborers were sentenced today to three weeks imprisonment for participation in an unruly unemployment demonstration at Ness Ziona, near Jaffa.
1939 — (4st of Tevet, 5700) Нolocaust. Jewish girls in Lódz, Poland, who have been impressed for forced labor, are forced to clean a latrine with their blouses. When the job is complete, the German overseers wrap the filthy blouses around the girls’ faces
1942 — (8st of Tevet, 5703) Нolocaust. A Jewish ghetto is established in Kharkov, Ukraine
1968 — (25th of Kislev, 5729) The Spanish government officially voided the order of expulsion of 1492
1978 — (16th of Kislev, 5739) In Jerusalem, 22 people including five Americans were injured by a bombing on a bus
1991 — (9st of Tevet, 5752) The U.N. General Assembly rescinded its 1975 resolution equating Zionism with racism by a 111-25 vote
1992 — (21th of Kislev, 5753) The body of IDF Sergeant Nissim Toledano, who had been kidnapped by Hamas, was found today. Toledano had been stabbed to death while his hands were bound
2010 — (9st of Tevet, 5771) Starting today the Galilee will be hosting its first annual international ornithological festival

People
1858 — (9st of Tevet, 5619) Birthdate of Yiddish singer, actor, and composer Sigmund Mogulesko
1922 — (26th of Kislev, 5683) Sixty-four-year-old Eliezer Ben-Yehuda the father of the Modern Hebrew Language succumbed to TB in Jerusalem today