History events
-1314 — (1 Shevat 2448) The Egyptian Plague. Moshe stretched out his staff toward the heavens, and fiery hail struck the land, killing animals and plants — and only in the land of Goshen (now Tumiłat — the name of a region of Ancient Egypt), where most of the children of Israel lived, there was no hail. The frightened Pharaoh again summoned Moshe and Aaron, saying to them: «I have sinned this time; God is righteous, and I and my people are guilty. Pray to God that the thunder and hail cease, and I will let you go.» At Moshe’s prayer the disaster ceased, but Pharaoh again did not fulfill his promise.
1408 — (13 Tevet 5169) The Jews of Verona received official permission to live in the city and to lend money at interest
1492 — (11th of Tevet, 5253) One hundred thousand Jews were expelled from Sicily
1539 — (20th of Tevet, 5300) In Poland, King Sigismund I “ordered the Jews of Cracow, Posan and Lemberg (Lvov) to buy 3,350 Jewish books from the Printing house of the apostate Helitz brothers. The Jews bought the books as ordered — and then destroyed them all.
1730 — (4 Shevat 5491) Purim Povidl (Purim with plum jam). In Jung-Bunzlau (Bohemia), a Christian girl, the daughter of a bookbinder, bought plum jam from a Jewish grocer, David Brandeis. She brought it home, her father tasted it and died, and members of his family fell ill. The city authorities closed the shop, and the grocer, his wife, and his son were imprisoned on charges of selling poisonous food to Christians. After a thorough investigation conducted by the municipal authorities and then by the appellate court in Prague, it was established that the bookbinder’s death had resulted from consumption, after which the criminal prosecution was terminated. Brandeis recorded this event in a Hebrew scroll, which he called «Shir ha-Ma’alot le-David,» obligating all his descendants «to read this scroll every year on the 10th of Adar and to make this day a day of joy and gladness.» The holiday was observed by David’s descendants in the nineteenth century as well.
1795 — (19th of Tevet, 5556) As of today, the population of Amsterdam totaled 217,024 of which 20,052 were Jewish
1889 — (8 Tevet 5650) According to statistics for this date, there lived in Amsterdam 49,946 Ashkenazim and 4,533 Portuguese Jews; a total of 54,479. With a total population of 408,061 people.
1931 — (9 Tevet 5692) The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported that two manuscripts of religious poems written in Spain in the 16th century, and the lost original of the third part of Maimonides’ «Guide for the Perplexed,» written in Arabic, were donated to the Library of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America by Mrs. Nathan Miller.
1934 — (25 Tevet 5695) Not far from the young settlement of Kfar Ata (now Kiryat Ata), the first ATA textile factory began operating.
1939 — (19 Tevet 5700) The evacuation began of approximately 1,000 children aged 12 to 17 from the territory of Western Belarus and Eastern Poland occupied by the Soviet Army to the Land of Israel. The operation was carried out with the participation of the Jewish Agency and the Joint. The children were first transferred to the Baltic states, from there to Sweden, then to Holland, Belgium, France. From Marseille they arrived in Haifa on April 1, 1940. The British kept the children in a concentration camp for several weeks. Then they released them.
1941 — (11 Tevet 5702) Shoah. The shootings of Jews in Bogdanovka continued; in total, between December 21–23 and 28–31, about 25,000 people were shot in Bogdanovka.
1941 — (11 Tevet 5702) Shoah. More than 700 Jews from Bratslav were exiled to the Pechera death camp. People seized during the roundup were driven from Bratslav to Pechera 30 kilometers on foot, in bitter frost, stripped and barefoot. Along the way, the weak and infirm were shot, girls from the column were raped in front of people and then shot. In the Jewish death camp, nicknamed by the inmates themselves «The Dead Loop,» in the village of Pechera, Shpikov district, thousands of Jews were gathered from the shtetls of Vinnitsa Oblast — Bratslav, Mogilev-Podolsky, Trostyanets, Ladyzhin, Tulchin, and others. In addition, some Jews deported from Bessarabia, Bukovina, and Romania also ended up here. The camp was located on the border of the Romanian and German occupation zones. The camp was controlled by Romanian police, who did not shoot people but starved them, froze them, and exposed them to disease
1942 — (23th of Tevet, 5703) At a meeting of the Chiefs of Staff Committee, Churchill asked if would be possible for the RAF to undertake two or three heavy raids on Berlin in January. ….. In addition to dropping bombs on the German capital, the planes would drop leaflets warning them of the fate that awaited them at the end of the war and that the attacks were reprisals for Nazi persecution of Poles and Jews. Sir Charles Portal, the Chief of the Air Staff “warned that any such raids avowedly conducted on account of the Jews would be an asset to enemy propaganda”
1947 — (18th of Tevet, 5708) Following an Arab attack on the refinery at Haifa where they killed 47 Jews, members of the Palmach launched an attack on Balad al-Shaykh, Haifa
1947 — (18th of Tevet, 5708) Because of constant attacks from Arabs and the siege of Jerusalem, Hebrew University was forced to end all courses and close its doors
1948 — (29th of Kislev, 5709) In response to a British ultimatum, Ben-Gurion dispatched the order for Israeli forces to evacuate the Sinai and return to the Negev. A Jewish brigade was on the brink of capturing the Egyptian city of El Arish.
1952 — (13th of Tevet, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported ….. that the Knesset passed the first reading of the War Invalids Bill, submitted by the Minister of Labor, Mrs. Golda Meyerson (Meir). The bill assured veteran rights, the same as provided to the casualties of the Israel Defense Forces, to the invalids of the World War II Palestinian units of the British Army, and to the invalids of the Haganah. Pensions were also granted to partisans who fought Hitler. The bill was attacked sharply by Herut Knesset members on the grounds that it discriminated against the fighters of the Irgun Zvai Leumi and Fighters for the Freedom of Israel (Lehi)
1957 — (8 Tevet 5718) Ben-Gurion dissolved the seventh government of Israel within the framework of the third Knesset. The reason — details of the sessions began leaking to the press and into the street, while Ben-Gurion demanded that the details of the debates be kept secret
1963 — (15th of Tevet, 5724) Israel’s first desalination plant opened at the port of Eilat
1964 — (26 Tevet 5725) The first, still unsuccessful, attempt by PLO militants to infiltrate Israel in order to carry out a terrorist attack
1968 — (10 Tevet 5729) France announced an embargo on arms supplies to Israel (see December 28)
1969 — (22th of Tevet, 5730) Five unarmed Israeli gunboats arrived in Haifa tonight ending a 3,000-mile journey from Cherbourg, France.
1969 — (22 Tevet 5730) According to published statistics, every third family in Israel has a television
1970 — (3 Tevet 5731) Rocket shelling of Jerusalem from the village of Kfar Batim. Four wounded.
1973 — (6 Tevet 5734) Another Knesset election. Victory for the left-wing bloc «Maarach,» which received 51 seats, Gahal — 39, the religious bloc — 5.
1980 — (24th of Tevet, 5741) A Jewish owned hotel in Nairobi Kenya was bombed killing 18
1986 — (29 Kislev 5747) The first flight of the prototype of the «Lavi» aircraft took place (see February 20, 1980)
1989 — (3th of Tevet, 5750) Today, Prime Minister Shamir said he had dismissed Ezer Weizman from the cabinet for violating Israeli law by maintaining contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Mr. Shamir accused Mr. Weizman of giving advice to the P.L.O. on how to respond to Mr. Shamir’s plan for elections in the occupied territories
1992 — (7 Tevet 5753) The Knesset passed a law on the state budget for 1993 in the amount of 102 billion shekels. Michael Eitan’s speech on the 1993 budget was a record, lasting more than ten hours straight.
2006 — (10 Tevet 5767) The traffic police noted a decline in road deaths from accidents in the outgoing year. It stood at 6.2 people per 100,000 residents, whereas in the 3 previous years it was 6.9–7.6 people. The most dangerous highway turned out to be Highway No. 40 — 23 fatal accidents. Next came Highway No. 4 — 16 accidents, Highway No. 90 — 13, and then Highways No. 65 and No. 70, where there were 10 traffic accidents each.
2006 — (10 Tevet 5767) The Central Bureau of Statistics reported that the Israeli economy grew in the first half of 2006 by 5.9% in annual terms, and in the second half by 2.9%. Overall for the past year, economic growth was 5%. In 2005 the corresponding figure was 5.2%, in 2004 — 4.8%. GDP per capita in absolute figures — 88.6 thousand shekels or 19.9 thousand dollars.
2015 — (19 Tevet 5776) The Central Bureau of Statistics published data: Israel’s population as of December 31, 2015 was 8.462 million people. 6.335 million, or 75%, are Jews; 1.757 million, or 21%, are Arabs. 4% are Christians (non-Arabs) and people of other faiths.
2015 — (19 Tevet 5776) The official opening ceremony of a new railway station in the city of Ofakim took place.
2023 — (19 Tevet 5784) War with Gaza. Day eighty-six. The IDF began reducing the forces stationed in the sector. The 252nd reserve armored division and the training brigade of the Infantry School were withdrawn. The remaining units operated east and north of Al-Maghazi and east of Al-Bureij, in the center of the sector; west of Khan Yunis; in the west of Rafah, in the south of the sector. Master Sergeant (res.) Eliraz Gabay, 37, and Master Sergeant (res.) Liav Saada, 23, were killed in the fighting. Exchanges of strikes continued between the IDF and terrorists from Lebanon and Syria. The academic year began in Israeli universities.
2024 — (30 Kislev 5785) War in Gaza. Day four hundred fifty-two. After seven months of war, fighters of the «Nahal» brigade completed their mission in the Rafah area, transferred responsibility for the territory to the combat group of the reserve «Kiryati» brigade, and began operations in the Beit Hanoun area in the north of the sector.
2025 — (11 Tevet 5786) A plan was approved for the restoration of the settlement of Sa-Nur in Northern Samaria, destroyed in 2005 during the so-called disengagement
People
1829 — (5th of Tevet, 5590) Isaac Artom, Italian senator, born
1841 — (Tevet 18, 5602) — At the age of 58, Zvi Elimelech Shapiro died — rabbi and leader of Polish Jewry, who opposed the assimilationist tendencies caused by the Haskalah movement.
1844 — Born Alfred Abraham Gengross — Austrian «king of department stores.» Died January 7, 1908
1881 — (9th of Tevet, 5642) Birthdate of Jacob Israel de Haan, Dutch poet and writer. Israel de Haan was an ultra-Orthodox leader who was working to establish the Orthodox community as a separate entity distinct from the Zionists. He was willing to enlist the support of non-Jews hostile to Zionism in to advance the cause of ultra-Orthodox. de Haan was assassinated in 1924 before he could continue his meetings with British authorities
1888 — (27th of Tevet, 5649) Sampson Raphael Hirsch, Jewish theologian, died
1893 — Born M. Wiener — writer and literary scholar. He wrote in Hebrew, Yiddish, German, and Russian, and studied at the universities of Vienna and Zurich. He enlisted as a volunteer in the Red Army. Killed in battle.
1896 — (26 Tevet 5657) Born Yisrael Rokach — Israeli public and state figure. Died September 13, 1959. There is a street in northern Tel Aviv named after him.
1898 — Born Eliyahu Dobkin — public figure of Israel. Died October 26, 1976.
1900 — (9 Tevet 5661) Born Elizaveta Yulyevna Zarubina (Elizaveta Yulyevna Gorskaya, née Esther Yoelievna Rozentsveig) — Soviet intelligence officer. Died in a car accident on May 14, 1987
1907 — (26 Tevet 5668) At the age of 48, Michael Marks died — inventor of the department store.
1908 — (7 Tevet 5669) Born S. Wiesenthal — Austrian writer, Holocaust survivor, founder of the Center for the Search and Punishment of Nazi Criminals
1933 — Born S. Farada — actor. Died August 20, 2009.
1938 — (9th of Tevet, 5699) Five hundred Jews attended a New Year’s Eve dance at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem
1944 — (15 Tevet 5705) Died Josephine Sarah Marcus Earp — wife of the legendary US lawman Wyatt Earp. She was born in 1861 into a family of Jewish emigrants from Germany. She spent her childhood in San Francisco. At 17 she ran away from home to become an operetta actress. Before marrying, she experienced many adventures in the Wild West. The Earps lived together for 47 years. Josephine is buried in the Jewish Cemetery in San Francisco next to her husband, who died on January 13, 1929
1975 — (27th of Tevet, 5736) Cornell student Sue Fishkoff landed in Leningrad today. ….. Within hours of her arrival, she found herself “in a Jewish apartment within hours” of her arrival, plucked out of the crowd by a young Jewish member of the Komsomol group sent to greet” those arriving at the airport. “The table was spread with a lavish repast — mushrooms in cream sauce, pickled vegetables, carrot salad, all kinds of smoked fish.” She “learned later how long the family had scrimped to put together that holiday meal. People crowded around her, eager to ask questions about America. Was there really so much street crime? What did people think of the pullout from Vietnam? Had she ever been to Israel? Then two young men dragged out a book and thrust it into her lap. It was an English-language edition of the Encyclopedia Judaica they had opened to the page on Chanukah. One of them pointed to a drawing of the nine-branched Chanukiyah and asked her to explain its use.Thinking he was joking, she smiled. These were university educated people. This was the 20th century. He had to be pulling her leg. He wasn’t. And she’ll always remember her shock and sadness as she realized it”