History events
-354 — (24 Kislev 3408, -522 BCE) The third and fourth speeches of the prophet Haggai regarding the construction of the Second Temple.
1476 — (22 Kislev 5237) The Jews of Seville were ordered to leave their homes and relocate to designated buildings in two isolated neighborhoods, after paying for repairs in advance.
1728 — (17 Tevet 5489) The Shearit Israel community acquired a plot of land in Lower Manhattan, where a synagogue, mikvah, and cemetery were built.
1862 — (16 Kislev 5623) The deputy commander of Northern forces in the southern states, Colonel Dubois, ordered «all cotton speculators, Jews, and other vagrants to leave the territory of the states of Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi.»
1893 — (29 Kislev 5654) In St. Petersburg, after 24 years of construction, the Great Choral Synagogue was opened.
1937 — (4 Tevet 5698) The Israel Diamond Exchange was opened in Ramat Gan.
1941 — (18 Kislev 5702) The Holocaust. The destruction of the Riga ghetto. On this day, the famous Jewish historian Simon Dubnow was killed
1941 — (18th of Kislev, 5702) Нolocaust. The Nazis brought 700 Jews to Chelmo for final experiment of the new method of killing. In groups of 80, the Jews were driven around the woods in a special van, gassed to death by the fumes of the exhaust. A thousand Jews a day for the next four days go through the same test; Four thousand Jews of Novogrudok, Belorussia, are killed
1942 — (29th of Kislev, 5703) Нolocaust. The German SS organized the last deportation of Ternopil Jews to death camp in Belzec, when 1,400 Jews were sent there
1942 — (29 Kislev 5703) The Holocaust. From Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk region), 1,400 Jews were taken to Belzec, and about 500 were killed on the spot.
1947 — (25 Kislev 5708) War of Independence. An Arab attack on the Ha-Tikva neighborhood near Tel Aviv. A three-hour battle
1948 — (6th of Kislev, 5709) Jordan annexes “Arabic Palestine.” The Kingdom of Trans-Jordan (Across the Jordan) will drop the “Trans” prefix in recognition of its holdings on both sides of the Jordan River.
1949 — (17th of Kislev, 5710) Burma recognizes the state of Israel
1949 — (17 Kislev 5710) The establishment of the UNRWA department for Palestinian refugees within the UN.
1952 — (20th of Kislev, 5713) Yitzchak ben Zvi was elected the second President of Israel succeeding Chaim Weitzman, who had died in office
1954 — (13 Kislev 5715) Five Israeli soldiers from the IDF, who were on a special mission behind enemy lines, were captured in Syria.
1972 — (3 Tevet 5733) Israel. A Syrian spy organization consisting of 2 Arabs and 4 Jews was uncovered.
1978 — (8 Kislev 5739) Golda Meir passed away
1987 — (17 Kislev 5748) In Gaza, an Israeli truck collided with an Arab car. As a result of the accident, four residents of the Jabalia refugee camp died. The funerals of the deceased, held the next day in Jabalia, turned into riots, during which Israeli soldiers were pelted with stones and Molotov cocktails. On December 10, the riots spread to the rest of Gaza. Thus began the first intifada. P.S.: Few know, but in December 1987, Palestinians staged riots not only in Gaza but also in Egypt, particularly in the Egyptian part of Rafah. The «Egyptian intifada» was suppressed within an hour with the help of several police jeeps armed with machine guns
1987 — (13 Kislev 5748) Operation «Blue and Brown»: A group of fighters attacked a militant base of Ahmed Jibril’s organization south of Beirut. The fighters were landed from the sea and moved to the target on foot. In the end, 10 militants were eliminated, weapons and ammunition depots were blown up. IDF losses: one killed (commander of the 12th battalion of the Golani Brigade, Lieutenant Colonel Amir Meital) and three wounded.
2005 — (7 Kislev 5766) The Israeli ambulance service «Magen David Adom» was accepted into the international Red Cross organization.
2011 — (12 Kislev 5772) For the first time, a religious debate took place in Moscow between rabbis representing Orthodox and Reform Judaism
2012 — (24th of Kislev, 5773) Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, making his first ever visit to the Gaza Strip, vowed today never to recognize Israel and said his Islamist group would never abandon its claim to all Israeli territory
2014 — (16 Kislev 5775) The 19th Knesset was dissolved. Elections for a new Knesset were scheduled for March 17, 2015.
2023 — (25 Kislev 5784) War with Gaza. Day sixty-three. About 450 Hamas targets were attacked from air, sea, and land. Reserve sergeant Naftali Yonah Gordon, 32 years old, reserve sergeant Omri Roth, 25 years old, reserve sergeant Kobi Dvash, 41 years old, and reserve sergeant Eyal Meir Berkovich, 28 years old, were killed; a fighter was severely wounded and taken to the hospital. Two soldiers were severely wounded in the evening during an operation to rescue Israelis kidnapped by Hamas and held in the sector. The hostages were not released. Areas Dan, Lachish, Shefela, and Ashkelon were shelled from Gaza.
2024 — (7 Kislev 5785) After the fall of Assad’s regime in Syria, the IDF created a buffer zone between its territory and Syrian territory, occupying the Syrian peak of Mount Hermon, several former positions of Assad’s regime outside Hermon along the «demarcation line» on the Syrian side, and military forces moved into the Syrian border zone in the rural area of the Quneitra province.
2024 — (7 Kislev 5785) To prevent weapons from the Syrian army from falling into the hands of various terrorists, the Air Force and Navy began an operation to destroy its weapons, ammunition depots, and other infrastructure; it lasted 3 days, with about 300 strikes carried out, particularly in the port of Latakia, where the Syrian military fleet was eliminated using missile corvettes.
2025 — (18 Kislev 5786) The Israeli Ministry of Internal Affairs announced that the outpost Adei-Ad was assigned an official symbol, thus completing the process of its recognition as a separate settlement
People
1522 — (19th of Kislev, 5283) David Reubeni left Khaibar today and went to Nubia in northern Sudan, where he claimed to be a descendant of Muhammad. When he spoke to audiences of Jews, he told of large Jewish kingdoms in the east, possibly referring to the Jewish community at Cochin. The Portuguese had just conquered Goa
1612 — (14th of Kislev, 5373) Printer Isaac Prostitz (Isaac ben R. Aaron) passed away today
1880 — (6 Tevet 5641) David Solomon Sassoon was born — a bibliophile, traveler. He traveled extensively with the sole purpose of collecting books and manuscripts in Hebrew
1885 — (30th of Kislev, 5646) Birthdate of Joseph Sprinzak who served as Chairman of the Knesset for the first ten years of its existence (1949-1959)
1891 — Jacob Isaakovich Serebryansky was born — a Soviet spy. He died in a Moscow prison on March 30, 1956.
1913 — Delmor Schwartz was born — an American poet, writer, playwright. He died on July 11, 1966.
1919 — (16 Kislev 5680) M. Weinberg was born — a composer. He died in 1996.
1921 — Ya. Punkin was born — Olympic champion in classical wrestling in 1952. He died on October 12, 1994.
1941 — (18th of Kislev, 5702) Нolocaust. As the Riga Ghetto was being liquidated 81-year-old Jewish historian Simon Dubnow was murdered in Riga because he was too old and sick to travel to Rumbula where he would have been massacred with other Jews
1945 — Julie Medali Heldman was born — an American tennis player
1978 — (8th of Kislev, 5739) Eighty-year-old Golda Meir, passed away
1997 — (9th of Kislev, 5758) Eighty-seven-year-old Leon Poliakov, a historian of anti-Semitism
2005 — (7 Kislev 5766) Sergeant N. Kaana of the Israel Defense Forces was killed by terrorists at the Kalandiya checkpoint.
2024 — (7 Kislev 5785) In southern Lebanon, reserve major Yevgeny Zinershchein, 43 years old; reserve captain Sagi Yaakov Rubinstein, 31 years old; reserve sergeant Binyamin Destav Negose, 28 years old; and reserve Staff Sergeant Erez Ben Ephraim, 25 years old, were killed