History events
-515 — до н. э. (3rd of Adar, 3245) Completion of the construction of the Second Temple at Jerusalem
1195 — (1th of Adar 4955) This day marked the Speyer (Germany) ritual-murder libel. Although there was no proof of any wrongdoing, the Rabbi’s daughter was dismembered and her body was hung in the market place for a few days. The rabbi, along with many others, was killed and their houses burned
1349 — (24th of Adar-1 5109) Jews were expelled from Burgsordf, Switzerland; During the Black Plague, the newly chosen Town Council of Strasbourg, gave orders to arrest all the Jews in the city so that they could be put to death
1776 — (23th of Shevat 5536) A decree was issued forcing Jews who had moved out of the Ghetto of Frankfort to return
1790 (29th of Shevat, 5550) — Representatives of the Moscow merchant class petitioned the city’s governor-general, P. D. Yeropkin, to expel all Jewish merchants who had arrived from Belarus
1881 — (14th of Adar-1 5641) The synagogue in Neustettin (Prussia) burned down today, a few days after Ernst Henrici had delivered an “anti-Semitic diatribe.” While the Jews thought it was anti-Semitic inspired arson the authorities thought differently, and five members of the Jewish community convicted on charges of arson so they could get the insurance money. The verdict was overturned on appeal (Carl Ernst Julius Henrici was a German grammar school teacher, writer, colonial adventurer and anti-Semitic politician)
1906 — (18th of Shevat 5666) Another Jewish massacre was reported to have taken place in Bessarabia
1920 — (24th of Shevat 5680) In Berlin, “anti-Semitic demonstrations by students compelled Dr. Albert Einstein to cancel a course of lectures
1930 — (15th of Shevat 5690) Following the massacre of sixty Jews in Hebron, it was reported today that “large party of Jews from Jerusalem had visited” the city where “they collected all traces of blood by washing the floors and walls and breaking off pieces of stained plaster from the walls and ceilings and proceed to bury the collection at the graves of the victims” along “with blood-stained implements of the massacre” including knives, bludgeons and stones.”
1931 — (26th of Shevat 5691)In the wake of a British white paper aimed at limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine, today Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald wrote the famous “Macdonald Letter” to Chiam Weizmann. The limitation on immigration had been brought on by violent Arab riots in 1929
1942 (26th of Shevat, 5702) — The Holocaust. In the village of Yudindorf (Larindorf district, Crimea), over 20 Jews were shot.
1943 (8th of Adar I, 5703) — The Holocaust. German authorities in Tunisia ordered the Jews of the island of Djerba to pay a fine of 10 million francs or 45 kilograms of gold, threatening to destroy the entire community if they failed. They were given only three hours to collect this exorbitant sum.
1943 (8th of Adar I, 5703) — The Holocaust. Reports surfaced in the United States that Romania had allegedly offered to sell 72,000 of «its Jews» for $139 per person, allowing their transport to Palestine on ships under the Vatican flag. Although U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau brought this proposal to President Franklin Roosevelt’s attention, it was passed on to Sumner Welles, who dismissed it as «unfounded» without any factual verification. In reality, this plan had indeed been discussed in intelligence circles since autumn 1942 but was ultimately abandoned by February 1943
1943 — (8th of Adar-1 5703) Jews in Salonica were prohibited from walking on the street at night, nor using any telephone, private or public
1949 — (14th of Shevat 5709) “Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion served notice on the United Nations Palestine Conciliation Commission tonight that Israel would oppose the internationalization of Jerusalem.”
1951 (7th of Adar I, 5711) — Israel. According to the Central Bureau of Statistics, 169,000 people immigrated to the country in 1950, 70,000 fewer than in 1949. «In 1949, 25,000 European Jews arrived from Cypriot internment camps and 75,000 from DP camps in Germany and Austria. Of 80,000 Turkish Jews, 33,000 had reached Israel by 1950. Czechoslovakia also permitted its Jews to leave—2,000 per year. In the autumn of 1950, 37,000 Bulgarian Jews and 7,000 Yugoslav Jews made it to Israel. News of Israel’s establishment prompted the immigration of 5,000 Jews from Shanghai and 35,000 from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. From December 1949 to February 1951, 28,000 arrived from Poland. In 1950-51, they were joined by 88,000 Jews from Romania. In 1950, immigration of Hungarian Jews began—3,000 per month. In 1950, 121,000 Iraqi Jews were airlifted to Israel.»
1955 — (21th of Shevat 5715) Israel acquired four of the seven Dead Sea scrolls. Between 1947 and 1956 thousands of fragments of biblical and early Jewish documents were discovered in eleven caves near the site of Khirbet Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea. These important texts have revolutionized our understanding of the way the Bible was transmitted, and have illuminated the general cultural and religious background of ancient Palestine
2007 (25th of Shevat, 5767) — A system controlling traffic lights malfunctioned in several districts of Tel Aviv, causing massive traffic jams across the city.
2014 (13th of Adar I, 5774) — Approximately 15,000 people marched from Ma’ale Adumim to the E1 area, demanding the government begin construction there despite pressure from the United States and the European Union.
2023 (22nd of Shevat, 5783) — For the first time in its history, Israel exported a shipment of crude oil. Previously, only insignificant volumes of oil had been extracted within Israel, all of which were directed to domestic refineries
People
1469 — (1th of Adar 5229) Birthdate of Elia Levita, early Hebrew grammarian and Yiddish author
1824 (14th of Adar I, 5584) — Sir George Jessel was born. He was a British lawyer, politician, and judge who served as Lord Chancellor. He was the first Jew to become a permanent member of the Privy Council and to hold a high judicial office. He died on March 21, 1883
1875 — (8th of Adar-1 5635) Zacharias Frankel, Jewish scholar and theologian, died
1911 — Aharon Rabinovich, an Israeli poet, was born in Slonim (Poland). He died on September 15, 2000.
1916 — Saide Arifova was born in Bakhchysarai. Recognized as a Righteous Among the Nations, she saved 88 Jewish and Krymchak children in Crimea during the war. She died on August 9, 2007.
1923 — Daniil Shafran, a renowned cellist and People’s Artist of the USSR, was born. He died on February 7, 1997.
1932 — Igor Shaferan, a composer, was born. He died on March 14, 1994
1945 — (30th of Shevat, 5705) Henrietta Szold, American-Jewish women’s leader and the founder of Hadassah, who had been seriously ill in Hadassah University Hospital on Mount Scopus since December, died today at the age of 84
2023 (22nd of Shevat, 5783) — In a terrorist attack at the Shuafat checkpoint, a 22-year-old Border Police staff sergeant, Asil Sawaed, a resident of the Bedouin village of Hussniya, was killed.
2024 (4th of Adar I, 5784) — The Gaza War. Day 130. In fighting in the southern Gaza Strip, the following reservists were killed: 36-year-old Lt. Col. (res.) Netanel Yaakov Elkobi from Haifa, 30-year-old Major (res.) Yair Cohen from Ramat Gan, and 27-year-old Sgt. Maj. (res.) Ziv Hen from Kfar Saba. Two other reservists were severely wounded in the same battle. In a rocket attack from Lebanon on the Israeli city of Safed, seven people were wounded: three moderately and the others lightly. One woman was killed