History events
1090 — (16th of Adar, 4850) In Speyer, Germany, Emperor Henry IV renewed to Rabbi Judah ben Kalonymus, the poet David ben Meshullam, and Rabbi Moses ben Yekuthiel the pledges granted six years earlier by Bishop Ruediger. In addition, the emperor guaranteed the Jews freedom of trade in his empire as well as his protection. https://ccjr.us/dialogika-resources/primary-texts-from-the-history-of-the-relationship/henry-iv
1539 — (1th of Adar-1, 5299) The Jews of Tyrnau Hungary (then Trnava Czechoslovakia) who had “first been punished for alleged ritual murder” were expelled today
1543 — (15th of Adar 5303) Paull III issued “Illius, quo pro dominici,” the Papal Bull that enable the Vatican to establish the House of Catechumens (Casa dei Catecumeni). The purpose of the house, supported by Jewish taxation was solely to convert Jews. Those sent there were subjected to 40 days of intense “instruction”. If after that time he still refused baptism he was allowed to return to his home – few did. Until it was abolished in 1810 around 2440 Jews were converted in Rome alone. Other houses were set up in various Italian cities. On this same day three Portuguese Marranos from Ferrara were burned in Rome’s Campo dei Fiori
1560 — (22th of Adar-1, 5320) The third volume of the Zohar was printed for the first time in Mantua, Italy
1583 — (7th of Adar, 5343) In Italy, Joseph Saralbo was burned at the stake at the command of Pope Gregory XIII. Saralbo was accused of returning to Judaism and of trying to convince other Marranos in Ferrara to join him. According to reports he proudly proclaimed that he had helped 800 Marranos return to Judaism. He asked the Jews of Rome not to mourn for him stating “I am on my way to meet immortality.”
1612 — (26th of Adar-1, 5372) Today in Hamburg, the senate concluded the Designatio Articulorum, darauf sich E. E. Rath mit der portugiesischen Nation verglichen und dieselben in Schutz und Schirm genommen with the Sephardim as a recognized and protected corporation of persons, but it would not be until 1710, that the Ashkenazim would secure legal protection
1908 (17 Adar 5668) — The Russian government agreed to Minister of Education A. N. Shvarts’s proposal to legally reinstate percentage quotas for “persons of the Jewish faith” in state universities and institutes. On 19 August 1908, the Council of Ministers set the limits at: 3 % for institutions in the capitals; 5 % in cities outside the “Pale of Settlement”; and 10 % within the Pale
1926 — (5th of Adar-1 5686) According to reports received at the headquarters of Viennese Hakoach, “the champion soccer team of Europe composed entirely of Jews” matches between this team and the American soccer teams will be played this April and May
1934 (4 Adar 5694) — The steamship Marta Washington docked in Haifa’s port, carrying 43 members of the first organized group of youth returning to Israel. This marked the start of Youth Aliyah, through which some 5,000 young men and women from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland arrived in Israel before World War II
1937 — (8th of Adar-1 5697) During the Arab Uprising, violence comes to Tiberias a city known, until now, for peaceful relations between Arabs and Jews. After a week of an Arab boycott in Tiberias, Erev Shabbat, the Jews retaliated by boycotting Arab fish mongers. Arab youths began pelting Jews walking in the town with oranges and then escalated to throwing stones. As the Jews retreated to the town’s Jewish quarter, the clashes became more intense as Revisionists who were passing through town in two buses stopped to come to the aid of their co-religionists. Arabs in the hills above Tiberias began firing shots into the town and at least one Jew was stabbed in the back while another had his head split open with a stone. By the time the British intervened, thirty Jews and thirty Arabs were “slightly injured and two Jews were seriously hurt.”
1941 — (22th of Shevat 5701) The Nazis raided Koco Amsterdam and seized 425 young Jews who were sent to Beuchenwald. Koco was described as an isolated Jewish section in Amsterdam. This roundup was part of a week of violence aimed against the 70,000 Jews of this Dutch city. On February 9, Dutch Nazis sparked the first anti-Jewish riots in Amsterdam. Although there was considerable damage and destruction, the Jews along with many of the Dutch countrymen fought back. After the arrests on the 20th, tens of thousands of Dutch men and women went on strike in protest. The stunned Nazi occupiers struck back brutally and crushed the strike
1947 — (29th of Shevat 5707) “Wingate Is Honored By Palestine Jews” published today described how saplings were planted on the JNF land at the foot of Mt. Gilboa marking the start of a memorial forest named for the late Maj.Gen. Orde Charles Wingate who was supportive of the Zionist cause when stationed in Palestine during the 1930’s
1948 (9 Adar 1 5708) — War of Independence. A Haganah sabotage unit attempted to assassinate Sheikh Numayr al‑Khatib, a key instigator of anti‑Jewish sentiment in Haifa. He was seriously wounded and thereafter withdrew from politics
1973 (17 Adar 1 5733) — Israel’s first domestically built missile boat, Reshef (“Flash”), was launched
1973 — (17th of Adar-1 5733) “S’13, Unit 707, and Sayeret Tzanhanim commandos jointly raided guerrilla bases in Nahr al-Bared and Beddawi today in Operation Bardas 54–55 during which about 40 guerillas were killed and 60 wounded, and a Turkish military trainer was taken prisoner
1990 — (29th of Shevat 5750) The Soviet Union, under heavy pressure from Arab countries, has rejected an appeal from the Bush Administration to allow direct flights for Soviet Jews from Moscow to Israel
1994 — (8th of Adar, 5754) Zipora Sasson, five months pregnant, was killed on the trans-Samaria highway in an ambush by shots fired at her car. The terrorists were members of HAMAS
2014 (19 Adar 5774) — A ceremonial unveiling was held for a monument to the “blue collection box” at the Ruppin Academic Center in Emek Hefer. It serves as a reminder to new generations that the revival of the Jewish state began with the Jewish National Fund’s collection boxes, into which pennies were gathered in the diaspora to buy land in Eretz Israel.
2017 (23 Shevat 5777) — Tunnel excavation began for Tel Aviv’s “Red Line” metro‑light‑rail system
2023 — (28th of Shevat 5783) Today a Torah scroll donated by UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is scheduled be brought to Abu Dhabi’s Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue, in a dedication ceremony at that country’s first-ever built “purpose built” Jewish house of worship
People
1758 — Peter Bir, Austrian educator and writer, active advocate for Jewish emancipation, was born in Bohemia. He authored several pedagogical works used for years in Jewish schools. He died on 8 November 1838
1867 (14 Adar 1 5627) — Ann Nathan Mayer, U.S. social activist and founder of the first college for women in New York, Barnard College, was born.
1886 — Shimon Dimanstein, revolutionary and chair of the Central Bureau of the Jewish Section (Yevsektsiya) of the All‑Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks), was born. He was executed on 25 August 1938.
1888 (7 Adar 5648) — Rachel Cohen‑Kagan, Knesset member and chair of the Women’s Zionist Organization of Israel, was born. She died on 15 October 1982.
1895 — Yitzhak Olshan, second president of Israel’s Supreme Court, was born. He died on 5 February 1983.
1922 — Władysław Bartoszewski, Polish historian and publicist, Righteous Among the Nations, was born. During the war he was a member of the underground anti‑fascist organization Żegota. The first reports of mass murder of Polish Jews reached the Polish government‑in‑exile in London via Żegota activists—often Bartoszewski himself. He died in 2015.
1924 — David Bronstein, grandmaster whose 1951 world championship match with Mikhail Botvinnik ended in a 12–12 draw, was born. He died on 6 November 2006.
1931 — Georgy Vladimov, author of Three Minutes of Silence, The General and His Army, and Faithful Ruslan, was born. His mother was Maria Oskarovna Zeifman. He died on 19 October 2003.
2024 (10 Adar 1 5784) — Gaza War, Day 136. Senior Sergeant Maoz Morel (22), from Talmon, died in hospital from wounds sustained in combat in southern Gaza on 15 February 2024