History events
1484 — (6th Adar 5244) The first printed edition of tractate Bezah of the Babylonian Talmud was published in Soncino Italy
1499 — (22th Shevat 5259) The Jews were scheduled to be expelled from Nuremberg but the expulsion was delayed until “Laetare Sunday, 1499.”
1697 — (21th Shevat 5457) In Great Britain, a site is acquired for the first Ashkenazi cemetery. “Moses Levy bought a plot of garden land from an English army officer” which ‘was next to the Sephardi Cemetery
1840 — (28th Shevat 5600) “A report was spread” in Damascus that Father Thomas and his servant “were last seen in the Jewish quarter of the city” which “was sufficient to excite the wrath of” those “who had long nourished a bitter animosity against the Jews” and resulted in the arrest of Jewish barber. After having received “500 blows” and the promise of a pardon “if he would disclose the names of his co-religionists who had” murdered the pair, the barber “denounced seven persons who had required human blood for the Passover festival.” (Modern versions date these events as having begun on February 5. This is based on an account published in 1883)
1918 — (20th Shevat 5678) As it prepares to embark for the Front, The British Legion, a Jewish military unit serving in His Majesty’s forces, was ordered to London to march through the East End before proceeding to Southampton
1931 — (15th Shevat 5691) An announcement was made today at a meeting of “Jewish athletic clubs and youth organizations” held at the 92nd Street Y.M.H.A., that the “first world-wide Jewish Olympic games will be held in Tel Aviv next summer and that these groups had come together to “organize the first American chapter of the World Maccabee Union.”
1938 — (1th Adar 5698) The Palestine Post reported that British troops, assisted by aircraft and police, started a major anti-terrorist campaign in the hills around Jenin. Two British soldiers and some 45 Arab brigands were killed. There were also various shooting incidents in Jerusalem; the Revisionist Conference, held in Prague, Vladimir Jabotinsky opposed partition and urged Britain to recognize the whole of Palestine as a Jewish country. «There is plenty of room,» he argued, «for both Jews and Arabs to live together.»; тhe Association of Romanian Architects and Engineers expelled all Jewish members
1939 — (13th Shevat 5699) In Prague, “two far reaching decrees – one aimed at depriving most Jews of their Czecho-Slovak citizenship and the other at forcing all immigrants to leave the country within six months – are scheduled to be proclaimed today by the government” which will have a devastating effect on the 10,000 Jews who have become naturalized citizens since 1918
1949 — (3th Shevat 5709) The Israeli Government in Tel Aviv announced that West Jerusalem was no longer ‘occupied territory’ but an integral part of Israel under civil administration
1949 — (3th Shevat 5709) «The British military administration in Libya allowed Libyan Jews to travel to Israel. This brought an end to travel restrictions that had been in force since the start of the Israel War of Independence. According to Haim Abravanel «on the first day of legal emigration: ‘It was snowing for the first time in Tripoli and under the white flakes blown by the wind thousands of poor Jewish wretches ran towards the street where the polices were…to get their passports at last» and sold all of their possessions including «furniture, businesses assets and work tools.» In the next few days, 8,000 passports were issued to Jews who had no idea how they would reach Israel
1955 — (10th Shevat 5715) Pinchas Lavon resigned as Israeli Minister of Defense after bitter disagreements with David Ben Gurion, chief of staff Moshe Dayan, and Director General of his office, Shimon Peres. What became known as the Lavon affair concerned a controversial Israeli operation within Egypt. The Lavon Affair and its investigation commission eventually led to the fall of the government and brought about Ben Gurion’s resignation in 1963
1957 — (1th Adar 5717) The UN adopted a resolution calling for Israeli troops to leave Egypt. This was the beginning of the end of the 1956 Sinai Campaign
2012 — (9th Shevat 5772) About 200,000 missiles are aimed at Israel at any given time, a top Israel Defense Forces officer said today, adding that Iran’s ability to obtain nuclear weapons was solely dependent on the will of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
People
1740 — (15th Shevat 5500) Charles the Bourbon, King of Naples and of the two Sicilies, invites the Jews back for fifty years
1809 — (16th Shevat 5569) Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, composer, born