History events
1349 — (3th of Adar-1, 5109) In Zurich, Switzerland, the town council tried to protect the Jews of the town, they were forced to give in to the mob, resulting in the murder of many of the Jewish inhabitants. The Jews were then forced to leave
1475 — (15th of Adar, 5235) The first known Hebrew book, a copy of the TaNaCh, was printed in Italy
1501 — (4th of Adar-1, 5261) On this day and the following day, two tremendous auto-de-fe’s took place in Toledo. A woman prophet and over 100 of her followers were burned. The woman envisioned those Jews who had previously died as martyrs were taken to heaven, and the Jewish Messiah was speedily going to return the Jews to the Promised Land.
1590 — (28th of Adar-1, 5350) Archduke Maximilian granted the Jews of Mergentheim, Markelsheim, Igersheim and Unterbalbach the right to continue to bury their dead above the village of Unterbalbach for an annual payment of 16 Gulden to the Monastery of Mergentheim
1618 — (7th of Adar, 5378) Rabbi Tanhum Ha-Kohen of Cracow passed away today
1656 — (7th of Adar, 5416) The Jews in New Amsterdam are granted, «A little hook of land situate [sic] outside of this city for a burial place.» This cemetery land was located by the Bowery, near Oliver Street in what is now lower Manhattan. It would be another month before Jews were granted the right to own real estate. Public Jewish worship would not be an accepted matter of fact until the turn of the century. The establishment of a burial society and cemetery is a matter of major importance for any Jewish community. It was sign of permanence and belonging. Following the defeat of the Dutch by the English in 1664, New Amsterdam would become New York
1775 — (22th of Adar-1, 5535) The Jews were expelled from outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
1890 — (2th of Adar, 5650) Menachem Ussishkin one of the originators of BILU, founded the Odessa Committee. The Committee was dedicated to the practical exponent of the Hovevei Zion movement, in establishing agricultural settlements in Eretz-Israel. Ussishkin later served as President of the Jewish National Fund. He was one of the few early Zionist leaders who actually settled in Eretz-Israel
1901 — (3th of Adar, 5661) Over the next three days, Herzl writes letters to Zionists in France, Italy, England and America for parliamentary intervention against immigration restrictions in Palestine. He considers transferring the center of his action to London but drops the plan because he does not want to separate from his parents.
1902 — (15th of Adar-1, 5662) Herzl travels to Munich and meets the banker Reitlinger. Herzl proposes the Turkish suggestion of Jewish immigration to Asia Minor and Mesopotamia and the exploitation of mines. Reitlinger considers the matter too costly, risky and unsafe
1914 — (26 Shevat 5674) It was announced that Hebrew would be the language of instruction at the Technion, the first Jewish technical educational institution in Eretz Israel.
1937 — (11 Adar I 5697) Yishuv. The Struggle for the Beit She’an Valley. A resident of the Nir David settlement, H. Brook, was killed by Arabs. The Beit She’an Valley is very fertile, its land is suitable for cultivation, and water resources are abundant. Furthermore, the valley has strategic importance. Here, the mountain chain stretching from the Litani River to the Red Sea is interrupted. Through the narrow Harod Valley, the Beit She’an Valley connects the Jezreel Valley, Haifa, and the Jordan Valley. Jews began settling Beit She’an in 1936 with the construction of settlements. This did not go unnoticed by the Arabs. Haim Brook became their first victim.
1941 — (25 Shevat 5701) Shoah. Arrest and deportation to Buchenwald of the first 400 Jews from the Netherlands.
1942 — (5 Adar I 5702) Shoah. In Krasnogorovka (Donetsk region), Einsatzgruppe B shot 70 Jews.
1943 — (17 Adar I 5703) Shoah. The head of the Commissariat for Jewish Affairs in Bulgaria, A. Belev, and T. Dannecker, A. Eichmann’s assistant who specially arrived in Sofia, signed an agreement for the deportation of twenty thousand Bulgarian Jews
1946 — (21th of Adar-1, 5706) The Palmach attacked the Police Tegart fort at Shefa ‘Amr with a 200-pound bomb; in the firefight that followed, the Palmach suffered casualties
1948 — (12th of Adar-1, 5708) As the conflict over the coming partition of Palestine grew, three car bombs arranged by Arab irregulars exploded on Ben Yehudah Street killing 52 Jewish civilians and leaving 123 injured; The Golani Brigade, one of Israeli’s most elite infantry brigades was formed
1948 — (12 Adar I 5708) The Golani Brigade was formed. Today it is an elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces
2004 — (30th of Shevat, 5764) Israel Ilan Avisidris, 41, of Jerusalem; Lior Azulai, 18, of Jerusalem; Yaffa Ben-Shimol, 57, of Jerusalem; Rahamim Doga, 38, of Mevasseret Zion; Yehuda Haim, 48, of Givat Ze’ev;Netanel Havshush, 20, of Jerusalem; Yuval Ozana, 32, of Jerusalem and Benaya Yehonatan Zuckerman, 18, of Jerusalem were murdered today and 60 other people were injured when an Arab terrorist blew up Egged bus #14 in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada
2007 — (4 Adar I 5767) A jazz music festival opened at the Tel Aviv Cinematheque.
2009 — (28 Shevat 5769) The eighth annual international classical music festival «Classics on the Red Sea» opened in Eilat. It lasted for 3 days
2010 — (8th of Adar, 5770) Israeli archaeologists said today that they’ve discovered an unusually shaped 1,400-year-old wine press that was exceptionally large and advanced for its time. The octagonal press measures 21 feet by 54 feet (6.5 by 16.5 meters) and was discovered in southern Israel, about 40 kilometers south of both Jerusalem and Tel Aviv
2019 — (17 Adar I 5779) At 04:00 Israel time, a Falcon 9 rocket was launched from the Cape Canaveral spaceport in the USA, placing the Israeli lunar spacecraft «Beresheet» into near-Earth orbit. Approximately 40 minutes after launch, signals were received indicating that all systems of the spacecraft were functioning normally. The «Beresheet» spacecraft separated from the launch vehicle and began its independent journey to the Moon. On April 11, during landing, the spacecraft’s main engine shut down earlier than scheduled, and «Beresheet» crashed on the Moon. The creators of the spacecraft announced that the mission was unsuccessful.
2024 — (13 Adar I 5784) Terrorist attack on Highway No. 1 near Ma’ale Adumim at the «HaZa’im» checkpoint. Arabs opened fire with automatic weapons at drivers and passengers of cars stuck in traffic. One person was killed, 8 wounded. All terrorists were killed.
2024 — (13 Adar I 5784) War in Gaza. Day one hundred and thirty-nine. The ground operation continued: fighting near the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The Air Force and artillery carried out strikes throughout the sector.
2025 — (24 Shevat 5785) A forensic examination determined that the remains of a woman’s body, handed over to Israel from Gaza late the previous evening, belonged to Shiri Bibas, the mother of Kfir and Ariel, whose bodies were brought to Israel on February 20, 2025. Shiri was killed by Gaza Arabs together with her young children in the first weeks of the war.
2025 — (24 Shevat 5785) As a result of a deal with Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza, six hostages were released
People
1040 — (5th of Adar, 4800) On the secular calendar birthdate of Rashi ישר, an acronym for Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac or Shlomo Yitzchaki. Rashi was one of the greatest commentators on the TaNaCh and the Talmud
1217 — (6th of Adar, 4977) Judah ben Samuel of Regensburg passed away. Born in 1140 in Speyer, he was also called He-Hasid or ‘the Pious’ in Hebrew and was the initiator of the Chassidei Ashkenaz, a movement of Jewish mysticism in Germany
1455 — (4th of Adar, 5215) Birthdate of Johann Von Reuchlin the German linguist who came to the defense of the Jews when Dominican Friars led by Johann Pfefferkorn sought imperial support to destroy a vast array of Jewish books
1520 — (3th of Adar-1, 5801) Birthdate of Moses Isserles, the Ashkenazic rabbi from Cracow best known for writing HaMapah (The Table Cloth) a “gloss” on The Shulchan Aruch (Set Table) of Joseph Karo. Karo relied primarily on Sephardic sources. Isserles used Ashkenazic sources to create a table cloth that would cover the set table thus making Caro’s work viable for the large number of Jews living in Northern and Eastern Europe
1793 — (10th of Adar, 5530) Isaac Marcus Jost, Jewish historian, born
1820 — Elizabeth D. Cohen was born, becoming the first practicing female physician in the state of Louisiana. Died in New Orleans, May 28, 1921.
1828 — (7 Adar I 5588) Poet Micha-Joseph Lebenson was born in Vilna. In 1850, he wrote six poems that formed the book «Songs of the Daughter of Zion.» These poems had a noticeable influence on the development of poetry in modern Hebrew literature. Died in 1852.
1850 — (10 Adar I 5610) Isaac Rice was born in Germany – a lawyer, educator, inventor, industrialist, financier, journalist, philanthropist, and chess player. Died November 2, 1915.
1857 — (28 Shevat 5617) Heinrich Hertz was born in Hamburg – a physicist. Hertz’s main achievement was the experimental confirmation of James Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory of light. Died January 1, 1894.
1883 — (15 Adar I 5643) Zishe (Zische) Breitbart was born, known among the people as «the strongest man in the world» and «Eisenkönig» («Iron King») during the 1920s. He performed various iron tricks: bending iron into different shapes, tearing chains with his bare hands, and even breaking horseshoes in half. During a performance involving knives, he was wounded due to carelessness. The wound became infected, causing blood poisoning; he survived 10 operations, during which both legs were amputated, but the infection proved too severe. Died October 12, 1925.
1887 — Savielly Tartakower was born in Rostov-on-Don – a chess player, Grandmaster (1950), one of the strongest in the early 20th century. Chess theorist and writer. Doctor of Law. Died February 4, 1956, in Paris.
1902 — (15 Adar I 5662) David «Mickey» Marcus was born in New York – a general in the Israel Defense Forces. Killed June 9, 1948.
1909 — (1 Adar I 5669) Alexander Pechersky was born – the organizer of the uprising of prisoners in the Nazi Sobibor extermination camp. Died in 1990.
1927 — Veniamin Dorman was born, a film director («The Resident’s Mistake,» «The Resident’s Fate,» «The Resident’s Return,» «Land on Demand,» «The Lost Expedition,» «The Golden Stream»). Died January 22, 1988.
1942 — (5 Adar I 5702) Private Abram Levin covered an enemy machine-gun embrasure with his body, a year before Matrosov, during the liberation of the Kalinin region (he was posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st class… 15 years later).
2007 — Dror, the son of the well-known criminal figure Yaakov Alperon, who served in the 202nd Paratroopers Battalion, received his red paratrooper beret during a ceremonial event at Ammunition Hill (Giv’at HaTachmoshet). Members of Dror’s family attended the ceremony, including his father, who was released from house arrest for this occasion