History events
19 — (10th of Adar-1, 3779) Dedication of the Temple built by King Herod the Great at Jerusalem
1740 — (16th of Shevat 5500) Charles de Bourbon, King of Naples, invited the Jews to return to Sicily in hopes that this would restore flagging trade and commerce industries. Approximately 20 families heeded the call but due in part to an inhospitable welcome by the local community, most soon left
1747 — (4th of Adar 5507) A deed dated with today’s date conveyed a half-acre of land in the Township of Lancaster, Pennsylvania from Thomas Cookson to Isaac Nunus Ricus and Joseph Simons «in trust for the society of Jews settled in and about Lancaster, to have and use the same as a burying-ground.» “At this time there were about ten Jewish families at Lancaster, including Joseph Simon, Joseph Solomon, and Isaac Cohen, a physician.” The deed is the earliest record of Jewish settlement in Lancaster which was an early and important settlement during the Colonial and post-Revolutionary period of American history
1860 — (10th of Shevat 5620) It was reported that today that “The Vienna Gazette has published an Imperial decree, enacting that the testimony of Jews, in future shall be regarded of the same value as that of Christians. The measure is considered preliminary to according them full civil and political rights»
1892 (5 Shevat 5652) — The yeshiva in the Belarusian town of Volozhin was closed. In Russian Jewish history, it is sometimes called the “Mother of Lithuanian Yeshivas”
1899 — (23th of Shevat 5659) In New York, founding the Yiddish daily the Jewish Abend-Post
1904 — (17th of Shevat 5664) Herzl telegraphs back that he can take up the British proposal of new territory in Nandi only after the most careful investigation
1906 — (8th of Shevat 5666) The Jewish Socialist-Territorialist Labor Party of America was organized today with offices on East Broadway in New York City
1906 — (8th of Shevat 5666) The American Jewish Committee was formed. It was headed by Judge Mayer Sulzberger, a leader in the fight for liberal immigration laws. Its aims included the protection of civil and religious rights of Jews all over the world. Among its founders were Dr. Cyrus Adler, Louis Marshall and Jacob H. Shiff
1908 (30 Shevat 5668) — The “House Building Association”—the organization that initiated the founding of Tel Aviv—finalized land documents for the area where Tel Aviv was to be built
1918 (21 Shevat 5678) — The 38th Regiment of Royal Riflemen, composed of Jewish emigrés in England, was sent to Egypt, closer to the front lines. Its formation faced great difficulties: many conscripts preferred to return to Russia, others did not consider the war “their own.” Once 1,000 men were finally assembled, local assimilated Jews objected, proposing that the recruits be dispersed among other units
1919 — (3th of Adar-1, 5679) Today, Chaim Weizmann, the leader of the Zionist delegation, presented the case for a Jewish homeland together with a map of the proposed entity. The statement supported the creation of a mandate entrusted to Britain and described the Jewish historical connection with the area. It also declared that the proposed borders and resources were “essential for the necessary economic foundation of the country” including “the control of its rivers and their headwaters”
1922 (5 Shevat 5682) — An Anglo‑French treaty was signed, carving out part of the Golan Heights (including the source of the Litani River) from the mandated territory of the Land of Israel. In exchange, the entire Sea of Galilee was included. The deal contradicted the formula approved at the San Remo Conference—Lloyd George’s definition of the Land of Israel “from Dan to Beersheba,” i.e., the area occupied by the Twelve Tribes of Israel during the Second Temple period
1934 — (18th of Shevat 5694) “The anti-Semitic ‘Prophecy’ attributed to Benjamin Franklin” that has been distributed in Germany was actually first published today in Liberation, “the organ of the Silver Shirts, a secret Fascist body headed by William Dudley Pelley” founded in Asheville, NC
1938 — (2th of Adar-1, 5698) The Palestine Post reported that The Palestine government approved the Post’s suggestion that both Arab and Jewish buses should be of the same color, to make them indistinguishable and less prone to Arab terrorist snipers
1939 — (14th of Shevat 5699) “The British Government accepted an offer by President Roosevelt’s Advisory Committee on Refugees to send an expert commission to investigate the possibilities” settling Jewish refugees in British Guiana; In Budapest, The Dohány Street Synagogue “was bombed by the Hungarian pro-Nazi Arrow Cross Party” today after which it was “used as base for German Radio and a stable during WW II.”
1949 — (4th of Shevat 5709) The Provisional State Council which acted as the legislature for the state of Israel until the election of the first Knesset held its last meeting today
1954 — (30th of Shevat 5714) The IDF officially began employing “a new doctrine of combining armored and motorized infantry units” developed by Yitzhak Pundak who was promoted the rank of Brigadier General
1974 — (11th of Shevat 5734) The Syrian Foreign Minister announced that his country was carrying out a ‘continued and real war of attrition’ that aim of which was to keep ‘Israel’s reserves on active duty and paralyzing its economy.’
2011 — (29th of Shevat 5771) Police officers stumbled on a large stash of jugs and coins dating back from the Second Temple era in the Galilee village of Mazara today, during an arms raid
2018 (18 Shevat 5778) — Coastal alert systems were installed in Haifa, Ashdod, and Hadera to detect emerging maritime threats. The system is designed to identify suspicious surface activity: unusually high waves, irregular tides, etc.
2024 (24 Shevat 5784) — Gaza War, Day 120. Fighting took place in the north, center, and south of the Gaza Strip. Sergeant‑Major Shimon Yehoshua Asulin (24), a reservist from Beit Shemesh and a soldier in the 924th Engineering Battalion of the 10th “Ariel” Brigade, was killed
People
1679 — (1th of Adar 5439) Birthdate of Isaac Lampronti, the native of Ferrara and the great-grandson of Constantinople native Samuel Lampronti who became a rabbi and physician “best known as author of the rabbinic encyclopedia Paħad Yitzħak
1809 — (17th of Shevat 5569) In Hamburg, Germany the banker Abraham Mendelssohn, the son of the German Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn and Lea Salomon, a member of the Itzig family and a sister of Jakob Salomon Bartholdy gave birth to Felix Mendelssohn the famous composer
1810 (29 Shevat 5570) — Ludwig August Frankl, poet, was born in Bohemia. He was the first in modern history to propose that white and blue are the national colors of the Jewish people. More than three decades before the First Zionist Congress, Frankl published a poem titled The Jewish Colors. He died on 12 March 1894.
1823 (22 Shevat 5583) — Tzadok Ha‑Cohen of Lublin, one of the most renowned Hasidic rabbis and thinkers, was born. He died on 3 September 1900.
1842 (23 Shevat 5602) — Abraham Stern, mathematician, inventor, and rabbi, died in Warsaw at age 80. He developed a calculating machine capable of performing all four arithmetic operations on integers and decimals, and was also adapted for extracting square roots.
1861 — Solomon Guggenheim, founder of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, was born. He died on 3 November 1949.
1865 — Isaac Israëls, Dutch painter, was born. He died on 7 October 1934
1866 — (18th of Shevat, 5626) Joseph Bach passed away in Budapest. Born in 1784, he was a Hungarian rabbi. After I. N. Mannheimer, he was the first German preacher of a Jewish congregation in Austria-Hungary
1874 (16 Shevat 5634) — Gertrude Stein, American writer, was born. In 1902, she moved to Paris with her brother. Her apartment became a center of Parisian artistic and literary life before and after World War I. Stein coined the term “Lost Generation.” She died on 27 July 1946.
1896 (19 Shevat 5656) — I. Mintz, Soviet historian, was born. He died on 5 April 1991.
1910 (24 Shevat 5670) — Moshe Cherniak, writer, journalist, and international chess master—Israel’s first professional chess player—was born. He died on 31 August 1984.
1915 (19 Shevat 5675) — B. S. Paichadze, Georgian football player and Honored Master of Sports, was born. The National Stadium in Tbilisi bears his name. He died on 9 October 1990.
1918 (21 Shevat 5678) — Shlomo Goren, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (1973–1983), was born. From 1948 to 1968, he served as Chief Military Rabbi. He died in 1994.
1941 — E. Ya. Volodarsky, screenwriter, was born. He died on 8 October 2012.
2016 (24 Shevat 5776) — A terrorist attack occurred near the Shechem Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem. A 19‑year‑old border police officer, Adar Cohen, died; her 20‑year‑old partner was seriously wounded. The Arab attackers were killed