History events
1267 — (12th of Adar-1 5027) The Synod of Breslau ordered Jews of Silesia to wear special caps
1288 — (4th of Adar 5048) Pola, a female copiest who belonged the Avanim family from Rome completed working on a book of the Bible as can be seen from the colophon which revealed “the name of her father, her forefathers, her first husband and the date of completion.”
1749 — (2th of Adar 5509) Benedict XIV issued a papal bull, “Singulari Nobis consoldtioni” that prohibited marriages between Jews and Christians
1807 — (1th of Adar-1 5567) Napoleon convened the French Sanhedrin. The first meeting in Paris of the Napoleonic Sanhedrin was under the leadership of The Assembly of Jewish Notables. It opened amid great pomp and celebration under the direction of Abraham Furtado. The Sanhedrin was modeled on the ancient Tribunal in Jerusalem and consisted of 71 members — 46 Rabbis and 25 laymen. Rabbi David Sinzheim of Strasburg was its President. They were presented with 12 questions regarding the positions of Jewry regarding polygamy, divorce, usury, other faiths, and most important whether they considered France to be their Fatherland
1808 — (11th of Shevat 5568) In Westphalia, a large delegation of Jews visited King Jerome, the brother of Napoleon to express their thanks for his granting them full emancipation. During the audience he told them: Tell your brothers to enjoy the rights that were granted to them. They can depend upon my protection on a par with the rest of my children.»
1880 — (27th of Shevat 5640) It was reported today that Hebraica, which has been published as a monthly supplement to the Jewish Messenger will now be published as a weekly featuring articles on Hebrew literature and the science of the Bible
1891 — (1th of Adar-1 5651) The Baron de Hirsch Fund whose purposed was “to Americanize and assimilate the immigrants with the masses and teach them to become good and self-supporting citizens and to prevent by all proper means their congregating in large cities” was organized today
1917 — (17th of Shevat 5677) The 600-year-old synagogue of Congregation Shaari Zedek in Tunis was destroyed by fire
1925 — (15th of Shevat 5685) The Technion opened in Haifa
1937 — (28th of Shevat 5697) Following violent demonstrations last night during which 22 Jewish students were injured, nationalist students at the university in Vilna proclaimed today as “A day without Jews” and barred Jewish students from entering the classroom
1938 — (8th of Adar 5698) The Jerusalem Post reported that in elections to the Jerusalem Communal Council (Va’ad Kehila) out of 9,404 votes cast, Labor won 1,417, Revisionists 877, General Zionists 416, Mizrahi 413, and the rest was divided among 13 small political parties
1941 — (12th of Shevat 5701) Dutch Nazis sparked the first anti-Jewish riots in Amsterdam. Among other damage, the Nazi collaborators destroyed the pro-Jewish café Alcazar Amsterdam. Alcazar refused to hang «No Entry for Jews» signs in front of café
1944 — (15th of Shevat 5704) Tarnow, Poland ‘was declared ‘Judenrein’ – Jew free – today; The Lodz Ghetto received machinery and a factory was set up that helped to secure survival for a while longer for many Jews. Unknown to them, the machinery came from Poniataw, where the Jewish population had been obliterated in November of 1943
1948 — (29th of Shevat 5708) The Stern Gang blew up two Arab owned building in Jerusalem from which Arab snipers had been shooting at Jews
1953 — (24th of Shevat 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that three marauders were killed and eight captured along the Jordanian border; that the cabinet had decided on the establishment of the State Bank, agreed to hold the Conquest of the Desert Exhibition and allocated land for the Hebrew University Givat Ram development
1994 — (28th of Shevat 5754) Israeli minister Shimon Perez signed a peace accord with PLO’s Arafat
People
1815 — (29th of Shevat 5575) Birthdate of Austrian Talmudist and historian Isaac Hirsch Weiss best known for his 5 volume work Each Generation and Its Scholars, “a history of the Halakha, or oral law, from Biblical times until the expulsion of the Jews from Spain at the end of the 15th century.”
1880 — (27th of Shevat 5640) Isaac Adolphe Crémieux, French statesman, died