History events
1784 — (16th of Tevet, 5544) Louis XVI of France abolished the poll-tax on Jews in Alsace-Lorraine. This tariff, the same as for market animals was paid by Jews who wished to enter certain cities. The poll tax had been instituted in many countries in Europe, dating back as far as the Roman Emperor Domitian (93CE) though it was only adopted in Europe in the 14th century
1791 — (5th of Shevat, 5551) King Leopold II of Hungary approved the bill passed by the Diet protecting the rights of the Jews
1798 — (22 Tevet 5558) Anti-Jewish riots broke out in the Italian port of Ancona. They occurred the day after the local Jews celebrated the so-called Purim of Ancona (the city had been destroyed by an earthquake on 21 Tevet 5440 — December 29, 1690 — but the Jewish community miraculously survived)
1845 — (2th of Shevat, 5605) In what was the first mention in print of the St. Louis Jewish community, Rabbi Isaac Lesser published a letter in today’s issue of the Occident and American Jewish Advocate that described attempts to form a United Hebrew Congregation in St. Louis which made it the first synagogue to be established west of the Mississippi
1864 — (2 Shevat 5624) A report by N. Svarchevsky, special assignments official under the Volhynian governor, and by G. Barats, “scholar-Jew” to the governor general of Kiev, Podolia, and Volhynia, on the activity of the Shapiro brothers’ printing house in Zhytomyr (see 23 October 1846):
“Not content with publishing books in Hebrew, the Shapiro brothers produce them in the jargon (Yiddish), intending to make such works more accessible to common folk and women… The Shapiros have an extremely harmful influence on the intellectual and moral development of the Jewish nation, fostering mystical tendencies, a spirit of asceticism, and complete separation from the rest of humanity and its living interests.”
In June 1867, by order of the emperor Alexander II and on the recommendation of the governor general, the Shapiro printing house was closed. (A “scholar-Jew” was an official position in the Russian Empire from 1844 to 1917.)
1892 — (10th of Tevet, 5652) It was reported today that London has become so cosmopolitan that “a Russian Jew…dressed in his native garb is hardly noticed…”
1904 — (22th of Tevet, 5664) Savannah’s Mickve Israel joined the Union of American Hebrew Congregations
1909 — (17th of Tevet, 5669) “A dispatch to the Times of London from Helsingfors (Helsinki) says the committee which is drafting the Finnish laws has just agreed on a draft of laws concerning the right of Jews who have acquired Finnish citizenship and as to trade rights for Jews who do not desire to become Finnish citizens
1915 — (24th of Tevet, 5675) With the approval of the censor, the Novoe Vremya wrote today that “When the victorious” Russian “armies return from the theatre of the war, they will publicly proclaim that the Jew was their enemy at the front”
1942 — (21 Tevet 5702) — Shoah. The Romanian authorities published an order establishing a ghetto in Slobodka, a suburb of Odessa.
1942 — (21 Tevet 5702) — Shoah. The mass shootings of Jews in Bogdanovka came to an end; in the first ten days of January alone, 10,000 people had been murdered, and in total (since 21 December 1941) roughly 35,000. The German civilian administration of the “Nikolaev district,” in a letter to the governor of “Transnistria,” pointed out that these 35,000 bodies had not been properly buried but merely covered with soil, and that with the coming thaw, meltwater would carry corpse toxins into the Southern Bug River, contaminating drinking water. On the same day, 50 Jews were shot in Talalaivka (Sumy region), 227 in Stryzhavka (Vinnytsia district), and 39 in Krasnoarmiiets (Donetsk region. On that day the head of the Ukrainian police in Kamenka (Cherkasy region) issued the following order: “I permit all Jews to move along the street from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Ukrainian villagers are strictly forbidden to take Jews into their homes or converse with them. For violations of this, the Jews will be shot…”
1943 — (4th of Shevat, 5703) In the Generalgouvernement, several thousand Jews who had left forest hiding places on November 10, 1942, after a Nazi promise of safe passage, are betrayed. Most are transported to Treblinka and gassed. The rest of them are sent to labor camps at nearby Sandomierz and Skarzysko Kamienna; Four hundred Jews who resist their German overseers at the Kopernik camp in Minsk Mazowiecki, Poland, are burned alive in their barracks
1945 — (25th of Tevet, 5705) Today, while appearing before Cairo’s supreme military court, two Palestinian Jewish youths, who are generally believed to belong to a right-wing terrorist organization with which a great majority of Zionism vigorously dissociates itself, confessed to the premeditated murder last of Lord Moyne on November 6, 1944. The accused were identified as Eliahu Bet-Tsouri a 23-year-old surveyor from Tel Aviv and Eliahu Hakim from Haifa. In court today, the prosecutor demanded that the death sentence be imposed on the two accused
1947 — (18th of Tevet, 5707) As part of their on-going program to deny Jews the right to enter Eretz Israel, the British took two ships of «illegal» immigrants to Cyprus
1948 — (28th of Tevet, 5708) The British released casualty figures for the last six weeks (covering the two weeks before the Partition vote and the month since Partition was adopted) showing 1069 Arabs, 769 Jews and 123 British casualties. The percentages are disproportionate given the large number of Arabs; The Arab Liberation Army, based in Syria invaded Eretz Israel
1951 — (3 Shevat 5711) The Knesset issued a protest against arming Germany and admitting it into the family of nations. It adopted a foreign credit law allowing the Minister of Finance to obtain, on behalf of the State of Israel, loans from the U.S. Export-Import Bank (35 million dollars).
1957 — (8 Shevat 5717) In Tel Aviv, the Zira Theater staged the play François — Carrot-Top, accompanied by the advertisement: “The theater invites all red-haired spectators to a special performance in their honor, to take place on Thursday, 10 January 1957, at 7 p.m. Admission for redheads only. Tear off the coupon at the bottom of the announcement and exchange it for a ticket at the Zira Theater box office (6 Reines Street).”
On the appointed day, a long queue of red-haired Jews formed at the box office
1961 — (22th of Tevet, 5721) Today “the Egoz, a Mossad-leased ship carrying Jews attempting to emigrate undercover, sank off the northern coast of Morocco.”
1996 — (18th of Tevet, 5756) Israel freed hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in return for further assurances from Arafat et al that there would be no return to violence
2000 — (3th of Shevat, 5760) One hundred thousand Israelis packed Rabin Square tonight to protest a withdrawal from the Golan Heights that would be part of any peace agreement with Syria
2003 — (7th of Shevat, 5763) Israel’s Supreme Court “reinstated the candidacy of Azmi Bishara and Ahmad Tibi, two Arab members of the Israeli Parliament who had been struck from the ballot by the country’s election on grounds that they had made statements that demonstrated a fundamental opposition to the character and existence of the Jewish state.”
2009 — (14th of Tevet, 5769) Vandals struck four Chicago-area synagogues early this morning, shattering glass doors and windows with bricks and rocks and spray-painting anti-Israel graffiti
2010 — (24 Tevet 5770) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a plan to build a barrier in the Negev along the Egyptian border to prevent the infiltration of illegal migrants and terrorists into Israel
2015 — (19th of Tevet, 5775) “Tens of thousands of Israelis made their way to the Golan Heights, the Galilee, Gush Etzion and even the Carmel Mountain this morning to enjoy the accumulating snowfall of the last few days.”
2017 — (12 Tevet 5777) A ceremony was held in the port of Haifa to mark the opening of the third rail line to the docks and the launch of a new cargo-handling complex. The new equipment enabled the port to receive large vessels on a permanent basis.
2024 — (29 Tevet 5784) — War with Gaza. Day ninety-six. The IDF continued artillery and air strikes on targets on the eastern outskirts of Khan Yunis, in the southern and central parts of the Strip, and in the Nuseirat refugee camp. Tens of thousands of Jews gathered today at the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray for the return of the hostages, the safety of the soldiers, and the swift recovery of the wounded. A “Tzeva Adom” alert sounded in the Nahal Oz area near the Gaza border; rocket or mortar launches were detected
People
1654 — (2th of Shevat, 5414) In Venice, Phineas Nieto and his wife gave birth to David Nieto, the father of Isaac Nieto. (see entry below for details about his life)
1710 — (20th of Shevat, 5470) Tzvi Hirsch ben Yaakov Ashkenazi received a letter of appointment to the chief rabbinate of the Ashkenazi congregation of Amsterdam. In addition to free residence, the office carried with it a yearly salary of 2,500 Dutch guild
1728 — (10th of Shevat, 5488), 5488) Seventy-four year Rabbi David Nieto passed away in London on his birthday.
1783 — (7th of Shevat, 5543) Birthdate of Danish surgeon Ludwig Lewin Jacobson the native of Copenhagen who refused to convert to Christianity in order to be named a professor at the University of Copenhagen. Dr. Ludwig Lewin, was the surgeon who treated casualties during the British bombardment of Copenhagen, who served as a surgeon with the French army to improve his medical skills and who “invented several appliances which proved of great benefit to the surgical profession” which led to the the Académie des Sciences awardig him one of the Monthyon prizes and being created a knight of the Dannebrog passed away today without abandoning the faith of his fathers, which he had done so, would have led to more opportunities and honors
1845 — (2 Shevat 5605) Birth of William Hechler — Anglican priest, Christian Zionist, and Theodor Herzl’s closest partner in the Zionist cause
1847 — (22th of Tevet, 5607) In Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to Moses and Clara (née Niederhofheim) Schiff gave birth to. Jakob Heinrich Schiff, who gained fame as Jacob Henry Schiff, the New York City financier and philanthropist
1859 — (5 Shevat 5619) Birth of Nahum Sokolow in Wyszogród (Poland) — pioneer of Hebrew journalism, long-time Zionist leader, writer, close associate of Theodor Herzl, and one of the movement’s most prominent figures. Died 17 May 1936.
1875 — (4 Shevat 5635) Birth of Isaiah Schur in Mogilev — mathematician of world renown in the theory of functions, group theory, and number theory. Died in 1941.
1882 — (19 Tevet 5642) Birth of Eliezer Lipa Joffe — Israeli public figure, activist, and theorist of collective agricultural settlement in Palestine; founder of one of the first new-type kibbutzim (1913) and the first moshav (1921). In 1928 he founded the nationwide agricultural cooperative Tnuva, which became the largest in the country. Died in 1944.
1894 — (3th of Shevat, 5654) Birthdate of Uri Zvi Greenberg. Born in Poland to a Chasidic family, Greenberg gained fame as a poet who wrote in both Yiddish and Hebrew. Originally a favorite of the Labor Zionists, Greenberg became a supporter of Jabotinsky. During the thirties, he was one of those who warned the Jews of the dangers presented by Hitler and the Nazis. While he was able to escape his family perished. He was a right-wing member of the Knesset. While his political views were viewed as extreme, his value as a poet was unquestioned. In 1957 he was honored with the Israel Prize. Greenberg’s belief that the Covenant with Abraham, later renewed with the Jews at Sinai, is the basis of Jewish being” infused both his art and his politics. He passed away in 1981
1895 — (14 Tevet 5655) Birth of Kadish Luz (Lozinsky) — Israeli politician, member of the 2nd–6th Knessets, and Speaker of the 4th, 5th, and 6th Knessets. Died in 1972.
1899 — (28th of Tevet, 5659) Dr. Waldemar Mordecai Haffkine, an orthodox Jewish Russian scientist from the Pasteur Institute, established the Haffkine Institute which is located in Mumbai, India
1920 — (19th of Tevet, 5680) Birthdate of Max Patkin known as “the Clown Prince of Baseball.” Patkin, who passed away in 1999, is honored with a place in the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame