History events
1484 — (17th of Shevat, 5244) The first printed edition of Ibn Gabirol’s Mivhar ha-Peninm was published today
1601 — (21th of Shevat, 5361) The Church burned Hebrew books and manuscripts in Rome. These book burnings destroyed priceless parts of the Jewish heritage
1711 — (5th of Shevat, 5471) One of the largest fires that ever occurred in Frankfurt broke out in the Judengasse (Jews Alley). The fire started at about 8 p.m. in the House Eichel (German: Acorn) owned by the senior Rabbi Naphtali Cohen
1866 — (27th of Tevet, 5626) In Switzerland, Jewish rights were ratified. Switzerland had been the scene of some of the worst massacres during the Black Plague and a hotbed of anti-Jewish edicts. This legislation was only passed after the United States, Britain and France refused to sign treaties until their anti-Jewish cantons were repealed
1881 — (14th of Shevat, 5641) As of today, the price of l’Union Générale had fallen to 2,800 francs marking a loss of 140 francs a share in a week which helped to cause the Bourse to crash – an event that many claim was the cause of a sharp rise in French anti-Semitism that would find its fullest expression at Drancy in WW II
1892 — (14th of Tevet, 5652) The three days of ceremonies marking the opening of the Jewish Maternity’s facility in Philadelphia, PA, came to a close today
1898 — (20th of Tevet, 5658) As the Dreyfus Affair continues to inflame France, a group of law students demonstrated in front of the offices of the Aurore protesting the writings of Emile Zola
1899 — (3th of Shevat, 5659) Temple Isaiah, a Reform congregation in Chicago, Illinois, dedicated a school building. The structure was attached to the synagogue which had been designed by Dankmar Adler
1907 — (28th of Tevet, 5667) The Earthquake that struck Jamaica today destroyed the synagogue there which was part of “one of the earliest Jewish settlements in the Western Hemisphere
1923 — (26th of Tevet, 5683) It was reported today that “George Barsky, proprietor of the Hotel Allenby located just outside of the Jaffe Gate in Jerusalem” has arrived in New York for a month long stay during which he plans to raise funds to build a new, modern hotel in Jerusalem that will have 500 rooms with 200 baths, a hot water heating system and all of the other amenities that Westerners connect with a first-class hostelry including a restaurant, billiard room and ballroom for dancing. Barsky sees Jerusalem and Palestine as prime travel destinations and has high hopes for the development of the tourist industry in “the holy land.”
1937 — (2th of Shevat, 5697) Despite “a pouring rain” Jews from Haifa to Jerusalem “gave an enthusiastic welcome to the new Chief Rabbi, Dr. J.A. Herzog”, the replacement for the late Rabbi Kook, who arrived today from Ireland where he had served as chief rabbi
1940 — (4th of Shevat, 5700) In “Season In Palestine” published today Dr. Peter Gradenwitz, described recent musical events in the Holy Land including a series of concerts at the Jerusalem “Bezalel National Museum,” the presentation of a full program by the Palestine Symphony Orchestra without a conductor in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem and a performance of Smetana’s “Tabor” by the Radio Orchestra which was introduced by Dr. Kadlec, the Jerusalem consul General of Czechoslovakia. The latter took on special significance because of the fate of the Czechs at the hand of the Nazis and Smetana’s relationship to “Hatikvah.”
1942 — (25th of Tevet, 5702) The Nazis ordered 1,600 Jews from Ixbica Kujawska, in western Poland to report to a public place of assembly. The Jewish council warned the citizens about what was happening. The Germans shot the entire council. The rest were taken to Chelmno and gassed by the SS, local gendarmes, and Gestapo. Ten transports of about 80 people each were gassed and buried at Chelmno
1943 — (8th of Shevat, 5703) Rabbi Menachem Zemba, “called on the Jews of Warsaw to revolt” saying that «we must resist the enemy on all fronts». He also warned that «we are prohibited by Jewish law from betraying others…” Zemba was killed (19 Nissan) a few days after the revolt began. He had refused the offer of Catholic priests to help him and flee with another two rabbis, believing that he must remain until the end with his fellow Jews. Zemba had published over 20 manuscripts. Many others were destroyed in the ghetto.”
1948 — (3th of Shevat, 5708) A postal delivery truck filled with explosives manned by pro-Arab volunteers was driven into the center of Haifa where it exploded. These volunteers included recently released German POW’s and deserters from the British Army
1951 — (7th of Shevat, 5711) Three people were killed and twenty more were injured when “someone tossed an army hand grenade in the crowded Mas’uda Shemtov synagogue in Baghdad” forcing the Israeli government to implement Operation Ezra and Nehemiah which brought 120,000 Iraqi Jew to Israel in the space of a year
1953 — (27th of Tevet, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that the Soviet Union told the world that nine leading doctors five of them Jewish had «confessed» to the murder of Andrei Zhdanov, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, and Alexander Shcherbakov, the secretary of the Moscow Committee, and possibly other Soviet leaders. One of the accused was the chief medical officer at the Kremlin. This announcement was understood as the so-called «Doctors’ Plot,» a crude attack on Soviet Jewry by Stalin. Fears were expressed that such «revelations» would lead to an anti-Jewish purge and hysteria, and a possible forced «resettlement» of Soviet Jews in outlying areas. While Izvestia had already demanded «a special status for Jews,» the free world and Jewish press described the charges as false, «fantastic» and completely unsubstantiated
1971 — (17th of Tevet, 5731) Operation Bardas 20 took place today, to neutralize a guerrilla base in Lebanon, near Sidon, where about two dozen terrorists were training as frogmen. During the course of the raid, the commandos discovered a house with several women in it, and decided not to blow it up
1987 — (13th of Tevet, 5747) Israeli warplanes attacked Palestinian targets near the Syrian border today in the fourth raid on Lebanon in 10 days. The raid came hours after an attack by Lebanese guerrillas on a position manned by the Israeli-backed South Lebanon Army militia east of Sidon in which three people were reported killed and 10 wounded. »Air force planes attacked buildings used as command posts for a Palestinian terrorist group and tents,» a spokesman for the Tel Aviv command said. »All planes returned safely to base.» The raid today was only the second in eastern Lebanon since October 1985. A month after that attack Israeli planes shot down two Syrian warplanes and Syria retaliated by deploying surface-to-air missiles along its border with Lebanon
2004 — (20th of Tevet, 5764) A young Palestinian mother, feigning a limp and requesting medical help, blew herself up today at the entrance to a security inspection center for Palestinian workers, killing four Israeli security personnel and wounding seven people, the Israeli military said
2009 — (18th of Tevet, 5769) Three rockets were fired into Israel from Lebanon
2011 — (9th of Shevat, 5771) As the dispute over conversion bills and the definition of who is a Jew escalates, Pashkevilim were pasted in Jerusalem today that slam “those who promote fraudulent conversions without accepting the yoke of Torah and Mitzvot.” They were signed by most of the senior haredi Ashkenazi rabbis
People
1768 — (24th of Tevet, 5528) Aaron Hart, who is considered to be the father of Canadian Jewry, wed his cousin Dorothea Catherine Judah in Portsmouth, England. After the marriage, Uriah and Samuel Judah who were both his cousins and brothers-in-law emigrated to Trois-Rivières, Canada. The large family included four sons: Moses, Ezekiel, Benjamin, and Alexander (Asher), and five daughters, the latter educated by the Ursuline Catholic sisters in Trois-Rivières. One daughter, Chavah, married a Judah and two others, Sarah and Charlotte, married Samuel and Moses David respectively, sons of Montreal’s Lazarus David. Seventeen sixty-eight was also the same year in which Hart joined with others for found Shearith Israel in Montreal
1880 — (1th of Shevat, 5640) Birthdate of Cardinal Pierre-Marie Gerlier who was posthumously awarded the title Righteous among the Nations by Yad Vashem in 1981 for his efforts to save Jews from the Vichy Government of Petain and Laval as well as their Nazi allies