History events
1449 — (23th of Shevat, 5209) In Toledo, Spain, 14 Conversos are put on trial and deprived of their offices because it is believed that their conversion to Christianity was not sincere and that they still cling to their Jewish ways
1466 — (10 Shvat 5227) King John II of Sicily and Aragon granted Benjamin Romano permission to establish a Jewish university focusing on medicine and law. The project was never realised
1670 — (6th of Shevat, 5430) Raphael Levy a Jewish inhabitant of the city of Metz was burned at the stake, accused of having ritually murdered a Christian child, Didier Le Moyne. In Metz, Burghers of the city decided that it was financially beneficial to expel the Jews, and so concocted a ritual murder libel. Raphael Levy, a respected member of the community, was arrested, tortured and burned alive. The Royal Council later called it «Judicial Murder» and the Jews were not expelled
1842 — (6th of Shevat, 5602) West London Synagogue of British Jews, the U.K.’s oldest Reform congregation, was opened today
1896 — (2th of Shevat, 5656) The Jewish Chronicle published Herzl’s first article «A Solution to the Jewish Problem,» which appeared a month before Der Judenstaat, and with its editorial, «A Dream of a Jewish State» opened the readers’ columns to a discussion of Herzl’s plan
1898 — (23th of Tevet, 5658) At Marseilles, France a crowd paraded through the streets crying “Death to the Jews” and “Shame upon Zola
1925 — (21th of Tevet, 5685) Today, “in order to resolve socio-economic difficulties of the Russian Jews and promote agricultural labor among them, the CPSU formally created a government committee, the Komzet, and a complementary public society, the OZET.”
1939 — (26th of Tevet, 5699) The Nazi government issued a decree regarding the expiration of permits for Jewish dentists, veterinarians and pharmacists
1942 — (28 Tevet 5702) The Shoah. 1,104 Jews were deported from Odessa. On the same day, 468 Krymchaks were murdered in Karasubazar (Crimea) using a «gas van». In the village of Novo‑Pavlovka (Mostovsky District), Romanian forces brought in 600 Jews from Odessa.
1945 — (3th of Shevat, 5705) The Soviets arrest Raoul Wallenberg, whom they cynically suspect is using his humanitarian efforts for the Jews to cover his collaboration with the Germans or the Western Allies (the War Refugee Board was sponsoring him)
1946 — (15th of Shevat, 5706) The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry, a joint British and American committee composed of six Americans and six Englishmen that was charged with examining the “political, economic and social conditions in Mandatory Palestine as they bear upon the problem of Jewish immigration and settlement therein and the well-being of the peoples now living therein” completed its deliberations in Washington, DC today which had begun on January 4
1958 — (25 Tevet 5718) The Shoah. The Israeli Supreme Court rehabilitated Israel (Rudolf) Kastner, clearing him of charges of «preparing the ground for the genocide of Hungarian Jews». «Kastner was not a Nazi collaborator, and the allegations that he prepared the ground for the annihilation of Hungarian Jewry are entirely baseless», emphasized Supreme Court President Yitzhak Olshan in his ruling
1970 — (9th of Shevat, 5730) The writing of the «Sefer Torah for the Greeting of Moshiach,» initiated at the behest of the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, in 1942, was concluded 28 years later at a special gathering convened by the Lubavitcher Rebbe on Friday afternoon, the 9th of Shevat, on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak’s passing
1974 — (22 Tevet 5734) A heavy snowfall temporarily paralyzed life in Jerusalem
1991 — (2th of Shevat, 5751) Iraq fired 8 SCUD missiles on Israel. Israel had agreed that it would not respond and leave the destruction of the SCUD launchers to the Coalition Forces fighting Iraq. This marked the first time in Israel’s history that it relied on others for its defense
1997 — (9th of Shevat, 5757) Israel handed over its military headquarters in Hebron to the Palestinians as part of the peace process that began with the Oslo Accords. The entire Jewish population had been forced to abandon its homes in Hebron in 1936 because of Arab violence. In 1968, the Jews returned to this ancestral city. While the Israeli government may have surrendered sovereignty, the Jewish settlers remained
2002 — (4th of Shevat, 5762) A Palestinian gunman burst into a bat mitzvah celebration in a banquet hall in Hadera, opening fire on the 180 guests with an M-16 assault rifle, killing 6 people and injuring 35 people following which the Fatah Al-Aqsa Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack
2013 — (6 Shvat 5773) Over 200 new immigrants from India, belonging to the Tribe of Menashe, arrived in Israel. The group consisted of descendants of the Tribe of Menashe who had lived in India’s northeastern states. An additional 7,000 descendants of the Tribe of Menashe remained in India, expressing interest in making aliyah
2016 — (7 Shvat 5776) A terrorist attack took place in the settlement of Otniel in the southern Hebron Hills. An assailant entered the Meir family’s home and stabbed the 39‑year‑old homeowner, Daphne, several times before fleeing. The woman died from her wounds.
2024 — (7 Shvat 5784) Gaza War, Day 103. 173 trucks carrying humanitarian aid arrived in the Gaza Strip. Khaled Mashal, head of Hamas abroad, stated: «Hamas does not accept the concept of the two‑state principle, because for us it means that we, as one of the states, must recognize the legitimacy of the other — Israel»
People
1658 — (23th of Shevat, 5418) Birthdate of Samson Wertheimer the native of Worms the chief rabbi of Hungary and Moravia, and rabbi of Eisenstadt who also gained fame as an Austrian financier, court Jew and Shtadlan to Austrian Emperor Leopold I. He passed away in Vienna in 1724
1747 — (17th of Shevat, 5507) Marcus Herz, physician and philosopher, born
1789 — August Johann Wilhelm Neander (David Mendel), German Protestant theologian and church historian, educator, spiritual and scholarly writer, was born. He converted to Christianity in 1806. He is regarded as the actual founder of Protestant church history and one of the greatest theologians of the first half of the 19th century. He died on 14 June 1850.
1902 — L. Z. Trauberg, film director and screenwriter (The New Babylon, Youth of Maxim, The Return of Maxim, Vyborg Side), was born. He died on 14 November 1990.
1904 — N. A. Kovarsky, film critic and screenwriter (Mother, Malva), was born. He died on 13 October 1974.
1911 — (17 Tevet 5611) Moshe Carmel, Israeli military, public, and political figure, first commander of the Carmeli Brigade (named after him), Knesset member, Minister of Transport in the 1950s–1960s, and CEO of El Al Airlines, was born. He died on 14 August 2003.
1921 — (7 Shvat 5681) Lieutenant Colonel Mordechai (Modi) Alon, first commander of Israel’s first (101st) Air Force squadron, was born. He was killed on 16 October 1948.
1926 — Yitzhak Moda’i, Israeli statesman, public figure, Knesset member, and government minister, was born. He died in 1998.
1928 — (23 Tevet 5688) Vidal Sassoon, the «Chanel of hairdressing», was born. He died on 9 May 2012.
1934 — Shari Lewis, American children’s author, television show producer, and musician, was born in New York. She died on 2 August 1998.
1944 — (20 Tevet 5704) Captain Isaac Aronovich Irshak deliberately crashed his burning aircraft into a Nazi column.
2024 — (7 Shvat 5784) Gaza War, Day 103. In fighting in northern Gaza, Staff Sergeant Reserve Zacharia Pesach Haber (32) of Jerusalem, from the 87th Battalion of the 14th Armoured Brigade «Ha‑Mahatz», and Staff Sergeant Reserve Yair Katz (34) of Holon, also from the 87th Battalion of the 14th Armoured Brigade «Ha‑Mahatz», were killed. A reservist from the 52nd Battalion of the 401st Armoured Brigade «Ikvot Ha‑Barzel», a reserve military medic from the 6261st Battalion of the 261st Brigade, was seriously wounded