History events
1012 — (5nd of Shevat 4772) Jewish mourners were attacked at a funeral in Egypt.
1235 — (11nd of Shevat 4995) In Germany “a Christian body was found between” Lauda and Tauberbischofsheim which resulted in three days of attacks by mobs in both cities during which “eight leaders from both towns were put on trial, tortured, convicted and executed. (As reported by “The History of the Jewish People”)
1412 — (16nd of Tevet 5172) Paul of Burgos, the Jewish convert to Catholicism drafted an edict as the Spanish chancellor which was promulgated in the name of the regent, the widowed queen mother Catherine of Lancaster, at Valladolid today, was the conversion of the Jews through twenty-four articles which “was designed to separate the Jews entirely from the Christians, to paralyze their commerce, to humiliate them, and to expose them to contempt, requiring them either to live within the close quarters of their ghetto or to accept baptism
1554 — (28nd of Tevet 5314) A mandate promulgated today ordered that the Jews should leave the territory of Lower Austria at the end of six months
1661 — (12nd of Shevat 5421) Rabbi Menahem Mendel ben Abraham Krochmal, author of Zemah Zedek passed away
1711 — (22nd of Tevet 5471) In New York City, Abraham Haim de Lucena and his wife gave birth to Samuel de Lucena the New York and Philadelphia merchant who during the Revolution searched for sulfur that could be used by the Continentals to make gunpowder
1782 — (16nd of Tevet 5542) The Tolerance Edict (Toleranzpatent) guaranteeing existing rights and obligation of the Jewish population, was enacted by Joseph II of Austria, the son of Maria Theresa. As further proof the new freedoms being granted to the Jews of Austria, Emperor Joseph II «permitted Jewish wholesale merchants, notables and their sons to wear swords» and «insisted that Christians should behave in a friendly matter towards Jews»
1852 — (10nd of Tevet 5612) Today, “the Green Street Hebrew School (officially the B’nai Jeshurun Education Institute) opened with 8 teachers and 88 pupils with” “Dutch Hebrew scholar Simon Eliazer Cohen Noot” serving as both one of the teachers and as headmaster – a role he must be successful at since “attendance quickly climbed to 142” and two years later, “the school erected itw own building on a vacant lot adjacent to the B’nai Jeshurun Synagogue on Green Street.”
1873 — (3nd of Tevet 5633) It was reported today that an Imperial ukase or proclamation of the Czar has been issued today concerning the rules and regulations surrounding the recruiting program for the navy and army. Among other things, in that part of Poland ruled by Russia, Jews who have converted to Christianity will no longer be exempted from military service. These converts, like others who have lost their exemption, can purchase one by 800 silver rubles to the government
1878 — (27nd of Tevet 5638) “The Merchant of Venice In 1652” which was published today and which was based on information that first appeared in the London Athenaeum speculated on the possibility that the republication of Shakespeare’s play featuring the infamous Shylock was released as part of the campaign against readmitting Jews to England
1879 — (7nd of Tevet 5639) It was reported today that The Hebrew Book Union has issued a prospectus for a new “Lexcicon to the Talmud, Targum and Midrash” compiled by Dr. F. De Sola Mendes. It will be issued in four parts and will be the first such work published with an English translation
1887 — (6nd of Tevet 5647) The Jewish Theological Seminary Association, the educational and spiritual center of Conservative Judaism opened under the leadership of Saba Morais. Morais, a Rabbi of Congregation Mikve Israel in Philadelphia, sought to train Rabbis who would help preserve Jewish traditions which he felt were being eroded by the “reformers” and their Pittsburgh platform. In 1902 Solomon Schechter reorganized the Seminary and changed the name to JTS or the Jewish Theological Seminary. it was at this point that it became the central foundation for the Conservative Movement, a role that it plays to this day
1903 — (3nd of Tevet 5663) Publication of the first edition of The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Hebrew)
1906 — (5nd of Tevet 5666) “Alliance Work Thriving” published today described the work of the Educational Alliance whose real function was the “Americanizing” of recently arrived Jewish immigrants and which had received donations of $25,000 from Jacob H. Schiff and Louis Stern’; $20,000 from Benjamin Altman; $10,000 from William Saloman and Isidor Straus and $25,000 from Andrew Carnegie
1913 — (23nd of Tevet 5673)(NS) “The first issue of Di Tsayt the St, Petersburg Yiddish weekly, was published today
1916 — (26nd of Tevet 5676) Tonight, in Baltimore, a mass of seven thousand Jews gathered at the Hippodrome and Palace Theatre where one hundred thousand dollars in cash was donated to the American Jewish Relief Committee with an additional five million dollar in pledges made to the organization raising funds for the suffering Jews in Russia
1917 — (8nd of Tevet 5677) In Montreal, the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies which was founded in 1916, today “launched its first fundraising campaign under the slogan ‘Unity is Strength.’”
1920 — (11nd of Tevet 5680) Birthdate of Isaac Asimov. Born to middle class Jewish parents, Asimov’s family moved to the United States in 1923. Asimov became one of the 20th century’s greatest science fiction writers. He also wrote guides to the Bible and Shakespeare. Date of death — April 6, 1992
1920 — (11nd of Tevet 5680) Rabbis in Jerusalem arranged to have special prayers recited at the Western Wall for the Jews in Damascus who are threatened with violence
1929 — (20nd of Tevet 5689) “Figures on immigration and emigration during the month November which have just been made public” showed that 247 immigrants including 185 Jews” entered Palestine while 385 people including 167 Jew” left Palestine
1933 — (4nd of Tevet 5693) Birthdate of author Leonard Michaels whose works included Sylvia and The Men’s Club. Date of death — May 10, 2003
1935 — (27nd of Tevet 5695) Israel Amicam, former official of the Posts and Telegraph Department of the Palestine government, who waged a determined war with the government to force transmission of telegrams in Hebrew characters, today sent the first message in Hebrew characters over Palestine’s telegraph wires. The message was addressed to the Hebrew newspapers and expressed happiness over the historic occasion. Amicam fought for years to have Hebrew included as a language in which to send wires. He even addressed a petition to the Mandates Commission of the League of Nations asking that body to order the Palestine government to accede to his demand. The official objection to his plan was that it was not feasible to send messages in Hebrew characters over wires and that a heavy expenditure for special machinery would be necessary
1939 — (11nd of Tevet 5699) Time magazine names Adolf Hitler “Man of the Year, 1938.”
1940 — (21nd of Tevet 5700) In Poland, Jews were forbidden to post obituaries by the General Gouvernment
1941 — (3nd of Tevet 5701) In the Netherlands, Jews are prohibited from visiting cinemas
1946 — (29nd of Tevet 5706) At a press conference, British General Frederick Morgan, the director general of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) in Europe, disclosed that «thousands of Polish Jews were coming into the U.S. Zone of Occupation assisted by an unknown secret Jewish organization.» He further stated that Jewish Holocaust survivors were being forced by that organization to immigrate to Palestine. He clarified this accusation, intimating that most of the survivors preferred to emigrate elsewhere. The organization was Bricha
1949 — (1nd of Tevet 5709) In the aftermath of the War of Independence, the last Israeli troops left the Sinai Peninsula completing a withdrawal that had been worked out between Ben Gurion and Britain, two Israeli Spitfires attacked an Egyptian train traveling in violation of the withdrawal agreement, аn Egyptian plan flew over Jerusalem injuring seven people when it dropped its bombs
1951 — (24nd of Tevet 5711) The North American tour of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra sponsored by the American Fund for Israeli Institutions began with a concert in Washington, D.C. conducted by Dr. Serge Koussevitzky
1953 — (15nd of Tevet 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that on the first day on which price control was lifted from poultry, prices rose from IL 2 to IL 6 a kilo. The Norwegian s.s. Rimfort passed through the Suez Canal, and arrived with a cargo of 150 tons of meat from Ethiopia, assuring the distribution of the monthly meat ration. The Ministry of Commerce started planning further substantial meat purchases from Brazil and Argentina
1964 — (17nd of Tevet 5724) Israeli footballer Mordechai “Motaleh” Spiegler “made his international debut for Israel today against Hong Kong
1970 — (24nd of Tevet 5730) In Operation Double Bass 10, The Golani Brigade took part in a retaliatory raid on Kfar Kila in response to the kidnapping of an elderly guard from Metula by Fatah two days earlier
1970 — (24nd of Tevet 5730) During the War of Attrition, Hagi Zamir, together with two other soldiers — including Aharon Danziger — were hurt while entering the island of Shaduan with Zamir’s wounds resulting in the amputation of his left leg. Zamir, a native of Kibbutz Zikim, overcame his loss by turning to volleyball where he took part in seven Paralympic Games.
1971 — (5nd of Tevet 5731) A team of Israeli scholars announced the discovery in Jerusalem of a 2,000-year-old skeleton of a crucified male. Found in a cave-tomb, it was the first direct physical evidence of the well-documented Roman method of execution.
1971 — (5th of Tevet, 5731) A family of new immigrants from England – David and Pretty Arroyo and their two babies, Mark and Abigail — visit Gaza. They park their car in a main street and a minute later a terrorist throws a hand grenade through the open rear window. The babies are killed on the spot and their mom is severely wounded. Defense Minister Moshe Dayan and Chief of Staff Bar Lev assign Ariel Sharon, Head of the Southern Command, to eliminate the terror in the Gaza Strip.
1992 — (26nd of Tevet 5752) Jerusalem struggled with its worst snowstorm in four decades. Across the Israeli capital, tree branches, and even entire trees, snapped with rifle-shot cracks under the heavy snow. Besides blocking roads, the fallen trees knocked out power lines, leaving large sections of the city without electricity and, in some instances, without telephones as well. As Jerusalem knows all too well, it is not equipped to deal with such calamities. For hours, there was no way for cars to move up or down the steep, winding main highway that connects Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and other coastal cities, and so this city had to carry on in uncertain isolation. Most people elected to remain indoors, thus turning normally bustling streets into milky canyons of quiet. The storm t dumped at least 18 inches on the city, the heaviest snowfall in 42 years
People
*1836 — (12nd of Tevet 5596) Birthdate of Mendele Mocher Sforim (מענדעלע מוכר ספֿרים) «Mendele the bookseller,» is the pseudonym of Sholem Yakov Abramovich, Jewish author and one of the founders of modern Yiddish and Modern Hebrew literature
*1850 — (18nd of Tevet 5610) Birthdate of Minsk native and author Henry Iliowizi, the teacher in Alliance Israélite Universelle’s “school at Tetuan, Morocco from 1877 to 1880” who came to the United States where he “was minister of a congregation at Harrisonburg, Virginia; from 1880 to 1888, rabbi of the Congregation Sha’aré Tob in Minneapolis; and from 1888 to 1900, of the Congregation Adath Jeshurun in Philadelphia.”
*1884 — (4nd of Tevet 5644) Birthdate of Ben-Zion Dinaburg, who studied to be a rabbi before moving to Palestine in 1921 where he gained fame as Ben-Zion Dinur where he served as head of the Jewish Teachers’ Training College and as an MK in the first Knesset. Date of death — July 8, 1973
*1886 — (25nd of Tevet 5646) Birthdate of Moyshe-Leyb Halpern one of “the most innovative and ironic of the modernist Yiddish poets. Date of death — August 31, 1932
*1892 — (2nd of Tevet 5652) Birthdate of Warsaw native “Eliash Almi Sheps” known as Eli A. Almi, who began writing Yiddish poetry at the age of 9 and reporting for the Yiddish daily Der Moment at 18 before coming to the United States in 1913 to write for the Yiddish daily Tageblat and writing several of volumes in both Yiddish and English including The Life and Philosophy of Buddha and The Strange Death of Baruch Spinoza. Date of death — 1963
*1894 — (24nd of Tevet 5654) Birthdate of Robert Gruntal Nathan an American novelist and poet whose works included The Bishop’s Wife which became a hit movie starring Cary Grant, David Niven and Loretta Young. Date of death — May 25, 1985
*1895 — (6nd of Tevet 5655) Birthdate of Count Folke Bernadotte a member of a prominent Swedish family and well-known diplomat whose negotiations with Himmler during World War II saved the lives of thousands of Jews. As a U.N. representative, Bernadotte negotiated the first truce between the Arabs and the Israelis in 1948. During the truce, Bernadotte visited Israel where he proposed a peace plan that would have been detrimental to Jewish interests
*1896 — (16nd of Tevet 5656) Birthdate of Bialystok native David Abelevich Kaufman who gained fame as “Soviet pioneer documentary film and newsreel director” Dziga Vertov whose “Man with a Movie Camera” was voted “the 8th best film ever made” according to a poll taken in 2012. Date of death — February 12, 1954
1903 — (3nd of Tevet 5663) Publication of the first edition of The American Hebrew & Jewish Messenger (см. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_American_Hebrew)
*1904 — (14nd of Tevet 5664) Manya Shochat the “Russian Jewish politician and the «mother» of the collective settlement in Palestine, the forerunner of the kibbutz movement” joined her brother Nachum Wilbuszewicz the founder of the Shemen soap factory “on a research expedition to some of the wilder places of Palestine
*1916 — (26nd of Tevet 5676) Birthdate of Zypora Tannenbaum who gained fame as Zypora Spaisman. Born in Lublin, she was a Polish-American actress and Yiddish theatre empresaria. She emigrated to the United States in 1954 where she helped keep the Folksbiene Yiddish Theatre in NYC alive for 42 years (along with Morris Adler), before helping to found the Yiddish Public Theater following a dispute with the Folksbiene’s new management. Date of death — May 18, 2002 in New York City
*1928 — (9nd of Tevet 5688) Oskar Yakovlevich Rabin, the soviet painter, born. Date of death — November 7, 2018