History events
-134 BCE (28 Shvat 3627) — Antiochus V abandoned the siege of Jerusalem and his plans to destroy the city. According to Megillat Taanit, this day was celebrated as a holiday during the Hasmonean period.
1401 (6 Shvat 5161) — Mecia de Viladestes, a Jewish cartographer from Majorca, was granted permission to land in Sicily. He produced a map dated 1413. Mecia belonged to the Jewish Catalan school of cartographers.
1466 (3 Shvat 5226) — Leon ben Joshua completed the manuscript of Sefer Ha‑Tadir, which included Aramaic and Hebrew texts of the Scroll of Antiochus
1863 — (29th of Tevet, 5623) Two and half years after Jews in Sweden were given the right to buy “real estate in rural areas”, an ordinance was adopted that allowed “intermarriage between Jews and Christians
1892 — (20th of Tevet, 5652) It was reported today that a mob at Kasehan, Hungary, attacked a Jewish school “and completely wrecked it.”
1895 — (24th of Tevet, 5655) The Sultan is credited with having issued an order to the Governors of Jerusalem and Beirut ordering them to remove all of the restrictions that had been placed on Jews trading in Syria. The Sultan also has declared that the Jews “shall enjoy the same rights, religious and otherwise, as any of the people in the empire.”
1898 — (26th of Tevet, 5658) It was reported today that students tried to burn an effigy of Emile Zola in Algiers. The police arrested five students whose friends then attacked the police in an effort to free them; It was reported today that there have been anti-Jewish demonstrations in Toulouse, Marseilles, Nantes and Rouen; It was reported today that Isaac Greenblatt who owns a shoemaker’s shop is the President of an orthodox synagogue on East Broadway which also serves as a burial and mutual aid society and has assets of thousands of dollars
1901 — (29th of Tevet, 5661) “Scheme For and Against Jewish Colonization In Palestine” published today reported that allegedly because of the “recent exodus of Jews from Russia and Romania,” “the Sultan of Turkey has just re- promulgated…a decree” that prohibits Jews from acquiring land in Palestine and that forbid Jews, including pilgrims and merchants from remaining “in Palestine for longer than three months.”
1904 — (3rd of Shevat 5664) The Jewish Museum was established when Judge Mayer Sulzberger donated 26 ceremonial art objects to The Jewish Theological Seminary of America as the core of a museum collection
1918 (7 Shvat 5678) — The Central Commissariat for Jewish National Affairs was established — a government body of the RSFSR tasked with implementing the Communist Party’s national policy among Jews. It operated until April 1924 within the People’s Commissariat for Nationalities
1926 — (5rd of Shevat 5686) “Ford Loses New Move In Suit For Libel” published today reported that “a motion by counsel for Henry Ford to strike out of the complaint of Herman Bernstein, who is suing Mr. Ford for $200,000 for libel, several quotations from the Dearborn Independent which were alleged to libel the Jews was denied by the Federal Judge” who rejected the argument that “a member of a class cannot sue for libelous attack upon the class if he is not personally referred to, or special damage claimed.”
1933 (22 Tevet 5693) — The second Rotary Club in Israel was established in Haifa. Its members included 18 Jews, 13 Arabs, and 12 Britons.
1935 — (16rd of Shevat 5695) Today was designated as Palestine Day by the Zionist Organization of America. Over 400 cities and towns throughout the United States planned on observing the event with a series of meetings and dinners
1936 — (25th of Tevet, 5696) It was reported today that police in Munich “have proceeded systematically to invalidate the passports of Jews living in the city” by going from house to house and seizing the documents and the stamping them “invalid for foreign countries.”
1938 — (18rd of Shevat 5698) The Palestine Post reported that David Bialo, a Jewish employee of the Public Works Department, displayed great presence of mind and averted serious injury to himself and his four colleagues when he seized a bomb thrown into their car and hurled it into the roadway. The assailant was later recognized and arrested. Two Arabs were sentenced to death for carrying arms and ammunition and firing at police. The Post’s leading article reminded the authorities of the many shooting outrages in Jerusalem’s Rehavia, Talpiot and other quarters and asked for greater vigilance
1939 (29 Tevet 5699) — The Shoah. Hitler ordered the dismissal of all Wehrmacht officers married to Jewish women.
1940 (10 Shvat 5700) — The Shoah. A Wehrmacht order stipulated that non‑commissioned officers married to Jewish or mixed‑race women could not be promoted beyond the rank of Feldwebel.
1942 (2 Shvat 5702) — The Shoah. 926 Jews were deported from Odessa. On the same day: The SD and field gendarmes began «resettling» Jews in the villages of Kalininsk, Pervomaisk, and M. Gorky (Simferopol district, Crimea), killing 175 people with a gas van. 128 Jews were executed in Krasnoarmeysk (Donetsk region).
About 2,200 Jews from Odessa were driven to Veselinovsky district (Mykolaiv region).
1942 (2 Shvat 5702) — The Shoah. The Wannsee Conference took place in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, where senior German officials discussed the «Final Solution to the Jewish Question». The number of Jews to be exterminated was set at 11 million
1943 — (14rd of Shevat 5703) A train from Theresienstadt arrived at Auschwitz. Of the passengers, 160 women and 80 men were sent to the barracks. The remaining 1,760 Jews were sent to the gas chambers. Of those from the barracks, only 2 would survive beyond the next six weeks of labor. These were all Jews who were already deported to Theresienstadt in 1941 from their homes throughout Austria and Czechoslovakia
1949 — (19th of Tevet, 5709) In the midst of the Jewish state’s fight for birth and survival, we find the struggle between the secular and religious members of the government coming to a head over the question of the importation of non-kosher meat. The cabinet voted to place the importation of meat under the joint control of the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Religion. This effectively meant that only kosher meat would be brought into Israel. More importantly, this “compromise” showed the disproportionate strength of the religious parties in Israel’s fractured political structure.
1946 (18 Shvat 5706) — The Palmach bombed a police station in Givat Olga, wounding 16 people and killing one. That same night, the Palmach unsuccessfully attempted to blow up a radar installation on Mount Carmel (the planted bomb was defused). The radar played a key role in British surveillance of the sea to prevent ships carrying illegal immigrants from reaching Eretz Israel.
1948 (9 Shvat 5708) — War of Independence. 50 tons of explosives were smuggled from Italy to Eretz Israel for the defence industry. This was one of many routine arms‑supply operations. The only difference was that Italy — then the sole arms source — was preparing for elections, and illegal arms trade was severely punished
1951 (13 Shvat 5711) — Israel began draining the Hula Valley wetlands to increase arable land and concentrate Jordan River waters into a central canal, aiming to prevent water loss and establish the river as the country’s main water source.
1952 (22 Tevet 5712) — After a two‑month hiatus, meat rations resumed in Israel at 100 grams per person per day
1953 — (4rd of Shevat 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that the newly organized Hadassah cardio-surgical department carried out the first two completely successful delicate heart operations
1965 — (17rd of Shevat 5725) Francisco Franco met with Jewish representatives to discuss the legal status of the Jewish community in Spain. It was the first such meeting since 1492
1973 — (17rd of Shevat 5733) An “attack on a transit camp in Austria for Jewish immigrants from Russia” was thwarted today and three Arab terrorists were arrested in Vienna
1977 — (1rd of Shevat 5737) “Soviet television premieres an hour long anti-Zionist documentary Traders of Souls, which specifies the names and addresses of Vladimir Slepak, Yosef Begun, Anatoly Sharansky and Yuli Kosharovsky.”
2006 (20 Tevet 5766) — Israel’s Nature Protection Authority launched a nationwide census of gazelles.
2010 (5 Shvat 5770) — Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak approved the government’s decision to elevate the Academic College of Ariel in Samaria to a full‑fledged university
2011 — (15rd of Shevat 5771) A film about a Briton, Sir Nicholas Winton, who organized mass evacuations of children to save them from being sent to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps had its world premiere today in Prague, the Czech capital
2018 — (4rd of Shevat 5778) “Thousands of residents of the southern city of Ashdod protested today against the closure of businesses in the city on Shabbat.”
People
1205 — (29th of Shevat, 4965) Joseph ibn Shoshan who had succeeded his father as Nasi of the Jewish Community in Toledo passed away today
1466 — (3rd of Shevat 5226) Leon ben Joshua completed the manuscript of Sefer ha-Tadir, a work that included Aramaic and Hebrew texts of the Scroll of Antiochus
1790 — (5th of Shevat, 5550) At Reggio, Italy, Israel Benjamin Bassani, the local Rabbi whose poetic talents found expression in both Hebrew and Italian and who was the son of Isaiah Bassani passed away today
1800 — (23th of Tevet, 5560) Moritz Oppenheim, German painter of Jewish family life, born
1812 (6 Shvat 5572) — Major Raphael Moses was born. He pioneered commercial peach plantations in Georgia, earning the state its nickname «Peach State»
1917 — (26th of Tevet, 5677) Avshalom Feinberg passed away. He was one of the leaders of Nili, a Jewish spy network in Ottoman Palestine helping the British fight the Ottoman Empire during World War I passed away today. Born in 1889 at Gedera, Palestine, then part of the Ottoman Empire Feinberg studied in France. He returned to work with Aaron Aaronsohn at the agronomy research station in Atlit. Soon after the beginning of war, Aaronson founded the Nili underground along with his sister Sarah Aaronsohn, Feinberg and Yosef Lishansky. In 1915 Feinberg travelled to Egypt and made contact with British Naval Intelligence. In 1917, Feinberg again journeyed to Egypt, on foot. He was apparently killed by a Bedouin near the British front in Sinai, close to Rafah. His fate was unknown until after the 1967 Six-Day War when his remains were found under a palm tree that had grown from date seeds in his pocket to mark the spot where he lay. In 1979 a new Israeli settlement in the Sinai Peninsula, Avshalom was named after him. Although it was abandoned following the Camp David Accords, a new village by the same name was founded in Israel in 1990
1948 (9 Shvat 5708) — Natan Sharansky, Israeli statesman, public figure, and Soviet dissident who was imprisoned for seeking to immigrate to Israel, was born.
2010 (5 Shvat 5770) — Poet Avraham Sutzkever died in Tel Aviv at the age of 97.
2018 (4 Shvat 5778) — Major‑General (ret.) Doron Rubin died at the age of 74.
2024 (10 Shvat 5784) — Gaza War, Day 106. Heavy fighting occurred in and around Khan Yunis. Staff Sergeant Reserve Uriel Aviad Silberman (23) from Nahalim, a soldier in the 7421st Battalion of the 4th Brigade «Kiryati», was killed. A reserve officer and a reserve soldier from the 7421st Battalion (4th Brigade «Kiryati») were seriously wounded, as well as a reservist from the 466th Battalion (646th Brigade «Shualey Marom»).
2025 (20 Tevet 5785) — During an anti‑terror operation in Samaria, Senior Sergeant Reserve Evyatar Ben‑Yehuda (31) from Nitzan, a soldier in the 8211th Battalion of Brigade «Ephraim», was killed, and the battalion commander was seriously wounded.