History events
1349 (2 Adar I 5109) — The Jewish community of Speyer, Germany, was destroyed on charges of spreading the plague. About 400 people were killed; their bodies were placed in nailed‑shut barrels and thrown into the Rhine. Emperor Charles IV transferred the Jews’ property to the city
1387 (2 Adar I 5147) — On the island of Corfu (which had become a Venetian fief in 1385), a decree was issued granting local Jews equal taxation rights with other citizens and freedom of worship. However, distinctive markers on their clothing were retained
1775 — (21th of Shevat 5535) Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski demolished the Jewish homes built on the outskirts of Warsaw in a community called “New Jerusalem”. After the demolitions were completed, all of the Jews were expelled from Warsaw
1856 — (15th of Shevat 5615) Twelve Bavarian, Dutch, and Portuguese Jews, who “had originally organized in 1855 as the United Brethren Society, a benefit society that provided members with medical and burial assistance” met today in Brooklyn to discuss plans for the incorporation of their group as a synagogue. Their efforts would bear fruit in March of 1856 with the founding of Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes. (בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת, «House of Israel – People of Truth»), the first synagogue formed on Long Island and “the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn.” Today Baith Israel is “commonly known as the Kane Street Synagogue, an egalitarian Conservative synagogue on Kane Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
1889 — (20th of Shevat 5649) Founding of the Ladies’ Hebrew Orphan Aid Society in Newark, NJ, whose members included Rose Marx, Helen Straus and Carrie Kempe
1899 — (11th of Shevat 5659) Founding of the English Zionist Federation
1928 — (29th of Tevet 5688) In «Homeland of Habima,»published today, William Schack described the current state of theatre in Palestine. According to him «Palestine is as poor as east side tenement» with a population divided into three linguistic groups speaking English, Arabic and Hebrew. In the past year, the only English performances were by amateurs who stage a few «ace actors.» During the same period, the only Arabic offering was a performance of Carmen. Other than that, Schack has not hear of «any Arabic theatre in Palestine.»
1938 (20 Shvat 5698) — A 1938 World Cup qualifier between Palestine and Greece ended 1:3 in Tel Aviv, watched by 15,000 spectators. The Palestinian team was largely composed of players from local clubs Ha‑Poel and Maccabi, as well as Ha‑Poel Haifa.
1940 (12 Shvat 5700) — A large arms cache was discovered during a search in the Ben Shemen settlement. Settlement leader Dr. Leiman and two associates were sentenced to lengthy prison terms. The Jewish Agency, National Committee, and chief rabbis protested their conviction. A petition signed by 12,500 people led to Leiman’s sentence being commuted to a fine, and reduced terms for the others
1941 — (23th of Tevet 5701) The Law for the Defense of the Nation is imposed by Bulgaria, forcing Jews to give up public posts and forcing Jewish doctors, lawyers, and other professionals to forfeit their jobs. Also, a selective tax is imposed on Bulgaria’s Jewish shops and homes
1942 (4 Shvat 5702) — The Shoah. 1,807 Jews were deported from Odessa; between 12–22 January, a total of 12,234 were deported. On the same day, 13 Jews were shot in Zolochiv (Kharkiv region)
1943 — (16th of Shevat 5703) During Operation Tiger in Marseilles, France, Nazis seized more than 4000 Jews for deportation over a four-day period. At nearby Les Accates, 29 Jewish children were seized at La Rose Orphanage. Their guardian, Alice Salomon, insisted on remaining with them. Marseilles had had a reputation as being the Jerusalem of the Mediterranean; The Jewish ghetto at Grodno, Belorussia, is liquidated; 1943: A death train that originated in Grodno, Poland, on January 17 erupts in violence at the Treblinka death camp when 1000 Jews armed with boards, knives, and razors attack guards. By morning thousands of Jews who had been on the train are dead, killed by Treblinka SS troops armed with machine guns and grenades
1947 — (1th of Shevat 5707) The British government decided today that it would turn the Palestine Problem over to the United Nations since it could not get the Jews and Arabs to accept a common solution.. However, the British would not make their decision public for another six weeks
1948 (11 Shvat 5708) — War of Independence. In the village of Yazur, Arabs attacked a Haganah patrol, killing 7 people and cutting the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem highway. A bypass from Holon to Rishon le‑Zion was soon built. The fallen Jewish Guardsmen were:
-David Ivanitsky,
-Menachem Avatichi,
-Zvi Zaira,
-Yaakov Olamy,
-Yitzhak Cordova,
-Kalman Rosenblum,
-Eliyahu Shamir.
In their memory, the kibbutz Mishmar ha‑Shiv’a (“Guard of the Seven”) was established, with streets named after each of the fallen. A road junction near Jerusalem also bears the same name
1952 (24 Tevet 5712) — Two Israeli intelligence agents, Avraham Batzri and Shalom Tsamakh, were hanged in Iraq.
-Avraham Batzri (born 1929 in Iraq) joined the Halutz organisation (under Haganah direction) in 1942. He reached Israel in 1949, then returned to Iraq for intelligence work.
-Shalom Tsalakh (born 1923 in Iraq) worked with Halutz to smuggle arms and gather intelligence. He was arrested by Iraqi counterintelligence on 9 June 1951, shortly before his planned repatriation, and tortured in prison.
Their last words before execution were “Long live the State of Israel!” Streets in Israeli cities were named in their honour, and a monument was erected in Or Yehuda
1957 — (20th of Shevat 5717) Under massive pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union, Israeli forces withdrew from most of Sinai after the Sinai Campaign. The threat of economic sanctions by the United States presented to great a threat for the Israelis not to give ground
1979 — (23th of Tevet 5739) Ali Hassan Salameh, “the head of Force 17 and an operative of the Black September Organization that carried out the 1972 Munich Massacre” was killed today when “a remote-controlled car bomb” was detonated in Beirut
1991 — (7th of Shevat 5751) After a Scud slammed into a two-story apartment building in a Tel Aviv suburb today, 260 Israelis were forced to move into hotels. Almost 1,000 Israelis, most of whom live in Tel Aviv have already lost their homes because of attack by Iraqi Scuds
1995 — (21st of Shevat, 5755) In central Israel, two suicide bombers from the Gaza Strip blew themselves-up at a military transit point killing 19 Israelis. This was just one of the many acts of terrorism that took placed after Rabin and Arafat shook hands on the White House lawn. Despite, them the Israelis would make a variety of territorial concessions. The terror would continue
2019 (16 Shvat 5779) — The Israeli Ministry of Defence and the US Missile Defence Agency successfully tested the new Arrow 3 missile defence system in central Israel
People
1167 — (30rd of Shevat, 4927) Ibn-Ezra passed away at the age of 78 in Calahorra which was on the border between Navarre and Aragon.
1648 — (8th of Shevat 5408) Rabbi Shabbetai ben Meir ha-Kohen completed the manuscript for Nekudat ha-Kessef
1752 — (17th of Shevat 5512) Talmudist Rabbi David ben Joseph of Breslau, author of Shoresh Yosef, passed away
1890 (1 Shvat 5650) — Kate Dan (Danelevich), entrepreneur and one of the pioneers of modern hotels in Israel, was born in Berlin. She immigrated to Israel in 1922, managing a children’s home and hotel in Safed for Hadassah. In 1923, she leased a building and opened her own hotel, which was destroyed in the 1929 Palestine riots. In 1933, she left Safed and opened a modern Tel Aviv hotel with central heating and telephones in every room. She died on 15 February 1978.
1892 (22 Tevet 5652) — Marcel Bloch (from 1945, Dassault), French aircraft designer, was born. He died on 18 April 1986.
1893 — (5th of Shevat 5653) David Cassel, Jewish historian, died
1893 — Conrad Veidt, German film actor, was born. He died on 3 April 1943 in the USA
1908 — Lev Landau, physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, was born in Baku. He died on 1 April 1968.
1911 (22 Tevet 5671) — Bruno Kreisky, President of Austria, was born. He died on 29 July 1990
1920 (2 Shvat 5680) — Rubino Romeo Salmoni, Italian Jew and Auschwitz concentration camp survivor, was born. His book I Defeated Hitler inspired Roberto Benigni’s Oscar‑winning film Life Is Beautiful. He died on 10 July 2011.
1922 — Yury D. Levitansky, poet, was born. He died on 25 January 1996
1935 (18 Shvat 5695) — Alexander Men, prominent Orthodox priest of Jewish origin, was born. His father was a Zionist. Men was murdered on 9 September 1990.
1935 (18 Shvat 5695) — Li Naor, Israeli children’s author, was born in Herzliya
1954 — Leonid Isaakovich Yarmolnik, actor, was born
1958 (1 Shvat 5718) — Ehud (Udi) Adam, Israeli military commander and head of the Northern Command during the Second Lebanon War, was born.
1973 (19 Shvat 5733) — Yaacov Dori, Chief of General Staff during the War of Independence, died.
2024 (12 Shvat 5784) — Gaza War, Day 108. Twenty‑one soldiers were killed when two buildings collapsed in central Gaza and militants attacked. One soldier from the 9206 Battalion (205 Brigade) was critically injured. In southern Gaza, the following were killed:
-Major David Nati Alfasi (27), from Beer Sheva, Deputy Commander of the 202 Battalion (Paratroopers Brigade);
-Major Ilay Levy (24), from Tel Aviv, Company Commander in the 202 Battalion (Paratroopers Brigade);
-Captain Eyal Mevorah Tvito (22), from Beit Gamliel, Platoon Commander in the 202 Battalion (Paratroopers Brigade).
A Paratroopers Brigade soldier was critically wounded, as were two soldiers from the 606 Engineering Battalion (Saar mi‑Golani Division)
2026 — (4 Shevat 5786) Eshel Baaved, wounded on October 19 during a terrorist attack on engineering equipment in the Rafah area, died in the hospital. Two fighters were killed