History events
1700 — (14th of Shevat, 5460) A special commission instituted today to determine the rights of the Jews in Berlin was instrumental in limiting the number of Jewish families allow to live there to fifty
1704 — (29th of Shevat, 5464) In Metz, France Abraham Schwab found a yeshivah that became the Seminaire Israelite de France
1898 — (1th of Shevat, 5658) A mob of approximately 3,000 people surged through the streets of Algiers shouting “Down With the Jews.” “A dispatch received from Algiers late tonight says that at 11 o’clock perfect tranquility prevailed” with the troops having cleared the street of anti-Semitic rioters including 300 of whom have been arrested.
1899 — (13th of Shevat, 5659) It was reported today that the population of Palestine is 200,000 of which 40,000 are Jews. This is an increase of 26,000 Jews in the last twenty years. There are 22,000 Jews living in Jerusalem “half of whom” have come from Europ
1938 — (22th of Shevat, 5698) The Palestine Post reported that a meeting of the General Council (Va’ad Leumi) of Palestine Jews published a manifesto calling for the immediate opening of the gates of the country to the millions of suffering Diaspora Jews; that one Jew was severely wounded when Arabs shot at a group of workers returning from the Givat Shaul quarry to Jerusalem; that according to the new Romanian law, all Jews had to appear before the courts in order to prove their citizenship rights
1943 — (18th of Shevat, 5703) During the past three weeks, fifteen trains reached the Auschwitz from Belgium, Holland, Berlin, Grodno and Bialystok. Of the new arrivals, 4,000 were sent to the barracks and 20,000 were killed before their luggage could be sorted. To accommodate the rate of killing, four new crematoriums were constructed
1949 — (23th of Tevet, 5709) France recognized Israel
2008 — (17th of Shevat, 5768) Two terrorists entered the Mekor Hayim High School Yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and stabbed two students
People
1656 — (8th of Shevat, 5416) Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo, the first Jewish physician in what would be the United States arrived in Maryland
1678 — (11th of Shevat, 5438) Rabbi Solomon Lichtenstein of Bialystok, author of Kokhmat Shelomo, passed away
1828 — Ferdinand Julius Cohn, German botanist and zoologist, born
1856 — (17th of Shevat, 5616) Rabbi Yechezkel of Kuzmir, Polish Hasidic leader passed away
1900 — Isaac Artom, Italian statesman and senator, died
1965 — (21th of Shevat, 5725) In Damascus, Syrian police arrested Kamel Amin Th’abet on charges of being an Israeli spy. After being tortured he was hung in a public execution. Th’abet was Eli Cohen who successfully penetrated the highest level of the Syrian government and provided intelligence of immeasurable value