History events
1482 — (6th of Adar, 5242) First edition of the Hebrew Pentateuch printed at Bologna
1654 — (18th of Shevat, 5414) With the capture of Pernambuco (Recife) from the Dutch, Portugal retook Peru and Brazil. The Jews, (numbering approximately 5,000) having fought on the side of the Dutch, fled for the most part to Amsterdam. Hundreds also escaped to North America, with 23 eventually arriving in New Amsterda
1935 — (22th of Shevat, 5695) In a speech before 3,800 people at the Mecca Temple, Vladimir Jabotinsky, Zionist Revisionist leader urged his listeners to put the development of a Jewish national state in Palestine ahead of all other issues related to economic and political development
1935 (22 Shvat 5695) — The newly formed Tel Aviv basketball team HaPoel played its first game, defeating the same-named club from Ramat Gan 6:2
1938 — (24th of Shevat, 5698) The Palestine Post reported that Mordecai Uhana, the sole Jewish resident of Ramallah, a cobbler who lived had there for 34 years, was shot while at work and badly wounded. The driver and a passenger of a Givat Shaul bus were shot and hit on their way to Jerusalem. Nissim Dorani, a lorry driver, was killed by a bomb, thrown at him at Km. 5 on the Jaffa-Jerusalem Road. Twenty children, eight women and two men, all of them Jewish, were arrested as illegal immigrants at Safed. Three Arab terrorists were executed at Acre
1938 (24 Shvat 5698) — The grand opening of Zina Dizengoff Square in Tel Aviv
1940 (16 Shvat 5700) — The Shoah. In occupied Poland, Jews were prohibited from using railway transportation.
1942 (8 Shvat 5702) — The Shoah. Executions of Jews continued in the Veselinovka District. The “Jewish action” in Kobelyaky ended with over 100 people killed. During the “cleansing” of Kramatorsk (Donetsk Oblast), Sonderkommando 4b shot 139 Jews.
1946 (24 Shvat 5706) — The Council of People’s Commissars of the RSFSR published a resolution On Measures to Strengthen and Further Develop the Economy of the Jewish Autonomous Oblast. Among other measures, it called for sending 50 teachers and 20 doctors (primarily of Jewish ethnicity) to the region
1949 — (25th of Tevet, 5709) Switzerland recognized Israel
1951 (19 Shvat 5711) — The settlement of Yeruham was founded in southern Israel
1954 — (22th of Shevat, 5714) David Ben-Gurion steps down as Minister of Defense, a position he had held since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948; Pinchas Lavon becomes the second person to hold the position of Minister of Defense
1980 — (8th of Shevat, 5740) Israel and Egypt established diplomatic relations
2006 (26 Tevet 5766) — In just two hours early in the morning, 20 mm of rain fell in Tel Aviv. Lengthy traffic jams formed. Twenty‑four streets, resembling rushing rivers, were closed to vehicles. In the northern Golan Heights, snowfall resumed in the morning; snow depth on Mount Hermon reached nearly two metres. In Galilee, rain fell almost non‑stop. Streams overflowed and reached roadways. Lake Kinneret’s water level rose 8 millimetres over the previous 24 hours.
2023 (4 Shvat 5783) — One of the largest anti‑terror operations in recent years, conducted by the IDF, General Security Service, and Border Police in the Jenin Refugee Camp. Eight militants from Islamic Jihad were killed.
2024 (16 Shvat 5784) — Gaza War, Day 112. Major fighting took place in the southern Gaza Strip. However, artillery, IAF, and IAN strikes also targeted sites in the north and along the coast. Soldiers from the Paratroopers, Givati, Nahal, and 5th Brigades, as well as the Maglan and Oketz special units, were active. Border communities including Mefalsim, Ibim, Sderot, Nir Am (including the Nir Am Shooting Range), and southern parts of Ashkelon and Netiv ha‑Asara were shelled
2026 — (8 Shvat 5786) The body of the last hostage, Police Sergeant Rana Gwili, who died in battle on October 7, 2023, was delivered from Gaza to Israel for burial. Thus, 843 days after the start of the war with Gaza, all hostages — living and dead — have been returned from the territory of the strip
People
1664 — (9th of Shevat, 5624) Rabbi Berechiah Berakh ben Isaac Shapiro of Cracow author of Zera Beirakh passed away
1755 — (14th of Shevat, 5515) Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk Katz passed away. Born in 1680, he was the author of the Talmudic work «P’nei Yehoshua.» He served as rabbi of Lemberg (Lvov) in 1718, Berlin in 1730, Metz in 1734 and Frankfurt in 1740
1761 — (21th of Shevat, 5521) Rabbi Judah Navon, author of KIryat Melekh Rav passed away
1817 (9 Shvat 5577) — Osip Rabinovich, writer and publicist, was born in Kobelyaki, Poltava Governorate.
1904 (9 Shvat 5664) — A fire at the National Library of Turin destroyed 30,000 books and half of its most valuable ancient manuscripts, including sixteen volumes by Leone de Sommi Portaleone (Yehuda ben Yitzhak Sommi Mish’ar Aryeh, 1525–c. 1590), a Hebrew‑ and Italian‑language poet, playwright, and theatre director who made major contributions to Renaissance theatre.
1919 (25 Shvat 5679) — Yehuda Harari, founding father of the IDF Paratroopers Brigade, was born in Budapest.
2024 (16 Shvat 5784) — Gaza War, Day 112. Sergeant Reserve Eliran Yeger, 36 years old, from Tel Aviv, a soldier in the 8170th Engineering Battalion of the Givati Brigade, was kille