History events
439 — (30th of Shevat 4199) Promulgation of the Code of Theodosius II in the Byzantine Empire. This was the first imperial compilation of anti- Jewish laws since Constantine. Jews were prohibited from holding important positions involving money including judicial and executive offices and the ban against building new synagogues was reinstated. Theodosius was the Roman emperor of the East (408–450) The Code was readily accepted as well by Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III (425-455).
1253 — (30th of Shevat 5013) Henry III of England ordered that Jewish worship in Synagogues must be held quietly so that Christians should not have to hear it when passing by. In addition, Jews were not to employ Christian nurses or maids, nor was any Jew allowed to prevent another Jew from converting to Christianity
1418 (24 Shevat, 5178) — Pope Martin V spoke out against the forced conversion of Jews and attacks on synagogues
1493 — (13th of Shevat 5253) Jews fleeing Spain were no longer allowed to enter to enter Genoa. During the previous year Jews fleeing Spain were allowed to land in Genoa for three days. As of this date the special consideration was cancelled due to the “fear” that the Jews may introduce the Plague
1549 (2 Adar 1, 5309) — Ferdinand I (1521–1564), to whom Charles V had ceded Austrian lands in 1522, ordered the expulsion of Jews from Austria. Despite having previously declared that Jews could continue to live in settlements where they had been permitted to reside, this edict was not fully implemented, and part of the Jewish population remained.
1906 — (3th of Shevat, 5666) “Cossacks Massacre Jews” published today described the attacks on the Jews of Gomel by Cossacks whose efforts “to obtain evidence of revolutionary activity” degenerated into an orgy of drunken looting and murder
1918 — (18th of Shevat, 5678) Dr. Jechiel Tchlenow, the Moscow physician who was a major leader of the Zionist movement passed away. In 1917, Tchlenow had come to London “where he took an active part in the diplomatic negotiations that have resulted in official declarations by Great Britain” favoring the creation of a Jewish homeland in Palestine
1930 — (29th of Tevet, 5690) The Times “reported from Jerusalem today that the Palestine government” has proposed the establishment of an “agricultural bank…with a capital of $2,500,000.”
1931 (13 Shevat, 5691) — The Palestine Potash Company was established
1937 (19 Shevat, 5697) — The kibbutzim Sha’ar HaGolan and Masada were founded using the “Wall and Tower” method
1938 — (27th of Shevat, 5698) The Palestine Post reported on the rise of anti-Jewish feelings and vandalism in Yugoslavia including the fact that «local Nazis» had smashed the windows out of the Sephardic synagogue of Belgrade
1942 — (11th of Shevat, 5702) Einsatzgruppe A commanding officer, Franz W. Stahlecker, sent a detailed report about activities in the Baltic and White Russian countries. It stated that between July 23 and October 15, 1941, 135,567 Jews were killed
1942 (13 Shevat, 5702) — During the Shoah, 1,200 Jews were deported from Odessa. In the second half of January, Task Force D executed 3,206 Jews, including at least 2,000 in Crimea, with the remainder in Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions, and possibly in Kherson
1949 — (25th of Tevet, 5709) The U.S. which had recognized Israel on a de factor basis on May 15 recognized Israel on a de jure basis today
1950 (13 Shevat, 5710) — The Knesset passed a law banning polygamy and setting a minimum age of 17 for marriage (with exceptions only by court order). The law sparked discontent among Yemenite Jews.
1951 (24 Shevat, 5711) — Israel’s first children’s magazine, Our Country, was published. It was aimed at children aged 9–13. In 1985, it changed its name to We All
1955 — (6th of Shevat, 5715) Egyptian authorities hanged two Jews in Cairo – Dr. Moshe Marzouk and Samuel (Shmeul) Azar – who had been found guilty of spying for Israel. Eight other Jews had been given long prison sentences for the same reason
1960 (2 Shevat, 5720) — The IDF captured a Syrian army stronghold at Hirbat Tawfiq, located opposite Kibbutz Tel Katzir, east of the Sea of Galilee. This was a retaliatory action for repeated Syrian shelling of Israeli territory
1961 — (12th of Shevat, 5721) David Ben-Gurion resigned as premier of Israel; 3.5-kilometer tract of land southwest of Mount Kidod was chosen today as the site for the city of Arad
1978 — (21th of Shevat, 5738) Israel turned 3 military outposts in the West Bank into civilian settlements
1980 — (13 Shevat, 5740) A terrorist attack occurred at the Hebron market. Yehoshua Salome, a yeshiva student, was shot in the back of the head by an unknown assailant
1982 — (6 Shevat 5742) On the northern Hebron Hills, east of Hebron, at an altitude of 810 meters above sea level, 39 km southeast of Jerusalem (by road), 56 km from Beersheba, and 75 km from Tel Aviv, the religious settlement of Ma’ale Hever was established as a NAHAL outpost named Nahal Yakin. On August 24, 1983, the settlement was officially granted civilian status, and 11 families settled there. The settlement was renamed after the nearby Hever stream. On the Hebron Hills, in the Judean Mountains at an altitude of 720 meters, west of Hebron and Kiryat Arba, 62 km from Tel Aviv and 29 km from Jerusalem, the outpost Telem (originally named Mitzpe Gurvin) — today a settlement — was established by the Nahal movement. In 1995, buildings were constructed with the assistance of the Amana movement. In 2004, a group of about 20 religious families joined the settlement
2001 — (5th of Shevat, 5761) “Despite objections on both sides of the border, Egypt has agreed to start supplying Israel with natural gas next year, a deal totaling $3 billion that will continue until at least 2012″.
2010 (16 Shevat, 5770) — 120 saplings were planted by professional climbers during a tree‑planting ceremony for Tu B’Shevat in Haifa. The climbers planted the saplings while descending a steep mountain slope. This marked an initial phase in the creation of the “Gorge of the Heroes” (Gorge of Gibborim) park, intended to combine natural wilderness with recreational space. Thousands of drought‑resistant shrubs and plants were also planted. Over a thousand people participated in the tree‑planting event
2011 — (24th of Shevat, 5771) “A cornerstone laying ceremony was held for four apartment buildings with a total of 24 homes that are the beginning of the new Jerusalem community of Beit Orot on the Mount of Olives Ridge”
2019 (25 Shevat, 5779) — Construction began on a 6‑meter‑high above‑ground fence along Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip
People
1684 — (25th of Shevat, 5444) Benedict (Baruch) Nehamias de Castro, who was so successful in practicing medicine in his hometown of Hamburg “that in 1645 he was appointed physician in ordinary to Queen Christina of Sweden” passed away today.
1813 — (28th of Shevat, 5573) Birthdate of Dutch physician, pharmacist and philanthropist, Samuel Sarphati. “One of the great Amsterdammers of the 19th century,” Sarphati, was a promoter of public housing, an organizer of municipal services such as garbage collecting, and the builder of a bread factory that provided better and cheaper bread for the city. He also built the Amstel hotel. Sarphati is seen by Dutch history as a great philanthropist. Nobody ever knew he was Jewish—until the Germans authorities changed the name Sarphati Street into “Muiderschans”.
1841 — (9th of Shevat, 5601) German Jewish music teacher Moses Budinger who “edited the Jewish ritual for festivals with a grammatical commentary in Hebrew and the penitential prayers with a commentary” passed away in Cassel today
1848 (26 Shevat, 5608) — Nathan Straus, a prominent American philanthropist, was born in Germany. He died on January 11, 1931.
1862 (27 Shevat, 5622) — Yehuda Gur, linguist, educator, lexicographer, and writer—one of the pioneers of modern Hebrew literature in Israel—was born in Belarus. He died on January 21, 1950.
1892 — Eddie Cantor, American comedian, dancer, singer, and songwriter, was born. He died on October 10.
1918 (15 Shevat, 5678) — Yehezkel Chelnov, one of the founders and leaders of world and Russian Zionism, died of cancer in London. He authored an appeal to the Jewish people eight days after the Balfour Declaration, urging Jews to act for their own freedom.
1923 — Norman Mailer, American writer, was born. He died on November 10, 2007
1946 — (27th of Shevat, 5706) Having resigned from the RAF Mordechai «Modi» Alon returned to Palestine and enrolled as an architecture student at the Technion. Allon would gain fame as one of the first fighter pilots in the IAf and the first one to shoot down an enemy aircraft
2000 (24 Shevat, 5760) — Sergeants Lior Niv (Tel Aviv), Zvi Malka (Metula), and Major Tzvi Templehof (Netanya) of the Israel Defense Forces were killed in southern Lebanon.
2024 (21 Shevat, 5784) — Gaza War, Day 117. Major Izhar Hofman (36), a reserve officer and squad commander in the elite Shaldag unit from Eshhar, was killed in action. The IDF released casualty figures from the start of the war on October 7 through January 31: 560 soldiers killed (223 since the ground offensive began); 424 seriously wounded, 726 moderately wounded, and 1,647 lightly wounded—a total of 2,797 casualties