History events
1034 — (12nd of Shevat, 4794) According to Yahia of Antiochia the port of’ Akko fell dry for an hour and there was a Tsunami at Jaffa
1278 — (2nd of Shevat, 5038) Rabbi Isaac Males was burned at the stake by order of the Inquisition. A Jew who had converted to Christianity returned to Judaism. When he died, he was buried in a Jewish cemetery by the Rabbi
1559 — (25th of Tevet, 5319) The first critical edition of Hovot ha-Levavot by Rabbi Bahya ben Joseph ibn Paquada was published in Mantua, Italy
1601 — (11 Shvat 5361) Jewish books were burned in Rome (see also 3 April 1593)
1711 — (24 Tevet 5471) A fire broke out in the Jewish quarter of Frankfurt am Main, destroying about 500 houses. The fire began in the home of Rabbi Naftali bar Isaac Katz — a legal scholar and Kabbalist
1839 — (18 Tevet 5599) In Frankfurt am Main, under the editorship of Isaac Marcus Jost, the first issue of the weekly Israelitische Annalen was published. It covered literature, history, and Jewish chronicles from many lands, particularly Germany. The final issue appeared on 24 December 1841
1840 — (28th of Tevet, 5600) The first edition of Der Orient, “a German weekly founded by Julius Furst” was published today in Leipsic
1882 — (13th of Tevet, 5642) Members of the Baruch family of Alexandria Egypt were released from jail and exonerated from ritual murder charges in the Fornaraki affair
1919 — (3 Shvat 5679) In Latvia, the first issue of the official Yiddish Communist newspaper Der Royter Emes (“The Red Truth”) appeared. Its final issue was published on 22 May, shortly before the fall of Soviet power in Latvia
1920 — (13th of Tevet, 5680) French forces stationed at a fort near Metulla retreated northward after being attacked by Bedouins. With the defeat and retreat of the French army, the 120 members of the settlement of Metulla, all of whom were Jewish, fled to Sidon where they boarded a ship to Haifa. Metulla was the northern most Jewish town in Eretz Israel having been settled in 1896. Since it was close to the border with Lebanon, which was under French control at the time, the retreat of French military forces would have left the Jews to the “tender mercies” of local, armed Arabs
1920 — (13 Tevet 5680) The First Congress of Jewish Communities of Lithuania convened in Kaunas
1938 — (2 Shvat 5698) Following the Peel Commission, Britain established a new commission to examine the situation in Mandatory Palestine — the Woodhead Commission. It was instructed “to propose possible temporary and permanent boundary lines between Jews and Arabs under British administration.” The commission began its work in April 1938
1943 — (27th of Tevet, 5703) Young members of the Jewish Fighting Organization are rounded up in Czestochowa, Poland. Its leader, Mendel Fiszlewicz, uses a hidden pistol to wound the German commander of the Aktion. Fiszlewicz and 25 other men are immediately shot, and 300 women and children from the group are deported to the Treblinka death camp and gassed.
1943 — (27th of Tevet, 5703) The SS administrative office instructs all concentration-camp commandants to send human hair taken from Jewish women to the firm of Alex Zink, Filzfabrik AG at Roth, Germany, near Nuremberg, for processing
1948 — (22 Tevet 5708) War of Independence. The Haganah command in Jerusalem developed a plan for strikes against Arab targets in the city in order to bolster the morale of Jews living in mixed neighborhoods, many of whom were abandoning their homes due to constant attacks (see 3 January, 6 January).
1949 — (3 Tevet 5709) Regular passenger railway service between Haifa and Tel Aviv was inaugurated
1950 — (15th of Tevet, 5710) “Israel’s Knesset gave the government a 62 to 28 vote of confidence on foreign policy tonight” which effectively gives approval to “peace negotiations with Jordan that would provide for recognition of Jordan’s sovereignty over the Arab-held part of Jerusalem and eastern Palestine.”
1953 — (17 Tevet 5713) The government of Israel reduced the quota of freshly baked bread supplied to the north when it was discovered that residents were feeding it to their chickens.
1955 — (10 Tevet 5715) The Maki faction proposed a motion of no confidence in the Knesset, in response to Defense Minister Pinhas Lavon’s declaration that, in his view, peace with the Arab states was impossible
1956 — (20th of Tevet, 5716) Announcement appeared today in the Seattle Times: “The first new Jewish congregation in Seattle in more than a generation will be launched with a service Friday evening…”
1972 — (17 Tevet 5732) A demonstration of the “Black Panthers” movement was held at Davidka Square in Jerusalem, protesting cuts to education and social welfare budgets
1974 — (10th of Tevet, 5734) “Twenty-eight Jews from Vilnius” sent a “letter to the Supreme Soviet” demanding passage of a “law guaranteeing the right unhindered emigration.”
1985 — (11th of Tevet, 5745) As of today, since November 20, 1984, 6,500 Ethiopian Jews have secretly made their way to Israel as part of Operation Moses
1999 — (16th of Tevet, 5759) “Gunmen opened fire this morning on a van transporting Jewish settlers in Hebron, wounding two Israeli women as two dozen bullets riddled the vehicle.”
2002 — (20th of Tevet, 5762) The Israeli Army said today that it had seized a ship carrying 50 tons of rockets, mines, antitank missiles and other munitions meant for Yasir Arafat’s Palestinian Authority, even as the Bush administration’s envoy met with Mr. Arafat in the hope of strengthening his declared cease-fire with Israel.
2009 — (8 Tevet 5769) IDF Operation Cast Lead in Gaza. Ground forces entered combat. Day Nine.
2010 — (18 Tevet 5770) A ceremonial lowering of the flag was held at the Israel Air Force base at Ben-Gurion Airport, marking the closure of the base and airfield
2011 — (28th of Tevet, 5771) Israeli greenhouses on a farm near Ashkelon sustained damage from a terrorist rocket fired from Gaza today, and the Air Force responded by bombing a Hamas training base
2024 — (23 Tevet 5784) War with Gaza. Day Ninety. Fighting continued across the entire sector.
2025 — (4 Tevet 5785) War in Gaza. Day Four Hundred Fifty-Six. In the northern part of the strip, the Kfir Brigade, together with the Yaalom combat engineering unit under the command of the 162nd Division, destroyed the so-called “officers’ quarter,” a complex of buildings whose location enabled the control of a vast area, including the Israeli border
People
1719 — (24 Tevet 5479) Rabbi Naftali bar Isaac Katz died at the age of 77
1729 — (4th of Shevat, 5489) Hebrew poet Meir Bacharach, the brother of Michael Bacharach passed away at Presburg
1786 — (5th of Shevat, 5546) Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher and religious reformer, died
1797 — (6th of Tevet, 5557) Wilhelm Beer, German astronomer, born
1804 — (20th of Tevet, 5564) In the Netherlands, Meyer Samuel Issacs and Rebbec Samuels Isaac gave birth to Rabbi Samuel Myer Isaacs, the husband of Jane Symmons who was “a professor of Hebrew in London before coming to the United States where he led Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, founded Congregation Shaaray Tefila and was the first rabbi to deliver sermons in English while also being a strong abolitionist. Date of death — May 19, 1878
1813 — (3 Shvat 5573) In Trowbridge, England, in the family of the tailor Samuel Pitman and his wife Maria, the scholar A. Pitman — the “father” of shorthand — was born
1855 — (14th of Tevet, 5515) Birthdate of Edward S. Rothschild, the native of Louisville who “is believed to have built the first sizable office building in San Francisco after the…earthquake” and who served as President of two New York banks – the Public National Bank and the Chelsea Exchange Bank formerly known as “The Bank of the Theatre
1858 — (18th of Tevet, 5618) Birthdate of Victor Léon the Jewish Austrian-Hungarian librettist best known for his work on the romantic operetta “The Merry Widow. Date of death — February 3, 1940
1878 — (29th of Tevet, 5638) Birthdate of Zvi Nishri, the native of Russia who made Aliyah in 1903 and became one of the “founding fathers” of modern physical education programs in Israel. Date of death — July 22, 1973
1880 — (20th of Tevet, 5640) Yaakov Abuhatzeira, also known as the Avir Yaakov and Abu Hasira,” a leading Moroccan Rabbi” passed away today in Egypt while on his way to Palestine
1891 — Solomon Lurye was born — a scholar, historian of antiquity, and Hellenist philologist. He died in 1964.
1899 — (22 Tevet 5659) O. Rivkin was born — a revolutionary and the first chairman of the Central Committee of the RKSM.
1910 — The Jew A. Moisey was elected governor of the state of Iowa from the U.S. Democratic Party.
1920 — Naftali Feder was born — an Israeli political and public figure, veteran of the Great Patriotic War who fought in the Soviet Army. He died in 2009