History events
638 — (18 Tevet 4398) The Sixth Council of Toledo convened. Following its decisions, Visigothic persecutions of Jews intensified. One decree stipulated that only Catholics were permitted to reside in Spain. Many Jews converted to Christianity; others chose to leave the country.
681 — (14 Shevat 4441) At the Twelfth Council of Toledo, twenty-eight anti-Jewish laws were enacted. The canons were first read publicly in the Church of Santa María in Toledo on January 27, 681.
1180 — (10th of Shevat, 4940) Philip Augustus (the new king of France) arrested large numbers of Jews while his father, Louis VII, who tried to protect the Jews (though not always successfully) was still alive. All the Jews found in synagogue on the Sabbath were arrested. Philip agreed to free them for 15,000 silver marks
1349 — (19th of Shevat, 5109) On an island in the Rhine River, seven hundred Jews of Basel Switzerland were burned alive in houses especially constructed for that purpose. Their children were spared from the burning but were forcibly baptized instead
1813 — (8 Shevat 5573) On the recommendation of Field Marshal M. I. Kutuzov, commander-in-chief, Emperor Alexander I granted an audience to Naftali-Hertz Schulman, a native of Stary Bykhov in Belarus. Well known in Jewish intellectual circles, Schulman had won the emperor’s favor before the war by publishing, in Hebrew, Russian, and German, a hymn celebrating the birth of the emperor’s daughter, Grand Duchess Elizabeth, in 1806. During the audience, the emperor acknowledged Schulman’s personal assistance to the Russian army leadership and expressed gratitude to Russian Jewry as a whole:
“I receive with goodwill the service of the Jewish people and their kahals. I trust they will justify my confidence in them.”
1826 — (1th of Shevat, 5586) Heinrich Heine wrote today, «I am hated alike by Jew and Christian,» «I regret very deeply that I had myself baptized. I do not see that I have been the better for it since. On the contrary, I have known nothing but misfortunes and mischances.»
1837 — (3 Shevat 5597) In the town of Kopyss (Belarus), the book Torah Or was printed for the first time. In a letter dated Tuesday, 3 Shevat 5597, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, the third Lubavitcher Rebbe, wrote: “In the book Torah Or, newly published, are included the maamarim comprising most of the interpretations [of the Alter Rebbe], beginning in 5556 (1796) and continuing until the end of 5572 (1812). Some of them our Rebbe personally reviewed and gave his holy approval for publication. The book contains two parts: the first includes interpretations of two books of the Pentateuch, Chanukah, Purim, and several teachings regarding Shavuot, the time of the giving of our Torah—found in the weekly portion Yisro—and a few [teachings on] Pesach—found in the portion Vayakhel. And the second [to be published], God willing, includes interpretations on the remaining books of the Pentateuch, the Song of Songs, and the festivals.”
Only the first part was eventually published, because several Jewish printing houses in Russia, including the press in Kapust where Torah Or was being produced, were shut down following a denunciation. In 5608 (1848), the second part was published in Zhytomyr under a new title: Likutei Torah
1873 — (10 Tevet 5633) Birth of the great Jewish poet Hayim Nahman Bialik into a poor Jewish family.
1885 — (22 Tevet 5645) Birth of Otto Hirsch, German—later, after Hitler’s rise to power, Jewish—public figure, chairman of the Representation of German Jews
1893 — (21th of Tevet, 5653) It was reported today that 88.61% of the 3,159 patients who were admitted to Mt. Sinai Hospital last year were “treated gratuitously” meaning that only 11.39% were “pay patients.” The hospital has treated 43,674 patients since its founding.
1904 — (21th of Tevet, 5664) The New York Times featured a review of Zionism and Anti-Semitism by Max Nordau, Officer d’ Academie, France, and Gustav Gotthell, Ph.D.
1908 — (5th of Shevat, 5668) In Little Rock, Arkansas, for the sum of $8,000 the Orthodox congregation purchased their own building at the corner of 8th and Louisiana. This was the first official home of Agudath Achim Synagogue
1920 — (18th of Tevet, 5680) The Jewish Youth Organizations of Germany convened a conference “leading Christians and Jews to discuss the present” outburst of anti-Semitism
1934 — (22th of Tevet, 5694) Berlin lawyer and WW I veteran “Max Naumann, the “founder of Verband nationaldeutscher Juden (League of National German Jews),” today “argued for “drawing a sharp distinction between «good» Jews like him and «bad» Jews like those immigrating from Eastern Europe.”
1936 — (14th of Tevet, 5696) It was reported today that more than 61,000 Jews from Europe “were absorbed in Palestine in 1935.”
1938 — (7th of Shevat, 5698) The Palestine Post reported on various shooting incidents in Jerusalem, Kalkilya and Nablus. A delegation of Polish Jews met the British ambassador in Warsaw and expressed their anxiety over the reports that a permanent minority status for the Jews in Palestine was under consideration. Similar fears were expressed in a telegram sent by the French section of the Jewish Agency to British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
1938 — (7th of Shevat, 5698) In “Palestine Modernized” published today George Brandt describes Tel Aviv as being the “most spectacular of the modern achievements in Palestine.” With a population of well over 100,000 “the world’s newest city is also its most modern.” As Brandt “rode through Tel Aviv’s well-paved streets” he “felt as though” he “were in the world of Well’s ‘Things To Come.’” He concludes that “the greatest enemy of young reborn Palestine is the desert. Will be be pushed back by the new forces or will it in years to come be the eventual victor
1939 — (18th of Tevet, 5699) As of today, “many Jews who have lost their jobs as a result of the Nazi campaign have turned to snow sweeping in Vienna” have “asked for night-hour assignments because they did not wish their former non-Jewish colleagues to see them working on the streets.”
1941 — (10th of Tevet, 5701) The Jews of Warsaw were forbidden to greet a German in public; Six thousand Jews exterminated in a pogrom in Bucharest, Romania
1942 — (20 Tevet 5702) Fighters of the Lehi underground robbed the Histadrut bank, killing two clerks.
1942 — (20 Tevet 5702) Shoah. Execution of 6,800 Jews in the town of Khmilnyk (Vinnytsia region)—the second major massacre there. Killings continued in Bohdanivka. On the same day, several hundred Jews were murdered in Novo-Heorhiivsk (Kirovohrad region). Jews of Odessa were ordered to relocate to a temporary ghetto in Slobodka by January 11. About 50 Jews from Bratslav (Vinnytsia region) were murdered.
1942 — (20th of Tevet, 5702) The Nazis deported 1,000 Jews from Theresienstadt and sent them to Riga. Only 102 would survive the war; The Nazis took 1,000 Jews from Klodaw to Chelmno and gassed them to death
1943 — (3th of Shevat, 5703) Jews in the Netherlands are no longer allowed to have bank accounts. Instead, all Jewish money is put into a central account; In Germany, clothing taken off of the dead Jews were given to the German People’s Winter Aid Campaign. The group complained that the clothes were soiled and stained with blood. Furthermore, the Jewish stars had not been removed
1943 — (3 Shevat 5703) Shoah. The “Winter Relief for the German People” organization filed a complaint with the German administration of the Łódź Ghetto, claiming that clothing sourced from the Chelmno extermination camp was poorly cleaned and that the yellow patch had not been removed from one of the coats.
1948 — (27 Tevet 5708) War of Independence. A Syrian attack on the northern kibbutz Kfar Sold. The kibbutz lay on the Syrian border, and infiltrators entered from there. Heavy fire struck the dining hall and central courtyard. The local defense forces took positions. One defender was killed while attempting to reach the signal tower to call for help. When British armored vehicles arrived, the attack was repelled.
1950 — (20 Tevet 5710) The Tel Aviv city council approved a plan to construct a modern concert hall next to the Habima Theater, at a cost of 200,000 liras
1951 — (2th of Shevat, 5711) In the Negev, founding of Kfar Yeruham which became the modern town of Yerhum in 1962. “Yeruham is the site of Tel Rahma, dating back to the 10th century BCE. On the outskirts of Yeruham is an ancient well, Be’er Rahma (באר רחמה). Some archeologists have identified it as the well where the biblical Hagar drew water for her son Ishmael.”
1951 — (2 Shevat 5711) Amnon Tza’iri of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel founded a temporary absorption camp (ma’abarah) in southern Israel for immigrants from Romania. It was named Kfar Yeruham; today it is the city of Yeruham.
1952 — (11 Tevet 5712) The Knesset approved (61 in favor, 51 against, 6 abstentions) the government’s decision to begin negotiations with West Germany and instructed the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee to review and ratify the agreement once reached.
1953 — (22th of Tevet, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported extensively on the bitter dispute raging between the Mapai and Mapam factions at Kibbutz Ein Harod. Members of the respective parties came to blows and only police arrival saved the kibbutz, already suffering from economic demise, from extensive damage
1976 — (7th of Shevat, 5736) Eight people were injured in a bombing at supermarket in Jerusalem
1953 — (22 Tevet 5713) A meeting of the Bureau of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee took place, at which deputy ministers of state security S. A. Goglidze and S. I. Ogoltsov delivered a report on the “Doctors’ Plot.” The draft of a TASS statement and a leading article for Pravda was discussed. In addition to bureau members—L. P. Beria, N. A. Bulganin, K. E. Voroshilov, L. M. Kaganovich, G. M. Malenkov, M. G. Pervukhin, M. Z. Saburov, and N. S. Khrushchev—N. A. Mikhaylov (as Secretary of the Central Committee) and Pravda’s editor-in-chief D. T. Shepilov were present. They were charged with organizing a letter from prominent Soviet Jews
1970 — (2 Shevat 5730) War of Attrition. A Soviet Defense Ministry operational group headed by Air Defense Commander-in-Chief P. F. Batitsky arrived in Cairo to prepare deployment sites for Soviet military units.
1976 — (7 Shevat 5736) Terror attack in Jerusalem. Eight people were injured in a store explosion.
2009 — (13th of Tevet, 5769) After a relatively quiet night, Palestinians in Gaza resumed rocket fire on the western Negev this morning
2011 — (4th of Shevat, 5771) Today, Israeli bulldozers demolished the Shepherd Hotel which had originally been built in the 1930s as a villa for Haj Amin al-Husseini, then the grand mufti of Jerusalem, who notoriously aligned himself with Hitler
2013 — (27 Tevet 5773) In less than 24 hours, over 20 centimeters of snow fell in Jerusalem
2014 — (8th of Shevat, 5774) Today Haaretz and The Times of Israel reported that Archaeologists from Ariel University and the Israel Antiquities Authority have begun excavating “Tel Rumeida, a site believed to be the location of biblical Hebron which lies in the heart of the modern-day divided city.” (As reported by Yifa Yaakov)
2014 — (9 Shevat 5774) Gas extraction from the “Yam Tethys” offshore field near Ashkelon, which had supplied Israel Electric Corporation for ten years, ceased as reserves ran out. Since February 2004, 23 million cubic meters of natural gas had been extracted, saving 9 million dollars. The gas enabled the production of 100 million kWh of electricity, replaced 142 million barrels of oil, and provided the basis for constructing eight gas-powered stations with a capacity of 7.3 MW.
2015 — (18th of Tevet, 5775): “Amedy Coulibaly, the Islamist gunman who allegedly killed four people and held others hostage before he was killed by French security forces at a kosher store in Paris today, reportedly told a French journalist at the height of the siege that he had deliberately chosen to target Jews.” The four Jews killed today were Yohan Cohen 22, Yoav Hattab 21, Philipe Barham, in his 40’s and Francois-Michel Saada in his 60’s
2018 — (22th of Tevet, 5778) A firebomb was thrown at the historic El Ghriba synagogue on the Tunisian Island of Djerba today
2018 — (22 Tevet 5778) Terror attack in Samaria, near the Havat Gilad outpost close to Shechem (Nablus). Gunmen in a passing vehicle opened fire on the car of Rabbi Raziel Shevach, a resident of Havat Gilad. He was fatally wounded and died in the hospital
People
1810 — (4th of Shevat, 5570): Rabbi Abraham of Kalisk passed away. Born in 1741, he was a controversial figure in the 3rd generation of Chassidic leaders. In his youth, he was a study partner of Rabbi Elijah «the Gaon of Vilna», who led the initial opposition against Chassidism; but later Rabbi Abraham himself joined the forbidden kat («sect», as the Chassidic movement was derisively called by its opponents) and became a disciple of Rabbi DovBer, the Maggid of Mezeritch, the successor to Chassidism’s founder, Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Tov. After Rabbi DovBer’s passing in 1772, much of the opposition to Chassidism was directed against Rabbi Abraham’s disciples, who, more than any other group within the movement, mocked the intellectual elitism of the establishment’s scholars and communal leaders; even Rabbi Abraham’s own colleagues were dismayed by the «antics» of some of his disciples. In 1777, Rabbi Abraham joined the first Chassidic «aliyah», in which a group of more than 300 Chassidim led by Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk immigrated to the Holy Land. Rabbi Abraham passed away in Tiberias on the 4th of Shevat of the year 5570 from creation (1810 CE)
1812 — (24th of Tevet, 5572) Liebmann Adler, American rabbi, born
1818 — (2 Shevat 5578) Birth of Antoine Samuel Adam-Salomon, French photographer and artist, one of the first to demonstrate that portrait photography could be an art on par with sculpture and painting
1908 — (5th of Shevat, 5668) Abraham Goldfaden died at the age of 67. Born in 1840 in what was then part of the Russian Empire, Golfaden was a driving force in the Yiddish theatre during its golden period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was an author, composer (yes, there were musicals), director and producer. He worked in several countries in Europe before settling in the United States for the last time in 1903. He was the author of sixty theatrical works, some of which are enjoying renewed interest with the current renaissance of Yiddish Literature. One of his early comedies was called Shmendrik «whose title-hero was the proverbial gullible, good-natured schlemiel. The play was so popular, that the word Shmendrik became part of the Yiddish language and survives today in American slang. The music for the famous Yiddish lullaby «Rozhinkes mit Mandlen,» (Raisin and Almonds) is a product of one of Goldfaden’s musicals. Goldfaden was so famous at the time of his death that he rated an obituary in the New York Times that referred to him as «the Yiddish Shakespeare,» who was «both a poet and prophet.» Furthermore, wrote the Times, «…there is more evidence of genuine sympathy with and admiration for the man and his work than is likely to be manifested at the funeral of any poet now writing in the English language in this country.» We may not recognize his name today, but 75,000 people «attended his funeral procession that went from the People’s Theater in the Bowery to Washington Cemetery in Brooklyn.»
1921 — (29 Tevet 5681) Birth of Ágnes Keleti, Hungarian gymnast.
2024 — (28 Tevet 5784) War with Gaza. Day Ninety-Five. An explosion in Al-Bureij killed the following reservists:
• Master Sergeant Amit Moshe Shahar, 25, from Ramat Yohanan
• Captain (res.) Denis Krohmalov Veksler, 32, from Be’er Sheva
• Captain (res.) Ron Efrimi, 26, from Hod HaSharon
• Staff Sergeant (res.) Roy Avraham Maimon, 24, from Afula, serving as a medic
• Staff Sergeant (res.) Akiva Yasinsky, 35, from Ramat Gan
• Master Sergeant (res.) Gavriel Blum, 27, from Beit Shemesh
The explosion occurred at the end of a tunnel-demolition operation.
In the central Gaza Strip, 24-year-old Master Sergeant (res.) Elkanah Newlander, combat medic of the 99th “Bazakh” Division, was killed in action; another reservist was seriously wounded