History events
1492 — (1st of Av, 5252) The book of Proverbs with commentaries of Levi ben Gershom (Gersonides) and Menham Meiri was published in Leira Portugal by Abraham d’Ortas
1670 — (18st of Av, 5430) Jews expelled from Vienna
1804 — (17st of Av, 5564) Jacob Abraham de Mist, the Dutch commissioner-general issued a proclamation in Cape Town instituting religious equality for all which allowed for the Jews, among others, to practice their religion openly in public
1835 — (28th of Tammuz, 5595) The Jews of Hebron were attacked
1929 — (17th of Tammuz, 5689) Ahdut HaAvoda and Hapoel HaTzair, the two major labor parties in Eretz Israel officially merge
1941 — (1st of Av, 5701) Immediately after the Germans occupied the city of Lvov, Ukrainian militia commanders proclaimed Petliura Day and embarked on a three day pogrom that massacred 6,000 Jews; A two day long Pogrom began in Kovno, Lithuania which would claim the life of 3, 800Jews
1944 — (5st of Av, 5704) Thirty-one faked postcards from deportees arrive at the Lódz (Poland) Ghetto. The writers claim to have been happily resettled, when in reality they have been gassed at Chelmno
1948 — (18th of Tammuz, 5708) During Operation Shoter, Israeli forces renewed their attack on an area south of Haifa known as the “Little Triangle.”
1976 — (27th of Tammuz, 5736) The Jerusalem Post reported that the Defense Ministry announced that it intended to allow Arabs living in Southern Lebanon to work inside Israel and that there would be no discrimination between Christians and Moslems willing to come. Israel had also sent truckloads of food to the Lebanese civil war victims. [This would be the start of what was known as The Good Fence Policy.]
1993 — (7st of Av, 5753) The IDF crosses into Lebanon in Operation Accountability. The weeklong incursion was brought on by Hezbollah’s rocket attacks on Israeli settlements and the PLFP’s a killing of Israeli soldiers
1994 — (17st of Av, 5754) Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Jordan’s King Hussein signed a declaration at the White House ending their countries’ 46-year-old state of war
People
1572 — (15st of Av, 5332) Isaac Luria the foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region passes away
1721 — (1st of Av, 5481) Rabbi Aaron ben Benjamin Wolf, the son of Isaac Benjamin Wolf ben Eliezer Liebman, author of Naḥlat Binyamin passed away today at Frankfort-on-the-Oder
1739 — (1st of Av, 5499) Johann Christopher Wolf, bibliographer of Jewish books, died
1848 — (24th of Tammuz, 5608) Birthdate of Arthur Earl Balfour.
1885 — (13th of Av, 5645) On Shabbat Nachamu, Sir Moses Montefiore passed away at the age of 101. ….. Although he was an English man, Jews celebrated his 100th birthday around the world and his passing was marked in the same way. Born in 1784, Montefiore was a successful businessman and civic leader. He was recognized as a leader of the Jewish community and was knighted in 1837. He was a brother-in-law to the head of the English branch of the House of Rothschild. Montefiore was an observant Jew and a frequent visitor to Eretz Israel. He donated large sums of money for the development of agricultural settlements and built the first modern Jewish housing complex outside the walls of what is called the Old City. In other words, he started the expansion of what is Jerusalem today. He also provided funds for a windmill for grinding corn which is now known as “Montefiore’s Windmill.” It still stands today in Jerusalem as a testament to a man who supported the Jewish homeland and worked to alleviate the suffering of European Jewry
1959 — (19th of Tammuz, 5719) Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog who had been serving as the second Chief Rabbi of Israel since 1936 passed away today