History events
1255 — (25th of Av, 5015) Little St. Hugh of Lincoln disappeared
1570 — (29th of Av, 5330) The ghetto in Florence, Italy was established by order of Duke Cosimo I.
1882 — (15th of Av, 5642) Ten members of the Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) led by Zalman David Levontin founded Rishon LeZion (First to Zion) which has become the fourth largest city in Israel. The settlement marked the beginning of the first Aliyah (going up) to Eretz- Israel, and the beginning of Rothschild’s deep involvement with settlement activities
1923 — (18th of Av, 5683) A Hebrew version of Verdi’s “Traviata” was performed in Jerusalem this evening. The performance was described as “brilliant.” The Hebrew version of the opera had previously been performed in Tel Aviv.
1927 — (2th of Av, 5687) The Maccabees soccer team of Palestine suffered defeat by the Hispano club by the score of 3 goals to 2 in the tenth game of its American tour before a crowd of 3,000 at Hawthorne Field in Brooklyn this afternoon
1935 — (1th of Av, 5695) It was reported from Warsaw today that “a total of 16,772 Jews emigrated from Poland in the first six months of 1935, 12,372 went to Palestine
1940 — (25th Tammuz, 5700) According to The Olkusz Memorial book ….. “a German police unit arrived in Olkusz” today and gathered all the Jewish men in the main square. There the Jews were forced to lie on the ground while the policemen and members of the SD “registered them”. During this process, the Germans brutally beat the Jews, shooting one of them. In order to further humiliate them, Rabbi Moshe Yitzhak Hagerman was forced to don his tallith (prayer shawl) and tefillin (phylacteries) that had been defiled, and to stand barefoot and pray next to the prostrate men of the Jewish community. At the end of the day, the Jews were permitted to return home, and the Germans left. Due to the beatings suffered by the Jews, the event was subsequently referred to as ‘Bloody Wednesday’”
1940 — (25th Tammuz, 5700) The Japanese Consul-General ….. began issuing travel visas to Japan through Russia so that Jews could get to Curacao and Dutch Guiana where one would not need entrance visas. Despite the Japanese official policy to deny any such visa to Jews, Chiune and his wife Yukiko, sat for many hours writing and signing visas by hand. They issued 300 visas a day which would normally take one month’s worth of work for the consul. After the Soviet Union annexed Lithuania he was forced to move on to Germany. It is estimated that he saved well over 3,000 lives. Both were later honored by the Israeli government at Yad Vashem as righteous gentiles
1947 — (14th of Av, 5707) In reprisal for the execution of Avshalom Haviv, Yaakov Weisss and Meir Nakar, the Irgun killed two British sergeants whom they were holding captive. Following the death of the two sergeants and the publicity surrounding it, the British public demanded that the troops be brought home. In Palestine, several Jews were murdered by British soldiers as a counter-reprisal
1951 — (27th Tammuz, 5711) The Jerusalem Post reported on most orderly elections to the Second Knesset. According to this newspaper’s fifth successive edition which appeared at 6 a.m. Mapai won 42.23 per cent of the vote, Mapam 19.18, General Zionists 13.47, Hapoel Hamizrahi 7.37, Progressives 5.33, Herut 4.22, Poalei Aguda 1.49, Communists 1.36, Mizrahi 1.11, Aguda 1.07
1961 — (18th of Av, 5721) The one millionth Oleh since the establishment of the Jewish State arrived in Israel
2002 — (22nd of Av, 5762) A bomb exploded inside a cafeteria at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine people, including five Americans.
2003 — (2th of Av, 5763) The Israeli Knesset enacted the Nationality and Entry Into Israel Law, prohibiting any residency or citizenship status to Palestinians who live in the territories and are married to Israeli citizens.
People
1743 — (10th of Av, 5503) In Jerusalem, Chaim ben Moses ibn Attar,Talmudist and Kabbalist passed away. He was buried on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. Born at Mequenez, Morocco in 1696 he was one of the most prominent rabbis in Morocco.
1840 — (1th of Av, 5600) Nachman Krochmal, Galician scholar, died
1919 — (4th of Av, 5679) Birthdate of the Italian-Jewish writer and chemist Primo Levi
1936 — (12th of Av, 5696) Birthdate of Uzi Yari, the Ramat Gan native who rose to be a “brigade commander during the Yom Kippur War” and was killed while leading “the elite Israeli army commando unit Sayeret Matkal” as freed hostages taken by terrorists at Tel Aviv’s Savoy Hotel