History events
155 — (15th of Av, 3915) On this day (or July 30th), Emperor Antoninus Pius permitted the burial of the participants of the Bar Kokhba revolt who had died during the fall of the fortress city of Beitar during the reign of his predecessor, Hadrian. For 20 years, the remains of the warriors and Torah sages had been tied to poles around the city to terrify those who contemplated resistance to Roman authority. Rome never repealed the decrees of previous emperors, and this event was perceived as a miracle, indicating that in the near future, brutal persecutions and the shedding of innocent blood would cease, and laws forbidding the observance of the Sabbath and circumcision would be repealed. In connection with this event, the Torah sages instituted a special blessing and incorporated it into the grace after meals
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.
1571 — (9th of Av, 5331) A Jewish ghetto appeared in Florence
1734 — (13th of Av, 5494) A decree by Empress Anna Ioannovna allowing Jews to retail trade in the Sloboda regiments and Little Russia due to the scarcity of «merchant people.» Another decree on the same matter was issued in Russia on August 8, 1734.
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
1905 — (28th of Tammuz, 5665) Kerch. A patriotic demonstration led by the city governor turned into a pogrom. During the pogrom, on the orders of the city governor, a self-defense unit was fired upon; two of its fighters were killed (one of them was a Russian high school student, P. Kirilenko). A gypsy camp that had come to the city specifically to loot Jewish property actively participated in the pogrom, alongside port workers and other local residents.
1920 — (16th of Av, 5680) The «First Judea Regiment» — a regular Jewish unit of the British army in Palestine — was disbanded
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
1933 — (8th of Av, 5693) S. Dubnov on leaving Germany, where he had lived for 11 years, for Riga: «…An atmosphere of escape. People come, leaving, saying goodbye forever, or grieving at the impossibility of leaving… Palestine is the main goal of the fleeing… We should have gathered in one of the Berlin synagogues, sat on the floor, and mourned the destruction of German Jewry, which has only just begun and will continue for years»
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
1941 — (7th of Av, 5701) Shoah. Göring’s directive to the Head of the Main Reich Security Office, Heydrich, regarding the necessity «to make all preparations for a total solution of the Jewish question within the German sphere of influence in Europe.»
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
1947 — (14th of Av, 5707) In response to the execution of British sergeants the day before, British troops broke into Tel Aviv, ransacked shops, attacked passersby, and after firing on a bus, killed five Jews and wounded many others.
1947 — (14th of Av, 5707) At a meeting between G. Meir and the British High Commissioner for Palestine, Sir A. Cunningham, after the Irgun executed the sergeants, it was promised to the British, on behalf of the national institutions, to mobilize all military forces against the «renegades.» The outcome of this policy was clashes between the Haganah and Irgun, which resulted in casualties.
1948 — (24th of Av, 5708) Rationing of shoes, clothing, and textiles was introduced due to a currency deficit in Israel
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
1974 — (12th of Av, 5734) The Israeli government informed the Knesset of an attempt to establish a settlement in Sebastia, Samaria. Hundreds of settlers who arrived in Sebastia were confronted by IDF soldiers. After four days, the settlers were evacuated.
1985 — (13th of Av, 5745) The Knesset passed the 12th amendment to the Basic Law on the Knesset, prohibiting parties that deny the democratic and Jewish essence of the State of Israel — the state of the Jewish people — from participating in elections
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.
2024 — (25th of Tammuz, 5784) In Tehran, at approximately 2 a.m., the head of the political bureau of the terrorist organization Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was eliminated by a rocket strike
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
1882 — (15th of Av, 5642) Itamar Ben-Avi, a Jewish journalist and son of E. Ben-Yehuda, was born in Jerusalem. He is considered the first modern Jew for whom Hebrew was a native language. He died in 1943.
1901 — Names. (15th of Av, 5661) R. Slánský, a revolutionary and one of the leaders of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, was born. He died on December 3, 1952.
1912 — (17th of Av, 5672) M. Friedman, an American economist and laureate of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 1976, was born
1914 — Bernt von Kügelgen, a German anti-fascist who was the first to visit and tell the world about the tragedy of Babi Yar, was born
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
1980 — (18th of Av, 5740) E. Borokim, a prominent Jewish activist accused of spying for Israel, was executed in Tehran