History events
-1273 BCE — (6th of Nisan, 2488 according to the Jewish calendar) On the last day of the thirty-day mourning period for Moses, Joshua sent two scouts across the Jordan River—his friend Caleb and Pinchas (source), the grandson of Aaron—to the nearby Canaanite city of Jericho. On the third day, the scouts returned and reported to Joshua that they had been sheltered in her home by a woman named Rahab, from whom they learned that the hearts of the city’s inhabitants were filled with fear of the Jews, who had defeated the two mighty kings Sihon and Og on the eastern bank of the Jordan. This woman told them: «Our hearts melted and everyone’s courage failed because of you, for the Lord your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below.» In gratitude for her help, she asked that when the city was captured, the Jews would spare her family
1344 — (25th of Adar I, 5104) The citizens of the German city of Speyer petitioned the German emperor for the confiscation of the property and houses of the local Jewish community. The community had been accused of a blood libel the previous year during Passover for the alleged murder of a Christian named Ludwig. The petition was granted
1415 — (29th of Adar, 5175) Bull of Benedict XIII. against the Talmud and any Jewish books attacking Christianity
1499 — (29th of Adar I, 5259) According to a decision of the municipal council, Jews were expelled from Verona and its region. Their places were taken by Christian moneylenders, who oppressed the poor so severely that the Jews were eventually recalled.
1518 — (28th of Adar I, 5258) The Jews of Prague paid the magistracy 50 groschen in Czech coinage for land for a cemetery.
1795 — (20th of Adar I, 5555) The society «Felix Libertate» was founded in Amsterdam, aiming to fight for equal rights and the emancipation of Jews. The decision of the National Assembly of the Batavian Republic on September 2, 1796, granting Jews equal rights with other Dutch citizens, was influenced by the activities of «Felix Libertate» members. They mainly represented the assimilated elite of Amsterdam and German Ashkenazi Jews and were a significant minority among their people. The majority of Jews were not interested in politics
1812 — (27th of Adar, 5572) The King of Prussia signed an edict on the civil equality of Jews. It declared Jews «citizens of the Prussian State,» abolished all restrictions on residence, occupations, and property acquisition. Jews were permitted to hold public and municipal offices and teach in all educational institutions in Prussia; they were obligated to perform military service. However, they were prohibited from entering state service. A royal decree in 1822 repealed the seventh and eighth articles of the edict, which had granted Jews the right to teach in universities
1900 — (10th of Adar II, 5660) In the Prussian town of Konitz, a student named Ernst Winter went missing and was later found dead. Local antisemites accused Jews of ritual murder (a blood libel).
1933 — (13th of Adar I, 5693) Holocaust. Stormtroopers of the Nazi Party broke into the courthouse in Breslau (Wrocław) and expelled Jewish judges, prosecutors, and lawyers
1943 — (4th of Adar-1, 5703) “The Sephardic Jewish community of Monastir, historically the largest Jewish community in Macedonia was deported; Bulgarian police monitored by SS rounded up the entire Jewish population of Skopje, Bitola and Štip.The population was sent to temporary detention center in the state tobacco warehouse known as «Monopol» in Skopje
1947 — (19th of Adar, 5707) Kibbutz Yakum (He Shall Rise) was established on the Plain of Sharon north of Tel Aviv. The collective was founded by members of the Hashomer Hatzair (Young Guard Movement); A group of American, Rhodesian and South African Jewish war veterans who had served variously with the American military, the British Army and South Africa’s Sixth Armored Division have founded Maayan Baruch (Spring of Barch), a kibbutz in the Upper Galilee near the borders with Syria and Lebanon. The kibbutz is named in honor of Bernard Gordon of blessed memory who had served as vice president of the South African Zionist Federation and who had left half of his large estate to the Jewish National Fund
1948 — (30th of Adar-I, 5708) Arabs bombed the headquarters of the Jewish Agency. The explosion of the car bomb in the courtyard of KH-UIA’s building, tragically claiming the lives of Keren Hayesod — United Israel Appeal’s Director, Leib Jaffe and 11 other Keren Hayesod — United Israel Appeal employees
1949 — (10th of Adar, 5709) The first Israeli troops reached the Gulf of Aqaba where a white bedsheet with a hand drawn blue Star of David is hoisted as a sign of the Jewish state’s claim to the area around Eilat
1950 — (22th of Adar, 5710) “The visiting Istanbul Fenerbache soccer players were carried off the hield on the shoulders of Israeli fans today after they had whipped the Tel Aviv Hapoel 3 to 0 in the first mach of their Israel tourney.” The enthusiastic demonstration was probably the result of Turkey’s announcement this week that it was recognizing the state of Israel, making Turkey the first Moslem country to do so
1952 — (14th of Adar, 5712) The Jerusalem Post reported that the Israel Medical Association warned that the «deteriorating nutrition situation was inherently dangerous.» The Minister of Agriculture, Levi Eshkol, voiced full support for «Magen David Yarok» the planting of vegetables in home gardens. Urgent steps were taken to solve the problems of theft, pilferage and smuggling in the Haifa port which assumed dangerous proportions
1954 — (6th of Adar II, 5714) The Kiosk Owners’ Union decided to start a campaign against the sale of low-quality soft drinks in Israel. Those owners who pledged to sell only high-quality beverages received permission to post a notice to that effect and sell a new special product—sparkling wine
1978 — (2th of Adar-1, 5738) The Palestine Liberation Organization carried out a massive terrorist attack in Israel; Eleven Palestinian terrorists landed in Zodiac boats on a beach just outside Ma’agan Michael and from there ventured towards Tel Aviv in a hijacked bus in what has become known as the Coastal Road massacre where 39 Israelis were killed
2008 — (4th of Adar II, 5768) The Jewish sports club «Hakoah,» closed by the Nazis 70 years earlier, reopened in the Austrian capital, Vienna.
2014 — (9th of Adar II, 5774) The Knesset passed the «Governance Stability Law.» According to it, the electoral threshold was raised to 3.25%, the number of ministers (excluding the prime minister) was limited to 18, and deputy ministers to 4; the practice of appointing ministers without portfolio was abolished.
2021 — (27th of Adar I, 5781) A ceremony was held on Washington Street in Jerusalem to open a branch of the Czech Embassy in Israel. The branch of the Czech Embassy became the fifth diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, following the embassies of the United States and Guatemala and the diplomatic missions of Hungary and Australia.
2024 — (1st of Adar II, 5784) War with Gaza. Day One Hundred Fifty-Seven. By order of the National Security Headquarters, over 70 orphans from the Gaza Strip were transported through Israeli territory to Judea and Samaria. Large IDF forces were deployed to carry out the evacuation, requiring the creation of a secure corridor from the Taba border crossing to the tunnel highway entrance near Jerusalem, so that Arab buses could travel unimpeded to the territory of the Palestinian Authority
2026 — (22 Adar 1 5786) A new settlement was founded on Mount Ebal in Samaria.
People
1485 — (24th of Adar I, 5245) The Jewish mathematician and astronomer Joseph Vizinho, in Portuguese service, conducted experiments on an island near the coast of Guinea to calculate the latitude of a ship’s location. Upon returning to Lisbon, the results of the experiment were reported to King João II in the presence of the royal physician Rodrigo, the German cartographer and astronomer Martin Behaim (who had lived in Lisbon since 1480), and Christopher Columbus. Joseph Vizinho and another Jewish scholar, Abraham Zacuto, worked on improving primitive navigation instruments and tables that would allow Portuguese sailors to calculate latitude by the sun. Zacuto was a renowned mathematics teacher in Spain until 1492 but was forced to flee to Portugal, where he became court astronomer to João II. Five years after his arrival, he avoided forced conversion under Manuel I and moved to Tunis, and from there to Jerusalem. He not only compiled astronomical tables later improved by his pupil Joseph Vizinho for practical use at sea, but also constructed the first metal astrolabe and was an influential advocate for Vasco da Gama’s expedition. Joseph Vizinho arrived in Portugal shortly after João II ascended the throne in 14811897 — Polina Zhemchuzhina (Pearl Karpovskaya) was born in southern Russia—a revolutionary, member of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1918, wife of V. Molotov. Died in 1970.
1904 — Hilde Bruch was born—a renowned physician and psychiatrist in the USA and worldwide. Died in Houston on December 15, 1984.
1906 — (14th of Adar I, 5666) Zino Davidoff was born—owner of the Swiss tobacco company Davidoff. When he was 5, his family left Russia and ended up in Switzerland, where his father opened a small tobacco shop on the Boulevard des Philosophes in Geneva. After several years in South America and Cuba, Zino opened cigar production, eventually creating the world-famous firm. Among its other products are cognacs, perfumes, cosmetics, coffee, leather goods, and pens. Died January 14, 1994.
1908 — V. Weinstock was born—a film director. Died October 18, 1978.
1911 — Haim Cohn was born in Lübeck, Germany—an Israeli jurist, Minister of Justice, Attorney General of Israel, laureate of the Israel Prize. Died April 10, 2002.
1911 — A. Migdal was born—a Soviet scientist, theoretical physicist. Died February 9, 1991.
1916 — American children’s book author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats (Jacob Ezra Katz) was born. His book «The Snowy Day» is considered a landmark in children’s literature for featuring an African American child as the main character for the first time
1931 — (22th of Adar-1, 5691) Birthdate of media entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch’s mother was Jewish
1937 — (28th of Adar I, 5697) (Or March 4th (21st of Adar), 1937) A. M. Granovsky died—a theater director. In 1919, he created a Jewish theater studio in Petrograd, which moved to Moscow a year later and became known as GOSET
1985 — Mikhail S. Gorbachev, who promised “a policy of openness (glasnost) and restructuring (perestroika) was appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party today