History events
-1313 — (20 Nisan 2448 BCE) The Exodus. Towards evening, the Jews who had left Egypt were overtaken by Pharaoh’s army, as he decided to bring back his slaves — six hundred chariots raced ahead, and the total number of soldiers was about a million
1190 — (9th of Nisan, 4950) Crusaders killed 750 Jews in Bury St Edmonds England
1349 — (27 Adar II 5109) Accused of spreading the plague, the Jews of Baden-Baden were killed
1389 — (20th of Adar-1, 5149) A priest living in Prague, Czechoslovakia was hit with a few grains of sand by small Jewish boys playing in the street. He became insulted and insisted that the Jewish community purposely plotted against him. Thousands were slaughtered, the synagogue and the cemetery were destroyed, and homes were pillaged. King Wenceslaus insisted that the responsibility rested with the Jews for venturing outside during Holy Week.
1478 — (14th of Nisan, 5238) In Spain, a group of Jews and conversos gathered for a Seder on the first night of Passover. “A young cavalier” discovered the group and reported the matter to the authorities. Since it was holy week, the Spanish decided that the Jews had gathered to “to blaspheme the Chrisitian religion.” When Alonso de Hojeda, the prior of the Convent of San Pablo in Seville and enemy of the Jews and New Christians heard of the event he took the news to Ferdinand and Isabella. Supposedly this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and the two monarchs petitioned the Holy See to issue a Bull authorizing an Inquisition. The Bull would be granted and the road to the expulsion of 1492 opened up like a superhighway
1487 — (23 Adar II 5247) The first Jewish printing press was opened in Naples by the book printer Joseph ben Jacob Ashkenazi Gunzenhauser and his son Azriel. (Possibly, this date and the event of March 28, 1487, are the same. There, the first printed book; here, the first printing press.)
1527 — (16 Nisan 5287) The Master of the Venetian Republic, Knight Gabriel Moro, delivered a fiery anti-Jewish speech in the Senate and proposed to permanently expel the Jews from Venice. After three votes, the proposal passed by a narrow margin; a corresponding decree was adopted: lending money at interest was strictly forbidden in Venice. Soon everyone realized that such a policy was a grave economic mistake. That year, there was a shortage of everything. Grain prices rose sharply; everyone was in difficult circumstances. The treasury was empty, and the only means to replenish it was a forced loan. Finally, in November, after several months of debate, the expulsion decree was annulled, and the Jews were granted some minor concessions in exchange for a loan of 10,000 ducats
1540 — (10th of Nisan, 5300) Today “R. Isaac Porto ha-Kohen obtained from the Duke of Mantua permission to build an Ashkenazic synagogue.”
1808 — (19 Adar I 5568) A decree by Napoleon established a new system of communal organization for French Jews. In all departments with at least a thousand Jews, consistories were created, and in Paris, the Central Consistory was established. The Jewish population of France was divided into seven consistories, encompassing 46,160 people. Of this number, 16,155 were in the Lower Rhine department, 10,000 in the Upper Rhine department, and 20,005 in the rest of France. The consistory centers were: Paris, Strasbourg, Winzenheim (later Colmar), Metz, Nancy, Bordeaux, and Marseille.
1900 — (17 Adar II 5660) The football club «Ajax» was founded in Amsterdam. Since its owners were Jewish, it was nicknamed «the Jewish club» for a long time. That’s why Israeli flags were so often seen in the stands of its stadium. This is now in the past.
1918 — (5 Nisan 5678) The Harbin Zionist organization prepared and held a «Palestine Week.» A large concert took place in the building of the commercial assembly, and money was collected for the Palestine Foundation Fund.
1937 — (6 Nisan 5697) The newspaper «The Palestine Post» reported that 17 Jews, two policemen, and one British soldier were wounded in a bomb explosion at the Eged bus station on Jerusalem’s Jaffa Street. Two Arabs were detained on suspicion. Later, four Arabs were wounded when bombs were thrown at two Jerusalem cafes frequented by Arabs.
1938 — (15 Adar II 5698) The Holocaust. In Austria, Jewish community institutions and all Zionist organizations were closed; their leaders and heads were arrested and sent to Dachau.
1942 — (29 Adar I 5702) The Holocaust. The deportation of 54,000 Jews from Slovakia to Auschwitz began. It continued until the end of July.
1942 — (29 Adar I 5702) The Holocaust. In the village of Sakharovka (Berezovsky district), a «self-defense» unit shot about 400 Jews from Odesa.
1943 — (11 Adar II 5703) The Holocaust. The deportation of Jews from Macedonia and Thrace to Auschwitz. 11,343 people. They were sent from Bulgaria, where they had been gathered in early March. Local Bulgarian Jews were supposed to join them, but the King of Bulgaria, Boris, intervened; however, he was unable to save the Jews of the newly acquired territories.
1948 — (7 Adar II 5708) A meeting in Washington between US President Truman and the President of the World Zionist Organization, Weizmann. As a result, Truman reversed his decision to block the UN’s 1947 Palestine partition plan and granted the request to support Jewish emigration to the Land of Israel.
1948 — (7 Adar II 5708) The War of Independence. A convoy returning from the settlement of Har-Tov was ambushed and destroyed. Two armored vehicles fled the battlefield, leaving their comrades behind; help from Kiryat Anavim (6th Battalion of the PALMACH) arrived too late.
1955 — (24 Adar I 5715) Construction began on the university in Tel Aviv.
1964 — (5 Nisan 5724) The cornerstone was laid for a new neighborhood in Bnei Brak, named after Rabbi Yitzhak Isaac Halevi Herzog — Kiryat Herzog
1968 — (18th of Adar, 5728) “Two people were killed and 28 children were in landmine attack on a school bus in the Negev north of Eilat.”
1986 — (7 Adar II 5746) Nahalat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv became a pedestrian mall.
2010 — (3 Nisan 5770) The traditional half-marathon race took place in Jerusalem. Several central streets were closed in connection with the event.
2013 — (7 Nisan 5773) In the evening, the members of the 33rd government of Israel were sworn in at the Knesset. The coalition included: Likud; Yisrael Beiteinu; HaTnuah; Yesh Atid; The Jewish Home. In total, these parties held 68 out of 120 Knesset seats following the elections for the 19th Knesset. For the first time in 10 years, a coalition was formed without the ultra-Orthodox parties, which remained in the opposition
2025 — (18 Adar I 5785) The War in Gaza. Day five hundred twenty-nine. At night, after a two-month pause, the IDF resumed active combat operations. This occurred after Hamas refused to release the hostages and rejected all proposals received from mediators. The operation was named «Strength and Sword.»
2025 — (18 Adar I 5785) Alphabet, the parent company of Google, confirmed the acquisition of an Israeli cybersecurity start-up for $32 billion. This is the largest deal in the history of Israel’s tech sector to date
People
1580 — (2nd of Nisan, 5340) Rabbi Benjamin ben Moses of Lemberg, author Tavnit ha-Bayt passed away
1762 — (23rd of Adar, 5522) Rabbi Judah ben Eliezer passed away
1886 — (11rd of Adar-1, 5646) Leopold Zunz, Jewish scholar, died
1923 — (1 Nisan 5683) Eliezer Kashani was born in Petah Tikva. A fighter in the ETZEL (Irgun), he was executed by the British on April 16, 1947, along with three comrades: Mordechai Alkahi, Yehiel Dresner, and Dov Gruner
1930 — Eight one year old Arthur James Balfour, a prominent British politician who served as Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905 passed away today. During World War I, Balfour served as Foreign Minister. It was while serving in this position that he gained his place in Jewish History by giving his name to the Balfour Declaration, which read in part, «His Majesty’s Government view with the favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object…» The Balfour Declaration came to be one of the basic documents in the Jewish diplomatic efforts to establish what would become the modern state of Israel
1941 — (19 Adar I 5701) In the French newspaper «Pariser Zeitung,» the world chess champion A. Alekhine began publishing a series of articles under the general title «Aryan and Jewish Chess.» He finished on March 23.
1944 — (23 Adar I 5704) Amnon Lipkin-Shahak was born. He was an Israeli statesman, the 15th Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, a minister, and a Knesset member. He died on December 19, 2012.
2018 — (2 Nisan 5778) A terrorist attack. In the Old City of Jerusalem, 32-year-old Adiel Kolman from the settlement of Kochav HaShahar was stabbed to death. The attacker, an Arab from the village of Akraba near Shechem (Nablus), was neutralized by a police officer.
2024 — (8 Adar II 5784) The War with Gaza. Day one hundred sixty-four. In a battle in the northern Gaza Strip, Staff Sergeant Matan Vinogradov, 20, from Jerusalem, was killed