History events
-1313 — BC (22 Nisan 2448) After crossing the Red Sea on dry land, the Jews, after wandering in the Shur desert, arrived at a spring. However, when they brought their lips to the water, having been accustomed for so many years to the pleasant-tasting water of the Nile, they refused to drink the completely tasteless spring water. The water was bitter and undrinkable, which is why the place where the spring was located was called Marah, meaning «bitterness.» Burning with thirst, the unfortunate people grumbled and demanded from Moses: «What shall we drink?». Moses prayed to God, and in response to his pleas, God pointed him to a tree and suggested that he throw a piece of it into the water. As soon as Moses did this, the bitterness of the water turned to sweetness.
-1273 — BC (15 Nisan 2488) On the night of the 14th to the 15th of Nisan, the sons of Israel celebrated Passover in memory of the Exodus from Egypt.
1413 — (17 Nisan 5173) The governor of Mallorca issued a decree prohibiting the Jews of the island from living outside the ghetto and interacting with Christians.
1499 — (10 Adar-1 5259) King Manuel I of Portugal issued a decree forbidding Jews and new Christians (Marranos) from emigrating to Africa, to territory under Moorish control. A certain Gonzalo of Lule was fined for secretly transporting new Christians from Algarve to Al-Araish on the coast of Morocco. Arabs allowed Marranos to return to Judaism, and Jews to practice it (a second decree on this matter was issued by Manuel on April 24 of the same year).
1516 — (17 Nisan 5276) One of the ministers of the Venetian Republic proposed again to isolate Jews from other residents of Venice at a meeting of the College. A delegation of Jews opposed this. However, the opinion of the Doges did not change.
1848 — (15 Adar-2 5608) The municipality of Pressburg (modern Bratislava) denied Jews the right to join the National Guard
1848 — (15th of Adar II, 5608) Twenty Jews were killed in riots and street fighting that took place in Berlin. Anti-Jewish riots also spread to Bavaria, Baden, Hamburg and many other cities
1885 — (15th of Nisan, 5645) The Yiddish theater season opened in New York with an operetta by Abraham Goldfaden
1899 — (9th of Nisan, 5659) Herzl established the Jewish Colonial Trust as the financial arm of the World Zionist Organization. Its goal was to encourage Jewish settlement and projects which would “advance the Zionist cause.” One of its subsidiaries, the Anglo-Palestine Company, later became Bank Leumi. Other investment helped create the Israel Electric Cooperation and Bank Hapoalim
1911 — (20th of Adar, 5671) “The body of a thirteen year old boy, Andrei Yustschinksi was discovered near a brick factory on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.” This simple statement describes the first event in what will eventually become The Case of Mendel Bellis, one of the most infamous episodes of anti-Semitism in Czarist Russia
1917 — (26 Adar-1 5677) A letter from Trumpeldor from Russia expressing hope to form a Jewish regiment to send to the front in the Caucasus or Persia. Trumpeldor tried to convince the Provisional Government to form a Jewish regiment as part of the Russian army. According to his plan, the regiment would break through the Turkish front in the Caucasus to the Land of Israel and participate in its liberation from Turkish rule.
1917 — (26 Adar-1 5677) The first public meeting of Zionists in Russia, attended by 7,000 people
1934 — (4th of Nisan, 5694) “Anti-Semitism, hitherto inactive in Yugoslavia, made its first appearance” in Sarajevo tonight “when a group of students demonstrated noisily during a concert given by a Jewish singing society composed mostly of German emigrant Jews” after which “they threw rotten eggs and distributed anti-Semitic leaflets.”
1936 — (26th of Adar, 5696) Founding of Kol Israel (Voice of Israel)
1942 — (2 Nisan 5702) Holocaust. From Zholkva (Nesterov, Lviv region) 700 Jews were transported to Belzec. On the same day in Rohatyn (Ivano-Frankivsk region), security police from Ternopil shot 1,820 Jews.
1943 — (13th of Adar I, 5703) On Purim Eve in Czestochowa, Poland, over 100 Jewish doctors and their families were taken away and shot; “Bulgarian military police, assisted by German soldiers, took Jews from Komotini and Kavala off the passenger steamship Karageorge, massacred them, and sunk the vessel.”
1945 — (6 Nisan 5705) In Italy, near Ravenna — the first battle of the Jewish Brigade against the fascists. The brigade was part of the Fifth Corps of the British Army, which faced the 42nd German Mountain Division. The attack was made without tank and artillery support and failed
1949 — (19th of Adar, 5709) Israeli forces took control of Ein Gedi on the western shore of the Dead Sea
1952 — (15th of Adar, 5712) The Jerusalem Post reported that Britain was contributing £4,452,440 for the first year of the three-year international program (the Blandford Plan) to resettle 800,000 Arab refugees from Palestine in various parts of the Middle East. In addition Britain announced that it was proposing an interest-free loan of £1,500,000 to Jordan to contribute indirectly to the same purpose
1963 — (24 Adar-1 5723) Foreign Minister Golda Meir informed the Knesset that a group of German scientists and specialists was operating in Egypt, working on the development of long-range missiles.
1971 — (23 Adar-1 5731) Prime Minister Golda Meir stated that Israel would never return to the borders of 1967.
1988 — (2 Nisan 5748) The beginning of unrest in Judea and Samaria. The First Intifada. Its first victim was reservist M. Katz, who was guarding the civil administration building in Beit Lehem. He was shot
2002 — (7th of Nisan, 5762) Seven Israelis died when an Islamic terrorist blew himself up in a packed bus
2006 — (20th of Adar, 5766) Haaretz reported that Archaeologists have uncovered underground chambers and tunnels constructed in northern Israel by Jews for hiding from the Romans during their revolt in 66-70
2010 — (5th of Nisan, 5770) A weak earthquake was felt in northern Israel tonight; no injuries or damage was reported.
2020 — (24 Adar-1 5780) The Israeli government approved a decree of emergency, enacting a full quarantine in the country. It meant that leaving one’s home without a valid reason was prohibited.
2022 — (17 Adar-1 5782) The largest funeral in Israeli history took place in Bnei Brak. Several hundred thousand people came to say goodbye to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the leader of the Lithuanian stream in ultra-Orthodox Judaism and author of several halachic books. He died the day before at the age of 94.
2024 — (10 Adar-2 5784) War with Gaza. Day one hundred sixty-six. Fighting throughout the sector.
2025 — (20 Adar-1 5785) War in Gaza. Day five hundred thirty-one. IDF forces began a ground operation in the northern Gaza Strip
People
1693 — (22th of Adar II, 5453) Talmudist Gerhson Ashkenazi, whose many followers including David Oppenheimer passed away today in Metz
1800 — (26 Adar-1 5560) Gottfried Bernardi was born — a German philologist and literary historian who converted during his student years. From 1841 to 1843, he was the vice-rector of Berlin University, and from 1844, he took the position of chief librarian, fundamentally reorganizing the university’s rich library, introducing precise cataloging and so on. He died on May 14, 1875
1806 — (1st of Nisan, 5566) Rabbi Joseph Harif of Zamosc, author of Mishnat Hakhamim passed away today
1835 — (19 Adar-1 5595) Aaron ben-Wolf died at the age of 81 — a writer; he was a teacher in a Jewish Breslav school. Preaching enlightenment, he sharply criticized Orthodox Judaism and showed a clearly dismissive attitude towards the Talmud. In 1804, in an article he published defending Jews against anti-Semitic attacks, he advised the government to appoint a commission to study the Talmud and midrashic literature; this commission should have the right to delete all objectionable expressions from the Talmud. He subsequently completely distanced himself from Jewish literature and, in his later years, according to contemporaries, even forgot the Hebrew language.
1903 — Albert Sidney Pinkus was born — an American chess player, chess theorist, journalist, and traveler. In the early 1930s, he made 10 trips into the jungles of Venezuela and British Guiana to study the flora and fauna. He died on February 4, 1984.
1916 — Albert Einstein published his theory of relativity in a journal called Annalen der Physik
1917 — (26th of Adar, 5677) In Jerusalem, ”noted archeologist Eleazar Sukenik and educationalist and women’s rights activist Hasya Sukenik-Feinsod” gave birth to Yigal Sukenik who as Yigael Yadin gained fame fighting in the War for Independence, serving as the second Chief of Staff for the IDF and becoming a first-rate archeologist
1933 — A. Gorodnitsky was born — a doctor of geological and mineralogical sciences, professor, poet, and the first laureate of the Okudzhava Prize.