History events
1240 — (8th of Adar-1, 5000) Seizure of all copies of the Talmud in France
1849 — (9th of Adar, 5609) Israel’s Herold was published for the first time in the United States
1917 — (9th of Adar, 5677) Djemal Pasha offers to give the Jews free access to the Western Wall in Jerusalem to pray if they provide the sum of 80,000-100,000 Francs
1919 — (1th of Adar, 5679) Emir Faisel writes a letter to Felix Frankfurter expressing his support for the Zionist cause. ”We Arabs…look with deepest sympathy on the Zionist Movement….We will wish the Jews a most hearty welcome… The Arabs, especially the educated among us, look with the deepest sympathy on the Zionist movement. Our deputation here in Paris is fully acquainted with the proposals submitted yesterday by the Zionist Organization to the Peace Conference, and we regard them as moderate and proper.» Unfortunately, the French, who controlled Syria after the war, drove Faisal from Damascus, ending his power and the dream of peace in the Middle East.
1920 — (13th of Adar, 5680) Arabs attacked Kfar Giladi forcing the settlers to abandon their land and take refuge in “the Shia village of Taibe” before finding ultimate sanctuary at Ayelet Hashahar, a kibbutz settled in 1915 during the Second Aliyah
1926 — (17th of Adar, 5686) “Important Jewish manuscripts, relics, early printed books, antiquities, ceremonial objects and other items of Judaica” totaling 6,174 pieces “have been purchased in Germany for the Hebrew Union College at Cincinnati and are now on their way to “the United States” according to an announcement made today by Dr. Adolph S. Oko, who has been in Europe for ten weeks working on the project
1927 — (29th of Adar-1, 5687) “The wooden hut of the former tenants of the railway station in Tel Shamam” were brought to the hill of what became Kfar Yehoshua, a moshav in northern Israel named in honor of Yehoshua Hankin
1938 — (30th of Adar-1, 5698) The Palestine Post reported that the Haifa Port inaugurated a new, extensive cargo jetty
1945 — (18th of Adar, 5705) The Jewish Infantry Brigade was activated as part of the British Army
1947 — (11th of Adar, 5707) The four hundred ton “motor ship Susanna” left Italy carrying 800 Jewish refugees who hope to avoid the British blockade and find a home in Palestine; The Irgun gave proof to its announcement that open warfare exists between its forces and the British by attacking British military installations in Haifa with a barrage of 500 hand grenades; The Haganah accused the British of “deliberately destroying the Jewish economy” by imposing martial law on “thousands of people who have nothing whatsoever to do with terror or crime.”
1953 — (16th of Adar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that seven infiltrators from Jordan were killed in two separate incidents on Israeli territory. The Soviet ambassador to Egypt, Semyon Kozirev, invited the former mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin el-Husseini, to visit Moscow. The increased food rations for Pesach included an extra 100 grams of meat, a welcome addition to the monthly rate of 200 grams, and 290 grams of olive oil to every consumer
1968 — (3th of Adar, 5728) Iraqi Prime Minister, Tahir Yahya, instituted a law that impoverished the Jews. «Jews couldn’t sell their cars or furniture. All licenses given to Jewish pharmacists were canceled» and their pharmacies were ordered to close. «All commercial officers in Baghdad had to dismiss their Jewish employees. Muslim owned businesses were warned not to engage in commerce with Jews
1996 — (12th of Adar, 5756) In Jerusalem a Palestinian terrorist boarded a No. 18 bus, detonated an explosive belt murdering 19 people and wounding another seven
2008 — (26th of Adar-1, 5768) This evening, Israel pulled its troops out of the Gaza Strip marking the end of operation Hot Winter
People
505 — (11th of Adar, 4265) Rav Ahai ben Ray Huna, a member of the Saboraim, passed away
1337 — (29th of Adar, 5097) Levi ben Gershon, better known by his Latinised name as Gersonides or the abbreviation of first letters as RaLBaG Levi observed a solar eclipse today
1619 — (27th of Adar, 5379) Shlomo Ephraim ben Aaron Luntschitz passed away. Born at Lenczyk in 1550 he was “a rabbi, poet and Torah commentator, best known for his Torah commentary Keli Yakar.” (For more see Seeing with Both Eyes: Ephraim Luntshitz and the Polish-Jewish Renaissance by Leonard S. Levin)
1801 — (18th of Adar, 5561) David Emanuel took office as the Governor of Georgia. Emanuel was the first Jewish person to serve as a governor in the United States
1957 — (30th of Adar I, 5717) Controversial Holocaust survivor Rudolf (Israel) Kastner, the man who negotiated with Eichmann to save Hungarian Jews was shot by by Zeev Eckstein, 24, a Holocaust survivor, and died of his injuries nine days later
2002 — (19th of Adar, 5762) Capt. Ariel Hovav (25), Lt.(res.) David Damelin (29), 1st Sgt.(res.) Rafael Levy (42), Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Avraham Ezra (38), Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Eran Gad (24), Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Yochai Porat (26), Sgt.-Maj.(res.) Kfir Weiss (24), Sergei Birmov (33), Vadim Balagula (32) and Didi Yithak (66) were murdered by Fatah terrorists at an IDF roadblock