History events
1688 — (16th of Adar I, 5448) On this night a large group of secret Jews planned to escape from the island of Majorca by booking passage on an English ship. They were looking for religious freedom. A storm delayed their departure, and their plan was betrayed. All those planning to leave were put in prison. In the spring of 1691 these prisoners were sentenced at an auto-de-fe, where 37 were burned at the stake
1817 — (20th of Adar, 5577) In New York, the Stockbrokers Guild formerly incorporates itself and becomes the New York Stock Exchange. Among the founders were several prominent Jewish financiers including Benjamin Seixas, Isaac Gomez, Alexander Zuntz and Ephraim Hart
1918 — (24th of Adar, 5678) The first issue of Di varhayt (The Truth), the first Yiddish communist paper in the world, was published today. Di varhayt was published in Petrograd, Russia by the People’s Commissariat for Jewish Affairs. It was closed down after a brief existence, as the People’s Commissariat was shifted to the new capital Moscow and the lack of Yiddish journalists in Petrograd. The paper was later re-started as Der Emes
1930 — (8th of Adar, 5690) Der shtern, “a Yiddish language newspaper published in Kharkov” which “was an organization of the Central Committee of the Communist party” demanded today that OZET, “the public Society for Settling Toiling Jews on the Land” in the Soviet Union, “liquidate all religious habits in the Jewish colonies” noting that many of “the Jews still observed the Sabbath” and Kashrut
1943 — (1th of Adar I, 5703) Greek Jews of Salonika were transported to Nazi extermination camps
1949 — (7th of Adar, 5709) During Operation Uvda, as the defending Jordanian forces withdrew, the Golani forces took Ein Ghamr; During the day the IDF moved towards Umm Rashrash through the Valley of the Fingers which in the evening the Alexandroni Brigade set sail from Sodom on the Dead Sea with the intent of seizing Ein Gedi; Following elections; David Ben-Gurion formed the first government of Israel. Ben-Gurion served both as Prime Minister and Defense Minister. Future Prime Minister Golda Meir served as the Minister of Labor and Social Security.
1965 — (5th of Adar I, 5725) The Knesset passed the “Broadcasting Authority Law” which is the basis for the Israeli Broadcasting Authority’s operations. The Israeli Broadcasting Authority (IBA) was formed as an independent corporation responsible for all broadcasts in Israel and to the Diaspora. Until 1965, Kol Israel operated under the Office of the Prime Minister
1969 — (18th of Adar, 5729) During “The War of Attrition” a massive artillery barrage marked the start of the Egyptian campaign to destroy the Bar Lev Line
2011 — (2th of Adar I, 5771) The Hurva Synagogue, which was officially rededicated a year ago, celebrated a milestone today. For the first time since its destruction by the Jordanian Arab Legion in May 1948, the Ashkenazi synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter hosted a wedding ceremony as an operational house of worship
People
1612 — (14th of Adar I, 5372) Mordecai Jaffe, codifler of rabbinical law, died
1860 — (14th of Adar, 5620) Joseph Almanzi, bibliophile and poet, died
1957 — (5th of Adar II, 5717) A shepherd from kibbutz Beit Guvrin was killed by terrorists in a field near the kibbutz
2010 — (22nd of Adar, 5770) David Kimche, reputed Israeli spymaster and diplomat passed away. A native of London who made Aliyah in 1936 he fought in the War of Independence before attending the Sorbonne and Hebrew University