History events
1244 — (27th of Adar, 5004) The Pope ordered the burning of the Talmud
1316 — (14th of Adar-1, 5076) “Louis the Bavarian granted the city of Worms the privilege of levying on the Jewish community a yearly tax of 100 pounds heller in addition to the 300 pounds it had thitherto paid.”
1490 — (16th of Adar-1, 5250) In Florence, Berahiel ben Hezekiah Trabot completed “a small machzor” today
1496 — (24th of Adar, 5256) Jews were expelled from the Carinthia region of Austria. This occurred after the estates of Carinthia and Styria agreed to regularly pay Emperor Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire the amount he had previously collected from the Jews. Until then, the emperor had resisted the expulsion because Jewish taxes covered most of his war expenses
1882 (18 Adar I, 5642) Z. Levontin and Rabbi Yechiel M. Pines established the so‑called “Pioneer Committee”, aimed at purchasing land in Israel from Arabs to set up Jewish settlements
1932 — (1th of Adar-1, 5692) The new turbines at the hydroelectric project created by Pinhas Rutenberg began to turn today
1933 (11 Adar I, 5693) Shoah. The first anti‑Jewish excesses in Berlin
1936 — (15th of Adar, 5696) “Two Jews were killed and four seriously injured today in rioting in the town of Prystytyk in the District of Radom, Poland while “scores” more “were beaten or wounded and 700 Jewish families were thrown into panic.”
1937 — (26th of Adar, 5697) “The anti-Semitic ‘Prophecy’ attributed to Benjamin Franklin and distributed in Germany within the last few days by the government news service was identified on publication” in the United States today “as a document that made its appearance in 1934 and was investigated for several months by Professor Charles A. Beard” one of the leading historians in the United States who “pronounced it ‘a barefaced forgery’”
1942 — (20 Adar I, 5702) Shoah. During a raid in Feodosia (Crimea), 9 Jews were captured and shot. On the same day, in the village of Chigrin (Berezovsky District, Odessa Oblast), 772 Jews from Odessa were executed
1943 — (2 Adar II, 5703) Shoah. Bulgarian Interior Minister P. Grabovsky reversed the order to deport Bulgarian Jews to death camps. Those already arrested were released. Although he had sought to carry out the Germans’ order, he did not dare defy the directive of Bulgarian Tsar Boris III, who had intervened to protect his Jewish subjects
1947 — (17th of Adar, 5707) The first unauthorized immigrant ship known to have been sent to Palestine by the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation was taken into government custody today. The ship which was known variously as the SS Ben Hecht and/or the SS Abril was filled with 599 Jewish refugees including 385 men, 194 women and 20 children. All of the refugees were placed on two ferries by the British and sent immediately to displaced persons camps in Cyprus
1949 — (8th of Adar, 5709) During Operation Uvda, one unit from Alexandroni Brigade captured Ein Gedi while another unit captured Masada; “Golani forces captured Gharandal and proceeded to Ein Ghadyan (now Yotvata); two IDF units set off to take Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba
1950 — (20 Adar I, 5710) The coffin containing the remains of World War II hero and paratrooper Hannah Senesh was brought from Hungary to Kibbutz Sdot Yam
1950 — (20th of Adar, 5710) It was officially announced tonight that Turkey “has accorded full diplomatic recognition” to the state of Israel; AT&T announced today that it has created a new direct circuit between New York and Tel Aviv which will improve phone service between the major cities. Calls can only be made between 7 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon at a cost of $12 for the first three minutes
1953 — (22th of Adar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel had been divided into six administrative districts: three urban: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, and three rural: the Northern, Central and South
1971 — (12 Adar I, 5731) The first demonstration in Jerusalem by members of the “Black Panthers” movement, who demanded social justice on behalf of Moroccan Jews. Only a few activists and sympathetic left‑wing students participated
1978 — (30th of Adar, 5738) The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has started the commercial exploitation of oil from the Alma II and III wells, situated near a-Tur in the Gulf of Suez
1994 — (26 Adar I, 5754) The Knesset enacted the Basic Law on Freedom of Enterprise.
2002 — (25 Adar I, 5762) Terrorist attack in Jerusalem at the Moment Cafe, killing 11 people and wounding 50. In Netanya, an Arab opened fire on pedestrians, killing 2 people and injuring 45.
2006 — (9 Adar I, 5766) Bedouins of the Negev staged a protest demonstration at the Big Shopping Complex in Be’er Sheva against a government plan to build designated settlements for them. They demanded the right to live according to their traditional ways to preserve their national culture. The state had attempted to curb illegal settlement of the desert, particularly in strategically vital areas.
2010 — (23 Adar I, 5770) Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection introduced a ban on excessively loud noise at any time of day. Previously, complaints about noisy neighbors could only be filed after 11:00 PM and during afternoon hours; under the new rules, citizens could call the police at any time.
2012 — (15 Adar I, 5772) The Israeli Air Force eliminated Zuheir al‑Qaisi (Abu Ibrahim), leader of the Palestinian terrorist organization Popular Resistance Committees, in Gaza. Between 9 and 10 March, between 60 and 80 rockets were fired at Israel. Sirens sounded in Ashdod, Be’er Sheva, Ofakim, Gan Yavne, Gader, and other localities. The shelling lasted five days, with over 250 rockets and mortar shells launched.
2024 — (29 Adar I, 5784) Gaza War, Day 155. Strikes targeted locations across the Strip
People
1854 — Ludwig Metzel, entrepreneur and founder of Russia’s first advertising agency, author of the slogan “Advertising is the engine of trade”, was born. He died in 1942 in Paris.
1863 — (18 Adar I, 5623) Rachel Mironovna Khin, writer, was born. She died on 12 December 1928
1873 — (10th of Adar, 5633) Julius Fürst, Hebrew philologist and Jewish bibliographer, died
1876 — Philip (Shaya) Isaevich Goloshchekin, revolutionary and commissar of the Ural Military District in 1918 (involved in deciding the fate of the Russian imperial family), was born. He died on 28 October 1941.
1924 (3 Adar II, 5684) Artist Reuven Rubin exhibited his works at the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem. The exhibition ran until 1 April.
1927 — Arieh Lavi, Israeli actor, musician, and singer, was born in Germany. He served in the Palmach. He died on 29 June 2004.
1940 — Albert Syrkin‑Bernardi, Soviet intelligence officer, died at age 45 in an NKVD prison.
1943 — R. Fischer, 12th World Chess Champion, was born. He died on 17 January 2008.
1943 — (2 Adar II, 5703) — Twenty‑three‑year‑old military police officer Henk Drogt refused to obey orders to surround Jews in the Dutch town of Grootegast. Eleven colleagues made the same decision; Yad Vashem recognized them as Righteous Among the Nations in the 1980s. When Drogt refused the order, command threatened to send the policemen to a concentration camp, but they held firm. Unlike his 11 colleagues, Drogt avoided arrest by deserting and joining the underground. He helped smuggle downed Allied pilots to the Belgian border and hid Jews from the Nazis. He was arrested in August 1943 and executed on 14 April 1944, aged 24.
1952 — Amir Peretz, Israeli statesman, Knesset member, former head of the Histadrut, leader of the Labour Party, and Defence Minister, was born.
1992 — (4th of Adar II, 5752) Menachem Begin died. Before the founding of the State, he led the Etzel; later he was opposition leader in parliament, and from 1977 Prime Minister. He negotiated peace with Egypt, oversaw the destruction of Iraq’s nuclear reactor, and launched Operation Peace for Galilee
2002 — (25th of Adar, 5762) Limor Ben-Shoham, 27; Nir Rahamim Borochov, 22; Danit Dagan, 25; Livnat Dvash, 28; Tali Eliyahu, 26;Uri Felix, 25; Dan Imani, 23; Natanel Kochavi, 31; Baruch Lerner-Naor, 28;Orit Ozarov and Avraham Haim Rahamim, 29 were murdered by an Arab terrorist and 54 more people were murdered at the Café Moment in Jerusalem “about 100 meters from the home of the Prime Minister
2008 — (2 Adar II, 5768): Twenty-year-old Sergeant Liran Banay, who was critically wounded last Thursday when a bomb was detonated near an IDF vehicle patrolling the Gaza security fence, died of his wounds on Sunday morning. The Givati Brigade soldier, who lost both legs as a result of Thursday’s explosion, died in Soroka Hospital in Ashkelon