History events
-1313 — (4 Sivan 2448 BCE) Moses completed the creation of the first part of the Torah, from Genesis to the Revelation.
70 — (11th of Iyar, 3830) During the Siege of Jerusalem, Titus, the commander of the Roman legions and the son of Emperor Vespasian, opens a full-scale assault on Jerusalem and attacks the city’s Third Wall to the northwest
1267 — (13 Iyar 5027) The church council in Vienne opened, which adopted a number of anti-Jewish decrees. It introduced the wearing of a distinguishing mark, forbade Jews from visiting baths and taverns owned by Christians, or keeping Christian servants; Christians could not buy food products from Jews (due to fear that the products were poisoned), Jewish doctors were not allowed to treat Christians, and the construction of new synagogues was prohibited
1427 — (13th of Iyar, 5183) All Jews were ordered expelled from Berne, Switzerland. Expulsions of Jewish communities continued unabated throughout the 15th century: Treves, 1419; duchy of Austria, 1421; Cologne, 1424; Zurich, 1436; archbishopric of Hildesheim, 1457; Schaffhausen, 1472; Mayence, 1473; Warsaw, 1483; Geneva, 1490; Thurgau, 1491; Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, Lithuania, 1492; Mecklenburg and Arles, 1493; Portugal, 1497; Nuremberg 1499; Provence, 1500
1484 — (15 Iyar 5244) In Zaragoza, during the first auto-da-fé, four Marranos were burned
1682 — (12th of Iyar, 5442) Great auto da fé at Lisbon
1856 — (5 Iyar 5616) The Highest Decree was issued, ordering that Jews no longer be appointed to the Russian Navy and that all Jewish sailors be transferred to the land forces.
1881 — (11 Iyar 5641) Pogroms in Konotop and Vasylkiv.
1882 — (21 Iyar 5642) In the state of New Jersey, using funds from Baron Hirsch, the first and largest agricultural settlement for Jews who had emigrated from Russia was founded in the USA. By the end of the 1880s, four other Jewish agricultural colonies were established in the same region.
1903 — (13 Iyar 5663) By his decree, the Russian Emperor Nicholas II reclassified 101 villages within the Pale of Settlement as towns (mestechki), which were also open to Jews.
1933 — (14 Iyar 5693) The Shoah. Books by Jewish authors were publicly burned in the squares of German cities.
1941 — (13 Iyar 5701) The Shoah. In France, 4,000 Jews were arrested and sent to concentration camps
1945 — (27th of Iyar, 5705) Theresienstadt was liberated by the Soviet Army. Located in the Czech town of Terezin (Theresienstadt was its German name), the ghetto gained some measure of fame as a show place where the Nazis brought representatives of the International Red Cross to show how well the Jews were being treated in the Third Reich
1948 — (1th of Iyar, 5708) The Jewish Agency sent one of its most formidable negotiators, Golda Meir, on a second secret mission to King Abdullah of Transjordan; Tzfat (Safed) was secured by the Haganah; Units of the Moslem Brotherhood were driven back after they had attacked Kefar Darom
1948 — (1 Iyar 5708) War of Independence. The «Givati» and «Negev» brigades launched Operation «Lightning» to clear the area south of Ramle and Rehovot, up to Be’er Tuvia, of Arabs. It lasted 5 days.
1953 — (25 Iyar 5713) Israel. The government decided to abolish state control over the production and trade of clothing and footwear.
1968 — (12 Iyar 5728) War of Attrition. Shelling of Moshav Margaliot in the Upper Galilee.
1977 — (22 Iyar 5737) Due to overload, a helicopter crashed during maneuvers in the Judean Desert. 54 servicemen were killed.
1978 — (3 Iyar 5738) The population of Israel is 3,677,000.
1992 — (7 Iyar 5752) The Bible Lands Museum opened in Jerusalem, housing one of the world’s richest collections of ancient art from the peoples of the Middle East.
2008 — (5 Iyar 5768) At night, the Israeli Air Force attacked groups of terrorists in Gaza three times. This was in response to a mortar shell fired from Gaza on the evening of May 9 at Kibbutz Kfar Aza; a resident of the kibbutz was killed.
2010 — (26 Iyar 5770) The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), uniting 31 of the world’s most industrially developed countries, voted to include Israel in its ranks.
2010 — (26 Iyar 5770) The grand opening of the new Nanotechnology Center took place at Bar-Ilan University
2011 — (6th of Iyar, 5771) On Independence Day, the Central Bureau of Statistics reported that Israel had a population of 7,746,000, 75% of which is Jewish. In the past year 178,000 babies were born and 24,500 immigrants made aliyah
2018 — (25 Iyar 5778) At night, Iranian armed formations operating in Syria fired about 20 rockets at IDF positions on the Syrian-Israeli border. In response, the IDF carried out a series of strikes on targets in Syrian territory.
2021 — (28 Iyar 5781) Israel was attacked with dozens of rockets from Gaza. Rockets targeted Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Ashkelon, Sderot, and areas near the Gaza border. In response, the Israel Defense Forces attacked over 130 terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip. Planes, helicopters, tanks, and artillery were involved; on the night of May 11, the start of Operation «Guardian of the Walls» was announced (see April 22, 2021).
2023 — (19 Iyar 5783) During the IDF counter-terrorism operation «Shield and Arrow» in Gaza — the first successful combat launch of «David’s Sling» — the Israeli medium-range air defense system.
People
1810 — (6th of Iyar, 5570) Rabbi Joshua Ha-Kohen Perahyah, author of Vayikra Yehoshua passed away today
1843 — (10 Iyar 5603) Rabbi Kaufmann Kohler was born — a leader of Reform Judaism in the USA. He died on January 28, 1926.
1866 — Leon Samoilovich Bakst was born — graphic artist, painter, theatrical designer. He died in 1924.
1872 — Marcel Mauss was born — a French sociologist. He died on February 10, 1950.
1873 — Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received a patent for their unique method of making jeans.
1888 — Max Steiner was born — an American composer, three-time winner of the «Oscar» award. He died in 1971.
1894 — Dimitri Tiomkin was born — an American composer, four-time winner of the Oscar award. He died on November 11, 1979.
1897 — Margaret Mahler was born in Hungary — a psychologist. She died in 1985.
1908 — (9 Iyar 5668) Yehiel Aaron Elias was born — an Israeli public figure, initiator of the creation of the Bnei Akiva youth organization and the Elitzur sports movement. He died on October 8, 1998.
1911 — Bel Kaufman was born — an American writer. She died on July 25, 2014
1914 — (14th of Iyar, 5674) Sixty-three year old Israel Dov Frumkin who moved to Palestine at the age of 9 and was an earlier developer of modern Jewish culture including the revival of Hebrew as a modern language as can be seen by his work the newspaper Havatzelet passed away today in Jerusalem
1943 — (5th of Iyar, 5703) A Bundist member of the Polish government in exile, Szmul Zygielbojm, committed suicide in London to protest the lack of reaction from the Allied governments. In his farewell note, he wrote: «I cannot continue to live and to be silent while the remnants of Polish Jewry, whose representative I am, are being murdered. My comrades in the Warsaw ghetto fell with arms in their hands in the last heroic battle. I was not permitted to fall like them, together with them, but I belong with them, to their mass grave. By my death, I wish to give expression to my most profound protest against the inaction in which the world watches and permits the destruction of the Jewish people
1965 — Orna Datz was born — Israeli singer and TV presenter.
1973 — Aviv Geffen was born — Israeli singer.
1983 — Moshe Peretz was born — Israeli singer.
2024 — (2 Iyar 5784) War with Gaza. Day two hundred and seventeen. Sergeant Itay Livni, 19 years old, Sergeant Yosef Dasa, 19 years old, Sergeant Ermiyas Mekuriav, 19 years old, Sergeant Daniel Levy, 19 years old, were killed; four servicemen were seriously wounded