History events
1288 — (11th of Sivan, 5048) Thirteen Jews in Troyes, France were burned at the stake by the inquisition
1590 — (20th of Iyar, 5350) On this date the Sumptuary Laws were enacted aimed at the Jews of Casale (Italy). These were laws regulating what Jews may wear, how they may marry, what they may serve at a wedding, and all manner of what might be called social intercourse
1894 — (8th of Iyar, 5654) A summary of the statistics that first appeared in the “new journal, the Rundschau” published by “the Jew-baiter” Herman Ahlwardt that the Jewish population in Berlin has gone from 6,500 in 1840, to 30,000 in 1870 to 75,000 in 1890 and that “46 per cent of all the houses in Berlin belong to Jews.” (This compares to a total population of 322,626 in 1840, 826,341 in 1871 and 1,578, 794 in 1890)
1924 — (10th of Iyar, 5684) Establishment of the city of Bnei Brak. Bnei Brak is mentioned in the Bible as one of the cities of the tribe Dan. Later it was famous as the site of Rabbi Akiva’s academy. The city is mentioned in the Haggadah as the place where the all-night Seder of the Rabbinic sages took place. The modern city was founded by charedi Jews from Poland and is famous for its yeshivot and Chassidic communities. Bnei Brak is northwest of Tel Aviv
1934 — (29th of Iyar, 5694) A natural disaster occurs in Tiberius when cloudbursts cause flooding and rockfalls. Homes are swept into Lake Kinneret
1935 — (11th of Iyar, 5695) “Ghetto Law obligating the Jewish population to wear speech clothes with red flags across their breasts and with a rope around their hips have been enacted by the government of Afghanistan according to a report which Palestine today.”
1940 — (6th of Iyar, 5700) One very last transport left on the freighter Bodegraven from Ymuiden on May 14, 1940 – the day Rotterdam was bombed, one day before Holland surrendered – raked by gunfire from German warplanes. The eighty children on deck had been brought by earlier transports to imagined safety in Holland. Altogether, though exact figures are unknown, the Kindertransports saved around 10,000 children, most of them Jewish, from Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. None were accompanied by their parents; a few were babies carried by children.
1941 — (17th of Iyar, 5701) Approximately 4000 Jews are deported from Paris, most to a camp at Pithiviers, France. “Pithiviers, near Orleans, was one of the infamous concentration camps where children were separated from their parents and imprisoned, while the adults were processed and departed to camps further away, usually Auschwitz.” This camp, like the one at Drancy, was operated by the Vichy French and their collaborators. Contrary to the image that the French have concocted about their behavior during World War II, French fascists, led by Petain and Laval, were active participants in the Nazi New World Order. As to the Jews, the French were already handing them over even before the Germans asked for them; The decision was made in Tel Aviv to establish the Palmach (Plugot Mahatz or ‘striking companies’ of the Haganah.
1946 — (13th of Iyar, 5706) The SS Max Nordau, a Haganah ship containing 1,750 men women and children (300 of whom were orphans) was intercepted by the British off the coast of Palestine. The refugees were shipped off for detention at Atlit while the crew was arrested and the ship confiscated by the British. The vessel joined other such ships, including the Enzo Sereni, the Tel Hai and the Orde Wingate at a dock in Haifa. The Palmach responded by simultaneously, blowing up eleven bridges that connected Palestine with surrounding countries. This spectacular event came at the cost of 14 Palmach lives.
1948 — (5th of Iyar, 5708) In one of the most stirring moments in Jewish history David Ben-Gurion led the ceremony establishing the State of Israel. The British Mandate actually ended on May 15, 1948. But that was a Saturday and the Jewish State would not be declared on Shabbat, so it was done the afternoon before. Herzl’s prediction was off by one year; Three resolutions were defeated at the United Nations by the Arabs and their allies to ensure that Jerusalem would be an international city governed by the U.N. The Arabs insisted that Jerusalem must be an “Arab city” even though it had a Jewish majority. This lack of will on the part of the U.N. and Arab intransigence are the animating force by the refusal of Israeli governments to ever give up the city; Egyptian planes bomb Tel Aviv, the first time the city had been bombed since the Italians flew over in 1940; The first broadcasts by Kol Yisrael, Israel’s radio station. Kol Yisrael is Hebrew for the Voice of Israel; ‘River Lady” a western film photographed by cinematographer Irving Glassberg was released today in the United States; Jordan’s Arab Legion captured the Jewish settlement of Atarot
1948 — (5th of Iyar, 5708) When the Israeli flag was unfurled outside the Jewish Agency building in New York City, throngs of Jewish youngster danced the hora outside and traffic on East 68th Street came to a halt.; The bitter battle to keep the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem took a positive turn for Jewish forces as they occupied Beit Dagan the British police fortress. At the same time, the Arabs were poised to seize the vital airport at Lydda; As of today, Milt Rubenfeld, Modi Alon, Ezer Weizman, Lou Lenart, and Eddie Cohen and four S-199’s “constituted the entire Israeli Air Force
1951 — (8th of Iyar, 5711) Today, in Israel the Shabak arrested Mordechai Eliyahu and othermembers of the Brit Hakanim “a radical religious Jewish underground organization which operated against the widespread tread of secularization” by torching cars of people who on drove on Shabbat and butcher shops where non-kosher meet was sold.”
1953 — (29th of Iyar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported on the first visit to Israel of the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Foster Dulles, who arrived, accompanied by a large entourage «for a frank exchange of views.»; The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel received from West Germany $75m. on account of reparations; The Jerusalem Post reported that 102 new immigrants arrived from Iran
1953 — (29th of Iyar, 5713) “The first railway line built by the State of Israel – 28 and a half miles of track running parallel to the coast between Hadera and Tel Aviv – was dedicated by Mrs. David Remez, widow of Israel’s first Minister of Communications who conceived the line in 1948.” The opening of the rail connection will shorten the time it takes to travel between Haifa, Israel’s major port and Tel Aviv
1967 — (4th of Iyar, 5727) According to statements made by Nasser in justifying the blockade of the Straits of Tiran, this is the day on which he discussed the Soviet report of the Israel’s planned invasion of Syria with the government in Damascus and formulated their military response
1977 — (26th of Iyar, 5737) The first official images of the Merkava were released to the American periodical Armed Forces Journal
2008 — (9th of Iyar, 5768) A shopping mall in Ashkelon was hit this afternoon by a long-range rocket fired from the Gaza Strip injuring around 90 people, four of them seriously.
People
1141 — (6th of Sivan, 4901) As he journeyed towards Jerusalem, Yehuda Halevi set sail for Palestine today from Alexandria, Egypt. According to legend, Halevi was killed by an Arab horseman when as he reached his ultimate destination
1803 — (22th of Iyar, 5563) Solomon Munk, French Orientalist, born
1996 — (25th of Iyar, 5756) Seventeen year old Yeshiva student David Bum was murdered by a terrorist who fired on students “as a hitchhiking post at Beit El