History events
-1393 — (6 Sivan 2368 BCE) The Egyptians learned about the baby born on 7 Adar 2368 (February 18, -1393), who was hunted by them as all Jewish newborns, since according to prophecy, he was to be the future redeemer of Israel. On the same day, his mother placed the baby in a basket and set it adrift in the Nile. She hoped that the Pharaoh’s astrologers would immediately report to him that the future savior of Israel had already been cast into the river and would no longer be sought after.
1147 — (7 Sivan 4907) A pogrom was carried out by participants of the Second Crusade in Ramery, a small town 150 km east of Paris. Rabbi Yaakov bar Meir, the leader of the generation of sages in France, was harmed. After plundering his house, the crusaders tore up a Torah scroll and inflicted five severe wounds on the sage, claiming they wanted to «avenge the leader of the Jews for the suffering of the crucified redeemer.» The rabbi managed to escape by promising one of the knights a rich gift.
1490 — (24 Iyar 5250) In Naples, the printer Azriel Gunzenhauser published a dictionary of biblical roots titled «Shoreshim.»
1837 — (10 Iyar 5597) The Russian government issued a law mandating to «decisively and forever cease» the settlement of Jews in Siberia (see January 5, November 20); only Jews over the age of 40 who were convicted could be sent to the Yakut region and Transbaikal. Underage sons of exiled Jews and free settlers who served their sentences were subject to relocation to the guberniyas of the Pale of Settlement or conscription into cantonist service.
1882 — (26nd of Iyar, 5642) Russian «May Laws» issued
1919 — (15 Iyar 5679) Civil War. Pogroms in Yelisavetgrad and Chechelnik (a town in Vinnytsia Oblast)
1919 — (15nd of Iyar, 5679) The Jewish sports club Maccabi București was founded in Bucharest
1926 — (2 Sivan 5686) In Tel Aviv, at a convened council, «Ha-Poel» was established as a sports society for all of Jewish Palestine
1932 — (9nd of Iyar, 5692) Hitler’s «Voelkischer Beobachter» advised the Jews of Germany to leave the country because “we National Socialists will certainly clear all Jews out of every position they occupy in Germany
1934 — (1 Sivan 5694) A coup d’état by K. Ulmanis occurred in Latvia, after which Zionist organizations and most Jewish newspapers were banned. This led to a mass exodus of Jews from Latvia, especially in 1935.
1940 — (7 Iyar 5700) An unsuccessful attempt by the commander of British forces in Palestine, General Jifard, to disarm the Jews. He demanded that Jews surrender their weapons, otherwise they would be taken by force during searches. A deadline was set for July 11. However, Italy’s entry into the war on Hitler’s side changed the situation, and Britain had no time to disarm the Jews. Jifard was removed from his position.
1941 — (18 Iyar 5701) The central command of the Haganah decided to create strike forces known as PALMACH. They were envisioned as a mobilized force, always ready for action
1941 — (18nd of Iyar, 5701) Nazi occupiers in Netherlands forbid the playing Jewish music
1942 — (28 Iyar 5702) The Holocaust. 1,500 Jews were executed in Klevan (Rivne Oblast). In Satanov (Khmelnytskyi Oblast), 240 Jews were herded into a basement, where they were bricked in and soon died from lack of air and hunger. In Horol (Poltava Oblast), the Sonderkommando «Plat» executed the remaining Jewish craftsmen and Jewish prisoners of war from the POW camp. 26 Jews were shot in Mostove (Odesa Oblast)
1944 — (22nd of Iyar, 5704) Nazi deportation of Jews from greater Hungary began with the deportation of 14,000 Jews from Munkacs to Auschwitz. The roundup is directed by Eichman with “the full cooperation of the Hungarian police.”
1947 — (25 Iyar 5707) A special UN committee on Palestine was established, tasked with formulating recommendations for the UN regarding the problem of Jews and Arabs
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) War for Independence. Overnight, the invasion of regular armies from Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Iraq into Israel began. The best Arab force was the Arab Legion—about 8,000 soldiers recruited from Bedouins, commanded by British officers. They faced 36,000 Jewish fighters. The Arabs had 40 tanks, 200 armored vehicles with cannon armament, and 140 guns—against one tank (without a turret), three armored cars, and five guns of the Haganah;
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) On Cyprus, the British open the gates of the detention camps. Thousands of Jews who had been imprisoned in their attempt to reach Eretz Israel, would now be free to leave for the new national Jewish home
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) The American office of Magen David Adom (the Israeli equivalent of the Red Cross) opened a blood bank for Israel in New York City that was soon packed with donors
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) Voice of Israel (Kol Israel) was born simultaneously with the birth of the State of Israel. Operations for Kol Israel were in the old Palestine Broadcasting Service facilities left behind when the British left Palestine. The first Kol Israel broadcast was made from Tel Aviv as David Ben-Gurion read the Declaration of Independence for the Jewish State.
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) In a radio Broadcast Menachem Began said today «It is Hebrew arms which decide the boundaries of the Hebrew State; so it now in this battle; so it will be in the future.»
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) The Battles of the Kinarot Valley began tonight when Israeli observers reported that “many vehicles with full lights” were “moving along the Golan ridge east of the Sea of Galilee.” The observers were describing the movement of a Syrian infantry brigade accompanied by at least one tank battalion and one artillery battalion that was on its way to attack Kibbutz Ein Gev. Among the Jewish forces facing the Syrians were elements of the Golani Brigade. Thanks to an arms embargo, the Israelis had no artillery, tanks or combat aircraft to face this onslaught
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) An Iraqi brigade invaded at Naharayim on May 15, 1948, in an unsuccessful attempt to take the kibbutz and fort but the Arabs were able to occupy and loot the power plant which was the creation of Pinhas Rutenberg.
1948 — (6nd of Iyar, 5708) On the first day of the invasion of Israel by five Arab Armies, the Egyptian 6th Battalion, “backed by armored vehicles, mortars, cannons and aircraft, attacked Kibbutz Nirm which was defended by a force of forty Jewish fighters who after seven hours drove the attackers who retread “leaving behind somewhere between 30 and 35 dead.”
1948 — (6 Iyar 5708) War for Independence. The settlements of Atarot and Neve Yaakov north of Jerusalem by the Dead Sea were evacuated, as after the cessation of British protection for transports to the Atarot airfield, the connection between the settlements and Jerusalem was completely severed.
1948 — (6 Iyar 5708) War for Independence. Four Egyptian planes bombed the runway of the Sde Dov airfield in northern Tel Aviv at 5:15 AM, at that time the main airfield of the Israeli Air Force. They dropped 8 bombs on the 18 light Israeli planes parked below, setting several of them and an arms depot on fire; 5 were killed, and 9 were injured. At 7:30, the Egyptians repeated their raid. Their target was the Reading power station located near the airfield. This time, one plane was shot down by fire from a twin machine gun.
1948 — (6 Iyar 5708) The Seventh Armored Brigade of the Israel Defense Forces was established. It participated in all of Israel’s wars. Many commanders of the brigade later became generals, including the Chief of Staff during the Yom Kippur War, David Elazar, the creator of the «Merkava» tank, Israel Tal, and Israel’s hero Avigdor Kahalani, whose battalion bore the brunt of the fighting against the Syrians in 1973
1952 — (20nd of Iyar, 5712) Founding of Sde Boker (Cattle Rancher’s Field) in the central Negev hills. Sde Boker began as a horse-breeding community. Later sheep were added to the breeding activity. As the desert was reclaimed orchards were planted by the settlers. Sde Boker’s most famous settler was David Ben-Gurion who first moved there in 1952 when he resigned as Prime Minister in 1952.
1952 — (20 Iyar 5712) After unsuccessful negotiations with Great Britain regarding fuel supplies, the Israeli government decided to reduce its consumption by 20%. The austerity measures included, among other things, a ban on transporting large loads by truck, allowing only railway transport; each car had to be off the road two days a week; and a reduction in activities of enterprises deemed non-essential
1953 — (1nd of Sivan, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that Kfar Saba celebrated its 50th anniversary
1967 — (5 Iyar 5727) Egypt declared a state of emergency. Two armored divisions staged a demonstrative march through Cairo and proceeded towards the bridges over the Suez Canal
1967 — (5nd of Iyar, 5727) Israel holds the Independence Day parade in Jerusalem without the usual numbers of heavy artillery and tanks. The full parade is not held because of an agreed limitation of tanks in the city, as laid down in the armistice agreement with Jordan. Egypt accuses Israel of having sent the «missing tanks and other weaponry to the north.» Egypt names May 17 as the day on which Israel will invade Syria. A new song is born: «Yerushalayim shel Zahav» — «Jerusalem of Gold» by Naomi Shemer is performed for the first time on Independence Day. It soon becomes a kind of second national anthem
1967 — (5 Iyar 5727) The song «Yerushalayim Shel Zahav» («Jerusalem of Gold») was performed for the first time. Words and music by Naomi Shemer
1974 — (23rd of Iyar, 5734) A cell from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine infiltrated into Israel from Lebanon. They entered an apartment in Ma’a lot, killing the Cohen family including their four year old son. The terrorist then stormed Netiv Meir School. “They took 105 students and 10 of their teachers hostage. They were from a religious high school in Safed and who were staying the school during a class trip.” The terrorists killed 22 students and three of the teachers before the IDF could mount an effective rescue mission
2000 — (10 Iyar 5760) In order to create an atmosphere of trust in negotiations with the Arabs and to remove the issue of handing over East Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority from the agenda, the Knesset approved the government’s decision to transfer the village of Abu Dis and two other villages adjacent to Jerusalem to the Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister E. Barak stated that Arafat’s statements, in which he emphasized that the capital of the future Palestinian state would be in the city of Al-Quds (the Arabic name for Jerusalem), referred to establishing the capital of the Palestinian Authority in Abu Dis
2007 — (27nd of Iyar, 5767) Four people were wounded by a barrage of at last 19 Qassam Rockets fired by Hamas terrorists at the western Negev town of Sderot
2011 — (11 Iyar 5771) Car ramming attack in Tel Aviv, numerous casualties.
2021 — (4 Sivan 5781) The sixth day of Arab-Jewish unrest in Israel and Operation Guardian of the Walls. Rockets from Gaza exploded in Ramat Gan, Tayibe, Rishon LeZion, Yavne, Samaria, and other places.
2022 — (14 Iyar 5782) The Israeli government decided to limit steps to combat illegal construction in the Arab sector
People
1767 — (16 Iyar 5527) Aaron Ezekiel Hart was born – the first Jew elected to public office in the British Empire. He was elected three times by the residents of Trois-Rivières (a city in the province of Quebec) to the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada. He died on September 16, 1843.
1792 — (23 Iyar 5552) James Mayer Rothschild was born – the youngest son of the dynasty’s founder, Mayer Amschel Rothschild, and founder of the French branch of the Rothschilds. He died on November 15, 1868.
1818 — (9nd of Iyar, 5578) Bogumil Dawison, Polish-German actor, born
1862 — (15 Iyar 5622) Austrian writer Arthur Schnitzler was born. He died on October 21, 1931.
1889 — (14 Iyar 5649) Bessie Abramowitz Hillman was born in Russia, near Grodno – an American social activist of leftist leanings. She died on December 23, 1970.
1895 — (21 Iyar 5655) Fanny Goldstein was born – the first female librarian of the Boston Public Library’s Judaica collection, a prominent figure in the city’s Jewish community.
1906 — (20 Iyar 5666) Writer, critic, and literary scholar Rivka Rubina was born in Minsk. She wrote in Yiddish and Russian. She died on March 2, 1987.
1907 — (2 Sivan 5667) Ruth Werner was born in Berlin – a German communist and Soviet intelligence officer. She died on July 7, 2000.
1915 — Leonid Agranovich, film director and screenwriter, was born. He died on March 15, 2011.
1915 — Paul Anthony Samuelson was born – an American economist. He died on December 13, 2009.
1926 — The future writer and playwright Dragomir Asenov (real name and surname – Zhak Nisim Melamed) was born in Bulgaria. He died on June 19, 1981.
1937 — M. Albright was born – former U.S. Secretary of State. She died on March 23, 2022.
1942 — (29 Iyar 5702) Dmitry Yakirevich was born – an Israeli writer.
1948 — Yaakov Amidror was born – a general in the Israel Defense Forces, Israeli statesman and public figure.
1948 — (6 Iyar 5708) Sarah and Eitan Livni became the first married couple in the new state of Israel to officially register their union. The daughter of Eitan and Sarah, Tzipi, later served as Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affair
2001 — (22nd of Iyar, 5761) Twenty year old Idit Mizrahi of Rimonim was murdered today when terrorists fired bullets at car carrying her, her father and her brother who were traveling to attend a family wedding
2009 — (21 Iyar 5769) Mordechai Limon, an IDF veteran and former commander of the navy, died.
2024 — (7 Iyar 5784) The war with Gaza. Day two hundred and twenty-two. Killed by «friendly» fire in Jabaliya: 22-year-old Captain Roy Beit Yaakov; 20-year-old Sergeant Daniel Chemu; 20-year-old Sergeant Ilan Cohen; 22-year-old Staff Sergeant Gilad Arye Boim; 21-year-old Staff Sergeant Betzalel David Shashua.