History events
1287 — (16th of Iyar, 5047) All the Jews of England thrown into prison
1338 — (12th of Iyar, 5098) Louis the Bavarian “informed the council of Worms that the Jews of that city were bound by agreement to pay the sum of 2,000 gulden toward the king’s contemplated expedition against France, and that, if necessary, force might be employed in collecting this sum.”
1790 — (18th of Iyar, 5550) The citizens of Pesth had set today as the day to expel all of the Jews from the town – a decision which was overturned by the Diet but did not prevent the citizens from making life as unpleasant for the Jews as possible
1921 — (24th of Nisan, 5681) Not for the first or last time, Arabs resort to violence to try and stop the growth of the Jewish community. In this case riots began in Jaffe resulting in the death of forty Jews and the wounding two hundred others. The riots soon spread to Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva, Kfar Saba, Hadera and Rehovot
1926 — (18th of Iyar, 5686) “The all-Jewish football (soccer) club, SC Hakoah Wien, led by Béla Guttmann played before a crowd of 46,000 people at the Polo Grounds in New York City
1939 — (13th of Iyar, 5699) Following a decision “made in the secretariat of Hashomer Hatzair, Kibbutz BaMa’ale and Kibbutz BaMifne “were settled in Menashe Heights” and eventually be called Kibbutz Dalia
1940 — (24th of Nisan, 5700) From today through December 1940 thousands of Polish Jews are sent eastward as forced laborers to construct fortifications along the new Soviet frontier
1941 — (4th of Iyar, 5701) In Bucharest, Romania 120 Jews are slain in the streets during anti-Semitic violence
1943 — (27th of Nisan, 5703) The first of four trains carrying nearly 11,000 Jews arrive at Auschwitz from Salonika, Greece
1944 — (9th of Iyar, 5704) Starting today the Nazis begin the liquidation of the Lodz (Poland) Ghetto
1945 — (18th of Iyar, 5705) When a Jew in a group of laborers from the camp at Sonneberg, Germany, chanted and danced with joy upon word of Hitler’s death, a “German guard calmly shot the man dead.”
1948 — (22 Nissan 5708) “The Arabs opened a large scale attack on Ramot Naphtali in the northern hills near Lebanon.” The settlement was the key to a Jewish victory in the Galilee. If the Arabs could take the settlement, they would be able to keep the Palmach from sending reinforcements Safed. In the end, the settlers held and Jewish forces were able to take control of Safed after an extremely difficult battle later in the month; Israeli forces liberate the Qatamon neighborhood of Jerusalem
1985 — (11th of Iyar, 5745) Today, the American Jewish World Service (AJWS) was established in Boston when Larry Phillips and Larry Simon, together with a group of rabbis, Jewish communal leaders, activists, businesspeople, scholars and others came together to create the first American Jewish organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among people across the globe
1990 — (7th of Iyar, 5750) Greece establishes full diplomatic relations with Israel
2004 — (11th of Iyar, 5764) Maccabi Tel Aviv crushes Italy’s Skipper Bologna 118-74 to become European champions for the fourth time in the club’s history
2014 — (2th of Iyar, 5774) “According to figures released today by the Central Bureau of Statistics” the population of Israel now “stands at 8.18 million people.”
People
1718 — (11th of Iyar, 5478) Date of death of Hirsh Ashkenazi, known as the Chacham Tzvi after his responsa by the same title, served for some time as rabbi of Amsterdam. He was a resolute opponent of the followers of the self-proclaimed messiah, Sabbatai Zevi. He had a chequered career owing to his independence of character. He visited many lands, including England, where he wielded much influence. His responsa are held in high esteem
1849 — (9th of Iyar, 5609) Isaac Bernays, Chief Rabbi in Hambrug, passed away.
1864 — (26th of Nisan, 5624) Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer, died
1944 — (8th of Iyar, 5704) Itzhak Katzenelson and his son Zvi were murdered at Auschwitz. Born in 1886, he was a teacher, poet and dramatist. His wife and two of his other sons had already been murdered at Treblinka. Katznelson participated in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising and was one of the few survivors. While being held at a detention in Vittel, France, he wrote the Yiddish epic poem “Song of the Murdered Jewish People” which he buried in bottles before being shipped to the death camp. The Ghetto Fighters’ House Holocaust and Jewish Resistance Heritage Museum in Israel, is named in his memory
1946 — (30th of Nisan, 5706) Former Jewish partisan leader and Red Army officer Eliyahu Lipszowicz is murdered by an anti-Semitic Pole at Legnica, Poland