History events
-1312 — BCE (6 Sivan 2448) The giving of the Torah to the Jews on Mount Sinai during the Exodus from Egypt. This day became the holiday of Shavuot.
1247 — (2 Sivan 5007) The bull «Divina justitia nequaquam» by Pope Innocent IV against the blood libel against the Jews
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.”
1605 — (24 Iyar 5365) A pogrom in the Austrian town of Bisenz
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
1837 — (27 Nisan 5597) The first issue of «Allgemeine Zeitung des Judenthums» was published in Leipzig — a weekly magazine in German that covered the life of Jews in Germany. It became the first periodic publication aimed at familiarizing society with issues of contemporary Jewish life and the first political organ of the Jewish community. It was published until 1922.
1878 — (29 Nisan 5638) The jewelry workshop of Joseph Marshak opened in Kyiv, whose products were considered on par with those of Fabergé in terms of craftsmanship.
1919 — (2 Iyar 5679) «A Jewish pogrom at Bolshoi Fontan, committed by Odessa Red Army soldiers. Ovsianik-Kulikovsky and writer Kipen were present. They recounted the details. At Bolshoi Fontan, 14 commissars and about 30 ordinary Jews were killed. Many shops were looted. They broke in at night, pulled people from their beds, and killed whoever they could find. People fled into the steppe, jumped into the sea, and they were hunted down and shot — it was a real hunt. Kipen escaped by chance — fortunately, he was not at home but at the ‘White Flower’ sanatorium. At dawn, a detachment of Red Army soldiers stormed in. — ‘Are there any Jews here?’ — they asked the watchman. — ‘No, there are none.’ — ‘Swear!’ — The watchman swore, and the Red Army soldiers went on. Moses Gutman, a binder, who had transported us from the dacha last autumn, was killed; he was a very nice person.» (Ivan Bunin, «Cursed Days»)
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
1942 — (15 Iyar 5702) An organization called «League V» was established in Haifa to provide assistance to the Soviet Union and the Red Army. The Federation of Trade Unions joined the League as an associated member. The leaders of the League saw the Soviet Union not only as a powerful force capable of resisting fascism but also as a natural ally in the construction of socialism in Palestine. The first congress of the League gathered 250 delegates. According to the organization itself, in the summer of 1942, it included about 10,000 people.
1942 — (15 Iyar 5702) The Shoah. The liquidation of Jewish settlements in the Stalin Dorf, Sofievka, and Kryvorizhzhia districts of Dnipropetrovsk region began; on this day, more than 450 Jews from Stalin Dorf (now Zhovtneve) and nearby villages (Novopodilske, Novovitebsk, Nov. Kovny) were shot, and able-bodied Jews were placed in labor camps. A «Jewish action» was carried out in Mankivka (Cherkasy region)
1943 — (27th of Nisan, 5703) The first of four trains carrying nearly 11,000 Jews arrive at Auschwitz from Salonika, Greece
1943 — (27 Nisan 5703) The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. From the reports of SS Brigadeführer Jürgen Stroop: Progress of the large operation: «2.05.43. 27 bunkers found… Among the wounded are 4 German police officers, 4 Polish police officers.»
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
1951 — (26 Nisan 5711) The beginning of 5 days of fighting with the Syrians in the area of Tel Mutila near Lake Kinneret. The IDF suffered 47 casualties. The results of the battles had a huge positive impact on the army. 1) Many more people with a complete secondary education began to be drafted. 2) A school for training junior commanders was established under conditions similar to combat. 3) Changes were made to the equipment. 4) The number of drills was increased.
1960 — (5 Iyar 5720) In Tel Aviv, the first Israeli Song Festival took place as part of the Independence Day celebrations.
1968 — (4 Iyar 5728) Regular television appeared in Israel. The 20th anniversary of the country was celebrated, and the first footage that viewers saw was from a military parade in Jerusalem.
1969 — (14 Iyar 5729) An Israel Defense Forces unit discovered and engaged in battle on the western slope of Mount Hermon with a group of militants. One of them was killed, and the others fled to Lebanon. This was the first infiltration of Arab terrorists into Israel from Lebanon.
1980 — (16 Iyar 5740) Terrorist attack. In Hebron, Arabs attacked a group of yeshiva students from Kiryat Arba returning from Saturday prayers, killing 6 and wounding 17.
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
1990 — (7 Iyar 5750) A pogrom in Andijan (Uzbekistan). 32 apartments belonging to Jews were burned. The rioters stated that they were only robbing for now, but would later kill.
2004 — (11 Iyar 5764) In Gaza, Tali Hatuel and four of her children, daughters aged 2 to 11, were killed. On September 25, M. Sheikh al-Khalil, responsible for the death of the Hatuel family, was killed in a rocket attack.
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
2007 — (14 Iyar 5767) A majestic natural phenomenon — a dust storm — was observed in Israel. The height of the «dust wall» reached over 1 km. In Tel Aviv, the storm began around 14:30 and reached the south 45 minutes later
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.”
2021 — (20 Iyar 5781) Terrorist attack. At 17:55, at the Tapuah intersection in Samaria, an Arab from a passing vehicle shot at people at a bus stop. One person was killed, and two were wounded
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.
1860 — (10 Iyar 5620) Theodor Herzl was born
1864 — (26th of Nisan, 5624) Giacomo Meyerbeer, composer, died
1895 — (8 Iyar 5655) Wilhelm Hosenfeld was born — a captain in the German army who saved pianist Władysław Szpilman during the Holocaust when he managed to escape from the Warsaw ghetto. Hosenfeld was captured by the Soviet army and died in captivity on August 13, 1952. On November 25, 2008, Yad Vashem recognized Hosenfeld as Righteous Among the Nations.
1896 — (19 Iyar 5656) Elena of Greece and Denmark was born — the daughter of King Constantine I of Greece and Sophie of Prussia, wife of the Romanian crown prince Carol, and mother of King Michael I of Romania. For her efforts to save Romanian Jews from the Nazis (see October 10, 1942), she was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations in 1993. She died on November 28, 1982, in Lausanne
1941 — (5 Iyar 5701) Yoram Ben‑Meir was born — a poet and one of the founders of the secular communal settlement Har Gilo. The settlement is located on Mount Gilo in the Judean Hills (915 m), 53 km from Tel Aviv, 2 km west of Bethlehem, and 2.5–8 km from Jerusalem. Founded in 1968, it belongs to the Gush Etzion settlement bloc. Yoram Ben‑Meir died on June 7, 2010
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
2005 — (23 Nisan 5765) In the village of Tsayda, Senior Sergeant D. Talesnikov of the Israel Defense Forces was killed.
2025 — (4 Iyar 5785) A 19-year-old sergeant, Niv Dayag from Ramat Hasharon, was killed in an accident on the Golan Heights