History events
-124 — (23rd of Iyar, 3618) Simon the Hasmonean, drove the “Greeks” – the Syrians and their Hellenized Jewish allies – out of the citadel which was their last stronghold in Jerusalem
68 — (3 Sivan 3828) Jewish War. After ravaging the settlements of Samaria with fire and sword, Vespasian halted in Jericho. Most of the city’s inhabitants, not waiting for the Roman attack, fled to the mountains opposite Jerusalem. Those who remained — and there were still many of them — were massacred, and the city thus lay deserted
1370 — (26th of Iyar 5130) Martyrdom of Brussels Jews charged with host desecration
1753 — (18th of Iyar 5513) The Jewish Naturalization Act 1753 passed the House of Commons
1844 — (4 Sivan 5604) In France, the more judaico oath — a special form of judicial oath for Jews in disputes with Christians — was abolished. It had possibly been first introduced by Justinian I in 531.
1880 — (12 Sivan 5640) The Russian State Council’s decision, approved at the highest level, prohibited Jews — with the exception of those holding academic degrees — from settling in the Don Cossack Host region.
1883 — (15th of Iyar 5643) One hundred thirty houses belonging to Jews were destroyed during a riot tonight at Rostoff. The riot began after it was reported that an unnamed Jew had murder a Russian
1919 — (22th of Iyar 5679) The Rumanian government granted citizenship to all native-born Jews
1920 — (5th of Sivan 5680) The Dearborn Independent, owned by Henry Ford, began publishing the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”
1926 — (9 Sivan 5686) Tel Aviv hosted the premiere performance of a new theatre — the “Workers’ Theatre of Eretz Israel”, which was part of the cultural institutions of the Histadrut. The theatre closed in 1969
1930 — (24th of Iyar 5690) The Jewish community in Palestine begins a general strike to protest the blocking of immigration
1936 — (1 Sivan 5696) Terrorist attack: Arabs fired on buses on the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem road
1941 — (25th of Iyar 5701) Jews in Croatia are forced to wear yellow badges
1942 — (6 Sivan 5702) Shoah. The Polish Bund sent a report to London about the murders of Jews. On June 26, the BBC radio reported on it; the Allies did not react in any way.
1942 — (6 Sivan 5702) Shoah. 1 600 Jews were shot in Medzyzhirch (Rivne Oblast).
1946 — (21 Iyar 5706) Pogrom in the Hungarian town of Kunmadaras. It began at the market as a spontaneous protest against a suspected speculator. Since trade was a traditional occupation for Jews in the area, the image of a speculator became conflated with that of a Jew. Thus, the riot escalated into a pogrom. The violence was further inflamed by rumours that Jews were kidnapping Christian children. Four Jews were killed. On July 26, 1946, nine participants in the unrest were convicted of inciting and participating in violence and sentenced to various terms — from death for three of the defendants to six years in prison for the others
1948 — (13th of Iyar 5708) David Ben-Gurion ordered Yigal Yadin, the Chief of Staff, to launch an attack on the police fort at Latrun “without delay.” Ben-Gurion wanted Yadin to use the Seventh Brigade for the attack. Yadin was opposed to the attack. The brigade was composed of 2,000 troops several hundred of whom were Holocaust survivors who had just gotten off the boat from the Cyprus detention camps. They had little or no training. Many of them did not speak Hebrew. In other words, the Seventh Brigade was a brigade in name only. Yadin knew they were not a fighting force and sending them to attack a hilltop fortress manned by the Jordanian Arab Legion was a recipe for disaster. To make matters worse, the Seventh lacked basic equipment, including water bottles or canteens. Considering the heat, a lack of water would hamper even veteran troops
1948 — (13th of Iyar 5708) The fighting that had begun on May 15 known collectively as the Battles of the Kinarot Valley came to an end. The most memorable fighting took place between the Israelis and the Syrians at Dagania Alef and Degania Bet. Words cannot describe the heroism of the Jewish fighters who stood their ground against overwhelming odds
1948 — (13 Iyar 5708) War of Independence. The Egyptians captured Bethlehem.
1948 — (13 Iyar 5708) UN resolution on the cessation of hostilities in Palestine. Israel supported it; the Arabs opposed it.
1948 — (13 Iyar 5708) War of Independence. To capture the Arab village of Tantura — the last Arab stronghold in the Haifa coastal strip — Brigade Alexandroni launched Operation Port, which lasted two days. Tantura was captured, ending Arab attacks along the Haifa–Zikhron Ya’akov highway
1953 — (8th of Sivan 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that Mr. Shimon Peres, the Director-General of the Ministry of Defense, claimed at an exhibition of the locally manufactured products, that few countries in the world produced as wide a variety of armaments as Israel
1954 — (19 Iyar 5714) Israel submitted to the UN a report on 37 border incidents with Jordan, provoked by Jordan between March 30 and May 11.
1958 — (3 Sivan 5718) Israel. A trade union for teachers with academic qualifications (later, high‑school teachers) was established
1967 — (12th of Iyar 5727) In violation of international agreements, Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran, blocking all Israeli shipping from the south, thereby raising tension in the Middle East. In Israel, a broad based coalition was formed under Levi Eshkol with Menachem Begin and Yoseph Sapir and Moshe Dayan who became the Minister of Defense. Under international law, blockade is an act of war and this action by Egypt actually gave Israel the legal right to go to war, a fact conveniently ignored at that time and by the current generation of revisionist historians
1967 — (12 Iyar 5727) Knesset session on Egypt’s hostile actions. Druze MP D. Mu’addi explicitly called Egypt’s closure of the Straits of Tiran an act of war declaration. Egypt announced a military alliance with Iraq
1970 — (16th of Iyar, 5730) Arab terrorists killed 9 children and 3 adults on a school bus
1981 — (18 Iyar 5741) Ceremonial opening of the synagogue in Hebron.
2002 — (11 Sivan 5762) Terrorist attack in Rishon LeZion, near the city park: 2 killed, 41 wounded
2007 — (5th of Sivan 5767) Nineteen tombstones were toppled in the Jewish cemetery in Chernigov, an eastern Ukraine city.
2012 — (1 Sivan 5772) Israel. The eighth nationwide festival of the country’s top winemakers and cheesemakers opened in Haifa, featuring a vast assortment of wines, cheeses, olive oil, and chocolate
People
1760 — (7th of Sivan, 5520) Israel ben Eliezer Ba’al Shem-Ṭob (BeSHT), founder of the sect Ḥasidim, died
1793 — (17th of Iyar 5553) Rabbi Ezekeil Landau passed away. Born in 1713, in Prague, he was a brilliant Talmudist and Halachic authority. Landau was also unusual in that he endorsed the idea of leaning math and science, and supported the traditionalist element within the Maskilim (Enlightenment) movement. Landau helped to establish the first Jewish school in Prague. His magnum opus is called the Nodeh B’Yehuda which is still very popular today. It contains eight hundred and fifty-five Responsa divided into two volumes
1820 — (9th of Sivan 5580) Birthdate of Isidor Binswanger, a leader of the Philadelphia Jewish community who served as President of Maimonides College, the first Jewish institution of higher learning in the United States
1839 — (9 Sivan 5599) Rabbi Israel ben Shmuel Ashkenazi of Shklov — one of the leaders of the Ashkenazi community in the Land of Israel — died in Jerusalem
1851 — (20th of Iyar, 5611) Mordecai M. Noah, American diplomat and communal worker, died
1912 — Herbert Charles Brown, American chemist and Nobel Prize laureate, was born. He died on December 19, 2004.
1922 — Sarah Dorothy, Israeli public and state figure and Knesset member, was born. She died on November 3, 2010
1932 — (16th of Iyar 5692) Birthdate of Yosef Haim Yerushalmi, a groundbreaking and wide-ranging scholar of Jewish history
1959 — (14th of Iyar 5719) Birthdate of David Blatt, the Princeton graduate who played for and coached several Israeli basketball teams
2024 — (13 Iyar 5784) Gaza War. Day 229. In a battle in the north of the Gaza Strip, Reserve Staff Sergeant Gideon Hai DiRow (aged 33), Captain Israel Yudkin (aged 22), and Senior Sergeant Eliyahu Haim Amsalem (aged 21) were killed. On the same day, four soldiers were seriously wounded.