History events
1096 — (2st of Sivan, 4856) The Crusaders massacred the Jews of Neuss, Germany
1171 — (20st of Sivan, 4931) Martyrdom of Jews at Blois. The first ritual murder accusation in Europe occurred in Blois, France. Fifty-one Jews were burned, seventeen of them women. As they were burning, they chanted the hymn ‘Aleinu’ (composed in Talmudic times). Rabbenu Tam declared a day of fasting and prayer in England, France and the Rhineland
1753 — (22th of Iyar, 5513) In Zhitomir, the castle court under the influence of Bishop Solik of Kiev sentenced 33 Jews to death for the «ritual murder» of a Christian child. The entire evidence was based on the «confessions» of the innkeeper and his wife which had been made after being tortured, although they later retracted their statements. Thirteen of them were released upon converting. Many others, including the local Rabbi, were quartered alive. One couple converted on the spot and was granted a beheading
1894 — (20th of Iyar, 5654) Emanuel Lasker became a World Champion chess player.
1916 — (23th of Iyar, 5676) The Zion Mule Corps was disbanded after the end of the Gallipoli Campaign
1934 — (12st of Sivan, 5694) In Tel Aviv, the third biennial Levant Fair comes to an end.
1935 — (23th of Iyar, 5695) In Tel Aviv a group of Yiddish authors sponsored a lecture in observance of the 70th birthday of Dr. Chaim Zhitlowski, social critic, political activist and author who was a “Yiddishist.” Members of Betarim, “a young military Revisionist-Zionist group” were responded violently to the fact that the lecture was conducted in Yiddish instead of Hebrew. They cut off the electricity, pelted members of the audience with stones and were so disorderly that police had to break up the meeting.
1936 — (5st of Sivan, 5696) For the first time ever, the Mandatory government in Palestine today mobilized Jewish settlers for self-defense as an open Arab revolt swept the country. read more Settlers at Rehoboth were armed and prepared to repel further assaults by Arabs after two days’ of their marauding had resulted in the destruction of various “agricultural enterprises; The first mass attack on a Jewish settlement took place” today “at Kfar Tabor at the foot of Mount Tabor in the Galilee district” when “a band of hundreds of Bedouins began firing at” the Jews “but police supported by the young Jewish farmers, repelled the attackers without casualties; After a lumber yard was set on fire and nine bombs were tossed by Arab attackers in Nevei Shalom, Jewish settlers fled to Tel Aviv
1942 — (10st of Sivan, 5702) Belgian Jews were required by Nazis to wear a Jewish star
1948 — (17th of Iyar, 5708) At the United Nations, the Arabs indicated a willingness to stop the fighting on condition read more that the Jews would regard the proclamation of statehood as null and void and that no further Jewish immigration would be accepted. Abba Eban responds publicly; “If the Arab states want peace with Israel, they can have it. If they want war, they have that, too. But whether they want peace or war, they could have only with the sovereign independent state of Israel.”
1948 — The position of Jewish forces in the Old City was beyond desperate. «There was nothing to eat; nothing to shoot with…» One hundred Haganah troopers had been killed with even more wounded as the Arab Legion pressed its attack on all sides.
1948 — (17th of Iyar, 5708) As part of a plan to avoid fighting among different military forces that had been established during the Mandate, the newly formed government of Israel asserted its control over military force with the issuance of “Defense Army of Israel Ordinance No. 4” that “established the Israel Defense Forces, which would be comprised of «land forces, a navy and an air force».
1953 — (12st of Sivan, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported read more that Dr. Dov Joseph, the Acting Minister of Finance, introduced in the Knesset a Bill on «Income Tax Advances for Relief Works» and described the scheme which was expected to provide 2,650,000 work days for the country’s unemployed for the next six months; that the rationing of potatoes came to an end and potatoes were put on the free market sale for the first time in four years. Over 250 immigrants were expected to arrive from Iran
1967 — (16th of Iyar, 5727) As the crisis that would result in the Six Day War intensified, President Nasser of Egypt declared, “the battle will be a general one and our basic objective will be to destroy Israel.” While President Johnson worked to develop an international response that would open the Straits of Tiran, the Soviet Union let the members of the Security Council know that Moscow would veto any proposal that was not in accord with the wishes of Syria and Egypt
2009 — (3st of Sivan, 5769) For the first time since its founding, the Knesset is officially marking today as Yiddish Language and Culture Day. A Yiddish-Hebrew Knesset lexicon was released for the occasion
2013 — (17st of Sivan, 5773) Hundreds gathered at Ammunition Hill in the capital this evening to witness the swearing-in of the Netzah Yehuda Battalion, the only haredi (ultra-Orthodox) unit in the IDF. The battalion, currently numbering close to 1,000, is responsible for military operations in and around Jenin.
People
1615 — (8st of Sivan, 5375) Abraham Samuel Bacharach, a leading Rabbi in Worms, passed away
1757 — (7th of Sivan, 5517) Rabbi Jacob Daniel of Ferrara author of “Eden Arukh” passed away
1939 — (8th of Sivan, 5699) Rabbi Ya’akov Meir, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Palestine, passed away
1944 — (4st of Sivan, 5704) Mordechai and Yehuda Eldar arrived at Auschwitz. read more Mordechai Adler was slated to die in October but through a fluke received a reprieve when he was one of 50 prisoners chosen to work in “Canada,” the warehouse operation where the Nazis greedily stored the belongings of their Jewish victims. In 1947, Eldar and two of his sisters (the only surviving members of his extended family) sailed to Palestine on the SS Exodus. Sent back to Hamburg by the British, he returned to Tel Aviv in June of 1948. He joined the IDF and served for 30 years before retiring as a colonel in 1978
1954 — (23th of Iyar, 5714) Meir Har-Zion was part of ten-man squad “from the newly formed 890th Paratroop Battalion led by Ariel Sharon which carried out a raid near Khirbet Jinba” today
1958 — (7th of Sivan, 5718) Four Israeli police officers were killed in a Jordanian attack on Mount Scopus, in Jerusalem