History events
589 — (12 Iyar 4349) The Third Council of Toledo opened in the Visigoth kingdom (see January 9), adopting a series of anti-Jewish laws, in particular decreeing the baptism of children from mixed Jewish-Christian marriages
1287 — (18th of Iyar, 5047)Jews were arrested and accused of «clipping» the coinage in England. Although there was no evidence, the community as a whole was convicted and ordered to be expelled. A ransom of 4,000 (some say 12,000) pounds of silver were paid in ransom. This was the penultimate act in the story of the medieval English Community. For a century or more they had been drained of their wealth by Richard the Lionhearted, his brother King John and his son Henry III. In 1290, having reduced the Jews to a state of semi-poverty, and replaced them with Italian Bankers, King Edward I expelled the Jews from England. Part of his rational was that if some Jews were guilty of counterfeiting, then the whole community must be guilty
1331 — (26 Iyar 5091) In a treaty concluded in Munich between the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV of Bavaria and the Dukes of Austria, Albert II (1330-58) and Otto (1330-39), Austrian Jews became taxpayers directly to the ducal treasury.
1349 — (15 Iyar 5109) The Jewish community of the German city of Nordhausen was accused of spreading the plague and was destroyed two days later
1515 — (19th of Iyar, 5275)An edict was issued ordering the expulsion of the Jews from Ragussa. There were exceptions to the order including physicians and merchants operating in the country on a temporary basis
1881 — (5 Iyar 5641) A pogrom in the city of Orekhov (lasted 2 days). During these same days, attacks were organized on Jewish agricultural colonies in the Yekaterinoslav and Taurida Governorates.
1905 — The publication of M. Gorky’s essay «The Pogrom» about the events in Nizhny Novgorod on June 7, 1884, was banned by the censors. By a resolution of the Main Directorate, the publication was prohibited «for its hostile attitude… towards Russia.»
1926 — (20th of Iyar, 5686) In Palestine, “all work in Jewish office, factories and institutions…stopped at 1:30 today as thousands of mourners paid tribute to the late Dr. Max Nordau…whose body was brought to Palestine from France. As the body was being carried to Tel Aviv’s town hall, the procession stopped at the Great Synagogue where special religious services were held
1931 — (17 Iyar 5691) The Romanian Jewish Party was founded in Bucharest. In the 1931 elections, it received 2.19% of the vote and 4 seats in the Chamber of Deputies; in July 1932 — 2.26% and five seats. In the 1933 elections, it garnered only 1.29% and lost all its representatives. On March 30, 1938, by royal decree, the party was dissolved, like all other parties in Romania
1939 — (15th of Iyar, 5699) In Hungary, Miklos Horthy signs “The Second Jewish Bill” which had been introduced into the Hungarian Parliament in December of 1938 and was laughingly called “the Christmas present for the Jews.” The bill was the Hungarian version of Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws and proved to almost immediately ruinous for much of Hungary’s Jewish population
1939 — (15 Iyar 5699) Kibbutz Dan was established using the «Tower and Stockade» method
1942 — (17th of Iyar, 5702) The first day of an eleven day deportation of 10,000 Jews from Lodz ghetto to the Chelmno Death Camp. They were part of 145,000 people who were gassed between December, 1941 and September 1942.
1947 — (14th of Iyar, 5707) The Irgun Zeva’l Le’umi, known in Hebrew by the abbreviation as Etzel or the Irgun, staged the famous prison break at Acre Prison. In April, 1947, the British had hung members of the Irgun so Menachem Begin felt it was imperative to try and rescue at least some of those held in the aging fortress. In a act of daring-do worthy of any adventure novel, the Irgun entered the prison and freed 41 Etzel and Lehi (Stern Gang) prisoners. They could not free more because of the lack of hiding places
1948 — (25th of Nisan, 5708) Arab Legion which was the Jordanian army that included a compliment of British officers attacked Kfar Etzion and was driven back by the poorly armed Jewish fighters; Palmach launched Operation Broom. Operation Broom was intended to “sweep away” Arab bases so that Jewish settlements in the lower and upper Galilee could be joined together with a wide, safe strip of Jewish territory; 300 tons of explosives were illegally sent from Italy to Eretz Israel. At that time, supplies from Italy were the sole source of weaponry for the Haganah and materials for the military industry
1953 — (19th of Iyar, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported that the Treasury doubled the exchange rate for leather and textiles to IL2 per dollar. The Histadrut banned all overtime and double jobs in order to ease the current heavy unemployment
1955 — (12th of Iyar, 5715) A fund of $100,000 was presented tonight to the Israelis Federation of Labor to build a cold storage plant in Israel
1959 — (26 Nisan 5719) Prime Minister Ben-Gurion ordered that hotel managers be granted the right to evict Israelis from rooms if there were not enough places for foreign tourists. The measure was prompted by the tourist boom in Israel. Within a few weeks, 12,000 tourists arrived in the country, and there were insufficient hotel rooms
1994 — (23th of Iyar, 5754) The «Gaza-Jericho» agreement with the PLO was formally signed in Cairo. Under it, the Israeli army was to withdraw from Gaza and Jericho. A week after the signing, in a speech delivered at a mosque in Johannesburg, Y. Arafat called on Muslims worldwide to wage a holy war — jihad — for the liberation of Jerusalem and unambiguously hinted that the treaty with Israel was tactical in nature and that the PLO would later annul it. When this statement became public, Arafat issued a denial, and when a video recording of his speech was shown on television, he acknowledged the fact itself but claimed his words had a different meaning
2000 — (29th of Nisan, 5760) Shiite Muslim terrorists “fired five barrages of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel, killing one Israeli soldier and sowing panic in the northern border town of Qiryat Shemona” in what was the fiercest cross border attack since last June
2006 — (6 Iyar 5766) An underwater museum, unique in the world, was opened in Caesarea.
2015 — (15 Iyar 5775) From this day, boarding passenger buses was permitted through any door. At that time, the innovation only affected bus routes No. 29 and 39 in the cities of Kfar Saba, Herzliya, and Ra’anana. At the entrance to the buses, next to the doors, special devices — validators — were installed, through which pass holders could pay their fare.
2015 — (15 Iyar 5775) Terror attack. At the entrance to the settlement of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion, an Arab ran over three youths aged 16-18 with a car. They were injured.
2019 — (29 Nisan 5779) Confrontation with Gaza. Lasted two days. Approximately 690 rockets were fired from Gaza into Israeli territory. 5 people were killed, over 130 people were injured.
2020 — (10 Iyar 5780) The government adopted a plan for Israel’s gradual exit from the more than month-long lockdown that citizens were under due to the coronavirus epidemic
People
1758 — (26th of Nisan, 5518)Solomon Lipschitz who was born at Furth in 1675 and served as a cantor in Prague and Frankfurt passed away today leaving behind Te’udat Shelomo as a guide for future generations of Jewish musicians
1816 — (6th of Iyar, 5576)Birthdate of violinist Joseph Franco
1864 — (28th of Nisan, 5642) Benjamin II, Rumanian traveler, died
1875 — Michel Lévy, a Parisian publisher who collaborated with all the great French novelists Hugo, Balzac, Dumas, George Sand, Baudelaire, Stendhal, and Flaubert, died at the age of 54. In 1873, he was awarded the Legion of Honour.
1879 — Leonid Mandelstam, physicist, academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences, was born. Died November 27, 1944.
1914 — M. Fradkin, composer, was born. Died April 4, 1990.
1930 — Roberta Peters, an opera singer famous in the USA, was born. Died January 18, 2017.
1939 — (15 Iyar 5699) Amos Oz, writer, was born. In 1978, he founded the political movement «Shalom Achshav» (Peace Now). Died December 28, 2018.
1955 — (12 Iyar 5715) Avram Grant, Israeli football coach, was born.
1985 — Evsei Agron, head of the local «Russian mafia,» was killed in the USA.
2000 — (29 Nisan 5760) IDF Sergeant S. Ozeri was killed, and 28 people were wounded, as a result of a rocket attack on the city of Kiryat Shmona from Lebanon.