Jewish History

Israeli Defense Forces Capture Golan Heights (1967)

Until the Six-Day War (see “Today in Jewish History” for Iyar 26), the Syrian army was deployed in strong fortifications on the Golan Heights, from which they repeatedly shelled the Israeli settlements below. On the fifth day of the war, the Israeli Army broke through the Syrian front. Facing very difficult topographical conditions, they scaled the steep and rugged heights. The Engineering Corps cleared the way of mines, followed by bulldozers which leveled a route for the tanks on the rocky face. After more than 24 hours of heavy fighting, the Syrian deployment collapsed and the Syrian forces fled in retreat.
 

Today in Jewish History​

• Jews Prepare to Receive Torah (1313 BCE)
On Sivan 3, G-d instructed Moses to "set boundaries for the people around, saying, 'Beware of ascending the mountain or touching its edge...'" (Exodus 19:10-12) in preparation for the Giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai three days later. To this day, we mark the "Three Days of Hagbalah ('Boundaries')" leading to the Giving of the Torah on Sivan 6.

Links:
Boundaries
The Giving of the Torah

• Vespasian Captures Jericho (68 CE)
In his advance towards the destruction of Jerusalem, Rome Emperor Titus Flavius Vespasianus ("Vespasian") captures Jericho and massacres all its inhabitants.

• Maimonides Arrives in Israel (1165)
On 4 Iyar, 4925 (1165), Maimonides sets sail from Fez, Morocco, to escape Islamic persecution. The journey is fraught with danger, including a storm on 10 Iyar that threatens to capsize his ship. Finally, on 3 Sivan, Maimonides arrives safely in Acco, Israel. He establishes this date as a day of rejoicing, festivities, and gifts to the poor, to be kept by him and his descendants until the end of time (Charedim ch. 65 [5744 ed.).

Link: Rambam (Maimonides)
 
Jews Returned to Spain (1481)
Pope Sixtus IV instructed his local bishops that all Jews who had fled the Spanish Inquisition (see "Today in Jewish History" for Adar 7) should be sent back to Spain.

• Chmielnitzki Massacres (1648)
The Cossack rebellion against Polish rule in Ukraine, under the leadership of Bogdan Chmielnitzki (may his name be blotted out) began on the 4th of Sivan of the year 5408 from creation (1648 CE). In their bloody march through the Ukraine, Volhynia, Podolia, Poland proper and Lithuania, Chmielnitzki's peasant army massacred between 100,000 and 300,000 Jews. Three hundred Jewish communities were destroyed.

Links: Rabbi Abraham Abele Gombiner
 
Cologne Jews Martyred (1096)

During the first crusade (see "Today in Jewish History" for Iyar 8), the Jews of Cologne, Germany chose to be killed rather than convert to Christianity. This was the case, during the first crusades, for many of the Jews who were given the choice between being killed or being baptized. Most of those who converted continued to practice Judaism in secrecy and, one year later, were permitted by Henry IV to openly return to Judaism.
 
Jacob Judah Leon Templo’s interest in biblical structures defied the imagination. A prominent Sephardic Jew in the 17th-century Netherlands, Leon owned models of two celebrated constructions: Solomon’s Temple and the Tabernacle. He exhibited these reproductions across Holland and England, acquiring the surname “Templo.” Like others of his era, he took advantage of a new technological advance — the printing press — to publicize his passion.

This unconventional narrative is one of many that are shared in the latest release from the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization — volume five, “The Early Modern Era, 1500-1750.” Its editor, Yosef Kaplan, is an emeritus professor of Jewish history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

“When I look at what I collected here, it’s really amazing,” Kaplan told The Times of Israel. “I tried to bring the 16th, 17th and the first half of the 18th century in the Jewish world to life.”


(full article online)


www.timesofisrael.com

Massive history book charts how the Jewish Diaspora reached all corners of the globe

In the 1,200-page fifth installment of the Posen Library series, Prof. Yosef Kaplan gives a thorough and colorful look at Jews' cultural and geographical expansion from 1500-1750
www.timesofisrael.com www.timesofisrael.com
 

Today in Jewish History​

• Rabbi Escapes Crusaders (1147)

Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir Tam, known as the "Rabbenu Tam," was one of Rashi's illustrious grandsons. During the Second Crusade, on the second day of the holiday of Shavuot, the Crusaders entered his hometown of Ramerupt, and pillaged and massacred many Jews.

They broke into Rabbenu Tam's house, plundered all his wealth, and seriously wounded Rabbenu Tam. On the next day, the 8th of Sivan, Rabbenu Tam escaped Rameru and the clutches of the Crusaders.

Two years later he completed his famous treatise on Jewish ritual and ethics, Sefer Hayashar.

Links:
Rabbi Yaakov ben Meir, the Rabbenu Tam
The Crusades
 

Today in Jewish History​

• Wolf Wissotzky (1904)
Klonimus Wolf Wissotzky, the son of poor parents, established The Wissotzky Tea company in 1849 and became known as the "King of Russian Tea." He was a great Jewish philanthropist and called for the settlement of Jews in Israel, which initiated the move of Jews to Lod, Nablus and Gaza. In his will he left over a million rubles to charity.

In 1936, Wissotzky Tea became the very first tea company in Palestine and has since been the leading tea company in Israel.
 
This article from 200 years ago - May 1823 - describes the lives of (Sephardic) Jews in Jerusalem then, and pays particular attention to the women.

Excerpts:


Many of the Jews are rich and in comfortable circumstances, and possess a good deal of property in Jerusalem, but they are careful to conceal their wealth, and even their comfort, from the jealous eye of their rulers, lest by awakening their cupidity, some vile, indefensible plot should be devised to their prejudice. In going to visit a respectable Jew in the holy city, it is a common thing to pass to his house over a ruined foreground, and up an awkward outside stair, constructed of rough unpolished stones, that totter underfoot, but it improves as you ascend, and at the top has a respectable appearance, as it in an agreeable platform in front of the house. On entering, the house itself is found to be clean and well furnished the sofas are covered with Persia carpets, and the people seem happy to receive you. The visitor is entertained with coffee and tobacco, as is the custom in the houses of the Turks and Christians.

The ladies presented themselves with an ease and address that surprised me, recalled to my memory the pleasing society of Europe. This difference of manner arises from many of the Jewish families at Jerusalem, having resided in Spain or Portugal, where the females have rid themselves of the cruel domestic fetters of the east, and on returning to their beloved land, had very properly maintained their justly acquired freedom and rank in society. They almost all speak in broken Italian, so that conversation goes on without the clumsy aid of an interpreter. It was the feast of the Passover. they were all eating unleavened bread; some of which was presented to me as a curiosity, and I partook of it merely that I might have the gratification of eating unleavened bread with the sons and daughters of Jacob in Jerusalem. It is very insipid fare, and no one would eat it from choice.

...The Jewesses in Jerusalem speak in a decided and firm tone, unlike the hesitating and timid voice of the Arab and Turkish females, and claim the European privilege of differing from their husbands, and maintaining their own opinions. They are fair and good looking; red and auburn hair are by no means uncommon is either of the sexes. I never saw any of them with veils; and 1 was informed that it is the general practice of Jewesses in Jerusalem to go with their faces uncovered - they are the only females there who do so. They seem particularly liable to eruptive diseases, and the want of children is as great a heart break to them now as it was in the days of Sarah.
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Alexandria Gazette
Alexandria, Virginia •
Sat, May 10, 1823
Page 4


elderofziyon.blogspot.com

The emancipated Jewish women of Jerusalem, 1823

Blogging about Israel and the Arab world since, oh, forever.
elderofziyon.blogspot.com elderofziyon.blogspot.com
 

Today in Jewish History​

• Jewish Books Spared from Destruction (1510)
In 1509, Emperor Maximilian of Germany ordered that all Jewish books in the cities of Cologne and Frankfurt am Main be destroyed. This followed the request of Pfefferkorn, a baptized Jew, who claimed that Jewish literature was insulting to Christianity. The Jews appealed to the Emperor to reconsider this edict, and Maximilian agreed to investigate the matter. He appointed Johann Reuchlin, a famed German scholar, to conduct the investigation. The report issued by Reuchlin was very positive. He demonstrated that the books openly insulting to Christianity were very few and viewed as worthless by most Jews themselves. The other books were needed for Jewish worship, and contained much value in the areas of theology and science.

The Emperor rescinded his edict on the 14th of Sivan, 1510.
 
Sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe arrested (1927)
Shortly after midnight of the 15th of Sivan of 1927, the sixth Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn (1880-1950), was arrested by agents of the GPU (Soviet Secret Police) and Yevsketzia ("Jewish section" of the Communist Party) for leading the underground network of rabbis, teachers and emissaries working to preserve and disseminate Jewish learning and observance throughout the Soviet Empire.
 

Jewish History​

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Damn. I got a wonderful book at Christmas in this context and "forgot" to read it. Thanks that you remembered me now. ... Where is this damn book ? ... Hmm ... the house never is losing anything. It is here!!! ... ¿But where? ... See you ... Bye bye ...
 

Today in Jewish History​

• Spanish Expulsion Decree Rescinded (1967)
The Spanish cabinet approved a bill which granted religious freedom to Spain's Jews as well as other religious minorities. Since 1492 it had been officially forbidden to practice Judaism in Spain -- though this law had not been enforced for many years before its official abolishment.
 
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