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Our
Thanks to Phil Chernofsky of the OU/NCSY Israel Center for Including
This Material in His Remarkable Torah
Tidbits, based on the book Day by Day in Jewish History by Rabbi
Abraham P. Bloch z''l
This Day in Jewish
History
Sivan
[1 Sivan]
- The Flood's waters began to recede.
- Bnei Yisrael arrived in the wilderness of
Sinai.
- Korach and his followers vanished into the
depth of the earth.
- Massacre of the Jews of Worms during the First
Crusade, 1096.
- Yahrzeit of Rabbi Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov,
leader of the aliya of the followers of the
Vilna Gaon, 1839.
- Renewed fighting broke out on the
Israeli-Syrian frontier; Israel reached the eastern bank of the Suez Canal,
1967.
[2 Sivan]
- Moshe Rabeinu ascended Mt. Sinai.
- Crusaders massacred the Jewish community of
Neuss, Prussia, 1096.
- Israel captured Queneitra, Syria, and smashed
the well-fortified Syrian positions in the mountains facing the Galil.
[3 Sivan]
- Moshe returned to Mt. Sinai to report the
public declaration of the Jewish people, affirming their desire to accept
the Torah.
- Beginning of Sh'loshet Y'mei Hagbala, the
three days of preparation, during which the Jews were to purify themselves
and abstain from uncleanliness.
- Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mayence, 1096.
- Vespasian captured Jericho and killed its
inhabitants 68C.E.
- Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Warsaw, 1790.
- Colonel David Marcus, the American Jewish
defender of Jerusalem, was killed at Abu Ghosh six hours before a cease-fire
was to go into effect, 1948.
[4 Sivan]
- Moshe wrote the first part of the Torah, from
B'reishit until Ma'amad Har Sinai.
- Over 500 Jews were forcibly baptized in
Clermont-Ferrand, France, 576.
- The Pope issued an order calling on all
Christian princes to send back to Spain the Jews who had fled from the
Inquisition, 1481.
- Bogdan Chmielnicki's anti-Polish warfare,
which resulted in the massacre of more than 300,000 Jews, broke out, 1648.
[5 Sivan]
- Reuven found mandrakes (duda'im) in the field.
- Moshe built a Mizbei'ach and erected 12
monuments at the foot of Mt. Sinai.
- Rabbi Judah b. Dama, one of the Ten Martyrs,
was executed by the Romans.
- The brothers Hayyim and Joshua Reizes of
Lemberg, famous for their piety and scholarship, were tortured and executed
on charges of influencing the apostate Jan Filipowicz to return to Judaism,
1728.
- Expulsion of Jews from Warsaw and its
environs, 1784.
[6 Sivan]
- Bnei Yisrael received the Torah
[12 Sivan]
- Agudat Yisrael was founded, in Poland, 1912.
- Jews of Ethiopia observed Shavuot on the 12th
of Sivan, 50 days after Pesach. They did not interpret "from the day
after Shabbat" as the Tzadokim did, but rather as traditional Judaism
did. Except that they considered Shabbat to refer to the whole holiday of
Pesach (or the last day of Yom Tov). It puts their Shavuot on the last day
of our "fill in days" for Shavuot. Assumedly, when the Ethiopian
Jews came to Israel, they readjusted their calendar.
[13 Sivan]
- 30 Jews of Posing, Hungary, were charged with
blood-ritual and burned, 1529.
[14 Sivan]
- First attack on the Jewish community of
Frankfort on the Main. The Jewish Quarter was destroyed and most of the Jews
were massacred, 1241.
- Germany's emperor rescinded an order to burn
all Hebrew books found in Cologne and Frankfort, 1510.
- Auto-da-fe claimed the lives of 24 Jews in
Barcelona, 1588.
- Yahrzeit of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin, 1821.
[15 Sivan]
- Traditional date for the birth of Yehuda.
- The Crusaders laid siege to Yerushalayim,
1099.
- King of Poland denied the Jews of Vilna the
right to deal in non-Jewish books, 1664. (On this kind of entry, don't just
read the fact - ponder the possible motives.)
- Israeli forces crossed into Lebanon to destroy
PLO bases, 1982.
[16 Sivan]
- The beginning of a substantial Jewish
settlement in Massachusetts, 1716.
- French (Vichy) planes bombed Tel Aviv, 1941.
[17 Sivan]
- No'ach's Ark rested on Mt. Ararat.
- Chashmona'im captured and settled Migdal Tzur.
The date was observed as a holiday.
[18 Sivan]
- The city of Acco was captured by Muslims,
1291, bringing to an end the Christian domination of Eretz Yisrael.
- The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of
America (parent organization of the Israel Center) was founded, 1898.
- The Nazis in control of France ordered Jews to
wear a yellow star with the word "Juif" on it, 1942.
- Spain passed a law granting Jews and
Protestants the right of public worship, including permission to mark their
places of worship and advertise their religious services. This was the first
such law since Ferdinand and Isabella proclaimed Catholicism as Spain's only
religion. This law was passed in - guess the year - 1967. (Not 1697; 1967!)
[19 Sivan]
- The first Jewish hospital in America - Jews'
Hospital of New York - admitted its first patient, 1855. (The Jews of Berlin
had a small hospital in the 16th century. Jews of Rome had their own
hospital in the 17th century. Russian Jews had 112 hospitals prior to World
War I. On the other hand, when the Jews of Bucharest petitioned the
government for permission to build a hospital - this, following the death of
a Jew who was denied admission into the city hospital - the petition was
denied.)
- Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever, 1898. One
of the founders and leaders of Religious Zionism in Russia, and the Mizrachi
movement, he was also instrumental in the establishment of Ekron and Rehovot.
[20 Sivan]
- 34 Jewish men and 17 Jewish women were burned
at the stake in Blois France, 1171, as a result of the first ritual-murder
trial in Europe. Rabbeinu Tam declared a fast day to mark the event. The day
was confirmed as a fast day centuries later, in Poland, following the murder
of 6000 Jews of Niemirov during the Chmielnicki massacres, 1648. Many
Siddurim have Slichot for Kaf Sivan.
- Although Yom Yerushalayim is 28 Iyar, 20 Sivan
marks the day that Israel annexed the Old City and officially untied all of
Jerusalem, 1967.
[21 Sivan]
- Mentioned by some sources as the day Miriam
was afflicted with Tzoraat (others say the 22nd or the 23rd), as we read
about in this week's sedra. (It is noteworthy when an event mentioned in the
Torah is read approx. at the same time that it occurred.)
- Muslim conqueror of Constantinople granted
equal rights to Jews and other non-Muslims, 1453. This provided a haven for
many Jews who fled Spain 39 years later.
- Harvard created a professorship of Hebrew and
Oriental languages, 1765.
[22 Sivan]
- The Pope ordered the Jews of Carpentras,
France to wear distinctive yellow hats, 1525.
[23 Sivan]
- King Yerovam stopped the Jews of the northern
kingdom from bringing Bikurim to Yerushalayim.
- Mordechai issued a royal decree calling upon
the Jews of the kingdom to defend themselves against attack. (This is the
oldest record of an organized Jewish self-defense in the Diaspora.)
- Fast day of the Jewish community of Pesaro,
Italy, to mark the murder of Jews following retreat of Napoleon's army,
1798.
[24 Sivan]
- Yahrzeit of R. Moshe b. Shlomo HaKohen, a
German Tosefist, 1198.
[25 Sivan]
- Geviha b. Pesisa, Jewish delegate, won the
debate against the Samaritans in the presence of Alexander the Great.
- Rabban Shimon b. Gamliel, Rabbi Yishma'el b.
Elisha, Rabbi Chanina Segan HaKohanim were martyred by the Romans (they were
among the Asara Harugei Malchut).
- Massacre of the Jews of Erfurt, Germany, 1221.
[26 Sivan]
- Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yitzchak b. Chaim, head of
the Volozhin Yeshiva, 1849.
[27 Sivan]
- End of Miriam's confinement in the Midbar.
- The Romans stormed the Samaritan stronghold on
Har Gerizim and killed 11,600 people, 67ce.
- Rabbi Chanina b. T'radyon, one of Asara
Harugei Malchut, was burned at the stake. Rabbi Akiva was imprisoned. 132ce.
- Second expulsion of Jews from France, 1322.
- Purim of Florence, celebrating escape from
massacre, 1790.
- Memorial day for Lithuanian Jewry.
[28 Sivan]
- Bnei Yisra'el arrived in Midbar Paran.
- Slobodka Yeshiva closed its doors, 1941.
[29 Sivan]
- Moshe sent the Meraglim to survey Eretz
Yisrael. (Of which Jews in Chutz LaAretz read on the day before - this
year).
- Follow the contrast: Chovevei Tzion was
founded in America, 1897. Six years later, same date, Russia banned all
Zionist meetings, 1903.
- Germany occupied Kovno and Vilna, 1941.
[30 Sivan]
- Residence tax on Hungarian Jews was abolished,
1846.
- Numerous Jews were killed in a pogrom at Jassy,
Rumania, 1941.
This Day in Jewish
History Index

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