This Day in Jewish History

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

March

[March 1] 

  • First organized Arab attack on a Jewish settlement in Eretz Yisrael, 1886, against Petach Tikva.

  • Hitler ordered the establishment of a library of Jewish books and art, 1942. (The U.S. army recovered 600,000 volumes intact.)

[March 2]

  • Several thousand Jews of the Minsk ghetto were killed by the Nazis, 1942.

  • Peasants Day in Burma. HBNC, '51.

[March 3]

  • Follow this: Dr. Jacob Lumbrozo, 1st Jew in Maryland had been indicted on charges of blasphemy, a capital offense for quite a while after American independence, let alone before. He was given amnesty in 1658 when Cromwell came to office. David Emmanuel, first Jewish Governor in the United States, (Georgia) was sworn in, 1801.
  • The Jewish infantry brigade became active, 1945.

[March 4]

  • Israel, in compliance with the United Nations resolution, withdrew from the Gaza Strip and other territories, 1957.
  • Jews of Lubeck, Germany, were expelled, 1699.
  • First permanent Government of Israel assumed office, 1949.
  • Austrian Jews granted equal civil and political rights, 1849.
  • A Christian in Alsace was punished by the Church for lighting a fire for a Jew on Shabbat, 1791. Vivaldi's b.d. 1678.

[March 5]

  • German elections, 1933 gave Nazis control of the Reichstag.
  • Stallin died, 1953 disrupting plans for mass deportations of Russian Jews.
  • Jewish grand vizier under the Mongols of Persia was assassinated, 1291.
  • Independence Day in Equatorial Guinea.

[March 6]

  • The Nazis bar Jewish physicians from treating Aryans and vice-versa, 1940.
  • Napoleon captured the city of Jaffa, 1799.

[March 7]

  • Turkish soldiers killed 60 Jews in Bucharest, 1822. Aristotle died, 322BCE.

[March 8]

  • Jews of Gloucher were massacred by Ukranians, 1918. Youth Day in Zambia.

[March 9]

  • The Pope orders the burning of the Talmud, 1244.
  • Jews of Carinthia, Austria were expelled, 1496 (and not readmitted until 1848).

[March 10]

  • The Knesset passed the "Who is a Jew?" bill, 1970.
  • Jews were excluded from public office and dignities in the Roman Empire, 1418.
  • Vincent Fettmilch, responsible for the massacre of many Jews, was hanged, 1616.

[March 11]

  • Jews of Prussia were granted citizenship upon their adoption of family names, 1812. 
  • Headquarters of the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem was bombed, 1948.

[March 12]

  • Anti-Jewish riots in Krakow, 1682.
  • U.S. Congress allowed Rabbi's to serve as army chaplain's.
  • Resolution to establish the Haganah, 1920.
  • Jews of Vienna were forced to embrace Christianity or were burned at the stake, 1421.

[March 13]

  • Jews of New Amsterdam were denied permission to build a shul, 1656. (Peter Stuyvesant's idea of religious freedom did not extend to non-Christians).
  • The American Magen David Adom was established, 1918.

[March 14]

  • Marranos of Cordova, Spain, were massacred, 1473.
  • Israel's Ben-Gurion and West Germany's Adenauer met, 1960, to discuss mutual problems.
  • King of France ordered the seizure of all Jews of Paris attending shul and their detention for ransom, 1181.

[March 15]

  • Deportation of the Jews from Thrace, 1943.
  • German troops march into Prague, 1939.
  • Anti-Jewish riots in Seville, Spain, 1391. These riots initiated a wave of violence throughout Spain and Portugal which claimed 50,000 lives within less than a year. Many Jews escaped death by converting to Christianity. This marked the emergence of Marranos, approx. 200,000.

[March 16]

  • Provisional government of Russia voided many anti-Jewish laws and restrictions, 1917. Jews of York, England killed themselves rather than submit to Baptism, 1190.

[March 23]

  • The Italian Fascist Party was organized, 1919.
  • Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Lubny, Russia, 1881.
  • Israel and Lebanon signed an armistice agreement, 1949.
  • Adolf Hitler was granted dictatorial powers by the German Reichstag, 1933.
  • The first dated edition of Maimonides' Mishneh Torah was published, 1490.
  • 2500 Jews of the district of Lublin were massacred and the rest of the Jews were deported, 1942.
  • Kosher slaughtering was prohibited in Saxony, 1893.
  • The Zion Mule Corps, consisting of Jewish volunteers from Palestine, was formed, 1915. This was the first Palestinian Jewish military unit attached to a regular army in the Christian era. It was the forerunner of the Jewish Legion, which was formed in 1918.

[March 24]

  • The Purim Association of the City of New York was organized for the purpose of arranging annual Purim balls, 1862.
  • The Pope authorized the printing of the Talmud in Mantua on condition that the word Talmud be omitted, 1564. [Explain that one!]
  • The Chief Rabbinate of Palestine was established, 1921.

[March 25]

  • The discovery of the mutilated body of Andrei Yishinsky, near Kiev, Russia, led to the infamous trial of Mendel Beilis on ritual-murder charges, 1911.
  • Jews of Weissensee, Germany, were massacred, 1303.
  • A new road leading to Sodom was dedicated, 1953.
  • Rabbi Ovadya MiBartinura, popular Mishna commentator, arrived in Jerusalem, 1488.

[March 26]

  • The Rumanian government, 1902 prohibited Jews from engaging in handicrafts or trade.
  • PM Begin and Egypt's President Sadat signed a peace treaty at the White House, 1979.

[March 27]

  • In the Children's Action, 1944, the Nazis raided the Kovno ghetto and removed all the children for execution.
  • 32 Jews of Meshed, Persia were killed and the remaining 100 families were forced to convert to Islam, 1839. (Nowhere nearly as common as forced conversions to Christianity, but it did exist.) Most of the Jews in this case continued practing their Judaism in secret.
  • The British Army with the help of the Jewish Brigade, captured Amman, 1918.

[March 28]

  • The German Reichstag conferred dictatorial powers on Hitler, 1933.
  • Jews of Tel Aviv and Yafo were expelled by the Turks, 1917 (T.A. was a new city of 8 years' existence.)

[March 29]

  • Be'er Sheva was linked to Israel's railway system, 1956.

[March 30]

  • King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella signed a decree expelling the Jews of Spain, 1492.
  • Torathon 5760.

[March 31]

  • Lorenzo Bertran subjected to an auto-da-fe in Seville, 1799. (Last person to be punished for Judaizing in Spain.)
  • Jews of White Russia were forbidden to wear distinctive clothes which would set them apart from the rest of the population, 1856.
  • Emperor Joseph II granted Jews right of residence in Pest, Hungary, 1783.
  • Jews of Prague exiled, 1745.
  • The Portuguese Inquisition was abolished, 1821. (Having been established in 1531, it was in existence 290 years.)
  • Jews of Mayence, Germany, were massacred, 1283.
  • Jews expelled from Spain and Sicily, 1492.
  • Afula was founded, 1925.
  • Hungary issued a decree ordering all Jews to wear a yellow star, 1944.
  • Mother Maria of Paris, a Russian nun who had saved many French Jews by hiding them, was killed by the Nazis, 1945.
  • Rumania barred Jews from professional and agricultural schools, 1899.

This Day in Jewish History Index

More from OU.ORG

More from OU.ORG