May - 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

May

[May 1]

100 47 Jews were killed by Arabs in Jaffa, 1921.
Jews from Eretz Yisrael bound for Malta died when their ship was sunk by a German plane, 1943.
Goebbels, Nazi minister of propaganda, committed suicide, 1945.

[May 2]

Massacre of the Jewish community of Bisenz, Austria, 1605.
Pope calls upon all Christian princes to send back to Spain the Jews who had fled from the Inquisition, 1481.

[May 3]

Jews of Speyer were massacred in the first Crusade, 1096.
Council of Hanover ordered the severance of all business connections between Jews and Christians, 1588.
Many Jews killed in anti-Jewish riots in Lemberg, 1667.

[May 4]

Tel Aviv was sacked by Arabs, 1917.
Djemal Pasha announced that it was the intention of the Turkish government to purge Eretz Yisrael of its Jewish population.
Tel Aviv was sacked by the Arabs on the anniversary of the official adoption of the name "Tel Aviv".

[May 5]

Jewish residents of Speyer, Germany, were expelled, 1435.
The council of Hanover ordered the severance of all business connections between Jews and Christians, 1588.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Kiev, Russia, 1881. The Russian pogroms of 1881 led to the spread of Zionist ideas in Eastern Europe and the formation, in 1882, of Hovevei Zion, the first organized modern Zionist movement in the world.
Israeli postal service was established, 1948.
The Nuremberg anti-Jewish laws went into effect in Hungary, 1939.
Right of citizenship was denied to Jews of the canton of Aargau, Switzerland, 1809. Emancipation was delayed until 1879.

[May 6]

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzato (RAMCHA"L), kabbalist, poet, author of Mesilat Yesharim, died, 1747.

[May 7]

1,200 Jews of Toledo, Spain were killed, 1355.
Jews of Corfu were granted the right to practice law, 1680.
Empress Catherine I of Russia expelled all Jews from the Ukraine, 1727.
A letter of Empress Catherine II of Russia opened the way for limited settlement of Jews in Riga, 1764.
The Judenordnung provided for the abolition of discriminatory laws enacted against the Jews of Galicia, Austria, 1789.
Construction began on the first 100 houses to be built in Ahuzat Bayit (to be known later as Tel Aviv), 1909.
Three Jews were killed and many wounded in Arab attacks on Petah Tikva, 1921.
The Jewish autonomous region in Birobidzhan was founded by Russia, 1934.
The Nazi, decreed the execution of all pregnant Jewish women in the ghetto of Kovno, 1942.
The Mauthausen concentration camp was liberated, 1945. The camp had housed 225,000 inmates in the course of its existence. Of this total, 200,000 were exterminated.

[May 8]

The first printed edition of Mishnayot with Maimonides' commentary was published in Naples, 1492.
Crusaders dragged Rabbenu Jacob b. Meir Tam from his home in Ramerupt, France, and left him critically wounded in a field, 1147.

[May 9]

Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Shpola and Ananyev, Russia, 1881.
The Rothschild-Hadassah University Hospital and Medical Center was opened on Mt. Scopus, 1939.

[May 10]

German forces marched into Holland, 1940. The diary of Anne Frank, the young Dutch Jewish girl, attracted universal attention to the suffering of Jews in Nazi-occupied territories. Anne Frank died in the Belsen concentration camp. The British liberated Belsen on the fifth anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Holland.
Tzfat was taken by the Hagana, 1948.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Craiova, Rumania, 1883.
Napoleon retreated from Acco, giving up his dream of conquering the Near East, 1799.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Wasilkow and Konotop, Russia, 1881.
A Church synod, meeting in Vienna, ordered distinctive garb for Jews, 1267.
All Jews were ordered expelled from Berne, Switzerland, 1427. Expulsions of Jewish communities continued unabated throughout the 15th century: Treves, 1419; duchy of Austria, 1421; Cologne, 1424; Zurich, 1436; archbishopric of Hildesheim, 1457; Schaffhausen, 1472; Mayence, 1473; Warsaw, 1483; Geneva, 1490; Thurgau, 1491; Spain, Sicily, Sardinia, Lithuania, 1492; Mecklenburg and Arles, 1493; Portugal, 1497; Nuremberg 1499; Provence, 1500.
Jews of England were thrown into prison on charges of coining, 1278.
The Jewish agricultural settlement, Alliance, was founded in New Jersey, 1882.
Theresienstadt was liberated, 1945.

[May 11]

Tel Aviv became the first all-Jewish municipality, 1921.
Israel admitted as the 59th member of the U.N., 1949, this, on the anniversary of Turkey's declaration, 1917, of its intention to free Eretz Yisrael of the entire Jewish population.
Adolf Eichmann, charged with the implementation of the "final solution", was captured in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1960. Eichmann was in charge of all transportation required for the shipment of Jews to the extermination camps. The height of his career was reached in Hungary in 1944, when he managed to transport 400,000 Jews to the gas chambers in less than five weeks.
The Pope condemned the Talmud, 1415.
A great number of Jews of Styria, Austria, were burned and the balance were expelled from the country, 1421.

[May 12]

The first Aliya to the Negev began with the establishment of Kibbutz Gevulot, 1943. The first three settlements, Gevulot, Revivim, and Bet Eshel, were experimentally established in 1943 to determine the feasibility of permanent settlements in the Negev. As a result of the information gathered in the experimental stage, eleven new settlements were established in the Negev in 1946, and an additional seven in 1947. These settlements served also as strongpoints to defend the Yishuv from attack by an enemy advancing from the south. The Egyptian army suffered its first defeat at Nirim, one of the settlements established in 1946, on the anniversary of the first Aliya to the Negev.
Jews of Sicily were forbidden to display any funeral decorations in public, 1393.
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.
The Pope issued a bull against blood-ritual accusations, 1540.
Bet-Shean was captured by the Hagana, 1948.

[May 13]

Germany established diplomatic relations with Israel, 1965. (This, 20 years after its unconditional surrender, at the end of World War II, and 17 years after the establishment of the State of Israel.
The first degrees of Doctor of Medicine were awarded to 62 graduates of the Hebrew University - Hadassah Medical School, 1952.
Yarhzeit of Rabbi Israel Ashkenazi of Shklov, leader of the Aliya of the followers of the Gaon of Vilna to Eretz Yisrael, 1839. The dynamic force of early Hasidism clashed head-on with the dynamic force of Ashkenazic traditionalism generated by the GR"A. The momentum of both movements created the two major aliyot of the pre-Zionist times. Rabbi Israel of Shklov arrived in Eretz Yisrael in 1808. In 1815 he moved to Jerusalem, where he founded the modern Ashkenazic community. The location of his grave was unknown for a long time. It was discovered in 1964, 125 years after his death, in Tiberias.

[May 14]

The Nazis interned 3,600 naturalized Jews of Russian origin, 1941.
Jews of Venice were denied the right to practice law, 1637.

[May 15]

The Warsaw ghetto was reduced to ashes and the uprising came to an end after an active resistance of four weeks, 1943.
Anti-Jewish riots in Odessa, Russia, 1881.
An English Jew, saved the life of King George III, 1800.
A community of Jewish slaves, captured over a period of two centuries and held for ransom by the Knights of St. John on the isalnd of Malta, was officially dissolved, 1800
Sedeh Boker was founded on an ancient Nabatean site never before inhabited by Jews, 1952.
Nazi deportation of Jews from greater Hungary began, 1944.

[May 16]

Chaim Weizmann was elected first president of the State of Israel, 1948.
The Egyptian army suffered its first defeat at Nirim, in the Negev, 1948. The Egyptians entered Gaza, 1948.
The famous Tolmatsky Synagogue of Warsaw was dynamited by order of General Jurgen Stroop, 1943. It marked the last German "major operation" in the liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
Yahrzeit of Saadiah Gaon, 942. The outstanding scholar of his age. He was a recognized authority on the Talmud, and a profound student of philosophy and philology.
Marranos of Segovia, Spain were massacred, 1474.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Warsaw, 1790.

[May 17]

Russia recognized Israel, 1948.
Israeli forces captured Acre, Nebi Yusha, and Tel el-Kadi, 1948.
The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School was opened in New Jerusalem, 1959.
The White Paper of the McDonald government of Britain, which reversed the policy of the Balfour Declaration, was published, 1939. It nullified, in effect, the aims and legal commitment of the Balfour Declaration.

[May 18]

Poland, Czechoslovakia, Uruguay, and Nicaragua recognized Israel, 1948.
The Arab Legion captured the police fort on Mt. Scopus, 1948, and Saudi Arabia joined the other Arab armies in their invasion of Israel, 1948.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Algeria, 1897.
Jew of Worms were massacred by Crusaders, 1096.
Over 500 Jews were forcibly baptized in Clermont-Ferrand, France, 576.
Acco was captured by Muslims bringing to an end the Christian Kingdom of Eretz Yisrael. The persecution of medieval Jewry in England dates from the 12th century, with the launching of the Crusades. The persecutions led to the expulsion of the Jewish community in 1290. The vestiges of the Crusaders' Kingdom in Eretz Yisrael came to an end in 1291.

[May 19]

The provisional government council of Israel proclaimed a state of emergency, 1948.
Berlin was declared "Judenrein", 1943.
The aliyah of Iraqi Jews began, 1950. The first deportation of Eretz Yisrael Jews to Babylonia took place in 597 B.C.E. The bulk of Eretz Yisrael Jewry followed them to Babylonia 11 years later, in 568 B.C.E. The first return of some Babylonian Jews to Eretz Yisrael took place in 539 B.C.E. The majority, however, remained in Babylonia, where they were destined eventually to make a major contribution to Judaism through the creation of the Babylonian Talmud and the Geonic responsa. It was not until 1951, 2,548 years after the arrival of the first Jewish deportees in Babylonia, that this ancient Jewish community began its own liquidation through an aliya to Israel.
Metula founded, 1896.

[May 20]

The Israeli air force went in to action for the first time in the War of Independence, 1948.
The Syrian army, which had advanced to Deganya, was halted and repulsed, 1948. This was Israel's first significant victory. It came on the anniversary of the end of the Warsaw ghetto uprising.
Frederick William of Prussia permitted 50 Jewish families who had been expelled from Vienna to settle in his dominion, 1671.

[May 21]

Portuguese Marranos were granted permission to settle in Brazil, 1577.
An edict admitting Jews into Berlin, 1671.

[May 22]

Egypt blocked the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping, 1967.
Karl Frank, nazi protector of Bohemia-Moravia, was executed in Prague, 1946.
Rumanian government granted citizenship to all native-born Jews, 1919.
Hundreds of Jew were burned alive in Brussels, the remainder were banished from the country, 1370.

[May 23]

The only advance of the Arab Legion beyond the Old City walls into "Jewish Jerusalem" was halted in front of Notre Dame, 1948. The commander of the Arab Legion, Sir John Bagot Glubb (Glubb Pasha), considered that battle to be the worst defeat suffered by the legion throughout the war.
King Edward I of England ordered the cessation of persecution of Jews of Bordeaux, France.
Jews of Austria were imprisoned and expelled from the country, 1420.
Gestapo Chief Heinrich Himmler committed suicide, 1945.
Emperor Maximilian of Germany rescinded a previously issued order to burn all Hebrew books, 1510.

[May 24]

South Africa recognized Israel, 1948.
The Egyptian army captured Yad Mordecai, 1945.

[May 25]

Simhah b. Ha-Kohen of Worms was killed by Crusaders in a church for stabbing the bishop's nephew while pretending to submit to compulsory baptism, 1096.
Massacre of the Jews of Worms who took refuge in the castle during the First Crusade, 1096.
Chmielnicki's pogroms, which resulted in the massacre of more than 300,000 Jews, broke out, 1648
Minsk, Russia, recognized Yiddish as a second official language, 1917.
Jews of Warsaw and environs, expelled, 1784.

[May 26]

A pogrom broke out in Minsk, Russia, 1905.
The Zion Mule Corps was disbanded, 1916.
The Russian government decreed the establishment of a rabbinical committee to be attached to the Ministry of the Interior. This was part of the government's policy which aimed at the compulsory assimilation of Russian Jewry.
Shalom Schwarzbard assassinated Ukranian S.V. Petlura, whose followers were responsible for 493 pogroms in which 50,000 Jews lost their lives.
34 Jewish men and 17 Jewish women were burned at the stake in Blois, France in the first ritual-murder charge on the European continent, 1171.

[May 27]

The Israel Defense Army (Zahal) was established, 1948.
The Arabs blew up the Hurva Synagogue, 1948.
Jewish community of the Old City surrendered to Jordan's Arab Legion, 1948.
The first Jewish day school in America, 1808.
Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mayence, 1096.
The Pope suspended the Portuguese Inquisition due to its severe treatment of Marranos, 1679.
30 Jews of Posing, Hungary, charged with blood-ritual, were burned, 1529.

[May 28]

Israeli forces captured the Arab village of Zar'in on Mt. Gilboa, 1948.
Jews of Frankfort on the Main, Germany, were permitted for the first time to appear in public at the coronation of Joseph II, 1764.
The first Jewish sermon preached and published in America ws delivered by Rabbi Hayyim Isaac Carigal in the Newport Synagogue, 1773.
60 Jews were murdered in Breslau, Silesia in riots which followed a disastrous fire which had destroyed part of the city, 1349. (our fault, of course)
Agudat Yisrael was founded in Poland, 1912.

[May 29]

Pogroms in Brisk, Lithuania, 1905.
The Israeli army crossed into Lebanon, and scattered the Arab forces on the border, 1948.
Representative Louis T. McFadden (PA) delivered a Nazi-type attack on Jews, 1933. It was the first anti-Semitic speech in Congress.
Jews of Bacharach, Germany, were massacred by the Crusaders, 1096.
A disengagement agreement was reached between Israel and Syria, 1974.
Sultan Mohammed II, the conqueror of Constantinople, granted equal rights to Jews and other non-Muslim subjects of the Ottoman Empire, 1453.

[May 30]

Crusaders reached Cologne and found the gate to the city closed by order of the bishop. Of all the Jewish communities in the path of the Crusaders, Cologne's Jews were the only ones to escape total destruction.
Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Emden, Prussia, 1762.

[May 31]

The Jewish defender of Jerusalem surrendered the first wall of the city to the Romans, 70 C.E.
Adolf Eichmann, head of the Jewish department of the Gestapo, the first Nazi to be condemned by the Jewish state, was hanged, 1962.
Jews barred from living in Riga and Livonia, 1593.
Jewish community of Khonia, Crete, dating from Roman times, came to an end when the ship Danai, into which all the Jews had been herded, was towed out to sea and sunk, 1944.

This Day in Jewish History Index