Prime Minister Moshe Sharett Is BornCIE+
Moshe Sharett is born as Moshe Shertok in Kherson, Ukraine. Sharett’s parents were early Zionists, having been involved in the BILU movement in the early 1880’s.
Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz Is BornCIE+
August 22, 1891 Sculptor Jacques Lipchitz, whose final work, “The Tree of Life,” stands outside Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, is born Chaim Jacob Lipchitz in Lithuania. Though his father wants him to…
Pregnancy Test Developer Zondek Is BornCIE+
July 29, 1891 Bernhard Zondek, the obstetrician-gynecologist who creates one of the first reliable pregnancy tests, is born in Wronke, Germany, now in Poland. Zondek moves to Berlin for his medical studies and earns his…
First Gathering of Hovevei Zion Takes PlaceCIE+
Delegates convene in Katowice (presently southern Poland) for the first gathering of the Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) movement.
BILU Forms, Laying Groundwork for First AliyahCIE+
The groundwork for the First Aliyah is laid with the formation of the BILU group at a meeting in the home of Israel Belkind in Kharkov, Ukraine.
Czar Alexander II Is AssassinatedCIE+
Czar Alexander II, the leader of Russia, is assassinated in St. Petersburg when a bomb is thrown into his carriage.
Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky Is BornCIE+
Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky is born in Odessa, Ukraine. He is mostly known for his revisionist attitudes towards Zionism, which serve as the ideological foundation of Israel’s Likud political party.
British Philanthropist and Zionist Alfred Mond Is BornCIE+
An early Zionist supporter in England, Alfred Mond (who would later become the first Lord Melchett) is born in England. Despite the fact that his parents were Jewish, Mond was not raised as a Jew and in fact was married in the Anglican church and raised his children as Christians.
Leo Motzkin Is BornCIE+
Raised in a traditional Jewish household, early Zionist activist Leo Motzkin is born in present-day Brovary, Ukraine.
Zionist Intellectual Max Nordau Is Born in HungaryCIE+
Max Nordau is born Simon Maximilian Sudfeld in Pest, Hungary to an Orthodox Jewish family. Nordau’s most notable contribution to early Zionism is The Basel Plan – the first official blueprint for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.
9 Jews Freed After Damascus Blood LibelCIE+
September 6, 1840 The nine surviving Damascus Jews accused of killing a Franciscan Capuchin friar and his servant to harvest the blood are freed by order of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman pasha who controls an…
Chaim Nahman Bialik Is Born in UkraineCIE+
Chaim Nahman Bialik, famed Zionist poet, is born in the village of Radi, near Zhitomir in Volhynia (Northwest Ukraine).
France Grants Citizenship to Sephardi JewsCIE+
Sephardi Jews living in France are granted equal rights and given French citizenship by the National Assembly.
French National Assembly Debates Citizenship for JewsCIE+
Following the French Revolution and the August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, the issue of Jewish rights is debated in the French National Assembly for three days with no conclusion.
Aeltesten Reglement: Constitution of the Jewish Community of Berlin Is IssuedCIE+
Berlin’s Jewish community reorganizes with a new constitution, the Aeltesten Reglement.
Amsterdam Jews Excommunicate Baruch SpinozaCIE+
Baruch Spinoza’s ideas about Judaism are rejected by the Amsterdam Jewish community, eventually leading to his excommunication. He goes on to become one of the most important philosophers of the Jewish Enlightenment, which seeks to reconcile the world of Jewish faith with secular, empirical reality.
Conversos Massacred in CordobaCIE+
A riot breaks out against the conversos or marranos–Jews who had publicly converted to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism behind closed doors.
Charter of Duke Frederick II of Austria Is IssuedCIE+
In 1244, the Duke issues a charter extending rights to Jews. His goal is to build the region’s economy. The charter encourages Jewish money-lending and Jewish migration to an outlying area. It also guarantees Jewish safety.
