Israel Adopts State FlagCIE+
The iconic flag with two blue stripes and a blue Star of David at its center becomes the official Israeli flag more than five months after the establishment of the state.
Cinema Director Alon Garbuz Is BornCIE+
September 9, 1948 Alon Garbuz, the director of the Tel Aviv Cinematheque for four decades, is born in Givatayim, the youngest of three brothers. The oldest, Aharon, becomes a leader in the Histadrut labor federation…
Violinist Pinchas Zukerman Is BornCIE+
July 16, 1948 Classical musician and conductor Pinchas Zukerman is born in Tel Aviv. At 4, he begins playing the recorder, then the clarinet, and by 8 he is playing the violin and studying at…
LGBTQ Leader Gila Goldstein Is BornCIE+
December 18, 1947 Actress, singer and transgender-rights activist Gila Goldstein is born as Abraham Goldstein in Turin, Italy. Goldstein immigrates to Haifa as a child and is active with the Maccabi Haifa soccer club. Goldstein…
Nobel Laureate Aaron Ciechanover BornCIE+
Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Aaron Ciechanover is born in Haifa to parents who emigrated from Poland before World War II.
Photographer Alex Levac Is Born
June 23, 1944 Photojournalist Alex Levac, a 2005 winner of the Israel Prize, is born in Tel Aviv. A 1967 graduate of Tel Aviv University with a degree in philosophy and psychology, Levac completes his…
Journalist Ron Ben-Yishai Is Born in JerusalemCIE+
Ron Ben-Yishai, a famous war correspondent and recipient of the 2018 Israel Prize, is born in Jerusalem.
Musician Ariel Zilber Is BornCIE+
September 22, 1943 Singer-songwriter Ariel Zilber is born in Tel Aviv to Bracha Zefira, a singer, and Ben Ami Zilber, a violinist with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He attends a nonreligious boarding school on Kibbutz…
Pianist/Conductor Daniel Barenboim Is BornCIE+
November 15, 1942 Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim is born in Buenos Aires to Russian-Jewish immigrants. At age 5, he begins taking piano lessons from his father, who remains his teacher. He moves to Israel…
Composer Nurit Hirsch Is BornCIE+
August 13, 1942 Nurit Hirsch, a musician and composer, is born in Tel Aviv. From a young age, she plays piano at a theater, a ballet studio and a quartet club. She plays in a…
Ehud Manor Is BornCIE+
July 13, 1941 Singer, songwriter and media personality Ehud Manor is born to Russian immigrant parents in Binyamina. A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Manor composes about 1,200 songs and translates 600 others into…
Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman BornCIE+
January 24, 1941 Dan Shechtman, a Nobel Prize-winning chemist, is born in Tel Aviv. He earns his bachelor’s in mechanical engineering in 1966, master’s in materials engineering in 1958 and doctorate in materials science in…
Munich Olympic Massacre Victim Yossef Romano Is BornCIE+
Weightlifter Yossef Romano, one of the eleven Israeli athletes murdered at the 1972 Munich Olympics, is born in Benghazi, Libya.
Actress Gila Almagor Is BornCIE+
July 22, 1939 Gila Almagor, known as the “queen of the Israeli cinema and theater,” is born as Gila Alexandrowitz in Haifa four months after an Arab sniper killed her father, a policeman who immigrated…
Nobel-Winning Scientist Ada Yonath Is Born
Nobel Prize-winning biochemist Ada Yonath is born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Jerusalem, then part of the British Mandate of Palestine.
Writer Amos Oz Is Born in JerusalemCIE+
Israeli author, journalist and intellectual Amos Oz is born as “Amos Klausner” in Jerusalem during the British Mandate.
Irgun Radio Begins BroadcastingCIE+
March 15, 1939 Kol Tzion HaLokhemet (“Voice of the Fighting Zion”), the underground radio network operated by the Irgun, sends out its first broadcasts across Palestine as Esther Raziel-Naor hits the airwaves. The network broadcasts…
Gavriel Salomon Is BornCIE+
A specialist in the field of educational psychology, Gavriel Salomon served as Dean of the Faculty of Education at the University of Haifa from 1993-1998.
Arturo Toscanini Arrives in the Land of IsraelCIE+
Arturo Toscanini, considered to be one of the finest virtuoso conductors of the 20th century, arrives at Lod airport after being asked to conduct the opening performance of the Palestine Philharmonic.
Writer A.B. Yehoshua Is BornCIE+
December 19, 1936 Avraham B. Yehoshua, one of Israel’s most acclaimed writers, is born in Jerusalem into a Mizrahi/Sephardi family going back at least five generations in the city. His father, Ya’akov, is a historian…
Maccabi Tel Aviv Ends U.S. Soccer TourCIE+
Playing their final match of an eleven match American tour, the Maccabi Tel-Aviv Football Club loses 4-1 to an American all-star team at Yankee Stadium in front of 20,000 spectators.
Rav Abraham Isaac Kook’s FuneralCIE+
80,000 mourners, approximately a quarter of the Jewish population in Palestine, line the streets of Jerusalem for the funeral of Rav Abraham Isaac Kook. He passed away the day before from cancer.
Archaeologist Ehud Netzer Is BornCIE+
May 13, 1934 Archaeologist Ehud Netzer is born in Jerusalem to teachers Joseph and Pua Menczel. After graduating from the Technion with a degree in architecture in 1958, Netzer earns a doctorate in archaeology from…
Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman BornCIE+
March 5, 1934 Israeli-American behavioral economist Daniel Kahneman is born in Tel Aviv while his mother is visiting relatives. He spends his early childhood in Paris and is there when the Nazis defeat France in…
