Nov. 15, 1942 — Conductor Daniel Barenboim Is Born
Conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim, who moves to Israel with his family in the early 1950s, is born into a Russian Jewish family in Buenos Aires. Beginning at age 5, he studies piano all over the world, and he directs orchestras in Paris, Chicago, Milan and Berlin. With Edward Said in 1999, he founds the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which brings together Israeli, Palestinian and other Middle Eastern musicians harmony each summer.
Nov. 16, 1924 — IDF Chief Haim Bar-Lev Is Born
Haim Bar-Lev is born in Vienna, Austria. He joins the Palmach after making aliyah in 1939, and he leads the rapid conquest of the Sinai in the 1956 war. He rises to Israel Defense Forces chief of staff in 1968 and oversees the construction of the defenses on the eastern side of the Suez Canal that become known as the Bar-Lev Line. The Egyptians smash through that line in 1973, forcing Bar-Lev to come out of retirement to help recapture the peninsula.
Nov. 17, 2012 — Fashion Queen Leah Gottlieb Dies
Leah Gottlieb, known as the queen of Israeli fashion, dies at 94 in her Tel Aviv home. A native of Hungary and a Holocaust survivor, she and her husband founded the swimsuit manufacturer Gottex, for which she was the chief designer. They wanted to re-create the raincoat company they ran in Hungary before World War II, but the lack of rain led them to turn to swimsuits in 1953. Gottex became one of Israel’s top exporters.
Nov. 18, 1958 — Jerusalem Reservoir Opens
A reservoir for Jerusalem opens at Bayit Vegan, completing a project that began in 1955 to promote economic development in and around the city and to prevent a repeat of the water shortage experienced during the War of Independence. The city’s population has grown from 84,000 at the end of the war to more than 150,000, but the lack and high cost of water have deterred industry. The sale of Israel Bonds financed the project.
Nov. 19, 1957 — Singer Ofra Haza Is Born
Singing star Ofra Haza is born in Tel Aviv to parents from Yemen. She gains notice by coming in third at the Mizrahi Music Festival in 1974. She is named Israel’s Singer of the Year annually from 1980 to 1983 and finishes second at the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest. She sings “Jerusalem of Gold” at Israel’s 50th birthday celebration in 1998, the year she voices Moses’ mother in “The Prince of Egypt.” She dies of AIDS-related organ failure in 2000.
Nov. 20, 1977 — Sadat Addresses Knesset
“I come to you today on solid ground, to shape a new life, to establish peace,” Egyptian President Anwar Sadat begins his speech to the Knesset, where he appears after praying at Al-Aqsa Mosque, visiting Yad Vashem and laying a wreath at a memorial for Israeli soldiers. Sadat urges the Knesset to join him in making “peace with justice,” including Palestinian rights and an end to the occupation of territories captured in 1967.
Nov. 21, 1880 — Zionist Martyr Joseph Trumpeldor Is Born
Joseph Trumpeldor is born in Pyatigorsk, Russia. He loses an arm while fighting in the Russo-Japanese War and spends two years as a prisoner of war in Japan. After settling in Israel in 1912, he is deported to Egypt at the start of World War I and organizes the 700-member Zion Mule Corps to fight on the side of the British. After the war, he is killed defending a Jewish settlement in the Upper Galilee from Arab attack.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.