Photo credit: P. Kruse via National Library of Israel
Hovevei Zion delegates attend their first conference Nov. 6, 1884, in Katowice
Nov. 6, 1884 — Hovevei Zion Holds First Gathering
Delegates gather in Katowice — now in Poland, then part of Prussia — for the first conference of the Hovevei Zion (Lovers of Zion) movement, which is spreading rapidly in Europe from its roots in Russia and Romania. Leon Pinsker, who has inspired Zionist aspirations with the publication of his “Autoemancipation” pamphlet in 1882, organizes the gathering, which pledges to support settlement in the Land of Israel.
Hannah Senesh dresses up as a Hungarian soldier
Nov. 7, 1944 — Hannah Senesh Is Executed
Hannah Senesh (formerly Szenes) is killed by a Hungarian firing squad in Budapest five months after being captured while entering Hungary from Yugoslavia. Senesh, a poet and Haganah paratrooper who was born in Hungary in 1921 and made aliyah in 1939, had parachuted into Nazi-occupied territory on a mission to free prisoners of war and organize Jewish resistance. Her remains are reburied on Mount Herzl in 1950.
Photo credit: YouTube screen grab
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Friedman Ben-Shalom inspired Israelis from Haredim to secular Jews
Nov. 8, 1923 — Pashkaner Rebbe Is Born
Yisrael Meir Friedman Ben-Shalom, the future Pashkaner Rebbe, is born to a Hasidic and Zionist family in Bohush, Romania. He joins the Hashomer Hatzair youth movement, which is Zionist and secular, while maintaining a religious life and studying Torah. He and his wife, Zipporah, smuggle themselves into Mandatory Palestine in 1946 and soon create a secular kibbutz with Holocaust survivors. They later move to a religious kibbutz.
îùìçú éùøàì ìùéçåú äùìåí òí îöøéí á÷îô ãéåéã, àøä”á. îéîéï ìùîàì, àáøäí úîé÷, àìéé÷éí øåáéðùèééï, ùø äçåõ îùä ãééï, àéìï úäéìä, øàù äîîùìä îðçí áâéï, ùø äáèçåï òæø åéöîï åäéåòõ äîùôèé ìîîùìä àäøåï áø÷, îèééìéí ìäðàúí á÷îô ãéåéã.
Photo credit: Moshe Milner, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Avraham Tamir (right) joins (from left) Aharon Barak, Ezer Weizman, Menachem Begin, Ilan Tehila, Moshe Dayan and Elyakim Rubinstein in the Israeli delegation at Camp David in September 1978
Nov. 9, 1924 — Gen. Avraham Tamir Is Born
Avraham Tamir, a military strategist who serves in the Haganah and the British army in Mandatory Palestine and rises to the rank of major general in Israel, is born. He serves in the IDF from the War of Independence through the First Lebanon War. He is part of the Israeli delegation at Camp David in 1978 and contributes to the accords’ consideration of Palestinian autonomy. He is one of the first Israeli officials to meet with Yasser Arafat.
Photo credit:
Harvard University’s Widener Library
Naftali Herz Imber’s poem “Tikvatenu” (“Our Hope”) provided the lyrics for Israel’s national anthem
Nov. 10, 2004 — “Hatikvah” Officially Becomes National Anthem
The Knesset officially adopts the Zionist song “Hatikvah” (“The Hope”) as Israel’s national anthem more than half a century after the state’s founding. Although the song, based on a poem by Naftali Herz Imber, has been popularly used as the anthem since the birth of the modern state, its official adoption has been delayed because of concerns that non-Jewish Israelis feel excluded by the same Zionist lyrics that appeal to Jewish citizens.
Photo credit: Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Israeli Gen. Aharon Yariv prepares to sign a ceasefire agreement at Kilometer 101 on Nov. 11, 1973, after two weeks of talks
Nov. 11, 1973 — Israel, Egypt Sign Kilometer 101 Deal
Gens. Mohamed el-Gamasy of Egypt and Aharon Yariv of Israel complete 12 days of talks after the Yom Kippur War — the first direct negotiations between their nations — and sign the Kilometer 101 Six-Point Agreement. The deal addresses a continuing military ceasefire, the movement of nonmilitary supplies, U.N. supervision and POW exchanges. The deal leads to the Egyptian-Israeli Disengagement Agreement in January 1974.
Photo credit: Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Eliyahu Speiser studied at the University of Paris and served on the embassy staff there before his political career
Nov. 12, 2009 — Labor Politician Eliyahu Speiser Dies
Former Knesset member Eliyahu Speiser dies at 79. A native of Haifa, Speiser begins working for Israel’s dominant political party, Mapai, in 1965 and is involved in the merger that produces the Labor Party in 1968. He serves as deputy mayor of Tel Aviv and chairs the Association of Cities of the Dan Area. He is elected to the Knesset three times, beginning in 1977 as part of the Alignment list, which includes Labor and leads the opposition to Likud.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
