Photo credit: Moshe Milner, National Photo Collection of Israel, CC BY-SA 3.0
Natan Alterman, shown in 1952, influenced labor Zionism and socialist politics through his weekly column in the newspaper Davar
Aug. 14, 1910 — Writer Natan Alterman Is Born
Natan Alterman, a poet, journalist, translator, author and playwright, is born in Warsaw. He moves to Tel Aviv with his family in 1925. He publishes his first book of poetry, “Stars Outside,” in 1938. His second book, “The Joy of the Poor” in 1941, is considered his masterpiece. One of his poems, “The Silver Platter,” is standard reading on Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day. His weekly column for Davar influences labor politics.
A medieval manuscript depicts the crusader siege of Jerusalem in 1099
Aug. 15, 1096 — First Crusaders Head East
The armies of the First Crusade embark from Western Europe on their quest to capture the Holy Land, especially Jerusalem, from Muslims. Pope Urban II called for the crusade Nov. 27, 1095. The resulting religious fervor spawns pogroms in Europe, and peasants slaughter Jews across the Rhineland. The crusaders capture and pillage Jerusalem on July 15, 1099, massacring Muslims and compelling Jewish allegiance.
Photo credit: Oren Rozen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The MiG-21 from Operation Diamond is housed at the Israeli Air Force Museum in Hatzerim
Aug. 16, 1966 — Israel Obtains Iraqi MiG-21
Operation Diamond, the plan to obtain a Russian-made MiG-21 fighter jet, succeeds when Iraqi Christian fighter pilot Munir Redfa lands a MiG-21 from his national air force at Israel’s Hatzor Air Force Base. Redfa, escorted in by two Israeli Mirage jets, cut a deal with the Mossad that included a $1 million payment, Israeli citizenship for himself and his family, and guaranteed full-time employment.
Photo credit: David Eldan, National Photo Collection of Israel
Theodor Herzl’s casket is in place for his state funeral on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem on Aug. 17, 1949
Aug. 17, 1949 — Herzl’s Body Is Reburied in Israel
The body of Theodor Herzl, buried in Vienna in 1904, is reburied with those of his wife and parents on the Jerusalem hill that now bears his name. Herzl, who organized the First Zionist Congress in 1897, asked in his will to be reinterred in the Land of Israel once the Jewish people had control there. Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion calls the state funeral “the triumph of a vision that became a reality.”
Photo credit: Fritz Cohen, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0
Yeshayahu Leibowitz speaks at the 1963 Israel Prize ceremony. After he was selected for the prize himself 30 years later, he caused outrage by comparing Israeli soldiers to Hamas fighters, and he refused to accept the prize
Aug. 18, 1994 — Intellectual Yeshayahu Leibowitz Dies
Yeshayahu Leibowitz, a controversial Jewish thinker and Israeli public intellectual, dies in his sleep in Jerusalem at 91. A native of Latvia, he taught biochemistry, neurophysiology and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem for almost six decades. He advocated the separation of religion and state in Israel, arguing that the state corrupted religion, and he denied that Zionism had a religious element.
Michah Joseph Berdichevski spent the last years of his life compiling Jewish folklore
Aug. 19, 1856 — Writer Michah Joseph Berdichevski Is Born
Scholar and writer Michah Joseph Berdichevski is born in Ukraine. He writes short stories, novels and essays in Yiddish and German, but he is best known for his Hebrew writings, including a lengthy debate with Ahad Ha’am about the nature of Hebrew literature. Berdichevski’s insistence on the value of secular Hebrew literature inspires younger writers. He also spends years recording Jewish folklore.
The Hebrew medical journal Harefuah got its start in 1920
Aug. 20, 1920 — Yishuv Publishes First Medical Journal
The first Hebrew medical journal in Palestine, Harefuah (Medicine), begins publishing on a quarterly schedule under the auspices of the Jewish Medical Association of Palestine. The editor is ophthalmologist Aryeh Feigenbaum, who as a teenager in Poland told a friend that he would become a doctor, move to Palestine and found the first Hebrew medical journal there. The Israel Medical Association still publishes the journal.
Items are provided by the Center for Israel Education (israeled.org), where you can find more details.
