A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

A nonprofit, independent news source to inform, inspire, educate and connect the St. Louis Jewish community.

St. Louis Jewish Light

Stella Levy, shown in 1970, commanded the IDF Women’s Corps for six years. Photo by Fritz Cohen, Israeli National Photo Collection, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: July 18-24

CENTER FOR ISRAEL EDUCATION, ISRAELED.ORGPublished July 18, 2024

July 18, 1290 — England Expels Its Jews King Edward I orders the expulsion of the Jews from England, where they had settled in significant numbers only in the 11th century. Despite gaining legal protections early in the 12th century, Jews suffer massacres...

June 27: Former Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Col. Chaim Herzog, a future president, visit the Western Wall in Jerusalem a week after the Knesset’s formal unification of the city. Photo: Meir Froiudlch, Israeli National Photo Collection, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli history: June 27-July 3

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished June 26, 2024

June 27, 1967 — Israel Annexes East Jerusalem After capturing the roughly 2.3 square miles known as East Jerusalem from Jordan during the war in early June, Israel formally annexes that area and some surrounding West Bank land — a total of 27 square...

Joined by his wife, Aliza, Menachem Begin casts his ballot in the 1977 Knesset election, won by his Likud party. Photo: Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office, CC BY-SA 3.0

This week in Israeli History: May 14-20

Published May 14, 2024

May 14, 1947 — Soviet Envoy Backs 1-State Solution Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko addresses a special U.N. General Assembly session on Palestine and calls for the British Mandate to give way to one state shared by Jews and Arabs. But after...

This week in Israeli history: Feb. 29-March 6

This week in Israeli history: Feb. 29-March 6

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished February 29, 2024

Feb. 29, 1948 — Lehi Bombs Cairo-Haifa Train Lehi militants use mines to bomb train cars carrying British troops on the Cairo-Haifa rail line north of Rehovot, killing at least 27 soldiers. Targeting the troop cars in back spares the civilians in...

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (left) and Jordan’s King Hussein shake hands in front of U.S. President Bill Clinton after signing their peace treaty Oct. 26, 1994, in the Arava. By Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history: Jan. 31 to Feb. 7

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished January 31, 2024

Jan. 31, 1922 — Hebrew ‘Dybbuk’ Opens in Moscow The Hebrew version of “The Dybbuk, or Between Two Worlds” begins its successful stage run at Moscow’s Habimah Theater. Written in Russian and then Yiddish by S. Ansky and translated into Hebrew...

Aug. 23, 1903: Theodor Herzl opens the Sixth Zionist Congress by making the case for the Uganda Plan as a step toward a homeland in the Land of Israel.

This week in Israeli history: Aug. 17-23

CENTER FOR ISRAEL EDUCATIONPublished August 17, 2023

Aug. 17, 1898 — Russian Zionists Hold First Conference A few weeks before the Second Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, 160 Russian Zionists meet secretly in Warsaw, where organizer Ahad Ha’am rallies support for a Jewish cultural renaissance...

Aris San (left) performs with his band in 1973. Photo: Moshe Milner, National Photo Collection of Israel

This week in Israeli history: July 20-26

Center for Israel EducationPublished July 20, 2023

July 20, 1949 — Syria, Israel Sign Armistice Israel signs an armistice with Syria, the last of four Arab nations to sign such agreements at the end of the War of Independence. Israel signed agreements with Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan before opening negotiations...

Soviet refuseniks are pictured in 1970s Moscow.

This week in Israeli history: June 15-21

Center for Israel EducationPublished June 16, 2023

June 15, 1970 — Refuseniks Are Arrested Before Stealing Plane A plot to steal a commercial aircraft to escape the Soviet Union is foiled when 12 dissidents are arrested at Leningrad’s Smolnoye Airport just before boarding the plane. Four others are...

Menachem Begin and Zbigniew Brzezinski play chess at Camp David on Sept. 9, 1978. Photo: Jimmy Carter Presidential Library

This week in Israeli history: June 1-7

CENTER FOR ISRAEL EDUCATIONPublished May 31, 2023

June 1, 1941 — Farhud Pogrom Strikes Iraq’s Jews Two days of anti-Jewish riots break out in Baghdad, Iraq, during the holiday of Shavuot. The violence kills 180 Jews, wounds more than 240 others, destroys 100 Jewish houses and damages more than 500...

Theodor Herzl is home with his parents and sister in 1873. Photo: National Photo Collection of Israel

This week in Israeli history: April 27-May 3

Center for Israel EducationPublished April 27, 2023

April 27, 1955 — Uzi Is Unveiled During Parade The Uzi submachine gun makes its public debut as an IDF weapon during a Yom HaAtzmaut parade. Named for its inventor, Uziel Gal, the Uzi was first used in the field two months earlier during Operation...

MARCH 26: Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin shake hands at the White House signing ceremony for the peace treaty March 26, 1979. Photo by Ya’acov Sa’ar, Israeli Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history: March 23-29

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished March 23, 2023

March 23, 1915 — Zion Mule Corps Is Created A Jewish unit of the British army is formed in Alexandria, Egypt, with about 500 volunteers, including many expelled from Palestine because of the Ottoman Empire’s fear of the Jewish population. The idea...

DEC. 17: Henry Kissinger, meeting with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in September 1975, later that year spoke of an Israel much smaller than the country that emerged from the 1967 war. Photo: Israeli Government Press Office

This week in Israeli history: Dec. 15-21

Center for Israel Education, israeled.orgPublished December 15, 2022

Dec. 15, 1999 — U.S. Fund Buys Stake in Israeli Water San Francisco-based venture fund Aqua International Partners buys a 25% stake in Israeli bottled water company Mayanot Eden (Eden Springs) for $47.5 million, financing the company’s expansion...

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