Posts Tagged ‘Knesset’
Chaim Weizmann Dies
November 9, 1952 Chaim Weizmann, a leader of the Zionist movement and the first President of the State of Israel, passed away at his home in Rehovot after a year-long illness. Among his myriad of contributions to the creation of the State of Israel was his role in obtaining British consent for the 1917 Balfour…
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Yitzhak Rabin Is Assassinated
November 4, 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who played a prominent role in virtually all of Israel’s history, is assassinated at a peace rally held in Tel Aviv. Rabin was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77 and from 1992 until his assassination. Born in Palestine, serving in the…
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Sixth Knesset Elections Are Held in Israel
November 1, 1965 Elections for the Sixth Knesset are held in Israel. The background to the 1965 elections began in June 1963 when David Ben-Gurion resigned as Prime Minister for the second time (he had previously resigned in 1953 but returned to the premiership in 1955). The resignation came as a surprise to both the…
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Benjamin Netanyahu Is Born in Tel Aviv
October 21, 1949 Benjamin Netanyahu, the ninth and current Prime Minister of Israel, is born in Tel Aviv. Although he spent a good portion of his childhood in Philadelphia, Netanyahu returned to Israel in 1967 to fulfill his service in the IDF, eventually serving in the elite Sayeret Maktal unit until 1972. Following his army…
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Dalia Itzik Is Born
October 20, 1952 Dalia Itzik is born in Jerusalem to a family of Iraqi immigrants. Itzik received a BA from Hebrew University, a teacher’s diploma from the Efrata Teacher’s Seminary and a law degree from the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliyah. After serving for five years at the chairperson of the Jerusalem Teachers Union, Dalia Itzik was…
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Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky Is Born
October 17, 1880 Ze’ev Vladimir Jabotinsky is born in Odessa. Mostly known for his revisionist attitudes towards Zionism, which influenced some to take a more militaristic role in helping to bring about a Jewish state. Jabotinsky is also an exemplar of communal social action in areas of self-defense, youth, immigration and fundraising. In 1903 after pogroms…
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‘Spirit Can Drive The Body’
How Jewish spirituality inspires Michigan’s blind Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein. Richard Bernstein is a human dynamo — both mentally and physically. And his Jewish spirituality plays a major motivational role. Despite being blind since birth, the 44-year-old lawyer was elected a Michigan Supreme Court justice four years ago and has traveled the world advocating…
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Resigns
September 21, 2008 Amid charges of corruption and financial improprieties, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert resigns his position. Olmert had announced he would resign in July, following the elections for a new Kadima party leader which took place on September 17th. The newly elected Kadima party leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, was tasked with trying…
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Shimon Peres Becomes Prime Minister
Center for Israel Education September 13, 1984 Shimon Peres becomes Israel’s Eighth Prime Minister as he forms a coalition government comprised of Alignment (which would become the Labor party in 1992), Likud, NRP, Agudat Yisrael, Shas, Morasha, Shinui and Ometz. Elections were held in late July 1984 with Peres’ Alignment party receiving the most votes (724,074…
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Guest Column: Rosh Hashanah Greetings
The High Holidays are my favorite time of year because they are a time of coming together as a community. In fact, many Jewish laws and traditions focus upon not being alone and upon coming together. In prayer, birth, marriage, even after death as our body awaits burial, Jewish life compels us to be in the…
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