April 4, 1920:
The Nebi Musa riots broke out around the Old City of Jerusalem after inciteful speeches by Arab religious leaders. Until the riots subsided on April 7, Arabs had murdered seven Jews and wounded 216 others. The British military was criticized for withdrawing its troops from inside Jerusalem and because it was slow to regain control. This led eventually to the formation of the Hagana, the precursor of the IDF.
April 5, 1948:
The first three large convoys of Operation Nachshon broke through the Arab siege of Jerusalem in the Latrun area, bringing arms and food to the starving Jewish population.
April 6, 1920:
Birthday of Edmond Fischer, American biochemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1992 for describing how reversible phosphorylation works as a switch to activate proteins and regulate various cellular processes in the body.
Nisan 9, 5729 (1969):
Death of Reb Aryeh Levin, known as the “Father of the Prisoners.” Ordained by rabbis Chaim Berlin and Shmuel Salant, he devoted himself to volunteer work at the leper hospital and prison in Jerusalem, considering those jailed by the British his special mission. Reb Aryeh consistently refused all honors, choosing to live in near poverty in the Mishkenot section of Jerusalem.
Nisan 10, 2487 (1274 BCE):
Miriam the prophetess, sister of Moshe and Aaron, died at the age of 126, and the mobile well named in her honor, which supplied water to the Israelites in the desert, dried up (Seder Olam 10). Exactly a year later, the Israelites, under the leadership of Joshua, crossed the Jordan River, which split for them, to enter the Promised Land (Joshua 4:20).
Nisan 11, 5030 (1270):
Death of Rabbi Moshe b. Nachman (RaMBaN), the greatest Talmudic scholar of his generation – author, philosopher, mystic, and physician. He is famed for his Disputation against Pablo Christiani, an apostate Jew, in Aragon, Spain, in 1263.
Nachmanides won the debate, which earned the king’s respect and a prize of 300 gold coins. However, he was banished from Spain after papal pressure was brought against him. So at age 72, Nachmanides moved to Jerusalem, where he established a synagogue which still stands today, and a school for Talmudic studies.
April 10, 1944:
Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba escaped from Auschwitz and wrote a detailed 33-page eyewitness account of the fate of the Jews there, which was translated and passed on to the Allies. Even though the Allies were already aware by November 1942 that Jews were being killed en masse in Auschwitz, according to historian Michael Fleming “News of the true function of Auschwitz was effectively embargoed by British government policy.”
The eyewitness account received its first wide coverage only in June 1944, which led to the end of the deportation of Hungarian Jews to Auschwitz on July 9, saving the lives of tens of thousands of Jews.
The above is a highly abridged weekly version of Dust & Stars – Today in Jewish History. To receive the complete newsletter highlighting all the seminal events and remarkable Jews who have changed the world: dustandstars.substack.com/subscribe.