This week in Jewish history: Haganah formed in Israel, Google acquires Waze

Waze was acquired by Google for a reported $1.1 billion. Waze was founded by three Israelis in 2008. The company developed a geographical navigation application program that provides turn-by-turn information and user-submitted travel times and route details, downloading location-dependent information over the mobile telephone network in more than 100 countries. In the Google acquisition, Waze’s 100 employees each received $1.2 million on average, the largest payout to employees in Israeli hi-tech.

Birthday of Austrian immunologist and pathologist Karl Landsteiner. He received the 1930 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of the major blood groups and the development of the ABO typing system, helping to make blood transfusion a routine medical practice.

The Haganah, the predecessor of the IDF that was designed to take the place of the Hashomer Hatzair movement, was formed during a meeting of the Ahdut Avoda party.

Death of Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel: Tanna, head of the Sanhedrin in the generation of the destruction of the Second Temple, one of the leaders during the Great Revolt against the Romans, and one of the 10 martyrs mentioned in Jewish liturgy. “By three things is the world sustained: by judgment, by truth, and by peace” (Avot 1:18).

Birthday of French biologist François Jacob. He received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1965 for his discovery that control of enzyme levels in all cells occurs through the feedback regulation of DNA transcription. This idea gave further impetus to the emerging field of molecular developmental biology.

The first LP (long-playing 12-inch vinyl plastic record) was demonstrated by its inventor, Hungarian-American engineer Peter Goldmark. He later developed the first commercial color television system, as well as a scanning system used by NASA’s  Lunar Orbiter spacecraft in 1966 to transmit photographs to the Earth from the moon.

Mordechai issued a royal decree calling upon Jews of the Persian Empire to defend themselves against attack (Esther 8:11), overturning Haman’s edict to destroy the Jewish people. ■

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 Jews who’ve changed the world: dustandstars.substack.com/subscribe.

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