The first population registration of מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL used a curfew to check household records and issue identification slips. It supported state administration and election preparations, while wartime conditions left significant gaps in coverage.

How were households registered?

Enumerators returned to homes after an earlier questionnaire stage, corrected records and assigned identification numbers. The expanded existing census Event retains November 8 as the civil exercise date while explaining the evening’s Hebrew boundary. 1

What do the preliminary totals mean?

דוד בן-גוריון DAVID BEN-GURION’s November 17 diary records 713,000 יהודים YEHUDIM and 69,000 other residents for the jurisdiction before October 14. The total of 782,000 is a preliminary snapshot with a geographic limit. The official atlas acknowledges incomplete enumeration of residents other than יהודים YEHUDIM in newly controlled regions. No new immigration or displacement increment is inferred from these figures. 2 3

What did Epstein say about peace approaches?

JTA’s November 8 report attributes a claim of serious approaches from an unnamed Arab state to אליהו Epstein ELIYAHU. It identifies neither a completed treaty nor a formal recognition decision. The reported approach had occurred several days earlier. 4

How is this dated?

This is Day 345 of the 599-day civil-date series: 1948-11-08. This civil-day slot, corresponding in the register’s daytime Hebcal conversion to ו׳ בחשוון ה׳תש״ט 6th 𝑜𝑓 Ḥeŝvan, AM 5709. 5 After local sunset the Hebrew date changes to ז׳ בחשוון ה׳תש״ט 7th 𝑜𝑓 Ḥeŝvan, AM 5709. The official registration day is November 8, but its 17:00–midnight curfew stage extends into ז׳ בחשוון ה׳תש״ט 7th 𝑜𝑓 Ḥeŝvan, AM 5709. Preliminary results appear in a November 17 diary. The daily route does not assign every reported incident to that Hebrew day. Unrecorded occurrence hours remain open for independent calendar review.

Guided reflections

  • Who was outside the preliminary count’s geographic coverage?
  • How does the nighttime registration change the Hebrew dating without changing the official civil day?

Footnotes

  1. https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/Surveys/Pages/The-Census-Historical-Perspective.aspx CBS, The 1948 census, two-stage method. ↩
  2. https://bengurionarchive.bgu.ac.il/node/8140 November 17 census paragraph. ↩
  3. https://www.cbs.gov.il/he/publications/doclib/2021/atlas18_70/%D7%90%D7%98%D7%9C%D7%A1_70_%D7%90%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA%2011_13.pdf Printed p. 13 / PDF p. 2. ↩
  4. https://www.jta.org/archive/arabs-approach-israel-with-peace-proposal-epstein-announces-at-u-p-a-conference November 8 report, opening and relative dating. ↩
  5. https://www.cbs.gov.il/en/Surveys/Pages/The-Census-Historical-Perspective.aspx Dated witness identified in the sections above; source occurrence or reportage role distinguished there. ↩