May 9 1457 BCE: In the 15th century BCE, Battle of Megiddo between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh. The victory of Thutmose extended the orbit of Egyptian influence into Canaan and Syria which might help explain some of the events described in the last chapters of Genesis and the opening portion of Exodus.  According to one source, the Exodus took place in 1456 which would not be consistent with the information surrounding the battle. Other sources indicate that Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan around 1200 BCE.  Based on archeological ..read more

May 8 336: Emperor Constantine prohibits Jews from negatively interacting with their co-religionists who have converted to Christianity. "Jews are not allowed to disturb any man one has converted from Judaism. to Christianity, nor may they assail him with any outrage. Such behaviour will be punished according to the nature of the act [CT 16.8.5]" 336: In a further move to secure the primacy of Christianity over Judaism Constantine decreed "If a Jew should purchase and circumcise a Christian slave or a slave of any other sect, he shall not keep that circumcised person in slavery. The slave who ..read more

 May 7 833 BCE (2 Iyar 2928): Traditional date on which King Solomon began building the Temple in Jerusalem. 351: Gallus, who had been appointed “Caesar” of the East by his cousin, the Emperor Constantius II arrived in Antioch. Antioch was the capital of his domain which included Palestine. At the time of his arrival a revolt broke out among the Jews of Sepphoris, a town in Palestine and spread to the Galilee and Lydda.  According to different sources, the revolt was led by Isaac who came from Sepphoris and a little known figure named Patricus.  The revolt was not anti-Christian ..read more

 May 6 1313 BCE (1 Iyar 2448): According to tradition, this was the date of the first population survey of the Israelite people taken by Moses. 124 CE: A Roman centurion named Valens stationed in the military camp which bordered the date palm groves in En Gedi by the Dead Sea made an emergency short-term loan to a Jew named Judah at an interest rate of twelve per cent per annum. 973: “Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Gisela of Burgundy gave birth to Henry II, the Holy Roman Emperor whose expulsion of the Jews from Mayence was lamented in dirges composed by the poet Simon ben Isaac a ..read more

May 5 1028:  King Alfonso V of Castile passed away. In 1020, Alfonso had presided over the Council of Leon which adopted laws that created a certain amount of equality between Christians and Jews. The legislation was in response to the threat of Moslem forces that were in control of much of the Iberian Peninsula. Alfonso was the King of Castile when Solomon ibn Gabriol was born in 1021. 1109: The Moors recaptured Valencia from the Christians. “During the period of Muslim rule… the Jewish quarter was situated on the eastern side of the Rahbat el-qadi and in its vicinity, on the site where ..read more

May 4 1008: Birthdate of King Henry I of France who reigned from 1031 until his death in 1060 which means that he was on the throne when a future wine maker, Shlomo Yitzhaki, was born at Troyes in 1040.  [But today, who remembers the French monarch and who remembers Rashi?] 1287: Jews were arrested and accused of "clipping" the coinage in England. Although there was no evidence, the community as a whole was convicted and ordered to be expelled. A ransom of 4,000 (some say 12,000) pounds of silver were paid in ransom.  This was the penultimate act in the story of the medieval English ..read more

May 3 1282 BCE: (28 Nissan 2488): Traditional date marking the fall of the walls of Jericho. 443 BCE (7th of Iyar, 3317): Nehemiah dedicated the newly built walls that had been built around Jerusalem 996: Papacy of Gregory V began today making him a contemporary of Hananel Ben Hushiel, Samuel Ibn Nagrela and Jacob ben Yakar each of whom was born in 990. 1096 (8th Iyar): On his way to join the Crusade led by Peter the Hermit, Emico, the Count of Leiningen, attacked the synagogue at Speyers. The Jews defended themselves but were systematically slain. Until this time atrocities in Europe were spo ..read more

May 2 373: “Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria…aggressive opponent of Arianism and polemicist against Judaism died today.”  693: The Sixteenth Council of Toledo, which had opened on April 25, met for the last time. Among its other accomplishments, the council took further steps in the on-going, ever more vicious, suppression of the Jews by the Christian Visigoth. The law code, which granted “tax freedom to Jewish conversos” now transferred the tax obligation to Jews who had not converted. Also, the council ruled that “converts were allowed to trade with Christians, but not until” they had pr ..read more

May 1 305:  Due to age and ill health and a desire to provide stability for the Roman Empire Diocletian resigned as Emperor of Rome.  Relatively speaking, Diocletian’s reign was a positive period for the Jews.  Diocletian was not overly concerned with his Jewish subjects since he was much concerned about controlling the Christians whom he regarded as a source of major instability in the Empire. From his point of view their contempt for Roman state religion and zealous proselytizing made them enemies of the empire. The Jews posed no such threat.  Therefore, he exempted them ..read more

April 30 313: Licinius defeated Maximinus at the Battle of Tzirallum, thus making him the Emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire.  The Emperor of the Western Roman Empire was his brother-in-law, Constantine. The two in laws would clash repeatedly until Constantine defeated Licinius and eventually killed him despite the pleas of his sister to spare her husband’s life. We know that Constantine made Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire with all that that would mean for the Jews of Europe.  Would it have been any different if Licinius had triumphed?  Who knows?  Luc ..read more