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

April 29 711: According to some sources the date on which an army led by Tariq ibn Ziyad landed at Gibraltar marking the start of the Moslem conquest of the Iberian Peninsula with all that would come to mean for the Jewish population during the next seven centuries.   1221: Honorius III issued “Ad nostram Noveritis audientiam” a Papal Bull obligating Jews to carry a distinctive badge and forbidding them to hold public office. 1280(21st of Iyar, 5040): French rabbi Issac ben Joseph of Corbeil, the son-in-law of Jeheil ben Joseph of Paris, passed away today. 1464: Coronation of Matthia ..read more

April 28 66: After stealing money from the Temple Treasury, the Roman Procurator Gessius Florus allowed his troops to “loot the Upper Market” of Jerusalem. He also unleashed his Cohorts on the crowds of Jews who gathered to protest the theft.  This would prove to be the precipitating event that would start the Great Revolt which would end in disaster for the Jewish people. 70: Following an early repulse of his forces, the Roman Legions commanded by Titus retake and destroy Jerusalem’s middle wall. The Romans followed this victory by quickly building a wall that will surround the city, cut ..read more

April 27 399 BCE: Socrates drank hemlock as he carried out the death penalty that had been imposed on him by the government. For centuries to come some Jews would study Socrates and other Greeks, in many cases trying to find a harmony between Judaism and Greek philosophy.  Other Jews would view Socrates and the other Greeks as the mortal enemies of Judaism and go so far as to attempt to officially ban the study of their works. 711: Tarik, a Moslem general attacked southern Spain from a place known as Jebel Tarik or Gibraltar. He soon defeated Roderic, last of the Visigoth kings, at the Ba ..read more

April 25 693: Opening session of the Sixteenth Council of Toledo which, before its close, would add more regulations that would prove oppressive to the Jews living under the Visigoths.  This Visigoth anti-Semitism would provide a major impetus for Jewish support of the Moors when they invaded Spain in the early decades of the next century. 799: Leo III who during his papacy “introduced public disputations between Jews and Christians, resulting in forced conversions to Christianity” was today attacked by relatives of Adir I as he “was making his way towards the Flaminian Gate” “on the occa ..read more