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 …

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 un…

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.  Th…

April 24

70:
During the Jewish rebellion against Rome, Roman legions break through
Jerusalem’s middle wall but are driven back by the Jewish defenders. 

396:
As conditions for the Jews in the Roman Empire worsen, the Roman Emperors adopt
a law …

April 21

753
BCE: According to tradition, on this date Romulus and Remus founded Rome.  Considering the impact that Rome would have
on the Jewish people this date is worth noting. 

586:
Ricard I became King the Visigoth King of His…

April
18

 383: The Roman Emperors ended the exemption
Jewish religious leaders enjoyed from compulsory public service. “The order which Jewish men flatter
themselves with and which gives them immunity from the compulsory public
services of decuri…

December 1

500: (Kislev 4428): This is
the traditional date of the closing of the Talmudic era and the beginning of the Saboraic era. Saboraim is
“the title applied to the principals and scholars of the Babylonian academies
in the period immediately f…