January 17

395: Emperor
Theodosius, I passed away in Milan.  During his reign he instituted
several laws that directly impacted his Jewish subject.  One “dealt with
the obligation of Jews and Samaritans to acts as shipmasters over goods bein…

 January 13

519 BCE: Darius had “a crown made for Zerubbabel out of
gold sent by Jews in Babylon.”

915: Birthdate of Al-Hakam II, the second Caliph of Cordoba
from 961 to 976 whose subjects included Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Enoch Ben Moses…

January 8

1169: A year after Maimonides who was
living in Egypt completed competed “The Book of the Lamp” or “Sefer
Ha-Ma’or” his Commentary to the Mishnah, General Shirkuh entered Cairo
with orders from Saladin to defend the city from the Crusaders.
…

January 7

1256: Berechiah De Nicole, the Chief Rabbi of Lincoln was released after having
been imprisoned in London on charges related to the death of “Little Hugh of
Lincoln.”  The son of Rabbi Moses ben Yom
Tov of London, Reb Berechiah was an E…

January 5

1209:
At Winchester Castle King John of England and his wife Isabella gave birth to
Richard, Earl of Cromwell “to whom Abraham of Berkhampstead “was very dear” and
on whose behalf he intervened to get him released after being charged with
de…

January 2

438: Empress Eudocia, the wife of Byzantine Emperor Theodius II, who
spent the last years of her life in the Holy Land allowed the Jews to return to
Jerusalem and pray at the site of the Temple at the same time her husband was
“announcing le…

January
1

630:  Prophet Muhammad sets out
toward Mecca with the army that will capture it bloodlessly.  At first Mohammed “had hoped to find is main
supporters among the Jewish tribes” of Arabia. 
This can be seen in his early adoption …