July 23

501: A violent
earthquake hit Eretz Yisrael during which the town of Akko was totally
destroyed.

636: Following
the Battle of Yarmuk Arabs took control of most of Eretz Yisrael from the
Byzantine Empire.

1253: The Jews
were expelled from V…

July 20

356 BCE: 
In Macedonia, King Philip II and Queen Olympia give birth to Alexander
the Great. You can draw a straight line from Alexander’s Hellenization of Asia
Minor to Chanukah to Tisha B’Av, 70 CE.

http://www.biography.com/print/profil…

July 17

1203:  The Knights of the Fourth Crusade captured
Constantinople forcing the Byzantine emperor Alexius III Angelus to flee from
his capital into exile.  Unlike other
Crusades, the focus of the Fourth Crusade was the Byzantine Empire …

July 14

1086:
Toirdelbach Ua Briain passed away.  Born
in 1009, he was the King of Munster and the High King of Ireland. During his
reign, in 1079, Jews reportedly made their first appearance in the Emerald
Isle. “The Annals of Inisfallen record …

July 9

118:
Hadrian, Rome’s new emperor, made his entry into the Imperial City. Regardless
of how history remembers him, for Jews, Hadrian is the Emperor who helped to
start the Third Rebellion against Rome. In this case it was the lead by Bar
Kochba …