January 7, 1858 Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, considered the father of the modern Hebrew language, is born Eliezer Yitzchak Perelman in the Lithuanian village of Luzhky. Expected to become a rabbi, Ben-Yehuda becomes interested in the secular…
Scholar and writer Michah Joseph Berdichevski is best known for his Hebrew writings, which included his lengthy debate with Ahad Ha’am about the nature of Hebrew literature, as well as his extensive recording of Jewish folklore.
Aharon David Gordon, one of the founders of Hapoel Hatzair, the Jewish Labor movement, was born into a religious family in Troyanov near Zhytomyr, which was then part of the Russian empire.
Pope Pius IX writes to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopold II, to protest the Grand Duke’s decision to grant levels of emancipation to Jews in the Grand Duchy.
Max Nordau is born Simon Maximilian Sudfeld in Pest, Hungary to an Orthodox Jewish family. Nordau’s most notable contribution to early Zionism is The Basel Plan – the first official blueprint for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine.
September 6, 1840 The nine surviving Damascus Jews accused of killing a Franciscan Capuchin friar and his servant to harvest the blood are freed by order of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman pasha who controls an…
The tensions between the local Shiite population and Jews erupt in the northeast Iranian city of Mashhad.
Chaim Nahman Bialik, famed Zionist poet, is born in the village of Radi, near Zhitomir in Volhynia (Northwest Ukraine).
A massive earthquake and subsequent landslide devastate Jewish and Arab communities in Safed (Tz’fat). The mountain town, which had been the long-time home to a thriving Jewish population, suffers thousands of deaths.
After a successful campaign in Egypt, Napoleon issued a proclamation which declared Jews the rightful heirs of Palestine.
Sephardi Jews living in France are granted equal rights and given French citizenship by the National Assembly.
Following the French Revolution and the August 26, 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man, the issue of Jewish rights is debated in the French National Assembly for three days with no conclusion.
Berlin’s Jewish community reorganizes with a new constitution, the Aeltesten Reglement.
Shabbetai Zevi was born on August 1, 1626 in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey. A gifted scholar, he showed signs of mental instability early in his life, causing unpredictable mood swings from extreme depression to euphoria.
Baruch Spinoza’s ideas about Judaism are rejected by the Amsterdam Jewish community, eventually leading to his excommunication. He goes on to become one of the most important philosophers of the Jewish Enlightenment, which seeks to reconcile the world of Jewish faith with secular, empirical reality.
Ottoman Sultan Murad III orders an investigation into the number of synagogues in Safed.
Jews in Safed deliver a petition to the Ottoman Sultan seeking protection against extortion, robberies, and violence from local officials.
Ottoman Sultan Murad III issues a firman (royal decree) ordering that 1,000 Jews from Safed be sent to live in Famagusta, Cyprus.
Pope Paul IV issues the papal decree Cum Nimis Absurdum, which subjects Jews under his dominion to a myriad of restrictions and humiliations, most notably forcing them to live in ghettos.
A riot breaks out against the conversos or marranos–Jews who had publicly converted to Christianity but continued to practice Judaism behind closed doors.
Austrian Archduke Albert V ordered that all his Jewish subjects were to be imprisoned and their possessions confiscated following libelous accusations against an influential member of Viennese Jewish community.
Following decades of exploitation and persecution that included heavy taxation and attempts at forced conversion, King Edward I of England issues an expulsion order for the Jews of England.
In 1244, the Duke issues a charter extending rights to Jews. His goal is to build the region’s economy. The charter encourages Jewish money-lending and Jewish migration to an outlying area. It also guarantees Jewish safety.
Following a siege that began on September 20, Jerusalem falls to Saladin, the Sultan of Egypt.
