This Week in Jewish History (6/29-7/5)

June 29: 2nd Century CE - Rabbi Chananya ben Tradyon was martyred 1096 - Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mehr 1941 - Nazis murdered the male Jews of Drobian, Lithuania 1946 - British arrested 100 leaders of the Yishuv on the "Black Sabbath" June 30: 1294 - The Jewish community of Berne, Switzerland forfeited all financial claims against non-Jews, and were expelled from the country 1298 - The Jewish community of Morgentheim, Austria was massacred 1927 - Henry Ford retracted and apologized for the publication of the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" 1948 - The last British armed forced left Israel July 1: 70 - Titus set up battering rams to assault the walls of Jerusalem 1388 - The Jews of Lithuania received a Charter of Privilege 1776 - The first Jew lost his life in the American Revolution 1862 - Russian Jews were granted permission to print Jewish books 1920 - Sir Herbert Smaul became the first British High-Commissioner of Palestine 1941 - Pogrom in Jassy, Romania claimed 5,000 Jewish lives 1941 - The Lubavitcher Rebbe arrived in America July 2: 1490 - The Chumash with Ramban was first published 1941 - A Nazi-instigated pogrom claims many Jewish lives in Lvov July 3: 1903 - Pogrom in Bialystock July 4: 1562 bce - Birth of Joseph 1452 bce - Death of Joseph 1453 - 41 Jews were burned at the stake in Brelau and the remainder of the Jewish population was expelled 1632 - The non-Jewish owner of a building being used as a synagogue was burned at the stake 1776 - America Independence was declared 1794 - Catherine II of Russia restricted the area where Jews were permitted to trade 1946 - Progrom in Kielce, Poland was the first post-Nazi massacre of the Jews 1976 - Raid at Entebbe July 5: 1247 - The Pope decreed against blood-ritual charges 1345 - The Pope banned forced baptism of the Jews 1950 - The Knesset passed a law granting every Jew the absolute right to settle in Israel 1960 - The Jewish community of the Belgian Congo fled due to riots that followed independence