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1031 END OF UMAYYAD DYNASTY IN SPAIN
This dynasty ended with the death of Hisham III. The Umayyads had ruled with stability for 250 years. However, they never recovered from the Berber invasion and the sacking of Cordova twenty years earlier.
1032 FEZ (Morocco)
The Jewish community was decimated when the rebel Abul Kamal Tumin conquered the city. Six thousand Jews were killed.
1033 ERETZ ISRAEL
Jewish farmers, especially in the Sharon Valley, suffered great losses due to an earthquake. When extra taxes were issued to non-Moslem land owners, almost all of the remaining Jews left agriculture.
1034 WORMS (Germany)
A Byzantine-style synagogue was built by Jacob ben David and his wife Rachel. It is one of the oldest synagogues still standing today.
1034 DEATH OF SAMUEL BEN CHOFNI (Hofni) (Babylon)
Probably the Last Gaon of Sura.A prodigious writer of 65 titles, his works (all in judeo-arabic) included an introduction to the Talmud with 145 chapters a well as a book of Laws. Thus ended the long line founded by Rav almost 800 years previously. Some historians believe that the Sura geonate moved to Egypt and continued there for another few decades.
1035 - 1094 ISAAC BEN BARUCH IBN ALBALIA (Cordova, Spain)
Talmudist and Jewish leader, he also served as the astronomer to Al Mutamed, King of Seville.
1035 - 1106 NATHAN BEN YECHIEL (Rome, Italy)
Author of the Aruch (order), a lexicon of Hebrew. He explained the translations, various interpretations and difficulties surrounding words taken from the entire Bible, Talmud, Midrash and Targums in Hebrew and Aramaic. He was frequently quoted by Rashi (see 1040).
1035 CASTROJERIZ (Castile, Spain)
King Sancho the Great was killed during a revolt. Four officials and sixty Jews were put to death during that revolt, because the locals considered Jews to be "property" of the crown.
1037 SPAIN
Ferdinand I of Castile seized the province of Leon. This marked the beginning of the reconquest of Spain.
1038 (20 Nissan 4795) DEATH OF HAI GAON (Pumbedita, Babylon)
Marked the end of the Geonic period. It also ended because the spread of rabbinical authority throughout Europe and North Africa meant that there was no longer just one center for Jewish thought. Hai Gaon wrote over 100 responsa as well as a civil law codification of the Talmud. Heskiah succeeded him at the Pumbedita academy, but its prestige and importance were on the wane.
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