3 Tammuz

1436 BCE- On this day, during the battle of Givon in the valley of Ayalon, Joshua commanded the sun to stop and not set until the battle against the kings from the south was won (see Joshua chapter 10). Joshua stopped the sun from setting for 24 (some say 36 or 48) hours (see Talmud Avoda Zara 25).

June 6, 1391- The Jewish quarter of Seville, Spain was burned by the locals. They murdered 5,000 Jews. Many of the women and children were sold to the Muslims as slaves. Most of Seville's 23 synagogues were destroyed or turned into churches.

1656- The Council of State in England granted Harav Menashe ben Yisrael's petition for Jews to practice their religion.

1871- Emperor Alexander II of Russia allowed the printing of Jewish books.

1927- After being charged by the Communists with disseminating Yiddishkeit, Harav Yosef Yitzchok, the Rayatz of Lubavitch, was released from prison on this date, and his death sentence commuted to three years' exile in Siberia. He was given time to go home and prepare for exile, but after a few days he was freed altogether.

June 28, 1941- 11,000 Jews in Kishinev were killed as well as 1,500 Jews in Kovno. Minsk, the capital of Belarus, as well as the Baltic States, were captured by the Nazis.