B"H Yom Yom

Based on Day by Day in Jewish History by Rabbi Abraham P. Bloch z"l (KTAV) 

[24 Kislev] The foundation of the Second Beit HaMikdash was completed, 520bce (Chagai 18:2). 
••• Chagai prophesied at that same time, the downfall of the Persian Empire and the salvation of Israel. 
••• Many Jews were killed in Hanover and Brussels in the Black Death riots, 1349. 
••• The British captured Jerusalem from the Turks, 1917. 
••• The desecration of a new shul in Cologne sparked a wave of anti-Jewish incidents throughout Western Europe, the Americas, Australia, and Africa, 1959. Note how widespread this anti-Jewish behavior was. Note also that Erev Chanuka coincided with Christmas Eve (l'havdil) that year. And notice in general the ups AND downs of the same date.

[December 21] Peace Conference between Israel, Egypt, and Jordanopened in Geneva under the auspices of the U.A. and the joint chairmanship of the U.S. and the Soviet Union, 1973. 
••• The first fund-raising drive of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was launched, 1915.

[25 Kislev] First day of Chanuka. 
••• Kayin killed Hevel. 
••• The Mishkan was completed by Moshe Rabeinu. (Tradition is that the dedication was postponed to Nissan in honor of Yitzchak Avinu, born in Nisan, and uniquely "worthy" of being honored in this way, because of his having been on the Mizbei'ach of the Akeida. The 25th of Kislev was told (so to speak), we owe you one. It was repaid on the first Chanuka with the redidication of the Beit HaMikdash. 
••• The first pagan sacrifice was offered on the altar of Zeus in the Beit HaMikdash, 168bce. 
••• Three years later, the Beit HaMikdash was cleansed and the daily sacrifice was restored by Yehuda HaMacabi et al. 
••• Yahrzeit of the Vilna Gaon's father, Rabbi Slomo Zalman, 1758. 
••• Yahrzeit of the Vilna Gaon's son, Rabbi Avraham, 1808. 
••• Zichron Yaakov was founded, 1882. 
••• First Nazi round-up of Jews in Paris, 1941. 53 Jews were killed. 
••• The first shul built in Spain in 600 years was dedicated in Madrid, 1968. On that same day, the order of expulsion of Jews by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella was officially vioded. Took them long enough!

[December 22] Franz Stangl, SS commander of Treblinka, was sentenced to life imprisonment, 1970. It is estimated that 781,000 people, more than half of them Jews, were killed in Treblinka between July '42 to October '43. ••• Department of Jewish Studies was founded at Hebrew University, 1924. ••• Vilna massacres ended, 1941, having taken a toll of 32,000 Jews.
[26 Kislev] Second day of Chanuka. 
••• The first Crusade was proclaimed by the Council of Clermont, 1095. 
••• The oldest shul in the U.S. – the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I. – was dedicated, 1763. 
••• Gedera was founded, 1884. 
••• Yahrzeit of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, leader of the revival of the Hebrew language, 1922.
[December 23] Jews of Hungary were emancipated, 1867. 
[27 Kislev] Third day of Chanuka. 
••• The Flood rains stopped. ••• First printed edition of Mikra'ot Gedolot, 1517, Venice, Italy. 
••• Jews of Breslau were expelled, 1738. 

[December 24] Jews of Speyer, Germany who returned after the expulsion of 1349 were permitted to build a shul and a school, 1354.

[28 Kislev] Fourth day of Chanuka. 
••• Yahrzeit of Rabbi Avraham Dov of Avritz, author of Bat Ayin, 1840. He was the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community of Tsfat. He was captured by the Druze and held for ransom. When the money was not forthcoming, his captors placed a sword to his throat to emphasize the seriousness of their demands. Calm and courageous, he asked them for a last request. Rather than pleading for his life, he requested permission to wash his hands so that he might recite his final prayers properly. His captors were so impressed that they released him from captivity. (More than the miracle of oil happened in those in our times.)

[December 25] First printed edition of Mikra'ot Gedolot was published in Venice in 1517. 
••• Anti-Jewish riots in Judenburg and Furstenfeld, Austria, 1312, and in Warsaw, 1881. 
••• Jews of Sicily were required to wear a special badge, 1369.

[29 Kislev] Fifth day of Chanuka. 
••• Jews of Portugal were expelled by order of King Manuel I, 1496. 
••• Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Lyady, the Baal HaTanya, was released from prison by the Russian government, 1800. (It seems that he was imprisoned at the urging of the anti-Chassidic establishment within the Jewish community.) 
••• Jews of Tel Aviv were expelled by the Turkish authorities and sent to Egypt, 1917. (If Jews thoughout history have been expelled from a wide variety of countries, and we cringe at the thought, and they have been expelled from Eretz Yisrael when the land was under foreign rule, and we cringe even more upon contemplating that, then how can there even be the remotest possibility of a Jewish government in Israel doing the same to its own people? And why do we tolerate a government or prime minister who talks that way?)

[30 Kislev] There isn't one this year. 25.5% of years do not have a 30th of Kislev. Years without a 30th of Kislev are called CHASEIR and have either 353 or 383 days. 

[December 26] Jews and Catholics of Brazil were granted religious freedom by the Dutch States General, 1634. 
••• The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra was founded, 1936. Its first concert was under the direction of Arturo Toscanini. 
••• Barcelona, Spain received the right to bar Jews for all times, 1424.

[1 Tevet] The sixth or seventh day of Chanuka. 
••• Egypt was smitten with the plague of BARAD, hail. Think of this when singing Ma'oz Tzur and referring to Y'tzi'at Mitzrayim. Not that it needs a direct connection, but HAIL gives one. 
••• Nevuchadnetzar marched into Jerusalem and sent 10,000 Jews, including King Yehoyachin, into captivity, 597bce. 
••• Esther was presented to Achashveirosh (and now we find a Purim connection to Chanuka, check out Ma'oz Tzur again, this time, the Purim stanza - not the main connection, but a calendar one). 
••• Ezra opened a convocation on the problem of intermarriage, 456bce. Ironic, is it not, that the same date is associated with the most famous example of intermarriage, looked at as favorable, and an exception to the rule. 
••• Portuguese Jewish statesman Manuel Fernando de Villareal was executed by the Inquisition in Lisbon, 1652. 
••• Jews were banned from owning land in rural areas and from keeping inns and taverns throughout Russia, 1808. 
••• 13 Hagana members escorting a convoy to Ben Shemen were ambushed and killed, 1947.

[December 27] Followers of Zecharya of Kiev were burned at the stake on charges of Judaizing, 1503. 
••• Rumanian Jews were excluded from the medical profession, 1868.

[2 Tevet] Seventh or eighth day of Chanuka. 
••• 300 Jews of Bychow, Russia (in Belarus, a.k.a. White Russia), were massacred, 1659. 
••• Rosh Pina was founded, 1882.

[December 28] Jews of Colmar, Alsace (France), were arrested on well-poisoning charges, 1348. They were burned at the stake 8 months later. 
••• Organizational meeting of National Council of Young Israel, 1912.