FEBRUARY 4/SHVAT 6

1657:

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, issued the first residence permit to a Jew, Luis Carvajal, since the expulsion of all Jews from England by King Edward I in 1290. The re-admittance of Jews into England was greatly due to the efforts of the scholar and author Rabbi Menasseh Ben Israel.

Salom Italia (Public Domain)

1738:

Joseph Oppenheimer, the finance minister of Germany was arrested and accused of various crimes, including fraud, embezzlement and treason, after the sudden death of his patron Prince Karl of Wurttemberg. After the heavily publicized trial, during which he was sentenced to death without naming any specific crime. Oppenheimer was offered a pardon if he agreed to be baptized. Although not a practicing Jew, he refused and was hung while shouting Shema Yisrael. His corpse was hung in a cage for six years until the new Duke permitted the burial of his corpse below the gallows