JULY 18/TAMMUZ 12

1290:  

King Edward I ordered the expulsion of all Jews from England.

5103 (1343):

Yahrzeit of Rabbi Yaakov ben Asher, author of the monumental Arba'ah Turim. This groundbreaking work organized all practical Jewish law into four major sections, subdivided into hundreds of chapter headings. This system served as the foundation for all later rabbinic works, including Rabbi Yosef Karo's Shulchan Aruch, the standard Code of Jewish Law. Rabbi Yaakov lived in Spain and was the son of the famous talmudic commentator, the Rosh. He lived in abject poverty most of his life. Rabbi Yaakov also wrote a commentary on the Five Books of Moses, the Ba'al HaTurim, which focuses on hidden messages in the Torah.

Public Domain

1923:  

Birthday of Jerry Lemelson, American engineer whose 605 patents make him one of the most prolific inventors in American history. Several of his inventions have made possible, either wholly or in part, innovations like automated warehouses, industrial robots, cordless telephones, fax machines, VCR's and the magnetic tape drive used in the Sony Walkman.