The update of Jewish History of this week

YAHRTZEITS

Sunday, 4 Tishrei

Rav Yoel Baal Shem, Rav of Ropshitz (Poland), a student of Rabbi Yoel Sirkis. He was of the opinion that girls should be given a Torah education, (not just know how to read). He gave his daughter a complete Torah education, beginning with Chumash and Nach, then Mishna, Gemara, RamBam, and Shulchan Aruch (unusual at those time) (1713)

Rav Avraham Danzig, author of Chayei Adam and Chachmas Adam (1748-1820). Born in Danzig (Gdansk), he learned at the yeshiva in Prague under Rav Yechezkel Landau. He settled in Vilna. He was related by marriage to the Vilna Gaon. He studied in Prague. It appears that he lived in Vilna for most of his life where he served as a dayan - judge. Other sefarim he authored include Zichru Toras Moshe - an introduction to the laws of Shabbos, Kitzur Sefer Chareidim - an abridgement of the classic Sefer Chareidim by Rabbi Elazar Ezkari, and Toldos Adam - a commentary on the Passover Hagadah.

Rav Yitzchak Aryeh Wormser, Baal Shem of Michaelstadt (1847)

Rav Baruch Rafael Soloveitchik

Rav Tzvi Hirsch Halberstadt (the Maharshashach), the Kos Hayeshuos, great-grandfather of the Chasam Sofer (1747).

Monday, 5 Tishrei

Birth and yahrtzeit of Naftali ben Yaakov Avinu, 1564-1432 BCE

Rav Naftali HaKohen Katz of Lublin (1645). Grandfather and namesake of the Semichas Chachamim, he was also the son-in-law of the Maharal of Prague, as well as a descendant of the Maharam Padwa through his father. So respected was he that even the Taz sent sheilos to him. Rav Naftali was a maggid in Prafue, a dayan in Prositz, Nicholsburg, and Pinsk, and finally a dayan and Rav in Lublin.

Rav Mordechai Schneerson of Vitebsk (1907)

Rav Baruch Shalom Ashlag, author of Birkas Shalom, and son of Rav Yehuda Ashlag, the Baal HaSulam (1991)

Tuesday, 6 Tishrei

Rav Aryeh Leib of Shpolya, "The Shpoler Zayde." In his early years, he was a disciple of Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz (1811).

Rav Mordechai of Tolna (1871)

Rav Yisrael Tosig, the Rav of Mattersdorf (1967)

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei

Birthday and Yahrtzeit of Zevulun ben Yaakov Avinu (1562-1438 BCE)

Birthday of Dina bas Yaakov (2312)

Rav Dovid Oppenheim (1664-1736), born to Rav Avraham Oppenheim in Worms. When he was young, he studied in the city of Metz, under Rav Gershon Ashkenazi (author of Avodas HaGershuni), Rav Yaakov, the father of the Chacham Tzvi, and in the yeshivah of Rav Yitzchak Binyamin Wolf (author of Nachlas Binyamin). In Elul of 1689, at the ae of 25, he succeeded Rav Binyamin Banet, as rav of Nickolsburg, which included the entire state of Maherin. In 1702, he became Rav of Prague. In time, Rav Dovid was appointed rav of the entire state of Moravia and, eventually, rav of all Bohemia and served as rav in Vienna. His eventual successor as rav of Prague was the Noda B'Yehuda. His vast library serves as a tribute to his outstanding personality. The catalogue of the books in his library, published under the title, VaYikain Dovid lists hundreds of books.

Rav Avraham Calfon (1735-1819). Born in Tripoli, Libya. Actually, in those days, Libya did not exist - the region was comprised of three independent regions, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fazzan. He learned under several sages, most notably the Italian gadol, Rav Malachi ben Yaakov HaKohen, author of Yad Malachi, a sefer that discusses the methodology and rules of the Shas and poskim. Blessed with wealth from both his parents and his in-laws, Rav Avraham was able to devote himself to Torah his whole life. He was appointed sheikh (president) of Tripoli's kehillah, in 1778. By the time of Rav Avrahams birth, Ahmed Karamanli controlled much of modern Libya. Karamanli was a member of the Sultan's household guard, assassinated Tripoli's evil Ottoman governor in 1711, and installed himself as a semi-independent ruler in his stead. As a result, Tripoli became a Corsair (Barbary pirate) base.

Rav Menachem Nachum of Makarov, 4th of the 8 sons of Rav Mordechai, the Chernobyler Maggid. He married Hinda Mattel, daughter of Rav Yosef HaLevi Horowitz, the Admor of Turchin, who in turn was the son of the Chozeh of Lublin. In 1833 he became Rebbe in the town of Makarov (1851).

Thursday, 8 Tishrei

Rav Noach of Lechovitz (1775-1832), son of Rav Mordechai, the founder of the Lechovitz dynasty. As he had no sons, his Chasidim were divided as to his successor: some went to his talmid, Rav Moshe of Kobrin, some to his son-in-law, Rav Mordechai, and some to his nephew Rav Shlomo Chaim of Koidenov. His divrei Torah were kept but not written alive until they were written down by the previous Slonimer Rebbe, as Toras Avos.

Rav Baruch Schneerson, father of the Baal Hatanya (1789)

Rav Elazar Nissan Teitelbaum of Drohbich (1855)

Rav Shimon Sofer, Rav of Sandra and Paks (1930)

Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel of Biala (1932)

Rav Shlomo Benzion Twersky of Chernobyl (1939)

Rav Binyomin Zeilberger, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Bais Hatalmud of Bensonhurst (1921-2005). Born in Koenigshaufen, Germany. Shortly after Pesach in 1936, he was sent to learn at the Mirrer Yeshiva in Poland, due in part to his parents fears of Hitler. He was zocheh to hear a few shmuzzen by Rav Yeruchom before the mashgiach was nifter two months later. In 1939, he traveled with the Mir Yeshiva, first to Vilna, then to Japan and Shanghai. In 1947, he traveled to America to learn in the newly established Mirrer Yeshiva. Soon, he married the daughter of Rav Yisrael Chaim Kaplan, a son-in-law of Rav Yeruchom. After the chasuna, Rav Binyomin joined Yeshiva Bais Hatalmud, which had recently been established by members of the Mir. There he remained as Rosh yeshiva for decades.

Friday, 9 Tishrei

Rebbi Elazar ben Rav Shimon (123 CE)

Rav Avraham Saba, author of Tzror Hamor (1519)

Rav Avraham Abali ben Chaim HaLevi Gumbiner (1634-1682), born in Gumbin, he witnessed the massacre of his parents in the Chmielnitzki pogroms at the age of 18. He escaped to Lissa, and then to Kalish, where he became Rosh Yeshiva and afterwards Dayan of the city. He is the author of Magen Avraham, a definitive commentary on the Orach Chaim section of the Shulchan Aruch. He also authored Zayis Raanan on Yalkut Shimoni.

Rav Yitzchak Yehuda Shmelkes, the Beis Yitzchak of Lemberg (1905)

Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveichik (Rav Velvel) of Brisk, also referred to as the Griz (1886-1959). Son and most prominent disciple of Rav Chaim Solevetchik, succeeded his father in Brisk, survivied WWII and moved to Eretz Yisrael. Among his descendents are Rav Dovid and Rav Yoshe Ber Soloveitchik.

Rav Eliezer Zusman Sofer, author of "Etz Sofer" (1902)

Rav Yaakov Yisrael (Korff), the Zvhil Mezhbuz Rebbe of Boston (1883-1952). The last Rebbe to reside in Zvhil, Rav Yaakov Yisrael was the son of the last Mezhbuz Rebbe, Rav Mordechai, and was born in the Baal Shem Tovs house inherited by his father. He was a direct descendant of the Baal Shem Tov and his grandson, Rav Baruch of Mezhbuz. The Rebbe was educated by many of the leading sages of that era, including the author of the Aruch Hashulchan. He married the daughter of the Zvhiller Rebbe, Rav Michel of Zvhil, becoming the Zvhiller Rov and later succeeding his father-in-law as Rebbe. He arrived in Boston in the early 1900s. When a pogrom in Zvhil targeted the Rebbe's compound and killed the Rebbetzin along with many of the Jews of the area, the remaining Chassidim brought the Rebbe's family to Boston. A founder of the Agudas HoAdmorim (Union of Chassidic Rebbes), he was also instrumental in rescuing many Jews from the Russian pogroms and from the Nazi holocaust.

Shabbos & Yom Kippur, 10 Tishrei

Zecharia Cohen Godol

Rabbi Akiva ben Yosef died al kiddush Hashem in Caesaria, 135. Born ~50 CE, he received most of his teaching from Rabbi Eliezer HaGadol. Rabbi Akiva was one of four Tannaim who entered the Pardes. The others were Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, and Acher [Elisha ben Avuya]. According to some, Rabbi Akiva was the redactor of the Sefer Yetzira.

Rav Achai Gaon, son of Rabba bar Ahuva (511)

Rav Naftali Chaim of Dzikov (Dzhikov) (1894) (or 1895)

Rav Yehuda Leib Ashlag of Yerushalayim (1886-1954). Rav Ashlag translated the Zohar into Hebrew from the original Aramaic, and he authored the Sulam, a commentary on the Zohar. Rav Ashlag reedited the "Etz Chaim" which is the definitive Lurianic work on essence and cosmology. To this he added a commentary transposing the somewhat abstract notion of "receptacle" (Kli) into the experientially more accessible term "desire" (Ratzon) in all its many permutations. This work is known as the "Talmud Esser Sphirot."

Rav Avraham Binyomin Silberberg, the Pittsburgher Rav (1962).

Rav Moshe Yitzchak Gevirtzman, "Reb Itzikel" of Pshevorsk and Belgium (1976)

Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel Twersky, Admor of Machnova-Bnei Brak, grandson of the Maggid of Chernobyl (1895-1987) [formerly listed as 9 Tishrei]

Rav Shlomo Shimshon Karelitz (1910-2001). Born in Vilna on Tisha B'Av, his father, Rav Mayer was a moreh tzedek and the right-hand-man of the Chafetz Chaim and Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky. His grandfather was Rav Shemaryahu Karelitz, the rav of Kosova. The Chazon Ish, Rav Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz, was Rav Shlomo Shimshon's uncle. When he was fourteen, Rav Shlomo Shimshon left Kosova and went to the Mirrer yeshivah, where he became the talmid muvhak of its mashgiach, Rav Yerucham Levovitz. Shortly before the rise of the Third Reich, Rav Shlomo Shimshon and his parents moved to Eretz Yisrael. Several years later, he served as a dayan in the Petach Tikvah beis din. His publications included Divrei Shlomo and Shu"t Ateres Yisrael on Choshen Mishpat and Even HaEzer

OTHER EVENTS OF JEWISH HISTORY

Sunday, 4 Tishrei

• Two Dominican friars were commissioned by Pope Sixtus to begin "investigations" into heresy charges against the "conversos" in Seville, launching the over 300-year Inquisition, 1480. The first order was for all noblemen to denounce lapsed conversos to the Inquisition. Between 1481 and 1488, approximately 700 men and women were burnt at the stake, and approximately 5,000 were forced to "repent."
• First Jewish congregation established in Stockholm, Sweden, 1775. Aaron Isaac, a gem carver, became the first Jew to be granted the right of residence in Sweden. Within 3 years he was joined by 40 families.
• Blood-libel in Galatz, Roumania, 1867.
• Chamberlain declares "peace in our time" after allowing Hitler to annex the Sudetenland in the Munich Agreement, 1938.

Monday, 5 Tishrei

• Rabi Akiva was arrested by the Romans and subsequently tortured and put to death on Yom Kippur, 123 CE.
• Jews of Klausenburg, Hungary, were massacred, 1600.

Tuesday, 6 Tishrei

• Jewish community of Berlin was organized, 1671.
• Death of Israel Jacobson in Germany, the "Father of the Reform movement", 1828. Born in Halberstadt in 1768, he was one of the pioneers of the Temple movement (so-called, since they called their place of worship a "Temple" rather than synagogue). In 1807 Jerme was crowned King of Westphalia in Kassel and shortly thereafter granted the Jews total equality with the Christians. Jacobson became the spokesman for the Jews when it came to implementing the decrees. Jacobson organized the first Reform service and later founded the first Reform Temple in Seesen, Brunswick, in 1801. In 1810, he introduced an organ, sermon, and prayers in German using protestant churches as a model. Other changes included men and women sitting together and the inclusion of organ and choir music, a confirmation service replacing a Bar Mitzvah ceremony, and prayers omitting all references to a personal Moshiach who would restore Israel as a nation. Jacobson held Reform services in Berlin in 1815; and from there Reform practices spread to Denmark, Hamburg, Leipzig, Vienna, and Prague. The Reform movement was based on the hope that if Jews become more like their non-Jewish compatriots, they would no longer suffer discrimination and hatred and would be accepted as equals to non-Jews. Reform was in fact the latest in a number of deviant historical movements (including the Hellenists, Sadduccees, Karaites, and others) which presented itself as an "alternative form" of Judaism while its ultimate goal was assimilation. In 1801, Jacobson himself, established a school for Jewish and Christian children in the Herz mountains. Jacobsons son converted to Christianity and became a Protestant minister.
• Death of David Ricardo, the founder of Political Economy as a science, 1823. Born to a family of Portuguese marranos that emigrated from the Netherlands to Great Britain, he studied under his father at the London Stock Exchange. Ricardos theories provided the scientific basis for the rule of free trade. His most famous work is his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation, which introduces the theory of comparative advantage. Ricardo believed that wages should be left to free competition, and there should be no restrictions on the importation of agricultural products from abroad. He also was an opponent of protectionism for national economies, and was responsible for developing theories of rent, wages, and profits.
• German forces occupied the Polish city of Lukow, killing many Jews, 1939.
• Prices collapse on the New York Stock Exchange, ushering in the beginning of the Great Depression, 1929. The Depression slows down Jewish immigration to the U.S., and introduces the application of immigration quotas.

Wednesday, 7 Tishrei

• 2,000 notices were posted around Kiev ordering all Jews to appear the next day with documents, warm clothes and valuables, 1941. Instead of being sent to a labor camp, they were slaughtered in the Babi Yar ravine. German records state that 33,771 Jews were slain. For years, the Soviet government refused to mention in memorial ceremonies or official reports that the victims were Jews.

Thursday, 8 Tishrei

• Destruction of Kever Yosef after Israeli forces withdraw, 2000.

Friday, 9 Tishrei

• The first auto da fe in Lisbon of those forcibly converted to Christianity was held, 1540.

Shabbos & Yom Kippur, 10 Tishrei

• Bris mila of Avraham Avinu (Pirkei DRabbi Eliezer 29), 1712 or 1714 BCE
• Moshe Rebeinu descended from Har Sinai with 2nd set of luchos, 1312 BCE
• Zechariah ben Yehoyado Hakohen rebuked the people for forsaking the Derech Hashem on a Shabbos Yom Kippur (Yerushalmi Taanis 4:5), 674 B.C.E.. The people stoned him to death in the Ezras Kohanim at the command of King Yoash. His blood bubbled on the ground 252 years until the Churban Bayis Rishon (Koheles Rabba 3:20).
• Yechezkel receives a prophecy in the 25th year of Golus Yohayochin announcing the appearance of the future Bais Hamikdosh (Chapters 47-48) and the countrys future borders, 408 B.C.E.
• Birthday of R. Yehuda Hanasi, 135
• Charles VI, under the pretense that a Jewish convert in Paris, Denis Machuit, returned to Judaism, signed an order allowing the plunder and expulsion of the Jews of Paris, 1394. The order was enforced a month later. Jews continued to live in Lyons and papal possessions such as Pugnon.
• In Recanti, Italy, under the protection of Pope Paul IV, Joseph Paul More, a baptized Jew, entered a shul on Yom Kippur and tried to preach to the Jews, 1558. The congregation evicted him and a near massacre occurred. Soon after, the yidden were expelled from Recanti.
• Death of Sir Henry Finch, a legal advisor to King James I, and the first English nobleman who called for the restoration of the Jews to their homeland, 1621. In his treatise "The Worlds Great Restoration", Sir Henry predicted that Jews will once again soon have their own land in Palestine and a world wide empire with it, and all current rulers would have to pay homage to the Jewish king. The irate King James I jailed Finch for his subversive treatise.
• Jews of Tunis and Tripoli massacred, 1864.
• The first recorded Jewish religious observance in Southern California is held at the home of Lewis Abraham Franklin in San Diego, 1851. The first shul, Adath Jeshurun (now Beth Israel), is founded 10 years later in San Diego by Louis Rose.
• The local rabbi of Massena, New York, Rabbi Berel Brennglass of the Orthodox Adath Israel congregation, was called to police headquarters to answer charges of ritual murder, 1928. Four-year-old Barbara Griffiths had disappeared and Albert Comnas, an immigrant from Salonika, Greece, charged that the Jews of Massena might have kidnapped the child and ritually murdered her for her blood. The police interrogated Rabbi Brennglass for over an hour about Jewish practices in respect to human sacrifice. Fortunately, during the interrogation, the child emerged from the woods where, having become lost, she had spent the night in the tall grass. Locals claimed that the Jews had released her only on discovery of their plot. Choosing to believe this was true, Mayor W. Gilbert Hawes organized a boycott of Massenas Jewish-owned businesses. Influential leaders like Reform Rabbi Stephen S. Wise, and New York governor Al Smith, who was running for president on the Democratic ticket that year, spoke out in defense of Massenas Jews. The incident ended after two or three weeks. The New York Times picked up the story and made it a national event and Mayor Hawes issued a public apology. This was the only blood libel on American soil.
• The Yom Kippur War begins with Egyptian and Syrian forces attacking across 1967 cease-fire lines, 1973.

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