The update of Jewish History of this week

YAHRTZEITS

Sunday, 17 Tammuz

• Rav Salman Mutzafi (1900-1975). Born in Baghdad to Rav Tzion Meir, who descended from an illustrious family of Torah scholars who first arrived in Baghdad during the Spanish expulsion. The person who had the greatest influence on Rav Salman during his childhood was the Ben Ish Chai. Every Shabbos, the young Salman accompanied his father to Baghdad's main shul to hear the Ben Ish Chai's drasha, which lasted for two hours and was attended by over 2, 000 people. In 1934, he moved to Eretz Yisrael. For two full years, he studied the nine volumes of Siddur Harashash, with all of its kabbalistic kavanos. It is said that his prayers have successfully saved the Jewish people on many occasions.
• Rav Shmuel Yaakov Weinberg (1923-1999). The Weinberg family is from the Slonimer chasidic dynasty, a Lithuanian chassidus. The approach and relationship of the Slonim chasidim to Torah has been similar to the classical Litvishe approach. The founder of the dynasty was Rav Avraham ben Yitzchak Mattisyohu Weinberg, the author of Chessed LAvraham. As a youth, Rav Weinberg studied in the Rabbenu Chaim Berlin yeshiva in New York City under Rav Yitzchak Hutner, a talmid of the Alter of Slobodke. Rav Weinberg married the only daughter of Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Ruderman, the rosh yeshiva of Ner Yisrael of Baltimore and another talmid of the Alter. In 1964, Rav Ruderman sent him to Toronto, to preside as the rosh yeshiva of a branch that Ner Yisrael had established there several years earlier.Eight years later, when the yeshiva in Toronto decided to become independent, he returned to Baltimore. Shortly before the petirah of his father-in-law in 1987, Rav Weinberg was asked to presid e as the rosh yeshiva of Ner Yisrael in Baltimore. He was a member of the Moetzes Roshei Hayeshivos of Torah Umesorah for many years, and was very active in expanding the projects of this important organization.
• Rav Yaakov Yitzchak Spiegel (1937-2001), Rav of the Romanian shul Khal Shaarei Shomayim, son of Rav Moshe Menachem Spiegel, the Admor of Ostrov-Kalushin (formerly of Brownsville, later of the Lower East Side), and the grandson of Rav Naftali Aryeh Spiegel, the former Rav of Ostrov-Kalushin in Poland; a talmid muvhak of Rav Ahron Kotler.

Monday, 18 Tammuz

• Rav Yehuda Halevi Eidel [Edel] of Slonim (1805). Born in Zamosc, Galicia, in 1757 or 1759. His most famous work was Afikei Yehuda. His chidushim on Seder Toharos was considered indispensable for anyone studying this topic. Rav Chaim Soloveitchik of Brisk kept a copy on his table at all times. He also published a book on Hebrew synonyms called Redifei Maya, and his first book, Safah le-Ne'emanim, a treatise on grammar, was what caught the attention of the Vilna Gaon. He had five children, all of whom became rabbis.
• Rav Avraham (Maskileison) ben Yehudah Leib (1788-1848). He authored Maskil Leisan (chidushim on parts of Moed and Kodoshim, ), Beer Avraham (chidushim on Shas), Nachal Eisan (chidushim on the first two parts of Rambams Yad Chazakah), and Yad Avraham (chidushim on Yoreh De'ah; notes on Sifre).
• Rav Moshe Dovid Ashkenazi, Rav of Toltshova-Tzefas (1855).
• Rav Yaakov Aryeh Guterman (1792-1874). A chasid of the Kozhnitzer Maggid, the Chozeh of Lublin, the Yid Hakadosh of Peshischa, and the Rebbe Reb Bunim of Peshischa, he took the mantle of leadership in Radzymin (Warsaw district) after the petira of Vorka Rebbe in 1848. His divrei Torah were written in Bikkurei Aviv (on Chumash) and Divrei Aviv (on Midrash for Sefer Bereishis).
• Rav Yehoshua of Tomoshov (1904)
• Rav Chaim Meir Yechiel Shapiro (Naroler Rebbe) (1907-2007). He was a grandson of the Rav of Narol, and a descendant of the Sar Sholom, the first Belzer Rav. When he was a young child, his family fled to Kashuai in Hungary, where his grandfather re-established his court. The family returned to Narol in 1924. After his grandfathers petirah, in a decision made by Gedolei Yisrael, Rav Chaim Meir was appointed Rav and Dayan in Narol despite his young age. He received heter horaah from the Beis Din in Lvov, and became a posek for Belzer chassidim. After the Nazi invasion in 1939, he fled with his family to Taprov, where his father-in-law lived, and stayed until the summer. In June, all Jews who didnt have passports were seized by police and shipped to Siberia. The Naroler Ravs family managed to leave Siberia and reach Samarkand where survival was easier. In 1945, the Rav was permitted to leave Russia and go to the west. In 1946, he arrived in Antwerp, and began to give shiur im to the Belzer chassidim who had arrived there. He was active among the refugees here too, helping marry off orphans and setting up their homes. In 1948, the Naroler Rav moved to Brooklyn. A Belzer beis medrash was founded, and the Naroler Rav was appointed at its head. He gave many shiurim among them, a shiur on Minchas Chinuch which he consistently gave for over 70 years. On Rosh Chodesh Tammuz, 1972, the Naroler Rebbe left America and settled in Bnei Brak, where he founded the Naroler beis medrash. The Rebbe leaves behind his son Rav Berish, Rav of Narol

Tuesday, 19 Tammuz

• Rav Yitzchak Eizik Halevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland and later Palestine (1888-1959). His father, Rav Yoel Leib Herzog (1865-1933) was Chief Rabbi of Paris. From his birth until his 16th birthday, Reb Yitzchak studied at the feet of his father. He was given smicha by Rav Yaakov Willowski (the Ridbaz, author of a peyrush on the Yerushalmi). In 1916, he was named Chief Rabbi of Belfast, Ireland. Later he served in the same post in Dublin, and later he became Chief Rabbi of all of Ireland. Following the passing of Rav Avraham Yitzchak haCohen Kook in 1935, Rav Herzog was invited to become Eretz Yisraels second Ashkenazi chief rabbi. He served in that capacity from 1933 until his petira in 1959. He is the author of the Heichal Yitzchok.
• Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, Rosh Yeshivas Mir (1967). Married daughter of Rav Eliyahu Baruch Kamai (rosh yeshiva of Mir) in 1903. Between 1939 and 1941, because many business were taken over by the Soviet government, the Mir Yeshiva left Bilarus. Rav Finkel, many other rabbis and yeshiva students went to Lithuania because that country was still independent. The story of the escape of Mir Yeshiva to Shanghai during WWII has been the subject of several books. After the war, the rabbis and students founded the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn, New York. R. Finkel survived to establish the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem. Moved the yeshiva to Yerushalaim in 1944 until his petira.
• Rav Yona Stenzel, initiator of Halacha Yomi and Mishna Yomi
• Rav Bentzion Abba Shaul, rosh yeshiva of Porat Yosef (1998)

Wednesday, 20 Tammuz

• Rav Nosson Nata Hanover, author of Yaven Hametzula (1683).
• Rav Yisrael of Rikel, murdered in Kavakaz (1823).
• Rav Moshe Yehuda Twersky of Trisk-Chelm, author of Imrei Mi (1937).
• Rav Avraham Yitzchak Bloch (1941), Telsher Rosh Yeshiva, brother of Rabbi Eliyahu Meir Bloch and 2nd son of Rav Yosef Leib Bloch (1860-1929). Upon his fathers petira, Rav Avraham Yitzchak assumed the leadership of both the yeshiva and the city of Telshe, although he was not yet forty. The yeshiva's end in Europe began in the summer of 1940, when the Soviets, who had occupied Lithuania, ordered the yeshiva closed. The Nazis entered the city on Rosh Chodesh Tammuz of 1941. After three terrible weeks of torture, on 20 Tammuz the Nazis massacred the male population of the city, including the yeshiva's administration and student body. The women and children of Telshe were killed on 7 Elul.
• Rav Avraham Chaim Naeh, posek; author of Shiurei Torah and Ketzos Hashulchan (1890-1954). Born in Chevron to Rav Menachem Mendel Na'eh, Rosh Yeshivah of the Sdei Chemed's yeshivah, Magen Avos. Later, he studied at Rav Yehoshua Leib Diskin's yeshivah, Ohel Moshe, under Rav Yehoshua Leib's son, Rav Yitzchak Yerucham. In 1912, he published his Chanoch LaNoar, which contains the laws necessary for bar-mitzvah youths. With the outbreak of World War One, the Turks, who were in control of Eretz Yisrael, expelled anyone who did not possess Turkish citizenship from the land. Most of the expelled Jews clustered in Alexandria. Rav Avraham Chaim opened Yeshivas Eretz Yisrael there. This yeshivah had two hundred avreichim and talmidei chachamim, who had been exiled from Yerushalayim, supported fully by Rav Avraham Chaim during the entire war. There, he wrote Shenos Chaim, a special Kitzur Shulchan Aruch for Sephardic Jews. In Teves of 1918, he returned to Yisrael and served as safra de'daina (personal secretary) of the Eidah HaChareidis, under Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, the Rav of Yerushalayim. In 1948, he founded the Vaad HaRabbanim of Agudas Yisrael. Later, he helped found the chareidi weekly newspaper, Kol Yisrael (later still, he was one of the prime movers behind Hamodia).
• Rav Hillel Lichtenstein , the Krasna Rav (1979).
• Rav Chaim Shaul Karelitz (1912-2001), Av Beis Din of Badatz Sheeris Yisrael, Mashgiach Ruchni of Yeshivas Beis Meir and Talmud Torah Tashbar, nephew of the Chazon Ish, learned at Kosovo, Barnaovich (under Rav Elchanon Wasserman), Kaimetz (under Rav Baruch Ber Leibowitz), and Lomza in Petach Tikva. See also
• Rav Betzalel Rakow (1927-2003), born in Frankfurt, Germany. His father, Rav Yom Tov Lipman, studied in Volozhin under Rav Isser Zalman of Slutsk. After Kritallnacht, his family left via Antwerp to England, in 1939. Rav Betzalel learned at Rav Moshe Schneiders Toras Emes, along with Rav Moshe Sternbuch and Rav Tuvia Weiss. By age 18, he became very close to Rav Elya Lopian and Rav Yechezkel Avramski. He then joined the Gateshead Kollel, marrying three years later. In 1956, he became the rosh yeshiva of Etz Chaim in Montreaux, Switzerland, where he developed a close relationship with Rav Yechiel Weinberg and the Brisker Rav. In 1963, he became the Rav of Gateshead, where he remained until his petira. He is the author of Birkas Yom Tov. He is the brother of Rav Benzion Rakow, rosh yeshiva of Chayei Olom Yeshiva, but he was also the rov of beis hamedrash Heichal Hatorah and a leader of Agudas Yisrael in London.

Thursday, 21 Tammuz

• Rav Shlomo of Chelm (1717-1781). Born in Zamosc, he became Rav of Chelm and Lvov (Lemberg), author of Merkevet Hamishnah, a work which is considered by many to be among the most important commentaries on Rambam's Mishneh Torah. He also wrote Kuntres Breichos Bechesbon, a collection of Talmudic math problems and their solutions.
• Rav Avraham Matisyahu Friedman of Stefanest, Romania (1848-1933). Only son of Rav Menachem Nachum (fourth son of the Rizhiner Rebbe). Succeeded his father after the latters petira in 1869.

Friday, 22 Tammuz

• Rav Shmuel ben Yoel ibn Shuiv, Rav in the Aragonese community of Salonica (1528). His father, who was born in Spain and moved to Salonica in 1495, authored Olas Shabbos, Nora Tehillos, and Ein Mishpat.
• Rav Manoach Hendel, author of Chochmas Manoach (1611)
• Rav Shlomo of Karlin (1740 or 1738-1792). A student of the Maggid of Mezritch, as well as of Rav Aharon the Great of Karlin, whom he succeeded in 1772, he died Kiddush HaShem, stabbed by a Cossack while in the midst of the Amida prayer.
• Rav Avraham Grodzenksi, mashgiach of Slabodka; died al kiddush Hashem, along with his sons, Yisrael, Zeev, and Eliezer, and his daughter, Miriam (1942). A collection of his thoughts are recorded in Toras Avraham. His last three years were spent in the Kovno Ghetto. An account of that period in his life was written by his daughter, Rebbetzin R. Wolbe, who became the wife if Rav Shlomo Wolbe, entitled "Veemunascha Baleilos." On June 23, 1941 (27th of Sivan) German bombardment of Lithuania put a stop to the learning in Slobodka, as Kovno took the brunt of the attack.
• Rav Levi Yitzchak Bender (1897-1989). Born in Grodzisk (near Warsaw), he was sent to Yeshivas Mokov when he was ten, where he became drawn to Breslav Chassidus. The teachings of Rav Nachman (who died in 1810) were transmitted chiefly by his talmid, Rav Nasan Sternhartz, who transcribed the Rebbe's teachings and conversations. After Rav Nasan's passing in 1844, the torch of Breslav was carried on by a number of leaders, including Rav Nachman of Tulchin (died 1884) and Rav Nachman of Tcherin (died 1894). The fourth generation of leaders included Rav Yitzchak Breiter (died around 1943) and Rav Avraham Chazan (Rav Nachman of Tulchin's son; died in 1917). Rav Levi Yitzchak, one of the fifth-generation leaders, was a talmid of Rav Avraham Chazan. The sixth generation leaders of our time include Rav Yaakov Meir Shechter (born 1931), one of the well-known gedolim of Eretz Yisrael. After his father-in-law's passing, Rav Levi Yitzchak moved with his family to Uman, where he remaine d for twenty years until 1936. After five years in Moscow, Rav Levi Yitzchak, his wife and his daughter, moved to Tashkent in Uzbekistan, Central Asia. In 1945, the family moved to nearby Samerkand, known as the Yerushalayim of Uzbekistan, which had a much larger, loyal Jewish community. In 1949, Rav Levi Yitzchak arrived in Eretz Yisrael, where he helped build Breslav chassidism into the vibrant community of today, and helped establish the main Breslav beis medrash, near the border of the Meah Shearim district.

Shabbos, 23 Tammuz

• Rav Moshe Cordovero (Remak) (1522-1570). The Remak was the son of Rav Yaakov, one of the exiles from Cardova, Spain. He studied under the great kabbalists Rav Shlomo HaLevi Alkabetz (who would become his brother-in-law) and Rav Yosef Karo. Rav Chaim Vital was among his greatest talmidim. He was the author of Tomer Devora and Pardes Rimonim. In the latter book, he systematized all kabbalistic knowledge that had been revealed until then. In his sefer, Ohr Neerav, he explains the necessity of studying Kabbalah but also criticizes those who study this subject without prior Torah knowledge, pointing out that one must first study Torah, Mishnah, and Gemara before studying Kabbalah. He also wrote a comprehensive commentary on the Zohar entitled Ohr Yakar, but it was not published for 400 years. Publication of this multi-volume work was finally begun in 1962 and completed in 1989. Although he served as Rosh Yeshiva and as a Dayan, his fame rests on his contribution to Kabbalisti c literature and thought.
• Rav Yechezkel Katzenellenbogen, the Knesses Yechezkel (1749)
• Rav Dovid Morgenstern of Kotzk. Son and successor the Kotzker Rebbe, Rav Menachem Mendel
• Rav Gedalya Aharon Kenig (Koenig), author of Chayei Nefesh, founder of Kiryat Breslav in Tzefas (1981). He was succeeded by his son, Rav Elazar Mordechai Kenig.
• Rav Nechemia Alter, son of the Sefas Emes (1942).
• Rav Yaakov Yosef of Ostrah (1849)
• Rav Shaul Moshe Zilberman, the Viershaver Rav, and author of Pardes Shaul (1939)

JEWISH HISTORY

Sunday, 17 Tammuz

• Crusaders captured Yerushalayim, 1099.
• Anti-Jewish riots in Cordova, Spain, 1148.
• Jews of Lithuania received a Charter of Privilege, 1388.
• The rabble murdered Rav Yehudah, the grandson of the Rosh, together with his family, talmidim and many others in Toledo, incited by the archdeacon of Ejica, Ferrand Martinez, 1391.
• The American colonies declared their independence and promised religious freedom for all, 1776. The Declaration of Independence eventually provided the basis for religious tolerance in most other countries. While there were less than 2, 500 Jews within the colonies, approximately 600 Jews participated in the revolution including 24 officers.
• Special taxes on Jews were finally abolished in Switzerland, 1798
• 4, 000 Jews of the ghetto in Bialystok were shot, 1941.
• Libyaordered the confiscation of Jewish property, 1970.
• In a landmark church-state decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that tuition vouchers were constitutional, 2002.

Monday, 18 Tammuz

• Crusaders herded the Jews of Yerushalayim into a shul and set it aflame, 1099. All the Jews perished in the fire and for the 88 years of Crusader control of Yerushalayim, Jews were barred from the city.
• Louis IX decreed that all Jews must wear a distinctive yellow badge, 1269.
• Massacre of the Jewish community of Morgentheim, Austria, 1298.
• Jews saved in Candia (Crete) declare the day as Candia Purim, 1583.
• 41 Jews burned at the stake in Breslau, 1453. The remainder of the Jewish population was expelled.

Tuesday, 19 Tammuz

• Meshullam Cusi established the first Hebrew press in Italy at Piove di Sacco near Padua and printed Rabbeinu Yaakov b. Ashers Arbah Turim, 1475. The same year he also printed a Selichos.
• Passing of author, journalist, and diplomat Mordechai Manuel Noah, 1851. Noah became the United States consul to Tunis. Fixated on the problem of a haven for Jewish refugees, he wrote about the importance of a revived Jewish homeland and in 1825, decided to acquire Grand Island in New York as a Jewish city of refuge, a plan which shortly fizzled out. In 1837 he came to the conclusion that the best solution was for the Jews to have their own homeland in Eretz Yisrael.
• Legislation abolishing discrimination against chaplains service in the United States army became a law, 1862.
• The first 14 members of BILU reached Yaffo, 1882. (BILU was an acronym of the Hebrew for "House of Jacob, come and let us go" (Yeshaya 5:5)
• 6, 000 Lithuanian Jews were killed in Viszalsyan camp - 1941.
• Kidnappers in Lebanon released Rev. Lawrence Martin Jenco, an American hostage held for nearly 19 months.
• In Jedwabne, Poland, President Kwasniewski apologized for the wartime massacre of Jews, 2001. The entire town of Jedwabne gleefully participated in the killing of its Jewish residents.

Wednesday, 20 Tammuz

• The pope promulgated a Church doctrine which held Jews doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation because they killed the Christian deity, 1205. This charge of deicide was officially removed in 1963.
• Nazis murder Jews of Telzh, including the Roshei Yeshiva, 1941.
• Hungarian rebels known as Kuruc attacked Uhersky Brod in Moravia, killing most of its Jewish inhabitants, 1683. Many of the Jews were recent refugees expelled from Vienna in 1670. One of the victims was the rav and mekubal Nosson Nota Hanover, who had survived the Chmielnicki attacks and authored Yaven Metzula about this period.
• Fall of the Bastille, 1789. Jews viewed the fall of Bastille as a triumph although by and large they were not allowed to participate in the election of the Estates-General which became the Constituent National Assembly.
• Jews of Telz, including roshei yeshiva, were killed by the Nazis, 1941.
• Nazis liquidate the Kovno ghetto, 1944.
• The Law of Return is enacted in 1950, granting every Jew the absolute right to settle in Israel.

Thursday, 21 Tammuz

• Jews were barred from settling in Brazil, 1567.
• Don Lope de Vera y Alarcon, a young Christian scholar and Spanish nobleman who was drawn to Judaism by the outrages of the Inquisition, was burned alive for refusing to yield to the Inquisition, 1644.
• Bendin (Poland) ghetto uprising, 1942.
• PLOs Palestinian National Council adopt covenant calling for Israels destruction, 1968.

Friday, 22 Tammuz

• In Pastoureaux (Southern France), a crusade against the Jews was started by a shepherd, which then spread throughout most of southern France and northern Spain, 1320.
• Hundreds of Jews of Catalonia murdered, 1358.
• Marranos were permitted to leave Portugal, 1557.
• Jews of New Amsterdam requested permission to open a cemetery in 1655. Permission was initially denied and was finally granted a year later.
• Death of Shabbsi Ben Yosef, known as the father of the Hebrew bibliography, 1718.

Shabbos, 23 Tammuz

• Crusaders captured Yerushalayim, 1099.
• Although the Pope decreed against blood-ritual charges in 1247, his decree was ignored for centuries to come.
• Jacob Barsimson left Holland aboard the Peartree for New Amsterdam and landed there on August 22, 1654. He was considered the first Jewish resident of New Amsterdam (New York). A month later, Jews who had fled from Brazil due to the Portuguese conquest of the colony joined him.
• Bogodan Chmielnicki and Cossacks massacred Jews of Vilna, 1655
• Baron Lionel de Rothschild became the first Jew to sit in the British parliament, 1858, after a new oath of office was agreed upon that did not refer to Christianity.
• Members of the Irgun, a militant Zionist organization, dressed as Arabs, set off a bomb in the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, which had been the base for the British Secretariat, 1946. Ninety-one people were killed, most of them staff of the secretariat and the hotel: 28 British, 41 Arab, 17 Jewish, and 5 other.

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