Cortesy of Congregation Anshe Emes, Los Angeles

The update of Jewish History of this week

YAHRTZEITS

Sunday, 11 Adar

• Rav Chaim Yosef Dovid Azulai, (the Chida), (1724-1806). Arguably the Sephardic equivalent to the Vilna Gaon, the Chida, was born in Jerusalem. At the age of 18, he learned under Rav Chaim ben Atar (the Ohr Hachaim). His works include a collection of responsa known as Yoseif Ometz, the Shem HaGedolim (a biographical work on 1300 authors and 1200 writings, dating back to the Gaonim), and many others. He passed away in Livorno, Italy.
• Rav Eliezer Lipman, father of Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk and Reb Zusha of Annipoli.
• Rav Mordechai Posner, Rav of Ursha and brother of the Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1823)
• Rav Shmuel Strashun (Shtershun; Shtrasson), the Rashash of Vilna (1794-1872). He was a Rav and a very wealthy banker in Vilna; he also administrated a free loan fund. His commentary on virtually the entire Talmud is printed in most editions of the Talmud. (Some say 12 Adar)
• Rav Avraham Borenstein of Sochatchov (Sochaczew, near Warsaw) (1839-1910), author of Avnei Nezer (seven volumes of response) and Eglei Tal (encyclopedia of the laws of Shabbos). He was born in Bendin to Rav Zeev Nachum, author of the Agudas Eizov, a descendent of the Rema and the Shacha, and the Rav of Elkush and Biala. In 1853, he married Sarah Tzina, one of the two daughters of the Kotzker Rebbe, with whom he learned almost daily for almost 7 years. After the petira of his father-in-law in 1859, Rav Avraham accepted the Chidushei HaRim of Ger as his rebbe. After the petira of the Chidushei HaRim in 1866, he accepted Rav Chanoch Henich HaKohen of Alexander as his new reebbe. In 1883, he became Rav of Sochachov. His lectures in the yeshiva lasted six to eight hours, often starting at midnight and continuing until morning, except for a 15-minute break when he napped. Rav Bornstein is frequently quoted in his son's classic work Shem Mishmuel.
• Rav Yosef Rosen of Dvinsk, the Gaon of Rogatchov, author of Tzofnas Paneach (1858-1936). His father, Reb Fishel Rosen, was a leader of the Jewish community of Rogatchov in general, and of the Lubavicher Chasidim in particular. When he was bar mitzvah, his father brought Reb Yosef to the Rav of Slutzk, Rav Yosef Dov Soloveichik, the Beis Halevi. Together with Rav Chaim (Rav Yosef Dovs son), Rav Yosef learned with the Beis Halevi for an entire year. He then learned with Rav Yehushua Diskin in Shklov. When he was 18, he married the daughter of Rav Moshe Garfinkel, a Gerer chasid in Warsaw, who supported the couple for 8 years. In 1891, he took the position of Rav in Dvinsk, a position he kept until his death.
• Rav Shmuel Brudny, Rosh Yeshivas Mir (1915-1981). Born in Smorgon, Lithuania, between Oshmina and Vilna. At 14 years of age, he entered the Rameilles Yeshiva in Vilna under Rav Shlomo Heiman. Three years later, he entered the Mirrer Yeshiva under Rav Eliezer Yehuda Finkel. Whereas his parents and siblings were murdered by the Nazis, he escaped to Shanghai. After the yeshiva was relocated in New York, he was appointed Rosh Yeshiva.
• Rav Yehoshua Moshe Orenstein, author of Yam HaTalmud.

Monday, 12 Adar

• Rav Moshe Pardo, founder of Or Hachaim Seminary in Bnei Brak
• Rav Pinchas Hager of Borsha (1869-1941). He was raised not only by his father, the Imrei Baruch of Vizhnitz, but also by his grandfather, Rav Menachem Mendel, the Tzemach Tzaddik of Vizhnitz. When he was only eighteen, Rav Pinchas was thrust into the position of a rebbe in Borsha, a town on the Vishiva River by the foot of the Carpathians. Borsha was one of the 160 Jewish communities of the approximately 500-square kilometer Maramures (Marmerosh) district of northwestern Romania. After the outbreak of the First World War, the Rebbe fled to Budapest, and then to Vishiva and Sighet after the war. In 1926, his son, Rav Alter Menachem Mendel succeeded him as rebbe in Borsha. He and his two brothers perished in the Holocaust.
• Rav Yosef Adler, the Turda Rav (1977). Turda is a city with a history of over 2000 years. It is famous for its salt mine (Salina Turda), whose origins date back to the Roman times. In June 1942, following impressive German victories in Russia and following the Romanian army's advance in the Caucasus, Antonescu agreed to implement the 'Final Solution' with regard to Romanian Jews. The first transports were to depart from southern Transylvania, from the districts of Arad, Timisoara, and Turda.
• Rav Chaim David Halevy (1924-1998). Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv for the last 25 years of his life, he was known to many as the author of the multi volume responsa Aseh Lecha Rav, on many contemporary halachic and hashkafic issues, and a six-volume halachic work entitled Mekor Chaim.

Tuesday, 13 Adar

• Rav Yehuda HeChasid, author of Sefer Chasidim (1150-1217). His father, Rav Shmuel (1120-1175), led a famous yeshivah in Speyer, and served as Rav Yehudas rebbe. (Some say 8 Adar)
• Rav Moshe Langner, the fifth Strettiner Rebbe (1959). Born to Rav Yehuda Hersch Rebbe in the town of Strettin. In 1921, he moved the family from Galicia to Toronto.
• Rav Shmuel Strashon of Vilna, the Rashash (1885)
• Rav Moshe Feinstein (1895-1986). Born in Uzda (near Minsk), Belorussia, he was the son of R' Dovid Feinstein, who was a grandchild of the Be'er Hagolah (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, also known as the Maharal). His mother was Feige Gittel, daughter of R' Yechiel, rov of Kopolia. He joined the yeshiva of R' Isser Zalman Meltzer in Slutzk at the age of twelve. At the age of sixteen, R' Moshe completed Shas and Shulchan Oruch. He was rabbi of Lyuban from 1921 to 1936. He escaped the Stalinist regime in 1936 and settled in New York as rosh yeshiva of Tiferes Yerushalayim. He authored Igros Moshe, Darash Moshe, and Dibros Moshe.

Wednesday, 14 Adar

• Rav Zeev Wolf of Zhitomer, student of the Maggid of Mezeitch, author of Or Hameir, one of the early foundation texts of Chassidus (1800).
• Rav Shimon Schwab (1908-1995). Born in Frankfurt-am-Main, Rav Schwab learned at Mir and Telz before becoming dayan in Darmstadt and Rav in the district of Ichenhausen in Bavaria. Escaping Nazi Germany in 1936, Rav Schwab served as Rav in Baltimore, then in New York in the Washington Heights area, following Rav Joseph Breuer.
• Rav Menashe Frankel of Lizhensk (1903-1965). Born in Yadlowa in eastern Galicia to Rav Shlomo Zalman Frankel, Rav of the town. He married the daughter of Rav Yechezkel HaLevy Landau, Rav of Lizhensk and remained in Lizhensk. He was elected Dayan, and when his father-in-law was nifter in 1938, he became Rav of the city. Lizhensk was one of the first cities to fall to the Nazis in 1939. Rav Menashe escaped, but was sent to Siberia , then to Uzbekistan (Buchara). He settled in new York in 1948 and founded his own congregation, Ateres Shlomo.
• Rav Yaakov Asher Kopf, grandson of the Lelover Rebbe, Rav Moshe Mordechai Biderman (1955-2005).

Thursday, 15 Adar

• Rav Zvi Hirsch Kaidanover of Vilna and Frankfurt, author of Kav Hayashar (1712)
• Rav Yosef Leifer of Pittsburgh, the Tzidkas Yosef (1891-1966). Born to Rav Ber of Satmar, Rav Yosef was a descendant of Rav Meir HaGadol of Premishlan. After marrying and living in Krula for seven years, he traveled to America in 1924 to raise funds for his orphaned sisters (his father died when Rav Yosef was 15 years old). One of his stops was Pittsburgh, and he decided to stay. His brothers, Rav Meir and Rav Shalom, also came to America, taking positions in Cleveland and Brighton Beach, respectively. His youngest son, Yitzchak Eizik, passed away when he was elevn. Two other sons, Rav Yissachar Ber and Rav Mordechai were murdered by the Nazis in 1944. Only his oldest son, Rav Avraham Abba, escaped and succeeded him after his petira. Rav Avraham Abba moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1970 and founded Yeshivas Tzidkas Yosef in Ashdod.
• Rav Chaim Kamil, Rosh Yeshivas Ofakim, one of the prime builders of Torah in the Negev (1933-2005). As a bachur, he learned in Yeshiva Slobodka in Yerushalayim. Following his marriage to the daughter of Rav Mordechai Porush, he learned at the Mir and became a talmid muvhak of Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz. After many years, he was appointed Rosh Yeshiva of Meor Einayim of Rachmistrivka in Yerushalayim, and from 1979 at Ofakim. He was survived by his daughter.

Friday, 16 Adar

• Rav Shalom Charif (1825). Having learned under Rav Pinchas Halevi Horowitz (the Baal Haflaah) in Frankfurt for many years, Rav Shalom became Rav and Rosh Yeshiva in Ansbach, a town in Bavaria, Germany. He later moved to Hungary and served as Rav in Stampen, Frauenkirchen, and Lankenbach. Only one of his manuscripts, Divrei Rash, on several mesechtas, has been published.
• Rav Eliezer [Eleazar] Menachem Mendel Biederman, Lelover Rav in Yerushalayim, the son of Rav Moshe Biederman (1827-1883)
• Rav Yitzchak of Boyan, founder of the Boyaner Chasidim, author of Pachad Yitzchak (1849-1917). He was the third son of Rav Avraham Yaakov of Sadigora, the son of Rav Yisrael of Rizhin. (Some say 17 Adar)
• Rav Pinchas Menachem Alter, the Pnei Menachem of Ger (1926-1996). The fifth son of Rav Avraham Mordechai Alter (the Imrei Emes), Rav Pinchas was born in the resort town of Palinitz, Poland when his father was 60 years old. Along with his father and other family members, he escaped to Eretz Yisrael during World War II. In 1946, he married his cousin, and two years later, his father passed away. Three of the Imrei Emes sons became Rebbe of Ger: Rav Yisrael (the Beis Yisrael, niftar 1977), Rav Simcha Bunim (the Lev Simcha, niftar 1992), and Rav Pinchas Menachem (the Pnei Menachem). However, Rav Pinchas Menachem was Rosh Yeshiva of Sefas Emes of Ger in Yerushalayim from the time he was 30, and was head of Agudas Yisrael after the petira of Rav Yitzchak Meir Levine.

Shabbos, 17 Adar

• Rav Chaim Davidson (1760-1854). Born in Pinchov, he lost his father at an early age. Soon after his bar mitzvah, the Warsaw gevir, Rav Naftali Tzvi Tzinimer, made the shidduch for Rav Chaim to marry his daughter Rochel. Rav Chaim moved to Warsaw, making it his home for the next 80 years. When Hoffmann, the chief Prussian administrator of Warsaw, insisted that every Jew adopt a surname for use on official documents 1795, Reb Chaim took the name Davidson, in honor of his father. In addition to studying at the yeshiva of the Nesivos in Lissa, Rav Chaim often visited and studied with Rabbi Akiva Eiger. In the early 1800s, the Jewish population of Warsaw was skyrocketing, largely because of refugees coming in from the Ukraine and other places. From 2,519 Jews in 1765, the Jewish presence shot up to 15,000 by 1816. In 1802, the maskilim were numerous enough to open their own shul, which they named the "German Synagogue." After 1815 when Russia annexed Warsaw, a deadly partnersh ip developed between the autonomous Polish government and Haskala Jews. An edict in 1821 decreed the abolition of the kehillos, and substituted them with "Congregational Boards" consisting of the Rav, his assistant, and three trustees. In 1822, Rav Chaim was chosen as one of Warsaw's three trustees and held this position for two years. After the passing of the Chemdas Shlomo in 1839, a council appointed Rav Chaim to be the new Rav of Warsaw. Thereafter, his wealthy son, Rav Naftali, supplied him with funds to continue the numerous chesed projects he had financed while he himself was a wealthy man.
• Rav Shimon Sofer, Rav and Av Beis Din of Cracow (1821-1883). Born in Pressburg, the second son of the Chasam Sofer
• Rav Yisrael Zeev Mintzberg (Minzberg), Av Beis Din of K'hal Chassidim (or Khal Masmidim) in Yerushalayim (1962)
• Rav Avraham Menachem Danziger, the ninth Admor of Alexander (1921-2005). The earliest Chasidim of Alexander followed Rav Shraga Feivel of Gritza (d. 1848) who was a close talmid of Rav Simcha Bunim of Peshischa. After Rav Shraga Feivels petira, they followed Rav Menachem Mendel of Vorki. . After his petira in 1864, they followed Rav Yechiel (1828-1894), the son of Rav Shraga Feivel. He set up court in Alexander near Lodz, Poland. Rav Yechiel had 3 sons. One of them, Rav Yerachmiel Yisrael Yitzchak, led the Alexander Chassidim from 1894 to 1910 and was the mechaber of Yismach Yisrael. After his passing, his younger brother, Rav Shmuel Tzvi (the Tiferes Shmuel) led the court until 1924. The third brother, Rav Betzalel Yair, followed. Rav Shmuel Tzvis son, Rav Yitzchak, took over leadership until the Holocaust. The Alexander Chassidim, which outnumber all others in Europe except for Ger, all but perished. The broken pieces were put together by Rav Yehuda Moshe, son-in-law of Rav Betzalel Yair; he had departed Poland for Eretz Yisrael in 1934. Of his 9 sons, only one survived., Rav Avraham Menachem. He was survived by 3 sons, 4 daughters, and thousands of pages of chidushei Torah yet to be published.

JEWISH HISTORY

Sunday, 11 Adar

• Pope prohibits anti-Jewish sermons, 1434.
• First printing of Rashi on Torah, Italy 1475. (This first printing of Rashi was without the text of the Torah. All subsequent printings were done with Rashis commentary under the Torahs text.)
• First printing of the whole Tanach, 1488.
• Haifa was captured by Napoleon, which marked the greatest extent of Napoleons conquest of Eretz Yisrael, 1799.
• Alexander II of Russia assassinated, 1881, ending a relatively peaceful period for the Jews. He was succeeded by Alexander III who returned to traditional Russian oppression of the Jews. Newspapers in Moscow, Kiev, and Odessa incited anti-Jewish pogroms throughout Russia beginning in 1881 and continuing until 1905, sparking mass emigration of Jews from Russia to the Western Hemisphere at more then 50,000 Jews a year until 1914. By the beginning of World War I, 2,500,000 Russian Jews had left.
• James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes.

Monday, 12 Adar

• After a priest was hit with a few grains of sand thrown by small Jewish boys playing in the street of Prague, he insisted that the Jewish community purposely plotted against him. In the pogrom that followed, hundreds of Jews were murdered, the shul and the cemetery were destroyed, and homes were pillaged, 1389
• Nasrallah takes over Hezbollah after Israel kills the groups leader, Abbas Musawi, 1992 (Adar I)
• With the help of Iranian intelligence, Hezbollah bombs the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, killing 29 and injuring over 200, 1992 (Adar II)
• A suicide bomber blew himself up at the Apropo Coffee House on Ben Gurion Blvd. in Tel Aviv, killing three women and injuring more than 40 other patrons, 1997. Many were dressed in costumes to celebrate Purim. Among the injured was a 6-month-old baby, who was burned over a large portion of his body. The explosion was the first after a yearlong lull in suicide bombings.

Tuesday, 13 Adar

• Jews fought against their enemies in the Persian empire during the days of Esther and Mordechai, 355 BCE
• Nikonor Day, in which Antiochus Epiphanes's General Nikonor, leading the elephant infantry against the Jews, was defeated and killed, 161 BCE.

Wednesday, 14 Adar

• The miracle of Purim took place, 355 BCE.
• In Bray, France, eighty Jews were burned to death for trying to execute a non-Jew who had killed a Jew, 1191. After securing permission from a local lord, they tried to hang the accused on Purim, which fell out three weeks before Easter.
• Jews of Uberlingen, Switzerland were massacred, 1349
• Pope banned all social contact between Jews and Christians out of fear that Christians would be attracted to Judaism, 1451. A Christian who converted to Judaism and the Jews who helped him were usually subject to the death penalty in most Catholic and Eastern Orthodox countries.
• Turkish soldiers killed 60 Jews in Bucharest, 1822.
• The death of Czar Nicholas I of Russia, 1855. He had passed the Cantonist decree forcibly conscripting Jewish children for his army, with the intended goal to baptize them. Over 70,000 Jews were forced to serve in his army over the period of the 30-year decree (1827-1857), many of them taken as children of 8 or 9.
• A blood libel began after the death of a student in Konitz, Prussia, 1900. A Jew named Wolf Israelski was arrested, while Count Plucker promoted riots against the Jews. After Israelski was proven innocent, two other Jews, Moritz Lewy and Rosenthal, were arrested on the same charge. Rosenthal and Lewy were subsequently acquitted. All the evidence was based on the testimony of a petty thief, Masloff, who later received only one year for perjury.
• The Chief Rabbinate of Palestine was established, 1921. Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld declared a fast day.
• Germany violated the Munich Agreement and marched into Prague, 1939.
• The Iraq attack against Eretz Yisrael during the Gulf War (1991) came to an end. Miraculously, only one person died during at least 39 SCUD attacks into many densely populated areas which resulted in hundreds of homes destroyed.

Thursday, 15 Adar

• In Wurzburg, Germany, the Jews were accused of killing a Christian and dumping him in the river, and 22 Jews were murdered, including their Rav, Yitzchak ben Elyakim, 1147.
• In Berlin, Germany, riots and street fighting kill twenty Jews, 1848. Anti-Jewish riots also spread to Bavaria, Baden, Hamburg and many other cities.
• Birth of Rav Chaim Soleveitchik, Volozhin and Brisk, 1853
• Jews of Sweden were emancipated, 1870.
• 1500 Jews killed in the Proskorov pogroms in Ukraine in 1919, the largest among hundreds of "Petliura" pogroms perpetrated against Ukrainian and Russian Jews during 1919-1920 which ended in the deaths of tens of thousands of Jews.
• The Soviet tyrant, Josef Stalin died, 1953. His "Doctor's Plot"'s accusation against his Jewish doctors fell apart, and hundreds of thousands of Jews were miraculously saved from Stalin's plan to deport them to Siberia where they would have died of cold and starvation.
• Second U.S.-led war against Iraq commences, March 19, 2003.

Friday, 16 Adar

• Koresh, king of Babylon, gives permission for Jews to rebuild Beis Hamikdosh, 371 BCE. On this day they began to rebuild the wall.
• King Agrippa I began the construction of a gate for the wall of Yerushalayim, 42 CE. The day was designated a holiday.
• Jews were excluded from public offices and dignities in the Roman Empire, 418.
• Jews of New Amsterdam (eventually to become New York) were denied the right to erect a synagogue, 1656. (The Pilgrims' idea of religious freedom did not include Jews and other non-Christians.)
• The Rhode Island court refused to grant citizenship to Aaron Lopez and Isaac Eliezer, stating that no person who is not of the Christian religion can be admitted free to this colony, 1762. Lopez was granted citizenship by Massachusetts and the sentence upon the true faith of a Christian was excluded from the oath. Lopez was most likely the first Jew to be granted citizenship in Massachusetts.
• The ghetto pillars of Ferrara, Italy, were destroyed by the professors and students of the Athenaeum, 1848.
• Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary, the first Orthodox Jewish rabbinical seminary in the United States, was incorporated, 1897.

Shabbos, 17 Adar

• Crusader massacre of the Jews of Wurtzburg, 1147.
• In Strasbourg, a riot ensued in the town after corn prices fell, 1349. Despite the protests of the city council, the Jews were accused of a conspiracy. The entire Jewish population of 2000 were dragged to the cemetery and burned to death. Only those who accepted Christianity were allowed to live.
• The Romanian government prohibited Jews from engaging in handicrafts or trade, 1902.
• Beginning of the Battle of Verdun in France, World War I, 1916. One of the most important battles in World War I on the Western Front, fought between the German and French armies, it resulted in more than a quarter million killed and half a million injured.
• The Bulgarian commissar for Jewish affairs, Alexander Belev, signed an agreement permitting Germany to deport 26,000 Jews to extermination camps, 1943.
• The Jewish quarter of Old Yerushalayim was besieged by Arabs, 1948. The Jews were cut off from the Jewish community in new Yerushalayim when access to the gates in the walls of Yerushalayim was barred to them.

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