The Information Channel Felist.Com -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Do not Reply this message! Please send messages to address on bottom of the message or to kehilasmy@yahoo.com Cortesy of [ http://anshe.org ] Congregation Anshe Emes, Los Angeles The update of Jewish History of this week YAHRTZEITS Sunday, 8 Nissan * Rav Eliyahu Hakadosh of York, Rabbeinu Yom Tov, and several other English Tosafists, who perished at Clifford's Tower, during the Crusades, 1146. * Rav Eliyahu ben Binyamin Wolf Shapiro MiPrague, the Eliyah Rabba on Shulchan Aruch, and Eliyah Zuta on the Levush to Orach Chaim. He was a student of the Magen Avraham in his youth (1660-1712). * Rav Mordechai of Neshchiz (1800) * Rav Yaakov Tzvi Yales of Premezyl, author of Melo Haroim and Kehillas Yaakov (1825) * Rav Yechiel Michel Tikochinsky, author of Gesher HaChaim (1955) [some say 25 Teves; others as 9 Nissan] * Rav Mordechai of Neshchiz (1740-1800). Descended from the Maharal of Prague and Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, Rav Mordechai was a disciple of Rav Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov. His sayings were collected in Rishpei Eish. He was succeeded by his son, Rav Yitzchak of Neshchiz. Monday, 9 Nissan * Rav Yosef Yozfe Norlingen (1637), author of Yosef Ometz. * Rav Yaakov Tzvi Yalish (Yolles) of Dinov, the Melo Haro'im {Malei Roim} (1778-1825). He was born in Premeshyl, but moved in with his grandfather, the Rav of Mezhibuzh, after his mother passed away at an early age. He was a chassid of the Chozeh of Lublin, and he also authored Kol Yaakov (on Torah and Nach). Dinov is a town 175 miles SSE of Warsaw, in the Lvov district. Jews are first noted in 1552.The Dinov Chassidic dynasty was started by Rav Tzvi Elimelech Shapira. By 1880 the Jewish population stood at 1,241 (total 2,784). Most of the Jews left Dynw for Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Austria at the outbreak of World War I, returning four years later to find the town virtually destroyed. On 15 Sept. 1939, an SS unit arrived and rounded up 300 men and shot them in the forest. The Great Synagogue was burned to the ground on the same day. The rest of the Jews were expelled to Soviet-held territory. Some 200-250 survived the war, most in the Soviet Union. Rav Yaakov Tzvi se rved as Rav in Dinov, and later of two other cities, but decided to devote himself to full-time learning and left Rabbaus. He also authored Beis Vaad Lechachamim on the history of the Tana'im and Amora'im, Emes Le'Yaakov on Torah, Chinuch Beis Yehudah (named for his grandfather) on Chanukah, Parashas Derachim Zuta, and his most famous sefer Melo Haro'im. * Rav Aryeh Levine, the Tzadik from Yerushalayim, Mashgiach, Yeshiva Eitz Chaim (1885-1969); emigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1905 * Rav Chaim Meir Hager, the Imrei Chaim (1887-1972). Son of Rav Yisrael of Vizhnitz, he became the son-in-law of Rav Zev of Rachmistrivka. In 1910, he became Rav of Wilhovitz. After World War II, he moved to Eretz Yisrael and established Kiryat Vizhnitz in Bnai Brak where he rebuilt Chassidus Vizhnitz as Rebbe for 35 years. Tuesday, 10 Nissan * Miriam HaNavia (1395-1272 or 1270 BCE) * Rav Betzalel Hacohen, Rav of Vilna, author of Mareh Cohen and Shu"T Reishis Bikkurim. * Rav Shalom Mashash, Sephardic Rav of Yerushalayim (1909-2003). Born the Moroccan city of Meknes, a city of Torah known as the Yerushalayim of Morocco. Rav Shalom learned under Rav Meir Toledano until the age of 14. His father then sent him to learn under the great sage Rav Yitzchak Sabag. Writing in his sefer, Tevu'as Shemesh, Rav Shalom declares, "The fact that I was able to grow in Torah may be credited to my father, who did not yield to the pressures and offers that I pursue lucrative positions in banks". Thus, all the credit for my Torah learning is his, too." His other main mentor was his relative from both his paternal and maternal sides, Rav Yehoshua Birdugo, the raavad of Meknes. In 1960 with the petirah of the chief rav and dayan of Casablanca, Rav Dovid Ibn Sussan, Rav Shalom became its raavad and chief rav, serving there for thirty years. In 1978, he moved to Eretz Yisrael to take the position as Chief Sepharic Rav of Yerushalayim. Wednesday, 11 Nissan * Rav Moshe ben Nachman, the Ramban, (1194-1270). Born in Gerona, he remained there most of his life. He was a student of the Ramah (Rabbeinu Meir ha'Levi Abulefia). He authored the Milchamos Hashem on the Rif Alfasi against the critique of Baal HaMaor and Ravad. He also wrote a work defending the Bahag against the Rambam's criticisms of his classification of mitzvos. He wrote an account of his public disputation in Barcelona with the convert Pablo Christiani in 1263. The Ramban's commentary on Chumash is multi-dimensional including all methods of interpretation from simple pshat to esoteric Kabbala. The Ramban held that the mitzva of settling Eretz Yisrael applies even today and ultimately settled there himself during the last years of his life. * Rav Yeshayah Horowitz, author of Shnei Luchos Habris (Shelah Hakodesh) (1560-1630), born in Prague, where he became chief rabbi. In his later years he moved to Eretz Yisrael and became the chief rabbi of Yerushalayim. * Rav Betzalel Hakohen of Vilna, author of Mareh Kohen (1878) Thursday, 12 Nissan * Rav Shlomo Zalman Lifshitz, Rav of Warsaw, author of Chemdas Shlomo (1839) [11 Nissan according to Yated 2007 and 2008] Rav Shlomo was born in Posen, which was part of Poland at the time. Posen was a Torah metropolis for centuries. Its rabbonim included the Maharsha, the Maharal and the Levush. (Rav Akiva Eiger would serve Posen, beginning in 1815.) Rav Shlomo learned under the son-in-law of the Noda bi'Yehuda, known as Yosef haTzaddik, who was Rav in Posen, for 25 years until his passing in 1801. After being supported by his father-in-law for 22 years, he took up the yoke of rabbanus in about 1804. He was about 40 years old at the time. His first position was in Nashlask, Poland. After 15 years in Nashlask, Rav Shlomo moved to the Warsaw neighborhood of Praga, and in 1819 he became the first chief rav of Warsaw, which boasted 5,000 Jewish families and was the largest and wealthiest kehillah in Poland. An official 1826 census found that 2,500 talmidim were studying in 215 cheders. However, an 1827 government report estimated that 25% of Polish Jews had no livelihood. After serving as rav of Warsaw for 25 years, Rav Shlomo fell ill and passed away. Rav Shlomo was survived by his son Rav Yoel from his first marriage. * Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus (1944-2001). Born to Rav Avraham Chaim and Chava Pincus in the United States, he learned at Brisk in Yerushalayim. He married Chaya Mindel, daughter of Rav Mordechai Man, Rosh Yeshiva of Kenesses Chizkiyahu, and continued his studies in Bnei Brak. Then, in 1981, upon the request of the Steipler Gaon and Rav Shach, he moved into the Negev to start up the community at Ofakim Friday, 13 Nissan * Rav Yosef Karo, Beis Yosef, Shulchan Aruch, Kesef Mishneh,and Magid Meisharim, (1488-1575). His first major work, the Beis Yosef is a comprehensive commentary on the Tur; it took 20 years to write. In it, he gathered the opinions and decisions of all the major authorities up until his time and cross-referenced them. He ruled between differing views on the basis of a consensus between the three preeminent halachic authorities, the Rif, the Rambam, and the Rosh. The work was completed in 1542, but he continued to refine it for the next 12 years, and published a second edition. After he had completed the Beis Yosef, Rav Caro made a summary of his rulings in the form of an index without reference to sources and titled it Shulchan Aruch ("Laid Table"). It was completed in 1555 in Israel; it was first published in Venice in 1565. Eventually, the Rama's gloss (called HaMapa -- "The Tablecloth") was published together with the Shulchan Aruch in Cracow in 1578, and together they b ecame the universally recognized Code of Jewish Law. The Rambam had published his Mishna Torah without references for his rulings. The Maggid Mishna, a commentary on Mishneh Torah written by Rabbi Vidal di Tolouse, had referenced six of the fourteen sections of the work, and Rav Caro set out to complete the references, while at the same time explaining the Rambam's view and defending it from the Raavad. The Kesef Mishneh, as it was called, was published in Venice between the years 1574-76. * Rav Moshe ben Chaim Alshich (1508-1593) [others say 1522-1570]. Born in Adrianople, Turkey, student of Rav Yosef Karo in Adrianople and Rav Taitatzak in Salonica. He authored Toras Moshe. His students included Rav Chaim Vital and Maharitatz (Rav Yom Tov ben Moshe Tzahalon). He became a member of the Beis Din in Tzefas and is buried in Tzefas. * Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the Tzemach Tzedek, third Lubavitcher Rebbe (1789-1866). * Rav Yoel Moskovitz of Shatz, great-grandson of Rav Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov. He was betrothed at the age of thirteen to Rebbetzin Miriam, the youngest daughter of Rav Meir of Premishlan. Rav Yoel served as a rav in Vornika and Solitza and, after Rav Meir's passing in 1850, he set up his court in Shatz, a town in the Bukovina district of Moldavia, an area that straddled modern-day Romania, Ukraine and Hungary. Shatz is now called Suceava or Suczawa. Although Shatz was Moldavia's capital between 1388 and 1565, it was a provincial backwater of the Austrian Empire by the 19th century. According to a 1880 census the town had 3,750 Jews who constituted 37% of the town's total population of 10,104. Today's population of over 100,000 people includes almost no Jews. Shabbos, 14 Nissan * Rav Asher Yeshaya of Ropshitz (1845), the main rebbi of Rav Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam, the Shinover Rav. * Rav Avraham Yaffen, Rosh Yeshivas Novardok (1897-1970). Educated as a youth in the Pinsk Talmud Torah, he then learned under Rav Isser Zalman Melter in Slutzk. In 1913, he was apppinted rosh yeshiva of the main Novardok yeshiva by Rav Yosef Yoizel Horowitz and became his son-in-law. From then on, he assisted his father-in-law with all aspects of Novardok's yeshivas. By 1939, there were over 80 Novardok yeshivas throughout Poland, serving over 4000 students. He moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1964. * Rav Yosef Tzvi Dunner, Rav and Av Beis Din of London (2007) JEWISH HISTORY Sunday, 8 Nissan * The feast of Achashveirosh, which lasted for 180 days, came to an end, 364 BCE * First rabbinic hisnagdus to Chassidim was announced in Vilna, 1772. A cherem, endorsed by the Vilna Gaon, was published in 1777 and again in 1781. * Denmark grants citizenship to Jews, 1814. * The Zion Mule Corps, consisting of Jewish volunteers from Palestine, was formed, 1915. This was the first Palestinian Jewish military unit attached to a regular army. It was the forerunner of the Jewish Legion, which was formed in 1918. * Hungary issued a decree ordering all Jews to wear a yellow star, 1944. Monday, 9 Nissan * 57 Jews were killed in Bury St. Edmunds, England, 1190. * Anti-Jewish riots broke out in Seville, Spain, 1391. (The riots took place on Ash Wednesday and initiated a wave of violence which spread rapidly over the Iberian Peninsula, claiming 50,000 Jewish victims before the year was up. A substantial number of Jews escaped with their lives only because they converted. This marked the emergence of Marranos, said to number 200,000, in the kingdoms of Aragon and Castille. They were to provide tens of thousands of martyrs in the Old, and New Worlds for centuries to come. * Jews of Vienna, Austria, were accused of profaning the host. Many of those who refused to embrace Christianity were burned at the stake, 1421. * Germany invaded Yugoslavia and Greece, 1941. * Nazis established two ghettos in Radom, Poland, 1941. Tuesday, 10 Nissan * Yehoshua leads bnei Yisrael across the Jordan, 1271 BCE * Hizbullah operatives bombed a restaurant near the U.S. Air Force base in Torrejon, Spain, killing 18 American servicemen, 1984 Wednesday, 11 Nissan * London Jews were martyred following ritual charges, 1279. * Prussian ruler Frederick the Great imposed oppressive restrictions upon Jews, 1750. His anti-Jewish policies were proof that anti-Semitism would survive in the age of "Enlightenment". * Birthday of the last Lubavitcher Rebbe (1902) * First two Nazi anti-Jewish decrees, barring Jews from public service and law, 1933. * Nazis establish Kielce ghetto, 1941 Thursday, 12 Nissan * Ezra and his followers departed from the River Ahava on their way to Yerushalayim, 373 B.C.E. * The Dutch West India Co. granted Michael Cardozo the right to practice law in Brazil, a privilege no other Jew enjoyed at that time anywhere else, 1645. * Jews from Mashad, Iran were forcibly converted and a pogrom perpetrated against them, 1839. * The Russian revolutionary government granted equality to all Russian Jews for the first time in Russian history, 1917. (In the first decade of the 20th century Russia had about 50 percent of the total world Jewish population under its effective control and domination. The grant of equality by the Russian revolutionary government thus affected a major part of world Jewry. By the end of the second decade Russia had only about 18 percent of the total Jewish population under its jurisdiction.) Friday, 13 Nissan * Avraham Avinu performed bris milah on himself, 1716 BCE. * Chizkiyahu Hamelech became sick 3 days before Sancheriv's downfall (Seder Olam 23) and Yeshayahu came to visit him and predicted his death, 546 BCE. Chizkiyahu davened facing the wall (Brachos 10b) and Hashem granted him 15 more years of life. * Haman wrote the decree of destruction against the Jews (Esther 3:12-15) in 356 B.C.E.; Mordechai donned sackcloth and Esther asked all the Jews to fast (According to Esther Rabba 8, beginning on this day; according to Rashi in Mesechta Megilla, beginning on the 14th of Nissan.) * British troops were halted in the first Battle of Gaza after 17,000 Turks blocked their advance during World War I, 1917. * The emergence of the Nazi Party, 1920. Shabbos, 14 Nissan * Naomi and Rus arrive in Beis Lechem, c. 1100 BCE. * Massada fell to the Romans, 73 CE * Birthday of R. Moshe b. Maimon, the Rambam, 1135 * 3,000 Jews of Prague were massacred, 1389. * Jews of Bavaria were granted equality, 1872. * The British Army with the help of the Jewish Brigade, captured Amman, 1918. * Warsaw ghetto uprising broke out, 1943. * Belgium Jewish underground aided by Christian railroad men derailed a train with Jewish deportees bound for the extermination camps. Several hundred Jews were saved, 1943. * Twenty-eight people are killed and 134 injured when a suicide bomber blows himself up at a Pesach seder in a Netanya hotel, 2002. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Please visit our web page http://www.kehilasmy.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SHIDDUCHIM for RUSSIAN BAALEY TESHUVAH Worldwide in Russian http://www.toldot.ru/shiduchim ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Buy books with 10% off from Artscroll and Artscroll will donate us 5% of your purchase: http://artscroll.com/linker/kehilasmy/home -*-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: http://felist.com/member/unsub?grp=lit.kmymembers&email=e@mail http://felist.com/ mailto:ask@felist.com