Today in Jewish History

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Adar 26 

 

Yahrtzeit of Sara Schneirer (1890-1935), pioneering founder of the "Bais Yaakov" girls schools. In Europe during the early 20th century, the lack of a formalized education system for girls was placing Jewish girls at risk of assimilation. Schneirer was a seamstress in Krakow, Poland, who started a school, to convey the beauty and wisdom of traditional Judaism, with emphasis on character development. She wrote: "People are such perfectionists when it comes to clothing their bodies. Are they so particular with the needs of their soul?" Schneirer trained other women to set up similar schools, and today Bais Yaakov is a worldwide network of hundreds of high schools. Sara Schneirer was not blessed with children of her own, yet it has been said that she influenced 20th century Jewry, more than any other individual.

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Adar 27 

 

In 1979, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Peace Agreement at the White House. Sadat had orchestrated the Egyptian attack on Israel in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but after suffering defeat he became resigned to Israel's existence. As part of the Camp David deal, Israel withdrew from the entire Sinai Peninsula. For forging this first peace agreement between Israel and an Arab state, Sadat and Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Much of the Arab world was outraged by Sadat's overtures toward Israel, and he was assassinated by a Muslim extremist in 1981.

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Adar 28 

 

In 163 BCE, two years after the miracle of Chanukah, Syrian King Antiochus V granted religious freedom and political autonomy to the Jews in Israel. This reversed an earlier decree of his father, King Antiochus IV, prohibiting Torah study, Shabbat observance and circumcision. This event was commemorated for many centuries as a Jewish holiday.

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Adar 29 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetzky (1891-1986), leader of 20th century American Jewry. He studied in Europe under the famed the Alter of Slobodka, and was a teenage friend of Rabbi Aaron Kotler. In 1937, Rabbi Kamenetzky moved to America and became dean of Yeshiva Torah V'Daas. He was revered for great kindness and compassion, and his commentaries on Bible and Talmud were published under the title, Emes L'Yaakov.

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Nisan 1 

 

On this date the inauguration period was completed for the Tabernacle, the portable sanctuary that accompanied the Jewish people in the desert following their Exodus from Egypt. On this day, Moses' brother Aaron began serving as the Kohen Gadol (High Priest). Tragically, however, two of Aaron's sons, Nadav and Avihu, died after entering the Holy of Holies unauthorized. The events are recorded in Leviticus chapters 9-10.

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Nisan 2 

 

In 1492, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain signed a decree expelling all Jews who refused to convert to Christianity. Tomas de Torquemada served as "Grand Inquisitor," charged with uncovering those who continued to practice Judaism in secret (called Conversos or Marranos -- "pigs"). In the ensuing Inquisition, an estimated 32,000 Jews were burned at the stake in elaborate public ceremonies, and another 200,000 were expelled from Spain. At the time, Jews held many prominent posts in Spain; Rabbi Don Yitzhak Abrabanel, who served as finance minister, reportedly offered Queen Isabella the astronomical sum of 600,000 crowns to revoke the edict. Abrabanel was unable to prevent the expulsion and was exiled along with his people.

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Nisan 3 

 

In 1944, the Nazis perpetrated the Children's Action in the Kovno Ghetto. That day and the next, German soldiers conducted house-to-house searches to round up all children under age 12 (and adults over 55) -- and sent them to their deaths at Fort IX. Eventually, the Germans blew up every house with grenades and dynamite, on suspicion that Jews might be in hiding in underground bunkers. They then poured gasoline over much of the former ghetto and incinerated it. Of the 37,000 Jews in Kovno before the Holocaust, less than 10 percent survived. One of the survivors was Rabbi Ephraim Oshri, who later published a stirring collection of rabbinical responsa, detailing his life-and-death decisions during the Holocaust. Also on this date, in 1937, American Jews held a massive anti-Nazi rally in New York City's Madison Square Garden.

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Nisan 4 

 

In 1948, a convoy of 78 Jewish medical personnel, en route to Hadassah Hospital in the Jewish enclave of Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, were killed in an Arab ambush. The ambush cut off the hospital from the rest of Israel and forced Hadassah to relocate, eventually opening a larger medical center in 1961 at Ein Kerem. The Mount Scopus facility would reopen after Jerusalem was reunited in 1967.

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Nisan 5 

 

In the Hebrew year 2488, Joshua sent scouts to survey Jericho in anticipation of the Jewish conquest. The mission was risky in the sense that 40 years earlier, Moses had sent scouts to Israel, only to have them recommend against entering the land. This time the mission was successful, and in the ensuing siege, Joshua's troops -- amidst shofar blasts -- encircled Jericho seven times until its walls came down. The events are recorded in the biblical Book of Joshua, chapters 2 and 6.

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Nisan 6 

 

This date marks the death of Marc Chagall (1887-1985), the greatest Jewish painter of modern times. Chagall's work depicted biblical and Judaic themes, as well as village life in eastern Europe. Chagall's style is dreamlike, relying heavily on symbolism such as fiddlers, candlesticks and cows. With the German occupation of France during World War II, and the deportation of Jews to concentration camps, Chagall fled from Paris to America. (He moved back to France after the war.) Chagall created a mural for the Knesset, and stained glass windows for the synagogue of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. Today, a Chagall original can sell for more than $10 million.

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Nisan 7 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir Schiff (1608-1644), commonly known as the Maharam Schiff. Born in Germany, he was a childhood prodigy who became rabbi of a town at age 17. At age 36 he was appointed to the prestigious position of rabbi of Prague, but he died shortly after arriving in Prague. His genius is preserved in a book of talmudic commentary that is studied widely today.

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Nisan 8 

 

On this date in 1915, the Zion Mule Corps, a Jewish militia, was formed. Zev Jabotinsky had proposed that Jewish volunteers fight to liberate Palestine from the Turks, but the British resisted the idea of Jewish soldiers on the Palestinian front. So instead Jabotinsky established the Zion Mule Corps, whose 650 members were commanded by the famed one-armed fighter, Joseph Trumpeldor. It was essentially the first organized Jewish fighting force since Roman times, and a precursor to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF).

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Nisan 9 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aryeh Levine (1885-1969), affectionately known as the Tzaddik of Jerusalem. Rabbi Levine exemplified the ideal of identifying with another person's pain. Once, when his wife's foot became infected, Rabbi Levine explained to the doctor: "Our foot is hurting us." During the pre-state era, Rabbi Levine served as volunteer chaplain for Jewish prisoners imprisoned by the British authorities. He brought them food, clothes and love -- walking to see them through blinding rain and searing heat. His selfless devotion made a great impression on the prisoners: Once when Rabbi Levine's daughter became dangerously ill, the prisoners made a deal with God -- donating a portion of their own lifespan so that Rabbi Levine's daughter should live.

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Nisan 10 

 

Yahrtzeit of Miriam, the biblical prophet, who died in the Hebrew year 2488. Miriam was the sister of Moses and Aaron. Miriam means "bitter sea," because she was born at a time when the Egyptians embittered the lives of the Jews. Despite the hardships, Miriam remained strong, and it was she who convinced her parents to remarry and have more children, in the face of Pharaoh's decrees. The result was the baby Moses. It was Miriam who watched over Moses as he was set afloat in the Nile River. Miriam is also noted in the Bible for leading a victory song after Pharaoh's army was drowned in the Red Sea. And the well of water, which miraculously accompanied the Jews during the 40 years of wandering in the desert, is attributed to her merit.

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Nisan 11 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Moses ben Nachman (1194-1270), known as Nachmanides, and by the acronym of his name, Ramban. Born in Spain, he was a physician by trade, but was best-known for authoring brilliant commentaries on the Bible, Talmud, and philosophy. In 1263, King James of Spain authorized a disputation (religious debate) between Nachmanides and a Jewish convert to Christianity, Pablo Christiani. Nachmanides reluctantly agreed to take part, only after being assured by the king that he would have full freedom of expression. Nachmanides won the debate, which earned the king's respect and a prize of 300 gold coins. But this incensed the Church: Nachmanides was charged with blasphemy and he was forced to flee Spain. So at age 72, Nachmanides moved to Jerusalem. He was struck by the desolation in the Holy City -- there were so few Jews that he could not even find a minyan to pray. Nachmanides immediately set about rebuilding the Jewish community. The Ramban Synagogue stands today in Jerusalem's Old City, a living testimony to his efforts.

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Nisan 12 

 

The Jewish King Chizkiyahu fell critically ill, as recorded in the second Book of Kings, chapter 20. The prophet Isaiah visited Chizkiyahu and informed him that the sickness was a punishment for Chizkiyahu's refusal to have children. Chizkiyahu explained that he'd prophetically seen that an evil person would descend from him, and that's why he hesitated to have children. Isaiah countered: "You have a mitzvah to have children -- let God worry about the rest." Chizkiyahu prayed for forgiveness and God granted him another 15 years of life. The episode illustrates a foundation of Jewish thought: It is up to us to make the appropriate effort, while the result are in God's hands.

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Nisan 13 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575), author of Shulchan Aruch, the standard Code of Jewish Law. Rabbi Karo was forced to flee Spain at the time of the expulsion, eventually settling in the holy city of Tzfat, Israel. His writings in Jewish law include Beit Yosef, an encyclopedic commentary on the Tur (written and refined over 30 years), and Kesef Mishneh, a commentary on Maimonides' Mishneh Torah. Yet Rabbi Karo is best known for his Shulchan Aruch, which covers the gamut of practical Jewish law; almost all Jewish legal discussions to this day stem from this code. Rabbi Karo also had kabbalistic leanings (he was a contemporary in Tzfat of the great Arizal) and he authored a book, Maggid Mesharim, in which he records his discussions with an angel. Rabbi Karo is affectionately referred to as the "Mechaber" ("the Author"), i.e. the rabbinic author par excellence.

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Nisan 14 

 

In the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 BCE), the Jews in Egypt offered the Passover lamb, to be eaten later that night at the first Passover Seder. This was an act of great courage, as sheep were regarded as idols in Egyptian society, and the Jews were technically still subject to Egyptian slavery. This was God's way of emphasizing the idea that Egyptian society was in a state of collapse. In times of the Holy Temple, the Passover Lamb would be offered by every Jewish family; many thousands of lambs would be processed and prepared in the Temple during the afternoon hours preceding the Passover holiday.

On this date in 1943, the Warsaw Ghetto uprising broke out. The Warsaw Ghetto was the largest of the Jewish ghettos established by Nazis during the Holocaust. It initially held 400,000 people (30% of the entire population of Warsaw), crammed into a tiny area. In its three years of existence, some 100,000 Jews died of disease and starvation, before the Nazis deported some 265,000 Jews to the Treblinka death camp. When the Nazis decided to liquidate the ghetto, Jewish resistance fighters took action, digging hundreds of bunkers under the houses, connected through the sewage system. The final battle started on the eve of Passover 1943. Some 750 Jewish partisans shot and threw grenades at German patrols from alleyways, sewers and buildings. The Nazis responded with tanks and flamethrowers, rounding up or killing any Jew they could capture. After several days without quelling the uprising, the Nazis ordered the ghetto burned to the ground. The uprising ended after one month; approximately 300 Germans and 7,000 Jews were killed in the fighting. The remaining 30,000 Jews were sent to Treblinka for extermination. Several dozen fighters escaped through the sewers, and a number of these survivors went on to found Kibbutz Lohamei HaGetaot, located near Acco in Israel.

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Nisan 15 

 

In the Hebrew year 2018 (1742 BCE), God made a covenant with Abraham, granting him and his descendents the Land of Israel, as recorded in Genesis chapter 15. Abraham lived at a time of widespread idolatry and corruption, and took upon himself the mission of spreading ethical monotheism to the world. In response, God set aside the Land of Israel as a laboratory where Abraham's descendants could create a model society, "a light unto the nations." Unlike other nations who claim land because their army was able to conquer it from someone else, Israel's claim to the land is based on Divine authority. Appropriately, it was also on this date that the angels informed Abraham that a son (Isaac) would be born as his successor (Genesis 18:10).

On Nisan 15 in the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 BCE), the plague of the firstborn struck Egypt, and Pharaoh finally acceded to Moses' request to "Let my people go." That night, the Jews held the first Passover Seder, eating matzah, bitter herbs, and the Passover lamb. The next morning, 3 million Jews left in the Exodus from Egypt, in what is known as the "birth" of the Jewish nation. This event is commemorated each year on Passover, when families gather to eat matzah, recite the Haggadah, and thank God for sustaining our people till this day.

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Nisan 16 

 

In 355 BCE, Haman, the villain of the Purim story, was hanged (Esther 7:10). Haman promulgated a decree to annihilate the entire Jewish people, but when the plot was foiled by Queen Esther, Haman and his 10 sons were hanged from the gallows that Haman had originally built to hang Mordechai. As further irony, King Achashverosh appointed Mordechai to replace Haman as prime minister of the kingdom. Haman was descended from Amalek, the biblical nation that is the antithesis of the Jewish message of ethics and morality. On Purim, the Book of Esther is read publicly, and much noise is raised at every mention of Haman's name, symbolically stamping out his memory.

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Nisan 17 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Shlomo Wolbe (1916-2005), the beloved master of ethical (Mussar) teachings in Jerusalem. Rabbi Wolbe was educated in Germany and Switzerland, later spending several years in Mir, where he became a close disciple of Rabbi Yerucham Levovitz and Rabbi Chatzkal Levenstein. Rabbi Wolbe is best known for his discourses on Jewish ethics, published in a two-volume work, Alei Shur. Rabbi Wolbe stressed the importance of self-scrutiny and self-knowledge as a way to achieve one's maximum potential. He also stressed the attribute of self-control -- thinking before speaking, eating in moderation, and concentrating for long periods without distraction.

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Nisan 18 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveichik (1903-1993), author of The Lonely Man of Faith, a classic work synthesizing Kantian existentialism and Jewish theology. Born in Poland, he earned a Ph.D. from the University of Berlin, and then settled in Boston in 1932. He became Rosh HaYeshiva of Yeshiva University, and over the course of five decades ordained some 2,000 rabbis. Rabbi Soloveichik descended from the famous Soloveichik Lithuanian rabbinic dynasty -- grandson of Rabbi Chaim Soloveichik, great-grandson of Rabbi Yoshe Ber Soloveichik (the Beis HaLevi), and great-great-grandson of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Yehuda Berlin (the Netziv).

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Nisan 19 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Menacham Zemba (1883-1943), spiritual leader of the Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising against the Nazis. Though Rabbi Zemba could have been rescued, he elected to remain in the ghetto to help give other Jews spiritual and emotional support. Rabbi Zemba was educated in the Ger chassidic method and gained renown as a great talmudic scholar who wrote more than 10,000 pages of Torah novella. (These manuscripts were torched in the Warsaw Ghetto.) He was offered the position of Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, but declined, saying that he wanted to go to Jerusalem only as a "simple Jew." In the darkest days of the ghetto, he strove to bring a note of optimism by setting up secret places for Torah study -- in cellars, attics and bomb shelters. In the ghetto, he wrote an entire work on the laws pertaining to the sanctification of God's Name (Kiddush Hashem). During the uprising, while trying to escape a burning building, Rabbi Zemba was gunned down, while holding his 5-year-old grandson. His grave was later re-interred to Jerusalem.

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Nisan 20 

 

Yahrtzeit of Rav Hai Gaon (969-1038), the last of the Babylonian Talmudic sages called the "Geonim." Rav Hai Gaon authored a commentary on the Talmud as well as a collection of responsa. He was the head of the yeshiva at Pumbedita, Babylonia, having succeeded his father, Rav Sherira Gaon. The death of Rav Hai Gaon marked the end of Babylon's 800-year reign as the center of Jewish life; the focus was then split between North Africa and Europe, giving rise to the customs of Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewry.

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Nisan 21 

 

In the Hebrew year 2448 (1312 BCE), seven days after the Exodus from Egypt, the Red Sea miraculously split and the Jewish people walked through on dry land. The sea then closed back, drowning Pharaoh and his troops. Till today, the final days of Passover are a special holiday, commemorating the splitting of the sea.