Today in Jewish History

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7 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Meir Shapiro of Lublin (1887-1933), the founder and driving force behind the Daf Yomi, a program of daily Talmud study. Today, tens of thousands of Jews study the "daily daf," and every seven-and-a-half years a "siyum" (completion) of the Talmud is held with large celebrations in Madison Square Garden and other locations worldwide. Rabbi Shapiro represented the Jews in the Polish Senate, and he built the grand Chachmei Lublin Yeshiva in Poland, a building which remains standing till today. Sadly, Rabbi Shapiro passed away at the young age of 46. His remains were later re-interred to a cemetery in Jerusalem.

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8 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbeinu Yona of Gerona (1180-1263). Rabbeinu Yona was an outspoken critic of Maimonides' writings, particularly "Guide for the Perplexed." The governmental authorities later used this as a pretext to burn piles of Maimonides' books and copies of the Talmud. Rabbeinu Yona took this tragedy as a sign of heavenly rebuke against him; as a way to repair the damage, he undertook to write his famous work Shaarei Teshuva (Gates of Repentance), a Jewish system of introspection and self-improvement.

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9 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Asher ben Yechiel (1250-1327), one of the greatest Talmudic commentators of all time. He is popularly known as the "Rosh," an acronym of his name. He lived at the time of the medieval Crusades, and in fear of being captured, fled from Germany to Spain. The classic "Shulchan Aruch" (Code of Jewish Law) gives great weight to the Rosh's opinions. He was the father of eight sons, one of whom wrote a groundbreaking work of Jewish law, "The Tur."

 

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10 Cheshvan

 

On this date in 2105 BCE (1656 from Creation), Noah and family entered the Ark. It wasn't until seven days later, however, that the intense rains began for 40 days and 40 nights. The delay was to allow a proper mourning period for Methuselah, the righteous grandfather of Noah who had just died at the age of 969 years, history's oldest human being. Noah and his family (and the animals) would remain on the Ark for over a year, until the flood waters had sufficiently subsided.

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11 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of the biblical Rachel, who died while giving birth to Benjamin in 1553 BCE (2208 from Creation). Rachel had previously given birth to Joseph, following years of being childless. Jacob buried her by the roadside in Bethlehem, where tradition says that centuries later she wept and prayed for the Jews as they were taken into exile. Today, Rachel's Tomb serves as a place of pilgrimage and prayer, and is regarded as Judaism third-holiest site.

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12 Cheshvan

 

In 1975, the United Nations passed a resolution declaring that "Zionism is racism." Israel's Ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, noted the irony of the vote coming (on the English calendar) exactly 37 years after Kristallnacht. The UN Secretary General at the time was Kurt Waldheim, later accused of war crimes while serving as a Nazi officer. The "Zionism is racism" canard is easily refuted by Israel's open and democratic character -- with Arabs serving in parliament, as well as Israelis of all skin colors. Upon the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, William Safire noted: "For the first time in history, thousands of black people are being brought to a country -- not in chains but in dignity, not as slaves but as citizens." The UN General Assembly voted to repeal the resolution in 1991.

Cheshvan 12 is also the yahrtzeit of Yitzhak Rabin, prime minister of Israel, who was assassinated in 1995 after attending a rally promoting the Oslo peace process. Rabin served as Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces, and under his command the IDF achieved an overwhelming victory in the Six Day War. As prime minister, he played a leading role in the signing of the Oslo Accords, which created the Palestinian Authority. Rabin was awarded the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Shimon Peres and Yassir Arafat.

 

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13 Cheshvan

 

In 1938, Hank Greenberg of the Detroit Tigers narrowly missed breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home-run record of 60 home runs. Greenberg hit his 58th homer with two weeks remaining in the season, but several pitchers then intentionally walked him rather than give a Jewish man a chance to break Babe Ruth's record. (He led the league that year with 119 walks.) Though Greenberg disputes this motive, he did acknowledge being subject to the most vicious ethnic taunting seen in the sport since the days of Jackie Robinson in 1947. Greenberg testified: "During my first year in the big leagues, the remarks from the stands and the opposing bench about my Jewish faith made life for me a living hell." Greenberg grew up in an observant Jewish household, and did not play on Yom Kippur. In 1954, he became the first Jewish player to be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

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14 Cheshvan

 

In 1917, the British government gave final approval for the Balfour Declaration, calling for the establishment of a Jewish homeland in historic Israel. The declaration took the form of a letter from Arthur Balfour, British Foreign Secretary, to Lord Rothschild, who had once been a member of the British Parliament. In 1922, the United States Congress formally endorsed the Balfour Declaration. In the ensuing decades, the British would slowly whittle away at their commitment -- first lopping off 80 percent of the land east of the Jordan River to create the Kingdom of Transjordan (now Jordan), and then restricting Jewish immigration and rights to purchase land to the west of the Jordan River. The volatility of the situation ultimately forced the British to withdraw from the region in 1948.

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15 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Matityahu, the leader of the Maccabees in their fight against the Syrian-Greeks, as recorded in the Chanukah story. Matityahu bravely resisted the attempts to spread secular-Hellenist culture throughout the Land of Israel, and with his five sons, started an uprising. The revolt continued after Matityahu's death in 139 BCE, and successfully concluded with the rededication of the Holy Temple and the miracle of the oil that burned for eight days.

Cheshvan 15 is also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Avraham Yeshaya Karelitz (1878-1953), known by the appellation "Chazon Ish." A brilliant scholar, he moved from Vilna to Israel in 1933, where he was regarded as the worldwide authority on all matters relating to Jewish law and life.

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16 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Elazar M. Shach (1900-2001), dean of the famed Ponevitch Yeshiva in Bnei Brak. People came from far and wide to hear his talmudic discourses and spiritual guidance; he also served as advisor of the Degel HaTorah political party. Over 100,000 people attended his funeral.

 

 

 

 

 

Cheshvan 16 is also the night of Kristallnacht ("Night of the Broken Glass") in 1938, when Nazis destroyed almost all of the 1,600 synagogues in Germany, as well as thousands of Jewish businesses and homes. Similar violence was carried out in Austria. Kristallnacht ushered in a new phase of anti-Semitic decrees, and was for many the first major warning sign of what would become the Holocaust.

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17 Cheshvan

 

On this date in 1919, a New York Times headline declared "Einstein Theory Triumphs." Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a German-born physicist whose theory of relativity revolutionized the scientific approach to time, space, matter, energy and gravity. Einstein claimed that his defining moment came at age five when his father showed him a compass, and young Albert was intrigued by the mysterious, invisible force acting upon it. Einstein succeeded in explaining principles of cosmology and physics that had baffled scientists for decades. From 1914 to 1933, he conducted physics research in Berlin, and it was during this time that he made his most groundbreaking discoveries and was awarded a Nobel Prize. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Einstein renounced his German citizenship and fled to the United States, where he accepted a position in Princeton, New Jersey. In 1939, Einstein sent a letter to President Roosevelt urging the study of nuclear fission for military purposes, fearing that the Nazis would be first to develop atomic weapons. After the war, however, Einstein lobbied for nuclear disarmament, saying that: "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones." Einstein was instrumental in founding Brandeis University and Hebrew University in Jerusalem, to which Einstein bequeathed his estate. In 1952 he turned down an offer to become President of the State of Israel. Einstein has been called one of the most influential figures in history, and Time magazine named him "Person of the Century."

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18 Cheshvan

 

In 1938, Nazi leader Hermann Goering announced that in order to "solve the problem of the Jews," the African island of Madagascar was being considered as a giant ghetto for 4 million European Jews. The plan was seriously considered by Hitler in May 1940, in his discussions with Mussolini and Nazi officials. Hitler's idea was that the Jews would play the role of hostages, as a way to prevent the United States from entering the war. The Madagascar Plan was cancelled due to a British blockade. One year later, it was decided that the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" would mean extermination.

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19 Cheshvan 

 

In 1785, the earliest known Yiddish letter from America was sent from Philadelphia to London. Yiddish is a colloquial mixture of German and Hebrew, and came to be the spoken language of much of European Jewry. Following the influx of Jewish immigrants to America, Yiddish was a language increasingly heard on the streets of New York, and in 1925 New York alone had seven daily newspapers printed in Yiddish. According to the U.S. census of 1940, 1.75 million Jews spoke Yiddish at home. Today, Yiddish words like chutzpah, klutz, schmaltz and schlep have crept into mainstream English usage.

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20 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Hannah Szenes (1921-1944), a young Israeli woman who volunteered to parachute behind Nazi lines on behalf of the British Army. She spent three months in Yugoslavia working with partisan resistance fighters, but was caught when she attempted to cross the border into Hungary. She was tortured for several months, but refused to divulge any information. Szenes became a symbol of idealism and self-sacrifice, an image strengthened by the stirring set of poems she left behind. She was executed by firing squad in Budapest, and her remains were later brought to Israel.

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21 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi David ibn Abi Zimra (1480-1573), known by the acronym of his name, Radbaz. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Egypt and later moved to Israel. He taught Jewish mysticism to the Arizal (Isaac Luria) who went on to become the founder of modern Kabbalah. The Radbaz issued many important decisions in Jewish law, including the assertion that the Ethiopian community was certainly Jewish -- a decision that gained practical application in the 20th century with the airlift of Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

 

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22 Cheshvan

 

The deportation of Budapest Jews was resumed on this date in 1944. During this time, 20,000 Budapest Jews were shot by the banks of the Danube by Hungarian forces. Another 70,000 Jews were forced on a death march to Austria, of which the majority were either shot or died of starvation and exposure. Raoul Wallenberg was involved in saving some of Hungary's Jews. Out of 750,000 Jews that lived in Hungary before the war, only 30 percent survived.

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23 Cheshvan

 

Eleven months following the victory of the Maccabees, when the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was purified and rededicated, the stones of the Temple's altar which had been defiled by the Greeks were removed and placed in a storage chamber on the Temple Mount. In Talmudic times, this day was celebrated as a holiday. (source: Megilat Ta'anit)

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24 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934). A member of the Rothschild banking dynasty, he preferred to pursue artistic interests, acquiring an important collection of drawings and engravings that he bequeathed to the Louvre. In 1882, Rothschild became a leading proponent of the Zionist movement, buying land throughout Israel and subsidizing Jewish settlements. He financed the first new Jewish town, Rishon Letzion ("the first of Zion"), as well as Zichron Yaakov, Caesarea and some 30 other settlements. He also established Israel's wine industry when he helped Russian Jews flee pogroms in the 1880s and plant vineyards in Israel. In 1954, Rothschild's remains were re-interred to Israel. To honor his memory, his son paid for the construction of the Knesset building in Jerusalem.

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25 Cheshvan

 

In 109 BCE, the Hasmoneans (led by John Hyrcanus, a nephew of Judah the Maccabee) conquered Samaria, the capital city of the Samarian sect. This conquest was significant because it ended some 800 years of Samarian influence in Israel. The Samarians were a schismatic movement, comprised largely of non-Jews who practiced some Jewish traditions. The conquest may have further polarized the Jews into two distinct parties: 1) the Pharisees ("separated ones") because they sought to retain the separation of Jewish culture from the Greek influences of Hellenization, and 2) the Sadducees, Jews who embraced Greek culture.

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26 Cheshvan

 

In 1938, Father Coughlin broadcast an anti-Semitic diatribe on American radio. Coughlin was a Roman Catholic priest from Michigan, and one of history's first evangelists to preach via the mass media. At its peak in the early 1930s, his radio show had a listening audience estimated at one-third of the nation. Yet Coughlin's broadcasts became increasingly anti-Semitic, expressing sympathy for Hitler and promoting The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It was only a few weeks after Kristallnacht, when synagogues across Germany were burned, that Coughlin caused a scandal by broadcasting a diatribe in which he blamed the Jewish victims.

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27 Cheshvan

 

In 2104 BCE (1657 from Creation), as the Flood waters finally subsided, Noah, his family and the animals left the Ark. On this day, God commanded them to repopulate and resettle the earth.

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28 Cheshvan

 

On this date in 1949, the Jewish population of Israel reached one million. Over the years, waves of aliyah from Arab countries, Russia and Ethiopia – combined with higher-than-average birthrates – has pushed the Jewish population of Israel to over 6 million. It is estimated that an additional one million Israelis live outside the country.

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29 Cheshvan

 

Yahrtzeit of Israel Bak (1797-1874), a pioneer of book printing in modern Israel. In the 16th century, six books had been printed in the northern town of Tzfat. It would be 245 years until another Hebrew book was published in the Holy Land, when Bak moved from the Ukraine to Israel. He established a Hebrew press in Tzfat and published a Siddur and the Book of Leviticus with commentaries. An earthquake destroyed his print shop in 1837, and a Druze revolt the following year destroyed his press once again. Bak then moved to Jerusalem in 1841 where he established the first Hebrew press ever in the holy city.

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1 Kislev

 

In 1757, volumes of the Talmud were burned in Kamenetz-Podolsk, Russia. The instigators were followers of Jacob Frank, a Jewish merchant who claimed to be the messiah and successor of the false messiah, Shabbatai Tzvi. Frank's followers broke away from Judaism and created a new religion known as the Frankists, a quasi-Jewish, quasi-Christian religion. The local bishop held a debate between the rabbis and the Frankists; when the bishop decided that the rabbis lost the debate, he ordered them to pay a fine and to burn all copies of the Talmud in the district.

In 2008, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg were among 200 people killed when terrorists attacked Mumbai, India. The Holtzbergs selflessly ran the Chabad house, a beacon of hope and kindness in a city filled with poverty and despair.

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2 Kislev

 

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aharon Kotler (1892-1962), a prominent Torah sage in Lithuania, and later in America. Rabbi Kotler studied under the famed Alter of Slabodka, and was the son-in-law of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer. Rabbi Kotler led various efforts to rescue Jews from the Holocaust; he was instrumental in persuading Henry Morgenthau, U.S. Treasury Secretary, to risk his political career in order to help save Jews. In 1943, Rabbi Kotler founded a yeshiva in Lakewood, New Jersey, which has since grown into the largest institution of its kind in America with over 5,000 advanced-level students.