Yahrtzeits, 27 Kislev
Rav Tzvi Hersh Rosanish, author of Tesha Shitos (1804). He was the son of Rav Yissachar Dovrish, Av Beis Din of Podhajce, and grandson of Rav Yaakov Yehoshua of Krakow and Lvov, author of the Pnei Yehoshua.
Rav Chaim (Tirar) Tchernovitz (1760-1816), author of Be’er Mayim Chaim. Born near Butchatch, Galicia (now Poland), he studied under Rav Tzvi Hersh of Botchatch and became a chassid of Rav Yechiel Michel of Zlotchov, Rav Shmelke of Nikolsburg and the Maggid of Mezritch. He became Rav in Tchernovitch in the Bukovina province of Romania, in 1789, and he remained there for 23 years. In 1812, war broke out, and Bukovina was annexed by Austria. The new government issues harsh anti-semitic decrees, resulting in Rav Chaim’s departure, first to Botchan, then to Eretz Yisrael.. He settled in Tzefas, where he lived privately for the last 5 years of his life. He is buried in Tzefas.
Rav Yechiel Mechel of Galina (1866). Son-in-law of Rebbe Meir of Premishlan
Rav Shaul Margulis of Lublin (1887)
Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kohn, the Toldos Aharon rebbe (1914-1996). Born to Shaindel Bracha of Tzefas and named for his great-granfather, Rav Yitzchak Avraham Heller of Tzefas, Rav Avraham Yitzchak and his family were forced to leaver Eretz Yisrael in 1918, moving to Honiad in the Zibenbergen region of Romania. There he learned in town’s yeshiva, headed by Rav Avraham Freund (father of Rav Moshe Aryeh Freund, later to head the Badatz in Yerushalayim). He eventually moved to the yeshiva of Krulle, headed by Rav Yoel Teitelbaaum, and he moved with the yeshiva to Satmar. He became very close to Rav Aharon (Arele) Roth, founder of Shomrei Emunim of Meah Shearim, and later married his daughter. When his mentor was nifter in 1947, Rav Avraham Yitzchak became his successor. He authored Divrei Emunah. Following his petira, two of his sons became Rebbes. The younger son, Rav Duvid Kahn of Monsey, a disciple of the Satmar Rebbe, became the Toldos Aharon Rebbe. The eldest son, Rav Shmuel Yaakov Kahn, a disciple of the Viznitzer Rebbe, became a Rebbe of a group that was entitled Toldos Avraham Yitzchak named after his father, whose main Beis Medrash is also in Meah Shearim, one block away from the Toldos Aharon building. Another son is a Rosh Yeshiva in Kiryas Yoel, New York. Rav Avraham Yitzchak was said to have instructed his followers to learn the works of Rav Aharon HaLevi of Staroselye (Strashelye), which include “Shaarei HaYichud VeHaEmunah,” “Shaarei Avoda,” and “Avodas HaLevi.”
Rav Baruch Yehoshua Yerachmiel Rabinowitz, Rebbe of Munkatch and Chief rabbi of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Cholon, Israel (1914-1997)
Today in History – 27 Kislev
· Jews were expelled from Breslau, Silesia, 1738.
· Catherine II created the Pale of Settlement, 1791. Jews were squeezed out of the major cities and ports into the area known as White Russia.
Yahrtzeits – 28 Kislev
Rav Avraham Ravigo (1714). Born in Modena, Italy, he became highly esteemed as both a supporter of Torah and as a great Torah scholar himself. He and a party of 25 set sail from Livorno, Italy, for Eretz Yisrael in 1702. When they arrived in Yerushalayim, his wife, daughter, and closest disciple died in a plague. He opened a yeshiva; among the ten Rabbanim who learned there was the son-in-law of Rav Yehudah HaChasid. After the petirah of Rav Rav Moshe ben Chaviv, Rav Avraham was appointed Rishon Letzion. However, he passed away during one of his trips abroad trying to raise funds. His talmid, Rav Mordechai ben Yehudah Leib Ashkenazi, wrote Eshel Avraham on the Zohar and other Kabalistic teachings that he received from Rav Avraham.
Rav Avraham Madjar (1834). Av Beis Din in Yerushalayim author of Divrei Shalom.
Rav Baruch Dovid Twersky of Klintowitz, author of Vayevarech Dovid (1925)
Rav Ezra Hamway, Ra’avad of Aram Tzova in Syria (1945)
Rav Eliyahu Meir Bloch (1894-1955). Born on Simchas Torah in the small Lithuanian city of Telshe to Rav Yosef Leib, Rav and Rosh Yeshiva of Telshe, having assumed the helm of the yeshiva from his father-in-law, Rav Eliezer Gordon, the founder of the Yeshiva. After his marriage, he spent 12 years as a Rosh Yeshiva at Telshe. When it became clear that the Yeshiva could not continue under the Soviets, the administration sent Reb Elya Meir and his brother-in-law, the late Rosh Yeshiva Reb Chaim Mordechai Katz on a mission to the United States, to raise funds to move the Yeshiva to either America or Eretz Yisrael. When they arrived, they learned of the Nazi invasion. They decided to restart the Yeshiva in Cleveland.
Rav Chaim Mordechai Wainkrantz (1920-2004). Born in Popov, Poland, he studied at the Novardok branch in Polutsk, then traveled to Bialystok to learn at the Bais Yosef Yeshiva under Rav Avraham Yoffen. During WW2, he was exiled to Siberia. In 1947, he moved to America, married, and learned in Kollel for another 10 years under Rav Yoffen. He then founded a yeshiva ketana. He was also maggid shiur at Congregation Shomrei Emunah. In his later years, he became Rosh Yeshiva at Bais Yosef.
{Yahrtzeits licensed to Manny Saltiel and Anshe.org/Matzav.com Newscenter}
