Today’s Yahrtzeits and History – 27 Nissan

Rav Asher Margulies, a Yerushalmi mekubal, author of Kumi V’Roni

Rav Yehuda Kahana, the Kuntres Hasefeikos (1819)

Rav Levi Yitzchak (ben Moshe) Greenwald, the Tzelemer Rav (1980). He arrived in America in 1939, just before the onset of WW2, after his Beis Medrash was destroyed on Kristellnacht, and he re-established his Beis Medrash in Williamsburg. He also established one of the first Chasidishe yeshivos in America, Arugas Habosem, named after his father, the Chuster Rav, who was known as the Arugas Habosem.

Rav Shalom Moshe (Shmuel Dovid) Ungar, a descendent of the Abarbanel (who was himself a descendent of Dovid Hamelech). (1916-2003) Born in Krumpach, Slovakia. In 1941, he married the daughter of Rav Simcha Greenberg, an ardent Munkatcher chasid. Supported by his father-in-law, Rav Shalom Moshe learned bechavrusa with his brother-in-law, Rav Meir Greenberg, later to become the Kezmarker Rav of New York. Rav Shalom Moshe worked with another brother-in-law, Rav Michoel Ber Weissmandl, in rescue operations during the War. Deportations from Nitra began in Elul of 1944. The Nitra yeshiva (of 200 bachurim) was the last yeshiva in Europe to remain open and was liquidated on the 17th of Elul. Hiding in the forest for the remainder of the War, Rav Shalom Moshe lost his father, his wife, and his three children. In 1947, he was officially named Rav of Nitra. In 1948, the Nitra kehilla was established in Mount Krisco, Westchester County, NY.

Rav Avigdor Miller (1908-2001). Born in Baltimore, Rav Avigdor attended public school like all the other Jewish boys from religious homes, and he studied Torah with his grandfather and other local rabbonim. At the age of 14, he left to study at Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchak Elchonon, which at the time was the only Jewish high school offering high-level Jewish studies in the U.S. It was there that he met future leaders of US Jewery, such as Rav Nosson Wachtfogel, Rav Yehuda Davis and Rav Mordechai Gifter. In 1932, he followed Rav Aizik Sher to Slobodka, where he spent six years learning. In 1935 he married his life partner for 64 years, Ethel Lessin, the daughter of Rav Yaakov Moshe Lessin, Rav of Neishtat and later the mashgiach ruchani of Yeshivas Rabbenu Yitzchok Elchonon in New York.. The first rabbinical position which Rav Avigdor accepted was in Chelsea, Massachusetts. In 1945, Rav Miller was offered a job as mashgiach of Chaim Berlin by Rav Hutner, a position he kept for 19 years. He was then invited by the Young Israel of Rugby to be their unofficial rov. The shul, located at East 49 street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn, a position which became official in 1946-47. He began writing his first book, Rejoice O Youth, in 1963. In 1964, when Yeshivas Chaim Berlin moved to Far Rockaway, Rav Miller left Chaim Berlin devoted himself full time to his congregation and his writing. He finished writing the book in 1965.

Rav Uri Shraga Hakohen Hellman (2008). Menahel Ruchani of Bais Yaakov Boro Park for 62 years.

Today in History – 27 Nissan

·       Jewish residents of Speyer, Germany, were expelled, 1435.

{Anshe.org/Matzav.com Newscenter}