Today’s Yahrtzeits & History – 17-18 Cheshvan

Rav Menachem Mendel Hager of Kosov (1768-1825), founder of the Vizhnitz and Kosov dynasties and author of Ahavas Shalom. The son of Rav Yaakov Koppel Chassid, Rav Menachem Mendel was a student of Rav Moshe Leib of Sassov, Rav Tzvi Hirsch of Nadvorna, and Rav Ze’ev Wolfe of Tcharne-Ostra. His grandson was Rav Menachem Mendel of Vizhnitz.

Rav Reuven Katz, rav of Petach Tikva and author of Degel Reuven. His son, Rav Leizer Katz, was a rav in Passaic, New Jersey, for many years until his petira in 2001.

Rav Meshulam Zushe Twersky, the Chernobyler Rebbe of Bnei Brak (1917-1987). An eighth generation direct descendent of the Rav Menachem Nachum of Chernobyl, Rav Meshulam Zushe was born in Mozyr, Belarus. He lived and learned with his maternal grandfather, the Admor of Tchetchov, Rav Yeshaya Halberstam, the youngest son of the Divrei Chaim. In 1959, he moved his court to Bnai Brak. He was succeeded by his son, Rav Menachem Nachum.

Rav Tzvi Pruzansky (2005). He helped found the Toronto Kollel, and established, along with his friend, Rav Dovid Hersh Mayer zt”l, Yeshivas Beis Binyamin in Stamford, which was named after Rav Tzvi’s father and funded by Rav Tzvi’s brothers, ybl”c, Reb Yosef and Reb Moshe

Today in History – 17 Cheshvan

· Chmielnicki’s forces massacred 12,000 Jews, 1648.
· Josef Stalin became the undisputed ruler of the Soviet Union as Leon Trotsky was expelled from the Communist Party, 1927.
· A Hezbullah terror group truck-bombed a military barracks in Beirut, murdering 241 United States Marines, and later killing 58 French soldiers in a separate attack, 1983. The notorious Imad Mugniyah, the group’s most dangerous and barbaric operative orchestrated these operations.

Yahrtzeits – 18 Cheshvan

Rav Yisrael Dov Ber Odesser, leader of Breslaver Chassidim (1888-1994). He is best known for revealing and teaching the Na Nach Nachma mantra. born in Tiverya to a family which for generations were Karliner Chassidim. Later a follower of Breslav, his revelation of the Na Nach Nachma mantra was rejected by mainstream Breslovers for many decades. In 1980, however, a group of baalei teshuva discovered him in an old-age home in Yerushalayimm and were attracted to his teachings.

Rav Yishayah Bardaky (1862). R’ Bardaky was born in Pinsk and taught Torah there, but he decided to settle in Eretz Yisrael after his first wife died. When the ship carrying R’ Bardaky, his son, Shmuel Akiva, and his daughter, neared the port of Akko, it was wrecked, and all the passengers were thrown into the sea. R’ Bardaky, however, was a powerful swimmer, and, with his two children on his back, he swam ashore. Upon reaching Yerushalayim, R’ Bardaky was appointed head of the Ashkenazic community. He also was appointed vice-consul of the Austrian Empire.

Rav Yaakov Friedman of Bohush-Husyatin (1956)

Rav Raphael Baruch Toledano of Morocco, author of Sephardic Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (1970)

Rav Nachum Pertzovitz, Rosh Yeshivas Mir Yerushalayim (1986). At the age of 9, he attended Ramailles Yeshiva in Vilna, and became close to its rosh yeshiva, Rav Shlomo Heiman.

Rav Nechemiah Kibel (1952-2005). Born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Holocaust survivors, R’ Kibel entered the newly founded Yeshiva of the South, under Rav Meir Belsky, who was one of the first talmidim of Rav Yitzchak Hutner. He served as a magid shiur at the yeshiva in Memphis, then founded and taught at RITSS (Regional Institute for Torah and Secular Studies), Cincinnati’s Bais Yaakov in 1989. A few later, he played a major role in the founding of Cincinnati’s Community Kollel.

Today in History – 18 Cheshvan

· Jews of Barbados forbidden to engage in retail trade, 1668.
· Birth of Rav Yechzkel Landau of Prague (1713-1776), Noda BeYehuda
· Hermann Goering announced plans for Madagascar as a home for European Jewry, 1938.
· 16,000 Jews of Pinsk murdered by the Nazis, 1942.
· Rabbi Meir Kahane assassinated November 5, on a visit to New York City, 1990.

{Yahrtzeit licensed to Matzav.com by Manny Saltiel and Anshe.org/Matzav.com Newscenter}