Today’s Yahrtzeits & History – 21-22 Tishrei

Yahrtzeits – 21 Tishrei

Rav Yaakov Yosef HaKohen of Polnayah, author of Toldos Yaakov Yosef (1710-1784). He was the foremost disciple of the Baal Shem Tov, and one of the earliest champions of chassidus. He was a descendant of Rav Shimshon of Ostropole, and Rav Yomtov Lipman Heller, the Tosefos Yomtov. While still a young man, Rav Yaakov Yosef was appointed as the rav of Sharigrod in Padalia, a former province of Poland, and it is there that he became an ardent disciple of the Baal Shem Tov. His first sefer, Toldos Yaakov Yosef, is the first Chassidic sefer ever published, and is a major source of the teachings of the Baal Shem Tov, repeating the phrase, “I have heard from my teacher,” 249 times, and quoting him about another 40 times. In addition to Toldos Yaakov Yosef, he authored Ben Poras Yosef, Tzofnas Paane’ach, and Kesones Passim.

Rav Menachem Mendel of Premishlan (1777). A disciple of the Baal Shem Tov as well as of the Maggid of Mezritch. He settled in Eretz Yisrael in 1768. The actual year of his death is unknown. However, it was probably before 1777, since a large contingency of Chassidim that arrived that year apparently found him no longer living. His yahrtzeits date, however, is well-established.

Rav Dovid Moshe Friedman, the first Chortkover Rebbe, the 5th son of Rav Yisrael of Ruzhin (1828-1903). He moved to Chortkov in 1865 to become Rav, a position he kept for over 40 years. He is the author of Divrei Dovid. Upon his death in 1904, his son Reb Yisrael succeeded him.

Rav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, the Cheshev Sofer (1961)

Rav Yaakov Aryeh Twersky, the Trisker Rebbe (1979)

Yahrtzeits – 22 Tishrei

Rav Aharon Halevi Hurvitz of Stroshel, primary student of the Alter Rebbe of Lubavitch, author of Avodas Halevi and Shaar Hayichud (1828)

Rav Shraga Feivel of Gritza (1848)

Rav Moshe Shmuel Glasner (1857-1924). Rav Moshe, a great-grandson of the Chasam Sofer, was born in Pressburg and later moved with his family to Klausenberg, where his father served as Rav. Rav Moshe succeeded his father in that post in 1878 and filled it until 1923, when he settled in Yerushalayim. Rav Moshe’s best known work is Dor Revi’i on Meseches Chullin. His other works include responsa and a Torah commentary.

Rav Dovid Shapiro of Sonik-Dinov (1933).

Rav Moshe Yaakov Hakohen Revikov, tzadik nistar, the “sandlar (shoemaker) of Tel Aviv” (1966)

Nadvorna Rebbe of Petach Tikva (2002)

Today in History – 21 Tishrei

· Shlomo Hamelech finishes the dedication ceremonies of the Bais Hamikdosh, 932 B.C.E.
· Haggai delivers prophesy to encourage Zerubavel and Yehoshua Kohen Gadol to build the Second Bais Hamikdosh, 351 B.C.E.
· 3,400 Jews of Galicia executed by Nazis, 1941.
· 10 major Nazis were hanged after Nuremberg trials, 1946. Among them was Ernst Kaltenbrunner, an S.S. leader who was a friend of Adolf Eichmann and collaborated in the development of the death camps. As the end of World War II approached, he insisted on continuing the annihilation of the Jews until the last possible moment.
· Arab oil producing states announce 10 percent reduction in oil production and impose total embargo on U.S. and Netherlands, 1973.
· Bar Giora, a Palestinian Jewish self-defense organization was formed to protect the settlements from raiders, 1907. Two years later it was reorganized into Hashomer (the watchman) and finally became the Hagana, Israel’s pre-State defense forces.

Today in History – 22 Tishrei

· Jews of Rome prohibited by Urban VIII (1623-44) to erect matzeivos, 1625.
· Death of Dr. Marcus Jastrow (1829-1904). Born in Rogasen, Posen, Marcus Jastrow was thirty-seven-years-old when he was called to Philadelphia’s Congregation Rodeph Shalom, where he served as senior rabbi until his retirement in 1892. “A Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Midrashic Literature” evolved into, and was published as, a two-volume work in 1903.

{Anshe.org/Matzav.com Newscenter}