Rav Elazar (ben Arye Leib) Rokeach (1758-1837). Born in Stanislow, Poland, he was a grandson of the Baal Ateres Poz of Lask. When he was 13, he celebrated three landmarks: his bar mitzvah, his
engagement and his completion of Shas. At the age of twenty, he became Rav in Piltz, Poland. During this period, he wrote his sefer Sheilos Uteshuvos Shemen Rokeach in which he printed his correspondence with the Noda Beyehuda. In 1800, he accepted rabbonus in Tritch. In 1812, he took over the rabbinate of Ransburg, and it was there that he waged his famous battle against the reformer Aaron Chaviner. Together with the Chasam Sofer, R’ Akiva Eiger and R’ Chaim Banet, he fought against the reformers in letters that are printed in the sefer Eileh Divrei Habris.
Rav Menachem Nachum Twersky of Chernobyl.
Rav Yosef Zundel Hutner (1846-1919). Born in Dvinsk, he was taught by his father at an early age. At the age of 25, Rav Yosef Zundel published Bikurei Yosef. (In the introduction, he bemoans the passing of his young wife.) Thereafter he moved to Bialystok, where he remarried and learned bechavrusa Rav Meir Simcha Hakohen of Dvinsk. In 1897, he became Rav of Eishishok.
Rav Mordechai Shulman (1982), son-in-law of Rav Chaim Yitzchak Isaac Sher, he succeeded his father-in-law as Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka. His only son was Rav Nosson Tzvi Shulman, who married a daughter of Rav Yechiel Schlesinger.
Rav Dovid Moshe of Chortkov (1914-1988). Born to Rav Dov Ber of Chortkov in Boyan, Ukraine, he moved with his family to Vienna as a youth. When his grandfather, Rav Yisrael, the Chortkover Rebbe, died in 1934, he was succeeded by both of his sons, Rav Nachum Mordechai, and Rav Dov Ber. When Rav Dov Ber tragically passed away just two years later, Rav Dovid Moshe humbly refused to take his place. Shortly after Kristallnacht (November 9, 1938), Rav Dovid Moshe moved to England and settled in the suburb of Edgeware, London. In 1968, he married Leah and was blessed with three children. In 1988, he gave his final shiur in Golders Green.
Today in History – 27 Shvat
· Joseph Sanalbo, a convert to Judaism, was burned at the stake in Rome, 1583.
· The surrender of the German army in Stalingrad, 1943, marked a significant turning point in World War II.
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