-Rav Shlomo Zalman Lifshitz, Rav of Warsaw, author of Chemdas Shlomo (1839) [11 Nissan according to Yated 2007 and 2008] Rav Shlomo was born in Posen, which was part of Poland at the time. Posen was a Torah metropolis for centuries. Its rabbonim included the Maharsha, the Maharal and the Levush. (Rav Akiva Eiger would serve Posen, beginning in 1815.) Rav Shlomo learned under the son-in-law of the Noda bi’Yehuda, known as Yosef haTzaddik, who was Rav in Posen, for 25 years until his passing in 1801. After being supported by his father-in-law for 22 years, he took up the yoke of rabbanus in about 1804. He was about 40 years old at the time. His first position was in Nashlask, Poland. After 15 years in Nashlask, Rav Shlomo moved to the Warsaw neighborhood of Praga, and in 1819 he became the first chief rav of Warsaw, which boasted 5,000 Jewish families and was the largest and wealthiest kehillah in Poland. An official 1826 census found that 2,500 talmidim were studying in 215 cheders. However, an 1827 government report estimated that 25% of Polish Jews had no livelihood. After serving as rav of Warsaw for 25 years, Rav Shlomo fell ill and passed away. Rav Shlomo was survived by his son Rav Yoel from his first marriage.
-Rav Shimshon Dovid Pincus (1944-2001). Born to Rav Chaim Avraham and Chava Leah Pincus in the United States, he learned at Brisk in Yerushalayim. He married Chaya Mindel, daughter of Rav Mordechai Man, Rosh Yeshiva of Kenesses Chizkiyahu, and continued his studies in Bnei Brak. Then, in 1981, upon the request of the Steipler Gaon and Rav Shach, he moved into the Negev to start up the community at Ofakim.
Today in History – 12 Nissan
· Ezra and his followers departed from the River Ahava on their way to Yerushalayim, 373 B.C.E.
· The Dutch West India Co. granted Michael Cardozo the right to practice law in Brazil, a privilege no other Jew enjoyed at that time anywhere else, 1645.
· Jews from Mashad, Iran were forcibly converted and a pogrom perpetrated against them, 1839.
· The Russian revolutionary government granted equality to all Russian Jews for the first time in Russian history, 1917. (In the first decade of the 20th century Russia had about 50 percent of the total world Jewish population under its effective control and domination. The grant of equality by the Russian revolutionary government thus affected a major part of world Jewry. By the end of the second decade Russia had only about 18 percent of the total Jewish population under its jurisdiction.){Matzav.com Newscenter/Chinuch.org}
