Rav Naftali Katz, author of Semichas Chachomim (1660-1719), descendent of the Maharal. Born in Ostracha, Ukraine and died in Istanbul. His father, Yitzchak, a Rav in Stefan and a darshan in Prague, died in 1670. Reb Naftali married Esther Sheindl, daughter of Shmuel Shmelke Zak of Ostraha, and headed the Yeshiva that his father-in-law built for him. After Rabbi Shmuel died he succeeded him as Rabbi and Av Beis Din. In 1704 he became Rav of Frankfurt until 1711, when a fire broke out in his home and spread from there burning down several hundred homes. Rav Naftali was jailed and accused of setting the fire. When he was released, he left for Prague and Breslau and stayed with Zvi Ashkenazi (the Chacham Zvi). They both excommunicated Nechemia Chayun who wrote a book in favor of Shabetai Zvi. He had 14 children, 7 sons and 7 daughters. Rav Yaakov Emden, the son of the Chacham Zvi, married Rav Naftali’s daughter Rachel.
Rav Yosef of Yampula, son of the Zlotchiver Maggid (1812).
Rav Shneur Zalman of Liadi (1745-1813), Baal Hatanya. Became a talmid of the Maggid of Mezritch at the age of 30, studying with him for 12 years, and becoming the leader of Chasidus in Lithuania following the Maggid’s petira in 1772. Following his incarceration in St. Petersburg, he moved to Liadi. In addition to Tanya, he also authored the Shulchan Aruch HaRav.
Rav Meir Eisenstadt, also known as Meir Ash (Dec. 2, 1861). His responsa were published by his son under the title Imrei Eish. He died at Ungvár.
Rav Avraham Dov Berish Flamm (1804-1873). R’ Flamm is considered to be the leading disciple of the Dubno Maggid, R’ Yaakov Kranz, although, in fact, the two never met. R’ Flamm was, however, the leading student of the Maggid’s writings, and it was he, together with the Maggid’s son, Rav Yitzchak Kranz, who edited these and prepared them for publication. R’ Flamm was himself a popular maggid, and he held that post in several Polish and Lithuanian cities. Besides publishing the Dubno Maggid’s Ohel Yaakov and Sefer Hamiddos, R’ Flamm wrote several works of his own. His Yerios Ha’ohel and Sefas Ha’yeriah were printed together with Ohel Yaakov, while his Shemen Ha’mor is a free-standing work.
Rav Moshe Yosef Teitelbaum (1842-1897). The son of Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, he was was appointed Rav and Av Beis Din of Stropkov when Rav Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam returned to Sienawa in 1880. In 1891, he left the town for a post in Ujhely, Hungary.
Rav Shmuel Borenstein, the Shem MiShmuel from Sochatchov (1855-1926). He was born in Kotzk to Rav Avraham Borenstein, the Sochatchover Rebbe and mechaber of Avnei Nezer. His grandfathers were Rav Nachum Ze’ev of Biala, the Agudas Eizov and Rav Menachem Mendel, the Lotzker Rebbe. Rav Shmuel considered Rav Chanoch Henoch of Alexander to be his Rebbe. After the petira of the Alexander Rebbe in 1870, the Avnei Nezer was made Rebbe, and his son followed him as his Rebbe. He was married in 1873, but his wife died in 1901. He remarried in 1903. Rav Shmuel served as maggid shiur in his father’s yeshiva in Sochatchov and helped him write Eglei Tal on the 39 malachos of Shabbos, as well as Avnei Nezer. After his father was niftar in 1910, the Chassidim crowned Rav Shmuel their Rebbe. His sefer contains the thoughts of his famous father.
Rav Avraham Shmuel Binyamin Sofer, the Divrei Sofer (1948)
Rav Eliyahu Eliezer Dessler (1892-1953). His father, Rav Reuven Dov Dessler, was a talmid muvhak of Rav Simcha Zissel of Kelm, and his mother was a grand-daughter of Rav Yisrael Salanter and a niece of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski. After learning at Kelm, he married a grand-daughter of Rav Simcha Zissel. During the Bolshevik revolution, he moved to London in 1927. In 1941, he founded the Gateshead Yeshiva and kollel. In 1948, he was asked by Rav Yosef Kahaneman to join the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnai Brak. Many of his thoughts and discourses are collected in Michtav M’Eliyahu.
Rav Moshe Mordechai Biederman, the Lelover Rebbe (1904-1987). Son of Rav Shimon Nosson Nota Biederman, Moshe Mordechai was born in Yeryshalayim. When he was just 10 years old, his mother passed away and his father moved to Krakow, Poland, leaving him to the care of his grandfather, Rav Dovid. Five years later, after the petirah of his grandfather, he traveled to Europe and established his place of learning at the Radomsker shtiebel in Krakow. He became very close to the Stoliner Rebbe, the Yenuka. When his father was niftar 1930, the Chassidim looked to Moshe Mordechai to become their new Rebbe. He stayed in Poland until right before the onset of the War, settling in Tel Aviv in 1944.
Rav Moshe Akiva Tikochinsky (1988). Mashgiach of Slobodka Yeshiva.
Yahrtzeits – 25 Teves
Rav Yechiel Michel Tukatchinsky, mashgiach of Slabodka in Bnai Brak, and founder of Yeshivas Mekor Chaim in Yerushalayim. In 1925, he published a sefer called Tekufas Hachamoh Uvirchosoh, in preparation for the bracha made when the sun returns to the point at which it began upon Creation. He wrote a sefer called Bein Hashmoshos, published in 1929, which dealt with the International Date Line. In 1941, he changed his mind altogether, as documented in his sefer, Hayomam Bekadur Haaretz.
Today in History – 24 Teves
· Religious disputation at Tortosa arranged by Pope Benedict XIII. between Geronimo de Santa F. and Rav Yosef Albo, 1413.
· The first Jewish printing press in the Netherlands was set up by Menashe ben Yisrael, 1627.
· Earthquake kills 2000 Jews in Tzefas and 700 in Teveria, 1837
· Israel and Egypt sign and agreement for the disengagement of forces in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur war, 1974. Israel agrees to withdraw from the Suez Canal.
{Anshe.org/Matzav.com Newscenter}
24 Teves – Rabbi David B. Hollander z”l, רב דוד דוב בן רב יונתן בנימין ז”ל, eight years ago.
1. If Rav Shneur Zalman, who was born in 1745, became a talmid of the Maggid at the age of 30, in 1775, how could he have learned under the Maggid for 12 years, if the Maggid passed away in 1772, BEFORE the talmid ever even met him?
2. The Shem Mishmuel was a grandson of the KOTZKER Rebbe, while the Lotzker rebbe is an entirely new entity, of Karlin-Stolin dynasty, and resides in Eretz Yisroel at the present time.
3. Rav Yechiel Michal Tikochinsky, who wrote seforim on halachos of Eretz Yisroel and the international dateline, was an entirely different person from the Mashgiach at the Slobodka in Bnei Brak, and the two passed away a half century apart. Similar or even the same names don’t make two people into one.
Does anyone ever check the facts, or at least proof read these yahrtzeit sections?
(1765) R. Schneur Zalman travels to Mezeritch
When Rabbi Schneur Zalman neared his twentieth year, he decided—with the consent of his wife, Rebbetzin Sterna—to travel to a center of Torah learning and service of G‑d. Two centers of Jewish learning and leadership competed for his attention: Vilna, the main seat of Talmudic scholarship, and the fortress of the opposition to the young yet rapidly growing chassidic movement; and Mezeritch, the seat of Rabbi DovBer, the famed Maggid of Mezeritch, heir to the ideology of Rabbi Yisrael Baal Shem Tov and to the leadership of the chassidic movement. Rabbi Schneur Zalman related, “I knew that in Vilna one was taught how to study, and that in Mezeritch one could learn how to pray. To study I was somewhat able, but of prayer I knew very little. So I went to Mezeritch.”
24 teves Rabbi Avrohom Dov ben R’ Yehoshua A”H Hecht
Rav of Cong. Shaarei Tzion on Ocean Parkway for over 50 years. President of Igud Harabanim and activist for yidden Torah and Jewish values in america and world wide. and much more. yehi zichro baruch!
Please note: Rav Moshe Mordechai never met the “Yenuka” of Stolin. He was a chosid of Rav Avrohom Elimelech.
Rav Dessler founded the Gateshead Kollel but not Gateshead Yeshiva, it was founded by Reb Dovid Dryan who hailed from Radin and was the shoichet in Gateshead in the 1930’s when the yeshiva was founded before the war. Rav Dessler was most probably instrumental in the setting up of the Jewish Teachers Training College known as Gateshead (old) Sem as two of his leading talmidim Rav Mordecahi Miller and Rav Dov Sternbuch were Rabbonim at the sem.
(As Marc says “you need to verify your information”)