This Day in History – 9 Sivan/May 27

Yahrtzeiten

5444/1684, Harav Moshe Rivkas, zt”l, mechaber of Be’er Hagolah on Shulchan Aruch. (According to another opinion, his yahrtzeit is 13 Tammuz.)

5599/1839, Harav Yisrael of  Shklov, zt”l

5633/1873, Harav Yitzchak Eizik Eichenstein of Ziditchov, zt”l

5639/1879, Harav Aharon Konvarti, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Hamekubalim Beis El in Yerushalayim and mechaber of She’eilos U’teshuvos Kapei Aharon

5690/1930, Harav Avraham Tzvi Perlmutter, zt”l, Rav of Warsaw

5699/1939, Harav Yaakov Chaim Sofer, zt”l, mechaber of Kaf Hachaim, Yismach Yisrael and many other sefarim

5647/1887, Harav Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Bilitzer, zt”l, Rav of Nagyida

Harav Yitzchak Isaac Halevi Bilitzer was born in 5561/1801 in Unsdorf. His parents were Harav Pinchas and Rochel Bilitzer.

Harav Pinchas, besides being a talmid chacham, was an important askan in Unsdorf, highly respected by both Jew and gentile. His rebbetzin was the daughter of Harav Uri Lipman Frankel, son of Harav Eliezer Frankel, who was a brother of Harav Baruch Frankel of Leipnik, the Baruch Taam.

Harav Yitzchak Isaac, after learning locally in Unsdorf, went on to learn in the yeshivah in Krula under his uncle, Harav Yitzchak Frankel. After marrying Esther, the daughter of Harav Moshe Roth of Ginz-Ruska, Harav Yitzchak Isaac sat and learned diligently for three years.

He then moved to Nagyida, a small town near Kashau in Slovakia, where he taught Torah to the local boys.

When the Rav of Nagyida, Harav Meshulam Lieberman, zt”l, was niftar in 5597/1837, Harav Yitzchak Isaac was chosen to replace him. He remained Rav in Nagyida for the next 50 years, until his petirah in 5647/1887.

While caring for the concerns of the town’s inhabitants, Harav Yitzchak Isaac maintained a rigorous learning schedule. He left behind numerous manuscripts of chiddushei Torah, some of which were published after his petirah (in Be’er Yitzchak) through the efforts of his successor as Rav in Nagyida, his granddaughter’s husband, Harav Tzvi Reichman, zt”l.

Harav Yitzchak Isaac had five children. His two sons were Harav Amram Yishai, Rav of Szerencz, and Harav Lipman, Rav of Altendorf. His three daughters’ husbands were also Rabbanim: Harav Yitzchak Isaac Kahane, Rav of Raznovitz; Harav Moshe Mehr, Rav of Rethe; and Harav Shalom Adler, Rav of Seredna.

Harav Yitzchak Isaac was niftar on 9 Sivan 5647/1887, at the age of 86. He was buried in Nagyida. Throngs of people, knowing of his tzidkus, would go and daven at his kever on his yahrtzeit.

His successor as Rav in Nagyida, Harav Tzvi Reichman, was later buried next to him. Zechuso yagen aleinu.

May 27

In 1933, the Chicago World’s Fair, celebrating “A Century of Progress,” officially opened.

In 1935, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States, unanimously struck down the National Industrial Recovery Act, a key component of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “New Deal” legislative program.

In 1936, the Cunard liner RMS Queen Mary left England on its maiden voyage to New York.

In 1937, the newly completed Golden Gate Bridge connecting San Francisco and Marin County, California, was opened to pedestrian traffic (vehicles began crossing the next day).

In 1941, the British Royal Navy sank the German battleship Bismarck off France, with a loss of some 2,000 lives, three days after the Bismarck sank the HMS Hood.

In 1962, a dump fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, ignited a blaze in underground coal deposits that continues to burn to this day.

In 1985, in Beijing, representatives of Britain and China exchanged instruments of ratification for an accord returning Hong Kong to Chinese control in 1997.