This Day in History – 30 Adar/March 7

30 Adar I

Today’s date, 30 Adar, is a rarity; it exists only in a leap year. Otherwise, the month of Adar contains only 29 days, as the Gemara discusses in Maseches Rosh Hashanah Daf 19.

5563/1803

Harav Aharon Moshe Yitzchak of Amsterdam, Zt”l

Harav Aharon Moshe’s father was a Swedish nobleman. He and his wife were drawn to Yiddishkeit and eventually were misgayer. Their young son, later named Aharon Moshe Yitzchak, also converted to Judaism along with his parents.

As a child, Rav Aharon Moshe learned Torah with great devotion and diligence. At his bar mitzvah, to everyone’s astonishment, he delivered his very own chiddushei Torah. Subsequently he grew truly great in Torah and yiras Shamayim.

The renowned Harav Shaul Lowenstam, zt”l, author of Binyan Ariel, Rav of Amsterdam, learned of Rav Aharon Moshe’s greatness and invited him to serve as Dayan in his kehillah. Rav Aharon Moshe acceded to the request and became Dayan.

When Rav Shaul was niftar, Rav Aharon Moshe Yitzchak succeeded him, becoming Rav of the kehillah. He fulfilled this sacred position meticulously and was beloved by all. He was Rav for 10 years, until his petirah.

During all those years, even as pressing community matters occupied his time, he remained loyal to his ingrained hasmadah, spending days and nights toiling in Torah. Although a controversy clouded the reputation of the Adas Yeshurun kehillah of which he was Rav, and many Gedolei Yisrael disapproved of it, his personal reputation as a tzaddik gamur remained unsullied.

Rav Aharon Moshe was niftar on the 30th day of Adar Rishon 5563/1803, or, according to some, in 5567/1807. His chiddushim are published in Zera Yitzchak.

March 7

In 1793, during the French Revolutionary Wars, France declared war on Spain.

In 1850, in a three-hour speech to the U.S. Senate, Daniel Webster of Massachusetts endorsed the Compromise of 1850 as a means of preserving the Union.

In 1926, the first successful trans-Atlantic radio-telephone conversations took place between New York and London.

In 1945, during World War II, U.S. forces crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany, using the damaged but still usable Ludendorff Bridge.

In 1975, the U.S. Senate revised its filibuster rule, allowing 60 senators to limit debate in most cases, instead of the previously required two-thirds of senators present.