This Day In History 1 Av/August 5

In 1657/2104 B.C.E., the mountaintops became visible following the Mabul, according to Rabi Eliezer.

3414/347 B.C.E., Ezra Hasofer and his followers arrived in Yerushalayim.

In 5703/1943, the mostly Jewish captives in Treblinka initiated a revolt.

In 5707/1947, a British ship seized the S.S. Exodus, which was carrying 4,000 Jewish Holocaust survivors to Eretz Yisrael, and forced it to return to Germany.

Yahrtzeiten

2489/1272 B.C.E., Aharon Hakohen, zt”l, the only yahrtzeit mentioned in the Torah

5383/1623, Harav Eliezer Isserles, zt”l, brother of the Rema

5460/1700, Harav Yosef, zt”l, Rav of Dubno, mechaber of Yesod Yosef

5491/1731, Harav Yisrael Avraham Zev of Chevron, zt”l, mechaber of Orim Gedolim

5643/1883, Harav Shmuel Ehrenfeld, zt”l, the Chasan Sofer

5663/1903, Harav Aharon Halberstam, zt”l, Rav of Kreiz, son of the Divrei Chaim

5723/1963, Harav Yaakov Moshe Shurkin, zt”l, Rosh Mesivta of Mesivta Rabbeinu Chaim Berlin

5760/2000, Harav Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov, zt”l

5597/1837, Harav Asher Ginzburg, zt”l, Rav of Wallerstein, son of the Shaagas Aryeh

Harav Asher Ginzburg was born in 5514/1754, in the old age of his father, Harav Aryeh Leib, the Shaagas Aryeh.

Reb Asher was a talmid of his father and of Harav Meir Zayeh of Metz.

Reb Asher served as Rav of Karlsruhe.

Harav Gedaliah Rothenberg, Rav of Bodenheim, a talmid of the Shaagas Aryeh and of Reb Asher, writes of Reb Asher in his introduction to the Shaagas Aryeh’s Gevuras Ari:

“As a youngster, seven or eight years old, he already had a sharp and well-honed mind. At that age, if he was shown a difficult passage in the Rambam and was told in what part of the Gemara the answer lay, he could work out the answer in a short time. When he became bar mitzvah, his father said to him, ‘Because I know that you have a clear mind and that you are a vessel which is fit to receive the Torah of Hashem, therefore be strong and become a person who is great in Torah; then I will be honored because of your achievements.’

“When he was 15 years old, he learned with his father an entire masechta every day. When he was 17 or 18, the beis din and the local talmidei chachamim of Metz were amazed by his sharpness and vast knowledge, and his father publicly declared that his son was sharper than he.”

One of the best-known talmidim of Reb Asher was Harav Yaakov Ettlinger, the Aruch Laner. He considered Reb Asher the most powerful influence on his way of learning.

Some of Reb Asher’s chiddushim are printed in She’eilos U’teshuvos Shaagas Aryeh Hachadashos, and in She’eilos U’teshuvos Binyan Tzion of his talmid the Aruch Laner.

Reb Asher’s sons were Harav Avraham and Harav Aryeh Leib, both of whom served as Rabbanim in Germany. His daughter married Harav Alexander Aran, Rav of Pagresheim.

Reb Asher was niftar on Rosh Chodesh Av, 5597/1837, at the age of 83.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

Aug. 5

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Adm. David G. Farragut led his fleet to victory in the Battle of Mobile Bay, Alabama.

In 1884, the cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty’s pedestal was laid on Bedloe’s Island in New York Harbor.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the National Labor Board, which was later replaced with the National Labor Relations Board.

In 1969, the U.S. space probe Mariner 7 flew by Mars, sending back photographs and scientific data.