This Day in History – 10 Av/August 6

In 3335/426 B.C.E., Yechezkel Hanavi delivered a nevuah to the Jewish elders and awakened Klal Yisrael to teshuvah.

In 5066/1306, King Phillip IV arrested and deported all the Jews of France

In 5118/1358, hundreds of Jews of Catalonia (northeast Spain) were murdered.

In 5258/1498, six years after the expulsion from Spain,the Jews were expelled from neighboring Portugal.

In 5315/1555, the Jews of Rome were forced to move into a ghetto.

Yahrtzeiten

1565/2196 B.C.E., Yissachar, the son of Yaakov Avinu. He had also been born on this day, in 1443/2319  B.C.E.

5268/1508, Harav Don Yitzchak Abarbanel, zt”l, leader of Spain’s Jewry, mechaber of the sefer Abarbanel

5479/1719, Harav Shmuel Florintin, zt”l, mechaber of Olas Shmuel, Minchas Shmuel, Beis Haroeh

5532/1772, Harav Dovid Farkas, zt”l, talmid of the Baal Shem Tov

5760/2000, Harav Shimon Ziat, zt”l, Rav of the Aram Tzova community in Eretz Yisrael

5528/1768

Harav Masoud Chai Rokeach, zt”l, the mechaber of Maaseh Rokeach on Rambam

Harav Masoud Chai Rokeach was the son of Rav Aharon. He was born in Izmir, Turkey, about 5450/1690.

He learned under Harav Chaim Abulafiah in Izmir, and then under Harav Yitzchak Hakohen Rappaport, mechaber of Batei Kehunah.

Rav Masoud moved to Eretz Yisrael, where he was known as one of Yerushalayim’s Torah giants. He corresponded in halachah with Rabbanim in Italy and in Izmir.

Sent to Libya to raise funds for the community in Yerushalayim around 5500/1740, Rav Masoud was asked to stay on and serve there as Rav. During the time he spent there, Rav Masoud helped the local kehillah grow in Torah and mitzvos.

Later Rav Masoud settled in Livorno, Italy, where he sat on the beis din with Harav Yaakov Lusinah and Harav Yitzchak Inrikis.

Rav Masoud wrote numerous sefarim. The most famous is Maaseh Rokeach, a three-volume work on the Rambam; he also wrote Divrei HaBraisa, commentaries on the five Megillos, and Chiddushei Hashem on the Gemara. Many other works are still in manuscript form.

Rav Masoud was niftar on 10 Av 5528/1768 in Tripoli, Libya.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

August 6

In 1813, during the Venezuelan War of Independence, forces led by Simon Bolivar recaptured Caracas.

In 1825, Upper Peru became the autonomous republic of Bolivia.

In 1862, the Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas was scuttled by its crew on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to prevent capture by the Union.

In 1930, New York State Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater went missing after leaving a Manhattan restaurant; his disappearance remains a mystery.

In 1945, during World War II, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, resulting in an estimated 140,000 deaths.

In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov became the second man to orbit Earth as he flew aboard Vostok 2.

In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act.

In 1986, William J. Schroeder died at Humana Hospital-Audubon in Louisville, Kentucky, after living 620 days with the Jarvik 7 artificial heart.

In 1993, Louis Freeh won Senate confirmation to be FBI director.