This Day In History 10 Tammuz/July 4

In 5026/1266, 12 Jews of Cologne were killed al kiddush Hashem. Hy”d.

In 5480/1720, a fast day was established by the Jewish community of Frankfurt-am-Main to mark the escape of the residents of the Jewish quarter from harm during a major fire in the city.

In 5594/1834, the community of Tzfas was saved from Arab rioters. The Ovritzer Rebbe, the Bas Ayin, zt”l, established this day as a Yom Tov.

Yahrtzeiten

5000/1240, Harav Moshe ben Harav Yosef was killed al kiddush Hashem in Altula. Hy”d.

5669/1909, Harav Shmuel Rosenberg, zt”l, mechaber of Masa de’Yerushalayim

5603/1843, Harav Eliezer Halevi Horowitz of Neustadt, zt”l

Harav Eliezer was the son of Harav Tzvi, son of Harav Yaakov Yitzchak Horowitz, the Chozeh of Lublin. Reb Eliezer was the son-in-law of the “Gutter Yid” of Neustadt, the son of Harav Klonimus Kalman, the Maor v’Shemesh of Cracow.

Reb Eliezer was a very close talmid of Reb Yissachar Dov, the Saba Kadisha of Radoshitz. Their connection was so strong that Reb Eliezer was niftar less than a month after Reb Yissachar Dov, seemingly unable to go on living without his revered Rebbe.

His son, Harav Chaim Shmuel, founded the Chassidus of Chentchin.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

July 4

In 1776, the Declaration of Independence was adopted by delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia.

In 1817, ground was broken for the Erie Canal in Rome, New York. The middle section of the waterway took three years to complete; the entire canal was finished in 1825.

In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Freedom of Information Act, which went into effect the following year.

In 1987, Klaus Barbie, the former Gestapo chief known as the “Butcher of Lyon,” was convicted by a French court of crimes against humanity and sentenced to life in prison. (He died in Sept. 1991.)