This day in History – 11 Sivan/June 14

11 Sivan

3828/68, Vespasian captured Yericho.

5318/1558, Germany’s Kaiser restricted certain liberties of the Jews, after previous governments gave them those rights.

Yahrtzeiten

5502/1742, Harav Eliezer Rokeach, author of Maaseh Rokeach and Rav of Amsterdam.

5571/1811, Harav Yishmael HaKohen, Rav of Modina, author of Zera Emes.

5574/1814, Harav Binyamin Zev Wolf Boskowitz of Kelen, author of Seder Lemishneh.

5654/1894, Harav Moshe, Rebbe of Rozvadov.

5694/1934, Harav Ezra Harari Raful, mekubal of Aleppo, founder of yeshivos Ohel Mo’eid, Beis Yosef and Magen David.

5704/1944, Harav Mordechai Rottenberg, Hy”d, Rav of Antwerp, author of Yad Mordechai.

5704/1944, Harav Mordechai Brisk of Toshnad, Hungary, author of She’eilos U’teshuvos Maharam Brisk, Hy”d.

5749/1989, Harav Yehuda Horowitz, Rebbe of Dzikov, zy”a.

5763/2003, the Sassover Rebbe of London, zy”a, Harav Simcha Rubin.

5749/1989

Harav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss, the Minchas Yitzchak, Zt”l

Harav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss was born on 8 Adar 5662/1902. His father was Harav Yosef Yehudah of Dolina, Galicia. As a young child, he absorbed much Torah and Chassidus from the Zidichover Rebbe of Dolina, Harav Yehuda Zvi Eichenstein, zy”a, whom he regarded as one of his primary Rebbes.

Rav Yitzchak Yaakov used to have a daily three-hour shiur with his father, during which Rav Yosef Yehuda taught his son the derech in both limud and avodas Hashem that he had acquired from his Rebbe, the Arugas Habosem, zy”a.

While still very young, he began recording his chiddushim and even submitted some to be published in a number of local Torah journals.

In 5682/1922, when Rav Yitzchak Yaakov turned 20, he received an order to report for military service. He wrote a letter to a friend who was a grandson of the Belzer Rebbe, Reb Yissochor Dov, zy”a, requesting the Rebbe’s brachah that he be spared from serving in the army.

The Belzer Rebbe replied, citing the Mishnah in Avos: “Whoever accepts on himself the yoke of the Torah is relieved from the yoke of malchus.” Rav Weiss “accepted the yoke of Torah” anew and moved to the neighboring town of Helmin, where he toiled in Torah in an unprecedented fashion. He never heard from the army again.

In 5688/1928, he married the daughter of Harav Pinchos Zimetbaum, zt”l, from Grosswardein.

He wrote teshuvos to halachic questions that arrived from near and far. He corresponded at length with many Gedolim.

By the time World War II broke out in 1939, Rav Weiss was acclaimed as one of the major Rabbanim in the area.

During World War II, Rav Weiss hid in a bunker for six weeks, and later miraculously fled across the border. He recorded the harrowing trials he endured in the first volume of his sefer Minchas Yitzchak.

After the war, he settled in England, where he served as the Rav of Manchester until 5729/1969. There he led the kehillah and rejuvenated the spirits of many Holocaust survivors. In 5730/1970, the Satmar Rebbe appointed him Raavad of the Beis Din of the Eidah Hachareidis of Yerushalayim, and after the Rebbe’s petirah he became the Gaavad.

Rav Weiss was niftar in Yerushalayim on 11 Sivan 5749 and is buried on Har Hazeisim.

Yehi zichro baruch.

June 14

In 1775, the Continental Army, forerunner of the United States Army, was created.

In 1777, the Second Continental Congress approved the design of the original American flag.

In 1940, German troops entered Paris during World War II.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a measure adding the phrase “under G-d” to the Pledge of Allegiance.

In 1982, Argentine forces surrendered to British troops on the disputed Falkland Islands.