This Day in History – 17 Cheshvan/November 10

In 1656/2106 B.C.E, the rains of the Mabul began to fall (according to Rabi Eliezer).

In 2923/839 B.C.E., when Dovid Hamelech found out that King Shaul and seven members of his family weren’t buried, he buried them. After that he davened to Hashem, and the famine that had lasted for three years came to an end.

In 5408/1647, Chmielnicki’s Cossacks massacred 12,000 Jews in Poland, Hy”d.

Yahrtzeiten

5357/1596, Harav Avraham Rappaport, zt”l, mechaber of Minchah Belulah

5584/1823, Harav Yaakov Kopel of Tismenitz, zt”l, a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov, zy”a

5586/1825, Harav Menachem Mendel of Kosov, zt”l, the Ahavas Shalom

5597/1836, Harav Mordechai Zev Orenstein, zt”l, Rav of Lvov

5748/1987, Harav Meshulam Zushe Twersky, zt”l, the Chernobyler Rebbe of Bnei Brak

5659/1898, Harav Yehoshua Rosenfeld, zt”l, of Kaminka

Harav Yehoshua Rosenfeld was the son of Harav Shalom of Kaminka. He was the son-in-law of Harav Tzvi Hirsch of Drishkopoli, who was a brother-in-law of the Sar Shalom of Belz.

His first rabbinical post was in Yaritshov; later, after the petirah of his father, Reb Yehoshua was appointed Rav in Kaminka.

Unlike his father, Reb Yehoshua also served as Rebbe, not just as Rav.

During his last 15 years, Reb Yehoshua was partially paralyzed and unable to speak; he communicated with his Chassidim using sign language.

Reb Yehoshua was niftar on 17 Cheshvan 5659/1898.

His sons were Harav Shalom of Kaminka and Harav Elazar of Ushpitzin. His sons-in-law were Harav Shlomo Halberstam of Bobov, Harav Moshe Chaim Rabinowitz of Shidlovtza and Harav Alter Eichenstein, Rav of Yaritchov.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

Nov. 10

In 1775, the U.S. Marines were organized under authority of the Continental Congress.

In 1919, the American Legion opened its first national convention in Minneapolis.

In 1928, Japanese Emperor Hirohito was formally enthroned, almost two years after his ascension.

In 1938, Turkish statesman Mustafa Kemal Ataturk died in Istanbul at age 57.

In 1942, Winston Churchill delivered a speech in London in which he said, “I have not become the King’s First Minister to preside over the liquidation of the British Empire.”

In 1944, during World War II, the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood (AE-11) exploded while moored at the Manus Naval Base in the Admiralty Islands in the South Pacific; the blast annihilated the Mount Hood and damaged nearby vessels, leaving 45 confirmed dead and 327 missing and presumed dead.

In 1951, customer-dialed long-distance telephone service began as Mayor M. Leslie Denning of Englewood, New Jersey, called Alameda, California, Mayor Frank Osborne without operator assistance.

In 1954, the U.S. Marine Corps Memorial, depicting the raising of the American flag on Iwo Jima in 1945, was dedicated by President Dwight D. Eisenhower in Arlington, Virginia.

In 1972, three armed men hijacked Southern Airways Flight 49, a DC-9 with 24 other passengers on board, during a stopover in Birmingham, Alabama. (The 30-hour ordeal finally ended in Cuba, where the hijackers were taken into custody by Cuban authorities.)

In 1975, the ore-hauling ship SS Edmund Fitzgerald and its crew of 29 mysteriously sank during a storm in Lake Superior with the loss of all on board.

In 1982, the newly finished Vietnam Veterans Memorial was opened to its first visitors in Washington, D.C., three days before its dedication.

In 1982, Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev died at age 75.