This Day in History – 2 Iyar/May 10

In 5680/1920, the Supreme Council of the Peace Conference recognized the Balfour Declaration and proclaimed Eretz Yisrael a mandated territory under British administration.

In 5705/1945, the British army liberated the death camp of Bergen-Belsen and its 40,000 barely alive inmates.

Yahrtzeiten

5330/1570, Harav Nosson Shapiro, zt”l, mechaber of She’arim L’Shaarei Dura

5572/1812, Harav Avraham Dov Ber Auerbach, zt”l, Rav of Chmielnik

5663/1903, Harav Yosef Shloffer, zt”l, mechaber of Poras Yosef

5669/1909, Harav Avraham Yitzchak Glick, zt”l, Rav of Toltchova and mechaber of Be’er Yitzchak and other sefarim

5675/1915, Harav Moshe Zakan Mazuz of Djerba (Tunisia), zt”l, mechaber of Shaarei Moshe

5693/1933, Harav Yosef Nechemiah Kornitzer, zt”l, the last Rav of Cracow

5750/1990, Harav Avraham Badush of Mexico, zt”l, mechaber of Meoros Avraham

5751/1991, Harav Tzvi Hersh Zaks, zt”l, a grandson of the Chofetz Chaim

5320/1560, Harav Kalman Vermeisa of Lvov, zt”l

Harav Kalman Vermeisa of Lvov (Lemberg), though probably a native of Worms, as his surname suggests, was a Rav and Rosh Yeshivah in Lemberg. He is mentioned in responsa and by his contemporaries as one of the foremost marbitzei Torah of his time.

He was famed for heading a major yeshivah, as did Harav Shalom Shachna, the rebbi of the Rema, in Lublin. These were the two foremost yeshivos of their day, and top bachurim would travel to learn in them. Some say that the Rema also learned under Harav Kalman.

Rav Kalman’s son-in-law was Harav Eliezer ben Rav Manoach, a foremost talmid chacham. Harav Yosef Hakohen of Cracow, author of She’eiris Yosef, states in that work that he submitted a response of his to Rav Kalman and his son-in-law for their agreement.

Rav Kalman was described by the Maharshal of Lublin in Yam shel Shlomo as “zaken v’yoshev b’yeshivah — elderly and sitting and learning.”

He was niftar on 2 Iyar 5320/1560 in Lvov after serving as Rav and Rosh Yeshivah there for 42 years.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

May 10

In 1775, Ethan Allen and his Green Mountain Boys, along with Col. Benedict Arnold, captured the British-held fortress at Ticonderoga, New York.

In 1869, a golden spike was driven in Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States.

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was named acting director of the Bureau of Investigation, later known as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI.

In 1941, Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland on what he claimed was a peace mission. Hess ended up serving a life sentence at Spandau Prison until 1987, when he apparently committed suicide at age 93.