This Day in History – 20 Elul/September 20

20 Elul

In 5154/1394, the French King, Charles VI, ordered the expulsion of all Jews.

In 5702/1942, the ghetto of Mir was liquidated.

Yahrtzeiten

5350/1590, Harav Yehudah Muskato, zt”l, mechaber of Nefutzos Yehudah

5474/1714, Harav Shimon Reisher, zt”l, mechaber of Minchas Yehudah.

5702/1942, Harav Avraham Weinberg of Stutchin, zt”l, mechaber of Reishis Bikurim

5729/1969, Harav Yosef Shlomo Kahaneman, zt”l, the Ponevezher Rav

5730/1970, Harav Eliyahu Lopian, zt”l.

5756/1996

Harav Moshe Aryeh Freund, Zt”l, Gaavad of the Eidah Chareidis of Yerushalayim

Harav Moshe Aryeh Freund was born in 5664/1904 in the Hungarian town of Honiad, where his father Harav Yisrael, zt”l, served as Av beis din. His paternal grandfather was Harav Avraham Yehoshua Freund, zt”l, the Naszoider Rav.

His mother was the daughter of Harav Zev Goldberger, zt”l, the Rav of Honiad. He was a descendant of the Rema, the Maharshal, the Shach and the Beis Yosef.

At 16, he married the daughter of Harav Baruch Goldberger, a distant relative.

Before World War II, Rav Moshe Aryeh was Rosh Yeshivah in the Hungarian town of Satu Mare.

The Nazis arrested him and his entire family in 1944. The family was deported to Auschwitz, where only Rav Moshe Aryeh survived; his wife and all of his nine children died there at the hands of the Nazis. Hashem yinkom damam.

In 5711/1951 Rav Moshe Aryeh moved to Yerushalayim, where he became the Rav of the Satmar community. He was also Rosh Yeshivah of Yeshivas Yetev Lev, the Satmar yeshivah in Yerushalayim.

Following the petirah of the Satmar Rebbe, zy”a, on 26 Av 5739/1979, Rav Moshe Aryeh was elected Rosh Av Beis Din of the Eidah Chareidis in Yerushalayim, a position better known as “Raavad.”

After the petirah of Harav Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss, zt”l, in Sivan 5749/1989, Rav Moshe Aryeh was appointed Gaon Av Beis Din (Gaavad) of the Eidah Chareidis, a position he held until his petirah.

In his later years, fondly known as the Yerushalymer Rav, he was considered a Rebbe. Despite having Satmar leanings, Rav Moshe Aryeh was close with all Gedolei Harabbanim and Gedolei Hachassidus.

Rav Moshe Aryeh was niftar on 20 Elul 5756/ September 4, 1996 at 92 and was buried on Har Hazeisim. He left no children.

Rav Moshe Aryeh was the mechaber of Ateres Yehoshua on the Torah.

Mosdos were named after him in Yerushalayim and in Beit Shemesh: Kiryas Harema, Rema standing for Rav Moshe Aryeh.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

Sept. 20

In 1519, Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan and his crew set out from Spain on five ships to find a western passage to the Spice Islands.

In 1963, President Kennedy proposed a joint U.S.-Soviet expedition to the moon.

In 1995, AT&T Corporation announced it was splitting into three companies.

In 2001, President George W. Bush announced creation of the Department of Homeland Security, and named Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge its director.

In 2017, Hurricane Maria, the strongest hurricane to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years, struck the island, wiping out as much as 75 percent of the power distribution lines and causing an island-wide blackout.