This Day In History 24 Cheshvan/November 25

5701/1940, the SS Patria, with 1,900 desperate immigrants aboard, blew up and sank in Haifa port. Two hundred Jews drowned.

Yahrtzeiten

5404/1643, Harav Avraham Azulai, zt”l, the Chessed L’Avraham

5524/1763, Harav Gedalyah of Zalka, zt”l

5663/1902, Harav Dovid Twersky of Makarov, zt”l

5710/1949, Harav Gedalyah Moshe of Zhvil, zt”l

5748/1987, Harav Refael Dovid Auerbach, zt”l

5625/1864, Harav Chaim Yosef Brukstein of Pistian, Zt”l

Harav Chaim Yosef Brukstein was born in Bohislov in the Kiev region, in 5555/1795. His father was Rav Yehoshua Yitzchak. He was raised in the home of Harav Leib, the Shpola Zeide, who was like a father to him.

Starting at the age of 15, Reb Chaim Yosef attached himself to some of the generation’s leading Rebbes, among them Harav Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Baal HaTanya; Harav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev; and Harav Aharon of Zhitomir.

When Reb Chaim Yosef left Russia and moved to Poland, he was appointed Rav in Pistian, in the Kossov region of Galicia. There he became close to the Kossover Rebbe, Reb Menachem Mendel, and later to his son Rav Chaim.

Reb Chaim Yosef suffered both health and financial problems all his life.

Reb Chaim Yosef authored numerous sefarim, including Tosefos Chaim on the Torah and Nishmas Chaim on Tehillim. He was niftar in Kleinwardein on 24 Cheshvan 5625/1864, at the age of 70.

His sons were Rav Yisrael Nosson Alter and Rav Pinchas.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

Nov. 25

In 1783, the British evacuated New York, their last military position in the United States during the Revolutionary War.

In 1915, a new version of the Ku Klux Klan, targeting blacks, Jews, Catholics and immigrants, was founded by William Joseph Simmons, who proclaimed himself Imperial Wizard on Stone Mountain outside Atlanta.

In 1986, the Iran-Contra affair erupted as President Ronald Reagan and Attorney General Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to Nicaraguan rebels.

In 2002, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, and appointed Tom Ridge to be its head.