This Day in History – 27 Elul/September 22

The third day of Creation: Hashem created the oceans, the grass and the trees. This is the only day on which the Torah states twice “and Hashem saw that it was good.” Therefore, many tzaddikim referred to Tuesday as the “yom shehuchpal bo ki tov” — the day in which “it is good” is doubled.

In 5374/1614, the Jews of Frankfurt-am-Main were expelled; a taanis tzibbur was instituted to commemorate the expulsion.

In 5497/1737, the Jews of New York were barred from voting .


 

Yahrtzeiten

5479/1719, Harav Moshe Segal, of Lvov, zt”l. He was known as Rosh Hagolah u’Manhig Hamedinah

5486/1726, Harav Yitzchak Chiyus, zt”l, Rav in Skolya

5560/1800, Harav Nosson Hakohen Adler of Frankfurt, zt”l

5593/1833, Harav Yaakov Leib of Kvahl, zt”l

5615/1855, Harav Shalom of Belz, zt”l

5633/1873, Harav Binyamin Tzvi Orbach, zt”l, mechaber of Nachal Eshkol.

5649/1889, Harav Moshe Nota Jungreis, zt”l, the Menuchas Asher


 

5701/1941, Harav Yitzchak Eizik Eliezer Hirschowitz, Hy”d, Rav of Wirballen

Harav Yitzchak Eizik Eliezer Hirschowitz was born in 5631/1871 in Libau (Liepaja), Latvia, a city influenced by neighboring Germany. His parents, Harav Aryeh and Liba Devorah, saw the Haskalah sweep their older children away from Yiddishkeit. Determined to save the youngest, they sent Yitzchak to the local chareidi school.

When he graduated at age 15, the headmaster sent him on to Telshe. He became a star talmid. In 5654/1894, he married the daughter of the Rosh Yeshivah, Harav Eliezer Gordon.

He wrote Kerem Beis Yisrael (in German with Hebrew characters), on building a Torah home. Meitav Higayon is a collection of letters of Harav Samson Raphael Hirsch, translated into Hebrew from Gothic German.

In 5666/1906 he became Rav of Talsen in Kurland, where he had grown up. He remained until he was forced to flee in World War I, ending up in Minsk.

Part of the Radin yeshivah had also taken refuge in Minsk, and the Chofetz Chaim asked him to teach them.

Later Reb Yitzchak moved with his students to Ihumen, but the Soviets soon took over and he helped his talmidim sneak across the border to Lithuania. Once they were safe, he took his own family and followed them.

In Lithuania, he headed Yeshivas Ohr Yisrael of Slabodka. Later he moved back to Telshe as principal of Yavneh Teachers’ College for Men.

Reb Yitzchak wrote a Jewish history book from a Torah viewpoint. Halichos Am Olam Vol. I, from Creation until Eliyahu’s ascent to Shamayim, was published in 5689/1929. The notes he prepared for later volumes were destroyed during the Holocaust.

In 5686/1926, he became Rav of Wirballen. The Nazis conquered the city in 5701/1940 and began the mass slaughter of Lithuanian Jews. Reb Yitzchak fled to Kelm.

On 27 Elul 5701/1941, Reb Yitzchak was taken by the Nazis from the famous Talmud Torah. All sang Adon Olam together as they marched to their deaths.

His three daughters and four of his sons and their families were also murdered. Hashem yinkom damam.

One son, Reb Yehudah Lieber Hirschowitz, survived and immigrated to Eretz Yisrael.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah


 

Sept. 22

In 1761, Britain’s King George III and his wife, Charlotte, were crowned in Westminster Abbey.

In 1776, during the Revolutionary War, Capt. Nathan Hale, 21, was hanged as a spy by the British in New York.

In 1792, the French Republic was proclaimed.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring all slaves in rebel states free as of Jan. 1, 1863.

In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb.

In 1950, Omar N. Bradley was promoted to the rank of five-star general, joining an elite group that included Dwight D. Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George C. Marshall and Henry H. “Hap” Arnold.

In 1975, Sara Jane Moore attempted to shoot President Gerald R. Ford outside a San Francisco hotel, but missed. (Moore served 32 years in prison before being paroled on Dec. 31, 2007.)

In 1989, the Irish Republican Army bombed the Royal Marines School of Music in Deal, Kent, England, killing 11 band members.

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