This Day in History – 28 Iyar/May 28

28 Iyar

The Rambam observed this day as a personal Yom Tov in honor of his discovery of Ezra Hasofer’s sefer Torah.

In 5677/1917, the Turkish government that ruled “Palestine” at that time authorized the return of the Jews who had been expelled from Yaffo and Tel Aviv.

In 5727/1967, the Old City of Yerushalayim was recaptured during what is known as the Six-Day War, and the Kosel once again became accessible.

Yahrtzeiten

2882/879 B.C.E., Shmuel Hanavi, zt”l. A taanis tzaddikim commemorates his yahrtzeit (Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 580). [In Megillas Taanis his yahrtzeit is cited as 29 Iyar.]

5040/1280, Rabbeinu Yitzchak of Courville, the mechaber of Semak (Sefer Mitzvos HaKatan)

5672/1912

Harav Yaakov Leib Twersky of Trisk, zt”l

Harav Yaakov (Aryeh) Leib was born in 5607/1847 in the shtetl Horbishov. His father was Harav Avraham of Trisk, one of the eight sons of Harav Mordechai of Chernobyl, zt”l. Rav Yaakov Leib became the son-in-law of his uncle (the brother of his father), Harav Yochanan of Rachmastrivka.

In his youth, Rav Yaakov Leib displayed great hasmadah. It was said that in his youth he once stayed up 300 consecutive nights toiling in Torah.

When his father was niftar he succeeded him and served as Rebbe in Trisk. From there he moved to Koval and then to Rovna, where he lived a number of years.

Rav Yaakov Leib would travel around to his Chassidim, as many Rebbes of the Chernobyler dynasty did. On a visit to Horbishov, Rav Yaakov Leib was suddenly niftar.

Rav Yaakov Leib’s sons were Harav Moshe Mordechai of Lublin, Harav Dovid Aharon of Zurich, Harav Nachum of Warsaw, and Harav Zev of Koval. His sons-in-law were Harav Dovid of Skver, Harav Nachum Moshe of Koval and Harav Tzvi Aryeh of Alik. (The almanah of Reb Dovid of Skver was later married a second time to Harav Yisrael of Vizhnitz, the Ahavas Yisrael.)

Some of the divrei Torah of Rav Yaakov Leib were printed in Sefer HaYachas MiChernobyl V’Ruzhin.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

May 28

In 1863, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment, made up of freed blacks, left Boston to fight for the Union in the Civil War.

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight that both primates survived.

In 1961, Amnesty International had its beginnings with the publication of an article in the British newspaper The Observer, “The Forgotten Prisoners.”

In 1964, the charter of the Palestine Liberation Organization was issued at the start of a meeting of the Palestine National Congress in Yerushalayim.

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan led a state funeral at Arlington National Cemetery for an unidentified American soldier killed in the Vietnam War. (However, the remains were later identified through DNA as those of Air Force 1st Lt. Michael J. Blassie, and were sent to St. Louis for hometown burial.)