This Day in History – 3 Cheshvan/October 27

In 5051/1290, 16,000 British Jews were expelled from England in the final expulsion by King Edward I.

Yahrtzeiten

5611/1850, Harav Yisrael Friedman, the Ruzhiner Rebbe, zt”l

5621/1860, Harav Eliezer Horowitz of Dzikov, zt”l

5627/1866, Harav Yehudah Leib of Kopust, zt”l

5644/1883, Harav Eliyahu Horoshovsky, zt”l, Rav of Drohobich, mechaber of Pnei Eliyahu and Ezor Eliyahu

5700/1939, Harav Yitzchak Zelig Morgenstern, the Sokolover Rebbe, zt”l 5703/1942, Harav Yisrael Hager of Radowitz-America, zt”l

5704/1943, Harav Shabsi Sheftel Weill, zt”l, Rav of Simani, Hungary

5627/1866, Harav Yosef Zundel of Salant,zt”l

Harav Yosef Zundel was born on the first day of Rosh Hashanah 5546/1785 in Salantai, Lithuania, near Zamut.

His father was Harav Binyamin Beinush, the shochet in Salant and a descendant of Harav Feivush Ashkenazi, Rav of Vilna, as well as a talmid of the Maharam of Lublin.

Reb Yosef Zundel studied under the Vilna Gaon’s main talmidim, in particular Harav Chaim of Volozhin.

Following Reb Chaim Volozhiner’s petirah in 5681/1821, Reb Zundel made trips to learn under Harav Akiva Eiger.

Reb Zundel and his wife, Rochel Rivkah, had three children — two daughters, and a son, Aryeh Leib.

He refused to accept a rabbinical position. He ran a small business that produced only a meager living, and spent much of his time immersed in Torah and mussar.

Reb Zundel was the spiritual inspiration for his most famous talmid, Harav Yisrael Salanter, founder of the mussar movement.

Reb Zundel, who was a talmid of the Vilna Gaon in every sense of the word, longed to settle in Eretz Yisrael. Finally, in 1838– 39, despite the hardships of the trip due to war between Turkey and Egypt, Reb Zundel took his family and made his way to Eretz Yisrael.

The Ashkenazic community in Yerushalayim at that time was governed and supported by the Kollel Vilna, with headquarters in Amsterdam. The committee was headed by a wealthy Dutch Jewish banker, Reb Avraham Zvi Hirsch Lehren. He requested that Reb Zundel serve as the first Rav of the Ashkenazic community.

Reb Zundel agreed on the condition that he would not be paid a salary for his services. All his life he had worked to support himself without benefiting from Torah, and he wanted to maintain that practice. Furthermore, he had always shunned all positions of honor and distinction. He stipulated that as soon as the committee found a suitable replacement, he would step down.

And so Reb Zundel founded the Ashkenazic beis din. With time, both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities recognized Reb Zundel’s stature and brought him their questions.

Reb Zundel’s son-in-law, Harav Shmuel Salant, was head of the beis din, a position he held for almost 70 years, until his passing in 5669/1909.

Reb Zundel was instrumental in the founding of Etz Chaim Yeshivah, the Bikur Cholim Hospital and the Chevrah Kadisha Society.

Reb Yosef Zundel was niftar on 3 Cheshvan 5627/1866 and was buried on Har Hazeisim.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

Oct. 27

In 1787, the first of the Federalist Papers, a series of essays calling for ratification of the United States Constitution, was published.

In 1858, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, was born in New York City.

In 1904, the first rapid transit subway, the IRT, was inaugurated in New York City.

In 1922, the first annual celebration of Navy Day took place.

In 1938, Du Pont announced a name for its new synthetic yarn: “nylon.”

In 1954, U.S. Air Force Col. Benjamin O. Davis Jr. was promoted to brigadier general, the first black officer to achieve that rank in the USAF.

In 1962, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, a U-2 reconnaissance aircraft was shot down while flying over Cuba, killing the pilot, U.S. Air Force Maj. Rudolf Anderson Jr.

In 1995, a sniper killed one soldier and wounded 18 others at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Paratrooper William J. Kreutzer was convicted in the shootings, and condemned to death; however, the sentence was later commuted to life in prison.)