This Day In History 4 Av/August 8

4 Av

In 3314/447 B.C.E., the silver and gold that Ezra and his followers brought along to build the second Beis Hamikdash was weighed.

In 3317/444 B.C.E., Nechemiah began to construct a wall around Yerushalayim. The construction lasted 52 days.

In 5704/1944, the Lublin concentration camp was liberated by the Russian army.

Yahrtzeiten

5343/1583, Harav Avraham Luzatto, zt”l

5380/1620, Harav Menachem Azaryah, zt”l, the Rama of Pano

5382/1622, Harav Avraham ben Harav Dovid, zt”l, Rav of Lvov and meforesh of the Rif

5661/1901, Harav Tvi Meir Hakohen Rabinowitz, zt”l, Rav of Radomsk

5703/1943, Harav Yehoshua Heshel Horowitz Sternfeld, Hy”d, of Chenchin-Elkosh

5664/1904

Harav Efraim Taub of Kuzmir, zt”l

Harav Efraim Taub was the son of Reb Yechezkel of Kuzmir. He married the daughter of Harav Nosson Dovid Rabinowitz of Shidlovtza.

After the petirah of his father on 15 Shevat 5616/1856, Reb Efraim succeeded him as Rebbe. He lived first in Shenyah. He did not settle in Kuzmir, either, but moved on to other cities. He lived in Bloina, Nadrazin, Yablona and Prague.

Some of the divrei Torah of Reb Efraim were published in the sefarim of his father.

Reb Efraim was niftar on 4 Av, 5664/1904.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

5702/1942

Harav Benzion Halberstam, zt”l, Hy”d

Reb Benzion was born in Bokovosk, Galicia, to Rav Shlomo Halberstam, a grandson of Rav Chaim of Sanz.

In 1893, Rav Shlomo moved to Bobov and appointed his son Rav Benzion as Rav of the town.

His father would work with the youth to bring them closer to Hashem; however, his work was sadly cut short when he died suddenly in 5665/1905, at the age of 58. On the following Shabbos, Rav Shlomo’s brothers appointed Rav Benzion as the Bobover Rebbe.

He followed in his father’s footsteps by focusing on the youth.

He was the second Bobover Rebbe, known by the name of his sefer as the Kedushas Tzion.

He was murdered during the Holocaust together with 20,000 Jews after being forced to dig a mass grave in a forest outside of Lvov (Lemberg).

Hashem yinkom damam.

Aug. 8

In 1911, President William Howard Taft signed a measure raising the number of U.S. representatives from 391 to 433, effective with the next Congress, with a proviso to add two more when New Mexico and Arizona became states.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon announced his resignation, effective the next day, following damaging new revelations in the Watergate scandal.

In 1994, Israel and Jordan opened the first road link between the two once-warring countries.