This Day in History – 4 Cheshvan/October 28

In 5302/1541, Jews of Algiers weresaved from being conquered by the Spanish army. To commemorate the event, Purim Edom is celebrated by Algerian Jews.

In 5702/1941, Romanian soldiers massacred 26,000 Jews of Odessa.

In 5704/1943, the Nazis liquidated the Riga ghetto.


 

Yahrtzeiten

5652/1891, Harav Shlomo Yitzchak of Tarnipol, zt”l

5683/1923, Harav Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten of Kintzk, zt”l, the Chelkas Yoav

5704/1943, Harav Klonimus Kalman Shapiro, Hy”d, the Piaseczne Rebbe

5728/1967, Harav Yaakov Halberstam, zt”l, Tchakava Rav

5743/1982, Harav Leib Gurwitz, Rosh Yeshivah of Gateshead Yeshivah and mechaber of Roshei Shearim 5704/1943


 

Harav Yaakov Yitzchak Dan Landau of Strikov-Kiniev, Hy”d

Harav Yaakov Yitzchak Dan was born in Zaloshin in 5642/1882. In 5672/1912, he was appointed Rav in Kiniev, near Ostrovtza.

After the petirah of his father, Harav Menachem Mendel of Strikov, on 19 Shevat 5696/1936, Reb Yaakov Yitzchak was named Strikover Rebbe. However, when a fire destroyed the entire town, Reb Yaakov Yitzchak moved to Zgerzh, where his father held court at the end of his life. There he founded Yeshivas Beis Aharon.

Reb Yaakov Yitzchak was active in Agudas Yisrael and attended the Third Knessiah Gedolah in Marienbad.

At the outbreak of World War II, when the Nazis invaded and took over his home and the yeshivah building, Reb Yaakov Yitzchak and his family fled Zgerzh and settled in Warsaw.

Reb Yaakov Yitzchak was taken to the ghetto, where he was active in Ezras Torah, which tried to help the talmidei chachamim in the ghetto.

On Pesach 5703/1943, the Rebbe and his family were transferred to a bunker. The Rebbe brought along a sefer Torah.

That Pesach, Reb Yaakov Yitzchak ate only powdered sugar, for there was no other food that was kosher for Pesach.

He tried to lift the spirits of those who were in the bunker, saying that the yeshuah was near.

On Shvi’i shel Pesach morning the Nazis discovered the bunker and sent all the Yidden in it to Lublin. There they went through a selektzia; some were sent to Majdanek while others were sent to Warsaw to work in a factory. The Rebbe returned to Warsaw to work, but from there they were all later sent to Treblinka.

In Cheshvan 5704/1943, most of the Yidden in Treblinka were killed. The Rebbe and his son Rav Tuviah, a son-in-law of Harav Avraham of Slonim, were killed al kiddush Hashem on 4 Cheshvan. Hy”d.

The Rebbe’s son Harav Avraham Landau, zy”a, rebuilt Strikover Chassidus in Eretz Yisrael, first in Tel Aviv and later in Bnei Brak.

Zechuso yagen aleinu  


 

Oct. 28

In 1636, the General Court of Massachusetts passed a legislative act establishing Harvard College.

In 1776, the Battle of White Plains was fought during the Revolutionary War, resulting in a limited British victory.

In 1886, the Statue of Liberty, a gift from the people of France, was dedicated in New York Harbor by President Grover Cleveland.

In 1914, medical researcher Jonas Salk, who developed the first successful polio vaccine, was born in New York.

In 1936, President Franklin D. Roosevelt rededicated the Statue of Liberty on its 50th anniversary.

In 1940, Italy invaded Greece during World War II.

In 1962, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev informed the United States that he had ordered the dismantling of missile bases in Cuba; in exchange, the U.S. secretly agreed to remove nuclear missiles from U.S. installations in Turkey.

In 1976, former Nixon aide John D. Ehrlichman entered a federal prison camp in Safford, Arizona, to begin serving his sentence for Watergate-related convictions (he was released in April 1978).

In 1980, President Jimmy Carter and Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan faced off in a nationally broadcast, 90-minute debate in Cleveland.

In 1991, what became known as “The Perfect Storm” began forming hundreds of miles east of Nova Scotia; lost at sea during the storm were the six crew members of the Andrea Gail, a swordfishing boat from Gloucester, Massachusetts.

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