This Day In History 6 Cheshvan/November 7

6 Cheshvan

In 3340/422 B.C.E., Nevuchadnetzar killed King Tzidkiyahu’s sons before his eyes, and subsequently blinded him. (See Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 580:2.)

In 3427/355 B.C.E., the Yevanim implemented a mass slaughter of the Jews of Beis She’an.

In 4174/413, the Jews of Alexandria, Egypt, were expelled by Christian masses.

In 4926/1165, Rambam arrived in Yerushalayim. He celebrated his arrival ever afterward as a private Yom Tov.

In 5127/1366, the king of Sicily forbade decorating the outside of shuls.

In 5461/1700, Rabbeinu Yehudah Chassid built his shul in the old city of Yerushalayim.

In 5704/1943, 100 Jews of Florence, Italy, were deported to extermination camps.

Yahrtzeiten

5202/1441, Harav Shmuel Chaim, zt”l, mechaber of Shemen Hamishchah

5704/1943, Harav Shlomo Dovid Yehoshua Weinberg, Hy”d, the Slonimer Rebbe

5749/1988, Harav Yechiel Menachem Singer, zt”l, of Alexander-America

5564/1803

Harav Yitzchak Eliyahu Igra Of Tismenitz, zt”l

Harav Yitzchak Eliyahu was born in 5544/1784 in Tismenitz. His father was the famed Harav Meshulam Igra, zt”l, Rav of Pressburg and author of She’eilos U’teshuvos Igra Ramah.

His father commented about him, “He has a sharper mind than I have.”

In 5662/1802, Reb Yitzchak Eliyahu married the daughter of Harav Yissachar Berish Falk, the Rav of Hanover. Reb Yissachar Berish was the son of Harav Aryeh Leib Falk, the author of Pnei Aryeh on the Torah and a sefer she’eilos u’teshuvos by the same name, who was in turn the son of Harav Yaakov Yehoshua Falk, the Pnei Yehoshua, zt”l.

Although the Noda BiYehudah had been niftar some years earlier (17 Iyar 5553/1793), the community of Prague had not yet appointed a new Rav to succeed him. Harav Meshulam Igra told them that his son would be a worthy successor. It is astounding that Harav Meshulam Igra thought so highly of his son that he would recommend him as Rav of a city of the stature of Prague, with a predecessor like the Noda BiYehudah — especially as this son was just 18 years old at the time!

Sadly, on 6 Cheshvan 5564/1803, just 14 months after his marriage, Reb Yitzchak Eliyahu was niftar at the age of 20.

Yehi zichro baruch.

Nov. 7

In 1917, Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution took place as forces led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin overthrew the provisional government of Alexander Kerensky.

In 1940, Washington State’s original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, nicknamed “Galloping Gertie,” collapsed into Puget Sound during a windstorm just four months after opening to traffic.

In 1973, Congress overrode President Richard Nixon’s veto of the War Powers Act, which limits a chief executive’s power to wage war without congressional approval.