This Day in History – 6 Cheshvan/October 30

In 3340/422 B.C.E., Nevuchadnetzar killed King Tzidkiyahu’s sons before his eyes, subsequently blinding 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, the Rambam arrived in Yerushalayim and celebrated his arrival as a private Yom Tov.

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

In 5461/1700, Rabbeinu Yehudah Hachassid 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

5564/1803, Harav Yitzchak Eliyahu Igra of Tismenitz, zt”l

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

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

Harav Yechiel Menachem Singer, born in 5579/1919, was the son of Harav Yaakov Shraga Feivel, Rav of Ostrow (son of Harav Yitzchak Meir Singer, Rav in Aleksander, and son-in-law of Harav Shmuel Tzvi, the Tiferes Shmuel of Aleksander).

He was brought up and taught by his uncle, Harav Yitzchak Menachem, the son and successor of the Tiferes Shmuel. (Killed in the war, he was posthumously titled the Akeidas Yitzchak. Hashem yinkom damo.)

After the war, Reb Yechiel Menachem, as a grandson of the Tiferes Shmuel, was appointed Aleksander Rebbe in America by the Chassidim. He reluctantly accepted the leadership.

He was niftar on 6 Cheshvan 5749/1988, at the age of 70, and buried in New Jersey.

His son Harav Yosef Yitzchak Meir, shlita, succeeded him as Aleksander Rebbe in Boro Park.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

Oct. 30

In 1735, the second president of the United States, John Adams, was born in Braintree, Massachusetts.

In 1864, Helena, Montana, was founded.

In 1945, the U.S. government announced the end of shoe rationing, effective at midnight.

In 1953, Gen. George C. Marshall was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Dr. Albert Schweitzer received the Peace Prize for 1952.

In 1961, the Soviet Union tested a hydrogen bomb, the “Tsar Bomba,” with a force estimated at about 50 megatons.

In 1961, The Soviet Party Congress unanimously approved a resolution ordering the removal of Josef Stalin’s body from Lenin’s tomb.

In 1989, Mitsubishi Estate Co. announced it was buying 51 percent of Rockefeller Group Inc. of New York. (However, amid a real estate slump, Mitsubishi ended up walking away from its investment in 1995.)