This Day in History – 7 Shevat/January 27

From 1941–1943, Greece was under control of the Italians who, by and large, protected the Jews against the Germans. But in 1943, things changed for the worse; as punishment for Greece’s fighting against the Axis, freedom of movement was restricted for all Jews. Some Jews fled and hid in the countryside, but most were deported to Auschwitz. In the Holocaust, 77 percent of Greek Jewry were murdered — 60,000 Jews, Hy”d.

Yahrzeiten

5590/1830, Harav Nosson Dovid of Partzova, zt”l 

5656/1896, Harav Yerucham Yehuda Leib Perlman of Minsk, zt”l

5574 /1814, Harav Dovid Biderman of Lelov, zy”a

Rav Dovid was born in 5506/1746 in a town near Lelov, Poland. (According to some, he was born in a different location.) His parents were Harav Shlomo Tzvi and Rebbetzin Rivka.

When Reb Dovid was but a child, two great brothers, the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk and the Rebbe Reb Zusha of Anipoli, passed the family’s home during their galus wanderings and recognized the greatness of young Dovid’s neshamah. When they inquired into the merit that had brought such a great neshamah into the world, Reb Dovid’s mother told them that every Shabbos her husband, Reb Shlomo Tzvi, would daven the tefillah in zemiros, “Veyizku lir’os banim u’vnei vanim oskim baTorah uv’mitzvos” with great passion. At times his davening would be so intense that he would faint. The tzaddikim understood that this was the zechus for such a child.

Once, when Reb Dovid was a young boy, his father bought him a warm coat for the winter, but soon discovered that it was missing. Inquiry revealed that young Dovid had given away the coat to a poor child, who was freezing from the bitter cold.

Reb Dovid married Rebbetzin Chana, the daughter of Harav Yaakov of Negiven. For a time he supported his family by running a small store. Reb Dovid did not reveal his kochos in Torah. The Chiddushei Harim attested that Reb Dovid succeeded in hiding his geonus like no one else. He spent days and nights learning in an attic with great mesirus nefesh. By the age of 20 he had completed Shas 14 times! Harav Yeshayah of Pshedborz said about his Rebbe: “In the revealed parts of the Torah, his strength was like Harav Yonasan Eibschutz, but in the hidden aspects of Torah, no one could grasp his level.”

Reb Dovid was known for his extraordinary ahavas Yisrael. The Tiferes Shlomo brings down, in his name, that one should not chastise a Yid in order to bring him close to Hashem, but should rather go about it b’darchei noam.

Once, a Jew asked him for a segulah to attain yiras Shamayim. Reb Dovid replied that he only had a segulah for ahavas Hashem, and that is ahavas Yisrael, loving one’s fellow Jew.

Reb Dovid was niftar on 7 Shevat 5574/1814. His Torah is published in Likutei Divrei Dovid. His son, Harav Moshe, son-in-law of the Yehudi Hakadosh, succeeded him as Rebbe. Harav Moshe ascended to Eretz Yisrael in 5611/1851 and the Chassidus continued to flourish in Yerushalayim.

His other two sons were Harav Nechemiah and Harav Avigdor. He also had a daughter, Rebbetzin Leah, who was married to Harav Meir Krakowitzki, later Rebbe in Pshedborz.

The Lelover Rebbe’s kever was a makom tefillah for many Jews; the Avnei Nezer, zy”a, and the Sfas Emes, zy”a, used to send bachurim who were in danger of being drafted into the army to daven there.

Jan. 27

In 1880, Thomas Edison received a patent for his electric lamp.

In 1944, during World War II, the Soviet Union announced the complete end of the deadly German siege of Leningrad, which had lasted for more than two years.

In 1945, during World War II, Soviet troops liberated the Nazi concentration camps Auschwitz and Birkenau in Poland.

In 1951, an era of atomic testing in the Nevada desert began as an Air Force plane dropped a one-kiloton bomb on Frenchman Flat.

In 1967, astronauts Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo spacecraft.

In 1967, more than 60 nations signed a treaty banning the orbiting of nuclear weapons.

In 1973, the Vietnam peace accords were signed in Paris.