This Day in History – April 30/6 Iyar

In 4773/1013, many Jews of Cordova, Spain, were massacred by the soldiers of Suleiman ibn Al-Hakim.

In 5680/1920, Great Britain’s mandate to govern Eretz Yisrael began.

In 5708/1948, the British mandate over Eretz Yisrael came to an end, exactly 28 years after it began. The armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon immediately invaded Eretz Yisrael.

Yahrtzeiten

5104/1344, Rabbeinu Levi Ben Gershom, zt”l, Ralbag

5527/1767, Harav Yitzchak Halevi Horowitz of Hamburg, zt”l

5608/1848, Harav Moshe of Sambur, zt”l, son of Harav Yitzchok Eizik of Komarna

5669/1909, Harav Yosef Meir, zy”a, the Imrei Yosef of Spinka

5706/1946, Harav Yaakov Chaim Perlow of Stolin, zy”a

5715/1955, Harav Menachem Mendel Halberstam, zy”a, Stropkover Rebbe of Williamsburg, mechaber of Divrei Menachem

5762/2002, Harav Rafael Levin, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Bais Aryeh and son of Harav Arye Levin, “the tzaddik of Yerushalayim”

5591/1831, Harav Moshe of Zvhill, Zy”a

Born in 5530/1770, Harav Moshe Goldman was the fourth son of Harav Yechiel Michel, zy”a, the Zlotchover Maggid, a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov and of the Mezritcher Maggid. Rav Yechiel Michel compared his five sons to the Chamishah Chumshei Torah.

Rav Moshe married the daughter of Harav Dovid, Rav of Gravitz.

Like his father, he was a maggid, traveling from village to village to spread Yiddishkeit.

With the petirah of his father on 25 Elul 5546/September 18, 1786, Rav Moshe although reluctant, was persuaded to become Rebbe by Harav Mordechai of Neshchiz, zy”a. He established his court in Zhvill, Volhynia, Ukraine, and was the forebear of the famed Zhviller dynasty.

Esteemed by the generation’s leading Rebbes, he was especially close to Harav Pinchas of Koritz, zy”a.

Rav Moshe was niftar on 6 Iyar 5591/April 19, 1831 and was succeeded by his son Harav Yechiel Michel, named for his grandfather.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

April 30

In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office in New York as the first president of the United States.

In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million.

In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler committed suicide along with his wife of one day, Eva Braun.

In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon announced the U.S. was sending troops into Cambodia, an action that sparked widespread protest.

In 1973, President Richard Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean, who was actually fired.

In 1975, the Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces.

In 2010, heavy winds and high tides complicated efforts to hold back oil from a blown-out BP-operated rig that threatened to coat bird and marine life in the Gulf of Mexico.