This Day in History – 10 Sivan/May 28

Yahrtzeiten

5502/1742, Harav Elazar Rokeach, zt”l, the Maaseh Rokeach

5571/1811, Harav Yishmael Hakohen, zt”l, Rav of Modina, mechaber of Zera Emes

5574/1814, Harav Binyamin Zev Wolf Boskowitz, zt”l, of Kelen, mechaber of Seder L’Mishneh

5654/1894, Harav Moshe of Rozvadov, zt”l, son of Harav Eliezer of Dzikov

5704/1944, Harav Mordechai Rottenberg, Hy”d, Rav of Antwerp and mechaber of Yad Mordechai

5694/1934, Harav Ezra Harari-Raful, zt”l, mekubal of Aleppo and founder of yeshivot Ohel Moed, Bet Yosef and Magen David

Harav Ezra Harari-Raful was born on 24 Av 5617/1857 in ­Aleppo, Syria. His father was Harav Yosef.

In 5650/1890, Rav Ezra moved to Eretz Yisrael, settling in Yerushalayim. He learned Kabbalah under Harav Chaim Shaul Doueck Hakohen in Yeshivat Hamekubalim Rechovot Hanahar. He was known as an outstanding masmid, never wasting a minute.

In Sivan 5664/1904, Rav Ezra was among the founding group of Yeshivat Ohel Moed; later he also helped found yeshivot Bet Yosef and Magen David. He was involved with governing the Syrian-Jewish community in Yerushalayim as well.

Rav Ezra wrote Heichin Ezra, a compilation of mussar teachings that he gathered from various sefarim.

Rav Ezra was niftar on 10 Sivan 5697/1937, at the age of 80. He was buried on Har Hazeisim.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

May 28

In 1912, the Senate Commerce Committee issued its report on the Titanic disaster that cited a “state of absolute unpreparedness,” improperly tested safety equipment and an “indifference to danger” as some of the causes of an “unnecessary tragedy.”

In 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington signaling that vehicular traffic could begin crossing the just-opened Golden Gate Bridge in California.

In 1937, Neville Chamberlain became prime minister of Britain.

In 1940, during World War II, the Belgian army surrendered to invading German forces.

In 1959, the U.S. Army launched Able, a rhesus monkey, and Baker, a squirrel monkey, aboard a Jupiter missile for a suborbital flight. Both primates survived.

In 1985, David Jacobsen, director of the American University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon, was abducted by pro-Iranian kidnappers. (He was freed 17 months later.)