This Day in History – 12 Kislev/November 24

Ravina II Bar Shmuel (c. 475), who completed the codification of the Talmud Bavli begun earlier by Rav Ashi. His petirah marks the end of the period of the Amora’im.

Yahrzeiten

5334/1573, Harav Shlomo Luria, the Maharshal of Lublin, zt”l

5517/1756, Harav Yitzchak Shmuel Lempronti of Ferraro, Italy, zt”l, mechaber of Pachad Yitzchak

5657/1896, Harav Naftali Schwartz of Mahd, zt”l

5601/1840, Harav Avraham Dov Auerbach of Avritch, zt”l, the Bas Ayin

Harav Avraham Dov Auerbach was born in 5525/1765. His father was Rav Dovid, a maggid in the Ukrainian town of Chmielnick. Little is known of Rav Avraham Dov’s childhood other than that he was brilliant from his youngest years. He became the son-in-law of Rav Nosson Nota, the Rav of Avritch, who was a talmid of the Baal Shem.

At the age of just 20, Rav Avraham Dov was appointed Rav in Chmielnick, but a short while later, after the petirah of his father-in-law, he became the Rav of Avritch, serving in that capacity for 40 years.

Then he became Rav in the much larger Ukrainian town of Zhitomir and attracted many Chassidim.

Finally, in 5590/1830 or 5591/1831, at the advanced age of 70, Rav Avraham Dov decided that the best way to further his spiritual advancement was to leave all his Chassidim and begin life anew in Eretz Yisrael.

Upon arrival in Eretz Yisrael, Rav Avraham Dov almost immediately proceeded to Tzfas, even before visiting Yerushalayim.

Rav Avraham Dov soon became the leader of the Chassidim of Tzfas. He established his beis medrash right next to that of Harav Yisrael of Shklov, the Pei’as Hashulchan, talmid of the Vilna Gaon; a close friendship developed between the two. Rav Avraham Dov was also revered by the local Arabs as a holy man.

In 5601/1840 a terrible plague broke out in Tzfas. After Rav Avraham Dov fell ill, he announced that his petirah would be atonement for the town. He would be the plague’s last victim.

Rav Avraham Dov was niftar on 12 Kislev 5601/1840 and, as he had predicted, the plague stopped immediately. He was buried along with other great chassidic leaders in a me’arah that lies not far from the kevarim of the Beis Yosef and the Alshich. Many people daven there even today.

Although Rav Avraham Dov wrote his famous sefer, Bas Ayin, in Europe, he refused to print it until it was refined by the air of the Holy Land. This sefer is built on the tenets of Chassidus as taught by the court of Chernobyl, and is considered a basic chassidic work.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

Nov. 24

In 1865, Mississippi became the first Southern state to enact laws which came to be known as “Black Codes” aimed at limiting the rights of newly freed blacks; other states of the former Confederacy soon followed.

In 1939, British Overseas Airways Corp. (BOAC) was formally established.

In 1944, during World War II, U.S. bombers based on Saipan attacked Tokyo in the first raid against the Japanese capital by land-based planes.

In 1969, Apollo 12 splashed down safely in the Pacific.