This Day in History – 13 Iyar/April 23

13 Iyar

In 5027/1267, in Vienna, the Church ordered that Jews should wear distinctive attire.

In 5187/1427, Jews were expelled from Bern, Switzerland. Bern had a long history of expulsions and anti-Jewish riots.

During the Middle Ages the Jews were more oppressed and persecuted in Switzerland than in any other country, but on account of their being indispensable during financial difficulties they were more frequently readmitted into Swiss cities than elsewhere. With marvelous persistence they returned again and again to the cities and villages which they had been ordered to leave. They were banished from the city and canton of Bern in 1427, from Freiburg in 1428, from Zurich in 1436, from Schaffhausen in 1472, from Rheinau (where they were plundered) in 1490, from Thurgau in 1494, and from Basel in 1543.

Yahrtzeiten

5424/1664, Harav Aharon, Hy”d, son of Harav Lapidos, Dayan of Lvov. He and his Rebbetzin were killed al kiddush Hashem during the riots that took place in Lvov.

5483/1723, Harav Yeshayah Yisrael, the Ba’er Heitev, zt”l

5743/1983, Harav Shimon Langbart, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Volozhin, Bnei Brak

5529/1769

Harav Nesanel Weil, zt”l, the Korban Nesanel

Harav Yaakov Nesanel Weil was born in Stuhlingen, Germany, in 5447/1687. His father, Harav Naftali Tzvi Hirsh, was niftar when his son was only five years old. His mother took him to Fürth at age 10, and soon afterward to Prague, where his father’s brother, Harav Lipman Weil, adopted him. Although so young, Nesanel was given permission to attend the shiurim of Harav Avraham Broide, head of the yeshivah of Prague. Rav Avraham married Nesanel to his sister’s daughter. The wedding was in 5468/1708, and when Rav Avraham was called to the rabbinate of Mayence, his nephew and talmid accompanied him there, remaining until 5473/1713, when he returned to Prague.

Rav Nesanel remained in Prague until the issue of the edict of Maria Theresa of Austria of Dec. 18, 1744, ordering the expulsion of all Jews from Bohemia. This proved to be the means of releasing Rav Nesanel from a burdensome existence, for he was then offered the rabbinate of the Black Forest, with headquarters in Muhringen. He took up the position in 5505/1745, and held it for five years, writing the greater part of his commentary on the Rosh during that time.

In 5510/1750, Rav Nesanel was called as Rav to Carlsruhe, and there, in the spring of 5514/1754 he completed his commentary. It was published in Carlsruhe under the title Korban Nesanel, and was later printed together with the Rosh in editions of the Shas, although it discusses only the sedarim of Moed and Nashim.

Rav Nesanel was Rav of Carlsruhe for about 20 years, and was niftar in Rostadt on 13 Iyar 5529/1769, at the age of 82.

In addition to the Korban Nesanel, which he self-published, Rav Nesanel also wrote Nesiv Chaim, containing critical notes on the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim, and its commentaries; Toras Nesanel, in two parts, the first consisting of a collection of his responsa, and the second consisting of drashos on the Torah.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

April 23

In 1789, President-elect George Washington and his wife, Martha, moved into the first executive mansion, the Franklin House, in New York.

In 1943, U.S. Navy Lt. (jg) John F. Kennedy assumed command of PT-109, a motor torpedo boat, in the Solomon Islands during World War II. (On Aug. 2, 1943, PT-109 was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, the Amagiri, killing two crew members; Kennedy and 10 others managed to survive.)

In 1968, student protesters began to occupy buildings on the campus of Columbia University in New York; police put down the protests a week later.

In 1969, Sirhan Sirhan was sentenced to death for assassinating New York Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. The sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.

In 1988, a federal ban on smoking during domestic airline flights of two hours or less went into effect.

In 1998, James Earl Ray, who had confessed to assassinating the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., and then insisted he had been framed, died in a Nashville, Tenn., hospital at age 70.

In 2007, Boris Yeltsin, the first freely elected Russian president, died in Moscow at age 76.