This Day in History – 14 Tishrei/September 18

14 Tishrei

In 2936/826 B.C.E., Shlomo Hamelech completed Chanukas Habayis festivities for the first Beis Hamikdash.

Yahrtzeiten

5563/1802, Harav Shalom Shachna of Prohobich, zt”l, father of Harav Yisrael of Ruzhin

5567/1806, Harav Yehudah Leib of Anipole, zt”l, mechaber of Or Haganuz

5575/1814, Harav Yisrael of Kozhnitz, zt”l, the Kozhnitzer Maggid, mechaber of Avodas Yisrael

5661/1900, Harav Mordechai of Zhvil, zt”l

5678/1917, Harav Shalom Halevi Segal of Podheits, zt”l

5703/1942, Harav Chanoch Heinich Gad Justman of Piltz, Hy”d

5709/1948, Harav Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky of Yerushalayim, zt”l

5746/1985, Harav Chaim Elazar Bentzion Bruk, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Novardok-Yerushalayim

5709/1948

Harav Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, zt”l, Gaavad of Yerushalayim

Harav Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky was born on 25 Tammuz 5627/1867 in Paksh, Hungary, to Harav Yisrael Dushinsky.

He was a prized talmid of Harav Simchah Bunim Sofer (the Shevet Sofer, son of the Ksav Sofer) and of Harav Moshe Pollack, Rav of Bonyhad.

After his marriage to the daughter of Harav Mordechai Yehudah Leib Winkler, Rav of Mahd and mechaber of Levushei Mordechai, Reb Yosef Tzvi was appointed Rav in Galanta, Slovakia.

His first wife passed away in an epidemic during World War I, leaving no children. He later married the daughter of Harav Yoel Tzvi Neuhaus.

Relocating to the town of Chust, he assumed the position of Rav. He founded a yeshivah in Chust that was one of the leading yeshivos in Hungary.

A talmid chacham and a posek, Reb Yosef Tzvi waged war against the Reform movement and the Neologue group in Hungary.

In 5681/1921, his only son, Yisrael Moshe, was born.

In Adar 5692/1932, Reb Yosef Tzvi visited Eretz Yisrael, where he was greeted with honor. When he visited Harav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld — who was ill at the time — Reb Yosef Chaim said, “The Chuster Rav will remain here.” Two days later, on 19 Adar, Reb Yosef Chaim was niftar.

After the levayah, the leaders of the community approached Reb Yosef Tzvi and asked him to remain there and take the post of Rav, seeing it was decreed from Heaven. Reb Yosef Tzvi settled in Eretz Yisrael on 7 Elul 5693/1933 upon his appointment as Gaavad of the Eidah Chareidis.

He founded a yeshivah in Yerushalayim which was posthumously named after him, Beis Yosef Tzvi.

He established a community of Hungarian Jews in Yerushalayim affiliated with the Perushim section of the Eidah Chareidis. This community later developed into a Chassidic dynasty, today headed by his grandson, the Dushinsky Rebbe, shlita, who was named after him.

Reb Yosef Tzvi was niftar on Erev Sukkos, 14 Tishrei 5709/1948. He was buried in the Shaarei Tzedek cemetery, nearwhere the old Shaarei Tzedek hospital stood.

He was succeeded by Harav Zelig Reuven Bengis as Gaavad of the Eidah Chareidis.

His only son, Harav Yisrael Moshe Dushinsky, also served later as Gaavad of the Eidah Chareidis.

His Torah commentaries have been published in the Toras Maharitz series.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

September 18

In 1759, the French formally surrendered Quebec to the British.

In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol.

In 1810, Chile made its initial declaration of independence from Spain with the formation of a national junta.

In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners.

In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed a commission naming Rabbi Jacob Frankel of Rodeph Shalom Congregation in Philadelphia as the first Jewish chaplain of the U.S. Army.

In 1931, an explosion in the Chinese city of Mukden damaged a section of Japanese-owned railway track; Japan, blaming Chinese nationalists, invaded Manchuria the next day.

In 1947, the National Security Act, which created a National Military Establishment, went into effect.

In 1961, United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold was killed in a plane crash in northern Rhodesia.

In 1975, newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was captured by the FBI in San Francisco, 19 months after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army.

In 1981, a museum honoring former President Gerald R. Ford was dedicated in Grand Rapids, Mich.