This Day in History – 18 Cheshvan/October 22

18 Cheshvan

In 5699/1938, Hermann Goering announced plans for Madagascar as a home for European Jewry.

In 5703/1942, 16,000 Jews were killed by Nazis in Pinsk.

In 5751/1990, Rabbi Meir Kahane, Hy”d, was assassinated by a Palestinian attacker in New York.

Yahrtzeiten

5472/1711, Harav Naftali Hertz of Lvov, zt”l

5510/1749, Harav Avraham Dovid Moshe Ashkenazi of Ruhatin, zt”l

5671/1910, Harav Yecheskel Rabinowitz, zt”l, the Knesses Yechezkel of Radomsk

5717/1956, Harav Yaakov Friedman of Husyatin, zt”l

5731/1970, Harav Rafael Baruch Toledano, zt”l, mechaber of the Sephardic Kitzur Shulchan Aruch


 

Shaar blatt of Chiddushei Rav Nachum
Shaar blatt of Chiddushei Rav Nachum

5747/1986

Harav Nachum Partzovitz, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivas Mir

Harav Nachum Partzovitz was born in Trakai, Poland, on 28 Adar 5683/1923. His father, Chief Rabbi Harav Aryeh Tzvi Partzovitz, was a grandson of the posek of Vilna, Harav Shlomo Hakohen, and a son-in-law of Harav Nachum Greenhaus, after whom Reb Nachum was named.

Reb Nachum was reputed to have been so eager to learn Torah as a young boy that he would run to cheder in the morning barefoot, because putting on shoes took up too much time.

Reb Nachum learned at the famed yeshivah in Baranovitch under Harav Elchanan Wasserman and Harav Dovid Rappaport. When he reached the age of 13, the yeshivah’s administration decided that he was too advanced for their yeshivah, so he was sent to learn under Harav Baruch Ber Leibowitz in Kamenitz.

When he was 15 his father, Rav Aryeh Tzvi, an alumnus of Yeshivas Mir, convinced Reb Nachum to move there and learn under the Rosh Yeshivah, Harav Eliezer Yehudah Finkel. Soon after he joined the Mirrer Yeshivah it was exiled to Shanghai, where it was saved from the horrors of the Holocaust that annihilated much of European Jewry during World War II.

In Shanghai Reb Nachum continued to learn with tremendous diligence, earning the respect and admiration of the yeshivah’s Mashgiach, Harav Yechezkel Levenstein, and the acting Rosh Yeshivah, Harav Chaim Leib Shmulevitz. During this time, Reb Nachum (known as Reb Nachum Troker after his home town) is reputed to have learned daily a seder of 12 hours straight with his chavrusa, Harav Shmuel Berenbaum, zt”l, later Rosh Yeshivas Mir in Brooklyn.

After a brief stay in Toronto, Canada, following World War II, Reb Nachum moved to Eretz Yisrael and joined the newly-established Mirrer Yeshivah in Yerushalayim. He married the daughter of Harav Chaim Shmulevitz, the Rosh Yeshivah.

From 5725/1965, Reb Nachum served as one of the Roshei Yeshivah in Mir, delivering daily shiurim. He was known for having close personal relationships with his talmidim, encouraging their growth in Torah.

Reb Nachum succeeded his father-in-law, Harav Chaim Shmuelevitz, when the latter was niftar in 5739/1979.

Often unwell in his later years, Reb Nachum still managed to come to the yeshivah and deliver his daily shiur; but sadly, he was niftar at the age of 65, on 18 Cheshvan 5747/1986. He was buried on Har Hamenuchos.

Reb Nachum’s shiurim are published as Chiddushei Rav Nachum and Shiurei Rav Nachum.

Reb Nachum is survived by his two sons, Harav Tzvi Partzovitz, maggid shiur in Yeshivas Mir Brachfeld; and Harav Refael Partzovitz, maggid shiur in Yeshivas Mir in Yerushalayim. His three sons-in-law are Harav Asher Arieli, Rosh Yeshivah in Mir; Harav Yitzchak Hellman, maggid shiur in Yeshivas Mir; and Harav Chaim Mendel Brodsky, Rosh Yeshivah in Toronto.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.


 

October 22

In 1746, Princeton University was first chartered as the College of New Jersey.

In 1797, French balloonist André-Jacques Garnerin made the first parachute descent, landing safely from a height of about 3,000 feet over Paris.

In 1836, Sam Houston was inaugurated as the first constitutionally elected president of the Republic of Texas.

In 1928, Republican presidential nominee Herbert Hoover spoke of the “American system of rugged individualism” in a speech at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

In 1962, President John F. Kennedy delivered a nationally broadcast address in which he publicly revealed the presence of Soviet-built missile bases under construction in Cuba and announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to the Communist island nation.

In 1968, Apollo 7 returned safely from Earth orbit, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.

In 1979, the U.S. government allowed the deposed Shah of Iran to travel to New York for medical treatment — a decision that precipitated the Iran hostage crisis.

In 1981, the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization was decertified by the federal government for its strike the previous August.

In 1986, President Ronald Reagan signed into law sweeping tax-overhaul legislation.

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