This Day in History – 22 Iyar/May 2

22 Iyar

In 2449/1312 B.C.E., Dassan and Aviram searched for mann on the first Shabbos in the Midbar but did not find any (Shemos 16:27).

In 5491/1731, all the sefarim in the Papal States were confiscated.

In 5679/1919, the Romanian government granted citizenship to all native-born Jews.

In 5704/1944, the Nazis began the deportation of Jews from Greater Hungary to the extermination camps.

Yahrtzeiten

5654/1894, Harav Mordechai Shraga Feivush Friedman of Hosyatin, zt”l

5690/1930, Harav Shlomo Eliezer Elfandri, zt”l, the Saba Kadisha

5554/1794,

Harav Yeshayah of Dinowitz, zt”l, talmid of the Mezeritcher Maggid

Harav Yeshayah of Dinowitz was born in Berditchev, and was a close talmid of Harav Lieber of Berditchev.

Reb Yeshayah was the son-in-law of Harav Yaakov Yehudah, known as Yudel Chassid, from Ostroha.

After davening that he merit to have a clear voice to be able to serve Hashem, he was zocheh to an amazing voice. Through his rousing tefillos, Reb Yeshayah was able to draw many Yidden to teshuvah and some followed him in his attraction to the ways of Chassidus.

The kehillah of Dinowitz asked Reb Yeshayah to remain with them, and his name is associated with that city.

Reb Yeshayah was a talmid of the Baal Shem Tov, and later of the Mezeritcher Maggid. He held a prominent position in the dissemination of the ways of Chassidus.

Reb Yeshayah is mentioned in Tzavaas HaRivash, the tzavaah of the Baal Shem Tov, as Rav of Yanov, where he served as Rav after Dinowitz.

Some of his divrei Torah are quoted by the Rebbes of his generation, most notably by Harav Chaim of Tchernowitz in his Sidduro shel Shabbos.

Reb Yeshayah had many unique manuscripts in his collections. The sefer Tzavaas HaRivash was published based on the manuscript that Reb Yeshayah had, as well as the sefer Ohr Torah of the Maggid of Mezeritch. He also had manuscripts of Harav Shimshon Ostropoler and Harav Lieber of Berditchev.

Reb Yeshayah was niftar in Smila, on 22 Iyar 5554/1794.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

May 2

In 1670, the Hudson’s Bay Co. was chartered by England’s King Charles II.

In 1863, during the Civil War, Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson was accidentally wounded by his own men at Chancellorsville, Va.; he died eight days later.

In 1890, the Oklahoma Territory was organized.

In 1945, the Soviet Union announced the fall of Berlin, and the Allies announced the surrender of Nazi troops in Italy and parts of Austria.

In 1952, the era of commercial jet passenger service began as a BOAC de Havilland Comet carrying 36 passengers took off on a multi-stop flight from London to Johannesburg, South Africa.

In 1957, Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy (R-Wis.) died at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.

In 1963, the Children’s Crusade began in Birmingham, Ala., as more than 1,000 black schoolchildren skipped classes and marched downtown to protest racial segregation; hundreds were arrested. (During another march the following day, authorities unleashed police dogs and fire hoses on the young protesters.)

In 1972, a fire at the Sunshine silver mine in Kellogg, Idaho, claimed the lives of 91 workers who succumbed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

Longtime FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover died in Washington at age 77.

In 2011, Osama bin Laden was killed by elite American forces at his Pakistan compound, then quickly buried at sea after a decade on the run.