This Day in History – 25 Cheshvan/October 29

25 Cheshvan

This date is a Yom Tov cited in Megillas Taanis. Around 3413/349 B.C.E., a wall was erected around the area of Yam Boste. When Jews returned from Galus Bavel, the Cuthim would not let them settle in Shomron until they recaptured the area by force. This settlement ultimately led to many other cities and towns being reoccupied by Jews, creating a strong Jewish presence in the area. This group of towns was called “Arei Nevrachta,” derived from the word brachah — blessing.

In 5168/1407, mobs attacked the Jewish community of Cracow.

Yahrtzeiten

5549/1788, Harav Avraham, zt”l, mechaber of Maalos HaTorah and brother of the Vilna Gaon

5564/1803, Harav Yissachar Dov Groidtbart, zt”l

5588/1827, Harav Yitzchak Yoel of Linitz, zt”l

5710/1949, Harav Mordechai Rokeach, zt”l, the Bilgorayer Rav

5599/1838

Harav Naftali Weissblum of Lizhensk, zt”l

Born in 5525/1765, Harav Naftali Weissblum was the son of Harav Elazar of Lizhensk, oldest son of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk.

Reb Naftali was zocheh to know his famous grandfather. The Rebbe Reb Elimelech was niftar on 21 Adar 5546/1786, when Reb Naftali was twenty-one. His son Reb Elazar, father of Reb Naftali, succeeded him as Rebbe in Lizhensk. Although most of his father’s chassidim flocked to other talmidim of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech, Reb Elazar held court in Lizhensk.

After the petirah of Reb Elazar on 25 Tammuz 5606/1806, many chassidim wanted Reb Naftali to be their Rebbe. Reb Naftali refused to accept this position. Only once a year was Reb Naftali willing to serve as Rebbe; at that time he would perform many mofsim.

Despite being a scion of such an illustrious family, Reb Naftali conducted himself with humility. He journeyed to courts of other famous Rebbes of his era, though he himself could have been a Rebbe. Reb Naftali was especially close with the Rebbe Reb Menachem Mendel of Kossov, the founder of the Kossov-Vizhnitz dynasty and mechaber of Ahavas Shalom.

Reb Naftali was niftar on 25 Cheshvan 5599/1838, at the age of 73. He was survived by two sons, Harav Yaakov Yitzchak of Ziditchov and Harav Meshulam Zusha of Nadvorna. Like his father, Reb Meshulam Zusha did not conduct himself as a Rebbe.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

October 29

In 1901, President William McKinley’s assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was electrocuted.

In 1923, the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed.

In 1929, Wall Street crashed on “Black Tuesday,” heralding the beginning of America’s Great Depression.

In 1940, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson drew the first number — 158 — in America’s first peacetime military draft.

In 1964 the Star of India, along with several other gems, was stolen from the  American Museum of Natural History.

In 1979, on the 50th anniversary of the great stock market crash, anti-nuclear protesters tried but failed to shut down the New York Stock Exchange.

In 1994, gunman Francisco Martin Duran fired more than two dozen shots from a semiautomatic rifle at the White House. (Duran was later convicted of trying to assassinate President Bill Clinton and was sentenced to 40 years in prison.)

In 1998, Sen. John Glenn, at age 77, roared back into space aboard the shuttle Discovery, retracing the trail he’d blazed 36 years earlier.

In 2004, Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement, directly admitted for the first time that he’d ordered the Sept. 11 attacks and told America “the best way to avoid another Manhattan” was to stop threatening Muslims’ security.