This Day in History – 26 Iyar/May 6

26 Iyar

In 5130/1370, hundreds of Jews were massacred in Brussels, Belgium. Hy”d.

In 5705/1945, the Nazis finally surrendered to the Allies, ending the war that left millions dead, including six million Jews, Hy”d.

In 5726/1967, the Six-Day war broke out. The nations of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria attacked Eretz Yisrael.

Yahrtzeiten

4702/942 C.E., Rabbeinu Saadiah Gaon, zt”l

5507/1747, Harav Moshe Chaim Luzzato, zt”l, mechaber of Mesillas Yesharim, Derech Hashem and more.

5609/1849, Harav Yitzchak of Volozhin, zt”l

5705/1945, Harav Shlomo Goldman of Zhvil, zt”l

5648/1888

Harav Shmuel Eliyahu of Zhvallin, zt”l

Harav Shmuel Eliyahu Taub was the son of Harav Yechezel of Kuzmir, the founder of the Modzhitz dynasty. Harav Shmuel Eliyahu was born in 5579/1819.

From his youth, Reb Shmuel Eliyahu was outstanding in Torah scholarship and musical ability. He was called menagen mafli pla’os, a wondrous musical talent. When he davened before the amud in his father’s beis medrash, the walls shook. Chassidim then said that they experienced the meaning of “and the entire nation saw the sounds” (a description in the Torah to describe Mattan Torah).

To the dismay of the chassidim, he didn’t continue for long to daven before the amud. Precisely because he understood the value of neginah, he refrained from singing. Even so, he composed many niggunim, especially for Shabbos and Yom Tov, that were known throughout Poland and attracted many chassidim.

Upon the petirah of his father, Reb Yechezkel, his son Reb Shmuel Eliyahu was called upon to lead the chassidim. At the time, Reb Shmuel Eliyahu lived in Zhvallin, Poland.

Reb Shmuel Eliyahu was the first of the Polish Rebbes to concentrate his creative powers on neginah. With his awesome memory, he was able to remember everything he composed.

His attitude towards neginah was as if the singer was standing in the Beis Hamikdash, and the Leviim were accompanying him in the shirah v’zimrah.

Reb Shmuel Eliyahu was niftar on 26 Iyar 5648/1888, leaving behind five sons: Harav Moshe Aharon, who succeeded him in Zhvallin; Harav Yisrael, Rebbe in Modzhitz; Harav Yaakov of Radom. The other two sons, Harav Ovadiah and Harav Chaim Binyamin, did not have a chassidic following.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

May 6

In 1840, Britain’s first adhesive postage stamp, the Penny Black, officially went into circulation five days after its introduction.

In 1863, the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville in Virginia ended with a Confederate victory over Union forces.

In 1882, President Chester Alan Arthur signed the Chinese Exclusion Act, which barred Chinese immigrants from the U.S. for 10 years. (Arthur had opposed an earlier version with a 20-year ban.)

In 1910, Britain’s Edwardian era ended with the death of King Edward VII; he was succeeded by George V.

In 1935, the Works Progress Administration began operating under an executive order signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

In 1937, the hydrogen-filled German airship Hindenburg burned and crashed in Lakehurst, N.J., killing 35 of the 97 people on board and a Navy crewman on the ground.

In 1942, during World War II, some 15,000 Americans and Filipinos on Corregidor surrendered to Japanese forces.

In 1962, in the first test of its kind, the submerged submarine USS Ethan Allen fired a Polaris missile armed with a nuclear warhead that detonated above the Pacific Ocean.

In 2002, Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn was shot and killed in Hilversum, Netherlands. (Volkert van der Graaf was later convicted of killing Fortuyn and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.)