This Day in History

3 Adar

In 3413/348 B.C.E., after four years of work, the joyous dedication of the second Beis Hamikdash was celebrated on this day.

Yahrtzeiten

5398/1638, Harav Noach of Cracow, zt”l, mechaber of Toldos Noach on Medrash

5562/1802, Harav Noach Chaim of Altuna, zt”l, mechaber of Atzei Almogim

5611/1851, Harav Binyamin Zev Lev, zt”l, Rav of Verboi and mechaber of Shaarei Tefillah

5626/1866, Harav Dovid Morgenstern of Kotzk, zt”l

5628/1868, Harav Eliyahu of Mezhritch, zt”l, mechaber of Midreshei Eliyahu

5665/1905, Harav Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teumim, the Aderes, zt”l

5372/1612

Harav Mordechai Yaffa, zt”l, the Baal HaLevushim

The Levush, as he is commonly called, was born in Prague in 5290/1530. His father, Harav Avraham, was, as the S”mah wrote: “Rav of the entire Polish and Bohemian Kingdom and was famous for his righteousness and piety.”

Harav Mordechai was a primary talmid of the Rema and the Maharshal, two of the most prominent scholars of that time. He was also a devoted talmid of Harav Matisyahu Delacrot, author of the peirush called Shaarei Orah, and a well-known mekubal.

He married in 5313/1553.

The Levush served for a while as Rosh Yeshivah in Prague, where he also began writing his great chibbur.

In 5332/1572, after the petirah of Harav Nassan Shapiro, mechaber of Mevo Hashe’arim, Harav Mordechai was asked to succeed him as the Rav of Horodna (Grodna), Lithuania. There he continued to disseminate Torah, establishing a large beis medrash that was later named after him.

When the Maharam of Lublin moved to Cracow in 5348/1588, the Levush was invited to assume the crown of Lublin’s rabbanus. He established a large and eminent yeshivah there. In Lublin, he strengthened the power of the Vaad Shalosh Aratzos (Council of Three Lands), whose gatherings were held in Lublin, and under his influence the Jewish communities of Lithuania joined the Vaad, ultimately turning it into the Vaad Arba Aratzos (Council of Four Lands).

His next rabbanus was in Kremenitz, from 5352/1592. In 5359/1599, when the Maharal returned to Prague after serving as Rav in Posen, Rav Mordechai went on to become Rav in Posen and remained there until his petirah.

The Levush’s mesirus nefesh for Torah was legendary, and despite his many pressing communal responsibilities he continued his Torah-related tasks unabated.

While on his deathbed, he answered a complex question in hilchos gittin, as cited in Teshuvos Maharam of Lublin Responsa 122. In response to a question sent to him two days before his petirah, he wrote a teshuvah to the Vaad Arba Aratzos, saying: “I am now on my deathbed, lo aleichem, and am dependent on the Melech Malchei Hamelachim.”

The tzaddikim of the Vorka and Amshinover dynasties, who are descendants of the Levush, used to tell this story:

Once a wealthy noblewoman wanted to incite him to a dvar aveirah. Harav Mordechai fled by jumping into a sewer pipeline and was miraculously saved, although all of his garments, 10 in number, were ruined. He was rewarded for this great mesirus nefesh by being granted the zechus of writing the 10 sefarim called Levushim (“Garments”). (In another version, he promised that if he would be saved he would author 10 Levushim.)

After this incident, to protect his children from nisyonos, the Levush davened to Hashem that his children should be dark-skinned and unappealing. (The sefer Ish Chasidecha cites that this bakashah was fulfilled for 10 generations.)

He authored ten Levushim: Levush HaTecheiles on Ohr Hachaim; Levush HaChur on Ohr Hachaim; Levush Ateres Zahav on Yoreh Deah; Levush Habutz V’ha’argaman on Even Haezer; Levush Ir Shushan on Choshen Mishpat; Levush HaOrah, a peirush on Rashi al HaTorah; Levush Simchah VeSasson, drushim; Levush Pinas Yikras, a peirush on Sefer Moreh Nevuchim of the Rambam; Levush Even Yekarah, a peirush on the Recanati al HaTorah; and Levush Eider Hayakar, a peirush on the Rambam’s Hilchos Kiddush Hachodesh.

During his lifetime his sefarim were reprinted three times; they were accepted as basic by all the Rabbanim and mechabrim after him. The Chida writes that in some places people preferred to learn Levush over Shulchan Aruch, due to its lengthy and explanatory style.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

February 13

In 1741, Andrew Bradford of Pennsylvania published the first American magazine. The American Magazine, or A Monthly View of the Political State of the British Colonies lasted three issues.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was officially declared winner of the 1860 presidential election as electors cast their ballots.

In 1920, the League of Nations recognized the perpetual neutrality of Switzerland.

In 1933, the Warsaw Convention, governing airlines’ liability for international carriage of persons, luggage and goods, went into effect.

In 1935, a jury in Flemington, N.J. found Bruno Richard Hauptmann guilty of first-degree murder in the kidnap-slaying of the son of Charles and Anne Lindbergh. Hauptmann was later executed.

In 1943, during World War II, the U.S. Marine Corps Women’s Reserve was officially established.

In 1945, during World War II, Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden. The Soviets captured Budapest, Hungary, from the Germans.

In 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, allied warplanes destroyed an underground shelter in Baghdad that had been identified as a military command center; Iraqi officials said 500 civilians were killed