This Day in History – 27 Teves/January 8

In 3680/81 B.C.E., Rabi Shimon Ben Shetach successfully completed the ejection of the Tzedokim (Sadducees), who had dominated the Sanhedrin, replacing them with his Torah-loyal Dayanim.

In 5626/1866, the Jews of Switzerland were granted civic equality after pressure was exerted by the United States, which had interceded on behalf of American Jewish citizens.

Yahrtzeiten

5649/1888, Harav Samson Raphael Hirsch, zt”l

5749/1989, Harav Avraham Simcha Hakohen Kaplan, zt”l, Rav in Tzfas

5758/1998, Harav Pinchas Hirschprung, zt”l, Chief Rabbi of Montreal

5731/1971, Harav Menashe Yitzchak Meir Eichenstein of Ziditchov, zt”l

Harav Menashe Yitzchak Meir Eichenstein was the son of Harav Asher Yeshayah of Prochnick, a scion of the Ziditchover dynasty.

Reb Menashe Yitzchak Meir married the daughter of Harav Shimon Shiff of Lizhensk, a descendant of the Rebbe Reb Elimelech of Lizhensk.

He traveled to many chassidic courts and was close with the Rebbes of his era. He was especially close with Harav Yissachar Dov of Belz, zy”a.

After the petirah of his father, Reb Menashe Yitzchak Meir was named Rebbe of Ziditchov. Following World War II, he moved to Eretz Yisrael, where he founded his beis medrash, a center of Ziditchover Chassidim, in Petach Tikvah.

Reb Menashe Yitzchak Meir was niftar on 27 Teves 5731/1971. He was buried on Har Hamenuchos in Yerushalayim.

He was succeeded as Ziditchover Rebbe in Petach Tikvah by his nephew Harav Yissachar Berish Eichenstein, shlita.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

Jan. 8

In 1790, President George Washington delivered his first State of the Union address to Congress in New York.

In 1863, America’s first transcontinental railroad had its beginnings as California Gov. Leland Stanford broke ground for the Central Pacific Railroad in Sacramento. The transcontinental railroad was completed in Promontory, Utah, in May 1869.

In 1918, President Woodrow Wilson outlined his Fourteen Points for lasting peace after World War I. Mississippi became the first state to ratify the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which established Prohibition.

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson, in his State of the Union address, declared an “unconditional war on poverty in America.”