This Day in History

4 Adar

In 5043/1283, the Maharam of Rottenberg was imprisoned in the Ensisheim fortress and held for a huge ransom, but he forbade the Jewish community to pay it.

Even after the Maharam’s petirah in 5053/1293, his body was not released for burial until it was ransomed, 14 years later, by Alexander ben Shlomo (Susskind) Wimpen, who was subsequently laid to rest at his side in the Beis Hachaim in Worms.

In 5558/1798, the Jews of Rome were declared free citizens by the French army.

Yahrtzeiten

4266/506, the Amora Rav Achai bar Rav Huna, zt”l

5627/1867, Harav Chaim Yosef Gottlieb, zt”l, Rav of Stropkov and mechaber of Tiv Gittin V’Kiddushin

5657/1897, Harav Shraga Tzvi Tenenbaum, zt”l, mechaber of Neta Sorek

5670/1910, Harav Eliezer Gordon, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Telshe

5675/1915, Harav Dovid Friedman of Pinsk, zt”l, mechaber of Piskei Halachos

5754/1994, Harav Yaakov Goldwicht, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Kerem B’Yavneh

5757/1997, Harav Dovid Mann, zt”l, Rosh Yeshivah of Beis Hillel

5551/1791

Harav Leib Sarah’s, zt”l

Born 17 Tammuz 5490/1730 in Rawani, Harav Leib was the son of Harav Yosef, one of the lamed-vav tzaddikim of the generation.

Reb Leib Sarah’s, as he was known (after his mother), was held in high esteem by the Baal Shem Tov.

He spent his life wandering from place to place to raise money for pidyon shevuyim, ransoming imprisoned Jews.

He traveled to many places, and on his travels uncovered “lost souls.” The most famous of these was a young shepherd whom he found singing. He convinced this boy to go to the Rebbe Reb Shmelke of Nikolsburg; later he became a Rebbe himself — Harav Yitzchak Eizik of Kaliv.

Many of Reb Leib’s talmidim were also tzaddikim nistarim, among them Harav Yitzchak of Lvov (Lemberg) and Harav Ezriel Palitzker.

Harav Leib Sarah’s was niftar on 4 Adar II 5551/1791, at the age of 61.

Zechuso yagen aleinu.

February 14

In 1778, the American ship Ranger carried the recently adopted Stars and Stripes to a foreign port for the first time as it arrived in France.

In 1859, Oregon was admitted to the Union as the 33rd state.

In 1903, the Department of Commerce and Labor was established. (It was divided into separate departments of Commerce and Labor in 1913.)

In 1912, President William Howard Taft signed a proclamation making Arizona the 48th state of the Union.

In 1920, the League of Women Voters was founded in Chicago; its first president was Maud Wood Park.

In 1949, Israel’s Knesset convened for the first time.

In 1979, Adolph Dubs, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, was kidnapped in Kabul by Muslim extremists and killed in a shootout between his abductors and police.