This Day in History – 28 Cheshvan/November 1

28 Cheshvan

In 1593, anti-Jewish riots erupted in Bucharest, Romania, costing many Jewish lives. Hy”d.

Yahrtzeiten

5024/1263, Rabbeinu Yonah, zt”l, the Chassid of Girondi

5447/1686, Harav Zev Wolf, zt”l, Rav of Salik and mechaber of Nachalas Binyamin

5353/1692, Harav Tzvi Bochtinsch, zt”l, mechaber of Shechitos U’Bedikos Maharatz

5353/1592

Harav Tzvi Bochtinsch, zt”l, mechaber of Shechitos U’bedikos Maharatz

Harav Tzvi Bochtinsch was the son of Harav Yaakov Yitzchak.

Harav Tzvi was a renowned talmid chacham, and was especially known for his expertise in the halachos of shechitah, and the more intricate halachos of bedikos and nikkur. It was said that he was the biggest expert in his time on these halachos.

He wrote the sefer Shechitos U’Bedikos Maharatz, an impressive work that was very well received and accepted by all the major poskim. Mahari Weill, in his own work on these halachos, often quotes Harav Tzvi and his rulings.

Harav Tzvi served as the leading shochet in Cracow, in the times of the Rema, and he also had many talmidim who learned from his expertise. One of his talmidim, Rav Yaakov Shorzina from Kostelitz, attested that Harav Tzvi once had a halachic dispute with the Rema, and the Rema agreed to his ruling in the end, showing how highly his opinion was regarded by the leading poskim of his time.

Rav Tzvi was niftar on 28 Cheshvan, 5353/1592.

Zecher tzaddik livrachah.

November 1

In 1765, the Stamp Act went into effect, prompting stiff resistance from American colonists.

In 1861, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln named Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan General-in-Chief of the Union armies, succeeding Lt. Gen. Winfield Scott.

In 1870, the United States Weather Bureau made its first meteorological observations.

In 1936, in a speech in Milan, Italy, Benito Mussolini described the alliance between his country and Nazi Germany as an “axis” running between Rome and Berlin.

In 1950, two Puerto Rican nationalists tried to force their way into Blair House in Washington, D.C. to assassinate President Harry S. Truman. The attempt failed, and one of the pair was killed, along with a White House police officer.

In 1952, the United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb, code-named “Ivy Mike,” at Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands.

In 1973, following the “Saturday Night Massacre,” Acting Attorney General Robert H. Bork appointed Leon Jaworski to be the new Watergate special prosecutor, succeeding Archibald Cox.

In 1979, former first lady Mamie Eisenhower died in Washington, D.C. at age 82.

In 1989, East Germany reopened its border with Czechoslovakia, prompting tens of thousands of refugees to flee to the West.