This Day in History
7 Adar
This day is a Taanis Tzaddikim commemorating the petirah of Moshe Rabbeinu, zy”a. It is customary for the chevrah kaddisha to fast on 7 Adar.
Moshe Rabbeinu was born on 7 Adar 2369/1394 B.C.E. and
was niftar at the age of 120 in 2489/1274 B.C.E. He was buried by Hashem on Har Nevo but, as recorded in the Torah, the location of his grave is unknown.
In 5000/1240, the French authorities confiscated all the printed copies of the Gemara.
In 5241/1481, the first burning of Jews at the stake (the infamous auto-da-fé) was carried out by the Inquisition.
In 5246/1486, Inquisition forces burned 1,000 Jews at the stake.
In 5384/1624, in the city of Lonshitz, numerous Jews were killed al kiddush Hashem. The Rav of the city, Harav Shlomo Chaver, zt”l, composed a special kinnah commemorating this tragic event.
In 5430/1670, Jews were expelled from Austria.
Yahrtzeiten
5579/1819, Harav Avraham Tzvi Patznovski of Pietrikov, zt”l
5581/1821, Harav Yitzchak Eizek of Kalev, zt”l
5657/1897, Harav Yosef Klein, zt”l, Rav of Serdehali
5695/1935, Harav Menachem Mendel Chaim Landau of Tshechnov-Zavirtzia, zt”l
5725/1965, Harav Tzvi Kinstlicher, zt”l, mechaber of She’eilos U’teshuvos Be’er Tzvi
8 Adar
In 5434/1674, the Jews of Barbados were granted permission to take an oath on the Torah. One hundred fifty-one years later, also on 8 Adar, Jews of Maryland were allowed to take a non-Christian oath.
Yahrtzeiten
5548/1788, Harav Gershon of Lotzk, zt”l, talmid of the Mezritcher Maggid
5549/1789, Harav Aryeh Leib Hanover, zt”l, son of the Pnei Yehoshua
5692/1932, Harav Avraham Noach Paley, zt”l, of Shklov-Yerushalayim
8 Adar 5690/1930
Harav Yosef Yedid, zt”l, mechaber of Yemei Yosef
Harav Yosef Yedid Halevi was born in Halab (Aleppo), Syria, in 5627/1867. His father, Harav Mordechai, was a close talmid of Harav Avraham Addes.
Initially, Rav Yosef assisted his father in his job as melamed in the local Talmud Torah.
In 5650/1890, at the age of 23, Rav Yosef moved to Eretz Yisrael and settled in Tzfas. In 5671/1911, he moved to Yerushalayim and was appointed Av Beis Din of
the Syrian community in Yerushalayim. Rav Yosef would travel as a shaliach for tzedakah matters to North Africa.
All his life, Rav Yosef lived in dire poverty. Four sons and a daughter passed away during his lifetime; only one son survived him.
Rav Yosef authored four sefarim: Toras Chacham, regarding the various halachos and minhagim pertaining to respecting a talmid chacham; Yemei Yosef, a two-part collection of his halachic responsa on the four parts of Shulchan Aruch (She’eiris Yosef, a compilation of various halachic discussions and drashos, was added as an appendix to the second part of the sefer.); Birkas Yosef, on hilchos brachos; Vayechi Yosef, on the various names and the halachic ramifications in regard to gittin. All his sefarim received warm haskamos from the leading Rabbanim of Yerushalayim, from both the Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities.
Rav Yosef was niftar on 8 Adar 5690/1930 in Yerushalayim, at the age of 63.
Zecher tzaddik livrachah.
February 18
In 1861, Jefferson Davis was sworn in as provisional president of the Confederate States of America in Montgomery, Ala.
In 1913, Mexican President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President Jose Maria Pino Suarez were arrested during a military coup. (Both resigned their positions the next day, and both were shot to death on Feb. 22.)
In 1930, photographic evidence of Pluto (now designated a “dwarf planet”) was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.
In 1943, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, the wife of the Chinese leader, addressed members of the Senate and then the House, becoming the first Chinese national to address both houses of the U.S. Congress.
In 1970, the “Chicago Seven” defendants were found not guilty of conspiring to incite riots at the 1968 Democratic national convention; five were convicted of violating the Anti-Riot Act of 1968 (those convictions were later reversed).
In 1977, the space shuttle Enterprise, sitting atop a Boeing 747, went on its debut “flight” above the Mojave Desert.
In 1988, Anthony M. Kennedy was sworn in as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.
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