Click on any date for a list of yahrtzeits
26 Sivan
Rav Yonatan ben Uziel, student of Hillel.
Rav Yosi ben Kisma
Rav Refael Yosef ben Robi, author of Derech Ha’melech on Rambam (published 1786).
Rav Avraham Yehoshuah Heschel ben Chaim Meir Yechiel of Moglenitz (1878) "the Saraph" of Moglenitz.
Rav Shimon Ashriki (1930), Av Bet Din in Yerushalayim
Rav Yehoshuah ben Yosef Bucksbaum, the Galanta Rav (1944). Author of Ohr P’nei Yehoshuah.
Other events on this day:
- The Jewish community of Berne, Switzerland forfeited all financial claims against non-Jews, and then were expelled from the country, 1294.
- The Taz established this day as a minor Purim for the Jewish community of Alik who were saved in the Chmilnitzki Massacres of 1648-49.
- The Inquisitor of Ancona, Italy decreed that Jews may not live in any municipality where there was no ghetto, 1843.
27 Sivan
Rabbi Chaninah ben Tradyon , one of the Asarah Harugei Malchut
Rav Meir ben Aizik Eisenstadt, author of Panim Meirot (1670-1744). He traced his lineage back to David Hamelech. During the gezeirot of Tach veTat (1648-49), many Jews had to flee from the oncoming forces of Chmielnitzki, among them the Shach and his sister. The two of them were separated, and the sister ended up in the home of Reb Yitzchak, a wealthy Parnes of Sochathov, Lithuania. When he discovered her lineage, Reb Yitzchak married her. Their second son was Reb Meir. After his marriage, he was supported for 10 years by his father-in-law. He later served as dayan in that town. He then moved to Worms, in Germany. In 1702, he lefts Worms and went to Prozhnitz, Moravia, where he was appointed Rav.
Among his disciples in Prozhnitz was Rav Yonasan Eybeschuetz. He was chief rabbi of Eisenstadt from 1718 until his death in 1744, and through him the local yeshiva became celebrated. His magnum opus, Panim Meirot, is a 4-volume collection of his she’elot u’teshuvot and chidushim on shas. He also wrote Me’orei Esh (drashos on Chumash and the five megilot), Ohr Ganuz (chidushim on Masechet Ketubot and on Hilchot Yayin Nesech), and other sefarim. He and his wife had 11 children (9 boys and two girls). His grandson, Rav Yaakov Eisenstadt, was the author of the Toledot Yaakov. Many Litvishe Gedolim can trace their roots to the Panim Meirot, including the Netziv, Rav Chaim Brisker, and Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer.
Rav Mordechai ben Asher Kletzki (later known as Meltzer) (1797-1883). A descendant of the Maharam Padua, he married the daughter of Rav Leib Meltzer, and afterwards went by the latter’s surname. He was appointed Rosh Yeshivah of the Ramailles Yeshivah of Vilna, newly founded by Reb Meiles, in 1827. In 1852, he accepted the position of Rav in Kalavaria, and in 1864, Rav of Lida. After his petirah, his talmidim published his chidusim in Techeilet Mordechai.
Rav Moshe Yechiel Elimelech ben Natan David Rabinowitz (1895-1941). Born in Biala, he was a grandson of the Divrei Binah of Biala. After he married at age 16, he began releasing some of the manuscripts that he started writing when he was 13 years old. He was appointed Rebbe after the petirah of his father in 1930, and settled in Levetov, a suburb of Lublin. He was murdered by the Nazis at a melaveh malkah, along with his children, Rav Yitzchak, Rav Chaim, and Reizel. Some of his chidushim are published in the sefer, Vayomer Moshe, but many of his manuscripts were destroyed during the war.
Rav Chaim Yaakov ben Benyamin Moshe Stein, longtime Rosh Yeshivah of Telz in Cleveland (1913-2011). Born in in Skudal, a shtetl in Lithuania near the Latvian border, his father gave the town’s Daf Yomi shiur. Reb Chaim learned in the Talmud Torah of Kelm under Rav Elya Lopian. Prior to his Bar Mitzvah, he followed an older brother to Telz. His Rebbi muvhak was Ha’Rav Chaim Rabinowitz, known as Reb Chaim Telsher. In October 1940 a group of Telz students, led by Rav Stein, escaped from Lithuania just ahead of the Nazis, ultimately ending up in Cleveland where they formed the nucleus of a reestablished Telz Yeshivah. They were among the beneficiaries of Chiune Sugihara, who, as Japanese consul in Lithuania provided transit visas to desperate Jews and others seeking to escape arrest by the Nazis.
Most of the Telz faculty and students who stayed behind were killed by the Nazis. Reb Chaim had an intensive learning seder in seder Kodashim, finishing Zevachim 13 times before he turned 16. Rav Stein left two sons (Rav Shmuel Zalman Stein, a Rosh Yeshiva in Yeshiva Birchas Chaim in Lakewood, and Rav Binyamin Moshe Stein who lives in Wickliffe, OH) and two daughters (one married to Rav Menachem Levine in Telze and the other, Tziporah, is married to Rav Matis Weinberg).
Other events on this day:
- The Romans stormed the Samaritan stronghold on Har Gerizim and killed 11,600 people, 67 C.E.
- Rabbi Akiva was imprisoned. 132 C.E.
- Second expulsion of Jews from France, 1322, this one by King Louis, son of King Philip.
- Purim of Florence, celebrating escape from massacre, 1790.
- Heinrich Himmler appointed Chief of German police, 1933.
- Germany invaded Lithuania and Latvia when it mounted the attack against Russia in the start of Operation Barbarossa, (June 21) 1941.
28 Sivan
Rav Meshulam Feivish ben Mordechai Ha’Levi Lowy of Tosh (1873). Talmid of the Maharam Ash, Rav David of Dinov, and Rav Yitzchak Issac of Kaliv. His great-grandson, the present Tosher Rebbe, has a community called Kiryat Tosh, near Montreal, and people travel to see him from all over the world, in order to receive his blessings. The Tosher Rebbe and his Chassidim are known for their love of all Jews and welcome visitors there with open arms.
Rav Avraham Chaim ben Natan Adadi (1874). Rav in Tripoli, mechaber of Vayikra Avraham. He was orphaned of both his parents at a young age and was raised by his grandfather. In 1818, he accompanied his grandfather to Eretz Yisrael and settled in Tzefat, where he joined the yeshivah of Rav Yosef Karo. He returned to Tripoli in 1837, where he served the community as a Rosh Yeshivah and Dayan for 30 years.
Rav Yaakov ben Chaim Yehudah Ehrenreich (1902). Upon the recommendation of the Sanzer Rav, he married the daughter of the Kol Aryeh (Rav Avraham Yehudah Ha’Cohen Schwartz). In the 1880s, Reb Yaakov was forced to flee from Hungary and moved to New York. He was buried in the Washington Cemetery outside of Boro Park. His two sons, who stayed in Hungary with their grandfather, both grew to be talmidei chachamim. The older, Rav Shlomoh Zalman, was Rav in Shamloh and authored Le’shem Shlomoh and Avnei Ha’makom. The younger, Rav Chaim Tzvi, succeeded the Kol Aryeh as Rav of Mahd and authored Ketzei Hamet, a commentary on Mateh Ephraim on the halachot of Elul and Tishrei.
Rav Shimshon Aharon ben Avraham Yitzchak Polansky , the Tepliker Rav (1876-1948). Rav of Midovia in Ukraine’s Kiev district at age 20. Five years later, he became Rav of Teplik in Ukraine’s Podolia’s region. Rav Polansky immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in 1922, settling in the Bet Yisrael area of Yerushalayim. Among his talmidim were Rav Elyashiv and Rav Wosner.
Rav Yisrael Zev ben Avraham Tzvi Gustman (1908-1991), a talmid of Rav Shimon Shkop in Grodno. Rav Gustman became Rosh Yeshivah of Ramailles when he was still a young man in Vilna. He served on the Bet Din of Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinsky. In fact, he was the youngest Dayan in the history of Vilna (at age 19). When the Nazis invaded Vilna, they stormed the yeshiva and beat Rav Gustman him until he collapsed. By a miracle he was spared, and he fled for his life. In 1961, Rav Gustman moved to Eretz Yisrael and transferred his yeshivah, Netzach Yisrael Ramailles, to the Rechavia section of Yerushalayim. Today its Rosh Yeshivah is his son- in-law, Rav Michel Berniker. One of his first students in Yerushalayim was Rav Moshe Francis, Rosh Kollel of the Chicago Community Kollel. Another talmid was Rav Moshe Lipke, Rosh Kollel of Y'kar Mordechai in Yerushalayim. Rav Gustman authored Kuntresei Shi'urim.
Rebetzin Pesha Leibowitz, wife of Rav Henoch Leibowitz, Rosh Yeshivah of Chafetz Chaim in Queens (1928-2004). She was born in Radin, the daughter of Rav Avraham Trop, and the grand-daughter of Rav Naftali Trop, the Radiner Rosh Yeshivah. The Rebetzin’s father-in-law, Rav David Leibowitz, the founder of Chafetz Chaim Yeshivah, was a talmid muvhak or the Alter of Slabodka, a nephew of the Chafetz Chaim, and a close talmid of Rav Naftali Trop. Rav Shmuel Birenbaum once remarked that “'the Rebetzin is a 'gaon' in chesed.”
Other events on this day:
- 24 wagonloads of Gemaras and 200 other kitvei yad were burned in Paris, 1242.
- Jews of Genoa were expelled, 1567.
- Formation of Ion Gigurtu’s government in Romania, the first to include a member of the pro-Nazi Legion.
- The yeshivot of Slabodka and Telz closed their doors the day after Germany invaded Lithuania, 1941.
- Walther Rathenau, Jewish foreign minister of Germany, is assassinated by members of
organization Consul, a clandestine, right-wing political organization led by Captain Hermann
Ehrhardt.
29 Sivan
Other events on this day:
- First public warning of rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. was given in a sermon by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, 1873.
- Chovevei Tzion was founded in America, 1897.
- Russia banned all Zionist meetings, 1903.
- Dr. Yaakov Yisrael Dehan was murdered by the Haganah, 1924. As a young, zealous secular Zionist, Dehran moved to Eretz Yisrael to make a difference. He did not see eye-to-eye with the Zionists’ approaches and began to develop close ties to Rav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rav Diskin. Eventually, using his legal and oratory skills, he became the spokesman and advocate of the charedi community. He was working with the king of the Trans-Jordan to build an autonomous religious settlement east of the Jordan River. However, his works were sabotaged by the Zionists when they killed him as he was coming from praying maariv. The order was likely given by David Ben Gurion, or by Yitzchak Ben Tzvi (Israel’s 2nd president).
- Germany occupied Kovno and Vilna in 1941, and killed the Jews of Gorzhdy, Lithuania.
- Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated by Sirhan Bishara Sirhan, a Palestinian with Jordanian citizenship at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles.
- Air France flight 139 (Tel Aviv-Athens-Paris) was hijacked en route to Paris by the PLO and redirected to Entebbe, Uganda, 1976.
30 Sivan
Rav Moshe ben Levi Najára (1508-1580). Born in Turkey, he became a talmid of the Arizal in Tzefas. After traveling to Turkey to collecting funds of the people of Tzefat, he became Rav in Damascus, and later Chief Rabbi. He wrote Lekach Tov (on Rashi’s peirush on Chumash), Maamar Hamarechet (on the Rambam’s Moreh Nevuchim). He was buried in Damascus. He was the father of Rav Yisrael Najára.
Rav Chaim ben Yitzchak Kitza (1849). Av Bet Din of Irsha, Hungary. He was author of Otzar Chaim.
Rav Shlomo ben Yehudah Aharon Kluger (1783-1869), author of Sefer Ha’Chaim and Chochmat Shlomoh. Rav Kluger was born to the Rav of Komarow, who died before age 40, leaving his son a homeless orphan. One day, Rav Yaakov Kranz (the "Dubno Magid") met the young boy wandering the streets of Zamosc, Poland, and he took him in. The Dubno Magid arranged teachers for his charge, including Rav Mordechai Rabin, rabbi of Zamosc, and Rav Yosef Hochgelernter. A prolific author and posek, he wrote of himself that he had authored “115 large works on Tanach and the entire Talmud, and commentaries on the early and later poskim." This statement was written in 1844, 25 years before his petirah. Ha'eleph Lecha Shlomoh, his best-known work of halachic responsa, has 1,008 chapters. He also authored Imrei Shefer on Chumash. Rav Kluger served as Rosh Bet Din in Grodi, Galicia, and Rav in Broide. Rav Shalom Mordechai Schwadron, the Brezener Rav, was one of his foremost talmidim.
Rav Meir ben Mordechai Rosenbaum of Kretchenif (1908)
Other events on this day:
- Crusaders massacred the Jews of Mehr, 1096.
- Residence tax on Hungarian Jews was abolished, 1846.
- Henry Ford retracted and apologized for the publication of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 1927. He remained an anti-Semite until the end of his life.
- After more than one month at sea, the SS St. Louis docks at Antwerp with more 900 Jewish refugees on board. The ship had left Hamburg bound for Havana, Cuba, was granted only limited entry into Cuba, and was not allowed to dock in the United States, 1939.
- British arrested 100 Jews in Palestine on the “Black Sabbath”, 1946.
