28 Kislev

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Avraham Dov of Avritz, 19th century leader of the Ashkenazi community in Tzfat, Israel. Legend says that he was once captured and held for ransom. The captors placed a sword at his throat and threatened to use it if payment was not immediately forthcoming. The rabbi asked to make one last request: water to wash his hands so he could recite his final prayers. The captors were so impressed with his faith and courage that they promptly released him. Rabbi Avraham Dov was the author of Bat Ayin, a commentary on the Five Books of Moses. He died in 1840.

pk

PKRAUSE

WOW that was interesting

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Today In Jewish History

Kislev 29

In 1914, Jews of Tel Aviv were expelled by the Turkish authorities and sent to Egypt. Just three years later, the Turks would order the remaining 9,000 Jews out of Jaffa, in advance of the British military offensive. The Jews fled north, where they suffered from disease and starvation. They were allowed to return with the British ousting of the Turks in 1917.

pk

PKRAUSE

WELL THIS is interesting bit of history

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30 Kislev

In 1970, nine Soviet Jews were convicted in Leningrad of hijacking a civilian airplane six months earlier. The hijackers were a group of Soviet refuseniks (one was a former military pilot) who tried to escape to the West, in order to avoid harsh Soviet discrimination against Jews. Even though the attempt was unsuccessful, and was followed immediately by crackdown on Jewish and dissident movement throughout the USSR, it drew international attention to human rights violations in the USSR and resulted in a temporary loosening of emigration restrictions. The accused were charged with high treason, punishable by the death sentence. Included in this group was Yosef Mendelevitch, who in 1981 was released and joined his family in Israel, where he became an inspiring figure in the movement for traditional Jewish values.

pk

PKRAUSE

WOW this is interesting history

dgrimm60

Today In Jewish History

Tevet 2

On this date in 1947, the Arab Legion surrounded Jerusalem and isolated its 100,000 Jews from the rest of the Israeli population. By March 1948 the city was under full siege, and in May, Jordan invaded and occupied east Jerusalem, dividing the city for the first time in its history, and driving thousands of Jews into exile. The Arabs proceeded to destroy all 58 synagogues in the Jewish Quarter, and used Jewish gravestones on the Mount of Olives to build roads and latrines. The Western Wall would be off-limits to Jews (in spite of the cease-fire agreement granting freedom of access to holy places), restored again with Israel's victory in the 1967 war.

pk

PKRAUSE

WOW that was interesting and sad also

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3 Tevet

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Chaim Shmulevitz (1902-1979), dean of the famous Mir Yeshiva for more than 40 years, who was known for his boundless love of God and humanity. When World War II broke out, Rabbi Shmulevitz and his students miraculously obtained transit visas. They traveled out of war-torn Lithuania, via the trans-Siberian railroad, to a safe haven in Shanghai, China. After the war, Rabbi Shmulevitz reestablished the Mir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, which has since grown to a student body of 5,000. His ethical discourses, many of which have been published in English, are considered classics.

pk

PKRAUSE

WOW this in interesting how GOD works

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