🗓️Luach Hayom – Today in Halacha & Jewish History: 11th Iyar

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📅 Today’s Yahrzeits

🕯️ Rabbi Yitzchak of Radivil

🕯️Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz of Ropshitz

🕯️ Rabbi Yehudah Tzvi Brandwein of Stretin

 

👤Their Background[1]

🕯️ Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Horowitz of Ropshitz

Author of Ayelah Sheluchah and Zera Kodesh

On Thursday, passed away the holy Chassidic master Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz, one of the great architects of early Galician Chassidut. A disciple within the inner circle of the Maggid–Mezritch tradition and the son of Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Linsk, he combined sharp intellect with fiery avodah and deep spiritual strategy.

Rabbi Naftali Tzvi is also associated with teachings preserved under the name Or HaShemesh, and his sefarim reveal a Chassidut grounded not in emotional display but in disciplined inner work and Torah mastery. He famously taught that the essence of Chassidut is persistent, uninterrupted study of the holy Torah—a statement that runs counter to later caricatures of the movement and reflects its original intellectual seriousness.

A well‑known teaching attributed to him holds:

“All my days I deceived the Satan, the evil inclination and the prosecuting angel—making them believe that I was still under their authority. Thus I was saved from their grasp.”

This idea is traditionally linked to the inner dynamic of Hod she‑be‑Netzach in the Counting of the Omer: outward admission paired with inner victory—humility used as a shield.

 

🕯️ Year 5555 (1795) — Passing of Rabbi Yitzchak of Radivil

Rabbi Yitzchak, son of the holy Rabbi—the Maggid of Złoczów, author of Or Yitzchak of Radivil, passed away in this year. He was part of the second generation of Galician Chassidut, preserving the teachings of the Maggidic tradition with clarity and restraint. His work Or Yitzchak reflects a synthesis of Chassidic inwardness with disciplined Torah exposition.

 

🕯️ Year 5644 (1884) — Passing of Rabbi Yehudah Tzvi Brandwein of Stretin

Rabbi Yehudah Tzvi, son of Rabbi Shmuel Zanevil Brandwein, of Stretin, author of Degel Machaneh Yehudah, passed away in this year.

He is particularly remembered for instructing that “Bar Yochai” be sung with a special melody of yearning, specifically during hishtatchavut (prostration) at his grave—an expression of deep attachment to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and the inner Torah revealed on Lag BaOmer. A striking and wondrous tradition is recorded regarding his passing:
He died on the very same weekday on which Lag BaOmer would occur the following week, strengthening the perceived spiritual connection between his soul and the day of Rashbi.

[1] Please not that these historical notes were prepared with the assistance of Copilot Pro, an AI Research Agent, and have not been independently verified.

About The Author

Rabbi Yaakov Goldstein is a 6th generation descendent of the famous Chief Rabbi of Izhmir, Rav Yehoshua Avraham Krispin, who authored a number of Sefarim, and was a colleague of Rav Chaim Falagi, and father in-law of the Pesach Hadvir. He currently lives with his wife Shayna, and twelve children K”H, in Tzfas, Israel. Rabbi Goldstein received Semicha from Rabbi Schneur Zalman Labkowski of the Tomchei Temimim headquarters in 2005 and served as a chaplain in the Lotar/Kalatz and K9 unit of the IDF from years 2005-2008. He is also a certified Shochet, and has performed Hashgacha work in slaughterhouses. Rabbi Goldstein is the director of Shulchanaruchharav.com, the world’s leading web-based Halacha database, and is the director of the Home Study Semicha Program, a self-study web-based Semicha program. He is a prolific author of over 50 Sefarim studied by a wide range of readers throughout the world, which is used regularly in Semicha programs around the globe. He is a world renowned Posek, answering questions to a web-based market, and serves as a local Posek, Rav, and Lecturer, in the Tzemach Tzedek community Shul in Tzefas, Israel. His many classes can be heard both from his website, Vimeo and YouTube channel. Students can join live to classes given in the Tzemach Tzedek Shul, through the “בית חבד צפת Chabad Tsfat” YouTube channel.