🗓️✨ Luach Hayom – Today in Halacha & Jewish History

📅 Today’s Yahrzeits^[1]

🕯️Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi — Author of Avodas Hagershoni

Their Background^[2]

🕯️Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi (c. early 17th century–1693) was a leading Ashkenazic Talmudist and halakhic authority of early modern Europe. He studied under several of the foremost scholars of his generation, including Rabbi Yoel Sirkis (the Bach) and Rabbi Yehoshua Heschel of Kraków, and quickly gained renown for his sharp analytical method and breadth of learning. Over the course of his career, he served as rabbi in major Jewish communities in Moravia, Germany, Austria, and ultimately Metz, where he became a central spiritual and intellectual authority for the Jews of Western Germany and Alsace-Lorraine.

Rabbi Ashkenazi is best known as the author of Avodas HaGershuni, a collection of halakhic responsa addressing complex questions of Jewish law posed by leading rabbinic figures of his time. The work reflects both his mastery of Talmudic sources and his engagement with the pressing communal and legal challenges facing European Jewry in the aftermath of 17th‑century upheavals. Revered as a teacher and decisor, he influenced a wide circle of תלמידים (students), most notably Rabbi David Oppenheim, and was recognized during his lifetime as a major posek whose rulings were sought across regional boundaries.

📅 Yimei Chabad[3]

The Founding of Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch in the United States (1940)

In Adar II, 1940, the Rebbe Rayatz inaugurated the public chassidic discourses at the newly founded Tomchei Temimim Yeshivah in the United States. On the day of his arrival in America, he formally proclaimed the establishment of the yeshivah and articulated its historic mission.

He explained that the Jewish immigrants—indeed, those who had been brought to America by Divine Providence—had arrived for a singular purpose: to serve with total self‑sacrifice and transform America into a center of Torah. Acknowledging the immense spiritual strength such a task demanded, he expressed unwavering confidence that, through the merit of the holy forefathers, success would come through devoted observance of Torah and mitzvot in the spirit and path of Chassidus.

The Rebbe Rayatz foretold that within a short time Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch would grow into the largest yeshivah in the country. Its students, he said, would illuminate Jewish homes and invigorate local rabbis dedicated to teaching Torah. He further promised that the yeshivah would become not merely an institution of size, but a radiant spiritual force—an inspiring beacon and guiding influence for rabbis and roshei yeshivah throughout the land. He concluded with a blessing for Divine success, both materially and spiritually.

True to his words, the very next day a small group of students began learning at Tomchei Temimim Lubavitch. Within a remarkably short time, the Rebbe Rayatz’s promise was fully realized, as the yeshivah emerged as the largest in the United States.

[1] Taken from Luach Itim Labina

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

[3] Yimei Chabad Kaminetzky p. 135