🗓️✨ Luach Hayom – Today in Halacha & Jewish History: 27th Adar
📅 Today’s Yahrzeits[1]
🕯️ Rabbi Rafael Moshe Bula — Author of Get Mekushar
🕯️ Rabbi Yosef Shaul Halevi Nathenson — Author of Shoel Umeishiv
🕯️ Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv — Author of Leshem Shebo Achlama
Their Background[2]
🕯️ Rabbi Rafael Moshe Bula — Author of Get Mekushar
Rabbi Rafael Moshe Bula (d. 1773) was a leading Jerusalem rabbi, halachic authority, and emissary of the Old Yishuv in the 18th century. He served as a scholar in Jerusalem and traveled as a shaliach to Jewish communities abroad on behalf of the city. His most well‑known work, Get Mekushar, is a foundational halachic treatise on the laws of divorce, demonstrating his precision and mastery of complex areas of Jewish law. Through his writings and communal leadership, Rabbi Bula played an important role in strengthening halachic scholarship and supporting the Jewish community of Jerusalem.
🕯️ Rabbi Yosef Shaul HaLevi Nathenson — Author of Shoel Umeishiv
Rabbi Yosef Shaul HaLevi Nathenson (1808–1875) was one of the foremost poskim of 19th‑century Eastern Europe and served as Av Beit Din of Lvov (Lemberg). Renowned for his brilliance, breadth of knowledge, and clarity in halachic decision‑making, he was consulted by rabbis and communities throughout the Jewish world. His monumental responsa, Shoel Umeishiv, span all areas of halachah and remain a cornerstone of rabbinic literature. Combining Torah greatness with personal integrity and generosity, Rabbi Nathenson’s rulings continue to guide halachic discourse to this day.
🕯️ Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv — Author of Leshem Shebo Achlama
Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv (1841–1926), known as the Leshem, was one of the greatest kabbalists of the modern era and a central figure in the transmission of the teachings of the Vilna Gaon and the Arizal. Born in Lithuania and later settling in Eretz Yisrael, he devoted his life to revealing and clarifying the deepest foundations of Kabbalah. His magnum opus, Leshem Shebo Achlama, presents a comprehensive and systematic explanation of the inner structure of creation and divine emanation. Revered for his humility and depth, Rabbi Elyashiv’s influence continues through his writings and through generations of Torah scholars inspired by his work. He was also the grandfather of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, one of the most famous and authoritative poskim of the modern era, through whom his Torah legacy continued to illuminate generations.
Today in Chabad History – 27th Adar
🗓️ Chof‑Zayin Adar — The Day the Rebbe Fell Ill (27th Adar I, 5752; 5754)
Chof‑Zayin Adar I, 5752 (Monday, March 2, 1992) is remembered as one of the most pivotal days in recent Jewish history. On this day, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, suffered a severe, disabling stroke while standing in prayer at the Ohel of his father‑in‑law, the Frierdiker Rebbe, in Queens, New York.
Until that moment, the Rebbe had been extraordinarily active—receiving thousands of people, distributing dollars for tzedakah, offering blessings, and urging an increase in joy and spiritual commitment. The sudden stroke brought an abrupt end to the Rebbe’s public speaking and ushered in a period of profound concealment and uncertainty.
Exactly two years later, on Chof‑Zayin Adar, 5754 (1994), the same date returned with renewed intensity. On that day, the Rebbe lost consciousness following another stroke, further deepening the silence that had begun two years earlier.
Between these two dates, Chassidim and Jews worldwide lived through an unprecedented reality: a Rebbe physically present yet unable to speak publicly, while his teachings continued to resonate with undiminished force. Following both events, communities across the globe gathered for Tehillim, organized asifos, and strengthened their commitment to Torah, mitzvos, and acts of kindness, seeking merit and healing. Rather than signaling an end, these days placed a new responsibility upon the generation—to carry forward the Rebbe’s message through action, embodying his teachings even in the absence of his voice. To this day, Chof‑Zayin Adar is observed as a time of reflection, prayer, and renewed commitment, reminding us that even in concealment, leadership, guidance, and spiritual connection endure.
The first time the Chassidim saw the Rebbe after the stroke was on Shavuot 5752 (1992). Following that appearance, there was another extended period during which the Rebbe was not seen publicly, lasting until Rosh Hashanah 5753 (1992). From that point onward, the Rebbe was seen by Chassidim on several occasions in the “special room”, and later, at times more frequently, on the balcony, where he would appear briefly to those gathered below.
The Rebbe’s attendant, Reb Meir Har‑Lig, related that during this period there was an occasion when the Rebbe appeared extremely distressed. The attending physician attempted to determine the cause and asked the Rebbe a series of questions, to which the Rebbe initially responded in the negative. The doctor then asked whether the Rebbe was worried about what would happen later (after Gimmel Tammuz), and the Rebbe responded by nodding yes. He continued by asking whether the Rebbe was worried about the future of the institutions, and again the Rebbe nodded yes. Finally, he asked whether the Rebbe was worried about what would become of the Chassidim who were bound and connected to him, and once more, the Rebbe responded with a nod. Through all of this, one truth becomes unmistakably clear: without interruption, the Rebbe constantly cared for and thought about us, the Chassidim. Even in times of great personal suffering and concealment, his concern was never for himself alone, but for the future of the institutions, the mission, and the Chassidim bound to him.
[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] Taken from Yimei Chabad
