🗓️ Luach Hayom – Today in Halacha & Jewish History: 25th Nissan

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đź“… Today in Jewish History

đź“… Purim of Carpentras (France)

Carpentras, located in Provence (Comtat Venaissin), was one of the four protected Jewish communities allowed to exist under papal rule after the expulsions from the Kingdom of France. Jews lived there in guarded quarters (carrieres) and experienced periodic threats, riots, and legal vulnerability while remaining under papal jurisdiction. Several local Purims were established by the Carpentras community to commemorate specific moments of deliverance. One well‑documented incident occurred on 15 Kislev 1512, when a troop of heavily armed gentiles entered the Jewish quarter. Despite the danger, no massacre ultimately occurred, and the community understood this outcome as divine salvation. In response, the Jews of Carpentras established a commemorative day of thanksgiving, later referred to as a local Purim (Purim Sheni). Another celebrated deliverance took place on 9 Nisan 1682, when papal authorities sent guards to protect the Jews of Carpentras from an incited mob after a legal execution sparked public anger. The intervention prevented a pogrom, and the community again marked this rescue liturgically. In the Jewish community of Carpentras, it became customary to observe a unique local Purim, commemorating a miraculous deliverance from danger. The community established a special order of prayers and the recitation of Al HaNissim within a liturgical framework modeled on the Three Festivals, reflecting gratitude for divine salvation. This custom was preserved in the Carpentras rite and recorded in early printed editions, including those published in Amsterdam, and stands as a testament to the practice of commemorating local miracles with enduring communal remembrance.

📅 Today’s Yahrzeits

🕯️ Rabbi Moshe of Przemyśl— author of Mateh Moshe

🕯️ Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz (the Divrei Chaim)

🕯️ Rabbi Shmaryahu Yehuda Leib Medalia — Chief Rabbi of Moscow

 

👤Their Background[1]

🕯️ Rabbi Moshe ben Avraham of Przemyśl (the “Mateh Moshe”) — author of Mateh Moshe
Rabbi Moshe ben Avraham of Przemyśl (c. 1550–1606), widely known by the name of his principal work Mateh Moshe, was one of the leading rabbinic authorities of sixteenth‑century Poland. A disciple of Rabbi Shlomo Luria (the Maharshal), he served as rabbi in several prominent communities, including Belz, Przemyśl, Lubomyl, and later as chief rabbi of Opatów and district rabbi of Kraków. His seminal work, Mateh Moshe, first printed in Kraków in 1591, is a comprehensive halachic‑ethical compendium structured around the three pillars of Jewish life—Torah, Avodah, and Gemilut Chassadim. The book places particular emphasis on communal custom (minhag) and daily religious practice, and it became one of the most widely cited sources for Ashkenazic minhagim. Because of the work’s enduring influence, Rabbi Moshe himself came to be known simply as “the Mateh Moshe.” He also authored other works, including writings on the 613 commandments and homiletical commentary on the Torah. His legacy remains deeply embedded in the fabric of practical Jewish observance.

 

🕯️ Rabbi Chaim of Aram Tzovah (Aleppo) — author of Tur Bareket

Rabbi Chaim, a sage of Aram Tzovah (Aleppo), was a distinguished Sephardic scholar and moral teacher, remembered as the author of Tur Bareket. His work belongs to the classic tradition of ethical‑devotional literature, blending mussar, kabbalistic insight, and guidance for proper religious conduct. Tur Bareket focuses on refinement of character, purity of intention in prayer, fear of Heaven, and inner avodah, and was studied especially among the communities of Syria and the broader Sephardic world. Although few biographical details of his life have survived, his identification with Aram Tzovah is explicit in the manuscript tradition and early citations of the sefer. Rabbi Chaim is remembered as part of the circle of Eastern sages whose writings emphasized inner piety and spiritual vigilance, influencing generations well beyond their own communities.

 

🕯️ Rabbi Chaim ben Rabbi Aryeh Leibush Halberstam of Sanz (the Divrei Chaim)

Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz (1793–1876), known by the title of his responsa Divrei Chaim, was one of the greatest Hasidic leaders and halachic authorities of nineteenth‑century Eastern Europe and the founder of the Sanz Hasidic dynasty. Born in Tarnogród to a distinguished rabbinic family, he emerged as a prodigiously learned scholar and became a leading disciple of the Hasidic masters of his generation, including Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz. Appointed rabbi of Sanz (Nowy Sącz) in 1830, he transformed the city into a major center of Torah and Hasidism, attracting thousands through his uncompromising devotion to halachic rigor, intense fear of Heaven, and extraordinary compassion for the poor. His responsa and Torah writings, collected as Divrei Chaim, remain foundational texts in halacha, noted for their depth, clarity, and moral seriousness. Renowned for radical charity and personal self‑sacrifice, he gave relentlessly to those in need and lived with ascetic simplicity. All of his surviving sons became prominent Hasidic rebbes, founding dynasties such as Bobov, Shinova, Gorlice, and Sanz‑Klausenberg, ensuring his enduring influence. Rabbi Chaim passed away on 25 Nisan 5636, a yahrzeit observed annually by many communities who continue to study his Torah and invoke his merit.

 

🕯️ Rabbi Shmaryahu Yehuda Leib Medalia — Chief Rabbi of Moscow

Rabbi Shmaryahu Yehuda Leib Medalia (1872–1938) served as Chief Rabbi of Moscow during one of the darkest periods of Jewish life in the Soviet Union. A scholar of great stature and moral courage, he labored tirelessly to sustain Torah observance and Jewish communal life under an openly hostile atheist regime. In 1938, during the height of Stalin’s purges, he was arrested by order of the Soviet authorities and subsequently executed, sanctifying G-d’s Name. His murder, carried out by the regime of Joseph Stalin (may his name be erased), stands as a stark symbol of the brutal persecution of rabbanim and spiritual leaders in the USSR. Rabbi Medalia is remembered as a martyr who gave his life for Torah and the Jewish people, and whose steadfast leadership remains a source of inspiration and reverence.

 

[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.