Table of Contents
📅 Today’s Yahrzeits
🕯️ Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Segal
🕯️ Rabbi Yehuda Kohen — author of Kuntres HaSefekot
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👤Their Background[1]
🕯️ Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib Segal
Rabbi Yehuda Aryeh Leib, son of Rabbi Shalom Segal, of Volchisk, of blessed memory, was a righteous and humble Torah scholar who later settled in Safed. Known for his deep devotion and sincere attachment to Torah, he deliberately avoided titles and honors. In accordance with his explicit request, upon his passing in the year 5573, only the simple and heartfelt description “Lover of Torah” was engraved on his tombstone. He is remembered as one whose greatness lay not in renown or position, but in pure love of Torah and quiet personal piety.
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🕯️ Rabbi Yehuda Kohen — author of Kuntres HaSefekot
Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Yosef Kohen, of blessed memory, was a renowned Torah scholar and the author of Kuntres HaSefekot, a work devoted to the precise analysis of halachic uncertainties and conceptual distinctions. His writings reflect sharp reasoning and careful methodology, contributing lasting clarity to complex areas of Torah law. He passed away in Sighet in the year 5579, and is remembered among the sages whose focused scholarship enriched the depth and rigor of halachic study.
[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.
Today in Chabad History
📅 27 Nisan 5744 (1984) — Inauguration of the Daily Study Cycle of Rambam
On 27 Nisan 5744, the worldwide daily study of Rambam’s Mishneh Torah was inaugurated, in accordance with the enactment of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. This initiative followed teachings delivered by the Rebbe during the Last Day of Pesach and Shabbat Parashat Kedoshim of that year, in which he repeatedly emphasized that love and unity among all Jews hastens the Redemption, since the root of exile is baseless division. One of the most powerful means to achieve such unity, the Rebbe explained, is for Jews everywhere to study the same subject in Torah, thereby creating a bond of true and eternal unity, for the Torah itself is eternal. To that end, the Rebbe proposed establishing a fixed daily study in Rambam’s Mishneh Torah, the unique work that gathers the entirety of Torah Shebe’al Peh into a single, organized corpus. An additional and central virtue of this study is that it enables fulfillment of the obligation to learn the whole Torah, including laws not currently practiced, such as those of the Temple, its service, and the sacrifices. The Rebbe therefore recommended studying three chapters daily, completing the entire work annually, and for those unable to do so, one chapter daily, completing it over three years. In order to include all Jews—men, women, and children—women and younger students were encouraged to participate through studying the 613 mitzvot as enumerated in Rambam’s Sefer HaMitzvot. On that day, tens of thousands of Jews across the world began the daily Rambam study together, inaugurating a lasting framework of shared Torah learning and profound unity.
