🕯️ Today in Jewish History – 17th Elul
🕯️ 1939 – The Outbreak of World War II
On this day in the secular calendar, 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invaded Poland, beginning World War II.
No event in modern Jewish history brought such devastation. Over the following years, millions of Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, including:
- Great Torah scholars.
- Rebbes and Chassidic leaders.
- Roshei yeshivah.
- Rabbanim and dayanim.
- Entire kehillos that had existed for centuries.
Ancient centers of Torah life in Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Galicia, and elsewhere were destroyed. The vibrant Jewish world of Eastern Europe, which had produced generations of scholars, Chassidim, and communal leaders, was devastated.
Among the victims were countless “ארזי לבנון“—the cedars of Lebanon, the giants of Torah and Chassidus—and hundreds of thousands of ordinary Jews who sanctified Hashem’s Name in the darkest of circumstances.
The Jewish people emerged from the war facing an entirely new reality. Communities that had flourished for centuries were no more, and survivors were forced to rebuild Torah life from the ashes.
Yet from that destruction arose new centers of Torah in:
- Eretz Yisrael.
- The United States.
- Canada.
- England.
- South America.
- Australia.
The rebuilding undertaken by the survivors stands among the most remarkable chapters in Jewish history.
🕯️ Today’s Yartzite 17th Elul
🕯️ 1800 – The Passing of Rabbi Yosef Yoska of Rovno
In the year תקס״א (1800) passed away the holy Rabbi Yosef Yoska ben Rabbi Yitzchak HaLevi of Rovno זצ״ל, author of יסוד ליקוטי יוסף.
Rabbi Yosef Yoska was among the respected Torah scholars of Volhynia and was known for his diligence in Torah study and piety. His sefer Yesod Likutei Yosef contains Torah insights and teachings that earned appreciation among תלמידי חכמים of later generations.
His life was devoted to strengthening Torah learning and transmitting the traditions of earlier scholars to future generations.
🕯️ 1929 – The Passing of Rabbi Yaakov Kopel Reich
In the year תרפ״ט (1929) passed away the gaon Rabbi Yaakov Kopel ben Rabbi Yechezkel Reich, Av Beis Din of Budapest, זצ״ל.
Rabbi Reich was one of the leading rabbinic authorities of Hungarian Jewry during the early twentieth century. As Rav and Av Beis Din of Budapest, he guided one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities with wisdom, scholarship, and steadfast devotion to Torah.
His leadership came during a period of profound social and political change, and he was widely respected for preserving traditional Jewish life in the face of modern challenges.
🕯️ Today in Chabad History 17th Elul
🕯️ 1743 – The Wedding of Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah, Parents of the Alter Rebbe
On 17 Elul 5503 (1743) took place the wedding of Rabbi Baruch and Rebbetzin Rivkah, who would become the parents of Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi, the Alter Rebbe, founder of Chabad Chassidus. Chabad’s historical calendar confirms the wedding date as 17 Elul 1743.
Tradition relates that Rabbi Baruch originally wished the wedding celebrations to be associated with Chai Elul, 18 Elul, a day that would later acquire extraordinary significance in Chassidic history.
The marriage produced a remarkable family of Torah scholars. When Rabbi Yehudah Leib, the Maharil, brother of the Alter Rebbe, was once asked in what merit their parents had been blessed with such distinguished sons, he attributed it to their mother’s exceptional love of Torah and yiras Shamayim.
A beautiful story illustrates her priorities. Rabbi Baruch once returned from a business journey with an expensive coat as a gift for Rebbetzin Rivkah. The wife of their children’s melamed became envious, and this disturbed the melamed to the extent that his usual enthusiasm in teaching diminished.
When Rebbetzin Rivkah discovered what had happened, she took her own new coat and gave it to the melamed:
“Give this to your wife, and continue teaching my children with vitality and joy.”
For Rebbetzin Rivkah, an expensive possession was insignificant compared with ensuring that her children learned Torah with enthusiasm.
Chabad tradition subsequently associated Friday weddings in the family of the Rebbeim with the anniversary of this marriage.
🕯️ 17 Elul, 5748 (1988) – The Rebbe Lays the Cornerstone for the Expansion of 770
On 17 Elul 5748, August 30, 1988, the Lubavitcher Rebbe participated in the groundbreaking and laying of the cornerstone for the expansion of 770 Eastern Parkway, the Lubavitch World Headquarters in Crown Heights.
The Rebbe connected the physical groundbreaking with a deeper spiritual idea. Just as a building requires a firm foundation, every Jewish undertaking must rest upon the foundation of Torah.
The Rebbe also asked David Chase, chairman of the Machne Israel Development Fund, to address the gathering in Yiddish, calling this “a good start for the new year.”
The occasion transformed an ordinary construction ceremony into a lesson in avodas Hashem: a building dedicated to Torah, tefillah, and acts of kindness is not simply an expansion of physical space, but the creation of another place in which holiness can dwell.