🗓️ Today in Jewish History – 29th Elul
🕯️ The Fifth Day of Creation
According to the traditional reckoning of the Six Days of Creation, 29 Elul corresponds to the Fifth Day of Ma’aseh Bereishis.
On this day Hashem filled the world with living creatures in preparation for the creation of man. The Torah states:
“ישרצו המים שרץ נפש חיה ועוף יעופף על הארץ“
“Let the waters swarm with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth.”
On the Fifth Day were created:
- Fish and sea creatures.
- Great marine animals.
- Birds of every species.
For the first time, the earth was filled not only with vegetation but with moving, living creatures. Hashem blessed them:
“פרו ורבו“
“Be fruitful and multiply.”
As the final day before Rosh Hashanah, 29 Elul reminds us that all creation was preparing for its ultimate purpose, the appearance of mankind on the Sixth Day. Likewise, all the preparation of Elul culminates in standing before Hashem on Rosh Hashanah.
🗓️ Today’s Yartzites – 29th Elul
🕯️ 1721 – The Passing of Rabbi Shlomo ben Yosef, Author of Kerem Shlomo
In the year תפ”א (1721) passed away the gaon Rabbi Shlomo ben Rabbi Yosef, author of:
- כרם שלמה
- מרכבת שלמה (attributed in bibliographic sources)
Rabbi Shlomo was among the distinguished Torah scholars of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. His works reflect broad mastery of Talmudic literature and halachic analysis.
The title Kerem Shlomo (“The Vineyard of Shlomo”) became associated with his method of gathering and cultivating Torah insights from a wide range of sources, presenting them in an organized and accessible fashion.
Although not as widely known today as later Acharonim, his sefarim were respected among תלמידי חכמים and cited in rabbinic libraries throughout Eastern Europe.
🕯️ 1915 – The Passing of Rabbi Eliezer Chaim Deutsch
In the year תרע”ה (1915) passed away the gaon Rabbi Eliezer Chaim ben Avraham Deutsch, Av Beis Din of Bonyhád, Hungary, one of the leading rabbinic authorities of Hungarian Orthodoxy. He was a disciple of Rabbi Yehudah Aszód, Rabbi Menachem Eisenstädter, and Rabbi Shlomo Ganzfried, and later founded a major yeshivah in Bonyhád.
Among his major works are:
- פרי השדה
- תבואות השדה
- חלקת השדה
- שיח השדה
- צמח השדה
- דודאי השדה
His sefer שיח השדה contains aggadic and Torah discourses on the Chumash and festivals.
Rabbi Deutsch was regarded as one of the foremost poskim in Hungary, and halachic questions were sent to him from many countries. His responsa demonstrate remarkable breadth, covering virtually every area of Jewish law.
As a leader of Hungarian Orthodoxy, he played an important role in preserving Torah life during a period of growing religious challenges and social change.
🕯️ 2011 – The Passing of Rabbi Menashe Klein, the Ungvarer Rav
In the year תשע”א (2011) passed away the gaon, posek, and chassidic leader Rabbi Menashe Klein, known throughout the Torah world as the Ungvarer Rav and the author of משנה הלכות.
Born in 1924 near Ungvar, he survived:
- Auschwitz-Birkenau
- Auschwitz-Buna
- Buchenwald
before rebuilding his life after the Holocaust.
After arriving in the United States in 1947, he became a major Torah leader, serving as a rabbi, rosh yeshivah, and communal guide. In 1964 he founded Yeshiva Beis Shearim in Brooklyn and later established Kiryat Ungvar in Jerusalem.
His literary output was immense. He authored:
- 18 volumes of שו”ת משנה הלכות
- More than twenty additional sefarim on halachah and Torah topics.
The responsa Mishneh Halachos became one of the largest halachic collections produced in the modern era. Covering topics from daily observance to the newest challenges of contemporary life, it reflects both encyclopedic Torah knowledge and practical sensitivity.
Thousands of students viewed him as a living link between the prewar Torah world of Hungary and the rebuilt yeshivah world of America and Eretz Yisrael. His tombstone records him as a builder of yeshivos, batei midrash, and Torah communities throughout the Jewish world.
🗓️ Today in Chabad History – 29th Elul
🕯️ 29 Elul, 5549 (1789) – The Birth of the Tzemach Tzedek
On 29 Elul 5549, Erev Rosh Hashanah of the year 5550, was born Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, later known as the Tzemach Tzedek, the third Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch.
He was born to:
- Rabbi Shalom Shachna
- Rebbetzin Devorah Leah, the second daughter of the Alter Rebbe, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Liadi.
He was named Menachem Mendel after the holy tzaddik Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Horodok, who had passed away on 1 Iyar 5548.
🕯️ The Alter Rebbe’s Special Care
Chabad tradition records that upon the infant’s birth, the Alter Rebbe personally provided a special piece of cloth that he had carefully preserved for years.
He instructed that it be used to wrap the newborn after his first washing.
The Alter Rebbe had previously done the same when his own son, the future Mitteler Rebbe, was born. This unusual act reflected the special significance that the Alter Rebbe attached to the child.
🕯️ The Extraordinary Shalom Zachar
The Shabbos immediately following the birth was Shabbos Teshuvah, between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.
On Friday afternoon it was publicly announced that the Alter Rebbe was inviting the entire town and all guests to participate in the Shalom Zachar.
The arrangements were unusual:
- The Alter Rebbe’s sons, sons-in-law, and elder chassidim, approximately three minyanim, would participate in the main meal.
- The rest of the townspeople would arrive afterward.
- Before Birkas HaMazon, beans and lentils would be distributed so that everyone could join in the zimun.
The gathering took place in the large synagogue in the courtyard.
🕯️ The Alter Rebbe’s Extraordinary Joy
Witnesses recalled that during the entire celebration the Alter Rebbe displayed a level of joy rarely seen.
During the meal he repeated the final teachings of his teacher, the Maggid of Mezritch, spoken during the Maggid’s last hours in this world.
Among those teachings was a revelation concerning the spiritual significance of the night preceding a bris milah.
The Alter Rebbe then delivered a profound maamar of Chassidus.
When he concluded, he instructed the assembled chassidim to sing niggunim, and afterward recited Birkas HaMazon over a cup of wine.
He then distributed from the Kos Shel Berachah to all those present.
🕯️ A Revelation Never Before Witnessed
The following day, at the Shabbos meal, the Alter Rebbe remained in an extraordinarily elevated and joyful state.
Later chassidim testified:
The Alter Rebbe was in a state of revelation and happiness unlike anything they had ever seen before.
At the time, very few understood the reason.
Only later did they realize that the Alter Rebbe perceived the greatness of the soul that had descended into the world.
That infant would one day become:
- The author of Tzemach Tzedek.
- The foremost halachic authority of Chabad in the nineteenth century.
- The Rebbe who expanded Chabad dramatically throughout Russia.
- The leader who famously declared:
“Tracht gut vet zein gut”
“Think good and it will be good.”
🕯️ The Final Day of the Year
There is a fitting symbolism in the fact that the Tzemach Tzedek was born on 29 Elul, the final day of the year.
Just as one year was ending and another beginning, a new chapter in the history of Chabad was opening.
The child born on that Erev Rosh Hashanah would become one of the greatest Torah giants and Chassidic leaders of modern Jewish history, linking the generations of the Alter Rebbe to all later generations of Chabad.
🗓️ Today in Halacha – 29th Elul
