The 14th of Shevat , Jan. 21 in Jewish History

The 14th of Shevat is the Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk Katz (1680-1755). He is known rather by his famous Talmudic work P'nei Yehoshua.

The P'nei Yehoshua first served as rabbi of Lemberg (Lvov) in 1718. In 1730 the P'nei Yehoshua accepted the Rabbinical position in the City of Berlin. In the y 1734 he moved on to become Rabbi in Metz, and in 1740 he accepted his final Rabbinical position in Frankfurt where he remained until his passing in 1755.

Among his talmidim was Reb Dov Ber of Lokatch, later to be the Magid of Mezritch.

Kosher Health Corner

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The 13th of Shevat , Jan 20 in Jewish History

On this day, the 13th of Shevat, in 1790, the France Government granted full and equal citizenship to the Sephardic Jews. This was enabled due to the French Revolution, which was the cause to new ideals of Enlightenment to be adopted, and thus permitting the Sephardic Jews to enter the highest levels of government and finance.

Sometime in the year1807, Napoleon created the French Sanhedrin, a Jewish communal structure sanctioned by the state. (The French Sanhedrin sat in a semicircle, following the custom of the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem that served as the Jewish supreme court during the times of the Holy Temple.)(See photo above of French Coin issued in honor of the Sanhedrin). Despite all these Jewish liberties, anti-Jewish measures were still passed in 1808. Napoleon declared all debts owed to Jews annulled, which caused the near ruin of the Jewish community. Restrictions were also placed bu the French as to where Jews could live. This was done in an effort to assimilate the French Jewish Community into the French society. The anti-Jewish nature by the French Government was clearly seen in the 1940s, when the French regime rounded up over 61,000 Jews and handed the over to the Nazis, for a purpose well known to all.