October 21

History events
-1553 — (11th of Cheshvan, 2207) On the civil calendar, this date marked the death of Rachel, the matriarch and wife of Jacob, at the age of 36. She died during the childbirth of Benjamin, near Efrat, and is buried in Beit Lechem (Bethlehem)
-336 — (24th of Tishrei, 3425) According to the Book of Nechemia, Ezra and Nechemia convened the Jewish community in Jerusalem
1553 — (13th of Cheshvan, 5314) Volumes of the Talmud were burned in Venice
1893 — (11th of Cheshvan, 5654) Israelitische Theologische Lehranstalt of Vienna founded
1941 — (30th of Tishrei, 5702) Нolocaust. Residents of the Jewish community at Koidanov, Belorussia, are murdered; Thousands of Jews are murdered at Kraljevo, Yugoslavia; The first transport of Jews left Cologne, Germany for the Lodz Ghetto
1943 — (22nd of Tishrei, 5704) Нolocaust. During the final Aktion in Minsk, Belorussia, about 2000 Jews are murdered at Maly Trostinets
1946 — (26th of Tishrei, 5707) The HMS Moon, a British minesweeper captured the SS Alma off the coast of Lebanon and towed her to Haifa. ….. The vessel contained 800 Jewish refugees trying to enter Palestine despite the White Paper and the British Blockade. According to reports by the British, the Jews “took strong but unsuccessful action” in an attempting to prevent British sailors from boarding the Alma and tying tow ropes to the vessel
1947 — (7th of Cheshvan, 5708) In the little town of Raanana on the coastal plain between Tel Aviv and Nathanya a new children’s village and farm school was dedicated today by the Mizrachi Women’s Organization of America
1948 — (18nd of Tishrei, 5709) War for independence. ….. Israeli naval vessels supported by planes from the Israeli Air Force shelled Egyptian positions in Gaza; At four in the morning, Israeli troops attack the fortified positions of the Egyptians outside of Beersheba. The Egyptians are taken by surprise since they did not know that the Israelis had opened the road to the Negev two days earlier. The Egyptians surrendered and the ancient place to which Abraham returned after “the binding of Isaac” was in Jewish hands; During Operation Ha-Har, “Moshe («Morris») Ben-Dror, the commander of the Fifth Battalion, put together a battle corps consisting of two companies of riflemen, a support company and saboteurs, who were instructed to take Bayt Nattif and to destroy its houses, whose inhabitants had fought against the Convoy of thirty-five fallen soldiers who were sent to aid their beleaguered comrades in Gush Etzion
1952 — (2th of Cheshvan, 5713) The Jerusalem Post reported ….. that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion met «Hazon Ish,» the supreme authority on interpretation of the Jewish law for extreme Orthodox Jewry. After an hour of animated discussion, the area of disagreement between the two leaders remained fundamentally as wide as ever, but they came closer on the need for the mutual understanding. “Hazon Ish” was the appellation applied to the famed Talmud scholar Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz. Born in Poland in 1878, he moved to Eretz Israel in 1933. He settled in B’nai B’rak (yes the same place mentioned in the Haggadah) where he severed as communal leader while writing forty books on a variety of religious topics. Although principally an academic scholar, he applied himself to practical problems such as the use of milking machines on Shabbat and the cultivation of hydroponics during the sabbatical year, when it is forbidden to cultivate land in Eretz Yisrael. He was even once consulted by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion on the question of drafting young women to the Israel Defense Forces. He passed away in 1953
1973 — (25nd of Tishrei, 5734) Yom Kippur War. ….. Israeli forces, led by reserve Maj. Gen. Avraham Adan, encircled the Egyptian Third Army while forces led by Sharon take up positions less than 40 miles from Cairo; During the Battle of Ismailia, Egyptian forces “abandoned the Touscan strong point” after having beat off an attack by the Israelis while other Israeli forces who had “attacked Heneidac at dawn…captured the position before noon; Israeli forces sustained serious casualties as they fought to re-capture Mount Hermon from the Syrians. The Israelis referred to the 8,200 high mountain as “the eyes of the State of Israel.” Henry Kissinger flew from Moscow to Tel Aviv where he pressured the Israelis into accepting a cease fire
2023 — (6th of Cheshvan, 5784) Attacks by Hezbollah from Lebanon have increased, the 22,000 residents of Kiryat Shomona have been ordered to evacuate and the country faces a new threat from the Houthi in Yemen whose rockets have already been shot down by an American destroyer

People
1328 — (9th of Cheshvan, 5089) Asher ben Jehiel an leading German Rabbi who moved to Spain after Rudolf I instituted renewed persecution of the Jews passed away today in Toledo
1927 — (25nd of Tishrei, 5688) After having been arrested and later released by Soviet authorities, today, Rabbi Schneerson, “accompanied by the eight members of his family” arrived in Riga along with :his entire library consisting of 10,000 books and valuable manuscripts
1949 — (28nd of Tishrei, 5710) Birthdate of rightwing Israeli politician and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
1973 — (25nd of Tishrei, 5734) Yom Kippur War. Yitamar Barne’a and Gil Haran ejected from their F-4E Phantom Jet after it fell victim to a Syrian MIG-21, the most advanced Soviet aircraft of that period. Barne’a was taken prisoner. It is unclear as to whether Haran was captured or killed