Featured Events From October:
- 9 October, 1994 (4 Cheshvan, 5755): sergeant nachshon wachsman-kidnapped
- 6 October, 1973 (10 Tishrei, 5734): yom kippur war
- 16 October, 1874 (5 Cheshvan, 5635): Zvi Hirsch Kalischer-yertziet
- 2 October, 1941 (11 Tishrei, 5702): Menahem Ussishkin-yertziet
- 17 October, 2001 (30 Tishrei, 5762): Rehavam Ze'evi-killed
Zvi Hirsch Kalischer-yertziet
Ivri Date: 5 Cheshvan, 5635
English Date: 16 October, 1874
Zvi (Zwi) Hirsch Kalischer (March 24, 1795 - October 16, 1874) was an Orthodox German rabbi and one of Zionism's early pioneers in Germany.
Kalischer was born in Thorn (Toruń) in Prussia (now in Poland). Destined for the rabbinate, he received his Talmudic education from Jacob of Lissa and Rabbi Akiva Eiger of Posen. After his marriage he left Lissa and settled in Thorn, where he spent the rest of his life. Here he took an active interest in the affairs of the Jewish community, and for more than forty years held the office of Rabbinatsverweser ("acting rabbi"). Disinterestedness was a prominent feature of his character; he refused to accept any remuneration for his services. His wife, by means of a small business, provided their meager subsistence.
In his youth he wrote Eben Bochan, a commentary on several juridical themes of the Shulkhan Arukh, Choshen Mishpat (Krotoschin, 1842), and Sefer Moznayim la-Mishpat, a commentary, in three parts on the whole Choshen Mishpat' (parts i. and ii., Krotoschin and Königsberg, 1855; part iii. still in manuscript). He also wrote: glosses on the Shulkhan Arukh, Yoreh De'ah, published in the new Vilna edition of that work; the Sefer ha-Berit commentary on the Pentateuch; the Sefer Yetzi'at Mitzrayim commentary on the Passover Pesach Haggadah; Chiddushim on several Talmudical treatises; etc. He also contributed largely to Hebrew magazines, as Ha-Maggid, Tziyyon, Ha-'Ibri, and Ha-Lebanon.