Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach (1894-2001) was born in Vaboilnick, Lithuania, and moved to Ponevezh at age 7. He studied at Slabodka under Rav Yechezkel Bernstein and later under the Alter, Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, developing a close relationship with Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, whose niece he married. In 1927, he served as Rosh Mesivta at Kletzk under Rav Aharon Kotler, and held the same position at Novardok from 1932 to 1934. Beginning in 1951, he served as Rosh Yeshiva at Ponevezh under Rav Yosef Kahanemen.
Rav Simcha Sheps served as Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas for over 50 years.
**Today in History, 16 Cheshvan**
In 1833, Jews in Hesse-Cassel, Germany, formerly part of the kingdom of Westphalia, were granted civil rights, with the exception of peddlers and petty traders. Full emancipation for German Jews came nearly 40 years later.
During the American Civil War in 1862, Ulysses S. Grant, who would later become U.S. President, ordered Jews barred from service under his command.
In 1941, the Nazis massacred 1,500 Jews of Kolomyya, Galicia and 15,000 Jews of Rowno, Poland.
The aliya of Yemenite Jews began in 1949, with Operation Magic Carpet bringing nearly 40,000 Jews from Yemen to Israel.
Reb Shlomo Carlebach, the foremost Jewish songwriter of the second half of the twentieth century, died in 1994.