Shevat 14

Yahrtzeit of Rabbi Yaakov Yehoshua Falk (1680-1756), better known as the "Pnei Yehoshua," the title of his brilliant book of Talmudic commentary. Shevat 14 is also the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan (1934-1983), an American author and scholar who inspired thousands of Jews to return to Jewish observance. Rabbi Kaplan was a physicist, and applied the same analytical approach to the study of "metaphysics." He possessed an encyclopedic command of Jewish literature, and he produced 50 books on philosophy, Jewish law and kabbalah. The Jewish world mourned his untimely death at the age of 48.