The rabbi who told Jews not to fast on Yom Kippur

During the 1848 cholera epidemic in Vilna, Rabbi Israel Salanter, founder of the Mussar movement, posted notices urging Jews not to fast on Yom Kippur and to keep up their strength, holding that preserving life overrode the fast. The tradition that he ate publicly in the synagogue that day is famous, though historians debate the exact scene.

One of many fact-checked wonders across eight traditions at The Spring of Wisdom.