First printing of the Zohar, the fundamental work of the Kabbalah (Jewish esoteric and mystical teachings), authored by
the Talmudic sage, Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.
Av 20 is the yahtzeit (anniversary of the passing) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe's father, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Schneerson (1878-1944), in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan. Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was Chief Rabbi of Yekaterinoslav (currently Dnepropetrovsk), and was arrested and exiled to Kazakhstan by the Stalinist regime as a result of his work to preserve Jewish life in the Soviet Union.