In 1843, the Interior Ministry of the Czarist government convened a rabbinical conference in the Russian capital of Petersburg, to the end of imposing changes in Jewish communal life and religious practice. Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Lubavitch (1789-1866, known as the "Tzemach Tzedek" after his Halachic works by that name) was invited; as a primary figure in the leadership of Russian Jewry, his compliance was required to lend legitimacy to the government's proposed "reforms". In the course of the conference, the Tzemach Tzeddek was placed under arrest no less than 22 (!) times for his refusal to cooperate. When he finally departed Petersburg on the 26th of Av, he had successfully prevented the government's disruption of traditional Jewish life.
Links:
A Brief Biography of the Tzemach Tzedek
More on the Tzemach Tzeddek
R. Yoel Teitelbaum was the founding rebbe of the Satmar chassidic dynasty, named after the town of Satmar (or Satu Mare) in what is today northwestern Romania. After World War II (see entry for 21 Kislev), he relocated to the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn, where he continued to lead his thousands of followers. He passed away on 26 Menachem Av, 5739 (1979).
The Rebbe describes the following as a core teaching of the Baal Shem Tov:
Not only are the pirouettes of a leaf as it falls off a tree,
the quivering of a blade of grass in the wind,
and all the details of the world around you
all brought into being, given life and directed every moment from Above—
but beyond that:
Every nuance is an essential component of a grand and G‑dly scheme, the gestalt of all those vital minutiae.
Every moment burns with the pulse of G‑d’s desire.
Meditate on this. And then think:
How much more so the details of my daily life.