Aharon Rokeach
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Aharon Rokeach (; 19 December 1880Israel, Yosef (2005). "Rescuing the Rebbe of Belz". NY:Mesorah Publications, Ltd. . – 18 August 1957) was the fourth
Rebbe A Rebbe () or Admor () is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spirituality (Audio)''. UCTV, 20 Oct 2011. web. ...
of the
Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...
Hasidic Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
dynasty. He led the movement from 1926 until he died in 1957. Rokeach inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, Yissachar Dov Rokeach, upon the latter's death in 1926. Known for his piety and mysticism, Rokeach was called the "Wonder Rabbi" by Jews and Gentiles alike for the
miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...
s he purportedly performed. His reign as Rebbe saw the devastation of the Belz community, along with that of many other Hasidic sects in Galicia and elsewhere in
Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...
during
the Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
. During the Holocaust, Rebbe Aharon was high on the list of
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
targets as a high-profile Rebbe. With the support and financial assistance of Belzer Hasidim in Mandatory Palestine, England, and the United States, he and his half-brother, Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgoray, managed to escape from Poland into Hungary, then into Turkey, Lebanon, and finally into
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
in February 1944. After Rabbi Mordechai's sudden death in November 1949, Rokeach raised his half-brother's year-old son, Yissachar Dov, and groomed him to succeed him as Belzer Rebbe.


Early life

Rokeach was the first child born to his parents, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach and Basha Ruchama Twersky, after 12 years of marriage. He was named after his mother's grandfather, Rebbe Aharon of Chernobyl, although his father later revealed that he intended to name the boy after Rabbi Aharon of Karlin. Aharon had a younger sister, Chana Rachel, who later married Rabbi Pinchas Twersky of Ostilla. Rokeach's mother died on 18 March 1884 when he was 4 years old. His grandfather, Rebbe Yehoshua Rokeach, the second Belzer Rebbe, took the boy under his wing and oversaw his spiritual development. As he grew, he spent much of his day ensconced in Torah learning and ate and slept little. He also concealed his accomplishments with a modesty that would last throughout his lifetime. When his grandfather died on 30 January 1894, Rokeach's father became the third Belzer Rebbe. Rebbe Yissachar Dov remarried Chaya Devora Pecsenik and had another seven children. Rokeach was 22 years old when his half-brother Mordechai was born. When he came of age, Rokeach married his cousin, Malka, the daughter of his father's elder brother Shmuel, the Rav of Sokal. After his marriage, he lived with his father-in-law for several years. His strict regime of seclusion, deprivation, and asceticism caused him to become seriously weakened, whereupon his doctors recommended a complete change of locale and sent him to a spa. Though he recuperated at the health resort of Kreniec, he still ate little, and his chronic
sleep deprivation Sleep deprivation, also known as sleep insufficiency or sleeplessness, is the condition of not having adequate duration and/or quality of sleep to support decent alertness, performance, and health. It can be either Chronic (medicine), chronic ...
made it difficult for him to stand or walk quickly. On Shabbat, however, he would stand upright, walk quickly, and partake in the Shabbat meals with obvious pleasure. He and his wife had five sons and four daughters. Several healthy children died at birth, while those who survived were sickly and weak. Two daughters were both hearing- and speech-impaired. One daughter, Mirel, died in 1938; the rest were killed by the Nazis with their families. When Rokeach's father, Rebbe Yissachar Dov, died in
Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...
on Friday night, 30 October 1926, his 46-year-old son accepted the mantle of leadership at the funeral held after Shabbat.


Becoming the Rebbe

While he continued to live a Spartan and reclusive existence, Rokeach revealed himself to be a warm and caring leader. He read each ''
kvitel Kvitel or Kvitl ( ''kvitl'', "little note"; plural: קוויטלעך ''kvitlekh'', kvitels, kvitelech, kvitelach / kvitls, kvitlech, kvitlach) refers to a practice developed by Hasidic Judaism Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious ...
'' with great interest and prayed for the petitioner's salvation and success. At first, he tried to limit the number of petitioners who sought his counsel and blessing to five per night, saying, "I simply can't take these ''tzoros'' (tribulations) of ''Klal Yisrael''!" as he felt each problem as deeply as if it were his own. But eventually, he allowed many petitioners to see him nightly. Although the position of Belzer rav included being rabbi of the local township, Rokeach said he could not spare any more time. Two dayanim were appointed for this task, and they consulted with Rokeach only on difficult
halakhic ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments (''mitzv ...
questions.


Escape from Europe

During World War II, Belzer Hasidim both inside and outside
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
-occupied Europe saw saving the Rebbe as their primary goal. They spirited Rokeach — who insisted on being accompanied by his half-brother, Rabbi Mordechai — out of Belz into Wiśnicz, then into the
Bochnia Bochnia is a town on the river Raba in southern Poland, administrative seat of Bochnia County in Lesser Poland Voivodeship. The town lies approximately halfway between Tarnów (east) and the regional capital Kraków (west). Bochnia is most noted ...
Ghetto, then into the
Kraków Ghetto The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major metropolitan Nazi ghettos created by Germany in the new General Government territory during the Occupation of Poland (1939–1945), German occupation of Poland in World War II. It was established for the p ...
, and then back into the Bochnia Ghetto, narrowly avoiding Gestapo roundups and deportations. In their most hair-raising escape attempt, the brothers were driven out of occupied Poland and into Hungary by a Hungarian
counter-intelligence Counterintelligence (counter-intelligence) or counterespionage (counter-espionage) is any activity aimed at protecting an agency's intelligence program from an opposition's intelligence service. It includes gathering information and conducting ac ...
agent who was friendly to Jews. Rokeach, his attendant, and Rabbi Mordechai, shorn of their distinctive beards and sidelocks, were disguised as Russian generals who had been captured at the front and were being taken to Budapest for questioning. After spending eight months in Hungary, the brothers boarded the
Orient Express The ''Orient Express'' was a long-distance passenger luxury train service created in 1883 by the Belgian company ''Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits'' (CIWL) that operated until 2009. The train traveled the length of continental Europe, w ...
to
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
and finally arrived in
Mandatory Palestine Mandatory Palestine was a British Empire, British geopolitical entity that existed between 1920 and 1948 in the Palestine (region), region of Palestine, and after 1922, under the terms of the League of Nations's Mandate for Palestine. After ...
in February 1944. Both men lost their entire families to the Nazis. Rokeach's eldest son, Moshe, was burned alive in the Przemyslany shul at the same time as Rokeach was in hiding in that town. Later, Rabbi Moshe's wife and five children were murdered. Rokeach's eldest daughter, Rivka Miriam, and her husband, Rabbi Shmiel Frankel, both perished along with their seven children. Rokeach's other daughters, Adel Twersky and Sara Bracha Rosenfeld with their children, and two other sons, Rabbi Yisrael and Rabbi Yehudah Zundel with their children, were also slain. When he heard of these tragedies, Rokeach displayed no emotion. Stoically, he continued to lead his Hasidim and perform his devotions.


Activities in Israel

Rokeach devoted the rest of his life to rebuilding Belzer Hasidut in Israel. He initially established his court in Tel Aviv, where he opened the first Belzer
Talmud Torah Talmud Torah (, lit. 'Study of the Torah') schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of religious school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew language, H ...
. Later he moved to Jerusalem, where he founded the first Belzer
yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...
. In 1949, he married Chana Labin-Pollack, daughter of Rabbi Yechiel Chaim Labin, the Makova Rebbe, and widow of Rabbi Yosef Meir Pollack, the Bergsass Rebbe. Her first husband had been murdered by the Nazis in Bergsass, leaving her with a young son and daughter. Rokeach did not have any children by his second wife, but helped to raise her children and later arranged marriages for them. Meanwhile, Rabbi Mordechai also remarried and had a son, Yissachar Dov, on January 19, 1948.Landesman, Yerucham. "Born to Lead: How did the Belzer Rebbe breathe new life into a shattered Chassidus?" ''
Mishpacha ''Mishpacha'' () - Jewish Family Weekly is a Haredi weekly magazine package produced by The Mishpacha Group in both English and Hebrew. History ''Mishpacha'' is one of the four major English-language newspapers and magazines serving the Hared ...
'', 10 October 2011, pp. 30–51.
When Rabbi Mordechai suddenly died on November 17, 1949, Rokeach groomed his year-old nephew to inherit the dynasty. After Rokeach died in 1957, the boy was educated by a small circle of trusted advisors and became the fifth Belzer Rebbe in 1966. Rokeach was touched by the Holocaust. He developed a very inclusive attitude to modern and even non-Orthodox Jews, a substantive change from his pre-war practice of associating almost exclusively with other Haredim. Rokeach's second marriage also indicated a shift in the Belz leader's thinking: the ceremony was conducted by Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman, a member of the religious Zionist Mizrachi movement, a group Belz had previously held at arm's length. Unlike some of his other Hasidic rebbe peers, who had survived the Holocaust and made a practice of acknowledging and honoring their deceased followers and recounting their own experiences, it was Rokeach's custom to never speak of the Belz Hasidim who had died during the war, particularly members of his own family. On one occasion, rabbi and author Arthur Hertzberg, a descendant of Belz Hasidim, visited the rebbe and attempted to talk to him about Belz before the war:
He talked willingly of ygrandfather, remembering that ... ehad been his teacher when he was young, but he was silent when I mentioned my mother's father and her brothers, who had been his disciples until they were murdered during the war. I was upset. This strange behavior was later explained to me by his principal assistant: the rebbe had not once said any of the prescribed prayers ( Yizkor,
Kaddish The Kaddish (, 'holy' or 'sanctification'), also transliterated as Qaddish, is a hymn praising God that is recited during Jewish prayer services. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the lit ...
) for his wife and children because those who had been killed by the Nazis for being Jews were of transcendent holiness; they were beyond our comprehension. Any words about them that we might utter were irrelevant and perhaps even a desecration of their memory.Hertzberg, Arthur (2002). ''A Jew in America: My Life and a People's Struggle for Identity''. Harper, San Francisco, .


Rebbes of Belz

#Rabbi Sholom Rokeach (1779–1855) #Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach (1825–1896) #Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach (1854–1926) #Rabbi Aharon Rokeach (1877–1957) #Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach (b. 1948)


Notes


See also

*
Agudat Israel Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement in Upper Silesia. It later be ...
*
Belz Belz (, ; ; ) is a small city in Lviv Oblast, western Ukraine, located near the border with Poland between the Solokiya River (a tributary of the Bug River) and the Richytsia stream. Belz hosts the administration of Belz urban hromada, one of ...
(town in Poland/Ukraine) * Belz Beis HaMedrash HaGadol (the largest synagogue in Jerusalem) *
Belz (Hasidic dynasty) Belz () is a Hasidic Judaism, Hasidic List of Hasidic dynasties, dynasty founded in the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Poland, Polish border, historically the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland. The group was founded in the early 19th centu ...
*
Ger (Hasidic dynasty) Ger (Yiddish: גער, also Gur, adj. Gerrer) is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland, where it was founded by Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798–1866), known as the "Chiddushei HaRim". Ger is a branch of Pe ...
*
Vizhnitz (Hasidic dynasty) Vizhnitz is the name of a Hasidic dynasty founded by Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hager. Vizhnitz (ויז׳ניץ or וויזשניץ) is the Yiddish name of Vyzhnytsia, a town in present-day Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It i ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rokeach, Aharon 1880 births 1957 deaths Clergy from Lviv Oblast Rebbes of Belz Ukrainian Hasidic rabbis Hasidic rabbis in Europe Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe) Polish Hasidic rabbis Hasidic rabbis in Israel Burials at Har HaMenuchot Kraków Ghetto inmates Descendants of the Baal Shem Tov