Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the ''Sfas Emes'' (Ashkenazic Pronunciation) or ''Sefat Emet ('') (Modern Hebrew), was a

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 ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi

Yitzchak Meir Alter Yitzchak Meir Rotenberg-Alter (, , ) (1799 – 10 March 1866), was the first Rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, which he founded in the town of Góra Kalwaria (known as "Ger" in Yiddish), Poland. He headed the Kupath Rabbi Meir Baal Haness K ...

, as the ''Av beis din'' (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of

Góra Kalwaria Góra Kalwaria (; "Calvary Mountain", , ''Ger'') is a town on the Vistula River in the Masovian Voivodeship, in east-central Poland. It is situated approximately southeast of Warsaw and has a population of around 12,109 (as of 2019). The town has ...

, Poland (known in

Yiddish Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...

as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi

Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin (1798 – 21 March 1870The State Archive in Lo ...

Aleksander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

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 Gerrer Hasidim.

Biography

Early years

He was born in 1847 (5608) and named Yehudah Leib, he was known to family and friends as Leybl. His father, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, died when Yehudah Leib was only eight years old, and his mother Mrs. Esther Alter (née Landsztajn) died before that in 1849. Orphaned of both parents, he was brought up by his grandparents, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter (known as the ''Chiddushei Harim'') and his wife. When he was about ten years old, his grandfather took him to visit the

Kotzker Rebbe Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk (Kock, Poland), better known as the Kotzker Rebbe and the Kotzker (1787–1859) was a Hasidic rabbi and leader. Life Born to a non-Hasidic family in Goraj near Lublin, Poland, he became attracted to Hasidi ...

, which left a lifelong impression on him. In 1862 he married Yocheved Rivka, daughter of Yehuda Leib ("Yidl") Kaminer, descendant of the Magen Abraham. In order not to have the same name as his father-in-law, his own name was changed to Yehudah Aryeh Leib. He is said to have been attached to the name Yehudah, and was upset at not being able to use it as his name any longer.

Leadership

When his grandfather, Yitzchak Meir, died in 1866, many of the Gerrer Hasidim sought to bestow the mantle of leadership upon eighteen-year-old Yehudah Aryeh Leib. He refused that position, and leadership went to Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksandrów Łódzki. However, after the death of the latter in 1870, the Hasidim succeeded in gaining Alter's assent to become their Rebbe. Ten children were born to Alter, of whom four sons and two daughters stayed alive after his death. The eldest among them was Rabbi Avraham Mordechai, who would later succeed him as leader.

Death and burial

On September 2, 1901, his wife, Yocheved Rivka, passed away. A year later, a fire consumed the Chassidic buildings in Góra Kalwaria, including Alter's home and his Beth midrash. Following this, Alter married his second wife, Reizel, the daughter of Rabbi Baruch Halberstam of Gorlice. During the

Russo-Japanese War The Russo-Japanese War (8 February 1904 – 5 September 1905) was fought between the Russian Empire and the Empire of Japan over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and the Korean Empire. The major land battles of the war were fought on the ...

, many of his young followers were drafted into the Russian Army and sent to the battlefields in

Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...

. Alter was very worried over these devotees and would constantly write to them. His health suffered, and he died at the age of 57 on 11 January 1905 (5

Shevat Shevat (, , ; from ) is the fifth month of the civil year starting in Tishre (or Tishri) and the eleventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar starting in Nisan. It is a month of 30 days. Shevat usually occurs in January– ...

5665).

Succession

Alter was succeeded as Gerrer Rebbe by his son, Rabbi

Avraham Mordechai Alter Avraham Mordechai Alter (, , ; 25 December 1865 – 13 June 1948), was also known as the ''Imrei Emes'' after the works he authored. He was fourth Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger. The Ger Rebbe, from 1905 until his death in 1948. A participa ...

. Most of Gerrer hasidim followed Avraham Mordechai, but some chasidim followed the brother-in-law of Alter - Rabbi

Pinchas Menachem Justman Pinchas Menachem (Elazar) Justman (1848–1920) The Piltzer Rebbe, also known by the title of his main work, the Siftei Tzadik was a Hasidic Rabbi who after the passing of his brother-in-law Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, became a Rebbe for some ...

of Piltz.

Lasting influence

Alter was one of the greatest

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

scholars of his generation, teaching students such as Rabbi Nachman Shlomo Greenspan and many others. His output was prodigious, and his works (all entitled ''Sfas Emes'') deal with the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

, the ethics of the

Midrash ''Midrash'' (;"midrash"
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...

, and mysticism of the

Zohar The ''Zohar'' (, ''Zōhar'', lit. "Splendor" or "Radiance") is a foundational work of Kabbalistic literature. It is a group of books including commentary on the mystical aspects of the Torah and scriptural interpretations as well as material o ...

. His Torah homilies as delivered to his hasidim, and arranged according to the weekly

parashah The term ''parashah'', ''parasha'' or ''parashat'' ( ''Pārāšâ'', "portion", Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian , Sephardi Hebrew, Sephardi , plural: ''parashot'' or ''parashiyot'', also called ''parsha'') formally means a section of a biblical book ...

and the festivals, were the first to be published posthumously under the name ''Sfas Emes'' (שפת אמת). The title was taken from the closing words of the final piece he wrote (''Sfas Emes'', Vayechi 5665). His '' chiddushim'' (original Torah thoughts) on many Talmudic tractates, and on

Yoreh De'ah ''Yoreh De'ah'' () is a section of Rabbi Jacob ben Asher's compilation of halakha (Jewish law), the ''Arba'ah Turim'', written around 1300. This section treats all aspects of Jewish law not pertinent to the Hebrew calendar, finance, torts, marr ...

, have been published under the same name. The Sochatchover Rebbe, Rabbi

Avrohom Bornsztain Avrohom Bornsztain (14 October 1838 – 20 February 1910), also spelled Avraham Borenstein or Bernstein, was a leading posek in late-nineteenth-century Europe and founder and first Rebbe of the Sochatchover Hasidic dynasty. He is known as th ...

(known as the ''Avnei Nezer''), a leading Torah scholar and

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

in his own right, is said to have maintained two bookcases — one for

Rishonim ''Rishonim'' (; ; sing. , ''Rishon'') were the leading rabbis and ''posek, poskim'' who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' (, "Set Table", a common printed code of Jewis ...

(earlier commentators) and another for

Acharonim In Halakha, Jewish law and history, ''Acharonim'' (, , ; ; ) are the leading rabbis and Posek, poskim (Jewish legal decisors) living from roughly the 16th century to the present, and more specifically since the writing of the ''Shulchan Aruch'' ...

(later commentators). The volumes of the ''Sfas Emes'', written in the late 1800s, were to be found in his bookcase containing the Rishonim. To study some portions of the Talmud without the ''Sfas Emes'' is unthinkable to the modern-day scholar.Rabbi Menachem Lubinsky, in the ''Jewish Observer''. The

Sfas Emes Yeshiva Sfas Emes Yeshiva () was an Orthodox Jewish yeshiva in Jerusalem, serving the Gerrer Hasidic community until 2016. Founded in 1925 in the Mahane Yehuda neighborhood of Jerusalem, it was one of the few Hasidic yeshivas in Israel in the early twe ...

in Jerusalem is named after him and includes his teachings in the curriculum.

His sayings

Bibliography

Arthur Green Arthur Green (, born March 21, 1941) is an American scholar of Jewish mysticism and Neo-Hasidic theologian. He was a founding dean of the non-denominational rabbinical program at Hebrew College in Boston. He describes himself as an American Jew ...

, ''The Language of Truth: The Torah Commentary of Sefat Emet'' (Jewish Publication Society, 1998) . * Avraham Segal, "On 'Renewal' in the Writings of R. Yehudah Aryeh Leib of Gur and his Successors" (Heb.), ''Daat: A Journal of Jewish Philosophy & Kabbalah, 70'' (2011), pp. 49-80 . * * Articles by Dr. Yoram Jacobson: ** "Exile and Redemption in Gur Hasidism" (Heb.), Da'at, 2-3 (1978–1979), pp. 175–215 . ** "Truth and Faith in Gur Hasidic Thought" (Heb.), in:

Joseph Dan Joseph Dan (, 1935 – 23 July 2022) was an Israeli scholar of Jewish mysticism. He taught for over 40 years in the Department of Jewish Thought at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was the first incumbent of the Gershom Scholem Chair in ...

(ed.) ''Studies in Jewish Mysticism, Philosophy and Ethical Literature Presented to Isaiah Tishby'', Jerusalem:

Magnes Press The Hebrew University Magnes Press, known for short as Magnes Press, is the publishing house of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. History Magnes Press was founded in 1929, four years after the founding of the Hebrew University, and is the o ...

, 1986, pp. 593–616. ** "The Sanctity of the Mundane in the Hasidic School of Gur - Studies in the Understanding of the Sabbath in the Homilies of Sefat Emet" (Heb.), in: Hasidism in Poland, Jerusalem, 1994, pp. 241–277. ** "From Youth to Leadership and from Kabbalah to Hasidism - Stages in the Spiritual Development of the Author of Sefat Emet" (Heb.), in: Rachel Elior and

(ed.) ''Many voices: Rivka Schatz Uffenheimer Memorial Volume'', II, Jerusalem:

, 1996, pp. 429–446 . ** "Primordial Chaos and Creation in the Thought of Gur Hasidism, or: the Sabbath that Preceded Creation" (Polish), in Duchowosc Zydowska w Polsce, Kraków, 2000, pp. 151–171.