Mordechai Rokeach
Encyclopedia
Mordechai Rokeach also known as Mordechai of Bilgoray, was a scion of the Belzer
Hasidic
dynasty and the right hand man to his half-brother, Rebbe
Aharon of Belz
, the fourth Belzer Rebbe. He was the son (by the second marriage) of the third Belzer Rebbe, Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach (I)
. His only son, Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II)
, is the fifth and current Belzer Rebbe.
From 1927 until the outbreak of World War II, Rabbi Mordechai served as Rav of the town of Biłgoraj, becoming known as the Bilgorayer Rav. During World War II, he famously accompanied his brother, Rebbe Aharon, on a daring escape out of Nazi
-occupied Europe. The two reached Israel in February 1944, the only surviving members of their families, and threw themselves into rebuilding the ranks of Belzer Hasidut which had been decimated by the Holocaust
.
. From his first wife, the Belzer Rebbe fathered two children, Aharon
and Chana Rochel. Aharon was 22 years old at the time of Mordechai's birth.
Rebbe Yissachar Dov closely supervised Mordechai's Torah education, learning with him for three hours nightly. Reb Mottele, as he was popularly called, became known for his diligence in Torah study, his breadth of knowledge and his skills as an orator. He got along well with people, a trait that would serve him later on as a town Rav and as a spokesman for Belz Hasidut in Israel. He was also quite humble.
He married Sheva, the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Aharon Rabinowitz, the Kobriner Rav. His eldest daughter, Alte Bas Zion, died in 1931 at the age of 3; his second daughter, Rivka Miriam, was murdered by the Nazis
together with his wife in Kobrin
after he had fled with the Rebbe.
In 1920, he accepted the position of Rav of Biłgoraj. Though his father gave his blessing, Rabbi Mordechai did not assume this post until after his father's death in 1926; at that time, his brother Aharon, the newly-appointed Rebbe, gave his blessing to the move.
In Biłgoraj, Rabbi Mordechai served as the spiritual leader, educator and av beit din. He conducted tishen
on Shabbat
and Yom Tov
, at which he delivered divrei Torah
in the style of the Belzer Rebbes. He also accepted kvitlach
and pidyonot from people seeking his blessing and prayers. He established a Talmud Torah
in the city and provided for the spiritual and physical needs of the students. A photograph taken for a philanthropist
in the United States who had sent a donation of new clothing for the children shows him surrounded by his students.
Notwithstanding his prominence, Rabbi Mordechai always subordinated himself to his brother, Aharon. He consulted with him on every issue, attended his court on Shabbat, and even gave him kvitlach with the names of his family members. He used to say, "When I want to enter my brother's room, I am overcome by fear, knowing who it is I am going to see. I try to turn back, due to my great fear. But one must go in!"
and the Nazi invasion of Poland
, Biłgoraj was bombed from the air and most of its residents fled. Rabbi Mordechai and his family followed the refugees to Poritsc, several kilometers north of Sokal
, and then to his wife's hometown of Berezhany. Meanwhile, Belzer Hasidim in Israel, England and the United States arranged to spirit the Rebbe out of Belz to Sokal and then to Przemyslany, where he remained for nearly a year. With the onset of Operation Barbarossa
on 22 June 1941, Sokal, on the front lines, fell to the Germans on the first day; Prezemyslany was conquered by July 1. The Rebbe went into hiding and narrowly avoided capture by German patrols, but he would not escape further without his brother at his side. Rabbi Mordechai sent his wife and daughter to her father's house in Kobrin
, while Rebbe Aharon's wife and five unmarried children stayed in Przemyslany under the care of one of his Hasidim. They were all subsequently murdered by the Nazis.
Thanks to the untiring efforts and cash inflow from Belzer Hasidim abroad, the Rebbe and Rabbi Mordechai managed to stay one step ahead of the Nazis in one miraculous escape attempt after another. Together with two Hasidim, they were spirited into Wiśnicz
, then the Bochnia
Ghetto, then the Kraków Ghetto
, and then back into Bochnia, 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
agent who was friendly to Jews. The Rebbe, 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.
Rebbe Aharon and Rabbi Mordechai spent eight months in Budapest before receiving highly-rationed Jewish Agency
certificates to enter Israel. Their decision to leave Europe was protested by the Hungarian Jewish community, which desired their continuing presence, but when they finalized their plans, the community made them guests of honor at a farewell evening attended by thousands. Rabbi Mordechai delivered a lengthy speech combining Torah thoughts with commentary on the political situation, exhorting his audience to use their charity money to ransom Jews trapped in Nazi-occupied Europe and also to feed and clothe those who had managed to escape to then-free Hungary.
In January 1944 the two boarded the Orient Express
to Istanbul
. After crossing the Bosphorus straits by ferry, they were subject to a vigorous search and debriefing by the Brish secret service as "aliens" from Nazi-occupied territory. The Rebbe, who generally weighed each question before answering it, exasperated the interrogator, who ordered the Rebbe and his brother arrested and held in the basement of the Syrian police house, together with another fifteen Jewish fugitives from Nazi Europe. Israel Chief Rabbi
Chaim Herzog
, who had planned to be in Turkey with a mission of rescue activists so he could greet the Rebbe upon his arrival, interceded with the British general, who agreed to release the weak and fragile Rebbe. Rabbi Mordechai was released later that evening, and the pair took the first train to Tripoli the next morning. On the outskirts of Beirut
, they were greeted by a crowd of 200 Sephardim and 20 Israeli businessmen and hosted to a reception by local rabbis and dignitaries. They arrived at the old border station near Naqoura
, Lebanon, on 3 February 1944 (9 Shevat 5704 – a date celebrated by Belzer Hasidim). Upon crossing the border into Israel, the Rebbe tore kriah. Thousands came out to greet them at each of their stops in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They were also given positive newspaper coverage by religious and secular papers alike.
in Tel Aviv and yeshiva
in Jerusalem, and represented the Rebbe at most events and conferences. The Rebbe consulted with him before every major decision. He also acceded to the Rebbe's request to live near him in Tel Aviv, even after he remarried, as the Rebbe explained, "Heaven forbid that he leave me! For he is my right hand, and it is impossible that I be left without him!"
With the war in Europe still raging, Rabbi Mordechai gave many speeches and newspaper interviews to publicize the full scope of the Nazis' murderous activities and arouse public opinion. At a routine foundation-stone laying for a new aron kodesh at Haifa's central beth midrash
, for example, he spoke passionately and at length about the Holocaust:
As Israeli public opinion warmed to the horrors in Europe, the Belzer Rebbe called on the Gerrer
Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter
, to join him in proclaiming a World Fast and Day of Prayer on 23 March 1944 (28 Adar). The event, coming on the heels of the German invasion of Hungary, was attended by thousands. Rabbi Mordechai spoke for a full 90 minutes. He was also heavily involved in helping war survivors obtain government benefits, housing and employment, and arranging weddings on their behalf.
, was born in 1948. Rebbe Aharon also remarried, but his second marriage did not produce children.
These scraps were discovered in the home of his widow in late 2009, causing his son and current Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, to change his levush (wardrobe) in the middle of Hanukkah
. The Rebbe appeared in the Belzer shul wearing a spodik
instead of the usual kolpik
, as his father's papers had revealed that Belzer Rebbes wore the kolpik for traveling and the spodik at home, not the other way around (as had been done in the Rebbe's court until then).
that he had heard from his father, the previous Belzer Rebbe, and kept a notebook of all the divrei Torah he remembered. After his death, his rebbetzin wanted to keep the notebook for herself. One of his relatives sat in her house for an entire day to copy the whole notebook so that his brother, Rebbe Aharon, could also benefit from his father's divrei Torah.
At the end of the summer, Rabbi Mordechai told his companions that his father had appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to return home immediately. He returned to Israel before Yom Kippur and fell ill during the Sukkot holiday. He underwent major surgery on 17 November but did not survive. He died on 17 November 1949 (25 Cheshvan
5710), and was buried in Tiberias in a funeral attended by thousands.
His only son, Yissachar Dov, was raised by Rebbe Aharon. After Rebbe Aharon's death in 1957, the boy was educated by a small circle of trusted advisors. He became the fifth Belzer Rebbe in 1966. Rebbe Yissachar Dov named his only son, Aharon Mordechai Rokeach
, born in 1975, after his uncle and his father.
Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
Belz is a Hasidic dynasty named for the town of Belz in Western Ukraine, near the Polish border. The town has existed since at least the 10th century, with the Jewish community being established during the 14th century. The town became home to Hasidic Judaism in the early 19th century...
Hasidic
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
dynasty and the right hand man to his half-brother, Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
Aharon of Belz
Aharon Rokeach
Aharon Rokeach was the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He led the movement from 1926 until his death in 1957....
, the fourth Belzer Rebbe. He was the son (by the second marriage) of the third Belzer Rebbe, Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach (I)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach (I)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach , , was the third Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He was the second son of Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach , and served as the third Belzer Rebbe from his father's death in 1894 until his own death in 1926.-Personal life:Yissachar Dov was born in the town of Belz, Poland...
. His only son, Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach is the fifth and present Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Belz. He is the son of Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgoray, the grandson of the third Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, and the nephew of the fourth Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, who raised him...
, is the fifth and current Belzer Rebbe.
From 1927 until the outbreak of World War II, Rabbi Mordechai served as Rav of the town of Biłgoraj, becoming known as the Bilgorayer Rav. During World War II, he famously accompanied his brother, Rebbe Aharon, on a daring escape out of Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
-occupied Europe. The two reached Israel in February 1944, the only surviving members of their families, and threw themselves into rebuilding the ranks of Belzer Hasidut which had been decimated by the Holocaust
The Holocaust
The Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
.
Biography
Rabbi Mordechai was one of seven children born to Rebbe Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the third Belzer Rebbe, in his second marriage to Chaya Devorah, daughter of Rabbi Avrohom Shmuel Pecsenik of BerezhanyBerezhany
Berezhany is a city located in the Ternopil Oblast of western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Berezhanskyi Raion , and rests about 100 km from Lviv and 50 km from the oblast capital, Ternopil. The city has a population of about 20,000, and is about 400 m above sea level...
. From his first wife, the Belzer Rebbe fathered two children, Aharon
Aharon Rokeach
Aharon Rokeach was the fourth Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He led the movement from 1926 until his death in 1957....
and Chana Rochel. Aharon was 22 years old at the time of Mordechai's birth.
Rebbe Yissachar Dov closely supervised Mordechai's Torah education, learning with him for three hours nightly. Reb Mottele, as he was popularly called, became known for his diligence in Torah study, his breadth of knowledge and his skills as an orator. He got along well with people, a trait that would serve him later on as a town Rav and as a spokesman for Belz Hasidut in Israel. He was also quite humble.
He married Sheva, the daughter of Rabbi Moshe Aharon Rabinowitz, the Kobriner Rav. His eldest daughter, Alte Bas Zion, died in 1931 at the age of 3; his second daughter, Rivka Miriam, was murdered by the Nazis
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
together with his wife in Kobrin
Kobryn
Kobryn or Kobrin is a city in the Brest voblast of Belarus and the center of the Kobryn Raion. The city is located in the southwestern corner of Belarus where the Mukhavets River and Dnepr-Bug Canal meet. The city lies about 52 km east of the city of Brest. Kobryn is located at Latitude...
after he had fled with the Rebbe.
In 1920, he accepted the position of Rav of Biłgoraj. Though his father gave his blessing, Rabbi Mordechai did not assume this post until after his father's death in 1926; at that time, his brother Aharon, the newly-appointed Rebbe, gave his blessing to the move.
In Biłgoraj, Rabbi Mordechai served as the spiritual leader, educator and av beit din. He conducted tishen
Tish (Hasidic celebration)
A tish , also spelled tisch, is a gathering of Hasidim around their Rebbe. It may consist of speeches on Torah subjects, singing of melodies known as niggunim and zemirot , with refreshments being served. Hasidim see it as a moment of great holiness...
on Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and Yom Tov
Jewish holiday
Jewish holidays are days observed by Jews as holy or secular commemorations of important events in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov or chag or ta'anit...
, at which he delivered divrei Torah
Torah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
in the style of the Belzer Rebbes. He also accepted kvitlach
Kvitel
Kvitel refers to a practice developed by Hasidic Judaism in which a Hasid writes a note with a petitionary prayer and gives it to a Rebbe in order to receive the latter's blessing...
and pidyonot from people seeking his blessing and prayers. He established a Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah
Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...
in the city and provided for the spiritual and physical needs of the students. A photograph taken for a philanthropist
Philanthropist
A philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
in the United States who had sent a donation of new clothing for the children shows him surrounded by his students.
Notwithstanding his prominence, Rabbi Mordechai always subordinated himself to his brother, Aharon. He consulted with him on every issue, attended his court on Shabbat, and even gave him kvitlach with the names of his family members. He used to say, "When I want to enter my brother's room, I am overcome by fear, knowing who it is I am going to see. I try to turn back, due to my great fear. But one must go in!"
Escape from Europe
With the outbreak of World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and the Nazi invasion of Poland
Invasion of Poland (1939)
The Invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign or 1939 Defensive War in Poland and the Poland Campaign in Germany, was an invasion of Poland by Germany, the Soviet Union, and a small Slovak contingent that marked the start of World War II in Europe...
, Biłgoraj was bombed from the air and most of its residents fled. Rabbi Mordechai and his family followed the refugees to Poritsc, several kilometers north of Sokal
Sokal
Sokal is a town located on the banks of the Bug River in the Lviv Oblast of western Ukraine. Serving as the administrative center of the Sokal Raion , the city itself also ranks as a separate raion within the oblast.- History :...
, and then to his wife's hometown of Berezhany. Meanwhile, Belzer Hasidim in Israel, England and the United States arranged to spirit the Rebbe out of Belz to Sokal and then to Przemyslany, where he remained for nearly a year. With the onset of Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
on 22 June 1941, Sokal, on the front lines, fell to the Germans on the first day; Prezemyslany was conquered by July 1. The Rebbe went into hiding and narrowly avoided capture by German patrols, but he would not escape further without his brother at his side. Rabbi Mordechai sent his wife and daughter to her father's house in Kobrin
Kobryn
Kobryn or Kobrin is a city in the Brest voblast of Belarus and the center of the Kobryn Raion. The city is located in the southwestern corner of Belarus where the Mukhavets River and Dnepr-Bug Canal meet. The city lies about 52 km east of the city of Brest. Kobryn is located at Latitude...
, while Rebbe Aharon's wife and five unmarried children stayed in Przemyslany under the care of one of his Hasidim. They were all subsequently murdered by the Nazis.
Thanks to the untiring efforts and cash inflow from Belzer Hasidim abroad, the Rebbe and Rabbi Mordechai managed to stay one step ahead of the Nazis in one miraculous escape attempt after another. Together with two Hasidim, they were spirited into Wiśnicz
Wisnicz
Wiśnicz is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Małogoszcz, within Jędrzejów County, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, in south-central Poland. It lies approximately west of Małogoszcz, north-west of Jędrzejów, and west of the regional capital Kielce.The village has a population of...
, then the Bochnia
Bochnia
Bochnia is a town of 30,000 inhabitants on the river Raba in southern Poland. The town lies approximately in halfway [] between Tarnów and the regional capital Kraków . Bochnia is most noted for its salt mine, the oldest functioning in Europe, built circa 1248...
Ghetto, then the Kraków Ghetto
Kraków Ghetto
The Kraków Ghetto was one of five major, metropolitan Jewish ghettos created by Nazi Germany in the General Government territory for the purpose of persecution, terror, and exploitation of Polish Jews during the German occupation of Poland in World War II...
, and then back into Bochnia, 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
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
agent who was friendly to Jews. The Rebbe, 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.
Rebbe Aharon and Rabbi Mordechai spent eight months in Budapest before receiving highly-rationed Jewish Agency
Jewish Agency for Israel
The Jewish Agency for Israel , also known as the Sochnut or JAFI, served as the organization in charge of immigration and absorption of Jews from the Diaspora into the state of Israel.-History:...
certificates to enter Israel. Their decision to leave Europe was protested by the Hungarian Jewish community, which desired their continuing presence, but when they finalized their plans, the community made them guests of honor at a farewell evening attended by thousands. Rabbi Mordechai delivered a lengthy speech combining Torah thoughts with commentary on the political situation, exhorting his audience to use their charity money to ransom Jews trapped in Nazi-occupied Europe and also to feed and clothe those who had managed to escape to then-free Hungary.
In January 1944 the two boarded the Orient Express
Orient Express
The Orient Express is the name of a long-distance passenger train service originally operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. It ran from 1883 to 2009 and is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express train service, which continues to run.The route and rolling stock...
to Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. After crossing the Bosphorus straits by ferry, they were subject to a vigorous search and debriefing by the Brish secret service as "aliens" from Nazi-occupied territory. The Rebbe, who generally weighed each question before answering it, exasperated the interrogator, who ordered the Rebbe and his brother arrested and held in the basement of the Syrian police house, together with another fifteen Jewish fugitives from Nazi Europe. Israel Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog
Chaim Herzog served as the sixth President of Israel , following a distinguished career in both the British Army and the Israel Defense Forces .-Early life:...
, who had planned to be in Turkey with a mission of rescue activists so he could greet the Rebbe upon his arrival, interceded with the British general, who agreed to release the weak and fragile Rebbe. Rabbi Mordechai was released later that evening, and the pair took the first train to Tripoli the next morning. On the outskirts of Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, they were greeted by a crowd of 200 Sephardim and 20 Israeli businessmen and hosted to a reception by local rabbis and dignitaries. They arrived at the old border station near Naqoura
Naqoura
Naqoura is a small city in southern Lebanon. Since March 23, 1978 until present, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has been headquartered in Naqoura....
, Lebanon, on 3 February 1944 (9 Shevat 5704 – a date celebrated by Belzer Hasidim). Upon crossing the border into Israel, the Rebbe tore kriah. Thousands came out to greet them at each of their stops in Haifa, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. They were also given positive newspaper coverage by religious and secular papers alike.
In Israel
Rabbi Mordechai continued to serve as his brother's right hand after the war, refusing to take a rabbinical position but dedicating his efforts to strengthening Torah Judaism and Belzer Hasidut. He chaired the Rebbe's planning committee for the first Belz Talmud TorahTalmud Torah
Talmud Torah schools were created in the Jewish world, both Ashkenazic and Sephardic, as a form of public primary school for boys of modest backgrounds, where they were given an elementary education in Hebrew, the Scriptures , and the Talmud...
in Tel Aviv and yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Jerusalem, and represented the Rebbe at most events and conferences. The Rebbe consulted with him before every major decision. He also acceded to the Rebbe's request to live near him in Tel Aviv, even after he remarried, as the Rebbe explained, "Heaven forbid that he leave me! For he is my right hand, and it is impossible that I be left without him!"
With the war in Europe still raging, Rabbi Mordechai gave many speeches and newspaper interviews to publicize the full scope of the Nazis' murderous activities and arouse public opinion. At a routine foundation-stone laying for a new aron kodesh at Haifa's central beth midrash
Beth midrash
Beth Midrash refers to a study hall, whether in a synagogue, yeshiva, kollel, or other building. It is distinct from a synagogue, although many synagogues are also used as batei midrash and vice versa....
, for example, he spoke passionately and at length about the Holocaust:
I have discovered that the public in the Holy Land does not fully believe the terrible horror that has befallen our nation in exile. Sadly, the bitter truth is many, many times worse that anything you have heard. All that is known in the free world is but a drop in the ocean of massacres battering European Jewry. To all those doubters, I can bear witness from my own personal experience that all current descriptions are as nothing compared with the awful truth. On leaving Hungary, I saw with my own eyes wagonloads of Italian Jews being transported to their death in Poland. Elderly, women, young children, pushing their shrunken hands through the bars, begging for "Water! Water!" But the Gestapo troops did not allow anyone to approach the death train and assist the captives. I saw prisoners crazed from thirst attacking each other and biting their flesh.
People talk glibly about the murder of thousands of children. But no words can possibly describe how Nais kill children. They even force the mothers to witness the "ceremony" of their children's massacre! There have been cases where the parents have been forced from their beds to be present at the execution. Just to multiply the pain and torture…"
As Israeli public opinion warmed to the horrors in Europe, the Belzer Rebbe called on the Gerrer
Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....
Rebbe, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter
Avraham Mordechai Alter
Avraham Mordechai Alter , also known as the Imrei Emes after the works he authored, was the third Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1905 until his death in 1948. He was one of the founders of the Agudas Israel in Poland and was influential in establishing a network of...
, to join him in proclaiming a World Fast and Day of Prayer on 23 March 1944 (28 Adar). The event, coming on the heels of the German invasion of Hungary, was attended by thousands. Rabbi Mordechai spoke for a full 90 minutes. He was also heavily involved in helping war survivors obtain government benefits, housing and employment, and arranging weddings on their behalf.
Remarriage
Having lost their entire families in the Holocaust, both Rebbe Aharon and Rabbi Mordechai remarried in Israel. Rabbi Mordechai remarried in 1947 to Miriam, the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi (Hershel) Glick of Satmar. Their only child, Yissachar DovYissachar Dov Rokeach (II)
Yissachar Dov Rokeach is the fifth and present Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Belz. He is the son of Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgoray, the grandson of the third Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, and the nephew of the fourth Belzer Rebbe, Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, who raised him...
, was born in 1948. Rebbe Aharon also remarried, but his second marriage did not produce children.
Belz historian
Rabbi Mordechai served as a link between the Belz community of old and the new community that his brother was establishing in Israel through his recording of every custom and practice that he had seen done in Belz. He was originally commissioned to write down these notes by his father, the third Belzer Rebbe. In the early years in Israel, Rebbe Aharon urged him to continue. At that time, paper was scarce, so Rabbi Mordechai recorded his memories on scraps of paper, envelopes and wedding invitations.These scraps were discovered in the home of his widow in late 2009, causing his son and current Rebbe, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, to change his levush (wardrobe) in the middle of Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
. The Rebbe appeared in the Belzer shul wearing a spodik
Spodik
A spodik is a tall fur hat worn by some Hasidic Jews, particularly members of sects originating in Congress Poland. Spodiks are to be distinguished from shtreimels, which are a similar type of fur hat worn by Hasidim...
instead of the usual kolpik
Kolpik
A kolpik is a type of traditional headgear worn in families of some Chassidic Rebbes , by unmarried children on Shabbat, and by some Rebbes on special occasions. It is made from brown fur, as opposed to a spodik, worn by Polish chassidic dynasties, which is fashioned out of black fur.The word...
, as his father's papers had revealed that Belzer Rebbes wore the kolpik for traveling and the spodik at home, not the other way around (as had been done in the Rebbe's court until then).
Final days
In the summer of 1949, Rebbe Aharon sent his brother on a mission to strengthen and encourage survivors and the nascent Belzer communities in Europe. Rabbi Mordechai traveled to Paris, Zurich and Antwerp to convey the Rebbe's personal message. He impressed many with his Torah knowledge and powers of oration. He would often share divrei TorahTorah study
Torah study is the study by Jewish people of the Torah, Hebrew Bible, Talmud, responsa, rabbinic literature and similar works, all of which are Judaism's religious texts...
that he had heard from his father, the previous Belzer Rebbe, and kept a notebook of all the divrei Torah he remembered. After his death, his rebbetzin wanted to keep the notebook for herself. One of his relatives sat in her house for an entire day to copy the whole notebook so that his brother, Rebbe Aharon, could also benefit from his father's divrei Torah.
At the end of the summer, Rabbi Mordechai told his companions that his father had appeared to him in a dream and instructed him to return home immediately. He returned to Israel before Yom Kippur and fell ill during the Sukkot holiday. He underwent major surgery on 17 November but did not survive. He died on 17 November 1949 (25 Cheshvan
Cheshvan
Marcheshvan , sometimes shortened to Cheshvan , is the second month of the civil year and the eighth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew...
5710), and was buried in Tiberias in a funeral attended by thousands.
His only son, Yissachar Dov, was raised by Rebbe Aharon. After Rebbe Aharon's death in 1957, the boy was educated by a small circle of trusted advisors. He became the fifth Belzer Rebbe in 1966. Rebbe Yissachar Dov named his only son, Aharon Mordechai Rokeach
Aharon Mordechai Rokeach
Aharon Mordechai Rokeach is the only child and heir of the current Rebbe of Belz, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach...
, born in 1975, after his uncle and his father.