Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
Belz is a Hasidic movement within orthodox Judaism, which was ( since 1951 Ukraine) founded in the former ostpolnisch, small Galician town of Belz.
Rabbis and religious education
The rabbis of the Belzer community belong to the Rokeach family. Founder Shalom Rokeach ( Sar Shalom called, * 1779, † September 10, 1855 ). Under his leadership in 1843 was the Belzer synagogue. After his death, the youngest son Yehoshua Rokeach was (* 1825, † February 3, 1894 ) Belzer Rebbe. The third Rebbe in this tradition is Yissachar Dov Rokeach I. (* 1854, † October 30, 1926 ).
Some important Jewish scholars of this period were Belzer Hasidim, Rabbi Shalom Mordechai Schwadron. The students and scribes of the Belzer Hasidim were called Joschwim ( sedentary ). These include men any marital status, who prayed all day in the synagogue and taught. This was possible because food and other donations from the surrounding area.
After Yissachar Dov's death in 1926, the Office of the Rebbe went over to his eldest son Aharon Rokeach (* 1877, † August 18, 1957 ).
During the occupation of Poland in World War II, the Belzer community was destroyed almost complete. Supported by Belzer Hasidim from abroad the Rebbe and his half-brother, Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgorai succeeded in January 1944, the flight over Budapest to Palestine.
Hope for Israel
Aharon Rokeach, who lost his entire family (wife, children, grandchildren ), founded by Mordecai the Belzer movement in Tel Aviv new. Both married again as a widower, Rabbi Mordechai Dov Rokeach was the son Yissachar II born in 1948.
A year later died Rabbi Mordechai at the age of 47 years. Rebbe Aharon took over the training of the son of his brother, preparing him as before to the succession as Belzer Rebbe.
Rabbi Aharon laid the foundation for the growth of the Belzer Chasidut through the establishment of schools and yeshivas Torah in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. 1950 moved the seat of the Rebbe in Jerusalem. He died in 1957, when his successor as certain nephew was 9 years old, so the group for the next nine years lacked a practicing Rebbe.
Yissachar Dov married at 17, the daughter of the Rebbe Wiznitzer ( Moshe Yehoshua Hager ), moved to Bnei Brak to be closer to his father and returned a year later to Jerusalem. Here he assumed the office of the Belzer Rebbe, however, he refused some of the Belzer recognition.
Under his leadership, several schools and yeshivas were established and expanded. Politically, they turned from the strict anti - Zionism and working within the political system in Israel, but rejects Zionism continues to decrease. Since 1980, Dov Rokeach Yissachar promoted the construction of a monumental synagogue in Jerusalem with 6000 seats, which was inaugurated in 2000.