How did the Belzer Rebbe breathe new life into a shattered Chassidus ?

Walking through Kiryat Belz in Yerushalayim today and seeing thousands of Belzer chassidim streaming through its streets, one cannot imagine the bereavement that once struck this community. Shattered by the loss of its two great leaders in a span of seven years, the eyes of all Belzer chassidim focused on a nine-year-old boy, waiting for the day when he would become their leader.

How does a young man assume the leadership of a dying chassidus at the age of 18 and transform into an empire of Torah, chessed, and kiruv?

Elder chassidim attribute the success not only to the indomitable spirit of the current Belzer Rebbe shlita, who has rebuilt the chassidus in his forty-five years of leadership into unimaginable proportions, but also to the promise of the Sar Shalom, the first Rebbe of Belz.

Motzaei Shabbos, Parshas Chukas, 8 Tamuz 5726/1966. Rechov Ahavas Shalom, Kiryat Vizhnitz, Bnei Brak.

Five chassidishe Yidden who had just arrived from Tel Aviv stood outside a building, conversing in excited whispers. They entered the apartment building, ascending the stairs slowly and respectfully. If the pounding in their

hearts could have been amplified and broadcast throughout the neighborhood, the entire Kiryat Vizhnitz would have trembled.

These men were close associates of the holy Reb Aharon of Belz ztz”l, whose ninth yahrtzeit was one month away. They knocked on the door of Reb Aharon’s nephew, who had recently married the granddaughter of the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz ztz”l.

The fresh yungerman opened the door of the modest apartment himself. “Many hearts are filled with anticipation and expectation, focused on you,” they began as they settled around the dining room table. “Perhaps the time has come for you to accept the mantle of leadership – to occupy the place of your forefathers as the leader of the Belzer chassidus, to rebuild and to lead us into the era of Mashiach.”

For a moment, the Rebbe was unable to respond. Finally, he said humbly, “This is a matter that must be brought to the gedolei hador.”

The five chassidim wasted no time. They longed to see the young Rebbe presiding over a tish on the yahrtzeit of the Reb Aharon a month later, and the very next day, they dispatched a special messenger to the Klausenberger Rebbe ztz”l, the Shefa Chaim of Sanz. The Shefa Chaim immediately ruled that the distinguished yungerman be appointed as the new Rebbe. Four of the most distinguished Belzer chassidim, including the noted gabbai Reb Shalom Foigel, then traveled to Haifa, where the Beis Yisrael of Gur was vacationing, to seek his opinion. The Beis Yisrael responded that if twenty Jews requested it, the yungerman should accept the appointment immediately.

Of course, far more than twenty Jews were behind the request. . . .

On Wednesday of that very week, in a modest ceremony in Kiryat Vizhnitz, that young yungerman acquiesced to accept the mantle of leadership upon his shoulders. For years, hundreds of chassidim, young and old, had been watching him closely, and now their hopes would finally come to fruition. Communication was slower in those days, and the news only reached the Belzer Yeshiva in Jerusalem the next day, on Thursday. The spontaneous outbursts of joy and the fervent dancing of the bachurim that erupted are still fresh in the participants’ memories.

Nearly two generations have passed since that joyous celebration. At first the chassidus doubled and then tripled in size, and over time it has overshadowed the former glory it had before the war.

We can’t possibly do justice to the full scope of events that transformed Belz into what it is today from the day the chassidus was left bereft with the passing of Reb Aharon of Belz on the 21^st of Av, 5717/1957. Nevertheless, we will attempt to sketch an outline of those years, to shine a spotlight on this distinguished chassidus and the illustrious leader at its helm.

The Ninth for the Sake of the Eighth

The Belzer Rebbe, Rav Yissachar Dov Rokei’ach shlita, was born on the eighth of Shevat, 5708/1948. His uncle, Reb Aharon of Belz, served as sandak at his Tu B’Shvat bris – the only occasion at which Reb Aharon was sandak after the war.

The Rebbe was orphaned at the tender age of two when his father, Reb Mordechai of Bilgoray ztz”l, passed away in the prime of his life. Reb Mordechai was considered the right-hand man of his brother Reb Aharon, and his petirah was a tragic blow to the everyone in Eretz Yisrael.

Reb Aharon took his nephew under his wing, and often expressed admiration for the boy, once remarking, “What do I have left in this world? This child is my whole life!”

Tragically, the Belzer chassidus was thrown into further bereavement some seven years later when Reb Aharon, who had been so fond of the young Yissachar Dov, was taken from this world.

How did the Belzer chassidus survive those early years after Reb Aharon’s passing?

Elderly chassidim do not understand the question. They relate that everyone knew that this child was destined to lead his flock, and the only question was how long they would have to wait after his marriage until he assumed the leadership role.

Shortly after Reb Aharon’s petirah, a convention took place with leading rabbanim and chassidim of Belz from all over the world in attendance. The decisions reached at the convention were recorded and publicized – the most significant of which was that Yissachar Dov Rokeach, son of the Bilgoray Rav and nephew of Reb Aharon, a descendant of the Belzer Rebbes, would be raised in the heart of Belz with his education carefully supervised to prepare him for his historic role.

On the Shabbos after Reb Aharon’s passing, there was a sort of Shabbos of camaraderie in Jerusalem. The Vayechi Yosef of Pupa, one of the most prominent Belzer Chassidim, traveled from the United States to Eretz Yisrael during Reb Aharon’s shiva. At seudah shelishis, small challos were distributed, and one large challah was placed in the middle. The large challah was offered to the Pupa Rebbe, but he declined it, expressing astonishment at the very thought that it might be presented to him. Instead, he offered the challah to the child who was destined to become the Belzer Rebbe.

The Rebbe was raised by his mother shetichyeh. Rav Mendel Bleier, who had said Kaddish for the Bilgorayer Rav, became somewhat of a father figure for the future Rebbe. Every decision regarding the young Yissachar Dov was brought before the rav of the Belzer community in Montreal, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Neiman ztz”l, a maternal relative of the Rebbe.

Until Reb Aharon’s petirah, the Rebbe lived near his uncle, spending most of the year in Tel Aviv and learning in the Belzer Talmud Torah, and the summer months in Yerushalayim, where he learned in the Talmud Torah of Satmar. A few years after Reb Aharon’s petirah, he joined the Belzer yeshiva in Yerushalayim. The administration gave him two rooms—a room to sleep, which he shared with other bachurim, and a private room for him to learn and store his sefarim.

The eighth of Shevat 5721/1961 was a festive occasion for Belzer chassidim throughout the world — the day on which the young boy on whom the chassidim had pinned their hopes reached the age of bar mitzvah. The festivities were held in the Belzer beis medrash in Tel Aviv, near the home of the late Reb Aharon ztz”l.

Tens of Rebbes and gedolei hador participated in the future Rebbe’s bar mitzvah. For many of the chassidim, the simchah was punctuated by a sense of loss and poignant yearning for the father and uncle of the orphaned boy. But the bar mitzvah boy himself delivered an intricate pshetel with confidence, radiating a princely air of sanctity.