Yaakov Aryeh Alter

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Yaakov Aryeh Alter (born in Lodz, Poland, 1939) is a Hasidic rabbi, and since 1996 has been the seventh rebbe of the Gerrer chasidim in Israel, with disciples and branches in Europe and the United States. Ger originated in Poland in the town of Góra Kalwaria ("Ger" in short) and its leader escaped Poland to the Palestine during the Holocaust. It is probably the largest single chasidic group in Israel at the present time.

Following the brief leadership of his uncle Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter who had been the sixth rebbe of Ger until he died in 1996, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter was then chosen as the next rebbe of Ger, resulting from a pre-agreed-upon consensus for succession.

He has displayed his father's style of vigorous leadership in the religious and political domains in Israel. He and his Ger Hasidim fully back and have a major say in the Agudat Israel of Israel party in the Israeli Knesset, supporting the needs of the Haredi Judaism community in Israel. He had encouraged the party to retain its alliance with the non-chasidic Ashkenazi mitnagdim Degel HaTorah party within the United Torah Judaism party representing almost all Ashkenazi charedi Jews in Israel, but now Agudat Israel follows its own line.

He has introduced significant innovations in the curriculum of the educational institutions operated by the Gerrer Chassidim in Israel and abroad, primarily broader knowledge of the expanse of the Talmud, while abolishing the learning of "iyun" (learning a smaller portion of the Talmud in depth).

Rabbi Alter is one of Israel's most wealthy individuals. "The Marker" has estimated that his family's holdings are worth between 200-250 million dollars.

[edit] See also

• Hasidic Judaism
• Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
• Rebbe

[edit] Rebbes of Ger

1. Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798-1866)
2. Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847-1905)
3. Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866-1948)
4. Yisrael Alter (1895-1977)
5. Simchah Bunim Alter (1898-1992)
6. Pinchas Menachem Alter (1926-1996)
7. Yaakov Aryeh Alter (b. 1939)

[edit] External links

• Rabbi Aharon Steinman, The Gerrer Rebbe, and Rav Usher Weiss visit Los Angeles