Ger is a Polish Hasidic dynasty originating from the town of Góra Kalwaria, Poland, where it was founded by Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798–1866), known as the "Chiddushei HaRim". Ger is a branch of Peshischa Hasidism, as Yitzchak Meir Alter was a leading disciple of Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827). Before the Holocaust, followers of Ger were estimated to number in excess of 100,000, making it the largest and most influential Hasidic group in Poland. Today, the movement is based in Jerusalem, and its membership is estimated at 11,859 families, as of 2016, most of whom live in Israel, making Ger the largest Hasidic dynasty in Israel. However, there are also well-established Ger communities in the United States and in Europe. In 2019, some 300 families of followers led by Shaul Alter, split off from the dynasty led by his cousin Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes or Sefat Emetשפת אמת, was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland, and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim.
Avraham Mordechai Alter, 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 participant in the foundation of the Agudas Israel in Poland. Rebbe Alter was influential in establishing a network of Jewish schools. He led over two-hundred-thousand Hasidim (followers).
Pinchas Menachem Alter, also known as the Pnei Menachem, after the works he authored, was the seventh rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1992 until his death in 1996. From 1956 until he was appointed rebbe, he was a Rosh Yeshiva. He also served as a member and the president of the Torah Scholars Council and as the chairman of the Agudat Yisrael political party.
Yaakov Kamenetsky, was a prominent rabbi, rosh yeshiva, posek and Talmudist in the post-World War II American Jewish community.
Congregation Baith Israel Anshei Emes, more commonly known as the Kane Street Synagogue, is an egalitarian Conservative synagogue at 236 Kane Street in the Cobble Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, New York, United States. It is the oldest continuously operating synagogue in Brooklyn.
Yaakov ben Yaakov Moshe Lorberbaum of Lissa (1760-1832) was a rabbi and posek. He is most commonly known as the "Ba'al HaChavas Da'as" or "Ba'al HaNesivos" for his most well-known works, or as the "Lissa Rav" for the city in which he was Chief Rabbi.
Shtefanesht was a Hasidic dynasty named for the town of Ștefănești, Romania. It was one of the branches of the Ruzhiner dynasty, together with Bohush, Boyan, Chortkov, Husiatyn, and Sadigura. The dynasty lasted from 1851 to 1933 and had only two Rebbes: Rabbi Menachem Nochum Friedman, a son of the Ruzhiner Rebbe, and Rabbi Avrohom Mattisyohu Friedman, the only son of Rabbi Menachem Nochum. During the latter's reign, Ștefănești became one of the most important Hasidic centers in Eastern Europe.
Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander served as the rebbe of a community of thousands of Hasidim during the "interregnum" between the Chidushei HaRim of Ger and the Sfas Emes.
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 twentieth century.
Meir Dan Plotsky (or Plotski) was a member of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and the president of Kollel Polen, a talmudic scholar who authored the Kli Chemdah, a commentary on the Torah. He also authored the Chemdas Yisrael on Sefer ha-Mitzvot.
The Rabbis' Sons is a Jewish music group that released most of its albums between 1967 and 1974. It consisted of Rabbis Baruch Chait, Label Sharfman (vocals), Itzy Weinberger (vocals) and Michael Zheutlin, with David Nulman on steel guitar and Mickey Lane on bass fiddle. The group got its name because Chait, Sharfman and Weinberger were all sons of rabbis.
The second Rabbis' Sons album contained one of the only two songs they ever released with Yiddish lyrics. Tov Lehodos was one of the group's most popular songs. The liner notes to the album indicate that Baruch Chait had left the group to concentrate on his Talmudic studies at this point. However, he contributed three new songs, played guitar and co-arranged the music.
The Rabbis Sing is the final original Rabbis' Sons album. It was released under the group name Baruch Chait and Old Friends. It saw a return to the robust harmonies of the original two albums as Itzy Weinberger rejoined the group and Yechiel Eckstein filled the vocal part that was usually occupied by Label Sharfman. This was the only Rabbis' Sons' album to include music written by Shlomo Carlebach. It was also the only album to feature a song with English lyrics.
Rabbi Jacob Meir Biderman (1870–1941) was the president of Kolel Polen, in 1935 was appointed to the board of Rabbis of the Warsaw community, along with Rabbi Menachem Zemba and Rabbi Avraham Weinberg.
Shikun Chabad, also spelled Shikun Habad, is a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood in northern Jerusalem. It includes the oldest Hasidic yeshiva in Israel and Jerusalem, Yeshivas Toras Emes.
The Diaspora Yeshiva Band was an American-Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Chassidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band had an international following, having become famous after winning three Israel Chassidic Festivals, in 1977, 1978, and 1980 and produced many hit songs. They were very popular with Jewish Youth Groups and tourists in the early to mid-1980s, and became very well known in Jerusalem for their Saturday-night concerts at King David Tomb. DYB had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.
Mahane Yehuda is a historic neighborhood in Jerusalem. Established on the north side of Jaffa Road in 1887, it was planned and managed by the consortium of Swiss-Christian banker Johannes Frutiger and his Jewish partners, Joseph Navon and Shalom Konstrum. By the end of the 19th century, it encompassed 162 homes. Originally occupied by upper middle-class residents, it became a working-class neighborhood beginning in the late 1920s. Today the neighborhood is part of Nachlaot. The Mahane Yehuda Market located across the street was named after the neighborhood.
Shalom is the third album by The Rabbis' Sons and contained the only Sephardic melody they would ever record. Harachaman would become one of the group's most popular songs. To make up for the lack of the vocal presence of Sharfman and Weinberger, many songs contain overdubbed harmonies of separate vocals by Michael Zheutlin.
Menachem (Marc) Penner is an American Modern Orthodox rabbi and executive vice president of the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA). He formerly served as the Max and Marion Grill Dean of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary of Yeshiva University and Dean of Men's Undergraduate Torah Studies Program at Yeshiva University. Penner is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Holliswood.
