Aharon Rokeach was the fourth rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty from 1877 to August 18, 1957. Rebbe (Hebrew: רבי also rebbi) is a title that may be given to a rabbi in Orthodox Judaism, particularly within Hasidic Judaism. ... The third Belzer Rebbe, Yissachar Dov Rokeach Belz (חסידות בעלז) is a Hasidic dynasty named after the town of Belz, a small town originally located in eastern Poland, presently in Ukraine. ... Hasidic Judaism (from the Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious, from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ... 1877 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... August 18 is the 230th day of the year (231st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1957 (MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Aharon inherited the mantle of leadership from his father, Yissachar Dov Rokeach (I), after his death in 1926. Aharon's rule saw the devestation of the Belz community, along with many other Hasidic sects in Galicia and elsewhere in Poland. Aharon, also known as the "Wonder Rebbe", was known for his piety and mysticism before the war, and it was under his leadership that the movement was reborn after the war in Israel and, to a lesser extent, America. ...

The Holocaust

During the Holocaust, Aharon and his brother, Mordechai of Bilgorai, as high-profile Jewish personalities, were high on the list of Gestapo targets. To that end, they spent most of the war hiding and moving from place to place, to avoid being captured. Eventually, they were taken out of Europe via a series of escapes, many of whose episodes have since passed into Belzer and general Hasidic folklore. Child survivors of the Holocaust before their liberation The Holocaust is the name applied to the systematic state-sponsored persecution and genocide of various ethnic, religious and political groups during World War II by Nazi Germany and collaborators. ... The Deaths Head emblem, often used as the insignia of the Gestapo The (?) (acronym of Geheime Staatspolizei; secret state police) was the official secret police of Nazi Germany. ... Hasidic Judaism (from the Hebrew: Chasidut חסידות, meaning pious, from the Hebrew root word chesed חסד meaning loving kindness) is a Haredi Jewish religious movement. ...

Aharon and Mordechai immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1944. The two lost their entire extended families, including their wives, children, and grandchildren. Both remarried shortly after arriving in the Holy Land, although only Mordechai produced an heir, Yissachar Dov Rokeach (II), who, after Mordechai's death in 1948, became groomed by Aharon to be the next rebbe. Map of the territory under the British Mandate of Palestine. ... 1944 (MCMXLIV) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Reb Aharon, center, surrounded by followers.

Aharon's attitude towards Holocaust victims

American Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg once wrote of meeting Rabbi Aharon in Israel after the war: Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg was born in Poland in 1921. ...

The conversation about the Holocaust that lives with me--and haunts me--is one that never took place. Rabbi Aaron Rokeach, the rebbe of Belz in southeastern Poland, lost his entire family--his wife and all his children and all their children--in the Shoah [the Holocaust]. He never again mentioned them or even said prayers in any visible ritual in their memory. I was in his presence in Tel Aviv in the summer of 1949. I tried to get the rebbe to talk to me about my grandfather and my uncles, who had been his disciples and friends, but he simply did not respond, not even with a gesture. The dead were too holy, so his closest associates explained, to need words.

Tel-Aviv was founded on empty dunes north of the existing city of Jaffa. ...

Sources

• Hertzberg, Arthur (1999). Jews: The Essence and Character of a People. Harper, San Francisco, ISBN: 0060638354.