Rav Aharon Rokeach

Early years

Rav Aharon Rokeach zy"a, the fourth Rebbe of Belz, was born in Belz, Poland, on 19 December 1880. He was the first child of Rav Yissochor Dov Rokeach and Basha Ruchama Twersky, born after twelve years of marriage. He was named for his mother's great-grandfather, Rebbe Aharon of Chernobyl, although his father later revealed that he had meant to name him for Rav Aharon of Karlin. Rav Aharon had a younger sister, Chana Rachel, who married Rav Pinchas Twersky of Ostilla.

His mother passed away on 18 March 1884, when he was four years old. His grandfather, Rebbe Yehoshua Rokeach, the second Belzer Rebbe, took the boy under his wing and watched over his spiritual growth. Rav Aharon spent most of his day immersed in Torah, ate and slept very little, and covered his accomplishments with a modesty he kept all his life.

Rebbe Yehoshua passed away on 30 January 1894, and Rav Aharon's father became the third Belzer Rebbe. He later married Chaya Devora Pecsenik and they had seven more children, among them Rav Mordechai, who was born when Rav Aharon was twenty-two.

When he came of age, Rav Aharon married his cousin Malka, the daughter of his father's elder brother, Rav Shmuel, the Rav of Sokal. For several years he lived in his father-in-law's home. His strict regimen of seclusion, fasting and self-denial left him so weak that his doctors sent him away to a spa, and he recovered at the health resort of Kreniec. Even so, he ate little, and his chronic lack of sleep made it hard for him to stand or walk quickly. On Shabbos, however, he stood upright, walked briskly, and took part in the Shabbos meals with evident pleasure.

Torah and leadership

Rav Aharon and Malka had five sons and four daughters. Several children who seemed healthy died at birth, and those who lived were frail. Two daughters could neither hear nor speak. One daughter, Mirel, passed away in 1938. The others were murdered by the Nazis together with their families.

Rav Yissochor Dov passed away in Belz on Friday night, 30 October 1926. After Shabbos, at the levayah, Rav Aharon accepted the mantle of leadership.

Though he continued to live a spartan, secluded life, he proved to be a warm and caring Rebbe. He read each kvitel (note of petition) with great interest and davened for the salvation and success of the one who sent it. At first he tried to limit the petitioners to five each night, saying that he could not bear so many of the tzoros of Klal Yisroel, for he felt each person's trouble as deeply as his own. In time he allowed many to come in every night.

The Belzer Rebbe is also the rav of the town, but Rav Aharon said he could not spare the time. Two dayanim were appointed for this, and they consulted him only on difficult halachic questions. He was known for his piety and his mystical depth, and Jews and non-Jews alike called him the "Wonder Rabbi" for the miracles attributed to him.

Escape from Europe

During World War II, Belzer chassidim both inside and outside Nazi-occupied Europe made saving the Rebbe their first goal. As a high-profile Rebbe, he was high on the list of Gestapo targets. Rav Aharon insisted that his half-brother, Rav Mordechai of Bilgoray, travel with him. They were smuggled out of Belz to Wisnicz, then into the Bochnia Ghetto, the Krakow Ghetto, and back to the Bochnia Ghetto, narrowly avoiding Gestapo roundups and deportations.

In their most dangerous attempt, a Hungarian counter-intelligence agent who was friendly to Jews drove them out of occupied Poland into Hungary. The Rebbe, his attendant and Rav Mordechai had cut off their beards and peyos, and they were disguised as captured Russian generals being taken to Budapest for questioning. After eight months in Hungary, the brothers boarded the Orient Express to Istanbul. Belzer chassidim in Eretz Yisroel, England and America supported the rescue with their efforts and their money. The journey led through Turkey and Lebanon, and the brothers reached Eretz Yisroel in February 1944.

Both men lost their entire families. Rav Aharon's eldest son, Rav Moshe, was burned alive in the shul of Przemyslany, at a time when the Rebbe was hiding in that same town. Rav Moshe's wife and five children were murdered later. The Rebbe's eldest daughter, Rivka Miriam, and her husband, Rav Shmiel Frankel, were murdered together with their seven children. His daughters Adel Twersky and Sara Bracha Rosenfeld, with their children, and his sons Rav Yisroel and Rav Yehudah Zundel, with their children, were also killed. When he heard of these tragedies, the Rebbe showed no emotion, and he went on leading his chassidim and serving Hashem.

Later years and passing

Rav Aharon devoted the rest of his life to rebuilding Belzer Chassidus in Eretz Yisroel. He first set up his court in Tel Aviv, where he opened the first Belzer Talmud Torah. He later moved to Yerushalayim, where he founded the first Belzer yeshiva.

In 1949 he married Chana Labin-Pollack, the daughter of Rav Yechiel Chaim Labin, the Makova Rebbe, and the widow of Rav Yosef Meir Pollack, the Bergsass Rebbe, who had been murdered by the Nazis in Bergsass. She came with a young son and daughter. Rav Aharon had no children with her, but he raised her children and married them off.

Rav Mordechai also remarried, and a son, Yissochor Dov, was born to him on 19 January 1948. When Rav Mordechai passed away suddenly on 17 November 1949, Rav Aharon raised the boy and groomed him to inherit the dynasty. After Rav Aharon's own passing, a small circle of trusted advisors educated the boy, and in 1966 he became the fifth Belzer Rebbe.

Rav Aharon passed away on 21 Av 5717 (1957) in Yerushalayim.

Legacy

The Holocaust left its mark on the Rebbe. He became warmly open to Jews of every background, including modern and non-Orthodox Jews, a change from Belz's pre-war custom of keeping mostly to other chareidim. His second marriage reflected this change. It was conducted by Rav Isser Yehuda Unterman, a member of the religious Zionist Mizrachi movement, from which Belz had earlier kept its distance. Many of the great tzaddikim of Eretz Yisroel, from every community, were close to him.

It was his personal custom never to speak of the Belzer chassidim who had perished, especially his own family. Once, Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, a descendant of Belzer chassidim, visited the Rebbe and tried to speak of Belz before the war. The Rebbe spoke freely of Hertzberg's grandfather, who had been his teacher in his youth, but he was silent when Hertzberg mentioned his mother's father and her brothers, chassidim who had been murdered. The Rebbe's chief assistant later explained that the Rebbe had never said Yizkor or Kaddish for his wife and children. Those killed for being Jews, he said, were of transcendent holiness, beyond our understanding, and any words about them would fall short and might even dishonor their memory.

For Rav Aharon, the right response to the near-destruction of Belz and of Chassidus, and the way to honor the dead, was to build new institutions and slowly raise a new generation of chassidim. His nephew, Rav Yissochor Dov, the fifth Belzer Rebbe, carried this work forward and largely accomplished it.