Avraham Mordechai Alter

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Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter in Europe

Avraham Mordechai Alter (December 25, 1866 - June 3, 1948) who was also known by the title of his Torah book's as the Imrei Emes was an Orthodox Judaism rabbi who was the rebbe and spiritual leader of the Ger (Hasidic dynasty) of Hasidic Judaism in Poland from the town of Góra Kalwaria (known as "Ger" in Yiddish). He succeeded his father Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter as the third rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, and was the Gerrer Rebbe from 1905 to 1948. He was known throughout Poland. He was influential in establishing the Agudas Israel movement in Poland, and promoted the setting up of Talmud Torah schools to educate the youth in traditional Judaism. During his greatest years, it is claimed he led over 200,000 Ger Hasidim.

He had eight children by his first wife, Chaya Ruda Czarna, daughter of a prominent Gerrer chosid in Biala. His eldest son, Rabbi Myer Alter, who was a Torah scholar and businessman, perished in Treblinka during the Holocaust with his children and grandchildren. His second son, Rabbi Yitzchak Alter, died in 5695 (1934) in Poland.

In 1922 his wife Chaya Ruda died. Some time later he married his niece Feyge Muntshe Biderman, who bore him his youngest child, Pinchos Menachem, in 1926.

He managed to escape during the World War II to the Palestine in 1940 with several of his sons and began to slowly rebuild his Hasidic dynasty. With the outbreak of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War he was trapped in Jerusalem and died of natural causes during the siege of the city by the Jordanian Arab Legion. He was buried there, in the grounds of the Sfath Emeth yeshiva.

After his death the dynasty continued with his three remaining sons, who became the consecutive next three heads of the Gerrer chasidim worldwide: Rabbi Yisrael Alter (fourth rebbe of Ger); Rabbi Simchah Bunim Alter (fifth rebbe of Ger); and Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter (sixth rebbe of Ger).