Belz בעלזא

The Sar Shalom and the Belzer Shul

The founder of Belz was Rabbi Shalom Rokeach, known as the “Sar Shalom.” He was installed as rav of Belz in 1817 and helped build the town’s shul. The shul, dedicated in 1843, looked like an ancient fortress, with walls three feet thick, and could hold 5,000 worshippers. It stood until the Nazis entered Belz in late 1939 ^[1].

The Rebbes of Belz

• Rabbi Shalom Rokeach (the Sar Shalom), passed away 1855
• Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach, his youngest son — Rebbe from 1855 to 1894
• Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach — Rebbe from 1894 to 1926
• Rabbi Aharon Rokeach — Rebbe from 1926; survived the Holocaust and passed away in 1957
• Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach (the current Rebbe) — since 1966 ^[1]

Holocaust and Escape

During the Second World War, Belz was under German occupation from 1939 to 1944. Rabbi Aharon Rokeach, whom people called the “Wonder Rebbe,” stood high on the Nazis’ list. With money sent by Belzer Chassidim in Switzerland, England and America, he escaped Europe together with his brother, Rabbi Mordechai of Bilgoray. Most Belzer Chassidim perished in the Holocaust ^[1].

Rebuilding in Eretz Yisroel

Rabbi Aharon rebuilt the Chassidus in Eretz Yisroel, with chadorim and yeshivas in Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak and Jerusalem. In 1950 he moved his court to Katamon in Jerusalem. The cornerstone for a large yeshiva and beis medrash was laid in 1954, and the building was completed in the summer of 1957 — but a month later the Rebbe passed away ^[1].

His nephew, Rabbi Yissachar Dov, was then only nine years old, and for nine years the Chassidus had no active Rebbe. At 18 he married the daughter of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, and a year later he returned to Jerusalem to take up the leadership ^[1].

Belz Today

Under the leadership of Rabbi Yissachar Dov, the Chassidus has grown from a few hundred families in 1966 to more than 10,000 families in 2024 ^[1]. Belz has built institutions in Eretz Yisroel, America, Canada and Europe, including aid organizations for the sick ^[1].

In America most Belzer Chassidim live in Borough Park, which has twelve Belzer shuls. There are also Belzer communities in Williamsburg, Staten Island, Monsey, Spring Valley, Lakewood and Los Angeles, as well as in London (Stamford Hill), Manchester and Montreal ^[1]. According to the Hebrew Wikipedia, Belz is the fifth-largest Hasidic group in the world ^[2].