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Living Legacy: Rav Mordechai Sholom Yosef Friedman, Knesses Mordechai of Sadiger, zt”l

Living Legacy: Rav Mordechai Sholom Yosef Friedman, Knesses Mordechai of Sadiger, zt”l

29 Nissan marks the yohrtzeit of the Sadigerer Rebbe who transplanted the holy court from Europe—where it had thrived as one of the most prominent branches of the Ruziner dynasty—to Eretz Yisroel, where it continues to thrive to this day through his great-grandchildren. 

In 1896, he was born to his father, the “Kedushas Aaron,” the third Sadigerer Rebbe, in the town of Sadigura, Ukraine. Sadly, his father left this world in 1912, when Mordechai Sholom Yosef was only fifteen. He had already been engaged to the daughter of the Medzibuzer Rebbe three years earlier, when he was twelve (As was the custom among the Rebbeim in those days, shidduchim would take place at a very early age). 

At his wedding, his great uncle, the Pachad Yitzchok of Boyan (also originated from the Sadigerer branch of Ruzin) appointed him Sadigerer Rebbe—a position he would fulfill with tremendous dedication. 

A short time later, WWI broke out, and the Rebbe fled to Vienna—along with other Ruziner Rebbeim, such as the Czortkower, Kapiecienitzer, and Boyaner Rebbeim, and others. During the time, the Rebbe joined the committees of Agudas Yisroel geared to assisting the suffering Yidden of Poland and Ukraine. Following the war, he toured the shtetlach of Poland and Galicia to help the Yidden there, and strengthen his chassidim spiritually and materially. In 1923, he established a yeshiva in Przemyśl, Galicia, which provided room and board for the bachurim. In 1929, at the second Knessiah Gedolah in Vienna, he was appointed to the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel. 

The Rebbe harbored a burning love for Eretz Yisroel. From 1925, he began sending chassidim to the holy land, and many groups of his followers indeed settled there. In 1939, he visited Eretz Yisroel (breathtaking video of his arrival exists), and upon the advice of his uncle the Husyatiner Rebbe, remained there, settling in Tel Aviv, where there were so many chassidishe Shtieblach in those days. 

When the war broke out a short time later, the Rebbe worked tirelessly to alleviate the plight of his brethren—and likewise toiled on behalf of the survivors following the war. Similarly, he took an outsized role in establishing institutions through Agudas Yisroel in Eretz Yisroel, and was joined with the other Ruziner Rebbeim in the leadership of Mesivta Tiferes Yisroel-Ruzin. 

In 1956, the Rebbe moved to America, where he opened a shul in Crown Heights, but returned to Eretz Yisroel in the early 1960’s. He opened numerous mosdos, with the assistance of his son, Rav Avrohom Yaakov, who took his place after his passing in 1979. 

He was succeeded by his son Rav Yisroel Moshe, zt”l, who was sadly niftar last year at an untimely age—as he had begun to grow the chassidus with his unique leadership, a true Ruziner scion. His work is continued by his sons who carry on the golden chain of their ancestor who brought the royalty of Sadiger and Ruzin to the holy land. 


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