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Thursday, March 28, 2024

How the Devastating Tragedy in Meron Affected the Toldos Aharon Chassidic Sect

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Edited by: Fern Sidman

As the nation of Israel grieves over the horrific tragedy that took place on Lag B’Omer at Mount Meron during a stampede that left 45 dead and over 150 injured, we pause to reflect on the Chassidic sect known as Toldos Aharon, It was reported that many the stampede took place during the lighting of the bonfire by their current Rebbe and many of the dead and injured were members of this sect.

As was reported by the Jerusalem Post, Toldos Aharon is “perhaps the most insular, well-organized and cohesive of the groups that make up Israel’s haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community.”

The group is characterized by it strict adherence to Torah law and values and places an emphasis on the preservation of life as it was in the old Yishuv in Jerusalem, according to Wikipedia. Headquartered in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim neighborhood, it also has significant numbers in Ramat Beit Shemesh, and New York City, and additional members in Tiberias and in Harish. The sect has about 1,800 households.Toldos Aharon is a split-off from Shomer Emunim. It is led by its Rebbe, Dovid Kohn.

In Jerusalem, married men wear white and grey “zebra” coats during the week and golden bekishes/Caftan (coats) on Shabbos. Toldos Aharon and Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok are the only groups where boys aged 13 and older (bar mitzvah) wear the golden coat and a shtreimel, as married men do; however, married men can be differentiated by their white socks, while the unmarried boys wear black socks, as was reported by Wikipedia.

Married women cover their hair without wearing wigs, and the standards of tzniut expected from them are the strictest among all Hasidic/Orthodox Jewish groups. As is customary in the traditional Jerusalemite community, unmarried girls have their hair in two braids, unlike most other Haredi communities, where the girls wear a simple ponytail.

The Shomrei Emunim are characterized by fervent and visibly emotional prayer, and by a lifestyle controlled largely by “takanos” – decrees written by the Rebbe. One such decree, for example, forbade wearing wool. (Jewish law forbids wearing anything that contains both wool and linen.) Rabbi Aharon worried that it would be safest not to wear wool at all, in order to avoid the possibility of violating the law altogether. A strong emphasis is placed on the importance of full-time Torah study, and daily immersion in the mikvah.

The JPost reported that Toldos Aharon was established in Jerusalem by Rabbi Aharon Roth in 1928 as an offshoot of Satmar, a hassidic movement that originated in Germany.

In 1942 shortly before Nazi Germany invaded Hungary, Roth and his followers fled Europe for Mandatory Palestine. Toldos Aharon have developed extensive social and cultural barriers to protect their community from the bustling secularism of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road and Ben-Yehuda Street, located less than a kilometer away from their enclave.

Roth died on the 6th of Nisan in 1947. About a year later, his students split up, and a relatively small group chose his son, Avraham Chaim Roth, to succeed his father as Rebbe, as was reported by Wikipedia. Most of the students chose Aharon’s son-in-law, Avrohom Yitzchok Kohn. He established his court on the outskirts of the Mea She’arim neighborhood (today, stands instead the beth midrash of the Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok Hasidic group). Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar opposed Aharon’s approach, but with the rise of Kohn, who was his disciple, to serve as rebbe, there was a rapprochement between the two Hasidic sects.

Roth started the tradition, which continues to this day, that every male member of the sect signs a contract obligating him and his family to abide by the strict dictates of Toldos Aharon, according to the JPost report.

In addition to those books which are revered by all Hasidic Jews, the Toldos Aharon Hasidim particularly revere the books, Shomer Emunim, Shulchan HaTahor, and Taharas HaKodesh, by Aharon Roth, and Divrei Emunoh by Avrohom Yitzchok Kohn. The version of the prayer book used by Toldos Aharon Hasidim is called Brochoh u’Tehilloh. The Toldos Avrohom Yitzchok have published a weekday prayer book called, Tehillas Avrohom Yitzchok, but also use the Brochoh u’Tehilloh version as well.

Avrohom Yitzchok Kohn was said to have instructed his followers to learn the works of Aharon HaLevi of Staroshelye, which include “Sha’arei HaYichud VeHaEmunoh”, “Sha’arei Avoda”, and “Avodas HaLevi”. The Staroselyer Rebbe was a follower of the first Rebbe of Chabad, Shneur Zalman of Liadi. After the passing of Shneur Zalman, Aharon HaLevi started his own Hasidic following, an offshoot of Chabad, in Staroselye.

 

 

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