Ger (Hasidic Movement)

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Ger or Gur is a Hasidic movement. Until the Shoah, the origin and center of the movement was the small Polish town of Góra Kalwaria , from whose Yiddish name the name of the dynasty is derived. Today the movement has its center in Jerusalem .

history

The former synagogue in Góra Kalwaria

The Gerrer rabbi dynasty comes from the Alter family . The founder of this group was Jitzchak Meir Alter (or Rothenberg, 1799–1866), known as the Chidushei HaRim , after his Torah work of the same title. His grandson was R. Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866–1948, called Imre Emet ), the third Gerrer Rebbe. Almost all Gerrer Hasidim , around 200,000, were killed in the Shoah .

Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter with some of his followers

In 1940, Alter was able to flee to Palestine with three of his sons - Yisrael Alter , Simcha Bunim Alter, and Pinchas Menachem Alter - which enabled the movement to rebuild in Israel. The vast majority of the Gerrer Hasidim and the current Gerrer Rebbe now live in Israel , where they dominate the Agudat Jisra'el party, which is represented in the Knesset . In addition to the Charedic centers of Jerusalem and Bnei Berak , there are also large congregations in Ashdod in the south of Israel, in Arad in the Negev and in Hazor in Galilee . There are also notable communities in Antwerp , London , New York and Zurich .

Traditional clothing

Male Gerrer Hasidim wear "three-quarter trousers" (that is, trousers that reach mid-calf), a caftan, and a stiff cloth hat. On Shabbat and on Jewish holidays , married men wear a high round fur hat, the Spodik (not to be confused with the much flatter Schtreimel worn by the male members of other Hasidic groups). Today the Spodik is often considered a characteristic of the Gerrer Hasidim.

literature

Web links

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