Ger

They're thinking about how can I use my office and my power and my responsibilities to help those that are least fortunate.

There is a Hasidic sect called the Ger sect from a part of Poland called Ger.

They were founded – this great Hasidic movement was founded in the early parts of the 19th century.

Some of the great Hasidic masters were from the family and from the dynasty of the Ger Hasidim.

Now – I don't know the exact details, but I know that every different Hasidic group has their own distinct way of dressing.

Now, maybe for us, they all look the same.

Now, the story goes is that the gerers, they were having a problem because the price of the spadiks were going up.

And one of the rabbis, I don't know who it was, but there's a famous story.

He wrote over 90 books on Jewish history, most of them about the history of Chassidus, of the Chassidic movement.

He himself was a Ger Chassid, and he wore a lot of hats, actually.

He was an interesting guy.

This is not an aspect of him.

So just for a minute or two about who he was before I delve in to the topic of Hasidic historiography in general.

So this Yitzchak Alfasi grew up, was born in Tel Aviv, lived there his entire life.

He was born into a Gerer family who had immigrated a few years before he was born from Poland to Tel Aviv.

His father was one of the first industrialists in Tel Aviv.

He didn't get the visa to Eretz Yisrael.

Later on, when the Bris-- when the Gerrer Rebbe left Poland, so that was already, that was the Imrei Emes, yeah.

So the, so the Gerrer Rebbe wanted Rav Nachum Zimba to join him.

I don't remember what happened, why, you know, he studied mostly, he didn't join.

At one point, when things looked very, very bad, he said he didn't want to, that he couldn't leave.

You know, if you would ask people in the Litvisher community, "Who are the gedolim?" They will tell you straight off, "I'll give you two names.

They are the gedolim." And then you'll ask them, "Well, what would you tell a Belzer Hasid? And what would a Belzer Hasid tell you about a Gerrer Hasid? And what would a Sephardi, Edot Mizrach, tell you about those Litvisher gedolim?" It's kind of a, a, a little bit of a joke that we, we talk about Da'as Torah as if it were monochromatic.

It isn't.

It never was.

There is a story though.

There's a group of elderly Hasidic people who came to the Gerrer Rebbe.

Now, the Gerrer Rebbe became the Rebbe when he was 18 years old.

His father passed away when he was 18, and now that's it.

He's heir to the throne.