Mordechai Shlomo Friedman

Mordechai Shlomo Friedman (15 October 1891 – 2 March 1971),

The youngest son, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo, remained in Vienna with his mother until her death in 1922. At that point he entertained an offer to head the Hasidic community of Drohobych in Western Ukraine, and another to lead an organized chaburah (group) of Boyaner Hasidim on New York's Lower East Side. The American group maintained a small kloiz (synagogue) where they gathered on the yahrtzeits of their rebbes. From time to time, this group would send one of their own to visit the Boyaner Rebbe in Boiany and bring back spiritual nourishment for his fellows. After World War I the president of this group, Mordechai Cohen, traveled to Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo in Vienna and begged him to visit the Boyaner Hasidim in America. Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo acquiesced and embarked on an 11-month pilot trip beginning in December 1925, visiting several New York neighborhoods as well as Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia. He was feted with a large farewell gathering at the kloiz before his return to Europe. In keeping with Ruzhiner custom, the Rebbe spent most of his time in prayer and study in a separate room called the daven shtiebel (prayer room). There was also a tish room, and apartments upstairs for the Rebbe and his family.

The Boyaner kloiz became an island of sanctity on the teeming streets of the Lower East Side. He was the first vice president of Agudath Israel of America and a member of that body's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah. In conjunction with Agudath HaRabbanim, he helped organize the Vaad Hatzalah during World War II and assisted the rescue of Torah leaders in Poland and Eastern Europe. After the war, he was elected president of Vaad HaEzra, in which capacity he raised funds to help Holocaust survivors in post-war Europe. He was respected by every segment of the Jewish world, including "misnagdim, the yeshivah world, baalebatim, the modern intelligentsia…the other chassidic leaders who arrived later to the American shores, as well as the rabbinic leaders abroad".

Activities in Israel

Like his father and grandfather before him, the Rebbe served as president of the Kollel Vohlin (Association of Ukrainian Jews in Palestine), distributing large amounts of charity money in Israel each year. He also gave all the pidyonos (redemption-money) he received from people giving him kvitlach to the Boyaner chesed fund, earmarked for the poor in Israel. Like all descendants of the Ruzhiner dynasty, he carried a Turkish passport that identified him as a citizen of Palestine. Although he desired to resettle in Israel, he was unable to do so due to poor health.

The Rebbe visited Israel four times, in 1949, 1953, 1958 and 1960. On his first trip, he visited his brother Rabbi Yisroel, the Boyaner Rebbe of Leipzig and Tel Aviv, whom he hadn't seen in 22 years. On two later visits, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo took the honor of lighting the first bonfire at the Lag BaOmer celebration at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai in Meron, Israel. This privilege had been purchased by his grandfather, the Sadigura Rebbe, from the Sephardi guardians of Meron and Safed; the Sadigura Rebbe bequeathed this honor to his eldest son, Rabbi Yitzchok, the first Boyaner Rebbe, and his progeny. During the 13 years that he lived in Tel Aviv, Rabbi Yisroel lit the first bonfire in Meron each year; after his death, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo inherited the privilege. When he wasn't able to travel to Israel for Lag BaOmer, Rabbi Mordechai Shlomo appointed Rabbi Simcha Kaplan, the Rav of Safed, to light the first bonfire in his stead.

In 1948 the Ruzhiner synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, Tiferet Yisroel (also called the Nissan Beck Synagogue), which was completed by the Sadigura Rebbe, Rabbi Avrohom Yaakov Friedman, in 1872, was destroyed by the Arab Legion during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. On his trip to Israel in 1953, the Boyaner Rebbe of New York laid the foundations for a new Ruzhiner Torah centre in the New City of Jerusalem. In 1957 the Ruzhiner yeshiva, called Mesivta Tiferet Yisroel, was inaugurated with the support of all of the Rebbes of the Ruzhiner dynasty. A large synagogue was built adjacent to it, also bearing the name Tiferet Yisroel. The design of the synagogue, located on the western end of Malkhei Yisrael Street close to the Central Bus Station, includes a large white dome, reminiscent of the domed Tiferet Yisroel Synagogue that was destroyed in the Old City.

Final years and succession In his last years the Rebbe suffered from severe arthritis and a heart condition. After suffering a stroke in 1967, he moved to the Upper West Side to be near his children. Another kloiz was established on the ground floor of the apartment building where he spent his final years. The Hasidut is now headquartered in Jerusalem, where the Rebbe resides.