After davening Maariv in the central Machnovka-Belz beis midrash in Bnei Brak, I observe the Rebbe walking among his chasidim, pausing to inquire about one man’s family member and patiently responding to another person’s question. The Rebbe’s hadras panim is exceptionally striking. He exudes refinement and nobility. He carries himself with humility, and it is only the presence of the gabbai accompanying him that reveals the Rebbe’s identity to someone not in the know.
Machnovka-Belz is headquartered in Bnei Brak, with batei midrash in Yerushalayim, Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Elad, Stamford Hill, Manchester, Antwerp, Boro Park, Williamsburg and Monsey. The chasidus also has chadarim, yeshivos and kollelim in these locations. Due to its growth, they are now in the midst of erecting a new beis midrash in Bnei Brak, with greatly increased capacity.
While sitting in the waiting room ahead of my audience with the Rebbe, I converse with Reb Yisroel Miller, one of his longtime gabbaim. Reb Yisroel is unlike many other gabbaim I have encountered. He greets every individual coming to see the Rebbe warmly and never interrupts, even when he senses that a visit is extending for too long, and possesses a genuine chein and geshmak. Every Yid who knocks is welcomed with a sincere smile, his requests taken earnestly, and he strives to assist everyone regardless of whether or not he has an appointment.
This middah of hachnasas orchim is embodied by the Rebbe himself, as he is well known to have an open heart and a beis midrash for anyone seeking a place to stay, There are often Yidden sleeping there, some of whose hygiene is not the best. A young chasid once lit a cigarette, and the Rebbe instructed him to extinguish it, saying that the smell bothers people. “It’s no worse than what he smells like,” the chasid brazenly replied, pointing at one of the unfortunates sleeping on a bench. “His is the smell of hachnasas orchim,” the Rebbe replied.
The Rebbe of Machnovka-Belz, Rav Yehoshua Rokeach, is a descendant of two illustrious chasidic dynasties, whose legacies he is carrying on. The Machnovka chasidus has a rich history, being rooted in the court of Chernobyl. The dynasty’s origins go back to Rav Yosef Meir Twersky, whose ancestor, Rav Mordechai of Chernobyl, was one of the great pillars of early chasidism. His son and successor was Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, under whose leadership Machnovka flourished in Ukraine and beyond. But the war drove Machnovka out of Europe, and the court reestablished itself in Eretz Yisrael as a beacon of Torah and chasidus. Unfortunately, Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, who helmed the chasidus for almost 70 years, wasn’t zocheh to have children, so the current Rebbe was appointed as his successor. Rav Yehoshua’s paternal grandfather and namesake, Rav Yehoshua Rokeach of Yaroslav—older brother of Rav Aharon of Belz—was married to the daughter of Rav Yosef Meir Twersky of Machnovka; Rav Yehoshua was thus a worthy successor to his great-uncle.
Belz, the other illustrious chasidus from which Machnovka-Belz is descended, was founded in the early 19th century by the Sar Shalom, Rav Shalom Rokeach, zt”l. His son, Rav Yehoshua, became the second Belzer Rebbe, and under his leadership, Belz became not only a spiritual center but also a fortress against the encroaching forces of modernization that sought to weaken Jewish observance. His son, Rav Yissachar Dov, the third Rebbe of Belz, returned to that city after its destruction during the First World War and oversaw the renovation of the great shul that had been turned into a field hospital for wounded soldiers. Rav Aharon Rokeach was the fourth Belzer Rebbe, and it was during his stewardship that the flames and destruction of the Second World War consumed Galician Jewry. The Nazis sought to erase Belz from existence. The grand shul, once filled with the echoing melodies of moving Belzer niggunim, was reduced to rubble. Entire communities of Belzer chasidim were mercilessly slaughtered. But Rav Aharon and his younger brother, Rav Mordechai of Bilgoray, miraculously escaped the inferno, making a perilous journey through war-torn Europe until they found refuge in the Land of Israel.
From the ashes of destruction, Rav Aharon of Belz reconstructed the chasidus and rebuilt Belz into one of the largest chasidic courts in the world. As he didn’t leave any surviving children—they were murdered in the Holocaust—his nephew, Rav Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the son of the Bilgorayer Rav, assumed leadership of the chasidus.
At the same time, Rav Yehoshua Rokeach, grandson of Rav Yehoshua of Yaroslav, established an independent chasidic court that came to be known as Machnovka-Belz.
The gabbai shares that this is a joyous yet stressful week in Machnovka-Belz. The Rebbe spent part of his youth in America with his relative, Rav Yaakov Yosef Twersky, the previous Skverer Rebbe, who was also a grandson of Rav Yissachar Dov of Belz. In America, the Rebbe learned in the Skverer yeshivah, and afterward his relationship with Skver remained very close. One of the prized possessions of the Machnovka-Belz Rebbe is a sefer Torah that traces all the way back to the Baal Shem Tov. The Rebbe inherited it from the previous Rebbe, Rav Avraham Yehoshua Heschel, who received it from his father, Rav Yosef Meir. Rav Yosef Meir had inherited it from his father, Rav Avrohom Yehoshua Heschel of Skver, who received it from his father, Rav Itzik’l of Skver. The sefer Torah had been passed down to him from Rav Aharon of Tetiv, whose father, Rav Tzvi, had received it directly from his father, the Baal Shem Tov.
This week, the Skverer Rebbe is hosting a grand hachnasas sefer Torah and had requested as a personal favor that the Baal Shem Tov’s sefer Torah be brought to Skver to enhance the simchah. Ordinarily, the Rebbe removes this sefer Torah from his private aron kodesh only for Yomim Tovim and other very special occasions, and even then it never leaves his side. Nonetheless, the Machnovka-Belz Rebbe made an exception for the Skverer Rebbe, sending his son along to accompany the sefer Torah, and he is anxiously awaiting its return. At this very moment that I am sitting with Reb Yisroel Miller, the sefer Torah is already on its way back to Eretz Yisrael.
When it’s my turn, Reb Yisroel escorts me, a family member who came for chizzuk and a friend who is a regular in the Machnovka-Belz beis midrash, into the Rebbe’s room, where I find him immersed in a sefer, enjoying a brief moment alone to chap arein a few words of Torah. The Rebbe’s room reflects his personality. The bookshelves are made of plain beige wood with glass doors, and the chairs around the modest table are noticeably worn. At the head of the table, the Rebbe sits in a regular office chair and greets me warmly.
The Rebbe has been informed by his gabbai of the purpose of my visit, and although he doesn’t typically grant interviews, he permits me to record our conversation in order to share his words of chizzuk, guidance, advice and Torah with klal Yisrael. I tell the Rebbe that I am an einikel of Reb Leibish Rubinfeld, a prominent Belzer chasid who was a close confidant of the Frierdiker Rav, Rav Aharon, zt”l.
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