| Gerrer Rebbe | |
| Began: | 1870 |
| Ended: | 11 January 1905 |
| Birth Name: | Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter |
| Main Work: | Sfas Emes |
| Predecessor: | Chanoch Heynekh HaKohen of Aleksander |
| Successor: | Avraham Mordechai Alter |
| Spouse: | Yocheved Rivka Kaminer, Reyzl Halberstam |
| Children: | Avraham Mordechai Alter Yitzchak Meir Alter Moshe Betzalel Alter Chanokh Chayim Alter Feyge Lewin Yisrael Alter Nechemya Alter Menachem Mendel Alter Noach Alter Esther Biderman |
| Dynasty: | Ger |
| Father: | Avraham Mordechai Alter (I) |
| Mother: | Ester Landsztajn |
| Birth Date: | 15 April 1847 |
| Birth Place: | Warsaw, Poland |
| Death Place: | Ger, Poland |
| Date Of Burial: | January 1905 |
| Place Of Burial: | Ger |
Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (Hebrew: יהודה אריה ליב אלתר, 15 April 1847 – 11 January 1905), also known by the title of his main work, the Sfas Emes (Ashkenazic Pronunciation) or Sefat Emet (Modern Hebrew), was a Hasidic rabbi who succeeded his grandfather, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, as the Av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) and Rav of Góra Kalwaria, Poland (known in Yiddish as the town of Ger), and succeeded Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander as Rebbe of the Gerrer Hasidim.
He was born in 1847 (5608) and named Yehudah Leib; he was known to family and friends as Leybl. His father, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, died when Yehudah Leib was only eight years old, and his mother Mrs. Esther Alter (née Landsztajn) died before that.[1] Orphaned of both parents, he was brought up by his grandparents, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter (known as the Chiddushei Harim) and his wife. When he was about ten years old, his grandfather took him to visit the Kotzker Rebbe, which left a lifelong impression on him.
He married Yocheved Rivka, daughter of Yehuda Leib ("Yidl") Kaminer. In order not to have the same name as his father-in-law, his own name was changed to Yehudah Aryeh Leib. He is said to have been attached to the name Yehudah, and was upset at not being able to use it as his name any longer.
When his grandfather, Yitzchak Meir, died in 1866, many of the Gerrer Hasidim sought to bestow the mantle of leadership upon eighteen-year-old Yehudah Aryeh Leib. He refused that position, and leadership went to Rabbi Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksandrów Łódzki. However, after the death of the latter in 1870, the Hasidim succeeded in gaining Alter's assent to become their Rebbe.[2]
During the Russo-Japanese War, many of his young followers were drafted into the Russian Army and sent to the battlefields in Manchuria. Alter was very worried over these devotees and would constantly write to them. His health suffered, and he died at the age of 57 on 11 January 1905 (5 Shevat 5665).
Alter was succeeded as Gerrer Rebbe by his son, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter. Most of Gerrer hasidim followed Avraham Mordechai, but some chasidim followed the brother-in-law of Alter - Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Justman of Piltz.
Alter was one of the greatest Torah scholars of his generation, teaching students such as Rabbi Nachman Shlomo Greenspan and many others. His output was prodigious, and his works (all entitled Sfas Emes) deal with the Talmud, the ethics of the Midrash, and mysticism of the Zohar.
His Torah homilies as delivered to his hasidim, and arranged according to the weekly parashah and the festivals, were the first to be published posthumously under the name Sfas Emes. The title was taken from the closing words of the final piece he wrote (Sfas Emes, Vayechi 5665). His chiddushim (original Torah thoughts) on many Talmudic tractates, and on Yoreh De'ah, have been published under the same name.
The Sochatchover Rebbe, Rabbi Avrohom Bornsztain (known as the Avnei Nezer), a leading Torah scholar and posek in his own right, is said to have maintained two bookcases — one for Rishonim (earlier commentators) and another for Acharonim (later commentators). The volumes of the Sfas Emes, written in the late 1800s, were to be found in his bookcase containing the Rishonim. To study some portions of the Talmud without the Sfas Emes is unthinkable to the modern-day scholar.[3]
The Sfas Emes Yeshiva in Jerusalem is named after him and includes his teachings in the curriculum.