| Honorific-Prefix: | Rabbi |
| Yisroel Moshe Friedman | |
| Birth Date: | July 23, 1955 |
| Birth Place: | Brooklyn, New York |
| Death Place: | Ramat Gan, Israel |
| Yahrtzeit: | כ"א אב תש"פ |
| Buried: | August 11, 2020 |
| Burial Place: | Nachlat Yitzchak Cemetery, Givatayim, Israel |
| Denomination: | Hasidic Judaism |
| Dynasty: | Sadigura |
| Father: | Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Friedman |
| Mother: | Tziporah Feiga Friedman |
| Spouse: | Sarah Friedman (née Feldman) |
| Semicha: | Rabbi Moshe Feinstein Rabbi Chanoch Henoch Padwa Rabbi Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss Rabbi Shmuel Wosner |
Yisroel Moshe Friedman (July 23, 1955August 10, 2020) was the sixth Rebbe of the Sadigura Hasidic dynasty. He led his court from Bnei Brak, Israel.
Yisroel Moshe Friedman was born on July 23, 1955, in Brooklyn, New York to Rabbi Avraham Yaakov (the Ikvei Abirim) and Rebbitzen Tziporah Feiga Friedman.[1] He was named for Rabbi Yisrael Friedman, the founder of the Ruzhiner dynasty, and Rabbi Moshe Friedman of Boyan-Cracow. At that time, his paternal grandfather, Rabbi Mordechai Sholom Yosef Friedman (the Knesses Mordechai), served as Sadigura Rebbe. He attended Yeshivas Ruzhin for yeshiva ketana and then the Ponevezh Yeshiva, where he became one of the top students.[2]
In 1979, Friedman married Sara Feldman of London,[3] and settled in the city's Stamford Hill neighborhood. Three months after his wedding, his grandfather died and his father became Rebbe. In 1993, on the yahrtzeit of the first Ruzhiner Rebbe, he opened the Ohr Yisrael shul in Golders Green, London, and developed close relationships with the community members. He also served as a dayan (Rabbinic judge) in London.
Friedman was known to be proficient in Torah, not just in Chassidic works, but in all areas. His broad knowledge of Shas and poskim was well known. He received semicha (Rabbinic ordination) from some of the leaders of Orthodox Jewry: Rabbis Moshe Feinstein, Chanoch Henoch Padwa, Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss (the Minchas Yitzchak), and Shmuel Wosner.[2]
After the death of his father on January 1, 2013, Friedman left London for Israel where he was appointed as sixth Rebbe of the Sadigura Hasidim, and settled in Bnei Brak, where the Sadigura court is headquartered. As Rebbe, one of his big focuses was making anyone welcome in the chassidus; that nobody would feel left out. He became known as one of the great rabbis in Israel, and was part of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah.[4]
Around 2018, Friedman fell ill due to pancreatic cancer, and spent much of 2019 in Los Angeles, undergoing treatments. However, even from America, he led his court, ensuring his chassidim had what they needed. In the summer of 2020, he returned to Bnei Brak on a private flight, (as COVID-19 had halted all air travel); he wanted to be with his community for the Yamim Noraim. On August 10, 2020, Friedman collapsed and was rushed to Sheba-Tel Hashomer Hospital, where he died later in the day.