Vizhnitz rebbe dies at 96

Rabbi Moshe Yehoshua Hager, the fifth Vizhnitzer rebbe and the president of the Council of Torah Sages, passed away at the age of 96 at his home in Bnei Barak overnight on Tuesday. Upon hearing of the rabbi’s passing, hundreds of men, women and children gathered outside his house to mourn.

Vishnitz is believed to be the second-largest ultra-Orthodox sect (after Gur), and the Council of Torah Sages is the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.

“This is a heavy day of grieving in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish world,” said Yisrael Cohen, an ultra-Orthodox journalist and a member of the Vizhnitz haredi sect. “The rebbe was our spiritual leader who protected the entire generation. Everyone was united under his greatness. In recent years, he has indeed not been well, but the ultra-Orthodox were very connected to him in heart and spirit. He was everyone’s father.”

The rebbe has not worked regularly since the 1990s because of his Alzheimer’s disease. Despite this, however, his status was preserved in the ultra-Orthodox community and he was still a permanent representative on the United Torah Judaism list as well as a prominent member of the Vizhnitz sect. Nearly 10,000 Vizhnitz families live in Israel, mainly in Bnei Brak, and abroad, mainly in the U.S. In recent years, many have also settled in Jerusalem, Haifa, Rehovot, Elad, Beitar Illit, Modiin Illit and Beit Shemesh.

The Vishnitz leadership has often been seen as soap opera due to family disputes and inheritance battles that began about 20 years ago. In light of the squabbles, the rebbe distanced his eldest son, Yisrael, and appointed his youngest son, Menachem Mendel, as his successor. However, after his wife died a decade ago, the elderly rebbe remarried, and Menachem Mendel’s status declined. Early in 2000, Yisrael Hager returned to the sect and became a dominant figure. In 2007, the battle over succession between the two sons reached headline proportions. Blatant skirmishes occurred in which food and hot tea were thrown, and there was even physical violence that required police intervention. Yisrael Hager is today seen as the rebbe’s likely successor.