(Rov of Bilgoraj, 1902-49). Autograph Letter Signed and stamped, written in Hebrew on plain paper to Rabbi Moshe Kamelhar.

ROKEACH, MORDECHAI

Tuesday of Parshath Chayei Sarah

Jerusalem(?)

1949

Seeking assistance on behalf of Rabbi Alexander Direnfeld.

R. Mordechai Rokeach of Bilgoraj was the son of the third Belzer Rebbe, R. Yissachar Dov (1854-1926), and younger half-brother of the fourth Belzer Rebbe, R. Aharon. During World War II, R. Mordechai famously accompanied his brother, Rebbe Aharon, on a daring escape from Nazi-occupied Europe. The two reached Eretz Israel in February 1944, the only surviving members of their families. They subsequently threw themselves into rebuilding the ranks of Belzer Chassidus which had been decimated by the Holocaust. In 1947 R. Mordechai remarried, to the daughter of Rabbi Tzvi (Hershel) Glick of Satmar. Their only child, Yissachar Dov, born a year before his father died, succeeded as Belzer Rebbe when his uncle, R. Aharon, passed away. R. Yissachar Dov has served and remained as Grand Rebbe of Belz since 1966. Son of the rabbinic historian, R. Yekusiel Aryeh Kamelhar (1868-1937), R. Moshe Kamelhar (1896-1979) was director of the Relief Committee for Refugee Rabbis in Palestine (Mifal Le’Ezrat Rabbanim Pleitim).