Rabbi Aharon ben Shmuel Yaakov Roth – the "Shomer Emunim"

Rabbi Aharon ben Shmuel Yaakov Roth – the "Shomer Emunim" (1894–1947), was a Hungarian Hasidic Rebbe and a great scholar of Talmud. Yahrzeit - 6 Nissan Burial Place - Jerusalem Rabbi Aharon Roth, known as Reb Areleh, first founded a Hasidic community which he named Shomer Emunim (Keeper of the Faith), in the 1920s in Satu Mare and in the 1930s in Berehove, before settling in Jerusalem, where he also founded a Hasidic community of the same name. His main work is the two-volume "Shomer Emunim," written in 1942 in response to the news of Nazi atrocities in Eastern Europe. After his passing, the community split into two groups. One, which took the name Shomrei Emunim, followed his son, Rabbi Avraham Chaim, while the other followed his son-in-law and became known as Toldos Aharon (Generations of Aharon). Rabbi Aharon Roth was born in Uzhhorod, Hungary. He was extraordinarily pious and ascetic from a young age. Until the age of 20 he studied Talmud in Vác under the Hungarian scholar Yeshaya Silberstein, and afterward under Hasidic rabbis from Galicia who had fled to Hungary during World War I, including Yissachar Dov Rokeach of Belz and Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Blazhov. On the instruction of the latter, Rabbi Aharon Roth founded a Hasidic community in Satu Mare, where he settled in 1920, a few years after his marriage. In 1925 he traveled to Jerusalem, where he also gained followers, and returned to Satu Mare four years later. In 1936 he traveled to Berehove (Beregszász) in Czechoslovakia, after the conflict between him and the followers of the Satmar Hasidic Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum escalated into open physical violence. In 1939 Roth settled in Jerusalem, where he once again attracted devoted followers. The synagogue he founded in the Mea Shearim quarter became famous for the ecstatic fervor of those who prayed there. After his passing in 1947, he was succeeded by his son Avraham Chaim Roth, the Rebbe of Shomer Emunim. Views Rabbi Aharon Roth criticized the strife and controversies found in many Hasidic dynasties, accusing them of failing to follow the early tzadikim's emphasis on simple prayer and piety. He called for repentance, demanded complete adherence to simple faith and an ecstatic manner of prayer, and expected his Hasidim to support themselves through their own labor. He defined the group as a holy brotherhood and gave guiding principles for distinctive conduct, dress, and hairstyle, expressing particular regret over the decline of modesty. He viewed the Holocaust as a punishment for abandoning simple faith and ancient traditions, blaming secularism and Zionism, and maintained that the Nazi atrocities would not have occurred had proper standards of dress and conduct been upheld. In this context he quoted the Zohar (Noach 66b), which states that when the Jewish people properly observe the Holy Covenant (Brit Kodesh), no other nation can have any power over them. Rebbe Aharon forbade the wearing of wool (going beyond the letter of the law of shatnez); he believed it would be safer not to wear wool at all, in order to completely avoid any possibility of transgressing the law. The great Rabbi Aharon Roth was known for praying with especially intense fervor. According to one story, he regularly had to change his clothes twice during the Shabbat morning service. While an ordinary service might last two or three hours, Rabbi Aharon often prolonged the service to five hours or more. Rebbe Aharon, "Reb Areleh," is the author of the books "Shomer Emunim," "Shulchan HaTahor," and "Taharas HaKodesh."   The Last Generation Rabbi Aharon Roth, author of "Shomer Emunim," says that the spiritual state of the Jewish people today corresponds to the deepest category of sleep - a deep "lethargic sleep," in which only a small fraction of vital force remains in a person, and in which he does not respond to shouts or pokes. The holy books state that before the coming of Mashiach, most of the nation will be in a "sleeping" state of the soul, and this sleep will be so deep that awakening from it will require very great effort. May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael! Prayer of Rabbi Aharon Roth https://silatehilim.com/%d0%bc%d0%be%d0%bb%d0%b8%d1%82%d0%b2%d0%b0-%d0%b4%d0%bb%d1%8f-%d1%81%d0%bc%d1%8f%d0%b3%d1%87%d0%b5%d0%bd%d0%b8%d1%8f-%d0%bd%d0%b5%d0%b1%d0%b5%d1%81%d0%bd%d1%8b%d1%85-%d1%81%d1%83%d0%b4%d0%be%d0%b2/