Sfas Emes
| Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter | |
|---|---|
| Gerrer Rebbe | |
| Term | 1870 – 11 January 1905 |
| Full name | Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter |
| Main work | Sfas Emes |
| Born |
15 April 1847 Warsaw, Poland |
| Died | 11 January 1905 (aged 57) Ger, Poland |
| Buried | Ger, January 1905 |
| Dynasty | Ger |
| Predecessor | Chanoch Heynekh HaKohen of Aleksander |
| Successor | Avraham Mordechai Alter |
| Father | Avraham Mordechai Alter (I) |
| Mother | Ester Landsztajn |
| Wife 1 | Yocheved Rivka Kaminer |
| Children 1 |
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 |
| Wife 2 | Reyzl Halberstam |
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 (Yiddish) or Sefat Emet שפת אמת (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 Nee Landsztajn died before that. 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, Rabbi 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 Yehudah Aryeh Leib's assent to become their Rebbe.
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