Sochatchov (Hasidic dynasty)

Sochatchov (Hebrew: סוכטשוב‎‎, prounced So-kah-tchov) is a Hasidic dynasty named for the town of Sochaczew, located 25 miles (40 km) west of Warsaw in central Poland. The dynasty was based in Sochaczew from 1870 until 1915. After World War I the dynasty was moved to Łódź and, subsequently, to other nearby towns. After World War II the dynasty was transplanted to Israel, where it thrives to this day.

The founder of the dynasty was Rabbi Avrohom Bornsztain (also spelled Borenstein or Burnstein) (1838–1910), a leading posek (Jewish legal authority) in 19th-century Poland. He was a close disciple of the Kotzker Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Morgenstern, and married the Kotzker Rebbe's daughter. After the Kotzker Rebbe's death, Bornsztain became a Hasid of his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter, the Chidushei HaRim of Ger. Following the latter's death in 1866, he became a hasid of Rabbi Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander. When the Alexander Rebbe died in 1870, Bornsztain agreed to become a Hasidic rebbe himself. From 1883 until his death he served as Rav and av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) of Sochaczew (Sochatchov), becoming known as the Sochatchover Rebbe. The homilies that he delivered before his Hasidim on Shabbat were collected and printed in the book Ne'ot Deshe. His voluminous responsa on every section of Shulchan Aruch were published posthumously in seven volumes under the title Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown").

His only son, Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, succeeded him as av beis din of Sochatchov and second Sochatchover Rebbe. From his childhood, Shmuel's primary teacher was his father, and he continued to live near him even after his marriage. Upon his father's death in 1910, he was accepted as Rebbe by all his father's Hasidim. He established a Sochatchov yeshiva, Yeshivat Beit Avrohom, first in Sochaczew and later in Zgierz. He delivered many shiurim (Torah lectures) to his Hasidim on the topics of the weekly Torah portion and Jewish holidays, primarily based on the teachings of his father. These teachings were posthumously published in the nine-volume Shem Mishmuel.

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