Avrohom Bornsztain
Encyclopedia
Avrohom Bornsztain also spelled Avraham Borenstein or Bernstein, was a leading posek
in late-nineteenth-century Europe and founder and first Rebbe
of the Sochatchover Hasidic dynasty. He is known as the Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown") after the title of his posthumously-published set of Torah
responsa
. His only son, Shmuel, author of Shem Mishmuel
, succeeded him as Rebbe.
, Poland
on 14 October 1838, Bornsztain was a descendant of the Ramah
and the Shach
. He was the first child of Dobrish (or Doba/Dobela) Erlich, and Rabbi Ze'ev (Wolf) Nachum Bornsztain, Rabbi of Elkush
from 1849 to 1855 and Rabbi of Biała Podlaska from 1855 till his death in 1885
, author of Agudat Eizov, and a Hasid of the Kotzker Rebbe
. The latter opined that Ze'ev Nachum merited such a son due to his immersion in Torah study on Purim
, a time when most people are busy carrying out the many mitzvot
of the day.
In his youth, Bornsztain was recognized as an outstanding student with a phenomenal memory. Under the tutelage of his father, who taught him the ways of pilpul
, he began writing his own chidushim (new Torah thoughts) at the age of 10.
Bornsztain's health was weak and frail from his childhood. He especially suffered from lung problems. Once when he fell dangerously ill, the doctors forbade him from exerting his mind in Torah study. But the Kotzker Rebbe gave him a blessing for longevity, which was fulfilled in the fact that Bornsztain died at the age of 71.
In his teens, Bornsztain became a close talmid of the Kotzker Rebbe, who chose him as his son-in-law. Bornsztain married the Rebbe's daughter, Sara Tzina, in 1853. Bornsztain and his wife resided in Kotzk
for seven years, until the Kotzker Rebbe's death in 1859. During that time, Bornsztain was known to sleep only two hours each day and dedicate the rest of his waking hours to Torah learning. His only son, Shmuel
, was born in Kotzk in 1857.
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
.
. In 1867, he left the city due to persecution by those who opposed him and accepted the position of Av Beit Din
of Krushnevitz
. Here he founded a yeshiva gedola
which attracted many top students, including future Torah leaders such as Rabbi Meir Don Plotski, the Kli Chemdo; Rabbi Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten, the Chelkas Yoav of Kintsk
; and Rabbi Shaul Moshe Zilberman, the Vershover
Rov.
Bornsztain displayed tremendous devotion to his students, with whom he learned for eight hours each day, delivering several shiurim (lectures) during the course of each day. In his introduction to his book, Eglei Tal, he noted that he dedicated all his energies to teaching Torah to his students, leaving the publication of his chiddushim to his old age.
In 1876 Bornsztain moved to the city of Nasielsk
after the death of that city's rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Shinover, author of "Romosayim Tzofim". Yet here, too, he encountered opposition from those who wanted him to ease his insistence on following long-standing traditions and minhag
im. When the community of Sochatchov
approached him to be their Rav and Rebbe, he gladly accepted. He moved to Sochatchov in 1883 and served as its Av Beit Din until his death. Thereafter, the hasidut which he founded became known by the name of Sochatchov, and he was called the Sochatchover Rebbe.
While Bornsztain wanted nothing more than to continue his regular schedule of Torah learning and teaching in Sochatchov, his fame spread quickly. Many difficult halakhic
she'eilos (queries) were addressed to him by rabbis and scholars throughout Europe, and he became known as one of the era's leading poskim
. To arrive at his psak (halakhic decision), he would first study the sugya in the Talmud
in depth, then study the explanation of the sugya by the Rishonim
, and then formulate his decision. His responsa also reflect his great humility. While others relied on his psak completely, in some cases he himself wrote that one should not rely on his psak unless another posek was found who ruled the same way.
His responsa, covering all four sections of Shulchan Aruch
, were published posthumously in seven volumes by his son and grandson under the title, She'eilos U'teshuvos Avnei Nezer. He became known as the Avnei Nezer after his death.
Bornsztain's other works include Eglei Tal on the 39 Melachos of Shabbat
, unpublished sifrei Hasidut, and many writings in manuscript form, including chiddushim on the Rambam. Many of his Torah sayings to his Hasidim appear in his son's work, Shem Mishmuel
.
The homilies which he delivered before his listeners on Shabbat were collected and printed after the Holocaust in the book Ne'ot Deshe (two parts) together with the Torah thoughts of his successors as Sochatchover Rebbes. His biography, Abir HaRo'im, was published in Pyetrkov
in 1935. Presently, his Talmudic chiddushim arranged according to the order of the tractates are being edited.
, 5670) and was buried in an ohel (covered grave) in Sochatchov. His wife, Sara Tzina, died later that year, on 25 December 1910.
His only son, Shmuel, later known by the title of his own work, Shem Mishmuel
, succeeded him as Av Beit Din of Sochatchov and as Sochatchover Rebbe. Upon his death in 1926, the Shem Mishmuel was brought to burial in the same ohel as his father. Bornsztain also had one daughter, Esther, who married his younger brother, Rabbi Meir Bornsztain.
The Sochatchover dynasty continues today under the leadership of Bornsztain's great-great-grandson. A Sochatchover Yeshiva, called Yeshivat Avnei Nezer DeSochatchov, operates in Jerusalem under the leadership of Rabbi Moshe Betzalel Weinberg, a brother-in-law of the current rebbe.
uprooted all the headstones in the cemetery in which the Avnei Nezer and the Shem Mishmuel were buried and threw them into the river. The ohel of the Sochatchover Rebbes was destroyed along with the rest of the cemetery, turning it into a barren field after the war. During the Communist
era, the cemetery was used as a soccer field and as a garbage dump. Though many Sochatchover Hasidim tried to relocate the ohel and the graves of the first Sochatchover Rebbes, they were not successful.
In 1991, after the fall of Communism, Rabbi Yehuda Vidavski, a Sochatchover Hasid from Łódź, who now lived in Tel Aviv
, set out to find and restore the ohel. He successfully petitioned the local authorities for permission to erect a fence around the perimeter of the original cemetery, and asked Rabbi Aharon Yisrael Bornsztain, a son of the Shem Mishmuel who also lived in Tel Aviv, for his recollections as to the location of the ohel. Rabbi Aharon Yisrael recalled that it lay 35 meters from the entrance to the cemetery. But although Rabbi Vidavski hired Polish workers to dig in that area, he uncovered no signs of the ohel. He was similarly unsuccessful in employing a professional who used different kinds of machines to locate graves.
Then Rabbi Vidavski found an older woman who had lived in that area all her life. When he brought her to the cemetery and asked her if she remembered where the ohel had been, she looked around at all the digging going on and said, "Why are they looking there when the tzaddik is buried here?" Digging anew, Rabbi Videvski's workers unearthed remnants of wooden boards, which they later realized was the grave of the Avnei Nezer. Beside this they found pieces of wood from the grave of the Shem Mishmuel. The graves were restored and a new ohel built over them, which was inaugurated in a ceremony led by the present Sochatchover Rebbe, who traveled to Poland from Israel
for the occasion in 1993.
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
in late-nineteenth-century Europe and founder and first Rebbe
Rebbe
Rebbe , which means master, teacher, or mentor, is a Yiddish word derived from the Hebrew word Rabbi. It often refers to the leader of a Hasidic Jewish movement...
of the Sochatchover Hasidic dynasty. He is known as the Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown") after the title of his posthumously-published set of Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
responsa
Responsa
Responsa comprise a body of written decisions and rulings given by legal scholars in response to questions addressed to them.-In the Roman Empire:Roman law recognised responsa prudentium, i.e...
. His only son, Shmuel, author of Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel is the name of a nine-volume collection of homiletical teachings on the Torah and Jewish holidays delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the second Sochatchover Rebbe, between the years 1910-1926...
, succeeded him as Rebbe.
Early life
Born in BendinBedzin
Będzin is a city in Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in southern Poland. Located in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza river , the city borders the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union - a metro area with a population of about 2 million.It has been situated in the Silesian Voivodeship since its...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
on 14 October 1838, Bornsztain was a descendant of the Ramah
Moses Isserles
Moses Isserles, also spelled Moshe Isserlis, , was an eminent Ashkenazic rabbi, talmudist, and posek, renowned for his fundamental work of Halakha , entitled ha-Mapah , an inline commentary on the Shulkhan Aruch...
and the Shach
Shabbatai ha-Kohen
Shabbatai ben Meir ha-Kohen was a noted 17th Century talmudist and halakhist. He became known as the Shakh, which is an abbreviation of his most important work, Siftei Kohen , and his rulings were considered authoritative by later halakhists.- Biography :Shabbatai ha-Kohen was born either in ...
. He was the first child of Dobrish (or Doba/Dobela) Erlich, and Rabbi Ze'ev (Wolf) Nachum Bornsztain, Rabbi of Elkush
Olkusz
Olkusz is a town in south Poland with 37,696 inhabitants . Situated in the Lesser Poland Voivodeship , previously in Katowice Voivodeship , it is the capital of Olkusz County...
from 1849 to 1855 and Rabbi of Biała Podlaska from 1855 till his death in 1885
, author of Agudat Eizov, and a Hasid of the Kotzker Rebbe
Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
Menachem Mendel Morgensztern of Kotzk, better known as the Kotzker Rebbe was a Hasidic rabbi and leader.-Life:Born to a non-Hasidic family in Goraj near Lublin, Poland, he became attracted to Hasidim in his youth. He was known for having acquired impressive Talmudic and Kabbalistic knowledge at a...
. The latter opined that Ze'ev Nachum merited such a son due to his immersion in Torah study on Purim
Purim
Purim is a Jewish holiday that commemorates the deliverance of the Jewish people in the ancient Persian Empire from destruction in the wake of a plot by Haman, a story recorded in the Biblical Book of Esther .Purim is celebrated annually according to the Hebrew calendar on the 14th...
, a time when most people are busy carrying out the many mitzvot
Mitzvah
The primary meaning of the Hebrew word refers to precepts and commandments as commanded by God...
of the day.
In his youth, Bornsztain was recognized as an outstanding student with a phenomenal memory. Under the tutelage of his father, who taught him the ways of pilpul
Pilpul
Pilpul refers to a method of studying the Talmud through intense textual analysis in attempts to either explain conceptual differences between various halakhic rulings or to reconcile any apparent contradictions presented from various readings of different texts.Pilpul has entered English as a...
, he began writing his own chidushim (new Torah thoughts) at the age of 10.
Bornsztain's health was weak and frail from his childhood. He especially suffered from lung problems. Once when he fell dangerously ill, the doctors forbade him from exerting his mind in Torah study. But the Kotzker Rebbe gave him a blessing for longevity, which was fulfilled in the fact that Bornsztain died at the age of 71.
In his teens, Bornsztain became a close talmid of the Kotzker Rebbe, who chose him as his son-in-law. Bornsztain married the Rebbe's daughter, Sara Tzina, in 1853. Bornsztain and his wife resided in Kotzk
Kock
Kock is a town in eastern Poland, about 45 km north of Lublin and 120 km south-east of Warsaw. It lies in Lublin Voivodeship, in Lubartów County. It is the capital of the Kock Commune.As of 2004, its population numbered 3,509.-History:...
for seven years, until the Kotzker Rebbe's death in 1859. During that time, Bornsztain was known to sleep only two hours each day and dedicate the rest of his waking hours to Torah learning. His only son, Shmuel
Shmuel Bornsztain
Shmuel Bornsztain , also spelled Shmuel Borenstein or Bernstein, was the second Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He was known as the Shem Mishmuel by the title of his nine-volume work of Torah and Hasidic thought...
, was born in Kotzk in 1857.
After the Kotzker Rebbe's death, Bornsztain became a Hasid
Hasidic Judaism
Hasidic Judaism or Hasidism, from the Hebrew —Ḥasidut in Sephardi, Chasidus in Ashkenazi, meaning "piety" , is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that promotes spirituality and joy through the popularisation and internalisation of Jewish mysticism as the fundamental aspects of the Jewish faith...
of his uncle, Rabbi Yitzchak Meir Alter
Yitzchak Meir Alter
Yitzchak Meir Alter , is considered to be the first Rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty, which he founded in the town of Góra Kalwaria , Poland. He was also known as the Chidushei HaRim for his Torah books...
, the Chidushei HaRim of Ger
Ger (Hasidic dynasty)
Ger, or Gur is a Hasidic dynasty originating from Ger, the Yiddish name of Góra Kalwaria, a small town in Poland....
. Following the latter's death in 1866, he became a hasid of Rabbi Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander
Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin
Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin of Aleksander served as the rebbe of a community of thousands of Hasidim during the "interregnum" between the Chidushei HaRim of Ger and the Sfas Emes.- Biography :...
.
Rav and teacher
In 1863, Bornsztain accepted his first rabbinical post as Rav of ParczewParczew
Parczew is a town in eastern Poland, with a population of 10,281 . Situated in the Lublin Voivodeship , previously in Biała Podlaska Voivodeship . It is the capital of Parczew County.-History:...
. In 1867, he left the city due to persecution by those who opposed him and accepted the position of Av Beit Din
Av Beit Din
Av Beit Din, Av Beis Din, or Abh Beyth Diyn . was the second-highest ranking member of the Sanhedrin during the Second Commonwealth period. He presided over the Sanhedrin in the absence of the Nasi, and was the chief of the Sanhedrin when it sat as a criminal court...
of Krushnevitz
Krosniewice
Krośniewice is a town in Kutno County, Łódź Voivodeship, Poland, with 4,753 inhabitants .The European routes E30 and E75 used to intersect in the town until a bypass was built around the town in 2010. The main railway between Warsaw and Poznań passes through it...
. Here he founded a yeshiva gedola
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
which attracted many top students, including future Torah leaders such as Rabbi Meir Don Plotski, the Kli Chemdo; Rabbi Yoav Yehoshua Weingarten, the Chelkas Yoav of Kintsk
Konskie
Końskie is a town in central Poland with 20,328 inhabitants , situated in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship , previously in Kielce Voivodeship . Most of the town labour force was employed in the local foundry in the late 80s and early 90s...
; and Rabbi Shaul Moshe Zilberman, the Vershover
Wieruszów
Wieruszów is a town with 8,849 inhabitants .Situated in the southwestern part of Łódź Voivodeship, From 1975-1998, it was part of Kalisz Voivodeship. The town is situated along the Prosna river. The biggest attraction is the Church and Monastery popauliński of 1676 in its limits, located on the...
Rov.
Bornsztain displayed tremendous devotion to his students, with whom he learned for eight hours each day, delivering several shiurim (lectures) during the course of each day. In his introduction to his book, Eglei Tal, he noted that he dedicated all his energies to teaching Torah to his students, leaving the publication of his chiddushim to his old age.
As rebbe
When Rabbi Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander died in 1870, Bornsztain agreed to serve as a rebbe — with one condition: his regular shiurim and learning schedule were not to be interrupted. He also insisted that only those who were well-versed in Torah scholarship should visit him at his court. After a while, his Hasidim noticed that while he answered each petitioner concisely, he did not spend much time with them. When questioned about this, Bornsztain responded: "You should know that for every second that I am disrupted in my learning, they have losses at home, so it is to their advantage that I only hold brief audiences with them!"In 1876 Bornsztain moved to the city of Nasielsk
Nasielsk
Nasielsk is a small town in Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. It is located on a major Warsaw-Gdańsk rail line and serves as a junction, with an additional connection to Sierpc....
after the death of that city's rabbi, Rabbi Shmuel Shinover, author of "Romosayim Tzofim". Yet here, too, he encountered opposition from those who wanted him to ease his insistence on following long-standing traditions and minhag
Minhag
Minhag is an accepted tradition or group of traditions in Judaism. A related concept, Nusach , refers to the traditional order and form of the prayers...
im. When the community of Sochatchov
Sochaczew
Sochaczew is a town in central Poland, with 38,300 inhabitants . Situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously in Skierniewice Voivodeship . It is the capital of Sochaczew County....
approached him to be their Rav and Rebbe, he gladly accepted. He moved to Sochatchov in 1883 and served as its Av Beit Din until his death. Thereafter, the hasidut which he founded became known by the name of Sochatchov, and he was called the Sochatchover Rebbe.
While Bornsztain wanted nothing more than to continue his regular schedule of Torah learning and teaching in Sochatchov, his fame spread quickly. Many difficult halakhic
Halakha
Halakha — also transliterated Halocho , or Halacha — is the collective body of Jewish law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law, as well as customs and traditions.Judaism classically draws no distinction in its laws between religious and ostensibly non-religious life; Jewish...
she'eilos (queries) were addressed to him by rabbis and scholars throughout Europe, and he became known as one of the era's leading poskim
Posek
Posek is the term in Jewish law for "decider"—a legal scholar who decides the Halakha in cases of law where previous authorities are inconclusive or in those situations where no halakhic precedent exists....
. To arrive at his psak (halakhic decision), he would first study the sugya in the Talmud
Talmud
The Talmud is a central text of mainstream Judaism. It takes the form of a record of rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, philosophy, customs and history....
in depth, then study the explanation of the sugya by the Rishonim
Rishonim
"Rishon" redirects here. For the preon model in particle physics, see Harari Rishon Model. For the Israeli town, see Rishon LeZion.Rishonim were the leading Rabbis and Poskim who lived approximately during the 11th to 15th centuries, in the era before the writing of the Shulkhan Arukh and...
, and then formulate his decision. His responsa also reflect his great humility. While others relied on his psak completely, in some cases he himself wrote that one should not rely on his psak unless another posek was found who ruled the same way.
His responsa, covering all four sections of Shulchan Aruch
Shulchan Aruch
The Shulchan Aruch also known as the Code of Jewish Law, is the most authoritative legal code of Judaism. It was authored in Safed, Israel, by Yosef Karo in 1563 and published in Venice two years later...
, were published posthumously in seven volumes by his son and grandson under the title, She'eilos U'teshuvos Avnei Nezer. He became known as the Avnei Nezer after his death.
Bornsztain's other works include Eglei Tal on the 39 Melachos of Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
, unpublished sifrei Hasidut, and many writings in manuscript form, including chiddushim on the Rambam. Many of his Torah sayings to his Hasidim appear in his son's work, Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel is the name of a nine-volume collection of homiletical teachings on the Torah and Jewish holidays delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the second Sochatchover Rebbe, between the years 1910-1926...
.
The homilies which he delivered before his listeners on Shabbat were collected and printed after the Holocaust in the book Ne'ot Deshe (two parts) together with the Torah thoughts of his successors as Sochatchover Rebbes. His biography, Abir HaRo'im, was published in Pyetrkov
Piotrków Trybunalski
Piotrków Trybunalski is a city in central Poland with 80,738 inhabitants . It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship , and previously was the capital of Piotrków Voivodeship...
in 1935. Presently, his Talmudic chiddushim arranged according to the order of the tractates are being edited.
Death and legacy
Bornsztain suffered from a heavy cough in his later years, due to his frail lungs. He died on 7 February 1910 (11 Adar IAdar
Adar is the sixth month of the civil year and the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar. It is a winter month of 29 days...
, 5670) and was buried in an ohel (covered grave) in Sochatchov. His wife, Sara Tzina, died later that year, on 25 December 1910.
His only son, Shmuel, later known by the title of his own work, Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel
Shem Mishmuel is the name of a nine-volume collection of homiletical teachings on the Torah and Jewish holidays delivered by Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain, the second Sochatchover Rebbe, between the years 1910-1926...
, succeeded him as Av Beit Din of Sochatchov and as Sochatchover Rebbe. Upon his death in 1926, the Shem Mishmuel was brought to burial in the same ohel as his father. Bornsztain also had one daughter, Esther, who married his younger brother, Rabbi Meir Bornsztain.
The Sochatchover dynasty continues today under the leadership of Bornsztain's great-great-grandson. A Sochatchover Yeshiva, called Yeshivat Avnei Nezer DeSochatchov, operates in Jerusalem under the leadership of Rabbi Moshe Betzalel Weinberg, a brother-in-law of the current rebbe.
Destruction and restoration of the ohel
During World War II, the NazisNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
uprooted all the headstones in the cemetery in which the Avnei Nezer and the Shem Mishmuel were buried and threw them into the river. The ohel of the Sochatchover Rebbes was destroyed along with the rest of the cemetery, turning it into a barren field after the war. During the Communist
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
era, the cemetery was used as a soccer field and as a garbage dump. Though many Sochatchover Hasidim tried to relocate the ohel and the graves of the first Sochatchover Rebbes, they were not successful.
In 1991, after the fall of Communism, Rabbi Yehuda Vidavski, a Sochatchover Hasid from Łódź, who now lived in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, set out to find and restore the ohel. He successfully petitioned the local authorities for permission to erect a fence around the perimeter of the original cemetery, and asked Rabbi Aharon Yisrael Bornsztain, a son of the Shem Mishmuel who also lived in Tel Aviv, for his recollections as to the location of the ohel. Rabbi Aharon Yisrael recalled that it lay 35 meters from the entrance to the cemetery. But although Rabbi Vidavski hired Polish workers to dig in that area, he uncovered no signs of the ohel. He was similarly unsuccessful in employing a professional who used different kinds of machines to locate graves.
Then Rabbi Vidavski found an older woman who had lived in that area all her life. When he brought her to the cemetery and asked her if she remembered where the ohel had been, she looked around at all the digging going on and said, "Why are they looking there when the tzaddik is buried here?" Digging anew, Rabbi Videvski's workers unearthed remnants of wooden boards, which they later realized was the grave of the Avnei Nezer. Beside this they found pieces of wood from the grave of the Shem Mishmuel. The graves were restored and a new ohel built over them, which was inaugurated in a ceremony led by the present Sochatchover Rebbe, who traveled to Poland from Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
for the occasion in 1993.
Rebbes of Sochatchov
- Avrohom Bornsztain, the Avnei Nezer (1838–1910)
- Shmuel Bornsztain (I), the Shem Mishmuel (1856–1926)
- Dovid BornsztainDovid BornsztainDovid Bornsztain , also spelled Borenstein, Bornstein and Bernstein, was the third Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He succeeded his father, Rabbi Shmuel Bornsztain , as Rebbe upon the latter's death in 1926.-Early life:Bornsztain was born in the Hebrew month of Elul 5636 in Nasielsk, Poland...
(1876–1942) - Chanoch Henoch BornsztainChanoch Henoch BornsztainRabbi Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain , also spelled Borenstein or Bernstein, was the fourth Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He acceded to the position of Rebbe following the death of his older brother, Rabbi Dovid Bornsztain, the third Sochatchover Rebbe, who died in the Warsaw Ghetto during...
(d. 1965) - Menachem Shlomo BornsztainMenachem Shlomo BornsztainMenachem Shlomo Bornsztain , also spelled Borenstein, Bornstein, or Bernstein, was the fifth Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He acceded to the position of Rebbe following the death of his father, Rabbi Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain, the fourth Rebbe of Sochatchov...
(1934–1969) - Shmuel Bornsztain (II)Shmuel Bornsztain (II)Shmuel Bornsztain , also spelled Borenstein or Bernstein, is the sixth Rebbe of the Sochatchov Hasidic dynasty. He acceded to the position of Rebbe following the sudden death of his father, Rabbi Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain, the fifth Rebbe of Sochatchov, in a traffic accident in Jerusalem...
(b. 1961)