Mordechai Rokeach

Mordechai Rokeach was born in 1901 in Belz

Mordechai Rokeach was born in Belz to Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the third Belzer Rebbe, and his second wife, Chaya Devorah. His half-brother Aharon later became the fourth Belzer Rebbe. His father studied Torah with him every night.

He married Sheva Rabinowitz, daughter of the rabbi of Kobrin. He became Rav of Biłgoraj after his father's death in 1926. There he led the community, headed the rabbinical court, held Hasidic gatherings and founded a Talmud Torah.

During World War II he joined his brother Aharon, and the two fled through the Bochnia and Kraków ghettos. They were smuggled into Hungary disguised as captured Russian generals, and reached the Land of Israel in 1944. His wife and children were murdered in the Holocaust.

He settled in Tel Aviv and helped his brother rebuild Belz Hasidism. He founded the first Hasidic cheder in Tel Aviv and headed the Belz educational institutions. In 1947 he married Miriam Glick, and their only son, Yissachar Dov, was born in 1948.

He fell ill during a journey in Europe and returned to Israel. He died on November 17, 1949, and was buried in Tiberias. His surviving Torah writings were published as the series Parashat Mordechai.