66 Years Since the Passing of the Rebbe

Today, the 21st of Av, is the sixty-sixth yahrtzeit of the passing of the Tzaddik, Rabbi Aharon of Belz zt"l—brief lines about his life:

Rabbi Aharon of Belz was born in the month of Elul to his father, Rabbi Yissachar Dov Ber Rokeach, the third Rebbe in the Belz dynasty. In his childhood he was orphaned from his mother, and at only fourteen years old he became engaged to his wife. In the year 5687 (1927) he was appointed the fourth Rebbe in the Belz dynasty. In the year 5699 (1939) the Nazis entered the town of Belz, and through miracles upon miracles throughout the entire Holocaust he succeeded, time after time, in escaping from the Nazis’ grasp. He immigrated to Eretz Yisrael in the year 5704 (1944), and began rebuilding the Belz Chassidus from the home he established in the city of Tel Aviv. On Motzaei Shabbos, the 21st of Av, 5717 (1957), he returned his pure soul to its Creator.

At his funeral, thousands from across the land participated, and he was buried on Har HaMenuchos. Each year, a central hillula is held in his honor at the Belz center, and at his holy grave.

Before you is a prayer written by the gaon and tzaddik Rabbi Eliezer Berland shlit"a to be said on the yahrtzeit of Rabbi Aharon of Belz zy"a:

To merit, through the power of the Admor, the Rav, Rabbi Aharon of Belz zt"l, that he continue to protect and shelter all of Klal Yisrael through the power of his holiness, and to be an advocate of integrity and compassion on our behalf.

Master of the World, Almighty—no plan is beyond You. In the merit of the Rav, Rabbi Aharon of Belz zt"l: “The heavens were opened 544 and I saw 395 visions 213 of G‑dliness 647” 86 = 1885—the Rav, Rabbi Aharon of Belz, who was a blazing fire 24 hours a day without a pause for even a moment or a second, as it is said: “A fire 301 continually 454 shall burn 510 upon 100 the altar 62; it shall not 31 be extinguished” 427 = 1885. And the whole world rose up against him—especially on the 17th of Elul, 5699 (1939), when the Satan, in his own honor and in his very self, descended to rule the world. And the only one who restrained him and sheltered the people of Israel from him was the Tzaddik Yesod Olam, our master Aharon zt"l—who, through the holiness of his bris, shelters all the people of Israel wherever they are.

The gaon and tzaddik, the Rav, Rabbi Aharon of Belz zt"l—who is alive and enduring and not dead—ascends and stands and serves in the heights, and continues to protect the people of Israel from all the calamities that rise against us every moment and every second: from Ahmadinejad, who at every moment and every second stands ready to throw an atom bomb upon us—which, of course, will be transformed into sweetness and every kind of delight; and from Trump, who announced that he would hand over the entire Land of Israel into the hands of the Palestinians and the Saudis; and from all these and those like them, and their followers.

From all of them—only the gaon and tzaddik, Rabbi Aharon of Belz, who continues to live in every moment and every second, and who declared before his passing that he would fight until his very last drop of blood against all the haters of Israel and those who endanger the peace of Israel—and he will fight them with his entire nefesh, ruach, neshamah, chayah, and yechidah, forever.