Sassov (Hasidic dynasty)
Galician Hasidic court originating in Sasiv; several successor lines; UK synagogue-charity of the same name
| Sassov | |
|---|---|
| Founded | |
| Founder | Moshe Leib of Sassov (Moshe Yehudah Leib Erblich, c. 1745–1807) |
| Leader | |
| Headquarters | Historically Sasiv; successor courts in Kiryat Yismach Moshe (Ganei Tikva), Monsey, New York, and historically London |
| Type | |
Sassov (also Sassow, Sasov; Yiddish סאַסעוו) is a Galician Hasidic dynasty named after the town of Sasiv in Eastern Galicia, now in Ukraine. The first court was founded by Moshe Leib of Sassov (Rabbi Moshe Yehudah Leib Erblich, c. 1745 – 13 January 1807 / 4 Shevat 5567).[1][2]
The name later attached to more than one family line. The founder’s Erblich descendants continued as rabbis; a separate “Sassover Rebbe” was installed in the late nineteenth century from the Belz / Alesk orbit; a twentieth-century Teitelbaum branch styles itself Sassov–Keretzky in Israel and Monsey; and a London Sassov court is recorded on the Mayer / Rubin line. The UK company-charity Sassov Beis Hamedrash (charity 1102303, company 04978521) uses the place-name but is a Golders Green / Finchley Road grant-making synagogue vehicle whose trustees include Benzion Freshwater, Solomon Israel Freshwater and Graham Shurek Morris. It is not, on the public register, a rebbe’s court.[3]
Origin
Sasiv (Polish Sasów) was a small Galician market town. In 1764 the Jewish population was recorded as 223; by 1880 it was 1,906 (58 per cent of the town). Jews there manufactured candles and atarot (ornamental strips for prayer-shawls).[4]
Moshe Leib Erblich was born c. 1745 in Sasiv or Brody to Yaakov and Rivkah Erblich. His father was associated with the misnagdim. He studied under Shmelke of Nikolsburg (a student of the Maggid of Mezritch) and later under the Maggid himself and Elimelech of Lizhensk. After a period in Opatów (Apt) he settled in Sasiv and gathered a court. Students and contemporaries named in the secondary literature include Tzvi Hirsh of Ziditchov, Menachem Mendel of Kosov, Yaakov Yitzchak of Peshischa (the Yid HaKadosh), Meir of Premishlan and Abraham David Wahrman of Buchach. Published teachings appear as Likutei Ramal and Torat HaRamal HaShalem.[2][5]
Hasidic tradition emphasises his work on pidyon shvuyim (redemption of captives) and popular ahavat Yisrael. The YIVO entry notes that he had one son, Yekutiel Shmelke, and two daughters, and treats the original court as not having become a large continuing dynasty in the classic sense.[5]
The pre-war Jewish community of Sasiv was destroyed in the Holocaust. About 1,500 Jews lived there at the outbreak of the Second World War.[4]
Successor lines
Several groups later used the Sassov title. They should not be collapsed into one court.
Erblich line
Moshe Leib was succeeded in the town by his son Yekutiel Shmuel Shmelke Erblich (c. 1800–1861). Later Erblich rabbis include a Porosov / Porozovo rebbe, Yaakov Tzvi Erblich, and a later Moshe Yehudah Leib Erblich (d. 1991), a chazzan who served in Israel, Britain, Canada and the United States before settling in Monsey. His son Yaakov Tzvi Erblich (d. 2020) was described as Sassover Rebbe in Monsey.[6][1]
Belz appointment: Shlomo of Sassov
By the late nineteenth century the founder’s descendants had taken pulpits elsewhere and Sasiv had no resident rebbe. Townspeople asked Sholom Rokeach (the Sar Shalom of Belz) whom to appoint. He named his grandson Shlomo (Shlomo Mayer / Shlomo of Sassov). Shlomo’s father was the first rebbe of Alesk; his mother was a daughter of the Sar Shalom. He died in 1919, reported at Lwów / Lvov.[1]
This appointment is the source of later “Sassov” courts that are genealogically Belz / Alesk rather than Erblich.
Teitelbaum Sassov–Keretzky
Lipa Meir Teitelbaum (d. March 1966), a great-grandson of Shlomo of Sassov, took the style Sassov–Keretzky and founded Kiryat Yismach Moshe in Ganei Tikva. In his first marriage he was a son-in-law of Joel Teitelbaum of Satmar. From his second marriage to Rebbetzin Bluma two sons took the Sassov title:[1][7]
- Yosef Dovid Teitelbaum — Sassover Rebbe in Kiryat Yismach Moshe; son-in-law of David Moshe of Kretchnif; student of the previous Klausenberger Rebbe. Community reporting describes a small chareidi neighbourhood court (on the order of hundreds of followers, not a mass dynasty).
- Chanoch Henoch (Heynach) Teitelbaum — Sassover Rebbe in Monsey.
Other children of Lipa Meir named in the same accounts include Moshe (a Satmar dayan in Jerusalem), Shlomo (Alesk) and Esther (married into Biala).
London / Mayer–Rubin line
Hebrew-language dynasty lists record a Sassov court in London from the same Alesk–Mayer stock: Chanoch Henoch Dov as Sassover Rebbe in London (d. 13 Tammuz 5689 / 1929, in his father’s lifetime); then Simcha Rubin of Sassov–London (son-in-law of a Zinkov / Heshel line; d. 10 Sivan 5763 / 2003); then a grandson, Mordechai Yehuda Leib Rubin, styled Sassov–London and reported as living in Vienna.[8]
That London court is the historical Hasidic use of the name in Britain. It is separate from the 2003 company-charity below.
United Kingdom: Sassov Beis Hamedrash
Sassov Beis Hamedrash is a charitable company incorporated 27 November 2003 (company 04978521) and registered 25 February 2004 (charity 1102303). Objects include advancement of Orthodox Jewish religion and education, maintenance of “the synagogue known as Sassov Beis Hamedrash”, and relief of Jewish poverty worldwide. Correspondence address on the Commission file: New Burlington House, 1075 Finchley Road, London NW11 0PU (Cohen Arnold). Income for the year to 30 June 2025 was £741,762; expenditure £275,281.[3][9]
Trustees on the live card include Benzion Schalom Eliezer Freshwater, Solomon Israel Freshwater, Graham Shurek Morris, Luzer Rokach, Moshe Broner, and (from 7 May 2025) Robert Vorhand and Israel Rubin.[10]
The Freshwater brothers are principals of the Daejan / Freshwater group property companies and sit on Bobov-adjacent and UOHC charities (The Raphael Freshwater Memorial Association, Mayfair Charities Limited, Service to the Aged, The Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations). Morris is also a trustee of the Schreiber Charitable Trust, The Morris Charitable Trust and Friends of Nahalat Moshe. The overlap is a North-West London Orthodox grant network. It does not, by itself, show that the charity is the seat of a sitting Sassover Rebbe, nor that the Freshwaters are Sassov Hasidim rather than Bobov / UOHC actors using a historic shtiebel name.[10]
Disambiguation
| Name | What it is |
|---|---|
| Moshe Leib of Sassov (Erblich, d. 1807) | Founder of the original court in Sasiv |
| Erblich Sassover Rebbes (Monsey) | Male-line descendants of the founder |
| Shlomo of Sassov (d. 1919) | Belz grandson appointed to the vacant town |
| Sassov–Keretzky / Kiryat Yismach Moshe | Teitelbaum branch; Yosef Dovid in Israel, Chanoch Henoch in Monsey |
| Sassov–London (Mayer / Rubin) | Historic London court; later Vienna |
| Sassov Beis Hamedrash (1102303) | UK charity / company; Freshwater–Morris board |
See also
- Sassov Beis Hamedrash
- Benzion Freshwater
- Graham Shurek Morris
- Schreiber Charitable Trust
- Belz (Hasidic dynasty)
- Satmar (Hasidic dynasty)
- Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)
- Hasidic dynasties
External links
- Charity Commission: Sassov Beis Hamedrash
- Companies House: 04978521
- Wikipedia: Sassov (Hasidic dynasty)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Sassov (Hasidic dynasty), Wikipedia.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Moshe Leib of Sassov, Wikipedia.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 SASSOV BEIS HAMEDRASH, Charity Commission, 1102303.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Sasov, Encyclopaedia Judaica / Jewish Virtual Library.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Mosheh Leib of Sasov, YIVO Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Jewish Sasiv, Myshtetl.
- ↑ Shabsie Saphirstein, Sasov Rebbe From Israel Visits Queens, Queens Jewish Link.
- ↑ חסידות סאסוב, Hebrew Wikipedia (Mayer / “Lev Sameach” line; distinguished there from the Moshe Leib Erblich article).
- ↑ Governing document, Sassov Beis Hamedrash, Charity Commission.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 Trustees, Sassov Beis Hamedrash, Charity Commission.