Slonim (Hasidic dynasty)
Hasidic dynasty from Belarus, founded in Slonim in 1858 and now divided into two courts based in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak
| Slonim | |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1858 Slonim, Belarus |
| Founder | Avraham (I) Weinberg (1804–1883) |
| Leader | Rebbes Shmuel Berezovsky (Jerusalem); Avraham Weinberg (Bnei Brak) |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem and Bnei Brak |
| Type | Hasidic dynasty |
| Notes | |
Slonim is a Hasidic dynasty from the Lithuanian and Belarusian lands of the former Russian Empire, named after the town of Slonim. The YIVO Encyclopedia traces it, with the related Lakhovits and Kobrin dynasties, to Avraham of Kalisk and his opposition to the Lubavitch approach to spreading Kabbalah. Its founder, Avraham Weinberg, became rebbe in 1858, and his teaching was strongly influenced by the culture of the non-Hasidic Lithuanian yeshivas.[1] After the Holocaust the movement was rebuilt in the Land of Israel. It is now divided into two groups, one led by the Berezovsky family in Jerusalem and the other by the Weinberg family in Bnei Brak.[2][3]
In 2010 Slonim parents in the West Bank settlement of Immanuel were ordered to prison after refusing to comply with a Supreme Court ruling against separation at a girls' school there.[4] Associations bearing the Slonim name are registered in Israel, including in the settlements of Immanuel and Beitar Illit, and in New York State, and a London charity bears the name Beth Abraham (Slonim).
History
Lakhovits, Kobrin and Slonim
YIVO names the three main dynasties of this group as Lakhovits, founded by Mordechai of Lakhovits (1742–1810); Kobrin, founded by his disciple Moshe Polier of Kobrin (1784–1858); and Slonim, founded by Avraham (I) Weinberg (1804–1883). Slonim Hasidim still regard Mordechai of Lakhovits as the source of their conservative, pietist approach.[1]
According to Hasidic sources cited by YIVO, Avraham was a respected rabbi and, from 1830 to 1843, head of the leading non-Hasidic (Misnagdic) yeshiva in Slonim before he was drawn to Hasidism. When Moshe of Kobrin died in 1858 most of the Kobrin Hasidim accepted Avraham as his successor, though a minority chose Moshe's grandson Noach. Avraham wrote the kabbalistic work Chesed LeAvraham (1886) and Yesod HaAvodah (1892), which YIVO calls the foundational work of Slonim Hasidism; a small group of Slonim refugees reprinted it in Shanghai in 1943. YIVO says he set up a major Hasidic court in a town dominated by opponents of Hasidism, creating "the first significant Hasidic sect that coexisted harmoniously with an anti-Hasidic rabbinical establishment".[1]
Avraham also established a base in the Land of Israel. Slonim Hasidim say that in 1873 he sent some of his grandsons, including the 13-year-old Noach Weinberg, to settle in Tiberias.[2] YIVO says the first Slonim yeshiva, Or Torah, was founded there in 1898.[1]
Shmuel and the 1916 split
On Avraham's death in 1883 his grandson Shmuel (1850–1916) became the second rebbe. During the First World War the centre of the movement moved from Slonim to nearby Baranovichi. With leading non-Hasidic rabbis, including Yitzchak Elchanan Spektor and Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, Shmuel helped found Keneset Yisrael, an early Orthodox umbrella body that preceded Agudat Yisrael.[1]
After Shmuel's death in 1916 the movement split. A minority followed his eldest son, Yissachar Aryeh (1873–1928), who stayed in Slonim; the majority chose his younger son, Avraham (II) (1884–1933), as rebbe in Baranovichi. In 1918 Avraham founded Yeshivat Torat Chesed in Baranovichi, which YIVO calls the first truly Lithuanian-style Hasidic yeshiva in Europe.[1]
The Holocaust
After Avraham II's death, Shlomo David Yehoshua Weinberg, then aged 20, was named rebbe in 1935. He led the community under German occupation until he was murdered in 1944 in a labour camp outside Baranovichi.[1] Slonim Hasidim keep a memorial day on the date on which he is known to have died.[2] The last Kobrin rebbe in Europe, Moshe Aharon, was killed by the Nazis in 1942; after the Holocaust the few surviving Lakhovits and Kobrin Hasidim were absorbed into the Slonim community, centred in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak and Tiberias.[1]
Rebuilding in Israel and the two courts
Shalom Noach Berezovsky (1911–2000), author of the Netivot Shalom books, was born in Mosh, near Slonim, and married a daughter of the Slonim rebbe Avraham Weinberg. He moved to Mandatory Palestine in 1935. When the Beit Avraham Slonim yeshiva opened near Mea Shearim in Jerusalem at the end of 1941 he began teaching there, and a few years later became its head. He sat on the Council of Torah Sages of Agudath Israel.[2]
Torat Har Etzion says that some Slonim Hasidim accepted Berezovsky as their leader during the last years of his father-in-law's life, with communities mostly in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Kiryat Gat, Beitar Illit, Elad, Chazon Yechezkel and Immanuel. When he formally became rebbe "several dozen chassidim seceded", in protest at his appointment during his father-in-law's lifetime and in opposition to his ideas. Slonim is therefore divided into two groups: one led by the Berezovsky family, under Rabbi Shmuel Berezovsky, son of the author of Netivot Shalom, and the other by "the original Weinberg dynasty" under Rabbi Avraham Weinberg.[2] TIME wrote in 2010 of a power struggle between rival Slonim leaders in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.[4]
In December 2021 Israel National News reported that Avraham Weinberg, whom it called the rebbe of the Slonim movement in Bnei Brak, said at a Hanukkah candle-lighting in Elad that "Zionism is heresy" and that it was forbidden to join the government.[3] In July 2025 Kikar HaShabbat reported that the Slonim rebbe, speaking to his Hasidim in Bnei Brak, praised the Gerrer rebbe for telling his representative to leave the government, and called for unity in refusing army enlistment. He also handed his daily class, which he had given for about forty years, to his grandson.[5]
| Leader | Dates | Base | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mordechai of Lakhovits | 1742–1810 | Lakhovits | Founder of the Lakhovits line[1] |
| Moshe Polier of Kobrin | 1784–1858 | Kobrin | Founder of the Kobrin line[1] |
| Avraham (I) Weinberg | 1804–1883 | Slonim | First Slonim rebbe, from 1858; author of Yesod HaAvodah[1] |
| Shmuel Weinberg | 1850–1916 | Slonim, then Baranovichi | Grandson of Avraham (I)[1] |
| Yissachar Aryeh Weinberg | 1873–1928 | Slonim | Followed by a minority after 1916[1] |
| Avraham (II) Weinberg | 1884–1933 | Baranovichi | Followed by the majority after 1916; founded Yeshivat Torat Chesed[1] |
| Shlomo David Yehoshua Weinberg | died 1944 | Baranovichi | Rebbe from 1935; murdered in the Holocaust[1] |
| Shalom Noach Berezovsky | 1911–2000 | Jerusalem | Author of Netivot Shalom[2] |
| Shmuel Berezovsky | Jerusalem | Son of Shalom Noach Berezovsky[2][4] | |
| Avraham Weinberg | Bnei Brak | Leads the Weinberg group[2][3] |
Civil cases
Immanuel school case
TIME reported in June 2010 that in August 2009 the Supreme Court of Israel had ruled that a separate stream at the Beis Yaakov girls' school in the settlement of Immanuel, whose pupils were 95% Mizrahi, was "rampant discrimination", and had ordered the school to integrate. The petition was brought by the lawyer Aviad Hacohen on behalf of Yoav Lalum of the group Noar Kahalacha. Parents who followed Rabbi Shmuel Berezovsky, whom TIME described as the leader of the Slonim group, took their daughters out of the school and sent them to a school in Bnei Brak. The court ordered them to return the girls or report to prison, and 43 couples chose two weeks in jail. Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak in support of the parents, and 22 mothers and 4 fathers did not report to prison.[4]
VINnews reported a letter in which Shmuel Berezovsky wrote that "even if they put us in front of a firing squad, we would not give up and would not compromise", and described the dispute as a struggle "between faith and heresy". It described Slonim as the dominant group in Immanuel.[6]
Institutions in Israel
Associations (amutot) with Slonim in their names, in either Hebrew spelling, on the Israeli Registrar of Associations include the following. No source read for this page says which of the two courts each association belongs to. Associations whose names use the word to mean ballroom dancing, and most that have been struck off, are left out.[7][8]
| Association | Number | Registered | Address | Income (latest report) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Talmud Torah Emet VeEmuna Slonim Yerushalayim (תלמוד תורה אמת ואמונה סלונים ירושלים) | 580017697 | 8 September 1986 | 39 Yoel Street, Jerusalem | ₪4,317,848 (2024) |
| Yeshivat Beit Avraham Slonim Yerushalayim (ישיבת בית אברהם סלונים ירושלים) | 580101277 | 22 May 1986 | 17 HaRav Salant Street, Jerusalem | ₪27,691,657 (2024) |
| Beit HaKnesset DeChasidei Slonim Immanuel (בית הכנסת דחסידי סלונים עמנואל) | 580134344 | 5 January 1989 | 22 Beit Yisrael Street, Immanuel | ₪392,329 (2025) |
| Talmud Torah Emet VeEmuna Slonim, Bnei Brak (תלמוד תורה אמת ואמונה סלונים, בני-ברק) | 580017671 | 9 January 1990 | 14 Gibborei Yisrael Street, Bnei Brak | ₪2,774,293 (2024) |
| Mosdot Chasidei Slonim Kiryat Gat (מוסדות חסידי סלונים קרית גת) | 580273035 | 25 August 1996 | 15 HaAdmor MiChabad Street, Kiryat Gat | ₪10,666,056 (2024) |
| Emet VeEmuna Slonim Kiryat Gat Chazon Yechezkel (אמת ואמונה סלונים קרית גת חזון יחזקאל) | 580318962 | 16 March 1998 | 85 Chazon Yechezkel, Aluma | ₪13,281,097 (2024) |
| Ma'amadot Slonim (מעמדות סלונים) | 580461549 | 31 May 2006 | 16 Yisa Bracha Street, Jerusalem | ₪9,981,223 (2024) |
| Keren Gemach Libert beside Yeshivat Beit Avraham Slonim (קרן גמ"ח ליבערט שעל יד ישיבת בית אברהם סלונים ירושלים) | 580474575 | 8 May 2007 | 17 HaRav Salant Street, Jerusalem | ₪1,682,417 (2024) |
| Mosdot Yeshivat Netivot Shalom Slonim (מוסדות ישיבת נתיבות שלום סלונים) | 580500130 | 9 September 2008 | 10 Avinadav Street, Jerusalem | ₪13,891,583 (2025) |
| Mosdot Slonim Elad (מוסדות סלונים אלעד) | 580508042 | 22 March 2009 | 15 Rabbi Yonatan ben Uziel Street, Elad | ₪414,219 (2023) |
| Kollel Raysin DeChasidei Slonim (כולל רייסין - דחסידי סלונים בארה"ק) | 580514099 | 3 August 2009 | 22 Imrei Bina Street, Jerusalem | ₪1,345,578 (2025) |
| Mosdot Chasidei Slonim Beit Shemesh (מוסדות חסידי סלונים בית שמש) | 580719102 | 3 March 2021 | 40 Nahal HaKishon Street, Beit Shemesh | ₪168,520 (2024) |
| Torah VaChesed Slonim (תורה וחסד סלונים) | 580729804 | 31 October 2021 | 23 Sdei Chemed Street, Jerusalem | ₪3,481,739 (2025) |
| Va'ad HaBinyan Beit HaChasidim Slonim, HaTamar neighbourhood, Beitar Illit (ועד הבניין בית החסידים סלונים שכונת התמר ביתר עילית) | 580750446 | 28 August 2022 | 23 Knesset Yechezkel Street, Beitar Illit | – |
| Netivei Chinuch – Slonim (נתיבי חינוך - סלונים) | 580751410 | 7 September 2022 | 16 Yisa Bracha Street, Jerusalem | ₪600,689 (2024) |
| Kupat HaKehilla Ahavat Shalom Slonim Beitar (קופת הקהילה אהבת שלום סלונים ביתר) | 580772986 | 21 August 2023 | 25 Pachad Yitzchak Street, Beitar Illit | ₪573,465 (2025) |
| Netivot Shalom Slonim – Immanuel (נתיבות שלום סלונים - עמנואל) | 580775153 | 21 September 2023 | 29 Levin Pinchas Street, Immanuel | ₪179,502 |
| Beit HaKnesset Netivot Shalom Slonim Beitar Illit (בית הכנסת נתיבות שלום סלונים ביתר עילית) | 580776581 | 27 October 2023 | 10 Yesod HaAvoda Street, Beitar Illit | ₪375,605 |
| Ohel Miriam Slonim Bnei Brak (אוהל מרים סלונים בני ברק) | 580828184 | 9 November 2025 | 5 Donolo Street, Bnei Brak | ₪34,584 (2025) |
| Association | Number | Registered | Address | Income (latest report) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mosdot "Be'er Avraham" DeChasidei Slanim (מוסדות "באר אברהם" דחסידי סלאנים) | 580004992 | 23 November 1981 | 22 Rabban Yochanan ben Zakai Street, Elad | ₪9,550,330 (2025) |
| Nachal Eitan DeChasidei Slanim (נחל איתן דחסידי סלאנים) | 580676385 | 5 February 2019 | 3 Ma'asei Chiya Street, Beit Shemesh | ₪1,308,769 (2024) |
| Agudat Achim Slanim (אגודת אחים סלאנים) | 580683100 | 9 June 2019 | 10 HaRav Grossberg Chanoch Street, Jerusalem | ₪2,546,633 (2024) |
| Kehillat Slanim Ashdod (קהילת סלאנים אשדוד) | 580707230 | 20 August 2020 | 17 Eliezer ben Hyrcanus Street, Ashdod | ₪329,946 (2023) |
| Ezrat Achim Slanim (עזרת אחים סלאנים) | 580708907 | 22 September 2020 | 71 Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi Street, Elad | ₪1,581,201 (2024) |
| Ezer Chatanim Slanim (עזר חתנים סלאנים) | 580731834 | 1 December 2021 | 8 Kibbutz Galuyot Street, Bnei Brak | ₪605,148 (2025) |
| Slanim Tveria (סלאנים טבריה) | 580740884 | 3 April 2022 | 24 HaRav Elyashiv Street, Tiberias | ₪65,518 |
| Beit HaMidrash HaGadol DeChasidei Slanim (בית המדרש הגדול דחסידי סלאנים) | 580816221 | 27 April 2025 | 2 Doresh Tov Street, Jerusalem | ₪83,198 |
Five of these associations are registered in West Bank settlements: two in Immanuel and three in Beitar Illit.[7] The Land Research Center, writing for the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem's POICA project, says the Immanuel settlement took 160 dunums of the land of the Palestinian village of Amatin, and that the Immanuel industrial zone, set up in 1992, was being expanded onto a further 12 dunums of a farmer's land.[9] ARIJ says Beitar Illit was set up in 1985 on Palestinian-owned land from Husan (3,430 dunums), Nahhalin (688 dunums) and Wadi Fukin (567 dunums).[10] In its advisory opinion of 19 July 2024 the International Court of Justice found that Israel's transfer of settlers to the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and its maintenance of their presence there, is contrary to the sixth paragraph of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.[11]
United States
The IRS Business Master File for New York lists these tax-exempt organisations with Slonim in their names. All are classed as churches. Congregation Sheveth Achim Anshei Slonim, a congregation of people from the town of Slonim with a 1941 ruling, is left out.[12]
| Organisation | EIN | Address on IRS file | IRS ruling | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moisdois Beer Avraham Slonim Inc | 11-2620774 | 1856 49th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11204 | December 1982 | Church[12] |
| Beer Avrohom Slonim | 75-3054088 | 1274 49th Street, Suite 59, Brooklyn, NY 11219 | July 2002 | Church[12] |
| Cong Beear Avrohom D'Slonim | 20-1540119 | 2 Phyllis Terrace, Monsey, NY 10952 | November 2005 | Church[12] |
| Cong Mosdos Slonim | 20-2546915 | 5308 13th Avenue, Suite 160, Brooklyn, NY 11219 | June 2006 | Church[12] |
| Slonim Spring Valley Inc | 86-3195960 | 19 Dorset Road, Spring Valley, NY 10977 | January 2022 | Church[12] |
| Chevra Kadisha Slonim USA Inc | 88-3636537 | 4 Dr Frank Road, Spring Valley, NY 10977 | October 2022 | Church[12] |
| Congregation Slonim Monsey | 92-3980045 | PO Box 1078, Monsey, NY 10952 | February 2024 | Church[12] |
| Talmud Torah Slonim | 93-2886075 | 1310 46th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219 | April 2024 | Church[12] |
The IRS automatically revoked the tax exemption of American Friends of Mamodas Slonim (EIN 87-2400649), of 1 Hillcrest Center Drive, Suite 232, Spring Valley, NY 10977, with effect from 15 May 2024, for failing to file returns for three consecutive years; the revocation was posted on 12 August 2024.[13]
United Kingdom
Friends of Beth Abraham (Slonim) Ltd (registered charity 801072, registered 6 March 1989) is a charitable company based at 1 Northdene Gardens, London N15 6LX. The register describes its activities as "general charitable activities, advancement of religion in accordance with the orthodox jewish faith, relief of poverty", through grant-making and education, throughout London and in Israel. Its trustees are Chaim Hochhauser (from 10 February 2020) and Samuel Wahrhaftig. In the year to 31 March 2025 its income was £83,245 and its spending £78,930.[14] At Companies House it is company 02311243, a private company limited by guarantee incorporated on 1 November 1988.[15] Its directors are Chaim Hochhauser (appointed 5 January 2026) and Samuel Wahrhaftig, and Batia Warhaftig is company secretary; Ahron Hochauser resigned as a director on 5 January 2026.[16] No source read for this page says which Slonim institutions it supports.
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Allan Nadler, Lakhovits-Kobrin-Slonim Hasidic Dynasty YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Rav Tamir Granot, Jewish Identity and the Significance of the Holocaust in the Teachings of the Rebbe of Slonim (Part 1) Torat Har Etzion, 25 March 2015, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Arutz Sheva Staff, Hasidic Rebbe: We should be more like the Arabs Israel National News, 6 December 2021, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Matthew Kalman, The Jewish Religious Conflict Tearing at Israel TIME, 17 June 2010, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Chaim Rosenbaum, האדמו"ר מסלונים: "רק באחדות נוכל לנצח" - קריאה לאחדות העם (in Hebrew) Kikar HaShabbat, 17 July 2025, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ vinnews, Israel – Slonim Grand Rabbi: Even If We Are Put Before A Firing Squad, We Will Not Compromise VINnews, 23 June 2010, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Registrar of Associations, Israeli Ministry of Justice, Register of associations and public benefit companies: search "סלונים" data.gov.il, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Registrar of Associations, Israeli Ministry of Justice, Register of associations and public benefit companies: search "סלאנים" data.gov.il, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Land Research Center, Expanding Industrial settlement "Immanuel"- Qalqilya governorate POICA, 10 December 2018, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem, "Expanding the settlement of Betar Illit" Warmly welcoming to the US Mideast special envoy G. Mitchell POICA, 9 March 2010, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ International Court of Justice, Summary of the Advisory Opinion of 19 July 2024 icj-cij.org, 19 July 2024, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 12.7 12.8 Internal Revenue Service, Exempt Organizations Business Master File Extract: New York irs.gov, 13 October 2026, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Internal Revenue Service, Automatic Revocation of Exemption List (data download) irs.gov, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Charity Commission for England and Wales, Friends of Beth Abraham (Slonim) Ltd (801072): full print Register of Charities, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Companies House, FRIENDS OF BETH ABRAHAM (SLONIM) LTD: overview Companies House, accessed 27 October 2026.
- ↑ Companies House, FRIENDS OF BETH ABRAHAM (SLONIM) LTD: officers Companies House, accessed 27 October 2026.