ר׳ אהרן ראטה

ר׳ אהרן בן ר׳ שמואל יעקב ראטה (1894–1947), known affectionately as ר׳ אהרל׳ה and as the בעל שומר אמונים, was a Hungarian Hasidic rebbe and religious reformer. Born in Ungvár, he studied in the Hasidic world of Galicia and was influenced especially by ר׳ צבי אלימלך שפירא מבלאז׳וב. In 1921 he gathered an ascetic devotional fellowship in Satu Mare, emphasizing intense audible prayer, ritual purity, modesty, communal discipline and simple faith. After periods in Jerusalem and Transcarpathia, he led a community in Berehovo and settled permanently in Jerusalem around 1940, establishing Shomrei Emunim in the neighbourhoods of the Old Yishuv. His books טהרת הקודש, שולחן הטהור, נועם הלבבות and שומר אמונים combine Hasidic ethics, kabbalistic discipline and detailed communal instruction. שומר אמונים, written amid news of the Holocaust and published in 1942, became his best-known work. He died in Jerusalem in 1947. His followers divided between his son ר׳ אברהם חיים ראטה, leader of Shomrei Emunim, and his son-in-law ר׳ אברהם יצחק קאהן, whose group became Toldot Aharon.