ר׳ אברהם מרדכי אלתר

ר׳ אברהם מרדכי אלתר (1865–1948), known by the title אמרי אמת, was the third Gerrer Rebbe and one of the most influential Orthodox leaders of interwar Poland. Born in Góra Kalwaria to ר׳ יהודה אריה ליב אלתר, the שפת אמת, and Yocheved Rivka Kaminer, he succeeded his father in 1905. Ger expanded into a vast Hasidic movement under his leadership, with a network of batei midrash, yeshivot and communal organizations. He helped establish Agudath Israel and promoted Orthodox political organization and education while making several visits to Mandatory Palestine. During the First World War he left Ger for Warsaw, which became his principal Polish base. After the German invasion he was hunted and concealed in Warsaw; an international rescue effort enabled him and part of his family to leave occupied Europe in 1940. His eldest son ר׳ מאיר אלתר and much of the family were murdered in the Holocaust. In Jerusalem he rebuilt the Gerrer court and its institutions among survivors. His teachings, letters and halakhic material were published as אמרי אמת, largely posthumously. Trapped in Jerusalem during the 1948 war, he died on Shavuot and was buried in the courtyard of Yeshivat Sefat Emet because access to the Mount of Olives was impossible. His son ר׳ ישראל אלתר succeeded him.