ר׳ יהודה אריה ליב אלתר

ר׳ יהודה אריה ליב אלתר (1847–1905), known from his writings as the שפת אמת, was the second rebbe of the Ger Hasidic dynasty and an influential Polish Jewish leader. Born in Warsaw to ר׳ אברהם מרדכי אלתר and Esther, he lost both parents in childhood and was raised in Góra Kalwaria by his grandparents, ר׳ יצחק מאיר אלתר, the חידושי הרי״ם, and Feige. His grandfather supervised an exceptionally demanding programme of Talmud and Hasidic study and took him to ר׳ מנחם מנדל מקוצק. After marrying Yocheved Rivka Kaminer in 1862, his name was expanded to Yehudah Aryeh Leib. When his grandfather died in 1866 he declined immediate leadership and followed ר׳ חנוך העניך הכהן לוין of Aleksander. After that rebbe’s death in 1870, the twenty-three-year-old reluctantly accepted leadership of Ger. He combined a restrained public style with intense pastoral responsibility, regular Talmud teaching and discourses connecting biblical language, Midrash, Kabbalah and the inner work of mitzvot. Ger grew into a major Polish Hasidic movement under him. During the Russo-Japanese War he addressed conscripted followers and reportedly died after illness aggravated by concern for them. His Torah and festival teachings were edited posthumously as שפת אמת beginning in 1905, while his Talmudic novellae were printed separately. His son ר׳ אברהם מרדכי אלתר succeeded him.