Alter, Simha (1897–1992)

Polish-born Israeli Hasidic rabbi. As head from 1977 of the Ger (or Gur) Hasidim, the largest Hasidic community in the world, he was also the most powerful man in Agudah, the Orthodox Religious Party of Israel, for whom all Ger Hasidim vote.

Alter was born in Gora (Hebrew Ger, Yiddish Gur) Kalwaria, a small town in Poland where in 1859 Rabbi Isaac Meir Alter, Simha Alter's great-great-grandfather, founded the family dynasty, and from which the Hasidic community takes its name. Hasidic Judaism arose from the revival of Judaism in Poland in the early 18th century under Rabbi Israel Bal Shemtov. Mystical, musical, and celebratory, Hasidic Judaism brought new energy and life to Eastern European Judaism. Of the communities that emerged over the next 200 years, the Ger Hasidim are now the most numerous.

Rabbi Simha Alter escaped the Holocaust in Poland and in 1940 moved to Israel, where he went into business. In 1977 he succeeded his brother as head of the Ger Hasidim. Through the Agudah, he tried on behalf of the Hasidim to make Israel a more overtly religious society.