Avraham Sternhartz
Avraham Sternhartz (1862-1955) was a rabbi in Ukraine and an influential figure in the chain of transmission of Breslover...
Avraham Sternhartz
(1862-1955) Avraham Sternhartz was a rabbi in Ukraine and an influential figure in the chain of transmission of Breslover teachings from the early generations of the movement to the latter ones.
On his father's side, he was the great-grandson of Reb Nathan of Breslov, the closest disciple of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, who promulgated the movement after Nachman's death. On his mother's side, he was the grandson of Rabbi Nachman Goldstein, known as the Tcheriner Rav, who was one of Reb Noson's leading disciples. Because of these family relationships, Sternhartz was privy to all the traditions and stories about Reb Noson. These formed the basis for his definitive biography of Reb Noson, entitled Tovot Zichronot.
Sternhartz was orphaned of his parents as a young boy and was raised by his grandfather. Like the Tcheriner Rav, Sternhartz was a child prodigy who applied himself to his Torah studies with great diligence. After morning prayers, for example, he would seclude himself in the attic to study Rebbe Nachman's magnum opus, Likutey Moharan, and not come downstairs until he had memorized that day's lesson. Later in life, people would say that his every action was based on some statement in Rebbe Nachman's teachings.
He completed the entire Talmud at the age of 16. After his marriage, he began working as a scribe in the town of Tcherin, Ukraine. At the age of 19 he was appointed rabbi of Kremenchug in eastern Ukraine. At the age of 22 he was named prayer leader for the annual Rosh Hashana kibbutz (prayer gathering) in Uman, an honor accorded to scholars of great piety.
Sternhartz emigrated to Israel in 1936 and was recognized as the Breslover elder of his generation. He settled in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem, and established a Rosh Hashana kibbutz in northern Israel at the burial site of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai in 1940. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Sternhartz and many other Breslover Chasidim were evicted from the Old City by the invading Jordanian army, and were resettled in the neighborhood of Katamon.
Until his death at the age of 93, he continued to teach and inspire his students, who included many of the major Breslover leaders of the coming decades. These leaders included: Moshe Burstein, Nachman Burstein, Michel Dorfman (who married Sternhartz's granddaughter), Shmuel Horowitz, Gedaliah Aharon Kenig, Tzvi Aryeh Lippel, Tzvi Aryeh Rosenfeld, Shmuel Shapira, and Yaakov Meir Shechter.
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