Israel Friedman of Ruzhyn - Activities in Israel

Activities in Israel

The Apter Rav named the Ruzhiner Rebbe as president of Kollel Volhynia, with responsibility for raising and distributing the money to support the Hasidic community in the Land of Israel. The Rebbe encouraged Hasidim to emigrate and provided for their support through the kollel. Although he wished to make aliyah himself, he said that he could not leave his Hasidim.

In 1843 Rabbi Nissan Beck, a Ruzhiner Hasid, traveled from Jerusalem to Sadigura to visit the Rebbe. He informed him that Tsar Nicholas I intended to buy a plot of land next to the Western Wall with the intention of building a church and monastery there. The Rebbe gave Beck the task of thwarting the Tsar's attempt. Beck managed to buy the land from its Arab owners for an exorbitant sum, mere days before the Tsar ordered the Russian consul in Jerusalem to make the purchase for him. The Tsar was forced to buy a different plot of land for a church, which is known today as the Russian Compound. The Rebbe's son, Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Friedman of Sadigura, completed the task of raising funds and inaugurated the building in the summer of 1872. The synagogue was named Tiferet Yisroel after the Ruzhiner Rebbe; it was also known as the Nissan Beck Synagogue after its architect and builder.

The Rebbe died at the age of 54 on 9 October 1850 (3 Cheshvan 5610), probably due to heart failure, and was buried in Sadigura. On his deathbed he testified to his disciple, Rabbi Shneur Zalman of Fastan: "The holy master, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi, Rabbeinu Hakadosh, testified about himself that he did not take pleasure from this world, even as much as a small finger. I bear self-witness, Heaven and Earth, that I did not take enjoyment from this world even as much as a slender thread. As for my behaving with overt leadership and pomp, this was all done to honor the Holy One, Blessed is He".

His gravesite, which eventually became the burial place of two of his sons, Avraham Yaakov of Sadigura and Dov Ber of Leova, as well as other family members, became a shrine for Ruzhiner Hasidim. His gravestone was destroyed during World War I and afterwards replaced by a large white concrete slab.