Chortkov (Hasidic dynasty)

Chortkov (also Chortkov, Tshortkov, Czortkow) is a Hasidic dynasty that originated in Chortkiv (Polish: Czortków), present-day Ukraine. The town was part of the Tarnopol Voivodeship of the Second Polish Republic until September 1939. The town itself was founded in 1522 by Polish King Sigismund I the Old. The dynasty had a large following before the Second World War, but most of its adherents were murdered in the Holocaust.

Chortkov is one of the branches of the Ruzhiner dynasty, together with the Bohush, Boyan, Husiatyn, Sadigura, Kapishnitz, Vasloi, and Shtefanesht dynasties.

Chortkov dynasty history

Duvid Moshe Friedman

The palatial home of the Rebbe in Chortkov

The first Rebbe of Chortkov was Rabbi Duvid Moshe Friedman (1828–1903), son of Rabbi Yisroel Friedman of Ruzhyn. He was born in 1828 on the festival of Shavuos. His first wife was the daughter of Rabbi Aaron Twerski of Chernobyl. In 1865, 14 years after his father's death, he settled in Chortkov forming his own community there. Rabbi David Moshe completely divorced himself from carnal desires and was constant in his devotion to God. His followers were one of the largest Hasidic groups in Galicia, numbering in the thousands. He died on Hoshana Rabbah, 1903, and was succeeded by his second son, Yisroel, his first son having predeceased him. His teachings have been published in Divrei Dovid, Beis Yisroel and Knesset Yisroel.

Yisroel Friedman

Rabbi Dovid Moshe's son was Rabbi Yisroel Friedman, who died in 1934. After Yisroel, his sons, Rabbi Nochum Mordechai Friedman and Rabbi Dov Ber Friedman, served as Rebbes. Dov Ber died in 1936. Rabbi Nochum fled to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1939 and died in Jerusalem in 1946. His son Rabbi Shlomo Friedman led the Chortkover Hasidim until his death in Tel Aviv in 1959.

Later history

Among the leaders of the Chortkover Hasidim are Rabbi Yisroel Friedman of Manchester, England, and Rabbi Dov Ber Friedman of Antwerp, Belgium. Both are grandsons of the Dov Ber who do not use the title of Chortkover Rebbe. In addition to the Chortkover communities in Manchester and Antwerp, there is also one in Jerusalem, and one in Safed (Tzefas).^[1]