BDE, Sadigura Rebbe Passes Away

Rabbi Avrohom Ya'akov Friedman, the Sadigura Rebbe, passed away, Tuesday morning, at the age of 84. The rabbi was taken by Natan emergency services to Ma'ayanei Hayeshua' Hospital in Bnei Brak after he lost consciousness.

He had been suffering from pneumonia for several days and his condition deteriorated Tuesday morning.

The rabbi's funeral is scheduled to leave the Sadigura Beit Midrash on Gutmacher Street in Bnei Brak at 1:30 p.m.

The Rebbe is survived by his only son, Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Moshe Friedman, Av Beit Din of the Sadigura dynasty in London, as well as his sons-in-law Rabbi Pinchas Shapira of Tel Aviv and Rabbi Shmuel Zaanvil Scharf of the United States.

The Rebbe was born in Vienna, Austria, to the Admor of Sadigura, Rebbe Mordechai Shalom Yosef Friedman ztz"l, and Mrs. Mira Reisel Freidman ztz"l.

The family moved to Pshemishel, Poland, in 1934. Shortly before the Holocaust, the family made aliyah to the Land of Israel, but after the Holocaust they moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

The Rebbe later returned to Israel and established the Ruzhin Yeshiva at Ezra street in Bnei Brak. Sadigura is one of the branches of the influential Ruzhiner dynasty.

He married the late Rabbanit Tziporah, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Aryeh Friedman ztz"l. She passed away in 2006.

After his father passed away in 1979, he succeeded him, and in 1989 was chosen as a member of the presidium of Agudat Yisrael's Torah Sages Council.

The Rebbe was a proponent of the Jewish communities in Gush Katif and vehemently opposed ceding parts of the Land of Israel to the Arabs. He was considered the most nationalist member of the Agudat Yisrael presidium.