Machnovka (various spellings) is a Hasidic

dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

Chernobyl Chernobyl ( , ; russian: Чернобыль, ) or Chornobyl ( uk, Чорнобиль, ) is a partially abandoned city in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, situated in the Vyshhorod Raion of northern Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine. Chernobyl is about no ...

dynastic group of families. It takes its name from the village Makhnivke in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, where its founder lived. Machnovka is an extant Hasidic group which survived

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...

. Its Hasidic court is now located in Bnei Brak,

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. Machnovka is also a sub-dynasty of Skver. It is a living legacy of the unique culture of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

and

Ukrainian Jews The history of the Jews in Ukraine dates back over a thousand years; Jewish communities have existed in the territory of Ukraine from the time of the Kievan Rus' (late 9th to mid-13th century). Some of the most important Jewish religious and ...

and their Hasidic dynasties.

Lineage

The founder the Chernobyl dynasty was

Rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...

Menachem Nachum Twersky Menachem Nochum Twersky of Chernobyl (born 1730, , Volhynia - died 1787, Chernobyl, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) was a Ukrainian rabbi, and the founder of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty. He was a disciple of the Baal Shem Tov and the Maggid o ...

of Chernobyl, a disciple of Rabbi Yisroel ben Eliezer, the Baal Shem Tov, who established the Hasidic movement *Grand Rabbi Menachem Nochum Twersky of Chernobyl - author of ''Meor Einayim'', disciple of the Baal Shem Tov **Grand Rabbi

Mordechai Twersky Mordechai Twersky (1770–1837), known as the ''Maggid'' of Chernobyl, was a Ukrainian rabbi. He was the son of Rabbi Menachem Nachum Twersky of Chornobyl and the second rebbe of the Chernobyl Hasidic dynasty. (The family surname originally come ...

the "''Maggid'' of Chernobyl", son of the ''Meor Einayim'' – had eight sons who each became a

rebbe A Rebbe ( yi, רבי, translit=rebe) or Admor ( he, אדמו״ר) is the spiritual leader in the Hasidic movement, and the personalities of its dynasties.Heilman, Samuel"The Rebbe and the Resurgence of Orthodox Judaism."''Religion and Spiritua ...

and started his own dynasty. ***Grand Rabbi Yitschok Twersky of Skver, son of the Maggid of Chernobyl ****Grand Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel Twersky (1826-1886) of Skver, son of Rabbi Yitschok *****Grand Rabbi Yoseph Meir Twersky (1860- 29 Av 1917) of Machnovka, son of Rabbi Abraham Yehoshua Heshel of Skver ******Grand Rabbi Menachem Nochum Twersky (1880-1945) of Skver-Machnovka, son-in-law of Rabbi Yoseph Meir of Machnovka ******Grand Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel Twersky (24 Adar 1895 - 10

Tishrei Tishrei () or Tishri (; he, ''tīšrē'' or ''tīšrī''; from Akkadian ''tašrītu'' "beginning", from ''šurrû'' "to begin") is the first month of the civil year (which starts on 1 Tishrei) and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year ...

1987) of Machnovka-Bnei Brak, son of Rabbi Yoseph Meir of Machnovka ********Grand Rabbi

Yehoshua Rokeach Rabbi Yehoshua Rokeach (1825 – February 3, 1894), known as the ''Mitteler Ruv'', was the second Rebbe of the Belz Hasidic dynasty. He combined Torah scholarship with practical common sense to guide thousands of Hasidim and to fight the Haskal ...

(born 1949), current Machnovka-Rebbe of Bnei Brak, great-nephew of Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel of Machnovka Rabbi Avrohom Yehoshua Heshel served as Machnifker Rebbe for 70 years, from 1917 to 1987. For many years in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

he defied the communist authorities by spreading the teachings of

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

and

Hasidism Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Judaism, Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

he was invited by the Soviet authorities to serve as Chief Rabbi of the Soviet Union. His refusal to accept this position led to him being banished to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

. In 1965 he received permission to leave the Soviet Union and he emigrated to Bnei Brak, Israel.''Hamodia'' (English edition), issue 447, p. C6

Bibliography

* Rabinowicz, Tzvi M. (ed.). ''The Encyclopedia of Hasidism''. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson Inc., 1996. * ''Grand Rabbis of Chernobyl'' (in Hebrew and English; Hebrew title: Admorei Malchus Beis Chernobyl), Flushing and Lakewood, New York: Genealogy Research Center of the Twersky Chernobyl Dynasty and the Makarov-Chernobyl Foundation, 2003. * Rosenstein, Neil. ''The Unbroken Chain: Biographical Sketches and Genealogy of Illustrious Jewish Families from the 15th-20th Century'', rev. ed. (2 vols.). New York, NY: CIS Publishers, 1990.

References

{{OrthodoxJudaism Chernobyl (Hasidic dynasty) Hasidic dynasties Hasidic Judaism in Israel Jewish Galician (Eastern Europe) history

Lineage

Bibliography

See also

References