Widow of the Pnei Menachem of Gur Passes Away at 98

Notice: The Rebbetzin is wearing a wig!!!! Chas Ve'Sholom a wig! OMG!!

The funeral on Yirmiyahu St., in Jerusalem

  Rebbetzin Tziporah Alter, the wife of the Pnei Menachem and mother of Rav Shaul and Rav Daniel Alter Shlita, passed away Sunday at the Maayanei Hayeshua hospital at the age of 98. The Rebbetzin had been weak recently and had suffered a short illness before her passing.

The Levaya will leave from Bnei Brak to Jerusalem’s Sanhedria cemetery, where she will be laid to rest.

Rebbetzin Tziporah Alter was born to Rabbi Avrohom Mordechai Alter, a nephew of the Imrei Emes, a granddaughter of his brother Rabbi Moshe Betzalel HyD, who was a famous member of the Gur dynasty before he perished in the Holocaust.

A great-granddaughter of the Sfas Emes, she married her father’s cousin, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter in 1946. The wedding, immediately after the Holocaust with its tragic consequences for the Gur chasidim, was a very joyous affair.

Rebbetzin Tziporah moved in with her father-in-law and his wife, Rebbetzin Feige Mintche, and took care of her for 18 years, as she almost didn’t leave Jerusalem during this period. The Beis Yisrael, her husband’s brother, was so impressed by her devotion that he promised his brother to see his children growing up as Gedolim.

From 1957, when her husband was appointed the Rosh Yeshiva of Sfas Emes, she was a mother figure for many students from abroad and those who had no home of their own and took care of all their needs, even washing and sewing for them.

She supported her husband throughout his public career and numerous roles and raised her children to be prominent rabbis and teachers.

Her Torah knowledge was legendary. In the book Beis Mikdash Shlishi, the author thanks her for her advice and wisdom regarding the measurements of the Beis Mikdash and the sacrifices. For many years she taught widely and drew crowds of women to her shiurim.

The rebbetzin suffered a lot in her lifetime, losing her son Moshe Betzalel to disease at a young age and her son Yehuda Aryeh Leib, already a prominent Talmid Chacham, in a car accident in 1988.

During the period when the Pnei Menachem was the Gerer Rebbe, she directed the womens institutions and established many more initiatives, including the Gur Women’s organization, the Ezer Yoldot and others.

In 1996, just hours after the Purim tish had concluded, she found the Pnei Menachem lifeless. He was buried next to his father the Imrei Emes and the Rebbetzin continued daily to go the tomb, praying for all of those who were in need.

The rebbetzin is survived by her famous sons Rabbi Yaakov Meir, the Rosh Yeshiva rabbi Shaul, Rabbi Yitzchak David the head of the Gur Kollel in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Daniel the head of the Pnei Menachem yeshiva and her son-in-law Rabbi Avraham Dov Liffel.

May her memory be blessed.