Sochatchov (Hasidic dynasty) significant person Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain
History
Leadership in Poland
The founder of the dynasty, Avrohom Bornsztain was a leading posek (Jewish legal authority) in 19th-century Poland. He was a close disciple of Menachem Mendel Morgenstern (a disciple of Simcha Bunim of Peshischa) and married the Kotzker Rebbe's daughter. After the Kotzker Rebbe's death, Bornsztain became a Hasid of his uncle, Yitzchak Meir Alter, the Chidushei HaRim of Ger. Following the latter's death in 1866, he became a hasid of Chanoch Heynekh of Alexander. When the Alexander Rebbe died in 1870, Bornsztain agreed to become a Hasidic rebbe himself. From 1883 until his death he served as Rav and av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) of Sochaczew (Sochatchov), becoming known as the Sochatchover Rebbe. The homilies that he delivered before his Hasidim on Shabbat were collected and printed in the book Ne'ot Deshe. His voluminous responsa on every section of Shulchan Aruch were published posthumously in seven volumes under the title Avnei Nezer ("Stones of the Crown").Leadership in Israel
The fourth Sochatchover Rebbe was Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain (d. 1965), the younger brother of Dovid Bornsztain, who had emigrated to Palestine in 1924 and opened a beis medrash in Jerusalem. After World War II, he accepted the request of the surviving Sochatchover Hasidim to be their leader and established his court in Jerusalem, preferring to remain in that city even during the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when his followers in Tel Aviv urged him to join him there. He led the dynasty until his death in 1965.
The fifth Sochatchover Rebbe was Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain (1934–1969), eldest son of Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain. He was officially known as the Sochatchover-Radomsker Rebbe, since he was the great-grandson of the third Radomsker Rebbe (through his maternal lineage) and was asked by the Radomsker Hasidim who had survived the Holocaust to become their Rebbe as well. While his father was alive, he served as Rav of the Sochatchover shtiebel in Tel Aviv and Rav of the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood. He died in an automobile accident in August 1969 at the age of 34.The sixth Sochatchover Rebbe is Shmuel Bornsztain (b. 1961), eldest son of Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain. He was 8 years old at the time of his father's death, and became Rebbe a few years later. He presently leads the Sochatchover dynasty from Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem, where the Sochatchov yeshiva, Yeshivat Avnei Nezer, is located.Lineage of Sochatchov dynastic leadership
First Sochatchover Rebbe: Avrohom Bornsztain (1838–1910), author of Avnei Nezer. Rebbe from 1870 to 1910.
Second Sochatchover Rebbe: Shmuel Bornsztain (1856–1926), son of Avrohom Bornsztain, author of Shem Mishmuel. Rebbe from 1910 to 1926.
Third Sochatchover Rebbe: Dovid Bornsztain (1876–1942), son of Shmuel Bornsztain. Rebbe from 1926 to 1942.
Fourth Sochatchover Rebbe: Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain (d. 1965), son of Shmuel Bornsztain. Rebbe from the mid-1940s to 1965.
Fifth Sochatchover Rebbe: Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain (1934–1969), son of Chanoch Henoch Bornsztain. Rebbe from 1965–1969.
Sixth Sochatchover Rebbe: Shmuel Bornsztain (b. 1961), son of Menachem Shlomo Bornsztain. Rebbe since the 1970s.