Aharon Roth

After his death, the sect split into two groups. One, who adopted the name Shomrei Emunim, followed his son, Rabbi Avrohom Chayim (1924 - 2012), the other followed his son-in-law and became known as Toldot Aharon (Generations of Aharon) of which the Toldot Avrohom Yitzchok later split off.

Training under Cwi Elimelech Szapiro is recorded. Meir Brandsdorfer, Avrohom Yitzchok Kohn and Avraham Ḥayim Roth are recorded as having studied under Aharon Roth. The recorded working language is Yiddish and Hebrew. Places of work recorded in the authority are Satu Mare, Berehove and Jerusalem.

• Name — Aharon Roth • Native Name — אהרן ראטה • Born — 1894 • Birthplace — Ungvár, Austria-Hungary • Died — 1947 • Place of death — Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine

Roth was born in Ungvár, Hungary, today Uzhhorod in Ukraine, an outsider to the Hasidic world. He was unusually pious and ascetic from an early age. Until the age of 20, he studied Talmud in Vác under Yeshayahu Silberstein, a Hungarian scholar, and then with Hasidic rabbis from Galicia, who had fled to Hungary during World War I, including Yissachar Dov Rokeach of Belz and Tzvi Elimelech Spira of Błażowa. He also spent a period of time in the courtyard of Israel Hager of Viznitz, author of Ahavas Yisrael. Leading to a very strong relationship between the two families until today. On the latter's instruction, Roth establish a hasidic community in Satu Mare, where he settled in 1920, a few years after his marriage. In 1925 he went to Jerusalem, where he also gained supporters, and returned to Satu Mare four years later. In 1936 he went to Berehovo (Beregszász) in Czechoslovakia, after the conflict between him and the followers of Satmar's Hasidic rabbi Joel Teitelbaum had escalated to open physical violence. In 1939 Roth settled in Jerusalem, where he again attracted devoted followers. The synagogue he established in the Mea Shearim quarter became known for the ecstatic mood of those who pray there. After his death in 1947, he was succeeded by his son Abraham Chaim Roth, the rebbe of the Shomer Emunim, and his son-in-law Abraham Isaac Kohn, who became the rebbe of the Toldot Aharon group.

In Roth’s book Taharas HaKodesh, published in 1930, he predicted a big catastrophe happening in the near future due to immodest dress and not protecting the covenant. In this context he cited the Zohar (Noach 66b) which states that when Jews observe the Holy Covenant (Bris Kodesh) properly no other people can have any power over them. Roth criticized the struggles and scandals within many of the Hasidic dynasties, accusing them of not following the early tsadikim's emphasis on simple prayer and piety. Rejecting all compromise with modern views and ways of life, he called for repentance, demanded complete adherence to simple faith and ecstatic mode of praying, and expected his Hasidim to support themselves by their own labor. He defined the group as a holy fraternity and gave guidelines for distinctive behavior, dress, and hairstyle, particularly deploring the decline of modesty. He regarded the Holocaust as a punishment for abandoning simple faith and ancient traditions, and constantly called for repentance.