[1] Before the First World War, Rabbi Yosef Leifer traveled to America to raise money to marry off his orphaned nieces.
[2][3] Avraham Abba received rabbinic ordination there at the age of 17, being fluent in the Shulchan Aruch and knowing the entire Shas by heart.
Leifer did not shave his beard,[2] and he once went outside to accompany a visitor home without remembering to put on his coat, on which the yellow badge was sewn.
Though most of the captured Jews spoke bleakly about their fate, Leifer displayed strong emunah (faith in God) and immersed himself in heartfelt prayer.
[3] He chose this city based on a dream which he had, in which a man who identified himself as Hasdai ibn Shaprut (the foreign minister of the caliph of Córdoba some 1000 years earlier) appeared to him and asked him to establish his court in Ashdod, promising him success.
[2] In Ashdod the Rebbe established Torah schools for children, bringing in teachers from other cities, and began monthly shiurim (classes) for adults.
During the last 20 years of his life, he brought thousands of Jews back to full Torah observance and drew countless families closer to the Hasidut.
[3] The Rebbe became known throughout Israel for his great yiras Shamayim (fear of Heaven) and ahavas Yisrael (love for fellow Jews).
His son, Rabbi Mordechai Yissachar Ber, testified that his father detached himself from worldly pleasures and did everything for the sake of fulfilling the mitzvos of the Torah.