Shtefanesht (Hasidic dynasty)

The Shtefaneshter Rebbes therefore engaged their flock by generously dispensing blessings and openly displaying their powers as baalei mofsim (miracle-workers).

[8] The Rebbe built a palatial house with a large garden in Ștefănești and conducted himself like a king, including the riding of horses.

[10] At his brit milah, his grandfather, the Ruzhiner Rebbe, gave him the second name Mattisyohu after Mattathias Maccabee the High Priest.

[1] The Rebbe also looked after the welfare of many devout Hasidim who cut themselves off from the outside world in order to pursue their Divine service.

[1] As he was never blessed with offspring, he had invited his sister's son, Rabbi Menachem Nochum of Itskani, to Ștefănești in order to succeed him.

[1] In 1968 Dr. Joseph Brayer, former av beis din (head of the rabbinical court) of Shtefanesht and as of 2006 rabbi in the Tiferet Avraham Matitiahu Synagogue in The Bronx, New York, initiated a plan to reinter the Rebbe's remains in Israel.

[1] The body was exhumed under the direction of Dr. Moses Rosen, Chief Rabbi of Romania,[1] and reinterred in the Ruzhin plot in the Nahalat Yitzhak Cemetery in Giv'atayim, Israel.

[16] This new gravesite also became a shrine for people in need of blessings and salvation, with thousands of visitors each year on the Rebbe's yahrtzeit.

The curriculum included both Talmudic studies and state gymnasium learning; students were tested on the latter twice yearly by the government boards of Botoșani and Iași.

[1][19] In 1993 the Torah Emes Institute was founded in Bnei Brak by Rabbi Avraham Yaakov Solomon to preserve the legacy of the Shtefanesht dynasty.