For the next nine years, Belz was effectively without an active rebbe, as Yissachor Dov, then called the "Yanuka" (Child) by his followers, was educated by a small circle of trusted advisors.

Every decision regarding the young boy was brought before Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak Neiman, Rav of the Belzer community in Montreal and a relative of Yissachar Dov on his mother's side.

[1] Yissachar Dov celebrated his bar mitzvah on 25 January 1961 (8 Shevat 5721) in the Tel Aviv beit medrash of Rebbe Aharon, where he sat by himself at the dais, greeting a few hundred guests.

At the age of 15, he moved to an apartment which a group of Belzer Hasidim rented for him near the yeshiva, and began inviting other students to join him for Shabbat meals at which he delivered words of Torah and Hasidut.

[6] On 21 May 2013, their eldest son, Sholom Rokeach, married Hanna Batya Penet, in a ceremony at the Belz Great Synagogue that was attended by tens of thousands of guests and well-wishers.

Although some managed to immigrate to the United States and Israel, the post-war years saw the court of Belz's membership undergo a radical change, consisting largely of former members of other communities, or Haredim who had previously not belonged officially to any Hasidic group.

He also encourages his Hasidim to develop their talents within the community, finding jobs for musicians, writers, managers, etc., within the hundreds of institutions and organizations that the Hasidut has established.

The money pressures mounted and when he went to gather water for making Pesach Matzos in 1990, the Rebbe was so distraught he threw his Shtreimel on the ground.

The early years following his appointment as Rebbe saw him carefully forging alliances with other Hasidic courts (such as Ger and Vizhnitz), as well as the Misnagdic communities, particularly Degel HaTorah.

He quickly became known as a political moderate and pragmatist, eventually even breaking what had earlier been something of a taboo: accepting funding and subsidies from the Israeli government.

One group, the Edah HaChareidis, a coalition of several movements known for its strictness and traditionalism even among Haredim, took particular offense at the "renegades'" disregard of what had earlier been a largely unchallenged status quo.

Early in the year, Rabbi Yitzchok Yaakov Weiss, the head of the Edah HaChareidis, issued a decree forbidding followers from sending their children to schools funded by State money.

In response, the Belzer Rebbe decided to cut his community off from the Edah HaChareidis, and to establish his own system of religious services, including kashrut certification.

The conflict in Israel, initially confined to insulting posters, gradually escalated to a series of particularly offensive pranks, and, ultimately, to physically violent clashes between followers.

... From this tiny center of the soul that has not been tainted by evil, the transgressor derives the strength to do teshuvah (repentance), make amends for all his failings, and soar to the loftiest spiritual heights.