Yaakov Aryeh Alter is the eighth, and current, Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he has held since 1996. He lives in Israel, and has followers there and in the United States, Europe, and Canada. He is a member of the Presidium of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudath Israel.
Alter as Sandek at a bris milah
Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism, is a religious movement within Judaism that arose as a spiritual revival movement in Poland and contemporary Western Ukraine, during the 18th century, and spread rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those affiliated with the movement, known as hassidim, reside in Israel and in the United States.
A tish of the Boyan Hasidic dynasty in Jerusalem, holiday of Sukkot, 2009
Rebuilt synagogue of the Baal Shem Tov.
Rebbe Yisroel Hopsztajn, a great promulgator of Hasidism in Poland, blessing acolytes c. 1800. Hasidism gave the elite Tzadik a social mystical role.
The Kaliver Rebbe, Holocaust survivor, inspiring his court on the festival of Sukkot