The Polish Rabbis Who Founded Bnei Brak

The Hasidic Jews who founded Bnei Brak on an empty plot of land near Tel Aviv in 1924 left their middle-class homes and businesses to fulfill their dream of living in the Land of Israel. Meet Rabbi Isaac Gerstenkorn, the city’s first mayor, who describes the struggles with Polish authorities, desert raiders, and the harsh winds which threatened to blow out the Shabbat candles. Learn about the city’s origins as Rabbi Akiva’s home in the Passover Haggadah to becoming a thriving city and center for yeshiva life.

“A settlement for Haredi Jews in Bnei Brak,” 1928. Credit: Central Zionist Archives

Bnei Brak, 1933. Credit: Zoltan Kluger, Israeli Government Press Office

Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook (center) and Rabbi Isaac Gerstenkorn, first mayor of Bnei Brak (right). Credit: Pioneers for Zion – The Establishment of the Bnei Brak by Moshe Nachmani

Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz, the Chazon Ish (right) in Bnei Brak with Rabbi Isaac Gerstenkorn.

Bnei Brak Business Center, 2022. Credit: Yan Nasonov, Wiki Commons.

NOTES:

• The Founding of Bnei Brak on it’s 50th Anniversary from the diaries of Yitzchok Gerstenkorn translated by Miriam Margoshes - Jewish Observer, 1974

• Pioneers of Zion - Establishment of Bnei Brak by Moshe Nachmani

• From the Chason Ish to Rabbi Kook - the Founding of Tel Aviv - Kikar HaShabbat

• Poem written for Bnei Brak founder 90 years ago - JDN News

• Was Bnei Brak Jewish community's founding blessed by a Hassidic Rebbe? - Jerusalem Post

• The Agricultural Settlement On The Sand Dunes Near Tel Aviv

  By Faigie Heiman - Jewish Press

• Bnei Brak land purchased - May 1923 - Doar HaYom

• Bnei Brak at 75: City of Torah and Chassidus

• Feeling of Palestine Jewry: Calm and Confidence in Final Success - JTA, 1932