Yaakov Aryeh Alter

Yaakov Aryeh Alter was born on 29 Iyar 5699 in Lodz, Poland, in 1939, to Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, also known as the Lev Simcha, who later became the sixth Gerrer Rebbe, and Yuta Henya, daughter of Rabbi Nehemiah Alter, his grandfather's brother. In 1940, he immigrated with his father and grandfather (Rebbe Avraham Mordechai Alter) to Eretz Israel. He studied in the Talmud Torah Etz Chaim. For many years, he studied Torah at a synagogue known as Rashi Shtiebel in Bnei Brak. His full proficiency of all volumes of Sefer Mishnah Berura is well-known, and he describes himself as a student of the Chafetz Chaim, even though he never met him. He married Shoshana, daughter of Rabbi Menachem Mendel Weitz, one of the heads of Yeshivat Chiddushei HaRim.

Rebbi Alter is one of the wealthiest people in the ultra-Orthodox sector and in Israel in general, and is ranked third on the list of the richest rabbis in Israel, with a net worth of approximately NIS 350 million to NIS 500 million (between approximately $95 million and $135 million) due to real estate investments his father made in north Tel Aviv, Arsuf and Jerusalem before Israel’s establishment.[1] Despite his wealth, he lived in an apartment in an ordinary residential building in the Chazon Ish neighborhood in Bnei Brak until 2011 when he moved to Jerusalem.

He and his wife have five sons and four daughters.[2]

• Rabi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, 7th Gerrer Rebbe. Geni.com.