Avraham Moshe Bonhart


Rabbi Avraham Moshe Bonhart of Peshischa was the Second Grand Rabbi of Peshischa, succeeding his father Simcha Bunim of Peshischa. After his father's death in 1827, he led the divided Peshischa community for a year, until his death in 1828.

Biography

Probably born in Przysucha around 1800, in his early years he studied under his father, later marring Braindel the maternal granddaughter of Yaakov Yitzchak Rabinowicz. Nearing the end of his father's life, his father would often praise Rabbi Avraham Moshe stating that "his soul originated in a supreme place". Although Avraham Moshe had a complicated and tenuous relationship with his father, going as far as to not attend his fathers funeral. Nevertheless after his fathers death, the less radical of his father's pupils such as Rabbi Israel Yitzhak Kalish, supported the succession of Avraham Moshe, while the more radical of his fathers followers supported Menachem Mendel of Kotzk. At first, Avraham Moshe refused the position to avoid a schism in the community, but after much pressure from his father's followers he agreed. Ultimately after Rabbi Avraham Moshe's short year as the Peshischa Rebbe, the leadership fell into the hands of Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, after his death in 1859, Peshischa ceased to exist as a separate movement, yet it's ideals still exist as the foundation for a large percentage of modern Hasidic groups. Avraham Moshe had three children; Soroh Hodel, an unknown daughter who married Gershon Feigenbaum, and Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Mordechai Bonhart.