Historic Din Torah Settles Future of Two Esteemed Boro Park Chassidic Courts
On Wednesday evening, three illustrious dayanim placed their signatures upon a document that will alter the course of history between two esteemed kehillos in Boro Park who uphold the legacy of the Admorim of Stuchin.
The psak din, issued by a beis din headed by Rav Shimon Yitzchok Schlesinger, together with Rav Yekusiel Zalman Gross and Rav Chaim Aharon Monderer, resolves the matters that separated the Stuchiner Rebbe, Harav Eliezer Yehoshua Yudkowsky, and Harav Mordechai Moshe Zilber, previously known as “Admor of Toldos Yehuda d’Chasidei Stuchin,” and his kehillah.
The ruling is detailed, concise, and practical. It addresses the names by which each Rebbe and kehillah will be known, how the Stuchiner legacy may be presented on institutions and publications, the printing of seforim—setting out how two communities that share a heritage will go forward side by side.
Those close to both sides have observed that the historic speed with which this ruling was issued is unique. This dispute is now over - and in a manner that gives each kehillah a clear and respected identity.
The din Torah awards the title of “Stuchiner Rebbe” exclusively to Rav Yudkowsky, shlit”a, a grandson of the previous Rebbe, while allowing Rav Zilber, shlit”a, to go by the title “Ropshitz-Stuchiner Rebbe,” a title which has already been adopted.
That calm and mentchlichkeit may not be surprising to those who heard the Stuchiner Rebbe address his chassidim as the din torah approached. A recent profile in a Hebrew-language article by Dovid Damen describes a Shabbos at the Rebbe’s temporary beis medrash in Yerushalayim, where the writer encountered a Rebbe of deep warmth, known to love every Yid.
According to the account, the Rebbe told the packed room that he did not wish to dwell on the outcome of the proceedings. What concerned him was the danger of the process itself, that people might go to a din torah driven by a desire to win or to defeat the other side. The purpose of going before a beis din, he said, is to clarify what the Torah requires, not to cause anyone pain, the Rebbe shared to the small group. The Rebbe wept as he spoke. He urged the chasidim to ask themselves honestly whether they truly wanted only kiddush Sheim Shamayaim.
With the psak din now signed, both kehillos can turn their attention to the future, each with its own clear identity and a shared responsibility to carry forward the Stuchiner legacy with the kavod haTorah and mentchlichkeit it deserves.