Shraga Feivish Hager

Grand Rabbi Shraga Feivish Hager (January 18, 1958 – June 29, 2024), also known as the Kosover Rebbe, was the rebbe of the Kosov Hasidic dynasty, a dayan ("rabbinic judge"), and noted orator. He was known as a creative and insightful thinker, whose original teachings were nevertheless rooted in Hasidic mystical tradition. He was also a powerful prayer-leader and attracted a large following among younger Hasidim.

Hager dancing in 2012

Personal life

Hager was born on January 10, 1958. He was an alumnus of the Chachmei Lublin, Ponevezh, and Lakewood yeshivos. After getting married, he lived in Bnei Brak on the same block as Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky. He spent time in Shikun Viznitz for the tish and prayers of Vizhnitz Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Yoshua Hager. When he later moved to the States, where he resided in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York, he was part of Tartokov Kollel and Beis Din. He spent time at the Bais Horaah of the Debrecen Rav, Rabbi Moshe Stern. He considered himself a Talmud mivhak of Rabbi Fishel Hershkowitz, who was in Williamsburg.

The Funeral

In January 2023, several orthodox Jewish news outlets reported that Hager was ill and requested prayers for his recovery. He died on June 29, 2024.

Thousands attended his funeral procession on the streets of Borough Park, Brooklyn and on the streets of Monsey, NY towards the cemetery. He was buried next to his father and right next to the Rimnitzer Rebbe in the Vishnitz Cemetery. The funeral was historic in many ways, but most notably by the overwhelming wails and moaning of those assembled.

Family

Hager was the successor and eldest son of Holocaust survivor Rabbi Avrohom Yehoshua Heshel Hager, Kosover-Zalishchiker Rebbe of Borough Park (died 1999), who was the son of Rabbi Shraga Feivish Hager (1870–1937), Zalishchiker Rebbe and son of Rabbi Boruch Hager (1845–1892) of Vizhnitz. The Zalishchiker Rebbe was a son-in-law of Rabbi Moshe Hager (1860–1925), Kosover Rebbe and author of Leket Oni.

Hager was married to Sara Rachel, daughter of Rabbi Chaim Wosner, Rav of Zichron Meir in Bnei Brak (son of Rabbi Shmuel Wosner, prominent posek).

Rabbi Hager's younger brother was crowned as Zalishchiker Rebbe. The brothers jointly republished the Leket Oni in 1996.

Rabbinical career

Hager was the dayan of the Vizhnitz community in Borough Park as well as posek for Chesed shel Emes.

Hager was well known for his role regarding contemporary Halacha and was not afraid to be actively involved on taboo issues among Haredim, and more specifically, on controversies where the old traditional Jewish lifestyle clashes with the modern world. He was humbly behind getting the consensus of the religious community to not ban computers and internet altogether, but to encourage strong filters.

The Perfect Fusion

Religious Jewish communities are fragmented that are deep rooted into different schools of thought and traditions. It is very hard for people to go from one sect to another or appreciate rabbis from different sects. Rabbi Hager is the perfect anomaly, where he found himself as a part of all of them. Being a Hager meant that he had a strong Hasidic background from the Vishnitz and the Reshin Dynasties. His mother was a Sander, which meant he was a grandchild from an adopted son of the Sandza Rav. So although Sandz and Rishon were not compatible Chasidic streams, he is a mixture of both. In the rabbinic world there are those who teach halacha and those who teach Hasidic teachings. Being himself a Hager and married to a Wozner made him again have a fusion of both worlds. Therefore, he ended up being both a dayan and a rebbe. In many more topics and traditions that people find get boxed in to their side, he managed to have everyone feel that he is one of them.

Humility

It is customary during prayer service for the one leading the prayer to wait for the rabbi, but he did not allow it in his shul. If the one leading the prayer started to wait, he would motion for him to move on. Even during the Amidah. He made a point of being extremely accessible. People would stalk him on the street, knock on the doors of his home, and call him on the phone from early in the morning to late at night. No matter the hour, he would never turn anyone away. In 2021, after being a dayan and rebbe for decades, a formal schedule for meeting and talking with people was established. He still spoke with more people during informal times than formal. Most of the weekday prayers he would do in local synagogues. He started getting so many requests to be people's sandak and to help bar mitzvah boys put on their first tefillin, that he ended up being invited to his own shul almost every day. At the beginning of his Torah lessons, he would pull out a cell phone and dial in to the phone hotline to record it. There is typical rabbinical garb that he never cared to wear. Some he gave into over time, others he did not. Regardless, he is rarely seen wearing something fresh and new.

The Tish

Rabbi Hager's "tish" is less conventional than most since it started in a very grass-roots way. From the Friday night after the shivah for his father, a small group of individuals walked into his home uninvited during his family Shabbos meals turning it into a tish. They were literally begging him to be their spiritual Rebbe (Rabbi). His father, the Kosov Rebbe, was a quiet and humble person who had converted his dining room into a small Shabbos minyan, or "Shtiebel", simply as a Memorial to the town Kosov that was wiped out during the Holocaust. After he passed away and his son started running the minyan, many started to join the Rebbe and pray there. After many weeks and months of turning his home dining room into a racket, the Rebbe agreed to conduct some sort of a tish at the shtiebel but he started his meal at home and only finished the meal at the shtiebel. On very rare occasions, he would start the tish from the beginning. The traditional role of the "gabbai" was never hired or appointed by the Rebbe. It was simply a volunteer from the crowd.

Years later, Rabbi Hager held a series of rabbinical teachings on the deeper, mystical meaning of fish. Towards the end of his Shabbos meal, he started eating fish heads, which meant he ended up eating fish twice - once at home and then again in public. He has a certain intensity when nibbling the fish heads that seemingly changes the very atmosphere in the room.

RASHB"I

Rabbi Hager at a Lag Bomer celebration on 55th Street in 2023.

He is very into the teaching of Kabbalstic literature, the Zohar and Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. It usually took a lot of convincing and haggling to get him to do a ceremony, but celebrating Rabbi Shimon on Lag Bomer didn't need a lot of convincing. The rebbe celebrates with maximum intensity and dances around the fire with his hands up high for a very long time. He also spends a lot of time at the tomb of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai when visiting Israel. It is customary for Chasidic rabbis to take all the prayer notes (kvitel) that were given to them and place them at the grave of the previous rabbi. Rabbi Hager placed all of the notes given to him at the tomb of Reb Shimon bar Yochai. Sometimes, if he couldn't make the trip himself, he would send the whole packet with someone else who was traveling to Israel. 

During the pandemic

Pandemic Prayer Note For Burial of Tzadik

During the pandemic, the Rebbe called for an atzeres tefillah at the beginning of March on Tanis Ester. He collaborated extensively with the leadership of Chesed Shel Emes, who had prior experience dealing with the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 1980s. The Rebbe organized a socially distant backyard minyan, where many residents of his block participated by staying on their porches or in their backyards.

A note was included in the burial of the esteemed Tzadik, Rabbi Yosef Leifer, the Verdaner Rebbe of Flatbush, Brooklyn, who passed away on the 6th day of Nisan. The Rebbe was one of the few signatories on this note, which contained a heartfelt plea to the heavens for the pandemic to end. This practice, rooted in tradition, has been utilized by great Tzadikim during past pandemics, reflecting a profound spiritual response in times of crisis.

As Passover approached, he provided virtual phone lessons on the Korban Pesach in the Beis Hamikdash. During Passover, he recorded a robocall with Assemblymember Simcha Eichenstein, urging people to stay home.

The Rebbe also called on men to suspend their daily mikvah ritual. When some individuals contacted him, insisting they could find private places to continue their practice, the Rebbe stood firm. One person insisted, saying, "I have never skipped a daily mikvah since my bar mitzvah." The Rebbe responded, "God doesn't work for the Guinness World Record."

Published works

• Shabbos Malka Kadisha, a 2 volume set in Hebrew on the topic of the jewish sabbath.
• Avdah D'Malka - Teffilah, a 2 volume set in hebrew on the topic of prayer.
• Mayana D'Malka, a book in Hebrew on the basics of Chasidic teachings composed of his lessons on this topic. In other words, Chasidic teachings for beginners. Unlike the other books, this was published by the Chasidim without formally naming him as the author.

In addition to those hard-cover books, his lectures are published weekly in stencils and booklets by Mechon Sufu Beriru. A vast library of audio files are available in Yiddish on various phone hotlines. Some of his weekly teachings were done in English, as well.

Shtiebels Around The World

• Borough Park, Brooklyn: There is the current shul that is under construction, next to the temporary building where Rabbi Hager currently leads. The old shtiebel of his father currently referred to as Zalishchik, where the minyan is led by his younger brother, Rabbi Chaim Hager.
• Williamsburg, Brooklyn: The shtiebel is currently in the Klausenburg cheder and is led by the Rebbe's son, Rabbi Moshe Hager, son-in-law of the Galanta Rebbe.
• Lakewood, New Jersey: The shtiebel is located in a basement and is led by the Rebbe's son, Rabbi Burach Hager. They recently bought a property to build a more permanent Bais Hamedresh.
• Jerusalem: The shtiebel is led by the Rebbe's son, Rabbi Mendel David Hager, son-in-law of Seret Viznitz Rebbe.

Kosov Rebbe, Rabbi Shraga Feivish Hager, visiting the 200 year old Kosov shul with his followers in Safed, Israel in 2003.

• Safed: There is a historic shul in the old city of Tzfat that was founded by Kosov in 1847. After WWII, it became more of a local neighborhood shul. Rabbi Hager feels a special connection to the shul and regularly sends financial support for its upkeep. In 2003, the then relatively new Kosov Rebbe visited the shul with an entourage of his followers.

External links

• Kosover Rebbe: Do Not Go To Palm Readers, or Fortunetellers (Yeshiva World News)
• 9th Grade of Wiznitz school of Williamsburg in the study of the Kosover Rebbe
• Rebbe Meir Baal Hanes Kollel Kosov
• Sefer Leket Oni (Google Books)