Yaakov Aryeh Alter

Yaakov Aryeh Alter, (Polish: Jakub Arie Alter, Hebrew יעקב אריה אלתר‎, born 1939), is the eighth and current Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he has held since 1996. He lives in Israel and has followers in the United States, Europe and Canada. The Gerrer Rebbe is internationally known for his menschlichkeit.

Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh's father was Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, also known as the Lev Simcha, the sixth Gerrer Rebbe. When Rabbi Simcha Bunim died in 1992, he was succeeded by his half-brother, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter. Upon the latter's unexpected death in 1996, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter was chosen as the next Rebbe of Ger.

He has introduced significant innovations in the curriculum of the educational institutions operated by the Gerrer Hasidim in Israel and abroad — primarily broader knowledge of the expanse of the Talmud, while abolishing the learning of Iyun (learning a smaller portion of the Talmud in-depth).

He and his wife have five sons and four daughters.

1. Yitzchak Meir Alter (1799–1866)
2. Chanokh Heynekh HaKohen Levin (1798–1870)
3. Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847–1905)
4. Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866–1948)
5. Yisrael Alter (1895–1977)
6. Simcha Bunim Alter (1898–1992)
7. Pinchas Menachem Alter (1926–1996)
8. Yaakov Aryeh Alter (b. 1939)