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Pinchas Menachem Alter, (9 June 1926 – 7 March 1996), also known as the Pnei Menachem after the works he authored, was the sixth Rebbe of the Hasidic dynasty of Ger, a position he held from 1992 until his death in 1996.

Early yearsEdit

Pinchas Menachem was born in Falenits, near Warsaw, Poland. He was the only offspring of the second marriage of his father, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, the third Rebbe of Ger, to Feyge Mintshe Biderman. Pinchas Menachem had four half-brothers and two half-sisters from his father's first marriage — including the fourth Rebbe of Ger, Rabbi Yisrael Alter, and Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, the fifth Rebbe of Ger.

Pinchas Menachem's bar mitzva took place near Ludmir (now Ukraine) not long before the outbreak of World War II in 1939. After the war, he married his cousin, Tzipora Alter. In the 1950s, he was appointed rosh yeshiva of Sfas Emes, the flagship yeshiva of Ger in Jerusalem, Israel.

Succession as rebbeEdit

Rabbi Pinchas Menachem succeeded his half-brother, Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter, to become Rebbe in 1992. His position as rosh yeshiva of Sfas Emes Yeshiva was assumed by his son, Rabbi Shaul Alter, who is widely regarded as an eminent Talmudic scholar.

During his tenure, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem continued the policies of his half-brothers, Rabbi Simcha Bunim and Rabbi Yisrael, by supporting the political work of the Agudat Israel of Israel party, promoting the interests of Haredi Judaism in the Israeli Knesset. He reached a rapprochement with his non-Hasidic Ashkenazi Haredi fellow-rabbis, in particular with Rabbi Elazar Shach, leader of the rival Degel HaTorah party. Together they created the United Torah Judaism (Yahadut HaTorah) party in order not to lose residual votes in the Israeli proportional representation system, and thereby potentially obtain an extra seat for the newly united party in Knesset elections.

Death and burialEdit

Rabbi Pinchas Menachem died in 1996 after less than four years at the helm of the Ger dynasty. He was buried beside his father, Rabbi Avraham Mordechai Alter, in the courtyard of the Sfas Emes Yeshiva. A brick ohel in the shape of a house was built over the two graves. Both graves are visited frequently by students in the yeshiva.

He was succeeded as Rebbe by his nephew, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, son of Rabbi Simcha Bunim Alter.

Rebbes of GerEdit

1. Yitzchak Meir Alter (1798-1866)
2. Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter (1847-1905)
3. Avraham Mordechai Alter (1866-1948)
4. Yisrael Alter (1895-1977)
5. Simchah Bunim Alter (1898-1992)
6. Pinchas Menachem Alter (1926-1996)
7. Yaakov Aryeh Alter (b. 1939)yi:פינחס מנחם אלטער