The Admor Rebbe Yoshiyahu Pinto Was received with great honor by the Jewish community in Antwerp, Belgium, when he arrived for a day’s campaign. He had come to offer strength to the local Jews, and was accompanied by his son, Rabbi Yoel Moshe Pinto.
Rabbi Pinto remained in Antwerp for a day, which he spent delivering lessons in Torah and Musar, as well as meeting with the city’s great admors and rabbis. During his community reception, thousands of people came to receive his blessings, advice, and guidance.
The Antwerp Jewish community is made up of a rich and diverse mosaic of Jewish tradition: Hassidic communities alongside Lithuanians; followers of Chabad and Jews originating from the Caucasus and the East.
It was a unique moment during Rabbi Pinto’s Antwerp visit when the Admor of Pshevorsk, Rabbi Chaim Aryeh Leibish Leiser, invited him to his home, where they spent an hour discussing Torah and Hasiddism, as well as current affairs. The meeting was documented.
Earlier, the Admor Rebbe Pinto had met with the Gaon Rabbi Aharon Schiff, head of the Beit Din of the Machzikei HaDat community in Antwerp. Conversation consisted of matters of halacha and other interests, and they raised the subject of the connection between the Abuhatzeira and Pinto family lineage and Hassidism. Likewise, Rabbi Pinto met with the Dayan, Gaon Rabbi Pinchas Leibish Padwa, Head of the Beit Din of the Shomrei HaDat community.
From Belgium, Rabbi Pinto continued to his residence in Rabat the capital of Morocco, for Shabbat, where he was joined in Shabbat observance and for lessons in Torah by a large crowd that had followed him from Israel, London, Paris, and the USA.
