A remarkable moment took place in Dushinsky on the first day of Rosh Hashanah, when the Dushinsky Rebbe publicly included the Belzer Rebbe in a Mi Shebeirach for those in need of a refuah.

Following his aliyah, the Dushinsky Rebbe customarily mentions the names of Admorim and Gedolei Yisroel requiring a refuah. He first mentioned the Vizhnitzer Rebbe. He then turned to the gabbai announcing the names and instructed him to add: “Yissachar Dov ben Miriam.”

Thousands of chassidim were stunned when they realized that the name was that of the Belzer Rebbe.

The gesture was particularly striking against the backdrop of some 50 years of estrangement between the Eidah Hachareidis and Belz, dating back to the period of the Dushinsky Rebbe’s father, the Maharim of Dushinsky zt”l, who served as Gaavad of the Eidah Hachareidis in Yerushalayim.

Various efforts have been made over the years to bring the dispute to an end and restore peace, but until now those attempts had not succeeded. Following the unexpected public gesture in the middle of Rosh Hashanah, chassidim expressed hope that the decades-long estrangement may finally be moving toward an end.