The Pashkaner Rebbe, Rav Hoshea Friedman Ben Shalom, led a tish in honor of the yahrzeit of the Saba Kadisha of Ruzhin zy”a, which falls today, 3 Cheshvan. Video from the tish began circulating Wednesday.

Online, the clip went around with the label “Eisenkot’s Rebbe.” The Rebbe is a retired IDF brigadier general, and in August he publicly backed former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, who now heads the Yashar! party.

Speaking at a conference at the World Center for North African Jewish Heritage in Jerusalem, the Rebbe said he has known Eisenkot for 46 years and that the two served together under fire. He also served as the IDF’s chief reserve officer while Eisenkot was Chief of Staff.

The Rebbe said he was not telling anyone how to vote, chalilah. He praised Eisenkot as brave, upright, wise and even a genius, adding that “b’ezras Hashem, Gadi will be prime minister.”

The Pashkan court stands apart in the chassidishe world. It is a Ruzhiner dynasty with a strong Mizrachi, Religious Zionist leaning. The Rebbe’s father, Rav Yisrael Sholom Yosef Friedman zt”l, was the elder of the Ruzhiner Rebbes and a son-in-law of the Imrei Chaim of Vizhnitz zy”a. Widely known as the “Srugi Rebbe” and the “Zionist Rebbe,” he celebrated Yom Ha’atzmaut and was niftar at 94.

Rav Hoshea stood at his father’s side at every tish and succeeded him as Rebbe. He also heads the Beit Yisrael pre-military mechina in Jerusalem, a rare combination for a chassidishe Rebbe.