𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬: Reb Shayele of Kerestir Yahrzeit 2026 | הילולת הרה"ק רבי ישעיה מקרעסטיר זי"ע - תשפ״ו

As many as 50,000 Jews traveled to a Hungarian town for the anniversary of a noted rabbi’s death this week, marking significant growth for the annual pilgrimage and generating what the town’s mayor called “culture shock” for non-Jewish locals. Since the fall of communism in 1989, Jewish pilgrims have been visiting #Bodrogkeresztur known as #Kerestir in Yiddish, in April, timed to the death of Rabbi #Yeshaya Steiner, a Hasidic rabbi known as Reb Shayele whom some believe had special powers. The number of pilgrims has swelled in recent years, thanks in part to efforts by the rabbi’s descendants to elevate his profile. The estimated 50,000 visitors this year — other estimates placed the number lower, but still in the tens of thousands — would be over 60 times the number of the town’s year-round population. It also would likely set a new record for a Jewish pilgrimage in Europe, outpacing even the famed gatherings in Uman, Ukraine, at the grave of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. הרה"ק רבי ישעיה שטיינר נולד בשנת תרי"ב למשפחה פשוטה בעיירה הסמוכה לעיר ברדיוב שבסלובקיה. בהיותו בן שלוש התייתם מאביו, ואימו האלמנה הצדקנית שלחה אותו לעיר "ליסקא", אל הרב הקדוש רבי צבי הירש מליסקא מחבר הספה"ק "אך פ