Simcha Bunim Alter; Rabbi Had Key Role in Israeli Politics

Simcha Bunim Alter, 95, a rabbi who was a key behind-the-scenes figure in Israeli politics and who campaigned for such religious laws as abortion restrictions. The Council of Torah Sages, headed by Alter, served as the spiritual adviser to Agudat Israel, a small ultra-Orthodox party that often held the key to power in Israel’s coalition governments. In 1977, he was named leader of one of the largest and most influential Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel, the Gur Hassidic dynasty. On July 8 in Jerusalem.