Shmuel Auerbach
Shmuel Auerbach was a Haredi rabbi in Jerusalem. Considered a leader in the non-Hasidic Haredi community in Israel, his followers formed a political organisation known as the Jerusalem Faction.
Biography
Auerbach was the eldest son of Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and his wife, Chaya Rivka Ruchamkin. He was born in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Sha'arei Hesedas was his fatherand resided there all his life. He married Rachel Paksher. They had no children. He named his musar sefer ''Ohel Rachel'' in her memory.Rabbinic career
Auerbach was the rosh yeshiva of and the Nasi of Yeshivas Midrash Shmuel and Yeshivas Toras Simcha, both in Jerusalem. For a short time, he also served as one of the roshei yeshiva of Yeshivas Itri in Jerusalem.Auerbach was the head of the party, which he founded. His followers formed a political organisation known as the Jerusalem Faction. In a 2010 letter signed together with Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Aharon Leib Shteinman and Nissim Karelitz, Auerbach expressed his strong disapproval of conversions to Judaism involving Israeli soldiersbeing performed by Israel Defense Forces rabbisthe process of which the former determined to be a violation of halakha. In 2013, as the Israeli government launched a campaign to draft Ultra Orthodox men into the IDF, the Jerusalem Faction adopted a controversial policy of demonstrations and incitement against the draft.