Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)

Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, the first Bobover Rebbe

Bobov originated with Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, who was the grandson of Grand Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz,[4] in the Galician village of Bobowa.[1]

While most of the early yeshivos (Talmudical academies) originated in Lithuania, the 19th century saw the opening of similar institutions in Poland. The first yeshiva in Poland was established by the first Bobover Rebbe in 1881 in Vishnitsa, where he was rabbi then; and it later moved with him to Bobov.

His work was continued by his son, Grand Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam, author of Kedushas Tzion.[5] The Bobov Yeshiva was originally situated only in the town of Bobov itself. However, under his guidance, the court grew in numbers, with Hasidic youth flocking to Bobov. Subsequently, as many as sixty branches of the yeshiva under the name Etz Chaim were established throughout Galicia.

During World War II, the Bobov Hasidic movement was destroyed. The second Rebbe himself died in the Holocaust (1874 - 1941/3 Menachem Av, HY"D), together with family members[1] and thousands of his followers.

Barely 300 Hasidim survived, and the Rebbe's son, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, took it upon himself to rebuild Bobov.[6] He first settled in the West Side of Manhattan, later moving to Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. The yeshiva was located on the west side of Brooklyn Avenue, at 184 Brooklyn Avenue, between Park Place and Prospect Place; it later moved to nearby Borough Park. Rabbi Shlomo was known as a very wise man and a gaon (exalted) in middos (good attributes). He was noted for his steadfastness in not taking sides in disputes. This brought him great popularity and respect.

Over the more than fifty years[7][6] that Rabbi Shlomo was Rebbe of Bobov, he founded and built a worldwide network of synagogues, Hasidic schools for boys and girls,[8] mesivtas (high schools), and post-high school houses of learning. Besides schools, a summer camp for boys was founded in 1957 in Ferndale, New York, and a girls camp, Camp Gila, was founded a few years later. At the time of his death in August 2000, he was mourned by more followers than his father had in pre-war Poland. His Hebrew date of death was the first of Av, the same as that of Aaron, the Biblical High Priest.[9] Many have noted their similar characteristics of Ohev Shalom VeRodef Shalom (Loved peace and pursued peace).[10]

With Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam's death, his son, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Halberstam, succeeded him. Rabbi Naftali Zvi died on March 23, 2005[1] (12th of Adar II, 5765), at age seventy-four, leaving a wife, two daughters, and two sons-in-law: one, Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin, Rav of Bobov-45, and the other, Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, Rebbe of Bobov-45.

After Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Halberstam of Bobov died in 2005, a dispute arose[11] among Bobover Hasidim as to who should succeed the dynasty leadership; the majority preferred Rabbi Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam,the brother of the late Rebbe, while another smaller group of people preferred Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, the son-in-law of the late Rebbe. For seven years, while a prolonged arbitration proceeding at a beth din was going on, both groups claimed the rightful Bobov leadership. After seven years of deliberation, the beth din ruled, among other decisions regarding assets, that Rabbi Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, brother of the previous Rebbe,[12] has the only right to claim the name Bobov. However, the ruling allowed Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger to be named Bobov-45 rebbe.[13]

In January 2021, during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, it was reported by the Times of Israel that thousands had attended the secret wedding of Rabbi Halberstam's youngest son, held in the sect's main synagogue in Brooklyn, in violation of social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines.[14]

The third Bobover Rebbe, Shlomo Halberstam, rebuilt the Bobov Hasidic dynasty in the United States, after losing his wife and most of his children in the Holocaust; his son, Naftali, survived.[15] After the war, Shlomo Halberstam remarried, and had a son, Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, half-brother to Naftali.[12]

Naftali became the fourth rebbe upon his father's death. He had no sons, but left two daughters, one of whom married Yehoshua Rubin, and the other Mordechai Dovid Unger.

In 2005, after the death of Naftali Halberstam, a breakaway group of Bobover Hasidim loyal to his son-in-law, Mordechai Dovid Unger, set up a grand hall under his leadership on 45th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn.[1] A leadership dispute then arose between Unger and Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, who both claimed the title of Bobover Rebbe.

The dispute was taken to a beth din (arbitration panel), which ruled that the faction following Halberstam held the rights to the name "Bobov". Unger was also allowed to use the name Bobov, as long as a distinguishing identifier would be added to it.[16] The qualifying suffix "-45" was henceforth adopted in tribute to the street on which the community center of the sect was located at the time. In addition, the beth din ordered Bobov to pay $6,200,000 to Bobov-45's Rebbe and dayan in twenty-five quarterly installments, as an allotment of their faction's share of the inheritance of the Bobov enterprise's assets, which was valued at over $50,000,000 at the time. The award was based upon the number of members in the two communities.

As the Rebbe of Bobov-45, Mordechai Dovid Unger has also been active in the wider Jewish community.[17]

Community institutions, such as a synagogue, have been built within Bobov-45. Other infrastructure includes a beth midrash (study hall),[18] cheder (elementary school),[19] yeshiva ketana (secondary school),[20] mesivta,[21] girls school,[22] day camp,[23] and wedding halls.[24]