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The Jewish Home | JULY 28, 2022
The Wandering
Jew
Encounters With The Rebbe Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam – Bobover Rebbe, zt”l By Hershel Lieber
T
wenty-two years ago, on the first day of Av, 5760, the great tzaddik and beloved chassidishe Rebbe, Harav Shlomo Halberstam, Hadmor M’Bobov, was niftar. The Rebbe needs very little introduction to the public, as his name and his fame is known worldwide. He was the oldest surviving son of his father, Rav Ben Tzion, Hy”d, who perished in the Holocaust and a direct descendent of Rav Chaim the Sanzer Rebbe, as well as from other renowned Rebbishe dynasties. After losing his family in the Holocaust, the Rebbe managed to escape and make his way to Budapest where he was deeply involved in Hatzolah activities on behalf of Klal Yisroel. After the War, he reluctantly took on the mantle and leadership of survivors who originated from the Polish region called Galicia. After arriving to the United States, the Rebbe started from scratch to rebuild Bobov. His main focus was to start a Yeshiva, which eventually became the base for a reemerging Bobover Chassidus. He was highly successful, and at the time of his petira, the Rebbe had a huge following in Boro Park, where he was located, as well as in Israel, Canada, England, Belgium and other cities of the United States. Many institutions, ranging from shuls, yeshivos, mesivtas, girls’ schools and summer camps, were among the projects that he initiated and brought to fruition. He was respected in every circle and beloved by his followers. yehi zichro baruch – v’zechuso yogein aleinu. The following article was written by me to transcribe my memories of the relationship that I had with the Bobover Rebbe, zt”l. I documented these recollections so that I can leave a legacy for my children and their descendants as well as a written record for myself.
M
y connection with the Bobover Rebbe, Rav Shlomo Halberstam, zt”l, has a history dating back more than a century. My grandfather, Hershel Lieber, a”h, who I am named after, learned at the first Bobover Rebbe, Rav Shlomo, who was niftar in 1905. Although my grandfather did not have a close relationship with the next Rebbe, Rav Benzion, Hy”d, my family’s connection to Bobov resumed during the early war years. During World War II, my parents were together with the third Bobover Rebbe, Rav Shlomo, zt”l, in the Bochnia Ghetto. My parents developed a remarkably close relationship with him and his son Naftulche, zt”l, when my mother was zoche to save the Bobover family that were in the Ghetto. The story is very long and is
part of my mother’s memoir titled “A World After This.” In short, being that my mother was born in Munkatch, Czechoslovakia, and was not a Polish citizen, she was exempt from living in the Ghetto. Her birth certificate was used to forge other certificates for members of her family as well as for the members of the Bobover mishpacha. Leaving the Ghetto opened up an escape route for all of them to reach Hungary. In Budapest, my parents were again together with the Bobover Rebbe and some of his sisters, and they bonded in an everlasting relationship. My parents even traveled to Bucharest, Romania, after the War at the request of the Rebbe to prepare Pesach for him since he had lost his Rebbetzin during the Holocaust. This relationship continued when we all finally reached the shores of America.
Although the Rebbe lived on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during his first years in America and we lived in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, my parents went to visit him very often. Later on, when the Rebbe moved in the mid-fifties to Crown Heights, the close bonds between our families remained, but the distance between Crown Heights and Boro Park, where we eventually moved to, led to a more frequent involvement. In Boro Park, my father could not find a chassidishe yeshiva for me to attend. When the Rebbe opened the Bobover Yeshiva in Crown Heights, I was nine years old and I traveled daily from the fourth grade on with about twelve other boys to Crown Heights. The yeshiva then was relatively small, and the Rebbe himself would on occasion look into our classroom. I was enamored
