Naftali Halberstam
Quick Facts
Biography
Grand Rabbi Naftali Tzvi Halberstam (Hebrew: ר' נפתלי הלברשטאם) (1931-2005) was the Grand Rebbe of Bobov from August 2000 until March 2005. He succeeded his father, Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam (1907–2000), as Grand Rebbe of Bobov.
Rabbi Naftali Halberstam was born in Bobowa, Poland in 1931 (25 Sivan, 5691 on the Hebrew calendar). His mother and two siblings died in the Holocaust, and at war's end, when Rabbi Naftali was a teenager, his father, Rabbi Shlomo, managed to arrange for him to go to the Holy Land. Rabbi Shlomo remained in Europe, so Rabbi Naftali was not sure if his father had survived the war.
Rabbi Naftali Halberstam lived for several years in Eretz Yisruel, where he received his rabbinical ordination. After the war he found out that his father had indeed survived, and had relocated to New York. In the late 1940s, he moved to New York, where he was reunited with his father. On his father's death in 2000, he became the Grand Rebbe of Bobov. He died on March 23, 2005 (12 days in Adar, 5765). Rabbi Naftali was buried next to his father in Floral Park Cemetery in New Jersey.
Halberstam's wife, Rebbetzin Hesa, died on 15 May 2011 (11 Iyar, 5771) aged 80.
Rabbi Naftali Halberstam left no sons, only two daughters; one married to the Bobov-45 Rebbe, Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger; and the other to Bobov-45 Ruv, Rabbi Yehoshua Rubin.
Rebbes of Bobov
- Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam (1847–1905) grandson of the Sanzer Rebbe, Rabbi Chaim Halberstam
- Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam (1874–1941)
- Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam (1907–2000)
- Rabbi Naftali Halberstam (1931–2005)
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