Bobov-45

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Breakaway Bobov Hasidic court led by Mordechai Dovid Unger from Borough Park, Brooklyn


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Bobov-45
Founded 2005 Borough Park, Brooklyn
Founder
Leader Rebbe Mordechai Dovid Unger
Headquarters 45th Street / 49th Street area, Borough Park, Brooklyn
Type Hasidic court (Haredi Judaism)

Bobov-45 (Yiddish/Hebrew: באבוב-45) is a Hasidic court that split from the main Bobov community after the death of the fourth Bobover Rebbe, Naftali Tzvi Halberstam, on 23 March 2005.[1] It is led by Mordechai Dovid Unger (born 1954), younger son-in-law of Naftali Tzvi Halberstam, with Yehoshua Rubin, the elder son-in-law, serving as dayan.[2] The court is headquartered in Borough Park, Brooklyn and takes the suffix “-45” from the street where its first independent hall and later Bais Yaakov stood.[3]

A beth din later awarded the unadorned name “Bobov”, the historic institutions and almost all assets to Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, half-brother of the late Rebbe; Unger’s faction was allowed the name only with a qualifier and was granted a cash allotment.[2] Marcin Wodziński counted about 1,500 Bobov-45 households against about 3,000 remaining with mainline Bobov, using the courts’ own telephone directories around 2016.[4]

Like the parent Bobov court, the Israeli branch has been described as non-confrontational toward the Israeli state but non-Zionist; sons are not sent to the IDF.[5] Communities exist in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Elad and the West Bank settlement of Beitar Illit.[6]

Origins in Bobov

Bobov takes its name from Bobowa in Galicia. The first Rebbe, Shlomo Halberstam (1847–1905), was a grandson of Chaim Halberstam of Sanz. The second Rebbe, Ben Zion Halberstam (1874–1941), was murdered in the Holocaust. His son Shlomo Halberstam (1907–2000) rebuilt the court in New York after the war and made Borough Park its centre.[5]

Shlomo Halberstam was succeeded in 2000 by his eldest surviving son, Naftali Tzvi Halberstam (1931–2005). Naftali left no sons. His two daughters married Yehoshua Rubin and Mordechai Dovid Unger of the Dombrov line. His younger half-brother, Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam (born 1955), son of Shlomo by a second marriage, also claimed the succession.[1][2]

Schism, 2005–2014

On the morning after Naftali’s burial, supporters of the two camps clashed in the main Bobov synagogue on 15th Avenue. The New York Times reported punches thrown in the granite-walled hall and rival claims that each candidate already occupied the Rebbe’s office.[1] A Brooklyn civil case was steered by Justice Herbert Kramer into rabbinic arbitration. A din Torah opened in May 2005; a poll of adult male users of Bobov institutions was later ordered.[2]

Informally the camps were called Bobov-48 (48th Street headquarters of Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam) and Bobov-45 (the Unger hall on 45th Street).[2] After about nine years and reported arbitration costs of some $8 million, the panel published its award on 21 August 2014 (25 Av). Only Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam might be styled Bobover Rebbe or Bobov Ruv worldwide. Neither Unger nor Rubin might use those titles. Pre-2005 real estate, Torah scrolls and institutional names stayed with the Halberstam faction. The Unger–Rubin faction was to receive $6.2 million over five years and might style itself Bobov45 (no space) or another historic family toponym such as Sanz-Bobov.[2] The court adopted Bobov-45 after the 45th Street Bais Yaakov where it had prayed and held tishen.[3]

Leadership

Mordechai Dovid Unger was born in 1954 to Yaakov Yitzchok Unger of Dombrov and married a daughter of Naftali Tzvi Halberstam. He is the first Rebbe of the separate court. His brother-in-law Yehoshua Rubin is dayan and rabbinic head of the community.[2][3] Mishpacha has presented Unger as a mechanech who built new mosdos after the split and as more willing than the rival Rebbe to be photographed with public figures.[3][2]

Institutions and geography

Headquarters remain in Borough Park. A Daf Yomi listing gives Congregation of Bobov-45 at 1362 49th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11219, with Mordechai Dovid Unger named as rabbi.[7] The US congregation is registered as Congregation Bobov 45, EIN 82-1954183, formed 2017, with addresses reported at 1362 49th Street and 1666 47th Street, Brooklyn.[8] A fundraising page for Khal Bobov 45 describes a large new beis medrash on 14th Avenue and 49th Street after years of construction.[9]

Mishpacha reported building programmes said to exceed $170 million, including a Talmud Torah, mesivta and mechinah in Borough Park, several buildings in Union, New Jersey, and a large Borough Park synagogue intended as one of the biggest in New York City. It put enrolment in Borough Park mosdos at nearly 4,000 pupils and named Yaakov Yosef Steinmetz, a Skver Hasid, as executive director of the institutions.[3]

Branches are reported in Williamsburg and Monsey, New York; Lakewood and an enclave described as a “Yishuv of Chasidei Bobov-45” in Union / Linden, New Jersey; Los Angeles; Montreal; Antwerp; London and Manchester.[6] In London a Bobov-45 Beth Hamedrash on Clapton Common, Stamford Hill, is listed from 2006 and affiliated to the Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations; JCR-UK distinguishes it from Kehal Chasidei Bobov of Egerton Road, which follows the Halberstam court.[6]

In Israel and the occupied West Bank the court is reported in Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, Ashdod, Elad and Beitar Illit.[6]

Politics and Zionism

The parent Bobov court has been described as non-Zionist but non-confrontational toward Israeli authorities, with adherents not serving in the IDF.[5] That stance is the frame usually applied to both successor courts. Hasidim of the Bobov line are present in Beitar Illit and other Haredi settlements beyond the Green Line, a pattern of economic as well as communal settlement rather than classical religious-Zionist ideology.[5]

US political endorsements reported in 2025 under the name “Bobov Chassidic community” referred to the larger Borough Park Bobov voter base and should not be assumed to speak for Bobov-45 without separate attribution.

Size

Marcin Wodziński, working from internal phone books for his Historical Atlas of Hasidism, put mainline Bobov at about 3,000 households and Bobov-45 at about 1,500 in the mid-2010s.[4] Combined Bobov households before the split had been among the larger Hasidic populations in Brooklyn.

Selected US registrations associated with the name Bobov-45

IRS-listed entities using “Bobov 45” or closely related titles
EIN Name City State
82-1954183 Congregation Bobov 45 Brooklyn New York
84-3109913 Chevra Kadisha of Bobov 45 Brooklyn New York

See also

External links

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Andy Newman, A Battle for Succession Takes No Holiday The New York Times, 26 March 2005.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Samuel C. Heilman, Bobov: A Clash of Families in Who Will Lead Us? The Story of Five Hasidic Dynasties in America, Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Mishpacha, My Rebbe, My Rebbi Mishpacha, accessed September 2026.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Seforim Blog, A Conversation With Professor Marcin Wodziński on Hasidism The Seforim Blog, 2 September 2018.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Encyclopaedia Judaica / Encyclopedia.com, Bobov Encyclopedia.com, accessed September 2026.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 JCR-UK, Bobov-45 Beth Hamedrash, Clapton Common, London E5 JewishGen / JCR-UK, accessed September 2026.
  7. ↑ Daf Yomi Directory, Congregation of Bobov – 45 Daf Yomi Directory / Agudath Israel, accessed September 2026.
  8. ↑ Cause IQ, Congregation Bobov 45 Cause IQ, accessed September 2026.
  9. ↑ Khal Bobov 45, Building History: The Long-Awaited Home of Bobov-45 Dryve, accessed September 2026.
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