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{{short description|'''Breakaway Bobov Hasidic court led by [[Mordechai Dovid Unger]] from Borough Park, Brooklyn'''}}
{{Infobox religious group
| name = Bobov-45
| native_name = חסידות באבוב-45
| image =
| caption =
| abbreviation =
| type = [[Hasidic]] court (Haredi Judaism)
| main_classification = [[Hasidism]] (Sanz–Bobov line)
| theology =
| structure = Hereditary rebbe and dayan
| leader_title = Rebbe
| leader_name = [[Mordechai Dovid Unger]]
| leader_title2 = Dayan
| leader_name2 = [[Yehoshua Rubin]]
| founded_date = 2005
| founded_place = [[Borough Park, Brooklyn]]
| separated_from = [[Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)]]
| congregations =
| members = About 1,500 households (c. 2016)
| hospitals =
| nursing_homes =
| aid =
| congregations =
| area = [[United States]], [[Israel]]/occupied West Bank, [[United Kingdom]], [[Canada]], [[Belgium]]
| language = Yiddish, Hebrew, English
| headquarters = 45th Street / 49th Street area, [[Borough Park, Brooklyn]]
| website =
}}

'''[[Bobov-45]]''' (Yiddish/Hebrew: באבוב-45) is a [[Hasidic]] court that split from the main [[Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)|Bobov]] community after the death of the fourth Bobover Rebbe, [[Naftali Tzvi Halberstam]], on 23 March 2005.<ref name="NYT2005">Andy Newman, [https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/26/nyregion/a-battle-for-succession-takes-no-holiday.html A Battle for Succession Takes No Holiday] ''The New York Times'', 26 March 2005.</ref> 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.<ref name="Heilman2017">Samuel C. Heilman, [https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780520966482-006/html Bobov: A Clash of Families] in ''Who Will Lead Us? The Story of Five Hasidic Dynasties in America'', Oakland: University of California Press, 2017.</ref> 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.<ref name="Mishpacha">Mishpacha, [https://mishpacha.com/my-rebbe-my-rebbi/ My Rebbe, My Rebbi] ''Mishpacha'', accessed September 2026.</ref>

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.<ref name="Heilman2017" /> [[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.<ref name="Seforim2018">Seforim Blog, [https://seforimblog.com/2018/09/a-conversation-with-professor-marcin/ A Conversation With Professor Marcin Wodziński on Hasidism] ''The Seforim Blog'', 2 September 2018.</ref>

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]].<ref name="EncycBobov">''Encyclopaedia Judaica'' / Encyclopedia.com, [https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/bobov Bobov] ''Encyclopedia.com'', accessed September 2026.</ref> Communities exist in [[Jerusalem]], [[Bnei Brak]], [[Elad]] and the West Bank settlement of [[Beitar Illit]].<ref name="JCRUK">JCR-UK, [https://jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/London/stamford_shteibls/bobov-45.htm Bobov-45 Beth Hamedrash, Clapton Common, London E5] ''JewishGen / JCR-UK'', accessed September 2026.</ref>

== 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.<ref name="EncycBobov" />

[[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.<ref name="NYT2005" /><ref name="Heilman2017" />

== 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.<ref name="NYT2005" /> 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.<ref name="Heilman2017" />

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).<ref name="Heilman2017" /> 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.<ref name="Heilman2017" /> The court adopted '''Bobov-45''' after the 45th Street Bais Yaakov where it had prayed and held ''tishen''.<ref name="Mishpacha" />

== 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.<ref name="Heilman2017" /><ref name="Mishpacha" /> ''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.<ref name="Mishpacha" /><ref name="Heilman2017" />

== 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.<ref name="DafYomi">Daf Yomi Directory, [https://dafyomidirectory.org/shiur-location/congregation-of-bobov-45/ Congregation of Bobov – 45] ''Daf Yomi Directory / Agudath Israel'', accessed September 2026.</ref> 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.<ref name="CauseIQ">Cause IQ, [https://www.causeiq.com/organizations/congregation-bobov-45,821954183/ Congregation Bobov 45] ''Cause IQ'', accessed September 2026.</ref> A fundraising page for Khal Bobov 45 describes a large new beis medrash on 14th Avenue and 49th Street after years of construction.<ref name="Dryve">Khal Bobov 45, [https://www.dryveup.com/bobov45 Building History: The Long-Awaited Home of Bobov-45] ''Dryve'', accessed September 2026.</ref>

''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.<ref name="Mishpacha" />

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.<ref name="JCRUK" /> 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.<ref name="JCRUK" />

In Israel and the occupied West Bank the court is reported in [[Jerusalem]], [[Bnei Brak]], Beit Shemesh, [[Ashdod]], [[Elad]] and [[Beitar Illit]].<ref name="JCRUK" />

== 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]].<ref name="EncycBobov" /> 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.<ref name="EncycBobov" />

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.<ref name="Seforim2018" /> Combined Bobov households before the split had been among the larger Hasidic populations in Brooklyn.

== Selected US registrations associated with the name Bobov-45 ==

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ 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 ==

* [[Bobov (Hasidic dynasty)]]
* [[Mordechai Dovid Unger]]
* [[Naftali Tzvi Halberstam]]
* [[Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam]]
* [[Hasidic dynasties]]
* [[Beitar Illit]]
* [[Agudath Israel of America]]
* [[Union of Orthodox Hebrew Congregations]]

== External links ==

* [https://dafyomidirectory.org/shiur-location/congregation-of-bobov-45/ Congregation of Bobov-45 listing]
* [https://www.dryveup.com/bobov45 Khal Bobov 45 building appeal]
* [https://jewishgen.org/JCR-UK/London/stamford_shteibls/bobov-45.htm JCR-UK: Bobov-45, Stamford Hill]

== Notes ==

<references />

[[Category:Israel]]
[[Category:Anti-Zionism]]
[[Category:Zionist movement]]
[[Category:Yeshivas in the West Bank]]