BDE: Reb Nissen Leser, z”l, 98, Legend to Generations of Bobover chassidim

We are deeply saddened to inform you of the passing of Reb Nissen Leser, z”l, a chossid and oved Hashem with every fiber of his being, and a role model to thousands of Bobover chassidim who looked upon this vestige from the old world with awe and admiration. 

He was 98 years of age, and had gone about his avodas Hashem of close to a century until a short while ago. 

Reb Nissen was born in Brigel, a central town on the Jewish-Galicianer landscape, to his father Reb Shulem, and his mother, Freidel Mindel (formerly Lipshitz). Ardent Bobover chassidim, he absorbed the fire, the spirit, and the chassidishkeit by his holy Rebbe, the Kedushas Tzion, zt”l, Hy”d. He would live to transmit the holy traditions to generations of admiring chassidim in the new world. 

Stories of Reb Nissen’s heroism in the camps are the stuff of legend, exhibiting great mesirus nefesh for every mitzvah. He survived the Holocaust, alone, bereft of his family... and of the entire world of chassidus that he knew in Galicia. 

But he was undeterred, and would become a pillar of the great renaissance. 

He settled in Williamsburg, and went to work in diamonds. But his real efforts were in Torah and avodah, and in establishing institutions for future generations. 

He was one of the founders of the legendary Williamsburg Bobover shtiebel, and one of the founders and supporters of the prominent Bobover kollel in Williamsburg. 

He was a repository of stories and traditions that he so willingly gave over to the young chassidim who clamored around him, and he was a true demus, a role model in Torah and avodah, yiras Shomayim and chassidus until his last days. 

His loss is a painful one for the Bobover chassidus around the world; a rare link to the past who bridged the two world with bonds of Torah and chassidus. 

The levaya will take place at the Bobover Beis Medrash at 10:00 o'clock this morning, after which he will be interred near the ohel of the Bobover Rebbes in New Jersey. 

Yehi Zichro Baruch.