BDE: Reb Yaakov Nafuli Schwimmer, z”l

We are saddened to inform you of the petirah of Reb Yaakov Naftoli Schwimmer, z”l, a pillar of the Bobover chassidus, and moser nefesh for harbotzas Torah. He was in his seventies. 

He was born in Brussels, Belgium, to his parents, who were Holocaust survivors. His father came from Hungary, and his mother from Poland—and together they built a home built on Torah and emunas tzaddikim. 

His father, Reb Yonoson Binyomin, was mekushar to the Admorim of belz, Pshevorsk, and Bobov, and inculcated his son with emunah to tzaddikim. 

He also infused him in a mesirus nefesh for Torah that he would carry with him his entire life. In his youth he learned in the Belzer talmud Torah, but then his family moved to America, where he was enrolled in the Bobover cheder in Crown Heights. Later, his father became a shochet in Chicago, but he would not compromise on the chinuch of his children. 

He sent his sons to learn in the Belzer yeshiva in Eretz Yisroel, where Reb Naftoli celebrated his bar mitzvah. He was a classmate of the Belzer Rebbe shlit”a. 

He married the daughter of Reb Nachman Yehuda Adler of Antwerp, and together they built a Torah home built on those same foundations of mesirus nefesh for Torah. 

He worked as a nursing home administrator, but his entire love and passion was in Torah and in harbotzas Torah, and in chessed. 

He became a talmid muvhak of Rav Moshe Zoberman. He would record his shiurim and disseminate them. He would drive elderly people to and from the shiurim and ensure that they had their reading glasses and a gemoro. Countless people benefitted from his selfless chessed. 

He was also extremely dedicated to chessed shel emes and chèvra kaddisha, work that he carried out with great dedication. 

He became unwell in recent years, and was niftar this afternoon, leaving behind a beautiful family and an incredible legacy. 

The levaya will take place at the Bobover Beis Medrash this evening at 8:30. 

Yehi Zichro Baruch