LIVING LEGACY: Rebbe Naftuli Tzvi of Bobov, zy”a.

    12 Adar marks the sixteenth yohrtzeit of the Bobover Rebbe, zt”l—one of the most unique and unsung figures of the renaissance in the postwar era—who was lovingly and reverently known as “Reb Naftulche of Bobov.” 

    He was born to his great father, whom he would serve as his right hand in rebuilding a lost world, Rebbe Shloime of Bobov, in the town of Limanowa, Galicia, in the year 1931. The first direct descendant of his holy grandfather, the Kedushas Tzion of Bobov, zt”l, Hy”d—he was the darling of Rebbe Benzion, who would shower him with attention, walking hand in hand with him.

    But soon, this idyllic existence in the cradle of Bobover chassidus was shattered, and the young Naftulche would endure the Holocaust, a mere child of eight years old. The incredible, miraculous story of harrowing escape and survival is legendarily told in the book Nor the Moon By Night, and when it was all over, the young scion of Bobov had lost most of his family—his mother, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins and uncles, as well as so much of the chassidim v’anshei ma’aseh throughout Galicia who comprised Bobov of yore. 

    Looking at his remarkable life, we are left to surmise that all this loss and suffering instilled in Rav Naftulche the urgency to rebuild, and to do so with superhuman kindness, love, dedication, and patience. 

    After his marriage in 1951 to Rebbetzin Hessa, of the Deezh dynasty, he delved into the work of rebuilding Bobov. The bond that he shared with his legendary father, who was mending the shattered souls of the churban, tending to their wounds, is indescribable. 

    He went to the ends of the earth, with complete mesirus nefesh, for the sake of Bobov… as well as for the wellbeing of every single individual. Volumes can be filled with the stories of his bittul to another Yid. There was nothing he would not do for another Yid (on one occasion he came late to the wedding of his own child, having been occupied with a pressing klal matter). 

    For half a century, Rav Naftulche toiled—with humility and love, with every ounce of his strength—to restore what once was.   

    Looking at the sprawling Bobover landscape of today throughout the world —with thousands of chassidim, and hundreds of institutions of Torah, avodah, and chassidus,—it is incredible to contemplate that a driving force in all of it was Rav Naftulche who stood at the side of his father as they emerged from the inferno to rebuild a lost world in the new world.  

Zechosoi Yogen Aleinu. 

“Living Legacy” explores the lives of great personalities whose impact continues to be felt in our community, and appears weekly.