Memory Lane: The Bobover Beis Medrash; Rebuilding the Lost Glory

Boro Park’s largest Beis Medrash has for decades been the Bobover Shul, located on 15th Avenue and 48th Street, and completed close to forty years ago, in time for the Yomim Nora’im of the year 5746 (summer of 1985). It has remained a center of Torah and tefillah in the ensuing four decades, as it continues to serve a growing Bobover chassidus. 

Boro Park 

Given the presence of a small contingent of chassidim who were settling in the relatively-new neighborhood, the rov joined them around 1967. With the move came the need for a newer bigger shul which would become the world center of the chassidus. Throughout 1966 and 1967, the Bobover Ruv traveled around to raise money for the new shul which was being built at 1533 48th Street. It was constructed by Reb Yosef Shmiel Landau, the great Bobover askan and builder. 

When it was built, the bachurim of the Mesivta Eitz Chaim d’Bobov—the same name that the yeshiva had in the prewar days—learned in the new shul on 48th street (by now, Bobov boasted high-school-aged bachurim from the first post-Holocaust generation), and the Rebbe continued davening in the shtiebel on 15th Avenue during the weekday. Once the Mesivta building down the block was completed in 1980, the ruv began davening in the new shul during the weekday as well. During the 1970’s, a number of tiny expansions were made as the chassidus continued to grow exponentially… but it was understood that this was not a long-term solution. 

An enormous beis medrash would need to be built in order to accommodate the tremendous growth of the Bobover chassidus in America. 

The Work Begins 

Since the kehillah already owned one property on 15th Avenue, and some property on the side street, it was decided to purchase the remaining properties and encompass all of them into one enormous edifice. The Ruv resided on the corner house (the one that once belonged to a Boro Park balebos, Reb Yisochor Thau, whom we once profiled here), and that would remain untouched. 

Chassidim recall that the neighbor who lived right next to the Rebbe did not want to sell at first because she refused to give up the Rebbetzin’s friendly ‘good morning’—until she was persuaded of the importance of acquiring the property for the shul. Another two properties were then acquired, and the preparations began for a gala cornerstone laying. But the ruv opted for a quiet event instead—right before shavuos of the year 1982. 

Despite its modest tone, the event was an extremely emotional one for the Rebbe, and many of the chassidim who had lost so much. This represented a significant milestone in rebuilding from the ashes.  

The work commenced, and continued apace over the coming four years—all the while overseen by the legendary Reb Avrohom Aaron Leser, sheyichye, a major Bobover philanthropist and patron. The building made history in that it was the first beis medrash in Brooklyn of this size, and to stand at such a height and breadth without any supporting beams in the center of the room.  

The price tag for the building was only a few million dollars, but it was a sizable sum in those days, and the chassidus struggled mightily to put up on the money for the construction. The Bobover Ruv came out to the chassidim and implored them to take part in this building project. 

One Shabbos, the legendary Reb Moshe Reichmann from Toronto visited the shul for a simcha, only to see that the shell stood unfinished. He pledged one million dollars toward the completion of the shul on the condition that the Bobover Ruv would come to Toronto for the wedding of his daughter the following week. The ruv immediately agreed, and through Reb Moshe Reichmann’s largesse, the final stages of the building were completed. 

For yomim nora’im of 1985, the chassidus moved into the new building. The structure was still raw, but to the elated chassidim it seemed like the most magnificent edifice in the world. 

The rest is history. Since that time, the Bobover Beis Medrash has remained the largest in Boro Park, serving as the world headquarters of the chassidus, a source of so much inspiration to the chassidim in Boro Park and around the world—and a true symbol of the rebuilding of the glory of Bobov that had almost been entirely decimated during the Holocaust.