Memory Lane: The Chortkover Kloiz of Boro Park

Many years ago, there existed a contingent of Chortkover chassidim in Boro Park of yore, and they are listed on the certificate of incorporation. Here, we profile some of these founders.  

Reb Dov (Berel) Balser 

In seeking the family of Reb Berel Balser, one of the most important signatories to the incorporation of the shul, we need to look no further than the numerous Berel Balsers who proudly carry the name of their illustrious ancestor who lived the life of a chossid and yerei Shomayim in turn-of-the century America. 

He was born in Jasienica, Galicia in the year 1876, to his father Reb Mendel (Menachem Yehuda), a descendant of the Apta Rov. Reb Mendel’s father, Pinchos, made his way to the mystical city of Tzfas, wanting to be buried in the holy land, while the rest of his family remained in Poland. He did take one son, Moshe, along with him. And through him, a number of Balser’s were born in Tzefas, and later moved with their father to America, where we find them in Williamsburg at the turn of the century. 

He married his wife Chana in 1901, in Frsytak. He came over from Krosno, Galicia (all of these Galician towns are in the same vicinity), on the Hamburg-America line, in the year 1904. On his wife’s naturalization papers we read that her last residence was in Frystak, Galicia, which is right near Krosno. 

His son Moshe—a lifelong Boro Parker—continued his father’s sterling legacy. He was born in 1910 on the Lower East Side. He learned in Yeshiva Rabbeinu Yitzchok Elchonon, where he was a classmate of Rav Gedaliah Schorr. He married the daughter of Reb Yisroel Aaron Tannenbaum, a Galicianer Yid, a chossid, who was makpid to immerse daily in the mikvah before davening. Like his father, who was involved in sewing machines, Reb Moshe was a machinist for his vocation.  His family describes him as “a true ben Torah, an ehrlicher Yid, and a deeply dedicated family man.” He would make his way to the Mirer Yeshiva in Flatbush to observe his son learning there. His ways of chassidus, forged right here on American shores, imbued in him by his father Reb Berel, remained vibrant within him until his last days. 

He continued the family connection to the Ruziner dynasty, davening in Boro Park’s Kapicienitzer shtiebel for most of his life. 

R’ Moshe Buchbinder 

A second signatory to the incorporation papers of the Boro Park Tiferes Yisroel Klaus was “Moses Buchbinder.” It was not easy connecting with the descendants of Reb Moshe, and we ultimately found his Torah-adherent great-grandchildren. 

They relate that he was born in 1885 in Romania, now part of Ukraine. He immigrated to the U.S. around 1905 to 1910. Along the way, he worked as a carpenter in Liverpool. He settled in Rochester, New York, where he worked as a house builder with his brother, Hyman Buchbinder. His wife, Fanny (née Uscher) was also from the same area of Romania, and emigrated around 1912. They were married in Rochester, and they would have six children. Some were born in Rochester, and others in Brooklyn. Around 1920, they moved to Boro Park, where he remained the next thirty years, until his passing in 1950. 

The Klauz

Having been incorporated in 1927, the Kloiz served as a spiritual haven in a barren Boro Park for those early pioneers who desired brotherhood, and to cling to their heritage. 

Writes Reb Moshe Gordon (a son in law of Reb Yosef Chaim Biegeleisen, and a brother of Reb Yaker Biegeleisen of Boro Park) in his sefer Yalkut Moshe: “Thirty years ago, when the Chortkiver Kloiz was established by his [Rav Yisroel’s) ardent chossid, Rav Avigdor Regenbogen, it was his custom to learn from the Rebbe’s sefer Tiferes Yisroel each Shabbos after davening, and would elucidate and expound upon the depths of the words of his Rebbe.” 

It is unclear when the Kloiz dissolved, although, as we have already noted, Rav Ephraim Zalman Halpern—likewise a legendary Chortkover Chossid—succeeded Rav Avigdor as its rov. But in 1927, a group of Yidden did incorporate this outpost of holiness and togetherness in Boro Park of yesteryear.