07 Jul Petira of Sanzer Rebbe, Harav Naftali Halberstam ZT”L

Rabbi Naftali Halberstam, the Rebbe of Sanz in Borough Park, was nifar this past Shabbos night. He was 96, and likely the oldest Rebbe in the world. His mother was a daughter of Rabbi Sinai Halberstam of Zimgrad. Mordechai Ze’ev Manzanz. When he reached the age of entry to the yeshiva, he was enrolled and admitted to Yeshivas Chochmei Lublin, but then World War II broke out and he could not continue. When the war broke out, he fled to Russia with his mother and brother, and spent nearly a year in Boebrick together with his zeide Rabbi Sinai of Zimgrad. During this time he studied with his grandfather and even wrote down his teachings. At the end of the war he went to Krakow, where he was a member of the Rabbis ‘Committee who took care of the refugees’ needs. He then moved to the United States and settled in Brownsville, and was ordained to teach by Rav Gustman zt”l. He married the daughter of Rabbi Lipa Mannan, who served as Kavetschaz Rebbe of Hungary after the war. Rav Halberstam opened a Beis Midrash in Boro Park, supported by the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum zt”d. The Admor had 18 children, 9 boys and 9 girls. Some of his sons are: Rabbi Mordechai Ze’ev “Av Beit Din of Sanz Williamsburg”, Rabbi Menachem Zvi is the rabbi of the “Bnei Torah – Sanz” synagogue, Rabbi Aharon, Rabbi Rabbi Sanz at 44 St. Borough Park, sis son-in-law is Rabbi Yehoshua Shalom Nathan Rubin son of the Admor of Galgov.