12 Adar · Yahrzeit
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi of Bobov
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi ben Rabbi Shlomo of Bobov
Yahrzeit - 12 Adar
Resting place - New Jersey, USA
Son of Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam - the second Bobover Rebbe - and Rebbetzin Rachel, daughter of Rav Chaim Yaakov Teitelbaum of Limanov.
His bar mitzvah took place at the height of the Holocaust, on the 25th of Sivan 5704 (1944), in the city of Grosswardein. After the Holocaust, his father rebuilt and re-established the Bobover Chassidus in the United States. Toward the end of the Holocaust, his father sent him to study in Israel, where he learned in the yeshivos of Torah VaYirah and Beis Avraham of Slonim. He married Esta, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Pant of Madash.
For many years he stood at his father's right hand, working to build up the Chassidus and establish its institutions of learning.
After the passing of his father, Rabbi Shlomo, in 5760 (2000), he took his place as the Bobover Rebbe, and despite his declining health, he served as Rebbe for four and a half years.
His Torah teachings and holy stories are published weekly in the journal "Yalkut Sichot and Precious Pearls."
He had two daughters. His first son-in-law is Rabbi Mordechai Dovid Unger, who became the Bobover Rebbe, and his second son-in-law is Rav Yehoshua Rubin (son of Rabbi Mordechai Dovid of Sasregen), Av Beis Din at the court of his brother-in-law.
A Midrash on a Verse from Tehillim
Rabbi Naftali Tzvi explained a verse from Tehillim (65:2) through a midrash, as follows:
לְךָ֤ דֻֽמִיָּ֬ה תְהִלָּ֓ה אֱלֹ֘הִ֥ים בְּצִיּ֑וֹן וּ֝לְךָ֗ יְשֻׁלַּם־נֶֽדֶר׃
- "Lecha dumiya tehilla, Elohim be-Tzion, u'lecha yeshulam neder" -
(To You, silence is praise, O G-d, in Zion, and to You a vow shall be fulfilled).
When a person wants to speak forbidden words - whether lashon hara or words that lead to quarrel and division - and he restrains his lips and does not say them, that very silence itself becomes praise of the Almighty.
For by doing so, a person brings about a sanctification of the Name of Heaven, since refraining from evil is counted as an act of good.
And this is the meaning of the verse: "To You, silence is praise" - silence, when it holds a person back from sin, itself becomes a song and a praise of the Almighty.
May the merit of the tzadik protect Am Yisrael!
https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%A0%D7%A4%D7%AA%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%A6%D7%91%D7%99_%D7%94%D7%9C%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%A9%D7%98%D7%90%D7%9D
Pilgrimage site:
Grave: Naftali Tzvi of Ropshitz