New York, USA -- Several thousand Orthodox Jews gathered in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn last night for the funeral of Naftali Halberstam, the grand rabbi of the Bobov Hasidic sect, who died yesterday at Maimonides Medical Center.
Rabbi Halberstam, 74, had led the Bobov sect, with more than 20,000 followers concentrated in Brooklyn, Montreal, Toronto, Miami and London, since the death of his father, Grand Rabbi Shlomo Halberstam, in 2000.
He had battled a series of health problems for more than a year, and died about 6 p.m. from a lung infection, followers said. People began gathering for the funeral shortly after 9 p.m. at the sect's main Brooklyn synagogue at 15th Avenue and 48th Street in Borough Park, and a procession was to travel to the Floral Park Cemetery in South Brunswick, N.J., for his burial early this morning.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents Borough Park and is closely allied to its Hasidic communities, said the funeral and burial were conducted quickly despite last night's snow and rain out of respect for Rabbi Halberstam, and in recognition of the Jewish tradition that burials be held as soon after death as possible.
Mr. Hikind said Rabbi Halberstam was, like his father, widely regarded as a conciliator, smoothing out differences among the sect's own members and between Bobovers and followers of other Hasidic groups in Brooklyn, including the Satmar, Belz and Ger Hasidic sects. The elder rabbi led the Bobovs for 50 years.
The Bobov sect, the largest in Borough Park, derives its name from a village in southeastern Poland, and its members are part of a religious movement that broke from traditional rabbinical Judaism for reasons that included objections to materialism.
It was unclear last night who would succeed Rabbi Halberstam as the Bobovs's grand rabbi. He has no sons, and people who gathered for the funeral said it was most likely that he would be succeeded by his younger brother, Rabbi Ben Zion Halberstam.