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The Kiviashder Rebbe seen in his Succah this past Chol HaMoed. Photo: Dee Voch

Brooklyn, NY - Klal Yisroel suffered an irreplaceable loss as the Williamsburg community mourned the petirah of one its most reverd Rabbanim, Harav Moshe Halberstam, the Kiviashder Rebbe, zt’l, who was niftar yesterday.  He was 87.

The Rebbe, who was a direct descendant of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, zy’a, was famed for incredible levels of yiras Shamayim. 

“He feared an aveirah like someone trembles from a revolver pointed at his head,” his son Rav Boruch Nosson Halberstan recalled at the levayah yesterday.

The Rebbe was born in Vienna, Austria.  His parents were Harav Dovid of Kshanov, zt’l, and Rebbetzin Rivka Malka, a’h, daughter of the Alstadter Rav, zt’l.  He grew up in the court of his maternal grandfather, who was one of the foremost Poskim in Vienna.  He enjoyed a unique relationship with his grandfather who had a profound influence on him.

After the German Anschluss, the Kshanover Rebbe and his family fled the Nazis, ym’s, and emigrated to the United States, and the niftar learned first in Yeshivas Chasam Sofer and then in Bais Medrash Elyon of Monsey.  He soon formed a close relationship with Harav Reuven Grozovsky, zt’l, who held him in great esteem.  As a bochur in yeshivah, young Moshe was already famed for his yiras Shomayim and his meisrus nefesh for every halachah and minhag.

Folowing his marriage to his Rebbetzin, shetichyeh, the daughter of Harav Elazar Shapira, the Kiviashder Rebbe, he formed an exceptionally close relationship with his father-in-law, and succeeded him as Kiviashder Rav in Williamsburg in 5733 (1973).

All his life, the Rebbe fled from any type of honor or recognition.  Yet as much as he attempted to hide his avodas Hashem in a cloak of simplicity, all those who came in contact with him sensed the holiness that exuded from him.

“His whole life revolved around two things, davening and learning Torah:  even when he was weak and ailing, he did not stop serving Hashem with mesirus nefesh,” an adherent recalled in a conversation with Hamodia.

“Listening to the Rebbe recite Krias Shema was an experience one would never forget,” a mispallel recounted.  “Even the way he concentrated when he dried his hands before reciting Al netilas yadayim was a lesson in itself.”

A son recalled how he would repeatedly recite Krias Shema in the early-morning hours, concerned that perhaps he had not recited it properly.  As recently as two days ago, upon concluding the silent Shemoneh Esrei he asked the baal tefillah to have in mind to be motzi him in the recital of the chazaras hashatz, just in case he had not been yotzei with his own recital.

At the levayah, the meticulous care he took both with what entered his mouth as well as with the words that left it, was repeatedly mentioned.

Before he swallowed any medication, he would inquire again and again whether it was certain that there were no questions about its kashrus.  Regardless of his condition, he steadfastly refused to take anything in his mouth that had the slightest question.

He weighed his words very carefully.  Every conversation was either a Torah thought, or a story of a tzaddik of a previous generation.

A devoted adherent of the Satmar Rebbe, zy’a, he was staunchly anti-Zionist.  Yet, like his mentor’s, his views emanated solely from a boundless ahavas Yisrael. Many appealed to him for his brachos:  he welcomed every Yid who visited him regardless of affiliation, with warmth and genuine caring.

Several years ago a spacious new beis midrash was erected for him and it was finished in time for Pesach.  When he called his sister, Rebbetzin Horowitz, shetichyeh, to wish her a gut Yom Tov, she asked about the new shul.

He revealed to her that although it was attached to the house he lived in, he had yet to see it.

“I saved the joy that I will have the first time I see it for Yom Tov,” he explained. 

Family members then understood why during the construction he had always taken a detour around the new building. 

On Hoshana Rabbah, a visitor asked him what the primary focus should be during davening on this special day.

“Daven for the Geulah Shleimah,” the Rebbe instructed. “Everything is included in this request.”

Though he was in failing health the last few years, he refused to allow his condition to interfere with his avodas Hashem.  As recently as Hoshana Rabbah he davened before the amud and he led the hakafos of Shemini Atzeres and Simchas Torah.  On Shabbos he gave a short but stirring dvar Torah during Shalsoh Seudos.

Though he was hospitalized four times in the past few weeks, he merited to be niftar suddenly at home, surrounded by more than a minyan of family members and talmidim.

His levayah took place just hours later in his shul on Penn Street in Williamsburg.  Among the many Rebbes and Rabbanim who attended the levayah were the Rachmastrivka Rebbe, shlita, (in addition to his daughter being married to the niftar’s son, five of his grandchildren are married to the niftar’s grandchildren), and the Skverer Rebbe, shlita, who is also a mechutan of the niftar.

Harav Yosef Elya Schlesinger, who for many years served with great devotion as the Rebbe’s gabbai, announced that as per the written will of the niftar, his son Harav Chaim Yitzchak Mordechai Halberstam will succeed him as Kiviashder Rav.

He also read out a line of the tzavaah in which the Rav instructed that his female children, grandchildren, great-granchildren and great-great-grandchildren, both those born into the family and those who marry into the family – should cover the hair with the covering known as “shpitzlech”, or an even more stringent covering.  The Rebbe promised that, if possible, in this merit he will intervene on their behalf.

Weeping, Harav Yosef Elya also recounted personal memories of the niftar.

The maspidim, shlita,were his mechutanim Harav Mottel Stein, Faltishaner Rav; Harav Aharon Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe; Harav Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, Satmar Rebbe; Harav Yisrael Chaim Menashe Friedman, Satmar Dayan.  Also maspid were his successor, Harav Chaim Yitzchak Mordechai, son-in-law of Harav Beirish Laufer of Dzikov, his other sons Harav Tzvi Elimelech, son-in-law of the Rachmastrivka Rebbe, Harav Boruch Nosson, son-in-law of the Faltishaner Rav, and his son-in-law, Harav Lipa Teitelbaum.

Several maspidim mentioned the selfless devotion shown by the Rebbe’s daughter, Rebbetzin Rechel Breindel Teitelbaum, who in recent years spent more time her father’s house than in her own.

Kevurah took place in the Kiviashder chelkah in New Jersey.

The Rebbe is survived by his Rebbetzin, shetichyeh, who was a devoted partner in his lofty level of avodas Hashem, the aforementioned children, three more daughters, the wives of Harav Yitzchak Yochanan Hager, son of the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, shlita; Harav Baruch Avrohom Friedman; and Harav Aharon Hersh Rumpler, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren, all of whom continue in the path of their illustrious forebears.