The previous Nadvorna Rebbe ztz”l was a healer of broken souls, yet his son Rav Eliezer Zev Rosenbaum has brought a fresh dimension to the chassidus

During the tenure of the previous Nadvorna Rebbe of Bnei Brak ztz”l — a holy tzaddik and healer of broken souls in all types of distress — his oldest son was rarely seen, preferring to be hidden away with his seforim and spiritual pursuits. Yet with the mantle of leadership thrust upon him, the new Rebbe, Rav Eliezer Zev Rosenbaum, has brought a shining light to the chassidus. An exclusive conversation of Yom Tov inspiration.

"You know very well that I am an ‘ish sod’ who keeps his mouth sealed but there is one person who knows all of my intentions and profound secrets and that is my eldest son ” the previous Nadvorna Rebbe of Bnei Brak Rav Yaakov Yissachar Ber Rosenbaum ztz”l told his closest chassidim shortly before his passing four years ago.

“He knows all my secrets.” The previous Rebbe entrusted the chassidus to his eldest son — a persona of extreme humility and spiritual achievements and a beacon for the complex chinuch issues faced by an overwhelmed generation

“I haven’t hidden anything from him and you can rely on him with your eyes closed — his hand is like my own and his mouth is like my mouth.”

It was the winter of 2012 and in front of the Rebbe — racked by the pain of chemotherapy treatments and the disease that was ravaging his frail body yet refusing to close his door to the multitudes of broken Jews who sought his comfort and wisdom —  were a pile of pills a cup of tea and a secret document carefully concealed beneath a stack of books. It was the Rebbe’s will signed the month before containing hundreds of instructions relating to individuals to families and to the chassidus as a whole so that the Rebbe would not leave behind any machlokes on his departure from This World.

In the will the Rebbe divided the leadership of the chassidus among several of his righteous talented sons giving them positions in their respective communities — Rav Meir Yitzchok Isaac became rebbe inJerusalem Rav Asher Yeshaya became rebbe in Beitar and Rav Yosef Naftali became rebbe in Elad. Yet Rav Eliezer Zev av beis din of Nadvorna Bnei Brak and the Rebbe’s oldest son is considered the inheritor of the mantle.

During the final hours of his father’s life Rav Eliezer Zev Rosenbaum the new Nadvorna Rebbe sat alone next to his father as the two spoke quietly for hours out of earshot of the chassidim — the content of those conversations never revealed.

Chassidim in Nadvorna’s inner circle reveal that Rav Eliezer Zev spent many years hidden in the shadow of his father, whom he honored like a disciple honors his rebbe. When he would speak with his father, even by telephone, he would first wash his hands, put on his hat, and wrap his gartel around his waist before picking up the phone to make the call. Years ago, he was also taken under the wing of his grandfather — the holy mystic Rebbe Chaim Mordechai Rosenbaum ztz”l — the Devar Chaim. Rav Eliezer Zev was just 20 years old when the Devar Chaim passed away in 1978, but those were spiritually formative years — zeide and einekel closeting themselves away from prying eyes, learning together b’chavrusa as they soared to great spiritual heights.

Today, Rav Eliezer Zev, the new Nadvorna Rebbe shlita, has proven that, while his father and grandfather were holy rebbes of their generations, Hashem doesn’t leave any dor bereft; and so with his penetrating wisdom, chinuch insight, scholarship, and humility, he is a rebbe for today’s people, leading a tzibbur bombarded with modern conflicts into the new year with clarity and hope.