BDE: The Verdaner Rebbe zt"l

Flatbush - The Verdaner rebbe of Flatbush, who survived the horrors of the Holocaust but rebuilt his kehillah in the United States after the war, was just niftar. He was about 95.

The rebbe, Rav Yosef Leifer, was a scion of the Nadvorna dynasty and one of the oldest rebbes in the world. He was known as a tremendous talmid chacham with knowledge running the gamut of Torah.

The rebbe had a beis medrash in Flatbush for many years, from where he led his kehillah with simcha and according to the mesorah of his sainted forebears.

The rebbe collapsed in his house Tuesday evening. Hatzolah rushed to the scene and treated him but he was niftar shortly afterward.

Yehi zichro boruch.

Photos by: Heshy Rubinstein and Shlomysphotos