Mordechai Dovid Unger

Mordechai Dovid Unger (Hebrew: הרב מרדכי דוד אונגער, born 1954) is the fifth Rebbe of Bobov Hasidic dynasty.

Mordechai Dovid Unger
Title	Rebbe of Bobov-(45)
Personal life
Born	Mordechai Dovid Unger 1954 (age 70–71)[1] New York
Nationality	American
Spouse	Rivka Halberstam
Children	Yosef, Shulim, Chaim Benzion, Yechezkel, Moshe Yehoshea
Parent	Yaakov Yitzchok Unger (father)
Religious life
Religion	Judaism
Jewish leader
Predecessor	Naftali Halberstam
Began	March 23, 2005
Ended	Current
Main work	Sheira D'bei Rav
Dynasty	Bobov - Bobov-45

Biography

Unger was born to Yaakov Yitzchok Unger of Dombrov.^[1][2] He is the younger son-in-law of Naftali Zvi Halberstam, the fourth Bobover Rebbe.^[1]

Following the death of his father-in-law right before the Purim holiday in 2005,^[3] a dispute arose as to who should be the Grand Rebbe of the then 120,000 Bobov Hasidim worldwide.^[1] Some began to follow Ben Zion Aryeh Leibish Halberstam, his father-in-law's half-brother,^[1] while others followed the older (by one year) Unger, who had by then already ensconced himself firmly within the community.^[1] Unger could not challenge his own father for leadership of Dombrov, which anyway was not as substantial a dynasty as Bobov.^[4] The matter of succession was brought before a beth din (religious court) in 2007, which ruled that Halberstam would be declared Rebbe of Bobov (אדמו"ר מבאבוב) with its headquarters on 48th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn,^[5] while Unger would be Rebbe of Bobov-45 (אדמו"ר מבאבוב-45), located on 49th Street.^[5][6]

Rebbes of Bobov

1. Shlomo Halberstam (1847–1905), grandson of the Sanzer Rebbe, Chaim Halberstam
2. Ben Zion Halberstam (1874–1941)
3. Shlomo Halberstam (1907–2000)
4. Naftali Halberstam (1931–2005)
5. Mordechai Dovid Unger (b. 1954), son-in-law of Naftali Halberstam

Politics

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams visited Bobov–45 as part of his 2017 re-election campaign.^[7]