On motzaei Shabbos, June 22, the Jewish world turned on their phones to find out the sad news that Rabbi Moshe Wolfson, mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas and rav of Khal Emunas Yisroel in Boro Park, Brooklyn, had collapsed. Rabbi Wolfson passed away that same night. Before morning, plans were already in place for the funeral.
The funeral procession for Rabbi Moshe Wolfson began in New Square, N.Y., then proceeded to Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn with the recital of Tehillim and Kel Maleh outside the mesivta. The mes was then driven to the shul where he served as rav for decades, followed by hundreds of mourners on foot. Barricades had been set up, local safety organizations’ mobile command centers in place, and police were stationed at every intersection. The main beis medrash was packed with an overflow crowd of men peering down from the ezras nashim. Speakers were set up outside for thousands more men in front of the shul, as well as for ladies across the street. Streams of mourners filled 16th Avenue and the 40s, as hespedim were delivered inside Emunas Yisroel.
Rabbi Chaim Rosenberg, rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Sharei Yosher (Boro Park) and son-in-law of Rabbi Wolfson, said that his father-in-law transcended labels: Lubavitch, Skver, Litvish, Yeshivesh, secular… all of this did not matter. It’s the peninimius, what’s inside a person that counts. And that’s what made Rabbi Wolfson special: he saw the good in everyone.
Rabbi Gedalia Machlis, another son-in-law of Rabbi Wolfson, quoted Behaaloscha: “When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall cast their light toward the face of the menorah” (Badmidbar 8:2). This was Rabbi Wolfson, a living menorah who used his whole body and soul to service Klal Yisrael. “Where is that ner?” Rabbi Machlis asked mournfully. Now that lamp has been extinguished. However, we can each take on a kaballah to do whatever we can to kindle the lamp of world Jewry.
During the levaya, his son, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchok Wolfson, was appointed as the head of the Emunas Yisroel kehillah in Monsey, while his grandson, Rabbi Shmuel Yehuda Silber, was appointed as head of Kehillas Emunas Yisroel in Boro Park.
After the levaya, the crowd rushed the street eager to accompany their beloved teacher, rabbi, chavrusa, family member, neighbor and friend for as many blocks as possible, before the hearse would drive to JFK with a destination of Eretz Yisrael for more hespedim and the kevurah. One woman commented on how she had brought her whole family to receive a beracha from Rabbi Wolfson the week before. Seen in the crowd also was Rabbi Mordechai Finkelman, a local maggid shiur who often cites to Rabbi Wolfson, his rebbi, in shiurim.
