Rabbi Yaakov Yosef Twersky (zy"a), the previous Skverer Rebbe, was one of the most remarkable and visionary builders of post-Holocaust American Jewry. Known for his profound kedushah (holiness), radical humility, and unyielding commitment to the traditions of Chassidus, he achieved what many in the mid-20th century deemed impossible: transplanting the authentic, unadulterated atmosphere of the Eastern European shtetl onto American soil.

He is the founder of the unique, entirely Chassidic village of New Square in Rockland County, New York, which stands today as a monument to his uncompromising faith.

The Golden Lineage and the Flames of Europe

The Rebbe was born in 1899 in the Ukrainian town of Skvyra. He was a direct scion of the holy Chernobyldynastic line, tracing his lineage back to the Chernobyler Maggid (Rav Mottel) and the Baal Shem Tov.

• Survival and Exodus: During World War II, he endured the horrors of the Holocaust in Romania, surviving through open miracles. Following the war, he spent time in Bucharest and Prague before realizing that the future of the surviving remnants of European Jewry lay across the ocean. He arrived in the United States in 1950, initially establishing his court in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn.

The Vision: Fleeing the City for the Woods

While other Chassidic leaders accepted the realities of American urban life and worked to rebuild within Brooklyn, the Skverer Rebbe felt that the commercial distractions, material culture, and spiritual hazards of New York City were fundamentally incompatible with the level of spiritual purity he desired for his Chassidim.

• Buying the Farmland: In 1954, determined to shield his flock from the "American melting pot," the Rebbe took a radical step. He purchased a large tract of rural farmland in Rockland County, upstate New York. By 1956, a small, daring group of families moved out to the countryside to build a self-sustaining town dedicated solely to Torah, avodas Hashem (divine service), and the highest standards of tzniut (modesty).

• The Birth of New Square: The surrounding modern townships fiercely opposed the creation of an insular, religious village, hitting the fledgling community with immense legal, zoning, and bureaucratic hurdles. The Rebbe fought tirelessly against the opposition. In 1961, the town successfully incorporated as an independent municipality: New Square (a slight typographic error by a clerk transforming New Skvere into New Square). It became the first legally recognized Chassidic town in United States history.

His Radical Humility and Holy Countenance

The Skverer Rebbe was entirely unique in his style of leadership. In an era where public relations and political influence were becoming standard, the Rebbe fled from the spotlight.

• Quiet Leadership: He rarely gave long, public discourses (Torah), and he spoke in a very soft, gentle whisper. Instead, it was his mere tzurat kodesh (holy countenance), his visible trembling during tefillah, and his total detachment from material pleasures that magnetically attracted thousands of Yidden back to their roots.

• The "Blank" Matzeivah: The Rebbe passed away on 2 Nissan, 1968 (5728) at the age of 68 and was buried in the New Square Cemetery. In keeping with his lifelong self-nullification and an explicit directive in his last will and testament, there is absolutely no name or text chiseled onto his tombstone. Worshippers entering his Ohel (burial shrine) see a completely blank, white stone draped in a simple velvet cover.

A Fortress of Tefillah in America

Today, the Rebbe’s legacy is carried on by his son and successor, the current Skverer Rebbe, Harav David Twersky shlit"a, under whose leadership the village has expanded into a global empire of Torah and chessedinstitutions.

The Ohel of the previous Rebbe in New Square has become one of the most heavily visited mekomos kedoshim in North America. Every single day, and especially on Sundays, ahead of Rosh Chodesh, and on his Yahrzeit on the 2nd of Nissan, the building is packed with Yidden from every background. They stand before the blank stone, pouring out their hearts over Tehillim and leaving kvitlach (written petitions), begging the holy tzaddik—who refused to let the fire of Chassidus die in the New World—to intercede on their behalf for yeshuos, shidduchim, and refuos.