CRASH KILLS RABBI ON WAY TO SON'S BAR MITZVAH By ANGELINA CAPPIELLO and DAN KADISON
July 26, 2005 -- A beloved Brooklyn rabbi died in a Catskills car accident on the way to his son's bar mitzvah, police said yesterday.
Rabbi Pesach Goldberg, 47, was at the wheel of his Ford Aerostar minivan Sunday evening driving his wife and several of their children to the ceremony in Sullivan County when a Ford Explorer approached from the opposite direction, police said.
"One of them swerved out of the lane and hit the other one head on," said Fallsburg Police Lt. John Calvello.
He said the accident reconstruction isn't complete and it is unclear what or who caused the crash on the "well-traveled" two-lane artery.
But the uncle of Goldberg's wife, Dova, said the family had just driven away from Camp Shalva in South Fallsburg — where they reside for the summer — and were headed to a Woodburn catering hall for a bar mitzvah celebration for their 13-year-old son, Ezra.
Goldberg "came out of the camp with his family, and a child on a bicycle rode in front of his car," said the uncle, Ahron Lieberman. "He tried to avoid the child and the collision happened."
Goldberg was pronounced dead at the scene and his wife was in critical condition. Six children, ages 2 to 13, were rushed to the Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris with severe injuries, said Calvello.
Dova, who fractured her skull, was airlifted later to Westchester Medical Center, where her condition improved sufficiently to be taken off a respirator yesterday afternoon, sources said.
Shocked loved ones gathered at Bobover Synagogue in Borough Park, Brooklyn, yesterday to attend Goldberg's funeral.
The father of nine children in total, Goldberg was remembered as a loving man and a dedicated teacher of Jewish studies.
"From the day he joined our family, over 20 years ago, he was a good man," said Lieberman.
"We were a very united family. [On Sunday] night we went for a party and came back with a dead man."
The occupants of the other car — James Krueger, 45, of Orange County, his wife, Joanie, 44, and their two 10-year-old twin boys — were rushed to Catskill Regional and were in stable condition, Calvello added.
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