Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

New York Rabbi Drowns After Jumping In Lake To Save His Child

(JTA) — The body of a New York rabbi was found a day after he jumped into an upstate lake to save one of his children from drowning.

The child was wearing a life jacket and was returned safely to the rented pontoon boat on Greenwood Lake in Orange County on Sunday afternoon. But Rabbi David Traub, 38, who was not wearing a life jacket, was not able to make it back to the boat and was pulled under the water.

His body was found midday on Monday. The search had been called off the previous night because of bad weather.

Traub was the head of school and synagogue at Bais Medrosh Elyon in Monsey, New York, The Journal News reported. He is reported to be the father of seven children.

The funeral was held later Monday. The rabbi will be buried in Israel.

Last month, Rabbi Reuven Bauman, 35 and a father of five, drowned after he jumped into the ocean in a state park in Virginia Beach to save a student who was having trouble returning to shore.

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly. 

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.

Exit mobile version