RARE HISTORIC LETTERS OF RABBI YEKUSIEL YEHUDA TEITELBAUM (1912-1944)...

RARE HISTORIC LETTERS OF RABBI YEKUSIEL YEHUDA TEITELBAUM (1912-1944) – REBBE OF SIGHET, AND HIS BROTHER-IN-LAW RABBI YEKUSIEL YEHUDA HALBERSTAM (1904-1994) – REBBE OF SANZ-KLAUSENBURG, REGARDING THE RESCUE OF THE KLAUSENBURGER REBBE – IN 1940.

In this historic letter, written near the beginning of WWII, when the authorities in Hungary created difficulties for foreign Jews residing in Hungary (long before the German invasion). This affected the Rebbe of Klausenburg and his family and efforts to regulate his situation involved heavy costs that he did not have. His brother-in-law therefore wrote to his followers appealing for their generous donations.

The Kalusenburger Rebbe adds his own letter appealing to his friends and acquaintances who are ‘loyal to the house of my holy father-in-law [Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, the Rebbe of Sighet, author of Atzei Chaim] ... You know that I am not accustomed to burden others with my requirements, but now the situation has become unbearable ...’

These letters are the only surviving documentary evidence of the close association of the Klausenburger Rebbe to the family of his first wife and to his brother-in-law, the Rebbe of Sighet.
Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, son of Rabbi Chaim Tzvi, author of Atzei Chaim and Rebbe of Sighet. Son-in-law of (I) his uncle Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar and (II) his uncle Rabbi Meshulam Zusha Halberstam of Ratzfert. He succeeded his father as Rabbi of Sighet and chassidic leader at the age of 14. He was arrested by the Hungarians in 1944 for sheltering Polish Jewish refugees, but subsequently released and returned to Sighet, but then deported to Auschwitz and murdered together with his community. Remnants of his Torah writings were published under the title Yad Yekusiel.

Rabbi Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, Rebbe of Sanz-Klausenburg, son of Rabbi Tzvi Hirsh of Rudnik. Son-in-law of (I) Rabbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum of Sighet, and (II) Rabbi Shmuel David Unger of Neutra. Recognised as a Torah genius and ordained as a rabbi at a young age. At the age of 21 he became Rabbi of the chassidic community in Klausenburg, where he also headed a Yeshiva and was influential beyond the borders of the city through his outstanding Torah knowledge and his saintliness. He lost his first wife and 11 children during the Holocaust as well as suffering physically in the concentration camps and Death March. Yet he firmly maintained his faith and trust in G-d and immediately after his liberation, established religious facilities and Jewish educational institutions for the survivors in the DP camps in Germany. He arrived in New York in 1946, where he continued his efforts for the religious rehabilitation and Torah education of Holocaust survivors, establishing schools and Yeshivos in the US and in the Holy Land. In 1955 he established the chassidic settlement of Kiryat Sanz in Netanya – with its educational institutions, and in 1979 he set up his Kolelei Shas and Mifal Hashas to encourage the study and memorising of the entire Talmud. He settled in Kiryat Sanz, but in 1968 moved to Union City in New Jersey, returning to Kiryat Sanz towards the end of his life. The Klausenburger Rebbe also established the Laniado Hospital in Kiryat Sanz, in fulfilment of a promise he had made during the Holocaust that if he survives he will establish an institution to save Jewish lives. Author of Divrei Yatziv, Shefa Chayim and numerous other rabbinic works.

2 sides. 15x23.5 cm. On official Stationery. Very good condition. Fold marks.