Auction 105 Books | Letters and Manuscripts | Esther Scrolls and Jewish Ceremonial Art
Large Collection of Letters and Documents – Satmar and its Institutions – Letters to Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum and His Family – Internal Documents on Administration of Satmar Institutions – 1940s-1970s
Opening: $1,000
Sold for: $5,500
Including buyer's premium
Large assorted collection of documents and letters addressed to Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, his wife Rebbetzin Alta Feiga, and his attendant R. Yosef Efraim Dov Ashkenazi, as well as various documents of the Satmar Chassidut worldwide. [United States, Eretz Israel and other places, ca. 1940s-1970s].
Letters addressed to Rebbe Yoel of Satmar, with kvittels and requests for blessing and salvation; confirmations, receipts and certificates of Torah and charitable institutions in Eretz Israel and worldwide, acknowledging receipt of funds from the Satmar Rebbe, and more. The collection also contains rich material on the establishment of Satmar institutions and the Kiryat Yoel neighborhood in Bnei Brak, and legal documents regarding "the Rabbi of Tolcsva's home" in Safed.
The collection includes:
• An invitation extended to the Rebbe of Satmar to stay at the Shomrei Shabbat community in Cleveland, signed by R. Shalom Gross (1960).
• "Patron of the Month" certificate of the Rebbe of Satmar, given by the Beit Avraham Slonim yeshiva in Jerusalem.
• Nine telegrams addressed to the Rebbe of Satmar from R. Pinchas Epstein and R. Yisrael Yitzchak Reizman of the Edah HaCharedit, regarding the Shemitah Etrogim controversy; the Central Rabbinical Congress, on an emergency meeting on anti-shechitah legislation; R. Amram Blau, on a fundraiser for the struggle "against the heresy attempting to cause Jews to transgress their faith"; R. Getzel Berger of London, on "redeeming Romanian Jewry" by activist Henry Jakober (with an attached letter signed by Henry Jakober, addressed to R. Binyamin Gorodetzky, Chabad activist and emissary of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and a letter addressed to philanthropist R. Getzel Berger); R. Shalom Pollak of London requesting a large sum of money; and other telegrams.
• Five letters addressed to his wife, Rebbetzin Alta Feiga Teitelbaum, including three lengthy Yiddish letters from her cousin, the sofer R. Immanuel Ber (son of R. Moshe Avraham son of Rebbe Avigdor Shapiro of Częstochowa).
• Letter from the Satmar Rebbe's secretary, signed (in print) by attendant R. Yosef Ashkenazi – invitation to join a limited gathering in the Rebbe's home regarding the Torah VeYirah yeshiva (1971).
• Two letters from R. Lipa Friedman, director of Satmar institutions in the United States, regarding the Yitav Lev yeshiva in Jerusalem and the Torah VeYirah yeshiva in Brooklyn.
• Summary of a protocol from a meeting of the Yitav Lev community in Brooklyn – eight ordinances subjecting the new community in Boro Park to the authority of the community administration in Williamsburg (1959).
• Leaves and notes handwritten by attendant R. Yosef Ashkenazi, with various inscriptions of names and accounting.
• Handwritten leaves with names of Holocaust survivors in Satmar and their families requesting visas to the United States.
• Letter (typewritten on official stationery, in Yiddish) by R. Yosef Ashkenazi, sent in 1947 to his wife Rebbetzin Cheila, regarding attaining an American visa (end of letter lacking, with photocopy replacement enclosed).
• Letter signed by R. Yosef Ashkenazi to Representative John Rooney, asking him for political action on behalf of a young Jewish couple in the USSR.
• Various letters addressed to R. Yosef Ashkenazi, including a zealous letter (torn up) handwritten and signed by R. Amram Blau (1950s); letters of R. Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa Schwartz, director of Satmar institutions in Jerusalem (1971); a letter of R. Lipa Friedman, director of Satmar institutions in the United states; a lengthy polemical letter from a Satmar Chassid in Antwerp; and more.
• Lengthy letter to attendant R. Azriel Glick, six letters handwritten and signed by R. Asher Lemel Schwartz, author of Likutei Halachot in Yiddish.
• Letter of R. Aharon Tzvi Taub, Rabbi of Hallein and the Migdal David community in Brooklyn, a $2 donation for alcoholic beverages at the Rebbe's table.
Letters and documents relative to leadership of Satmar institutions in Bnei Brak:
• About 15 letters by R. Bentzion Jakobowitz, author of Zechor Yemot Olam (1919-2012), director of Satmar institutions in Bnei Brak, addressed to attendant R. Yosef Ashkenazi and confidants of the Satmar Rebbe in Eretz Israel and Brooklyn, in the 1960s-1970s – lengthy letters (typewritten) regarding administration of Bnei Brak institutions, yeshiva and Torah school affairs, direction of the kollel and Beit Midrash, establishment of Kiryat Yoel neighborhood and buildings and institutions, neighborhood boundaries, modesty and other religious regulations, appointments to community offices, disputes, reports, financial issues, and more.
• Protocols from administrative meetings of the Yitav Lev Torah school and Kiryat Yoel neighborhood, regarding allocation of preferred stock to Rebbe Yoel of Satmar and his wife Rebbetzin Alta Feiga.
• Contract (unsigned) between the Rebbe of Satmar and the Yitav Lev Torah school in Bnei Brak, regarding allocation of Class A stock to the Rebbe of Satmar.
• Financial report of Kiryat Yoel neighborhood in Bnei Brak, signed by R. Bentzion Jakobowitz – 8 pages.
• Proposal to establish a worldwide charitable institution for Satmar Chassidim headed by the Rebbe – four-page document signed (in print) by R. Bentzion Jakobowitz.
• Regulations for teachers and substitutes in Satmar girls' schools in Bnei Brak (Nisan 1962) – two pages.
• List of donors to Beit Esther in Bnei Brak neighborhood – Montreal.
• Letter to Rebbetzin Alta Feiga Teitelbaum, signed anonymously as "the truth speaks for itself" – complaint against R. Bentzion Jakobowitz's conduct in Bnei Brak institutions (copies also sent to the Rebbe's assistants and confidants).
• Letter of administration of the Kiryat Yoel neighborhood in Bnei Brak, regarding violation of rent contract in the neighborhood (1971).
• Letter of R. Bentzion Jakobowitz, on the prohibition to receive benefits from the Religious Council (ca. 1970).
• And more.
Assorted documents and letters:
• Commitment handwritten and signed by philanthropist R. Yisrael Zupnik to donate $150,000 for the yeshiva and orphanage (1965).
• Announcement (typewritten) from the administration of the Satmar community in Jerusalem and the philanthropist R. Yisrael Zupnik – invitation to opening of Batei Zupnik.
• Leaf (typewritten) in Yiddish, unsigned, describing the Satmar Rebbe's efforts to have the immigrants from Romania settle in Yitav Lev institutions and the Diskin orphanage in Jerusalem (after the Holocaust).
• Confirmation signed by R. Chaim Eliyahu Sterberg and a rabbi of the Vaad HaYeshivot, regarding a young man who enlisted in the army (1954).
• Two train tickets during the Rebbe's 1965 visit.
• And more.
About 25 receipts of Torah and charitable institutions in Eretz Israel in the 1950s-1970s, confirming receipt of funds from Rebbe Yoel of Satmar. The receipts are printed, and filled in and signed by hand.
The collection also includes several leaves with statements and decisions of the Regional Court of Haifa, regarding a legal battle for ownership of the home of the Rabbi of Tolcsva in Safed.
Over 180 leaves. Varying size and condition.
Letters – Chassidut
Letters – Chassidut