Lengthy letter handwritten and signed by R. Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum (later Rebbe of Sassov), and a lengthy letter handwritten by his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza, daughter of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. [Jerusalem, 1945]. Hebrew and Yiddish.

On one side is a letter by R. Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa and on the other is a letter by his wife, Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza (the only daughter of the Satmar Rebbe who survived the Holocaust – her two sisters had died earlier in 1921 and in 1931. During the Holocaust she and her husband escaped to Jerusalem, about a year before her father arrived. Eventually, they all moved to the United States).

The letter was addressed to their relative, the Rebbe's attendant R. Yosel Ashkenazi, shortly after his rescue from the Holocaust together with their father, Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, in the Kastner train, and their arrival in Switzerland.

R. Chananya begins the letter with details of his many efforts to obtain a visa for R. Ashkenazi and the Satmar Rebbe to immigrate to Eretz Israel, which was made hard due to harsh British restrictions on immigration from hostile countries, as well as opposition on the part of various parties in Eretz Israel. They advise R. Yosel to register as an orphan of the Rebbe's family, and ask him for information about the fate of relatives and friends in the Holocaust.

At the beginning of the letter, R. Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa thanks him for the news of the rescue of his brother R. Yoel Teitelbaum of Királyháza and his brother-in-law R. Moshe Teitelbaum Rabbi of Senta (the Berach Moshe of Satmar), and asks for information about his sister Chanah and her children (Rebbetzin Chanah, first wife of the Berach Moshe, perished in the Holocaust with her three children).

R. Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa concludes with a request for information on the fate of relatives and friends in the Holocaust, ending with his signature.

On the verso is a Yiddish letter handwritten and signed by Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza, also detailing the difficulties in attaining immigration visas to Eretz Israel for him and his her father, the Rebbe of Satmar. She asks for any opportunity to assist her brothers-in-law and cousins, and expresses her hope to see him again soon.

Rebbe Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum (1906-1966; son of Rebbe Chanoch Henich Mayer of Sassov-Keretsky and Rebbetzin Esther daughter of the Kedushat Yom Tov of Sighet). Rebbe Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa married his cousin Rebbetzin Chayah Roiza in Irshava in 1924, after which time he lived near his father-in-law and uncle and was his close assistant in directing the yeshivas in Irshava, Carei and Satmar. He served simultaneously as Rabbi of Szemihaly (Bűdszentmihály) and head of the Satmar Beit Din. Both husband and wife were active in rescue efforts for the Satmar Rebbe during the Holocaust. He later established the Yitav Lev yeshiva in Jerusalem, and served as rabbi in the Ohel Rachel Satmar Beit Midrash in Jerusalem. In 1946 he immigrated to the United States along with their father Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, where they lived until Rebbetzin Chayah Roiza's death, with no surviving children, on 14th Cheshvan 1953. Rebbe Chananiah Yom Tov Lipa remarried in 1955 and reestablished Sassov Chassidut in the United States. In 1963 he returned to Eretz Israel and built the Yismach Moshe neighborhood, where his son Rebbe Yosef David Teitelbaum now served as rabbi and rebbe.

[1] leaf. Written on both sides. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folding marks. Light stains.