Letter handwritten and signed by Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum of Sassov (son-in-law of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar). Jerusalem, [24 Sivan], 1946.
Written on official stationery of Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa from his period of residence in Jerusalem (after he was rescued in the Holocaust and immigrated to Eretz Israel): “Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Szemihaly, Rosh Av Beit Din of Satmar – residing here in Jerusalem, Beit Yisrael HeChadashah”.
Letter of testimony to permit remarriage for R. Menachem son of R. Chaim Adler, whose wife and children perished in Auschwitz: “…I know him for a long time as a God-fearing, trustworthy man, and his words can be unquestionably relied upon. And I, the undersigned, have also heard from some people who were from his city who were with his wife and family in a ghetto, and were later sent together to the death camp Auschwitz… She stayed there… because she was occupied with little children, as is known that… women such as these went together with their families to the left side, may God save us and have mercy. And I sign as evidence here in Jerusalem… Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum”.
To the side of his signature appears his stamp: “Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Szemihaly, Rosh Av Beit Din of Satmar, in Jerusalem”.
Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum of Sassov (1906-1966), son of Rebbe Chanoch Henich Mayer of Sassov-Keretsky and Rebbetzin Esther, daughter of the Kedushat Yom Tov of Sighet. In 1924 married Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza, daughter of his uncle Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, in Orsheva. After the marriage, he lived near his father-in-law and uncle, and assisted him in directing his yeshivot in Orsheva, Carei and Satmar. He served in tandem as rabbi of Szemihaly (Bűdszentmihály) and Rosh Av Beit Din of Satmar. During the Holocaust, both son-in-law and daughter attempted to rescue the Rebbe from the war. In late 1943 the Rebbe sent his daughter Chaya Roiza to Budapest to get certificates to immigrate to Eretz Israel for himself and his family, but they did not succeed in getting them. They fled through Romania and reached Eretz Israel, and the Rebbe later managed to escape through the Kastner rescue train. Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa founded the yeshiva Yitav Lev in Jerusalem, and served as Rabbi of Beit Midrash Ohel Rachel of Satmar Chassidim in the city. During the 1948 War of Independence, Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa left Jerusalem and joined his father-in-law and uncle, Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, in the United States (who had reached it about a year and a half earlier in 1946). His wife, Chaya Roiza, passed away in 1953 without children, and she was buried in a Tiberias cemetery. In 1955 he married the widow of R. Mordechai Pergamenski, and rebuilt Sassov Chassidut in the United States. In late 1963, he returned to Eretz Israel and built the Yismach Moshe neighborhood, where his son R. Yosef David Teitelbaum currently serves as Rebbe of Sassov.
[1] leaf, official stationery. Approx. 27 cm. Good condition. Folds and creases. Filing holes, affecting some letters in the text. Stains and wear.
