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Lot 100

Tehillim – Olelot Yehudah – Satmar, 1927 – Handwritten Dedication of Rabbi Avraham Chanoch Friedman, Dayan and Posek of Satmar (Grandson of Chatam Sofer and Nephew of Author)

Tehillim with commentary Olelot Yehudah by R. Yehudah Greenwald, Av Beit Din of Satmar, author of Zichron Yehudah, with "Iggeret Musar of the Ramban" and "Tzetel Katan of R. Elimelech". Satmar: Meir Leib Hirsch, 1927. First edition.

The present copy was owned by the author's nephew, R. Avraham Chanoch Friedman, dayan and posek of Satmar, who gave it as a wedding gift to R. Avraham son of the philanthropist R. Moshe Shiman [R. Moshe Shiman is mentioned in the list of donors at the end of the book]. At the top of the title page is a handwritten dedication: "wedding gift to… Avraham son of the philanthropist R. Moshe Shiman from her for his wedding day, and may they be a good match and merit to build a faithful Jewish home… from his friend, Avraham Chanoch Friedman, local dayan and posek"; under the dedication appears his stamp: "Avraham Chanoch Friedman, dayan and posek of the orthodox community, Satmar".

The approbation of this R. Avraham Chanoch Friedman is printed at the beginning of the book, attesting that he gave R. Chaim Tzvi Zimmend, "a faithful and very dear student of R. Yehudah Greenwald", the author's manuscript on Tehillim: "I hereby give him this column as proof that I happily gave him copies of the commentary Olelot Yehudah on Tehillim which the holy author left behind".

In the list of signatories in the city of Carei at the end of the book appear the names of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar and his son-in-law R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum.


Rabbi Avraham Chanoch Friedman (1866-1944; perished in the Holocaust), son of the Chatam Sofer's daughter, close disciple and confidant of his uncle Rabbi Yehudah Greenwald, who adopted him as a son and married him to his niece. He edited and published the works of his teacher Rabbi Greenwald and of his grandfather the Chatam Sofer. He served for decades as a dayan and posek in Satmar (from 1905), directed a large yeshiva in it, and served as Rabbi of the Machazikei Torah Ashkenazi synagogue in the city. He was a supporter of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum's appointment as Rebbe of Satmar.


[4], 256, [10] leaves. 22.5 cm. Good condition. Stains. Open tear on the margins of leaf 89, affecting the margins of the text. Stamps. Gilt edges. Fine new leather binding.

Variant – in the present copy, [10] leaves are printed at the end of the book in which many more names are added to the list of "donors" and "signatories"; in most copies only [4] leaves are printed.