Poster signed by the president of the Orthodox Bureau of Transylvania, R. Ben Tzion Wesel. Cluj (Klausenburg), [5 Adar I], 1935. Printed in Satmar by Meir Leib Hirsch. Hebrew and Yiddish print.
Printed poster – decision of the Orthodox Bureau of Transylvania to forbid the Av Beit Din of Carei, R. Avraham Abish Horowitz of Spinka, from halachic ruling, and disqualify the shochet he brought with him from Remeți, following his failure to comply with one of the Bureau's decisions: "Since Weinberger's faction in Carei, along with the rabbi chosen by them, R. Avraham Abish Horowitz, did not comply with the State Council Committee's decision… those who eat of the meat slaughtered by their shochet from Remeți are considered Neologs… and the above rabbi's halachic ruling is also forbidden as Neolog ruling" (see below).
At the bottom of the poster are printed the names of rebbes and rabbis who took part in the gathering that decided the above: Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum of Sighet (son of the Atzei Chaim), R. Shmuel Gross of Berbești; Rebbe Yaakov Elimelech Panet of Deyzh; R. Baruch Bendit Lichtenstein, Av Beit Din of Kraszna; and other important rabbis.
The poster was printed in the wake of the heated controversy around the choice of a new rabbi for the Orthodox community of Carei, after Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Carei, moved to serve as Rabbi of Satmar. The vast majority of the Carei community chose R. Avraham Abish (Abishel) Horowitz as their rabbi, son-in-law of the Chakal Yitzchak, Rebbe of Spinka. On the other side, Satmar Chassidim in the city founded a small, separate "Sephardic community", and appointed R. Shmuel Gross of Berbești as rabbi (cousin of their Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum). Both rabbis directed separate yeshivas and community institutions and appointed separate shochatim. The old community shochatim did not accept the authority of the new rabbi, and R. Abishel was compelled to bring in a new shochet from Remeți, where he had served prior to his arrival in Carei.
After acts of violence between the two parties, the authorities appointed an official committee headed by R. Shabtai Weinberger, where R. Abishel's supporters had a majority (this committee is referred to in the present poster as "Weinberger's faction". Conversely, the Orthodox Bureau of Transylvania, headed by R. Ben Tzion Wesel, Av Beit Din of Turda, supported the seceding "Sephardic" community.
During this period, both parties published various polemical writings supporting their respective claims. Each side even published a newspaper representing its position – R. Abishel's supporters, Vizhnitz and Spinka Chassidim, published the newspaper Transylvanishe Yiddishe Zeitung, edited by R. Shmuel Tzvi Weiss, grandson of the Chakal Yitzchak; while followers of the Rebbe of Satmar and supporters of R. Shmuel Gross of Berbești published the newspaper Orthodoxishe Zeitung. The present poster, forbidding the meat slaughtered by the shochet of Remeți and disqualifying R. Abishel from halachic ruling, was also published during that heated period in Carei [see previous item: Kuntres Baruch Matir Asurim, containing letters of eminent rabbis supporting R. Abishel's appointment as Rabbi and Av Beit Din of Carei].
R. Avraham Abish (Abishel) Horowitz, Av Beit Din of Carei (1897-1944, perished in the Holocaust), son of Rebbe Naftali Horowitz of Melitz (1845-1915) and son-in-law of the Chakal Yitzchak of Spinka. During World War I, he served in his father-in-law's position as Av Beit Din of Spinka. In 1934 he was appointed rabbi of Carei in 1934, a position previously held by Rebbe Yoel of Satmar. The Satmar Chassidim did not accept his authority, and appointed their own rabbi, R. Shmuel Gross of Berbești (grandson of Rebbe Yisrael Yaakov Yukel Teitelbaum of Volove). The Orthodox community was thus split into two factions. R. Abishel founded a large yeshiva, Beit Avraham, numbering about a hundred students, most from the Maramureș region. His son is R. Shmuel Tzvi Horowitz – Rebbe Hershel Spinker, the Spinka Rebbe of the United States (1921-1997), and his son-in-law is Rebbe Yaakov Yosef Weiss (1916-1988), the Spinka Rebbe of Bnei Brak.
[1] leaf. 34 cm. Fair-good condition. Stains and wear. Creases and tears. The poster is mounted on paper for preservation.
