Letter written "at the command" of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar requesting a donation for purchase of a new building for the yeshiva and Talmud Torah near the house of the Rebbe in Williamsburg. Brooklyn, New York, "Isru Chag of Sukkot" (24 Tishrei), 1950.

Printed on official stationery of Rebbe "Yoel Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Satmar and the region", and bearing the signature of the Rebbe's faithful secretary, R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Friedman, head of the Yitav Lev community and director of Satmar institutions in the United States (son-in-law by his first marriage of R. Shaul Brach, Av Beit Din of Košice).

Sent to the philanthropist R. Menachem Mendel Feder "at the command of the Rebbe". At the beginning of the letter, R. Lipa Friedman describes the development and expansion of the Satmar community and institutions, and the newfound need to purchase a place for the yeshiva and Talmud Torah: "Thank God we found a house at a comfortable price in the Rebbe's neighborhood [Williamsburg], so we decided to purchase it, but unfortunately few can comprehend the importance and urgency of the matter…".

R. Lipa adds that the Rebbe directed him to write to him personally and ask him to donate a "respectable sum for the purpose of purchasing the house". Likewise, he asks him to visit the Rebbe who is interested in speaking with him on the matter: "We would be very satisfied if he would take the time to visit the Rebbe to speak with him face to face about the whole matter, and also personally see the house that we bought and the students of the yeshiva – I am certain that he will be satisfied and that it will give him spiritual pleasure and make an unforgettable impression on him".

On the margins of the letter is a handwritten inscription (in pen), the reply of R. Menachem Mendel Feder who writes of his donation of 200 dollars for the cause: "Here attached is a check for 200 dollars for the holy yeshiva building – Respectfully, Menachem Mendel Feder".

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979) was the youngest son of Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa, the Kedushat Yom Tov (1836-1904), and grandson of Rebbe Yekutiel Yehuda, the Yitav Lev (1808-1883), who both served as rabbis of Sighet (Sighetu Marmației) and were leaders of Chassidic Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was renowned from his youth as a leading Torah scholar of his generation, for his perspicacity and intellectual capacities, as well as for his holiness and outstanding purity. At a young age, he was appointed rabbi of Irshava. In 1925, he was appointed rabbi of Karoly (Carei; in place of R. Shaul Brach who went to serve as rabbi of Kashoi), and in 1934, of Satmar (Satu Mare). In all the places he served as rabbi, he also maintained a large yeshiva and Chassidic court. He stood at the helm of the faithful, uncompromising Orthodox Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was one of the founding pillars of the Torah world in the generation following the Holocaust. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the United States, where he established the Satmar Chassidic community. He served as president of the Eda HaCharedit in Jerusalem, and as leader of Orthodox Jewry in the United States and throughout the world. His writings were published in dozens of books: VaYoel Moshe, Responsa Divrei Yoel, Divrei Yoel on the Torah and more.

[1] leaf, official stationery. Approx. 28 cm. Good condition. Folds and creases. Tears and light wear to the margins.

Letter handwritten and signed by R. Yosel Ashkenazi, famed attendant of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. Brooklyn, New York, [29 Sivan], 1964. Yiddish.

Letter on official stationery of Rebbe "Yoel Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Satmar and the region",  written and signed by "Yosef Ashkenazi – Gabbai". Sent to "Mrs. Zlotnik" [apparently, the widow Rebbetzin Zlotnik of Shaarei Chesed, sister-in-law of R. Eliyahu Zlotnik, dayan of the Edah HaCharedit in Jerusalem]. In his letter, R. Yosel Ashkenazi writes that the Rebbe received the Kvittel and Pidyon of 300 dollars she had sent, and prayed for her and blessed her with "salvation, for all your wishes to be fulfilled for good, with everything good".

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979) was the youngest son of Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa, the Kedushat Yom Tov (1836-1904), and grandson of Rebbe Yekutiel Yehuda, the Yitav Lev (1808-1883), who both served as rabbis of Sighet (Sighetu Marmației) and were leaders of Chassidic Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was renowned from his youth as a leading Torah scholar of his generation, for his perspicacity and intellectual capacities, as well as for his holiness and outstanding purity. At a young age, he was appointed rabbi of Irshava. In 1925, he was appointed rabbi of Karoly (Carei; in place of R. Shaul Brach who went to serve as rabbi of Kashoi), and in 1934, of Satmar (Satu Mare). In all the places he served as rabbi, he also maintained a large yeshiva and Chassidic court. He stood at the helm of the faithful, uncompromising Orthodox Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was one of the founding pillars of the Torah world in the generation following the Holocaust. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the United States, where he established the Satmar Chassidic community. He served as president of the Eda HaCharedit in Jerusalem, and as leader of Orthodox Jewry in the United States and throughout the world. His writings were published in dozens of books: VaYoel Moshe, Responsa Divrei Yoel, Divrei Yoel on the Torah and more.

R. Efraim Yosef Dov son of R. Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi (R. Yosel; 1911-2002), attendant and confidant of the Rebbe of Satmar for close to sixty years, and his close assistant in all communal matters. R. Yosef was a particularly astute Torah scholar, great in Chassidut and fear of God. During the Holocaust, R. Yosef accompanied the Rebbe on his journey in the famous Kastner rescue train, and later immigrated with him to Eretz Israel, and immigrated to the United States shortly thereafter. He was the owner of the Yerushalayim publishing house in Williamsburg. He edited his Rebbe's books in Halachah and Aggadah and published them (see his introduction to Responsa Divrei Yoel). Author of She'erit Yosef on the Torah.

[1] leaf, official stationery. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folds.

Letter of approbation signed by Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Sighet (later Rebbe of Satmar), author of Berach Moshe. Brooklyn, New York, 11 Tevet, 1950.

Typewritten on Rebbe's official stationery during his stay in Brooklyn after the Holocaust, signed "Moshe Teitelbaum".

Sent to R. Tzvi Yaakov Abraham (formerly Av Beit Din of Turda and director of the Orthodox Bureau in Transylvania), regarding his commentary Maasei Melech on the Pesach Haggadah, prefaced by "introduction from our holy rabbis, the great disciples of the Baal Shem Tov, most of which have never been printed". The Rebbe writes that he greatly enjoyed reading his novellae, and especially in that he "saved these holy Torah teachings from oblivion", and he closes with the hope that all Torah learners merit to enjoy the book and that his novellae "be accepted by the sages and their disciples".

Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum of Satmar (1914-2006), author of Berach Moshe, second son of Rebbe Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Sighet, author of Atzei Chaim. He was a son-in-law (by his first marriage) of his uncle, Rebbe Chanoch Henich of Sassov, Av Beit Din of Keretsky (son-in-law of the Kedushat Yom Tov). Initially he directed the Beit David yeshiva of his uncle and father-in-law in Keretsky, and he was later appointed as Rabbi of Senta, where he founded a yeshiva and served as its dean. After the Holocaust, he served as Rabbi in his hometown Sighet. After persecution under the Communist regime in Romania intensified, he immigrated to the United States and founded the Atzei Chaim – Sighet Beit Midrash in Boro Park. He was one of the great members of the Central Rabbinical Congress and a confidant of his uncle, Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. In 1979 he began to serve as Rebbe of Satmar, succeeding his uncle Rebbe Yoel (whose three daughters passed away in his lifetime without children). His sons Rebbe Aharon Teitelbaum and Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah (Zalman Leib) Teitelbaum lead the two large Satmar Chassidic communities in the United States and worldwide.

[1] leaf, official stationery ("Moshe Teitelbaum, Av Beit Din of Sighet – 152 Hughes St., Brooklyn, NY"). 28 cm. Good condition. Folds and minor creases.

Prozbul document of R. Efraim Yosef Dov Ashkenazi, famed attendant of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, signed by the dayanim of the Beit Din, R. Moshe Yosefovitch, R. Eliyahu Pollock and R. Natan Yosef Meisels. 29 Elul, 1959.

Printed document with details filled in in handwriting: "R. Yosef Ashkenazi of Brooklyn came before us, the Beit Din undersigned… and we grant that he not remit any debt he is owed by any person… in accordance with the decree of the Sages. Signed 29 Elul, 5719".

R. Efraim Yosef Dov son of R. Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi (R. Yosel; 1911-2002), attendant and confidant of the Rebbe of Satmar for close to sixty years, and his close assistant in all communal matters. R. Yosef was a particularly astute Torah scholar, great in Chassidut and fear of God. During the Holocaust, R. Yosef accompanied the Rebbe on his journey in the famous Kastner rescue train, and later immigrated with him to Eretz Israel, and immigrated to the United States shortly thereafter. He was the owner of the Yerushalayim publishing house in Williamsburg. He edited his Rebbe's books in Halachah and Aggadah and published them (see his introduction to Responsa Divrei Yoel). Author of She'erit Yosef on the Torah.

[1] leaf. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folds.

Long letter (two pages; 32 lines) handwritten and signed by Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza, daughter of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. Sent to their relative in Switzerland, the attendant R. Yosel Ashkenazi. [Jerusalem, 1945.] Yiddish (and some Hebrew).

Letter from Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum’s only daughter still alive after the Holocaust (her two sisters had passed away earlier in 1921 and 1931). Her father the Rebbe and his attendant R. Yosel Ashkenazi were staying in Geneva, Switzerland at that time (after they were rescued in the Kastner train), and they were waiting to get an immigration visa to Eretz Israel. [His daughter, Rebbetzin Chaya and her husband R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Mayer-Teitelbaum, were rescued in a different way, and reached Jerusalem about a year earlier. They all later immigrated together to the United States.]

In her letter, the Rebbetzin describes at length her own and her husband R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa’s efforts to get an immigration visa to Eretz Israel, and the high costs and bureaucratic difficulties, and her husband’s voyage to Safed to find documentary evidence that R. Yosel was born in Eretz Israel and emigrated with his father to Hungary in his youth.

Rebbetzin Chaya Roiza goes on to write her hopes that he would hear good tidings from his wife Pessel and his dear children, and she encourages him with the news that most Hungarian Jews were rescued and are now returning to Hungary: “The newspapers here write that most of the Jews are returning to Hungary! Near Vienna there are 170,000 Hungarian Jews, and in Budapest there are 150,000 Jews, but they can’t be contacted…”. She goes on to say that R. Yudel Schwartz and his children were rescued and are now in Satmar, and she asks if he has news from some family members.

In the last part of the letter she writes that she sent him a Tallit Katan: “It is not Turkish but made in Eretz Israel, because here we can only get local merchandise”. And she adds regarding getting an immigration visa for her father, the Rebbe: “Regarding the certificate for my father, we hope that with God’s help the matter will come to an end, but we have to wait a bit”.

She ends the letter with a request for him to write to her frequently, and she hints at problems with the British censor disposing of many letters – “because when one writes a lot, a little arrives” – and she signs the letter with wishes and blessings: “we hope every day to hear good tidings from you, may God help, and may we merit to hear good tidings from all our families – Chaya Roiza”.

On the margins of the leaf is written in pen: “Sent 28.5.45 – received 8.6.45”.

[1] leaf. 20.5x20.5 cm. Good condition. Folds. Minor stains. Pin holes in the margins.