Autograph letter signed by Rabbi "Naftali Zvi Unger", to his brother-in-law Rebbe Chune Halberstam. Bardejov, [1906].
Letter of good wishes in honor of the appointment of Rabbi Chune'le as Av Beit Din of the Kołaczyce community: "To my brother-in-law my friend, the outstanding sharp Chassid and humble…Rabbi Chune'le Av Beit Din of Kołaczyce…about the good tidings which reached us that you have been awarded a position in the Kołaczyce rabbinate…Mazal tov, G-d should give you grace in the eyes of people that your words should be heartily accepted and you should merit rendering true halachic decisions without ever erring, G-d forbid…".
Rabbi Naftali Zvi Unger (1880-perished in the Holocaust in 1942), son of Rebbe Moshe Elyakim Beri'a Unger Av Beit Din of Dumbrava, and son-in-law of Rebbe Moshe Halberstam of Bardejov who was son-in-law of Rebbe Chune Halberstam of Kołaczyce (1884-1942). Rabbi Naftali Zvi lived in Bardejov and established a yeshiva in which he raised many Torah scholars. Great in Torah and Chassidism, he refused to accept the various rabbinic positions offered to him in many important Galician cities. Even the position of Dumbrava Rebbe he passed over to his younger brother.
Postcard, 14 cm. Good-fair condition. Stains, light damages to corners.

Letter by Rebbe Yekutiel Ya'akov Halberstam, handwritten and signed by his meshamesh bakodesh. On the margins are another 5 lines written and signed by the Rebbe himself. Kiryat Sanz, Netanya [1963?].
This is a quote of the lines written in the Rebbe's own handwriting: "The writer wrote in short - my intent was to bless you...in all your endeavors for the sake of G-d, all your endeavors should meet with blessing and success. Your friend …".
Rebbe Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam (1905-1994), the Rebbe of Klausenberg Sanz, was a leading Torah and Chassidic figure in our days. His first marriage was to the daughter of the Rebbe, author of Atzei Chaim of Siget. His first wife and all their children were murdered in the Holocaust. Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda endured the worst possible sufferings at the hands of the Nazis, and later assisted in rebuilding Jewish and religious communal life in the the DP camps in Germany. He then immigrated to the US and rebuilt the Sanz Chassidic institutions - Batei Midrash, educational institutes and yeshivas. A decade later, he immigrated to Eretz Israel and established Kiryat Sanz in Netanya and in Jerusalem along with their numerous Torah and chesed institutions. During the last years of his life, he founded the Mifal HaShas, a global organization of thorough study of all the Talmudic tractates by thousands of Torah scholars all over the world. Part of his Torah teachings were printed in the books Divrei Yatziv responsa and Shefa Chaim.
Official stationery, 23.5 cm. Fair condition. Many creases, tears, mounted on paper.

Long, interesting autograph letter signed by Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch, sent from Telz to Jerusalem in the course of World War II, to his uncle and mechutan Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin. Telz, [Shevat 1941].
At the peak of those horrific times, Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin [son of Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin] married his relative Rebbetzin Rachel, daughter of his cousin Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch [Rabbi Zalman Sorotzkin and his uncle Rabbi Y.L. Bloch were both sons-in-law of the founder of the yeshiva, Rabbi Eliezer Gordon]. Immediately following their marriage, the couple embarked on the journey from war-torn Lithuania to the US via Siberia and Japan.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch wrote to his uncle: "Our dear children have left Kovno on Wednesday and today I have received a telegram from the capital city [Moscow?] that they have arrived safely…we have decided that they should travel through the east because we have received notice that they have received immigration affidavits to enter the US…". Further in the letter he writes of various rescue efforts for attaining visas and travel permits for the yeshiva students and their families.
Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Bloch (1890-1941), Av Beit Din of Telz and head of the Telz Yeshiva. Third generation of deans of the Telz Yeshiva, second son of the author of Shi'urei Da'at, Rabbi Yosef Leib Bloch, and grandson of Rabbi Eliezer Gordon, the yeshiva's founder. From his youth, he was renowned for his exceptional talent and in-depth study. In 1920, at the age of 30, he was appointed head lecturer and head of yeshiva [in the lifetime of his father], and after the death of his father in Cheshvan 1929, he was appointed head of yeshiva and his father's successor in the city rabbinate. After the Nazi conquest in the summer of 1941, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak was brutally murdered by the Nazis near Telz, together with hundreds of the yeshiva's students and their rabbi and with most of his family and community.
Some of his novellae were published in the book Chiddushei Rabbeinu R' A.Y. of Telz. In the introduction to the book, he is described as "a Torah teacher who merited fame in his own generation by his amazing discourses which displayed comprehension and depth of Torah knowledge".
Of all his children, only three daughters survived the Holocaust. One was Rebbetzin Rachel Sorotzkin, wife of Rabbi Baruch Sorotzkin who was appointed to head the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland, Ohio in the US.
Official stationery, 2 written pages, 28.5 cm. Good-fair condition, wear, filing holes and small tears.