Auction 62 - Judaica - Books, Manuscripts, Rabbinical Letters, Ceremonial Art
Letter from Rebbe Sinai Halberstam – Zhmigrod, 1934 – Wishes for the New Year and Blessings for a Complete Recovery
Opening: $1,200
Sold for: $1,875
Including buyer's premium
Letter from Rebbe Sinai Halberstam, Rabbi of Zhmigrod. Zhmigrod (Nowy Żmigród), Elul 1934.
The last four lines are handwritten and signed by the Rebbe himself. Sent to a young boy requesting a blessing for his father's recovery, the letter opens with good wishes for the new year and continues with the Rebbe's blessings "may G-d in his bountiful compassion and kindness have mercy on him and send him a complete recovery amongst other sick Jewish people, may he from today onwards be fully healthy, so that he can soon inform me of his good health".
On the verso of the postcard, the Rebbe's attendant, Menashe Yechezkel, wrote the Rebbe's request of being regularly informed of the father's good health.
Rebbe Sinai Halberstam of Zhmigrod (1871-1941), son of Rebbe Baruch of Gorlitz (Gorlice) and grandson of R. Chaim of Sanz (Nowy Sącz), was named Sinai at the behest of his grandfather the Divrei Chaim (regarding the reasons behind this name, see sources quoted below). Renowned as a holy from birth, he conducted himself with extreme holiness, would awaken every night at midnight to study Zohar until the morning prayers, and earned the reputation of a wonder-worker. He served as rabbi of Gorlitz, Koloshitz (Kołaczyce) and Zhmigrod. From 1904, he became the Rebbe of Zhmigrod. A foremost Rebbe of the Sanz dynasty, he was a diligent Torah scholar and preacher, a pious man reputed for the scope of his prayers. Near the end of his life, he relocated to Kraków.
His grandson R. Moshe Halberstam - later one of the rabbis of the Beit Din of the Eidah HaChareidit – travelled in his youth from Jerusalem to Kraków, to lay Tefillin in honor of his Bar-mitzva beside his grandfather in Kraków, though unfortunately just then, WWII broke out. The grandson miraculously succeeded in returning to Eretz Israel, while the elderly grandfather escaped the Nazis to the Omsk forest, where he died of starvation. The family miraculously obtained a white cloth for his burial and even succeeded in laying a tombstone on his grave, but his writings were lost during the Holocaust. (Rabbeinu HaKadosh MiTzanz, II, p. 369; Me'orei Galicia, II, p. 528).
Official postcard, 14X9.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Minor tear and creases.
The last four lines are handwritten and signed by the Rebbe himself. Sent to a young boy requesting a blessing for his father's recovery, the letter opens with good wishes for the new year and continues with the Rebbe's blessings "may G-d in his bountiful compassion and kindness have mercy on him and send him a complete recovery amongst other sick Jewish people, may he from today onwards be fully healthy, so that he can soon inform me of his good health".
On the verso of the postcard, the Rebbe's attendant, Menashe Yechezkel, wrote the Rebbe's request of being regularly informed of the father's good health.
Rebbe Sinai Halberstam of Zhmigrod (1871-1941), son of Rebbe Baruch of Gorlitz (Gorlice) and grandson of R. Chaim of Sanz (Nowy Sącz), was named Sinai at the behest of his grandfather the Divrei Chaim (regarding the reasons behind this name, see sources quoted below). Renowned as a holy from birth, he conducted himself with extreme holiness, would awaken every night at midnight to study Zohar until the morning prayers, and earned the reputation of a wonder-worker. He served as rabbi of Gorlitz, Koloshitz (Kołaczyce) and Zhmigrod. From 1904, he became the Rebbe of Zhmigrod. A foremost Rebbe of the Sanz dynasty, he was a diligent Torah scholar and preacher, a pious man reputed for the scope of his prayers. Near the end of his life, he relocated to Kraków.
His grandson R. Moshe Halberstam - later one of the rabbis of the Beit Din of the Eidah HaChareidit – travelled in his youth from Jerusalem to Kraków, to lay Tefillin in honor of his Bar-mitzva beside his grandfather in Kraków, though unfortunately just then, WWII broke out. The grandson miraculously succeeded in returning to Eretz Israel, while the elderly grandfather escaped the Nazis to the Omsk forest, where he died of starvation. The family miraculously obtained a white cloth for his burial and even succeeded in laying a tombstone on his grave, but his writings were lost during the Holocaust. (Rabbeinu HaKadosh MiTzanz, II, p. 369; Me'orei Galicia, II, p. 528).
Official postcard, 14X9.5 cm. Good-fair condition. Minor tear and creases.
Chassidism - Letters and Manuscripts
Chassidism - Letters and Manuscripts