Lengthy letter (6 large pages) from Rebbe Avraham Chaim Roth, the Shomrei Emunim; sent to Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar, "regarding the disputes and persecution I am suffering from my brother-in-law… for more than seventeen years". Jerusalem, [30 Cheshvan], 1964.

Six typewritten pages, with corrections and additions in his handwriting, signed by the Rebbe (on the last leaf): "Avraham Chaim son of Sima". Under his signature, the Rebbe added eight handwritten lines.

The first page of the letter is printed on the Rebbe's official stationery: "Avraham Chaim Roth son of the Shomer Emunim of Beregszász, Jerusalem, Kiryat Shomerei Emunim".

In his letter, the Shomrei Emunim painedly describes at length the "persecution, distress, affronts, monetary and spiritual losses" dealt him and his mother by his brother-in-law Rebbe Avraham Yitzchak Kohn of Toldot Aharon.

Rebbe Avraham Chaim starts by explaining that the reason he could no longer restrain himself from writing to Rebbe Yoel of Satmar ("of whom my brother-in-law is a disciple") is that his brother-in-law is printing the books of his father, the Shomer Emunim, with many omissions and changes: "Where my father wrote at length he abbreviates, and where my father wrote briefly he expands, and he changed entire pages and discourses where instead of my father's words he put various words of his own contriving… and especially since I learned from a reliable source that my aforementioned brother-in-law intends to continue acting this way with all of my father's books, I came to a decision that now is not a time to be silent… I decided that we must fight this terrible abandon and protest it fiercely".

Rebbe Avraham Chaim goes on to discuss his halachic right as an heir to print his father's writings and receive some of the profits deriving from their sale; he goes on to describe the changes his brother-in-law the Toldot Aharon Rebbe is making in his father's books and ways, customs, decrees and instructions; he discusses at length the question of succession of the leadership of the Shomer Emunim group, according to halachah and according to early Chassidic precedent.

Rebbe Avraham Chaim also describes at length the holy character and unique conduct of his father, the Shomer Emunim: "I knew the smallest fraction of this holy man's greatness ever since I was three years old, as ever since then I never left his home and I slept with him in the room dedicated to his holy service. And often when I woke from my sleep as a baby is wont to do at night, I was taken aback by the awesome vision that appeared before my eyes, how he was burning like a fiery flame in his holy service, and the fire was always burning in him all night long, and he served with holy, fiery enthusiasm like a ministering angel… And once I saw how he burned his hands on a candle that was lit on his holy table to the point of bleeding… how he plucked thorns and put them under his garment and left them on his flesh that way for a few hours and sometimes the whole day… and he ordered me strictly not to tell any stranger…".

Rebbe Avraham Chaim tells how a few days before his passing, his father commanded him to take upon himself the responsibility of leadership, succeeding him in the position: "A few days before he passed away, he called me to his house and to his special room, and he told me that he feels that these are his final days in this lowly world… Therefore he wants me to succeed him in his position… And he told me explicitly then that he by no means wanted my aforementioned brother-in-law to succeed him (and I don't want to write what words my father said to me then to avoid denigrating my brother-in-law)…"

Rebbe Avraham Chaim goes on to recount the events that took place after the passing of his father, the Shomer Emunim, and how the dispute with his brother-in-law, the Toldot Aharon Rebbe, developed. He tells that at first, immediately after his father's passing, he refused to take the leadership upon himself, and only after the elder disciples of his father, led by his father-in-law Rebbe Gedaliah Moshe Goldman of Zvhil, begged him to accept the position did he assent "on condition to wait until after the thirty days of mourning".

He goes on to tell how two of his opponents among the Chassidim hid his father's will and added a forged line according to which his father the Shomer Emunim, would have commanded his son not to accept the leadership after his passing. Not only that, but "these two men immediately began to persuade the young men… that the will says I should not accept any leadership position, so naturally my brother-in-law would be my father's successor… and their act bore fruit… and these two men had the students sign the letter of appointment against their will and by threats". One of the two later had a change of heart and sent him a letter admitting what he did and describing his part in the crime.

At the end of the letter, Rebbe Avraham Chaim discusses at length the question of succession as Rebbe from father to son. He first cites the Divrei Chaim of Sanz who writes that "there is no element of inheritance in this… because the role of a Rebbe to his followers is not an office like that of a rabbi in which his son has precedence…" (Chosen Mishpat 32), but he disagrees, citing proofs from Rishonim and Acharonim, and the fact that most of the great Chassidic Rebbes in earlier generations were succeeded by their sons.

On the last page, Rebbe Avraham Chaim adds a summary. He writes that he attaches some of his father's writings to the letter, proving that it was his will that his son take on his leadership after his passing, and he asks Rebbe Yoel of Satmar for his view on all the halachic issues raised in the letter.

On the margins of the letter, Rebbe Avraham Chaim adds eight lines in his handwriting, begging the Satmar Rebbe to direct his brother-in-law to return his father's manuscript "which he stole from me and does not want to return", since he wanted to reprint Taharat HaKodesh without omissions.

[6] leaves. 32 cm. Good condition. Light wear. Tear on the first leaf (not affecting text).