Auction 048 Rebbes of Satmar, Sighet and Bobov - Books, Objects, Letters and Manuscripts, Broadsides and Printed Items

Two Books on the Split in the Sighet Community – Ohev Mishpat – Lviv, 1887 / Milchemet Mitzvah – Sighet, 1888

Opening: $200
Sold for: $400
Including buyer's premium

Two polemic books printed by the two sides, during the split in the Sighet community:
1. Ohev Mishpat. Published by the "Sefardic" community in Sighet. Lviv: Felix Bednarski, 1887. Two title pages.
[4], 16 pages; [24], 25-104 leaves. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Paper repairs on verso of first title page. Wormhole through half the book. New binding.
2. Open letter and Milchemet Mitzvah. Sighet: Menachem Mendel Wieder, 1888. Includes booklets published during the course of the polemic: Ein Mishpat, Yashuv Mishpat and Emek HaMishpat. On the title page, stamp of R. Chaim Dov Gross of Munkacs (d. 1938), close attendant of the Minchat Elazar.
[2], 2-157, [2] leaves (some leaves are not numbered – the three booklets which were distributed independently before the printing of the book was completed). 24.5 cm. Good condition. Stains and wear. Marginal tears and minor open tears to some leaves, not affecting text. New binding.


The Split in the Sighet Community
In 1883-1890, a stormy controversy broke out in Sighet between the members of the community who joined the Central Bureau of the Autonomous Orthodox Jewish Communities, and a group of community members who refused to be subordinate to the bureau, and established an independent, Status Quo "Sefardic" community. The Orthodox community was headed by the Yitav Lev and the Kedushat Yom Tov of Sighet, while the seceding camp was led by the powerful Kahana family, and some Vizhnitz Chassidim.
With time, the split in the Sighet community affected many other Hungarian communities, with most the Hungarian rabbis, as well as many rabbis from Galicia and Poland, taking sides in the polemic.

Posters and Polemics – Sighetu Marmației and Satmar
Posters and Polemics – Sighetu Marmației and Satmar