“… and a main principle for us from our holy ancestors and rabbis, may their merit stand by us and the entire Jewish people, is to not say that reality, Heaven forbid, contradicts the adjudicators.”
Lengthy halachic responsum, important and fundamental, from the Admo”r Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam of Sanz, author of
Divrei Yatziv . Kiryat Sanz, Netanya, 1969.
The responsum before us delves into the depths of the issues which have always divided the Chassidim and their opponents (המתנגדים), such as Ezra’s immersion, the time for recital of Kriyat Shema, sunset according to the opinion of Rabbeinu Tam, prayers in nusach Sephard, and others.
The letter is typewritten and, in his hand, the Admo”r corrects and adds comments between the lines and at the end of the letter [approximately 70 words]. At the end of the responsum, the Admo”r adds: “… the way of our ancestors, to whom the Torah was given, orally transmitted by one person to the next all the way from Moshe Rabbeinu, of blessed memory …” as well as words of blessing and his signature.
Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam [1905-1994] was the Admo”r of Sanz-Klausenberg. He was born in Rudnik, Galicia. His father, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, who was the city’s rabbi, was a son of Rabbi Baruch, the Admo”r of Gorlice, son of the founder of the Sanz Chassidic dynasty, Rabbi Chaim Halberstam, author of
Divrei Chaim . As a youth, he studied under “the Dukler Rebbe” and later on under Rabbi Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza. He was rabbinically ordained by Rabbi Meir Arik. He lost his wife and their 11 children in the Holocaust, and afterwards established a new family and revived the Chassidut in the United States and in Israel, which became one of the largest and most influential Chassidic courts. The Rebbe, with his almost supernatural powers, founded many enterprises and projects, including those not specifically connected to the Chareidi community, and which never occupied Chassidic Admo”rim, such as: the Kiryat Sanz neighborhoods in Netanya and in Jerusalem; Laniado hospital; the Union City neighborhood in New York, and other centers around the world; Mif’al HaShas, and others. The Sanzer Rebbe was known for his tremendous genius, his sanctity, his awesome majestic prayers, and his wonders. His Torah thoughts are printed in the book series
Shu”t Divrei Yaztiv and
Shefa Chaim .
The responsum before us was printed in
Shu”t Divrei Yaztiv , Part I, Orach Chaim, siman 57.
[6] typewritten leaves, with the addition of [approximately 70 words] in his hand and with his signature, 21×26 cm. Very fine condition.