Draft letter handwritten by Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum Rabbi of Satmar. [New York?, Shevat 15, 1968].
Written beneath a typewritten draft of the same letter (different), typewritten, from Shevat 15, 1968. One week later, the rebbe had a stroke and thereafter, he did not write letters but only signed them. To the best of our knowledge, this is the last letter in his own handwriting. The letter is addressed to his nephew Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum Rabbi of Sighet, who was residing at the time in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The rebbe writes about the controversy that arose in the Sao Paulo community between the rabbis and the community members, expressing his concern that it could cause great damage to Torah observance in the community. The rebbe asks him to try to reconcile the two sides, and to relay to other Chassidim living there the importance of restoring peace, blessing them with success in all their endeavors.
Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979), a leader of his generation, president of the Edah HaChareidit and leader of American Orthodox Jewry, one of the founding pillars of Chassidic Jewry after the Holocaust. He served as rabbi of Orsheva (Irshava), Karoly (Carei; from 1925), and Satmar (Satu Mare; from 1934), managing in each of these places a large yeshiva and Chassidic court. He stood at the helm of faithful, uncompromising Orthodox Jewry in the Maramureș region. During the Holocaust, he was rescued through the famous Kastner Train, and after a journey through Bergen-Belsen, Switzerland and Eretz Israel, he reached the United States, where he established the largest Chassidic group in the world – Satmar Chassidut, until today the dominant faction in American Orthodox Jewry. He served as president of the Edah HaChareidit in Jerusalem. A leading opponent of Zionism and of the founding of the State of Israel, he zealously led crucial battles for the preservation of the unique character of the Jewish people and its holiness, fearful for the honor of the Torah and the future of faithful Jewry.
The recipient of the letter: Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum of Sighet-Satmar, author of Berach Moshe (1914-2006), son of Rebbe Chaim Tzvi, the Atzei Chaim of Sighet. He served as rabbi of Senta (Yugoslavia), and after the Holocaust served as rabbi of his hometown Sighet. He fled the communist persecution in Romania, reaching the United States where he established the Atzei Chaim – Sighet Beit Midrash in Boro Park. He was a leading rabbi of the Central Rabbinical Congress and a confidant of his uncle Rebbe Yoel of Satmar. In 1970, he succeeded his uncle (whose three daughters passed away in his lifetime without leaving behind any descendants) as rebbe of Satmar. His sons, the brothers Rebbe Aharon Teitelbaum and Rebbe Yekutiel Yehuda (Zalman Leib) Teitelbaum both serve as rebbes of Satmar, leading two large Chassidic Satmar communities in the United States and throughout the world.
[1] leaf. 28 cm. Good condition. Folding marks and some creases.