Letter of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. Brooklyn, New York: [26 Kislev], 1964.

Scribal writing [apparently his attendant R. Yosef Ashkenazi], on the Rebbe’s official stationery: "Yoel Teitelbaum, Rabbi of Satmar and the region"; the letter contains the Rebbe’s signature as well as some words added in his handwriting.

Sent to R. Shlomo Eliezer Margaliot, on the occasion of the birth of a daughter. In his letter, the Rebbe blesses him with a Mazal Tov, and wishes him much satisfaction, for the daughter to be healthy, and to raise all their offspring with satisfaction and ease, signing “Yoel Teitelbaum”.

On the margins of the leaf, the Rebbe asks to relay his greetings and blessings to his father, the kabbalist R. Yeshayah Asher Zelig Margaliot.

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979), one of the great leaders of his generation, president of the Edah HaCharedit and leader of American Orthodox Jewry, and a pillar of Chassidic Jewry after the Holocaust. Born in Sighet (Sighetu Marmației), he was the son of Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa, the Kedushat Yom Tov, and grandson of Rebbe Yekutiel Yehudah, the Yitav Lev, who both served as rabbis of Sighet and were leaders of Chassidic Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was renowned from his youth for his sharpness and intellectual capacities, as well as for his holiness and outstanding purity. After marrying the daughter of Rebbe Avraham Chaim Horowitz of Połaniec, he settled in Satmar (Satu Mare) and taught Torah and Chassidut to a select group of disciples and followers. He served as rabbi of Irshava (1911-1915, 1922-1926), Carei (from 1926) and Satmar (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. In 1944, he was rescued by the famous Kastner train, and after a journey through Bergen-Belsen, Switzerland and Eretz Israel, he reached the United States, where he reestablished Satmar Chassidut, which is one of the largest and most important Chassidic communities in the world today. In 1951 he was appointed president of the Edah HaCharedit in Jerusalem, and in 1953 he was appointed rabbi of all the Ashkenazi communities by the Edah HaCharedit. A leading opponent of Zionism and the State of Israel, he led crucial battles for the preservation of the Jewish people’s character and holiness, fearful for the honor of the Torah and the future of faithful Jewry. He was renowned as an exceptionally charitable person; his door was open to the poor and his ear attentive to the needy from every stream of the Jewish people. An outstanding Torah scholar, he responded to many halachic queries, and his writings were published in dozens of books: VaYoel Moshe, Responsa Divrei Yoel, Divrei Yoel on the Torah and more.

The recipient of the letter, R. Shlomo Eliezer Margaliot (1931-2002), son of the famous Jerusalem kabbalist R. Yeshayah Asher Zelig Margaliot (1894-1969).

[1] leaf, official stationery. 21.5 cm. Good condition. Folds. Light wear. Small marginal tear; repaired with tape to reverse.