Collection of Polemic material concerning the fight for the Rabbanut post in Beregsasz- Unknown letters from the ...

Collection of Polemic material concerning the fight for the Rabbanut post in Beregsasz- Unknown letters from the Rebbe of Satmar & Nassaud. Rare Material.

A rare collection of printed ephemera material concerning the big Polemic that erupted in Beregszász (Berehove) as to who will be their Rabbi. Between the followers of Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Hirsch. & his opponents who supported Rabbi Ascher Steinmetz for the post.

We have not checked in depth which side these material supports, & quite possibly there are material here that support both sides.

1. Circular letter in Hungarian. On the reverse are transcriptions of letters by the Holy Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Kruli & Satmer, & of Rabbi Avraham Yoshua Freund of Nassaud (A grandfather of Rabbi Steinmetz).

Printed in Beregsasz.

2. Circular letter in Hungarian addressed to the Jews of Beregsasz. Mentins the Rabbis of Munkatch, Krakow, Pressburg, Tarnopol, Probuzno & others.

Printed in Munkatch.

3. Letter in Hungarian from the Kehillah in Beregsasz.

Printed in Beregsasz. Wear & tear.

4. Postcard in Hebrew self-addressed to Rabbi Hirsch to support his stance against joining up with the Neologs.

Wear & tear.

Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Hirsch (1892-1944) was the son-in-law of Rabbi Shlomo Sofer, the Av Beis Din of Beregszász and managed his father-in-law’s yeshiva. As per Rabbi Schreiber's express wish his son in law Rabbi Avraham Shlomo Hirsch, filled his position as Rabbi of Beregszász, in 1931.

Rabbi Hirsch was born in 1892 to a deeply religious Hungarian family. He studied with Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen Ehrenreich in Shomlo and at the Pressburg yeshiva, with excellent results.

From 1914 to 1916 he  worked in Presburg as a rabbiságnál (assistant rabbi) for a short time and then he moved to Budapest. In October of 1916, he joined the Hungarian army as a chaplain and rose to the rank of Captain. He served a total of 26 months on the Russian and Italian fronts, providing spiritual comfort to the soldiers. On the Italian front, with his fellow soldiers, he displayed great personal courage and received several high military awards: Golden-crowned Order of Merit for Bravery Medal , the Bulgarian military medal and others. After WWI, he returned to Beregszász to live with his father-in-law and he officiated as a deputy chief rabbi under his father-in-law.  In 1931 he was elected Chief Rabbi. He was  murdered at Auschwitz in 1944 Hy''d.

At the time that Rabbi Hirsch assumed the rabbinic office in Beregszász, a new Chassidic community was set up, with the eventual appointment of Rabbi Ascher Steinmetz, who opened a yeshiva of his own with 150 students.

Rabbi Ascher was born in the town of Tetch, were he became known as the "wonder child." He studied in the yeshiva of Rebbi Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum in Sziget, where he was one of the top students.

He married the daughter of Rabbi Freund, Rabbi of Rudna. When Rabbi Freund assumed the position of his father in Honyad, Rabbi Steinmetz—at a very young age—became the Rabbi of Rudna, where he was very beloved by the Jewish community.

In 1938, Rabbi STEINMETZ moved to Beregszász as the Rabbi of the Chassidic community and opened up a yeshiva where the top students of Carpathia and Hungary came to study. In 1942, he published the Sefer Mikve Yisruel. Rabbi Steinmetz, and most of his congregation, were murdered at Auschwitz on 25 Iyar 5704 (18 May 1944) Hy''d.