Bidspirit auction | The Tur of R’ Mendele

The Tur of R’ Mendele of Stropkiv ZY”A Tur, Yoreh De’ah, Vilna 1900 — the very volume in which R’ Menachem Mendel Halberstam of Stropkiv learned Torah lishmah with kedushah v’taharah. His ksav yad signature appears on the title page , along with several stamps on the title page and at the end of the volume. R’ Menachem Mendel of Stropkiv (1874–1954) was the oldest son of R’ Avraham Shalom of Stropkiv, son of the Shinova Ruv, son of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz — who served as his sandek at his bris. He became known as a baal mofes and po’el yeshuos. During the war he fled to Budapest, where he hid together with the Belzer ruv, who even gave him a kvittel. It is told that when he arrived at a bunker hideout, the occupants were afraid to let him in. He wrote them a note promising that all who remained in the bunker would be saved — and so it was. After the war he settled in America. From across the United States, Yidden came to him to be nifkad b’davar yeshuah v’rachamim. He was niftar in Iyar 1954. Tens of thousands attended his levayah in America. At the head of the mitah walked the Satmar Rebbe, who accompanied the aron on its way to Eretz Yisroel. As they lifted the aron onto the plane, the Rebbe wept and said: “The last person who knew how to read a kvittel is no longer with us.”