a letter from Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam Beal Shefa Haim of Sanz to the Gaon Rabbi Yitzhak Meir ...

a letter from Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam Beal Shefa Haim of Sanz to the Gaon Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin

The Holy Gaon Rebbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam of Sanz-Kloizenburg [admiringly known as the 'Shefa Chaim' or 'Divrei Yatziv' after his Seforim] [1905-1994] one of the admired and renowned Tzaddikim of the generation. The founder of Kiryas Sanz in Netanya and the Laniado Hospital. Served simultaneously as Rosh Yeshiva and as the admired leader of thousands. At the age of 21, he was appointed Rav and Av Beis Din of the haredi community in Kloizenburg which was known as 'The Sephardic Community'.

He suffered greatly during World War II, going through seven circles of hell yet not abandoning his fervent Avodas Hashem. He lost his wife the pious Rebbetzin the daughter of the 'Atzei Chaim' of Siget and his eleven children in the Holocaust. After the Holocaust, he became renowned for the establishment of Torah and charity institutions for She'eris Hapletah. Thousands admired and followed him, gathering to his prayers and feasts. His court was established in the Crown Heights neighborhood in the USA and later in Israel, in Kiryas Sanz of Netanya and Jerusalem and at the end of his life, in Union City. He established and founded great enterprises for the support and teaching of the Torah 'Mifal HaShas' and 'Kolelei Shas' in Israel and all over the world.