Auction 5 Genazym 5 Prime selection of historical Jewish Antiques
Jul 16, 2019 (your local time)
Israel

Rare and Important Books, Famous Rabbinical Letters

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LOT 13:

The Holy " Divray Chaim " Signed Letter of Blessing from Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz,   ...

Sold for: $52,000
Start price:
$ 40,000
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$50,000 - $70,000
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The Holy " Divray Chaim " Signed Letter of Blessing from Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz,    1873




Signed Letter from Rabbi Chaim Halberstam of Sanz, author of Divrei Chaim, addressed to Rabbi Kalev Feivel of Tardau.
Among his words the Divrei Chaim writes, "And I will pray for him that G-d will bless him with favor in the eyes of the gentlemen, and turn their hearts to do good, and do everything as his will for the good of Israel, and as the will of our holy Torah, to remove a stumbling block from our nation." (It is possible that this is related to the period when new rabbis attempted to involve the government and remove him from the rabbinate.)

This interesting letter is dated 1873 and written on stationary bearing a printed raised stamp. Rabbi Chaim signs his name on the last line.
Rabbi Chaim of Sanz (1793 - 1876) was a tremendous Torah scholar and Halachic authority. Already before he was born, Rabbi Moshe Leib of Sassow predicted that he would become a world leader. He married the daughter of his rabbi and mentor, the Baruch Tam. He served as Rabbi of Rudnik, during which time he became a close Chassid of Rabbi Naftali of Ropshitz. In 1828 he became Rabbi in Sanz and began leading as Admor beginning in 1830. His halachic authority was widely accepted even among misnagdim. In their introduction to sefer Divrei Chaim, his sons write: "He dedicated his entire life to Torah and avodah… with real mesirus nefesh… he afflicted himself all his life in fire and water and in mikva'os… and the money he distributed from his pure hands sustained hundreds and thousands of poor… it almost felt as though the Divine Presence was speaking from his throat."
12x17 cm