Debate of the Rabbinate in Northern Sighet. Important Autograph letter signed by the Atzei Chaim of ...

Debate of the Rabbinate in Northern Sighet. Important Autograph letter signed by the Atzei Chaim of Sighet, 1923.

Letter appointing Rabbi Asher Yeshaya Schwartz as his personal messenger in the historic Din Torah of the Ober Apsha Kehilla, judged by the AB”D of Chust.

Background: The Ober Apsha community, located in the Sighet region was under the rabbanus of Kehillas Sighet. After WW1, Sighet became part of Romania and Ober Apsha remained across the border. It was therefore impossible to maintain regular contact with Sighet, and the local community sought to appoint a new Rav. The Sigheter Chasidim of Ober Apsha claimed that the Kehilla could not separate from Sighet without the permission of the Atzei Chaim, being that they had been under the jurisdiction of Sighet for several generations. This machlokes was brought to the Av Beis Din of Chust, who wrote a pamphlet titled Modaah Rabba about this subject. (See Sefer Marmarush p.361).

In this historic letter the Atzei Chaim puts an end to the controversy and accepted the arbitration of the Chuster Rov.

The Atzei Chaim was born in 1880 to his father, the Kedushas Yom Tov (Rabbi Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum. His paternal grandfather was the Yetev Lev.) He was named Chaim after the Divrei Chaim of Sanz, who promised the Kedushas Yom Tov that he would bear a son. His father-in-law, Rabbi Shalom Eliezer Halberstam of Ratzfort was the son of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz.

The Atzei Chaim became Rebbe at the age of 24 and had thousands of Chassidim. He suffered from physical Yissurim, and with superhuman strength he lead his flock and stood steadfast on the Mishmar Hakodesh. He passed away suddenly at the age of 46. His son the Beirach Moshe of Satmar is the father of the current Satmar Rebbes.

Sighet 1923. Document size: 10.5 x 17 cm. Crease marks.