Ir David – Amsterdam, 1719 – Copy of Rebbe Yoel of Satmar – With a Kvittel Inscription

Ir David – Amsterdam, 1719 – Copy of Rebbe Yoel of Satmar – With a Kvittel Inscription

Ir David, homiletics, by R. David of Lida. Amsterdam, [1719].
Copy of Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar. Title page incomplete and repaired with paper; stamp of the rebbe on the paper addition: "Rabbi of Karoly and the region". Another stamp of the rebbe on p. 106b.
Dedication on title page (on the paper addition): "As a remembrance of love I wrote my name… Yosef Menachem Katz of Kasheli [Koshel'ovo], Maramureș region", and kvittel: "Yaakov Tzvi son of Yehudit Baila for success in all areas". Additional ownership inscriptions and stamp: "Yosef Chaim – Satmar". Another kvittel on the front endpaper: "Efraim son of Tova, Menachem son of Pessel".
The book contains several handwritten glosses, from several writers (some are trimmed, including two lengthy ones).
[1], 3-107 leaves. 30 cm. Fair condition. Stains, including dampstains. Large open tears to title page, affecting text, repaired with paper. Large open tears to approx. 10 other leaves, affecting text. Tears to several other leaves, repaired in part. Stamp. New binding.

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979) was the youngest son of Rebbe Chananya Yom Tov Lipa, the Kedushat Yom Tov (1836-1904), and grandson of Rebbe Yekutiel Yehuda, the Yitav Lev (1808-1883), who both served as rabbis of Sighet (Sighetu Marmației) and were leaders of Chassidic Jewry in the Maramureș region.

He was renowned from his youth as a leading Torah scholar of his generation, for his perspicacity and intellectual capacities, as well as for his holiness and outstanding purity. At a young age, he was appointed rabbi of Irshava. In 1925, he was appointed rabbi of Karaly (Carei; in place of R. Shaul Brach who went to serve as rabbi of Kashoi), and in 1934, of Satmar (Satu Mare). In all the places he served as rabbi, he also maintained a large yeshiva and Chassidic court. He stood at the helm of the faithful, uncompromising Orthodox Jewry in the Maramureș region. He was one of the founding pillars of the Torah world in the generation following the Holocaust. After surviving the Holocaust, he emigrated to the United States, where he established the Satmar Chassidic community – the largest Chassidic community in the world. He served as president of the Eda HaCharedit in Jerusalem, and as leader of Orthodox Jewry in the United States and throughout the world. His writings were published in dozens of books: VaYoel Moshe, Responsa Divrei Yoel, Divrei Yoel on the Torah and more.

The Holiness of Items of Tzaddikim – In the Teachings of Rebbe Yoel of Satmar

In his writings, Rebbe Yoel of Satmar repeatedly relates to the holiness contained in the possessions of a Tzaddik; and conversely to the prohibition of benefitting from the money of the wicked, warning not to accept funding from the Zionist state and the like.

In several places in his book Divrei Yoel on the Torah, the Rebbe describes the tremendous virtue of the belongings of the Tzaddik, which have the power to endow holiness for generations, since the "sparks of holiness" endure in them. Based on this concept, the Rebbe explains Yosef's influence on the Egyptians, who were sustained from his produce during the famine and drew from it "spiritual vibrancy": "…the property of Tzaddikim has the power to impart spiritual vibrancy…" (Divrei Yoel, Shemot, p. 33). Regarding the "aspect of holiness" contained in the belongings of Tzaddikim from "the root of their soul", he writes: "The possessions of Tzaddikim are precious to them… since they contain an aspect of the root of their soul… as they are particular not to steal…" (Divrei Yoel, Vayetze, p. 92).