(Grand Rabbi of Satmar 1887-1979)

Written to Chaim Zucker, Rabbi of Beregsasz, concerning the plight of a childless widow, who in order to remarry , needed “chalitzah” from her deceased husband’s brother. The brother, who resided in Beregsasz, stubbornly refused. The Satmar Rabbi exhorts Rabbi Zucker to try to persuade the recalcritant “Yabam” to perform the “Chalitzah” by explainig to him the importance of this benevolent act, which “arouses mercy for both the living and the dead.” He blesses him profusely “God wil have pity and heal all broken hearts and you will be sanctified with a good year as your heart desires...with great love...” Rabbi Zucker, who was one of the most prominent scholarly rabbis in Hungary perished in the Holocaust. His scholarly comments are found in many books of the period; especially in his brother’s work Be’er Shlomo, his father’s Damesek Eliezer and Matuk Me-devash, and his scholarly correspondence with R. Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg in his responsa Seridei Esh. His work Tal Chaim was published posthumously in Brooklyn,1985 Zucker was presumably well regarded by the Satmar Rabbi due to the unusual honorific tiles bestowed upon him in this letter. See Tifereth Yisrael-Sepher Zikaron Eduth le-Yisrael, (Memorial for Yisrael Klein) Jerusalem, 1997, pp. 140-3