(Atzei Chaim, Admor of Sighet, 1879-1926). Autograph Letter Signed on letterhead, written in Hebrew to Rabbi Yisrael Chaim Samet.

TEITELBAUM, CHAIM TZVI.

Wednesday, Parshath Tzav (15th March)

Sighet

1916

A Teshuva treating the question of whether a prayer-leader should wear a Tallis while engaged in the custom of Vasikin, reciting the entire Book of Psalms every Friday in the early hours of the morning.

R. Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum was known as the Atzei Chaim after his Sefarim on a variety of topics. The son and successor of the Kedushas Yom Tov - R. Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum of Sighet, R. Chaim Tzvi was the oldest brother of R. Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (and his primary teacher), and the father of R. Moshe Teitelbaum, successor of R. Yoel as Rebbe of Satmar. The son-in-law of R. Shalom Eliezer Halberstam of Ratzfert (son of the Divrei Chaim of Sanz) R. Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum was an outstanding Torah scholar, exceptionally holy and pious. Reputedly, he never forgot anything he learned, and was renowned from his great perspicacity. Shortly following his appointment as Rebbe of Sighet (capital of the Maramureș county) at the age of 24, he became known as one of the leaders of Hungarian Jewry who established the national policies of the Orthodox bureau of the country. Sighet became the largest and principal Chassidic court in Maramureș) and its leader had a great impact over almost all Orthodox communities in Hungary, whether Chassidic or Ashkenazi circles. R. Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum married Bracha Sima Halberstam, a sister of Rebbetzen Chaya Freidel Halberstam, who was the wife of R. Ben-Zion Halberstam, the second Bobover Rebbe. Together they had four children: R. Moshe Teitelbaum, the late Satmar Rebbe; R. Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum, who succeeded him as Sigheter Rebbe until he died in the Holocaust; one daughter married R. Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, the Sanz-Klausenburger Rebbe, but also died in the Holocaust; the youngest daughter, Chana, married R. Yechiel Yehuda Isaacson, known as the Rav of Achuza-Haifa. R. Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum suffered a cerebral hemorrhage amidst his followers in Kleinvarden and died at only 46 years of age.