(Admor of Ratzfert, 1862-1944). Autograph Letter Signed, written in Hebrew on letterhead, to Chaim Fleischman.

HALBERSTAM, SHOLOM ELIEZER

Sunday of Parshath Terumah

Ratzfert (Újfehértó, Hungary)

1941

A letter of greetings and blessings to a Chossid in Kisvarda (Kleinwardein).

R. Shulem Eliezer was the sixth son of the great Divrei Chaim of Sanz. At the time of his father's death, he was only 14 years old and was subsequently raised by his elder brother, R. Yechezkel Shraga of Shinova. R. Shulem Eliezer married his niece, daughter of his sister and brother-in-law R. Mordechai Dov Twersky, Rebbe of Hornosteipil. Having lived in Tarnow for many years, in 1899 he left Galicia and moved to Hungary, establishing a Chassidic court in Ratzfert where he led Sanz Chassidus in Hungary for more than four decades. R. Shalom Eliezer’s saintly life was brought to a shocking end when he was brutally killed by the Germans in Auschwitz, alongside his own son Meshulam-Zushye, while wrapped in a Kittel and Tallith. See Tz.M. Rabinowicz, Encyclopedia of Hasidism, p. 176. His daughter Chaya Friedel (1881-1976) was married to R. Benzion Halberstam, the second Bobover Rebbe. Consequently, his grandson was R. Shlomo Halberstam (1907-2000), the third Bobover Rebbe, who was one of the world’s leading post-war Admorim.