Shefa Tal – Frankfurt, 1719 – Copy that Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar Learned From, With his Handwritten Gloss – ...

Shefa Tal – Frankfurt, 1719 – Copy that Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar Learned From, With his Handwritten Gloss – Formerly Belonging to Rabbi Mordechai Eliezer Ehrengruber, Av Beit Din of Vranov

Shefa Tal, key to Kabbalah, by R. Shabtai Sheftel Horowitz of Prague. Frankfurt am Main: Shimon Terir Katz Shalit [in press of Johann Kellner], [1719]. Second edition. Kabbalistic illustrations and diagrams.

Distinguished copy.

Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum often studied from this copy. On the final page is a handwritten testimony signed by Rebbe Elimelech Alter Panet of Deyzh-Boro Park: "The Rebbe of Satmar had this holy book… on loan from me a few times, and he learned from it many times, [given to him] by my friend… Mr. Menachem Mendel Greenberg – 13 Sivan 5724 [1964], Brooklyn, Elimelech Alter Panet son of R. Y[osef], Av Beit Din of Deyzh…"; Under the inscription of the Rebbe of Deyzh appears a confirmatory inscription signed by the attendant of the Satmar Rebbe, R. Menachem Mendel Greenberg: "I also sign to confirm the above – Menachem Mendel HaKohen Greenberg". Gloss on the margins of 19a – four words apparently handwritten by Rebbe Yoel of Satmar: "Ki Kol is equal in numerical value to Yesod". Glosses in various hands to the margins of some pages. 

This copy formerly belonged to R. Mordechai Eliezer Ehrengruber, Av Beit Din of Vranov, author of Nachalat Yosef (disciple of the Shevet Sofer in the Pressburg yeshiva, son-in-law of R. Pinchas Steiner, Av Beit Din of Ilok) – his stamp on the title page: "Mordechai Eliezer Ehrengru[ber], Vranov and the region" - R. Mordechai Eliezer Ehrengruber, Av Beit Din of Vranov, author of Nachalat Yosef (ca. 1868-1942), one of the great rabbis of Hungary. Son-in-law of R. Pinchas Steiner, Av Beit Din of Ilok, author of Briti Shalom. In his youth he learned in the yeshiva of R. Moshe Pollak, Av Beit Din of Bonyhád, and in 1885 he traveled together with his childhood friend and fellow resident of Paks, R. Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky, to learn in the Shevet Sofer yeshiva in Pressburg. He later returned to his parents' home and studied under the local authority R. Zusman Sofer. In 1902 he was appointed rabbi of the Beit Midrash in Steinamanger (Szombathely), and in 1908 he was appointed dayan, posek and rabbi of the Talmud Society in Pápa. In 1911 he began to serve as rabbi of Vranov, where he served until his death 32 years later. His only son, R. Hillel Meir Moshe (1892-1919), was a son-in-law of the Arugat HaBosem and a follower of R. Yissachar Dov Rokeach of Belz.

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 Karoly (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. 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.

Rebbe Elimelech Alter Panet of Deyzh-Boro Park (1929-2005), Av Beit Din of Zichron Yosef community in Brooklyn, New York, and president and founder of the Mareh Yechezkel Kollel in Eretz Israel. Son of R. Yosef Panet, Av Beit Din of Ileanda and Deyzh (Dej), and grandson of Rebbe Yechezkel Panet, author of Knesset Yechezkel. Son-in-law of R. Yechiel Greenzweig, Av Beit Din of Dolha (Dovhe).

The attendant R. Nisan Menachem Mendel HaKohen Greenberg (known as "R. Mendel Chicago") served for many years as Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum's "hoiz bochur" (living in the Rebbe's house and attending to his needs). In his youth he was a household member of R. Tzvi Hirsch Meisels, Av Beit Din of the She'erit Yisrael community in Chicago, and traveled at his recommendation and advice to study in the Satmar yeshiva in Williamsburg, where he became close with the Rebbe of Satmar. He served as his personal attendant for many years, and in 1959 even accompanied the Rebbe on his trip to Eretz Israel.

[2], 2-16, 18-53, 53-62, 64-66, 66-74, 76-80 leaves. Approx. 34 cm. Most leaves in good condition. Stains, creases and wear. First and last leaves in fair condition – tears and open tears, affecting text; large open tears on the title page, heavily affecting both sides of leaf, and frame; margins of some leaves repaired with paper and tape. Inscriptions and stamps. New leather binding.