Letter with Piercing Questions Regarding the Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Future Redemption sent by Admor ...

Letter with Piercing Questions Regarding the Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Future Redemption sent by Admor Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Lipshitz Halberstam of Stropkov to the "Shefa Chaim" of Klausenberg

Letter with piercing questions regarding the fate of the Jewish nation and the future redemption, written and signed by Admor Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Lipshitz Halberstam. The letter is addressed to Admor Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam, the "Shefa Chaim" of Klausenberg.

The Admor asks four pages worth of questions that "have been bothering my mind for years" regarding ideas that he heard from the Shefa Chaim during the cornerstone laying ceremony for his study hall and on subjects regarding the fate of the Jewish Nation. The letter opens with a question regarding ideas that the Shefa Chaim said regarding the stones on which Yaakov Avinu rested his head, then the Admor asks about things that he heard from the Shefa Chaim about the Noam Elimelech's statement that he was able to nullify the hardships of the birthpangs of Mashiach through his personal suffering in his exile and wanderings. The Shefa Chaim had said that the suffering that he had nullified only applied to the Jews living in the Land of Israel, the suffering of the Jews in the Diaspora were not included in this nullification. Rabbi Lipshitz Halberstam asks, "It is very difficult for me. First of all, I heard from a number of elder chassidim that he said this in general, and not specifically about those who live in the Land of Israel. Secondly, it is very hard for me to believe and understand that Rabbeinu HaKadosh who gave up everything for the most lowly Jews - why would the tens of thousands of Jews in the Diaspora who were exiled thousands of years earlier and live outside of Land of Israel with complete license, why should they not have his merit save them from the birthpangs of Mashiach ...."

The third question that appears in the letter relates to the Shefa Chaim's request from the Argentinian government regarding Nazi criminal Adolf Eichmann [who was brought to trial at the time in Israel] in which he expressed his opinion that it is preferable to leave him in Israel to be judged and not extradite him to Argentina. The Admor of Stropkov said that he doesn't understand why the Shefa Chaim involved himself in this affair: Even if Eichmann would be judged in Israel per the Shefa Chaim's suggestion, he would be judged in a secular court ["Ben Gurion and his court will obviously issue a verdict based on secular law"]. The irreligious Jews would still claim that this trail followed the "da'at Torah" [Torah formulated opinion] of the Shefa Chaim. In that case, the Shefa Chaim would be enabling Ben Gurion and his court who use secular laws, because he interfered and suggested that Eichmann be judged in Israel: "The government and all Zionist institutions in the Land of Israel and outside the country will be able to base their judgment on the great "tree" and will say that the Prushim permitted everything that happened or didn't happen regarding this trial ...." So why did you get involved in this affair?

The Admor finishes his letter with an interesting expression in which he expresses pain and weariness from controversy. He quotes the previous Admor of Stropkov who said that the Belz-Munkacs disagreement delayed the redemption due to the magnitude of the sins that grew from it, the sins of slander and tale-bearing, etc. "My heart cries without respite from the pain of the Holy Shechina." He concludes by stating that he is prepared to come and hear the answers to the questions, if the Admor won't write the answers, "responses to release my soul from the prison of these questions that have troubled my brain for a number of years."

Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Lipshitz-Halberstam, the Admor of Stropkov [1908-1995] was the grandson and disciple of Admor Shalom Halberstam of Stropkov. He served as av Beit Din in Jablonka and Beregszasz. After suffering through the Holocaust, he served in the rabbinate in DP camps in Bomberg and the Franconia region. In 1949, he immigrated to Israel and settled in Ramle, where he established the Divrei Chaim study hall. In 1953, he moved to Jerusalem and established the study halls of the Stropkov chassidut.

Rabbi Yekutiel Yehuda Halberstam [1905-1994] was the first Admor of Sanz-Klausenberg. He headed the chassidut from 1946 until his death in 1994. In his youth, he studied with the rabbi of Dukla and then by Rabbi Meir Yechiel of Ostrovtza. He received ordination from Rabbi Meir Arik. After the war he stayed in the Föhrenwald DP camp. In the 1950s, he immigrated to Eretz Yisrael where he opened study halls in a number of cities. He also established the chassidic neighborhood in Netanya.

[4] leaves with text in his hand and with his signature. 16x25 cm. Fold marks. Fine condition.