“Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi…because he is with me in my home”—a letter on activism and rescue from Maran Admor the Divrei Yoel of Satmar, from his first years in Irshava,
written entirely by hand and signed.
On activity in a mitzvah, a recommendation and request for help from Maran the Divrei Yoel of Satmar. The letter is directed to Rabbi Chaim Brody of Prague. He asks on behalf of a member of his household, Rabbi Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi, who needs assistance from the ministers in Prague,
“because my dear and learned friend is an avrech in my household … Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi, needs a great help from the ministers because of the persecution in my city of his residence…and it affects me as well since he has resided in my home some years, and about that I won’t give more details.”
The Ashkenazi family were among the closest to the Sighet-Satmar household and especially to the Divrei Yoel of Satmar. The forefather of the Ashkenazi family was Rabbi Moshe David of Tolchow, father-in-law of the Yeitev Lev. His son Rabbi Yoel the Av Beit Din of Zlotchov was the father-in-law of the Kedushat Yom Tov of Sighet. Rabbi Shraga Feivish Ashkenazi was a resident in Tzfat, and in 1918 immigrated to Hungary where he attached himself to the Gahak and served in his home until the Shoah. He was due to be saved together with his Rebbe, but he stayed behind in Hungary and was murdered. His son, the rav chassid Rabbi Yosef (Yosele) Ashkenazi, left with the Rebbe and continued his father’s mesorah and served the Rebbe.
Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar (1887-1979) was the son of Admor Rabbi Hanina Yom Tov Lipa of Sighet, the Kedushat Yom Tov. From his youth his greatness became clear, he studied Torah day and night, and before his wedding he received smicha from a number of rabbis, led by Rabbi Moshe Greenwald, the Arugas HaBosem. In 1911 (age 24) he was appointed Rabbi of Orshiwa, and then he became rabbi of Kroly and then Satmar, after which he was named. In 1953 he was appointed Ga’avad of the Eida Charedit in Jerusalem.
He was known for his immense greatness in the Torah and his great holiness, wherever he served he placed many disciples, many of the great rebbeim of Israel considered themselves his disciples and deferred to him, he was the man who held with great power and carried out the uncompromising struggle against Zionism, and on the other hand funded the institutions that maintain the purity of the Jewish people. He also helped all the ultra-Orthodox and acted as an outside help and organization in organizing demonstrations and advocacy among US government leaders.
