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Living Legacy: The Klausenberger Rebbe, zt”l, the Shefah Chaim

Living Legacy: The Klausenberger Rebbe, zt”l, the Shefah Chaim

One of the most outstanding figures in the postwar era, and one of the most prominent heroes of the rebuilding—in America as well as in Eretz Yisroel—was the Klausenberger Rebbe, Rav Yekusiel Yehuda Halberstam, zt”l who yohrtzeit falls this Shabbos, 9 Tammuz.

 He was born in 1905, in the Galician town of Rudnik, to his father Rav Tzvi Hirsch, a grandson of the Divrei Chaim. His mother was a great granddaughter of the Bnei Yisaschar.

 As a young bachur, he went to learn under the great Ga’onim of Poland and Galicia, and at the age of fourteen (!) he received semicha from Rav Meir Arik (one of the greatest Ga’onim and poskim of prewar Galicia), and from many others. He became renowned for his intense hasmodoh and breadth of knowledge in learning—and for the rest of his life, he would become synonymous with Torah, perhaps more than any other quality. At the same time, he made his way to a number of the chassidishe Rebbeim from whom he absorbed a derech in chassidus.

 At the age of 18, he married Pesiah, the daughter of the Atzei Chaim of Sighet, an older brother of the Satmar Rov, zt”l. Three years later, he began to serve as the Rov of the “Nusach Sfard Kehillah” in Klausenberg (Cluj-Napoca in Romanian). The community of chassidim in the town consisted primarily of Sigheter chassidim.

 Eleven children would be born to the couple in the ensuing years, and all of them—as well as their mother, the Rebbetzin—were murdered by the Nazis, ym”sh; nine at Auschwitz, and two of them were later stricken with typhus. Hashem Yikom Damam.

 Who can fathom such pain and such loss? How is a human being of flesh and blood capable of rebuilding from such a Churban?

 The incredible work of the Rebbe in the aftermath of the Holocaust—work that continues to live on to this day, through the institutions as well as the individuals that he established—is nothing short of breathtaking.

 It began in the Fernwald D.P. Camp—where he began tending to the shattered souls of the survivors. He especially doted on the young, the boys and girls, and would sit outside their bedrooms all night, keeping watch over them. He raised large sums from organizations throughout the world to administer his holy work. His work greatly impressed then-General Eisenhower when he visited the camp.

 An episode that stands out from that postwar era in Fernwald was the Yom Kippur night, when, in a voice choking with sobs, the Rebbe went through the vidui, stopping at each one to ask; “Ashamnu, did we even have the ability to sin? Bagadnu, have we betrayed You? Gazalnu, was there anything left to steal during these terrible years? This vidui is not for us… he said, as he closed the machzor.

 “But there are sins that we are guilty of,” the Rebbe continued. “We davened to Hashem that we cannot continue anymore and that he should take us away… some of us weakened our bitachon. And we must improve, we must strengthen our emunah in Hashem, and rebuild from here, because that is His Holy Will.”

 And that is the story of the next chapter of the Rebbe’s life. With his arrival in the United States in 1946, his work only intensified as he built yeshivos and communities, in Williamsburg, in Boro Park, in Union City, and in Eretz Yisroel. In later years, he established Kiryat Sanz in Netanya, where he also established the famed Laniado Hospital.

 He remarried Rebbetzin Chaya Nechama Unger, the daughter of the Nitra Rov, who was nifteres one year ago, and with whom he had a number of children who are a testament to his holy legacy.

 Into his numerous talmidim—some of whom are among the greatest Ga’onim and marbitzei Torah alive today—the Rebbe demanded Torah, Torah, and more Torah. His famed pilpulim in every area of Torah, including the famed Chumash Rashi shiurim, are legendary. In addition, his voluminous teshuvos in all areas of Torah and halacha—Divrei Yatziv and Shefa Chaim—continue to adorn bookshelves throughout the Jewish world. His tefillos were likewise completely unique, and he would speak to his Father in Heaven like a son, directly petitioning for his people.

 The Rebbe was niftar 9 Tammuz 1994, and interred in Netanya. His two sons assumed the leadership of the chassidus, in Netanya and Boro Park respectively, continuing a holy living legacy.


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