Bidspirit auction | Chumash and Rash”i Study Controversy:

Chumash and Rash”i Study Controversy: Letter from the Gaon Rabbi Yoel of Satmar - Important and famed letter that resolved a multi-year polemic about chumash study in the Satmar school system and in general. Entirely handwritten by the sacred Rabbi Yoelish of Satmar in response to a question he was asked. Due to the great importance he attributed to the question, the Satmar Rebbe repeated it in his letter together with his answer. [Location and date of writing not indicated.] Due to the great importance of this letter in resolving the dispute between gedolei olam , the content of the letter is printed in Torah anthologies and  sefarim . Refer to: Tiv Levav  Part III, Teshuvot ,   siman  13; Ginat Vradim  p. 173; Moshi'an shel Yisrael  p. 57, which also bears a photocopy of the letter; Kovetz Or Yisrael , booklet 63; Kovetz Damtah L'Tamar  issue 20, and more. Background:  A multi-generational dispute exists between gedolei Yisrael  as to how to teach school children the weekly Torah portion: Should it be the chumash text from beginning to end, or should one teach the Torah portion of each week? Those who take the side of studying the text in order support their method by saying that this way, the child learns the entire parashah  - whereas if study would be the weekly parashah only, the students would learn only a small part of each. The Mahara”l of Prague took the side of studying the chumash in order, as he said: ”Fools teach chumash to the youth only a bit from the parashah and stop.” The Shla”h HaKadosh said: ”Do not jump from weekly   parashah to weekly parashah. ” This side is also held by the Kli Yakar, who wrote: ”And not in the ways of the teachers who teach the youth only several verses from the sedra .” However, from the words of the Or Zarua  [Part I, Hilchot Kriyah Shema, siman 12], the Shulchan Aruch [Orach Chayim siman  285:66], and the Tashbe”tz [Part I siman  2] it can be understood that it is proper to study according to the order of the weekly Torah portion, and this was also how the Yemenite community studied. It is also brought in the name of Chassidic luminaries [refer to the article by Rabbi Baruch Oberlander, Kovetz Or Yisrael , Booklet 63, Year 17]. In this letter, the gaon of Satmar was asked this question by a maggid shiur  who taught Chumash-Rash”i to the public. Due to the great importance of the question, the gaon of Satmar repeats it in his letter, ”With respect to [your] question about how to teach Chumash and Rash”i to the public, whether to study Chumsh in order, even if it is not in its time, or to study each week that week's parashah specifically, ” the gaon of Satmar, in the breadth of his knowledge and with his resoluteness, determines among the lions of the world: ”There is no source for this in Sha”s and Poskim , but the custom of the Jews is to study each week from the Torah portion that is read that week.” Refer to the Hebrew catalog text for a brief biography of the Admo”r Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar . [1] leaf paper, 15x11 cm. Fine condition. Aging stains. Fold marks. Adhesions in the margins.