Chaim Halberstam

Chaim ben Leibusch Halberstam (* 1793 in Tarnogród, Poland, † 1876) was a Hasidic rabbi and founder of the eponymous Halberstam Dynasty.

Life

Maternal Chaim Halberstam was a descendant of Jacob Emden; his father was the head of a cheder. Chaim came as a youth to the Seer of Lublin and turned under its influence to Hasidism. In 1830 he was appointed Rabbi of Nowy Sacz ( Yiddish Zan ). He was known for his scholarship and his ecstatic expression in prayer and led a modest life, which led to several months of discussion with the Hasidim in Sadagora, which were characterized by their princely lifestyle. Under the title Divre Chaim (literally " words of Chaim " ) published a number of publications: 1864 ritual purity and divorce rules, 1875 and 1877 responsa Hasidic homilies on the Torah and Jewish holidays. His works reveal a thorough knowledge of the Talmud and its commentaries and the Midrashim. From the medieval philosophical literature he quotes extensively from the Kusari of Judah ha -Levi, as well as the works by Maimonides and Nachmanides. His later sources include Judah Loew, the prayer book of Jacob Emden, as well as his teacher in Kabbalah and Hasidism. Chaim Halberstam was an opponent of an ascetic lifestyle. He stressed in his writings the importance of charity and criticized tzaddikim with elaborate lifestyle.

Chaim Halberstam had eight sons, of whom Ezekiel Shraga Sieniawa (1811-1899) was best known as a halachic scholar. A grandson of Chaim Solomon ben Nathan Meyer of Bobowa (1847-1906), founded a large yeshiva, studying in the number of young people. His son, Ben Zion (1873-1941) became famous as a composer of Hasidic melodies; he was killed in the Holocaust. Ben Zion's son Solomon was able to flee to the United States and founded in Boro Park in Brooklyn, a Hasidic center.