Kedushas Yom Tov

Born in Stropkov (today in Slovakia), Ḥananya Yom-Tov Lipa Teitelbaum received a thorough traditional education; his father was Yekutiel Yehudah Teitelbaum, the rebbe of Sighet (today Sighetu Marmației, Romania). After serving as rabbi for the town of Técső (Tetsh, today Tiachiv, Ukraine), Teitelbaum succeeded his father as rabbi of Sighet in 1883, and became the most influential of the Hungarian Hasidic leaders. His best-known work is a biblical commentary titled Kedushas yom tov (2 vols., 1895), and he is often referred to by the name of this work. Throughout his time as rebbe of Sighet, Teitelbaum was sharply antagonistic to Zionism. This opposition was in part linked more generally to a broad opposition to all forms of modern political activism by Jews; he even abjured efforts within East European Jewish Orthodox circles to organize their own political movements in defense of tradition, arguing that Jews should await messianic redemption rather than engage in any sort of political activism. His youngest son, Yoel Teitelbaum/Teitelboym (1887–1979), would later develop these lines of opposition as the first Satmar rebbe, recasting his father’s opposition to Zionism in more metaphysical and still more uncompromising terms.