On Site: The Highest Bidder

HEADING GREATNESS The Klausenberger Rebbe Rav Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam a great-grandson of the Divrei Cham of Sanz maintained every dictate of halachah even in the Nazi camps and despite the loss of his family he infused survivors with hope and preserved their spirituality after the war. Aside from Mifal HaShas he also established Laniado Hospital and Sanzer yeshivos in Eretz Yisrael and in America as well as the chesed organizations of the chassidus. Today his successors are his sons the Rebbes in Netanya and in America. The kapoteh that’s being auctioned is one he wore for ten years

T he original sefer Noam Elimelech sold for $300000. A rare volume of Gemara with the Vilna Gaon’s notes inside sold for $500000. A copy of the Talmud Bavli privately owned by Rav Ovadiah Yosef when he was rav of the Jewish community in Cairo sold for $50 000.

The Kedem Auction House which opened a decade ago and has become a leader in Judaica auctions has several similarly valuable items that will be going to auction next month. Among the rabbinical manuscripts ancient seforim and personal items of rabbanim and rebbes that have been handed down from generation to generation there are some unique items whose existence had been heretofore unknown.

“The items for our main annual auction and for other sales usually come from three types of sellers ” explains Eli Stern one of Kedem’s Judaica experts. “There are collectors who for some reason or another decide to get rid of an item in their collection. Then there are dealers who purchase items from their owners and sell them further. And there are private people who have an item in their possession and decide to sell it.”