Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzera, the Baba Sali

In the summer of 1952, the Baba Sali traveled from Eretz Yisroel to France in order to take care of some business and then move to Eretz Yisroel, as the rabbis of the generation had advised him. When he arrived in Paris, he found out that the holy Rebbe, fighter of the wars of Torah, pillar of fire, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum, the Satmar Rebbe, was on his way to Eretz Yisroel and was then passing through Paris…

The two of them stood together in the corner of a shul and spoke about the most important matters facing religious Jewry. Among other things, the Baba Sali told Reb Yoel his problems with Zionism and secularism. Reb Yoel replied briefly that about the entire problem of the state, Zionism, and the secularists, he had written clearly in his sefer Vayoel Moshe, which was still in manuscript and would soon be printed, with Hashem’s help.

When the Baba Sali came to Eretz Yisroel for the last time in 1964, he asked his son-in-law Rabbi Yehuda Yehudayoff to buy him the Satmar Rebbe’s sefer Vayoel Moshe. When he received it, he set aside all his other studies and locked himself in a room to learn Vayoel Moshe cover to cover. When he emerged, he said to his son-in-law, “There is no one greater in this generation in clarity of learning, logic, and giving decisive refutations like Rabbi Yoel. With clear proofs, he has refuted all those who piled up words upon words, leaving no stone unturned and no question unanswered.

“Let us make a festive meal to celebrate a mitzvah, a siyum on Vayoel Moshe, just as we celebrate a siyum on a Talmudic tractate. This sefer is a great and important tractate in our generation, in this dark generation, this generation that is without counsel and confused in its thoughts. Rabbi Yoel is our pillar of fire, and we will walk in his light until the coming of moshiach.”

Throughout the meal, the Baba Sali quoted at length from Vayoel Moshe from memory, and expressed amazement at the Satmar Rebbe’s sharp mind and fluency in all the words of Chazal and Midrashim. He thanked Hashem for planting in our generation a holy tzaddik and gaon, leader of a community of Jews who fear Hashem, walking in the true ways of Hashem without any compromises. (HaSaba HaKadisha Baba Sali, v. 2, pages 211-218)