Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah Halberstam, author of the Shefa Chaim and Divrei Yatzi” was born in Rudnik (Rudnik and Sanem, Poland) to Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch Halberstam, the chief dayan (judge of Jewish law) in the city in 5665 (1905). At the age of 14 he was orphaned from his father and was ordained as a rabbi. At the age of 18 he married his relative, Pessel Teitelbaum and they had eleven children together. At the age of 25 (5690/1930) he was appointed to serve as the rabbi of the Chasidic congregation in the town and as the Rosh Yeshivah in Klausenberg (Romania).
After the Nazis invaded Hungary, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah was in a camp in Nadabanyah. Later, he was sent with his entire family to Auschwitz. He survived the death march, but his wife and nine of his children were murdered. His remaining sons died of typhus not long afterwards. Throughout that time, Rabbi Yekutiel Yehudah did not give up on his obligations to perform mitzvot with hidur (extra beautification) even at great danger to himself. He was careful about kosher food and even made sure to have a new fruit for Rosh Hashanah.
In the displaced persons camp following the Holocaust, Rabbi Yekutiel established educational institutions and soup kitchens, took care of orphans and conducted many marriage ceremonies. In 5706 (1946) he immigrated to the USA in order to establish institutions for Holocaust survivors. He married his second wife, Nechamah, and they had seven children. In 5715 (1955) he visited the Land of Israel for the first time and laid the cornerstone for Kiryat Sanz, a neighborhood in the city of Netanyah. He established the Chasidut of Sanz-Klausenberg, educational institutions, and a large yeshivah, which he headed. He also established an intensive Talmud learning program. During the Holocaust, Rabbi Yekutiel vowed that if God would save him, he would always attempt to save Jewish lives. To fulfill that vow, he established the Laniado hospital and medical center in Netanyah.
On the 19th of Kislev 5720 (1960), Rabbi Yekutiel made aliyah to the Land of Israel and settled in Netanyah. In 5723 (1963) he opened a yeshivah for boys of Sephardic descent and in 5746 initiated the establishment of the “Council for Legal Defense of Jewish Values.” When he was asked why he took practical steps for the community in the Land of Israel, in contrast to the outlook of the Satmar Rebbe (his first wife’s uncle), he answered: “We, the God-fearing, criticize and prosecute the secular state, while the secular Jews take action and create facts. I also used to think that this was the proper approach, and I would curse the heretics with great fervor, anticipating that my curses would be fulfilled. But that did not happen. On the contrary, I saw that they were becoming stronger and stronger. So, I said to myself, that perhaps it is better if we switch roles. I will build up the Land of Israel in holiness and the seculars can curse me!”
In 5732 (1972) Rabbi Yekutiel returned to the US, where he passed away on the ninth of Tammuz, 5754 (1996). He was laid to rest in Netanyah.
