Sanz

Sanz (or Tsanz, Yiddish: צאנז) is a Hasidic dynasty originating in the city of Sanz (Nowy Sącz) in Galicia. The dynasty was founded by the rebbe Rabbi Chaim Halberstam (1793–1876) who was the rabbi of Nowy Sącz and the author of the work Divrei Chaim by which name he is known as well. Rabbi Chaim was a disciple of Rabbi Naftali Zvi of Ropshitz. He opened his court after the death of Rabbi Asher Yeshaya of Ropshitz, son-in-law of Rabbi Naftali Tzvi. After his demise (25 Nisan 5636, 19 April 1876), his six sons and his seven sons-in-law built courtyards with new names in the cities where they served as rabbis, and their chassidim separated, but most of them went to his eldest son, Rabbi Yechezkel Shraga Halberstam of Shinova. His fourth son, Rabbi Aharon, remained to serve as rabbi and rebbe in Sanz, but he was known as the 'Rav of Kreiz', that is, the rabbi of the province, a title he already had in his father's life. In the generations that followed, there were divisions within the courtyards of the dynasty and dozens of different courts were established from the dynasty, and existed until the Holocaust.