Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on February 6, 2015

Satmar (Hebrew: or ) is a Hasidic sect originating from the city of Satu Mare, Transylvania, where it was founded in 1905 by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum. Following World War II it was reestablished in New York, becoming one of the largest Hasidic movements in the world. After Joel's death, he was succeeded by his nephew, Moshe Teitelbaum. Since the latter's death in 2006, the dynasty is split between his two sons, Aaron Teitelbaum and Zalman Teitelbaum.

Upon the death of Chananya Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, the Grand Rebbe of the Sighet Hasidic dynasty, in 1904, he was succeeded by his oldest son, Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum. A small fraction of his hasidim regarded his second son, Joel Teitelbaum, as the appropriate heir. The younger brother left Sighet. On 8 September 1905, he settled in Satu Mare (in Yiddish: Satmar), where he began to attract a small following in addition to his few old supporters. Hungarian journalist Dezs Schn, who researched the Teitelbaum rabbis in the 1930s, wrote that Joel started referring to himself as the "Rebbe of Satmar" at that time.[1][2]

Joel's power base grew with the years. In 1911, he received his first rabbinical post, being appointed chief rabbi of Irshava. In 1921, the northeastern regions of Hungary, which were densely populated with Orthodox Jews, were ceded to Czechoslovakia and Romania under the terms of the Treaty of Trianon. Many Sighet hasidim, unable to regularly visit Chaim Zvi's court, turned to his brother instead.[3] In 1925, Teitelbaum was appointed chief Orthodox rabbi of Carei. On 21 January 1926, Chaim Zvi Teitelbaum died unexpectedly. While he was officially succeeded by his fourteen-year-old son, Yekusiel Yehuda Teitelbaum (II), his followers accepted Joel as their leader, and he became the dynasty's head in all but name.[4]

In 1928, Joel was elected as chief Orthodox rabbi of Satu Mare itself. The appointment resulted in bitter strife within the Jewish community, and he only accepted the post in 1934.[5] In the antebellum years he rose to become a prominent figure in Orthodox circles, leading an uncompromisingly conservative line against modernization. Among other issues, he was a fierce opponent of Zionism and Agudat Yisrael.

On 19 March 1944, the German Army entered Hungary. The Jewish population, which was spared wholesale destruction prior to that time, was concentrated in the Satu Mare ghetto and deportations to the concentration camps ensued. Teitelbaum was saved by being included in the passenger list of the Kastner train. He reached Switzerland on the night of 78 December 1944, and soon immigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine. He moved to the United States after a year,[6] arriving in New York aboard the MS Vulcania on 26 September 1946.[7]

Teitelbaum settled in Williamsburg, Brooklyn with a small group of followers, and set out to re-establish his sect, which was destroyed in the Holocaust. His arrival in America allowed him to fully implement his views: the separation of religion and state enabled the Satmars, as well as numerous other Jewish sects, to establish independent communities, unlike the state-regulated structures in Central Europe.[8] In April 1948, his adherents founded "Congregation Yetev Lev", which was registered as a religious corporation.[9] Teitelbaum appointed Leopold Friedman (19041972), a former bank director, as the congregation's president, while he was declared supreme spiritual authority. After his death, Friedman was replaced by Leopold Lefkowitz (19201998).[10] The Grand Rebbe's policy was to maintain complete independence by refusing to affiliate or receive financial aid from any other Jewish group;[11] his hasidim established a network of businesses which provided an economic base for the community's own social institutions.[12]

The Satmar group grew rapidly, attracting many new followers. A 1961 survey established that its Williamsburg community included 4,500 people. From the 860 household heads, about 40 percent were neither Satmar nor Sighet hasidim in the prewar years.[13] In 1968, the sect was New York's largest Hasidic group, with 1,300 households in the city. In addition, there were many Satmars in other parts of the United States and worldwide.[14] As part of his vision of complete isolation from the outside world, Rabbi Joel encouraged his followers, many of whom were immigrants from former Greater Hungary who spoke primarily German or Hungarian, to use only Yiddish. The sect had its own Yiddish-oriented education system and several publishing houses which provided extensive reading material. His work in this matter made him, according to Bruce Mitchell, the "most influential figure" in the maintenance of the language in the post-war period.[15] The uniformity of Satmar in America enabled to tutor the young in it, unlike at Europe: George Kranzler noted already in 1961 that the children speak Yiddish much better than their parents.[16]

On 23 February 1968, Teitelbaum suffered a stroke which left him barely functioning. His second wife, Alte Feiga, administered the sect for the remainder of his life with the assistance of several Satmar functionaries.[17] In 1974, the sect began constructing the housing project Kiryas Joel in Monroe, New York for its members. It was accorded an independent municipal status in 1977.[18] On 19 August 1979, the Grand Rebbe died of a heart attack.

Teitelbaum was not survived by any children: all his three daughters died in his lifetime. After prolonged vacillations by the community board, his nephew Moshe Teitelbaum, Chaim Zvi's second son, was appointed as successor, in spite of Feiga's severe objections. He was proclaimed Rebbe on 8 August 1980, the first anniversary of his uncle's death by the Hebrew calendar.[19] The great majority of hasidim accepted the new leader, though a small faction called Bnei Yoel, which was unofficially led by Feiga, opposed him. The tense relations between both led to several violent incidents in the 1980s.[20] The new Rebbe appointed his firstborn son, Aaron Teitelbaum, to chief rabbi of Kiryas Joel in 1984. Both incurred opposition from elements within the sect. They were blamed for exercising a centralized leadership style and for lack of sufficient zealotry.[21]

In 1994, the U.S. Supreme Court held in the case of Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet that a school district whose boundaries had been drawn to include only Satmar children violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

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Satmar (Hasidic dynasty) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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