Satmar

SATMAR is also the South African Torbanite Mining and Refining Company.

Satmar (חסידות סאטמער) is a dynasty of Hasidic Judaism which originated in the Hungarian town of Satu Mare (Szatmárnémeti in Hungarian), originally part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and presently located in Romania). Satmar is probably the largest Hasidic dynasty in existence today, but formal demographic comparisons with other Hasidim are not available. It is believed, however, to number close to 100,000 adherents. Members are referred to as Satmarer Hasidim.

Name

Some claim that the name of the town from which Satmar took its name, Satu Mare, means "Saint Mary". Some therefore call the town "Sakmer" so as not to use its "pagan" name. This, however, is a folk etymology. "Satu Mare" in fact means "large village," with the Romanian Satu ("village") deriving from the Latin fossatum, while Mare means "large" in Romanian.

History

Outline

• Rebbe Yisrael Baal Shem Tov - founder of Hasidism.
  • Rebbe R' Ber - the Magid (Preacher) of Mezritch - disciple of the Baal Shem Tov.
    • Rebbe R' Elimelech Lipman of Lizensk - Author of Noam Elimelech - disciple of the Magid of Mezritch.
      • Rebbe Yaakov Yitzchak - the Chozeh (Seer) of Lublin - Author of Zichron Zos - disciple of Rebbe Elimelech of Lizensk.
        • Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum of Ujhel - Author of Yismach Moshe - disciple of the Chozeh of Lublin.
          • Rebbe Eleazer Nissan Teitelbaum of Drobitsch - son of the Yismach Moshe.
            • Rebbe Yekusiel Yehudah Teitelbaum of Siget - author of Yetev Lev - son of Rebbe Eleazer Nissan.
              • Rebbe Chananyah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum of Siget - author of Kedushas Yom Tov - son of the Yetev Lev.
                • Rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum of Satmar - author of Divrei Yoel and VaYoel Moshe - youngest son of the Kedushas Yom Tov.
                • Rebbe Chaim Tzvi Teitelbaum of Siget - author of Atzei Chaim - eldest son of the Kedushas Yom Tov.
                  • Rebbe Moshe Teitelbaum of Satmar - present Satmar Grand Rebbe - author of Berach Moshe - youngest son of the Atzei Chaim.
                    • Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum - Chief Rabbi of Satmar-Kiryas Joel - eldest son of the present Grand Rebbe.
                    • Rabbi Zalman Leib Teitelbaum - Chief Rabbi of Satmar-Williamsburg - third son of the present Grand Rebbe.

Background to the dynasty

The dynasty traces its roots to Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum (1759-1841), Rebbe of Sátoraljaújhely (Ujhel), Hungary. Himself an adherent of the Polish Hasidic leader Rabbi Yaakov Yitzchak of Lublin (the Chozeh of Lublin), Teitelbaum was instrumental in bringing Hasidic Judaism to Hungary. He authored the works Heishiv Moshe ("Moses Responded") and Yismach Moshe ("Moses Shall Rejoice"), and is commonly called by the title of the latter work. His descendants became leaders of the communities of Sighetu Marmaţiei (Sighet) and Satu Mare.

Rabbi Joel (Yoel) Teitelbaum succeeded his father, Rabbi Hananiah Yom Tov Lipa Teitelbaum, author of Kedushath Yom Tov, as Rebbe of Sighet, and later moved to Satmar in 1935, thereby merging the two houses of Sighet and Satmar under the name of Satmar. He authored responsa under the title Divrei Yoel and polemics (mainly against political Zionism) in VaYoel Moshe.

Many Satmar Hasidim were murdered and dispersed during World War II and the Holocaust. In 1944, Rabbi Teitelbaum was one of a small group of people whose release from Hungary was negotiated with Adolf Eichmann by the Slovakian rescue activist Rabbi Michael Ber Weissmandl. He was a passenger on the Katszner train bound for Switzerland, which was re-routed to Bergen-Belsen. After the war, Teitelbaum spent time in the displaced persons camp of Feldafing, where he offered support and encouragement to the many orphaned young people who survived the Holocaust.

A large proportion of Holocaust survivors moved to the United States after World War II, where Teitelbaum established a huge community in Williamsburg. Teitelbaum's efforts to rebuilt the movement also resulted in the acquisition of land in upstate New York, which he named Kiryas Joel. Other Satmar communities sprang up in London and in Jerusalem, Israel.

The Satmar Hasidic movement has become known for its social isolation from all forms of secular culture and for its opposition to all forms of religious, secular, and political Zionism. This opposition has at times led to comparisons and confusion with the Neturei Karta. Satmar's views were formulated and espoused by Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum and are maintained by Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum and his children. Unlike the Neturei Karta, Satmar does not support the PLO.

Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum succeeds Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum

Joel Teitelbaum was not survived by any children (his three daughters passed away in his lifetime). He was succeeded by his nephew, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, the present Rebbe od Satmar.

File:Stmrwedding.JPG

Grand Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum of Satmar dancing at a wedding

Historical context of Hasidic schisms

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Schisms in the Hasidic dynastic succession are not a recent development, although there has been a growing number of them in the past ten to fifteen years as many of the previous, pre-war or immediately post-war generations passed away. It is customary for Hasidism to have many children, of course, and the issue is also complicated by the tendency among Hasidic leaders who lost families to remarry and start new ones. All of this has helped create an atmosphere where younger siblings (or sons-in-law) feel more confident about making moves for leadership, as there is a greater possibility that they will be accepted by their community, compared to earlier periods when the majority might have followed the oldest son simply out of tradition. This can also be linked to a growing tendency of some Hasidic groups, such as Vizhnitz, Biala, Rachmastrivka, and Spinka to divide their territories and followers between relatives, in part in order to lower friction, particularly when they are significantly separated by geography.

See also

• Williamsburg, Brooklyn
• Kiryas Joel, New York
• Haredi Judaism
• History of the Jews in Hungary
• List of Hungarian Jews
• History of the Jews in the United States
• History of the Jews in the United States in the 20th century
• Kabbalah
• Neturei Karta

Sources

• Hasidic News Op/Ed
• Chaptzem

General links

• Roots of Satmar
• Satmar Jews Against Zionism
• Videos of Satmar Rabbis and Hasidim
• The Satmar Rebbe
• Rav Yoel Teitelbaum - The Satmarer Rebbe
• What is Satmar Chasidism
• Satmar's Sisters of Mercy
• Chassidic Approaches: Satmar Chassidism
• Satmar Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum
• With Rabbi Teitelbaum in Bergen-Belsen
• Satmar Biography
• Pictures and films of the Satmar Rebbe, zt"l

Conflicts between the camps of Aron and Zalman Teitelbaum

• Satmar Slugs it Out (11/04/2005)
• Tempers, bones snap in Hasidic infighting (10/26/2004)
• Fistfights on Rodney Street (3/10/2002)
• A pro-Aaron blog entry from a Modern-Orthodox Jew